Drivers of the year Q2

We continue our drivers of the year with 17 down to 11. To read part one click here. And like the previous post we start with a Caterham driver...

17. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham)

It's always difficult to tell drivers relative performances because of the car, in the end you have to make assumptions and compare them to their team mates. Kobayashi destroyed Ericsson after a year away from the sport. Despite driving for free to get back on the grid, he was flat out everywhere, even after Caterham started messing him around. It could have been him to get points in Monaco until he was barged out of the way by Jules Bianchi, which damaged his car. He couldn't have done too much more.

16. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

The Ferrari was terrible this year, of that there is no doubt but surely the intra-team battle would liven it up for Ferrari? Not a bit of it, the facts are Fernando Alonso scored 161 points, Kimi just 55. He was out of sorts all year, could never get the car to his liking and suffered terrible luck when he failed to get a clean weekend for most of the year. Reliability certainly wasn't his friend. But when you see the other car half a minute up the road, then you know that the car is capable of more, Kimi was unable to extract that potential. 

He had some starring moments, he should have had a podium in Monaco, beat Fernando in Belgium and raced hard with his team mate in Brazil. But that was it. I think he was fully motivated to do well, but he's not a driver able to drive round a problem in the mould of Alonso or Hamilton. Disappointing year, but at least Fernando left otherwise he'd be sitting without a drive albeit with a whole heap of money if Ferrari had paid him off. Again.

15. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)

Bianchi looked a bit sketchy at the start of the season, Chilton looked closer on pace but he soon sorted it out and began to impress once again. Dragged the Marussia as high as it could go, often being the lead of the Marussia/Caterham battle. 

One of the best moments of the season was when he crossed the line 9th to score the teams first world championship points in Monaco, which came from one of the best passes of the season when he threw his car up the inside of Kobayashi at La Rascasse. A bit of wheel banging and he was through. A 12th place in a wet British Grand Prix qualifying was equally impressive. Then in Japan came his accident causing severe head injuries which means he currently resides unconscious in a French hospital. A Ferrari academy driver, it was rumoured he could've been in the team next season. #ForzaJules

14. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)

A driver I rated well in the top ten last season doesn't just become my 14th rated pilot because he forgets how to drive. However a car which was often one of the top two vehicles on the track in 2013 but becomes one of the worst this year helps contribute to a fall in driver performance. 

For me Grosjean will be a Grand Prix winner given the equipment, he has learnt to be fast and consistent, long gone are the days of predicting the lap Grosjean might have a crash. But the car was not there for him this year despite two fantastic eighth places in Spain and Monaco.  

His fifth place qualifying at the Catalunya track has to be one of the laps of the season. But as the season went on and he suffered yet another failure of his Renault power unit, things got to him and he started making public his frustrations. With Mercedes power next year in his Lotus, we may see him able to exploit his talent properly.

13. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)

Podium in your first race for McLaren, certainly not a bad way to start your Formula 1 career. Magnussen qualified brilliantly in Australia and took third place which became second after Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification. It was as impressive a debut as any, it looked like Button had a fight on his hands at McLaren. 

The season ended with Button out-qualifying Magnussen 10-9 and out scoring him 126-55. Magnussen was far better than those statistics make out, some of his Saturday afternoons were fantastic. However, you can't escape the fact he lost his way after the podium for several races and barely deserved a mention. But he came back fighting, his driving in Belgium and Italy, particularly his defence was extremely impressive, he suffered penalties but I think both were arguably unfair, it at least made people aware of him once again and brought a spark back to his driving. 

But still there were other times like in Japan, where he looked a little lost. Magnussen is young, quick and is only going to get better. He deserves another year but for now will have to settle for a reserve driver role at McLaren for 2015.

12. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

Vergne isn't the best qualifier but he sure is a racer. 22 points, 14 more than his Red Bull bound team mate Daniil Kvyat managed to score. But Kvyat was in his rookie campaign and still managed to out qualify him over the year and the Russian could have scored a few more points if it weren't for problems. He pretty much matched Vergne in his debut year, he's only going to get better. 

That's Vergne's problem unfortunately, he almost matched Ricciardo, he was matched by a 20 year old rookie while Vergne was in his third year. Very good, but not quite good enough? Toro Rosso is meant to bring on talent so although Vergne would have been a good bench mark for either incoming Toro Rosso drivers, Max Verstappen or Carlos Sainz Jnr, he's had three years in the team, their aim is to breed drivers for Red Bull. They've not promoted him twice now, why would they do it a third time? 

It was a shame, after he thought he was being ousted by Verstappen he came alive in the last third of the season with a number of charging drives, particularly in Singapore. Vergne has got himself a seat in Formula E in that series next race in Uruguay this weekend but he's too good to not be in Formula 1 and deserves a chance with another team, however as other Toro Rosso rejects have found out, it isn't easy getting back in when you've been thrown out.

11. Sergio Perez (Force India)

I'm not sure Nico Hulkenberg thought Perez would be quite as up for the battle within Force India as he turned out to be. Perez took the teams only podium of the year in Bahrain and nearly scored another in Canada. He was still prone to the odd moment of over exuberance, but I was impressed by Perez this year. He scored in eleven races, further shaking off the tag he is just a driver for a few stand out drives while not bringing home the points in the rest. His comparison to Hulkenberg is favourable as Nico is highly rated, Perez was close and many times better over the season. The question is though, do people now think Perez is better or Hulkenberg worse?

Click on the link for the top 10 drivers of the year.
 
all photos taken from autosport.com

Drivers of the year Q1

It's that time of the year, the time to make lists and to wrap 2014 up in a nice little bow. There's nothing better to do that with than a list of the best drivers in Formula 1 this year. I've got three parts to whittle it down to the best of the year. We'll begin with knocking out the first seven of the 24 drivers who competed in this years championship starting with a Caterham driver. And then another...

24. Will Stevens (Caterham)

Replaced Marcus Ericsson at the struggling Caterham outfit for the finale in Abu Dhabi. He's had limited success in Formula Renault 3.5 but didn't disgrace himself, qualifying half a second behind Kamui Kobayashi and making it to the finish in the race.





23. Andre Lotterer (Caterham)

I was tempted to put him higher up than Ericsson, but he was another one race wonder for Caterham in Belgium. His vast experience in single seaters and World Endurance Championship for Audi meant he impressed straight away despite not having driven a Formula 1 car for over 10 years when he tested for Jaguar. Out-qualified Ericsson, but retired after only one lap when his power unit packed up. Made you wish he'd had more of a chance.

22. Marcus Ericsson (Caterham)

A budget got him the drive, a budget has kept him in Formula 1 instead of drivers further up this list. Ericsson has talent, he's won titles in junior Formulae and scored three GP2 wins over four seasons in the category, but for whatever reason he did not shine this season. There were only a couple of races where he looked to have genuinely outpaced his team mate Kobayashi and that looked like it was because the Japanese's car was hobbled.

21. Max Chilton (Marussia)

Two seasons in the sport and it's sad that Chilton's F1 career looks to have come to an end as he comes across as a nice guy. But nice guy status doesn't make you successful and although he looked to have made progress compared to his results last year, ultimately he was blown away by his team mate Jules Bianchi again. Unless he can use his money for a drive elsewhere, it's probably the last we'll see of Chilton.

20. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus)

Maybe, just maybe going off the track while you're looking at something on the steering wheel can be excused once. But a second time? Really? This was not Maldonado's finest season, there were far too many crashes this year. Previously these may have been overlooked because he can be extremely fast, but the Lotus mechanics saw little of that speed, but plenty of broken carbon fibre. The Lotus wasn't a worthy car either, but apart from shining in the USA to pick up two points there was little to be happy about.

19. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)

Another driver to come to the end of their second F1 season with not much to show for it other than being out of a job. Sauber were poor this year, neither car managed to score a point, but their drivers looked to be lacking too. After improving towards the end of 2013 and bagging some points, I thought Gutierrez might blossom this time around. Not to be, comprehensively out qualified by Sutil and just the highlight of 12th in Australia. Looked set for points in Monaco after a decent drive but threw them away, crashing at La Rascasse 19 laps from the end.

18. Adrian Sutil (Sauber)

Sauber have replaced both drivers for next year despite Sutil having a contract. Although it is debatable whether the team have improved their lot on this seasons performance I'm not sure Sutil can have too much to argue about. His first year away from Force India and it couldn't have gone worse. In 2013 Gutierrez was no match for Hulkenberg. In 2014 he matched Sutil for race pace quite often. Sutil often looked in despair with the car and it seemed he just didn't have the heart to drag it around. A sad finish to what must be the end of his F1 career.

Q2 is available here

all photos taken from autosport.com

Talking points from Russia: Driver market, safety and awkwardness

The inaugural Russian Grand Prix was won by Lewis Hamilton who did as he pleased on his way to the chequered flag. It was a fairly uneventful race, but the weekend in Russia had several notable talking points. A full race report and title discussion can be found here.

Interestingly talk about if Formula 1 should even be in Russia had long since quietened down, but then the conflict in Ukraine hasn't been amongst the headlines recently so I guess out of sight out of mind. The FIA has never dealt with political situations anyway, only if safety was threatened would they intervene. 

There was a lot of chatter about potential safety cars being used for the race for any incident where it wasn’t an easy retrieval but in the end the race didn’t need one. Or rather it did need one to clear some debris or something because Pirelli went conservative which meant the race was in need of a random element.

Perhaps if they’d brought the super-soft tyre rather than the medium the degradation might have been more and we’d have had the two stopper race most were predicting, but it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference as  I’m not sure the track offered much in the way of passing opportunities, not even the DRS seemed effective although turn three looked awesomely long and super fast with cars able to go side by side in the opening laps.

In the end the cameras seemed more interested in picking out Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival half way through the race and watching him sit in the grandstands looking impassive and then getting cosy with Bernie Ecclestone. Then off he went to the drivers cool down room before the podium which was unorthodox and proceeded to ask them how much weight they lost during a race. Nico Rosberg stood up for the drivers and answered as Hamilton and Bottas hid in the corner.  It was a desperately awkward moment to watch.

As was just before the start when drivers gathered at the front of the grid for a respectful one minute silence for Bianchi and for the national anthem. I hope this doesn’t become a common theme in regard to the national anthem, the drivers want to be getting in the zone at this point not parading themselves for an anthem they likely don't know. 

As for the minute silence it seemed a rather gloomy thing to do, much better were the stickers on cars and helmets which the drivers have chosen to show their respect and support to Bianchi, certainly it's better than these orchestrated moments which were just uncomfortable.

The driver market

Another talking point continues to be Vettel and Alonso’s destinations for 2015. Vettel is 99.9% certain to be at Ferrari but the termination of Alonso’s contract is still to be officially confirmed and if he isn’t at Ferrari his most likely destination is to McLaren-Honda surely? Perhaps this race when McLaren comfortably out performed Ferrari will make him hurry up and sign. But another rumour is he might go back to team Enstone, or Lotus, where he won his titles when they were called Renault.

Apparently he’d bring a lot of backing to the team and with them having the Mercedes engine package next year they are bound to jump right back up the grid. They really seemed to be about to engage in a title fight before this year, but they have now lost a lot of talented designers and engineers to other teams because of money worries.

I think as Alonso seeks his third title, he’s got a fair few options but none too enticing. The worst option would be if he were to take a sabbatical, I truly hope he doesn’t, it would somehow mean less to see a driver win a title without him on the grid even if he isn’t in a competitive car.

Whatever he does, and he keeps saying he knows what he’s doing, I’m sure it’s taking longer to announce because he’s trying to put clauses in a contract so he’ll be available for Mercedes in 2016 should a seat become free. Perhaps the real shocker this year will be he is announced as a Silver Arrows driver for 2015, he is smiling rather wide through his increasingly straggly beard after all. Whatever the situation is I’m sure the likes of Button, Grosjean, Raikkonen and Magnussen would just wish it would happen soon so they can get their futures sorted out.

Potential Safety Changes

So three weeks off before three races in four weekends starting in the USA. After the initial investigation into Bianchi’s crash led by the FIA's race director Charlie Whiting they held a press conference on Friday detailing Bianchi's accident and responding to issues people had with how the incident was dealt with (here) and potential changes for the future as a result of this. 

I've already mentioned the safety car but America may see the testing of new yellow flag speed limits to combat drivers not responding to slowing down. Other new things likely to come in are skirts surrounding tractors to prevent cars going underneath but that’ll have to wait until 2015. The sport hasn’t overreacted and is taking the time to analyse and absorb what happened before rushing decisions. 

They are again going to look into canopies but their implementation would likely be along way off and some drivers, notably Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel have voiced concerns about losing what Formula 1 is, open wheel and open cockpit racing. There are also still issues as to whether they improve safety overall. However, the FIA are doing something and that’s good to see. #ForzaJules

all photos taken from autosport.com

The Russian Grand Prix Forecast

The Formula 1 community is still in shock after the horrible accident that has left Marussia’s Jules Bianchi with a severe head injury confirmed as a diffuse axonal injury which usually comes from the effects of rapid deceleration of the head and affects the nerves in the brain.

No new information about Bianchi has been reported for the past few days, but one can only hope that good news will emerge soon, but as with Michael Schumacher’s skiing accident it seems likely that any more information will take time and patience.

F1 also suffered a loss as former F1 driver Andrea de Cesaris lost his life in a motor bike accident. He had several shots a winning a race but was largely known for crashing a lot and being Schumacher's first team mate in a race where de Cesaris could have won if it weren't for an engine problem. But he must have had some talent as he competed in 208 races, the most without winning one.

It’s been a  tough few days just to get the show back on the road, especially with Typhoon Phanfone slowing down the packing up process in Japan and then shipping it off to Russia for the first Russian Grand Prix based at the Sochi Olympic Park which held last year’s winter Olympics. 

There’s been a fair amount of discussion on whether Formula 1 should even be in Russia with the conflict in Ukraine still happening but as always the FIA policy is not to get involved in politics so if there’s no safety reason not to go, then Formula 1 will go. It’s a market many of the big company names also want to be seen in.

Let's focus on the racing though. The track winds its way through the Olympic stadiums and first impressions seem to show that this will be a pretty spectacular track. Of course the teams will have prepared themselves to the extent of having a baseline set up aided by their simulators, although they haven’t been able to map the track as significantly as others as Williams chief technical officer wrote in his preview for F1 Racing magazine, it’s ‘difficult to obtain permission for LiDAR scanning in Russia’ which helps map the topography.

But it doesn’t really matter how well prepared you are, racing for the first time on a brand new circuit is always going to throw up some surprises that weren’t accounted for. It looks to have a few high speed sections and Sebastian Vettel, who has driven a road car around it, has said there’s some technical challenges too. It’s not quite a step into the unknown but it is a foot into a puddle you’re not sure of the depth of.

There are two DRS zones, one on the start finish straight and the other between turns 10 and 13 which might give you a small indication that that piece of track isn’t exactly straight. Pirelli have brought their medium and soft tyre and are expecting the track to be quite abrasive so it could be a three stopper but if the teams get on top of any issues quickly it could be a two. There doesn’t look like any chance of rain, all three days are forecast for bright sunny days with temperatures averaging 23C, so after the racing it’s a nice day for the beach situated on the coast of the Black Sea.

Nico Rosberg won’t be thinking about the seaside though, he’s aware he has to turn the tide against Lewis Hamilton this weekend. After suffering three defeats in succession he really has to win this weekend to not lose any further ground. He scored a fine pole position in Japan but yet again in wheel to wheel combat Lewis was better and able to get ahead.

When Rosberg has been in that position such as in Bahrain or Spain he has not managed to find a way through hence why the incident in Spa happened. He wanted to show Lewis he wouldn’t be pushed around, but perhaps Spa has now made even more apprehensive about taking on Hamilton in battle.

Whatever it is, he needs to show he can beat Lewis this weekend, he can start that by simply being quicker and driving off into the distance but the last three races have shown they’re going to be neck and neck. Rosberg is going to have to fight hard to claw any points back.

For some reason as much as the tension is rising as we enter our last four races of the year, I can’t help but feel that the final double points round in Abu Dhabi is taking some of that excitement away. The likelihood is that Lewis won’t manage to get a 50 point gap to Nico by then, so the significance of the rounds before is diminished.

We all know it’s going to the final round, who cares if Lewis eeks out another seven points to make a 17 point advantage, this race despite the present gap is not a make or break round for Rosberg. I think that’s a shame. However in terms of momentum it is significant and he has to strike back now.

The championship battle may be the major talking point after concern for Bianchi but there are plenty of other matters to get excited about, many of them off track especially as regards the driver market.

It seems like Vettel and Ferrari outplayed Fernando Alonso last weekend. Although the Scuderia has not officially confirmed either Vettel’s arrival or Alonso’s departure this transfer is likely to take place. Vettel will line up alongside Kimi Raikkonen, at least for now. Kimi struggled again in Japan and will be desperately hoping for something to go right for him soon.

Alonso seemed quite happy with his situation last weekend and so the rumours go a deal with McLaren Honda for next year might well have been signed. Or it’s being delayed because he wants just a one year deal in case Honda don’t bring the goods and so he’ll be available should a seat arise at Mercedes in 2016. Hamilton wants to stay, Mercedes want him to stay but should he leave for whatever reason then Mercedes boss Toto Wolff hasn't backed away from saying they'd have Alonso but I'd say that is unlikely.

It all looks like he might be backing himself into a sabbatical and as Autosport.com pointed out, potentially leave him unable to get back into the sport should Mercedes, McLaren and even Williams retain their 2015 driver line ups. It’s unlikely but could this be an ignominious end for the career of a driver regarded as the best for the last eight years.

Jenson Button did himself no harm at all with a brilliant driver in Japan for McLaren as his team mate Kevin Magnussen floundered, while also doing a good job was Jean-Eric Vergne, looked over by Red Bull once again beating his senior team bound team mate Daniil Kvyat. Both Button and Vergne need to maintain this form if they want to be in Formula 1 next year while Kvyat will look to get back on track at his home race.

Back to the racing, you can only assume that Mercedes will be leading the field with Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari in pursuit. I don’t expect any surprises with the result, it’ll be a Mercedes win, but I do expect the battle behind to be close again.

McLaren were good in the wet of Japan but in the dry of Russia they’ll be scrapping for lower end points as they hope to leap ahead of Force India finally. Toro Rosso will be tagging along in that battle while unfortunately once again, Lotus, Sauber and Caterham will find themselves on the fringes.

Marussia are reported to be preparing two cars for this weekend, but it’s not yet known if or when they’ll announce another driver for the second seat alongside Max Chilton. All the drivers have shown great concern for their colleague Bianchi, but once the visor comes down they’ll be focused only on being fast. The best thing they and the world of F1 can do now is put on a great show. #ForzaJules

all photos taken for autosport.com except title picture from skysports.com/f1

Can Bianchi's crash improve F1 safety?

Jules Bianchi crashed at yesterday’s Japanese Grand Prix, striking a digger that was recovering Adrian Sutil’s Sauber after it had crashed at the same turn 7 a lap previously. He suffered a severe head injury that has been operated on and is currently in intensive care at the Mie General Medical Centre in Yokkaichi. The world of Formula 1 is now reflecting on what could have been done better to prevent such an accident happening again. They must analyse but there also must not be knee jerk reactions that affect the sport in a detrimental way.

Formula 1 has not suffered a death at a Grand Prix for over twenty years now. Since 1994 the sport has had a few broken legs, a couple of concussions and the dreadful accident of Felipe Massa during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend in 2009 where he fractured his skull from which he made a full recovery. It has come so far in terms of safety but there is always room for improvement. But first of all would we even be discussing safety if Bianchi had missed the recovery vehicle? Probably not but we should have been as regards recovery vehicles on track.

When rain is pouring down and getting stronger and a car has already gone off with light fading should there be an immediate safety car? There are many instances where if one car has gone off another might follow. Look at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix or the 2007 European Grand Prix where cars only just missed a recovery vehicle. Only a few weeks ago for the American round of the World Endurance Championship, over 10 cars went off at the first turn on the same lap because the rain had become too much. These warnings were not taken on board but such is hindsight.

Yesterday the original Sutil crash was covered by double waved yellow flags, which means slow down and be prepared to stop. It alerts the drivers to the presence of machinery and marshals on or near to the track. However as much as drivers might lift off, they’re still going at speed. Perhaps in future in these sort of conditions, and even in the dry, before a digger or other safety vehicle can come on track a safety car must be called to neutralise the race.

Martin Brundle almost had a similar accident in 1994 at the same circuit, just missing the recovery vehicle but striking a marshal, he has been advocating something being done about this for years.

Another option if possible would be to make circuits have more cranes so as to pluck the cars off the track without the need for a recovery vehicle, although it wouldn’t always be possible. Therefore we can eliminate the use of a safety car to slow racing after every accident which is what 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has said today.

I’m not sure all incidents need to be covered by the safety car, in the Formula 1 world where we have increasingly sanitised race tracks with large run off areas, it’s not always necessary. It’s no coincidence that Suzuka is a favourite amongst the drivers because it’s a challenge but it’s also one of the more dangerous with limited run off, it gives them an extra thrill. However, maybe in the aim of prevention it is time to deploy the safety car if ever there’s a car on track that needs a recovery vehicle, especially in the rain.

There are also questions about whether the race should have been moved to an earlier start time because of the impending typhoon approaching the area. In the end as the drivers have admitted, conditions weren’t too bad. I think it should have been moved as they had advance warning of possible torrential rain, but purely because the 3pm start time doesn’t leave a lot of room in case a race is delayed as dark descends at 5.30pm at this time of year in Suzuka. The FIA asked if circuit owners wanted it moved but it was deemed unnecessary because of ticket holders getting to the track on time. I don’t think it had anything to do with TV coverage especially as the FIA were the ones asking if it should be moved.

Further to that it was wet all day, the Bianchi accident could have happened at any time of day such were the conditions affecting Suzuka so in the end when the race started had no on the accident and the organisers were right in the end. After scouring the F1 press, there was another call from the Guardian newspaper for canopies covering the cockpits.

The head is the most exposed part of a driver in single seater racing and there have been times when you wince as a car comes near a drivers head such as Vitantonio Liuzzi launching near to Michael Schumacher's head in Abu Dhabi 2010 or Romain Grosjean going over the top of Fernando Alonso's head in Belgium 2012. Recent tests regarding them are ongoing. In Bianchi’s accident I don’t think a canopy would have made much difference, in fact it could have made things worse. It looks like his car went partially underneath the digger, if it had gone headfirst a canopy might have trapped him in the cockpit, or caused more damage to his person.

A canopy might be good for preventing wheels or other pieces hitting the head at speed, but in an accident when striking a large vehicle such as this, which should never happen, but its debateable whether it would have made any difference. And my personal view is that covering the cockpits takes away part of the drama of Formula 1, it’s a step too far. With wheel tethers in place and helmet safety constantly being improved I don’t think there’s a need for canopies. Next they’ll want guards over the wheels which might as well make them look like small LMP1 cars from the WEC, you just need to cover the suspension.

Formula 1 and single seater racing in general is open wheel and open cockpit, I think it’s part of the essence of the sport. Pick the right spot at a race track and there isn’t something more impressive than seeing a driver battle with his machinery.

I think as long as Formula 1 learns from this accident then they can keep the sport at an acceptable danger level because Grand Prix racing is inherently dangerous, it’s never going to be completely safe when you strap a man or woman into a 200mph car and ask them to push it to the maximum. It of course has to be an acceptable risk for the drivers to participate, although if things hadn’t become so safe, I don’t think there’s a single driver out there who wouldn’t still be pushing for all their worth.

I often think of F1 drivers as modern day gladiators. Their arena is the race tracks of the world, their weapons the machines they drive to the limit, sometimes beyond. It’s hard to grasp just what kind of skill they possess to keep their cars on the limit of adhesion as they battle wheel to wheel for the glory of winning. It’s as true now as it was when the sport started.

For many drivers that danger is like a drug, the thrill, the surge of adrenalin as they push the fastest cars in the world in their pursuit of victory. It’s like no feeling in the world to them dancing on the line between life and death. Obviously they want to race in the knowledge that everything is being done in regards to safety but you know it can’t be completely safe, I think many of them like it that way, witness Kimi Raikkonen, foot flat to the floor in Spa ploughing through a cloud of smoke at the top of Eau Rouge which he had no idea what it was covering. Foolhardy or impressive?

For us mere mortals watching from the comfort of our sofas it’s an admiration that these supremely fit athletes push their machines and bodies in conditions that we would immediately wilt in. Theirs is a sport that can take them to the edge of life as they confront extreme heat, battle the rain, the g-forces, and they do it willingly to feel alive, to be the best, to live their dreams. They are singularly focused people who will not give up on what they want. Most drivers who reach Formula 1 have been craving a desire to be in the ultimate sporting combination of man and machine since they were children.

They’ve pushed themselves, fought hard, never backed down and maintained their passion and drive to succeed through all kinds of sporting setbacks, but they’ll pick themselves up and continue to push to achieve what they set out to do.

Even the drivers at the back of the grid are exceptionally gifted. Bianchi is one such driver, meant for greater things than the brilliant two points he took for ninth place driving for back of the grid Marussia. A Ferrari Academy driver, he seemed destined to move up the grid and go for glory.

At Suzuka he was once again leading the Marussia and Caterham battle pushing hard in a car that in general terms is not a match for the midfield bunch let alone the top cars. But he was doing something he loved, pushing to the maximum. Hopefully he can make a full recovery from his injuries and continue his rise up the Formula 1 ranks. 


all photos taken from autosport.com except canopy picture from formula1.com

Lewis Hamilton wins in Japan

It hardly seems to matter as we learn that Jules Bianchi has suffered a severe head injury following his accident at the Japanese Grand Prix. After surgery he will be transferred to intensive care. There are more details here. But there was a race today that got underway on time behind the safety car. It was then stopped after two laps and restarted behind the safety car before finally racing commenced after nine laps.

The conditions were not good but were safe to race on despite the uncertainty surrounding the event because of the approaching typhoon. In fact as racing got going properly the rain had relented and it was only towards the end that it came back in force.

Nico Rosberg led for the first 28 laps including a switch from full wet tyres to intermediates. Lewis Hamilton tracked his Mercedes team mate for all those laps never letting him get much further than two seconds away. He again ignored advice from the team to hang back and attacked Rosberg as he sensed the German’s tyres were wearing quicker than his own.

Hamilton began to push harder, even too hard as he had to catch a slide into turn one sending him wide but he was still in the race. Only a few laps later he was right behind Rosberg again coming into the final chicane at the end of the lap. Rosberg’s car squirmed under acceleration out of the final corner and across the line into lap 29 Lewis had the DRS open. Nico couldn’t see in his mirrors and went straight to the inside for the first corner.

It opened the turn for Hamilton and judging the grip to perfection he went around the outside of Rosberg and was through into the lead. He quickly opened a gap and through another pit stop for more intermediates he led until the race was slowed by a safety car for Bianchi’s accident and then finally stopped with seven laps to go and the result declared.

It was another telling statement from Hamilton to Rosberg about where this title could be heading as he opened a ten point gap in the drivers championship. It was great to see the silver cars battling wheel to wheel once again.

It was his eighth victory of the year, four more than Rosberg has managed. It’s beginning to look like Lewis now has the decisive edge. Having said that Rosberg did take pole position this weekend and he’s always there to take second. To be suffering an 8-4 victory deficit and only ten points behind, Rosberg is a man of consistency and that could still pay off especially with the double points round.

Behind the title contenders Sebastian Vettel produced a great drive to finish third, although he was fourth on the road behind his team mate Daniel Ricciardo when the race was stopped but in a red flag situation the result is taken from two laps before.

Despite a trip through the gravel he made a couple of good moves on the Williams cars before pitting early for his second stop and jumping a heroic Jenson Button to be in third. He was only lying behind Ricciardo as the Australian had yet to stop, although it wasn’t sure if he would.

Ricciardo followed Vettel for most of the race despite out qualifying him and was never far behind, making brilliant moves on the Williams cars in the esses  as he kept up with the current world champion. But this is two races in a row Vettel has beaten him. He’ll want to rectify that especially with Vettel moving on from Red Bull and Ricciardo becoming team leader. He won’t want people believing that once Vettel got on top of his issues with the car he would have been consistently beaten, although that’s highly unlikely after the season he’s enjoyed.

Jenson Button ended up fifth after suffering a problem at his second pit stop but he was my star of the race. When the safety car pulled in to let the race get underway he immediately pitted for intermediates. When everyone else pitted a few laps later he had judged it brilliantly to end up in third place, lapping at the same pace as the Mercedes pair.

When he came in for the second time only an electrical problem that resulted in a change of steering wheel and which his McLaren team mate Kevin Magnussen also suffered from dropped him behind Vettel. The Red Bull’s had compromised their qualifying by going for a full wet set up and Button really had no response to that once they were close.

He did manage to remind people just how good he is in the mixed conditions and it was timely too with his drive and career under threat after the recent driver moves. A fifth place finish doesn’t sound wonderful but as the rain came down harder towards the end he was one of the first to pit for full wets again, it was then that the race was brought to a premature end, so you never know, it could have been a podium.

The Williams boys held a second row lock out after qualifying but ended up sixth and seventh with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Felipe Massa. Their car hasn’t looked good in the wet all year so it was no surprise to see them drop back a bit, but they held on to take some solid points and tighten their top three position in the constructors ahead of Ferrari.

This was helped greatly by Fernando Alonso retiring with an electrical failure while behind the safety car. Such a shame as I think he could have been a podium threat. Kimi Raikkonen failed to score and ended up 12^th after being nowhere all day. It stops Ferrari’s run at 81 consecutive points finishes. After two successive failures I’m sure Alonso can’t wait to be out of there.

Force India just about held on to fifth in the constructors ahead of McLaren with Nico Hulkenberg getting eighth and Sergio Perez tenth. Despite a grid penalty leaving him 20^th on the grid Jean-Eric Vergne seemed to come from nowhere to claim two points with ninth beating his team mate and the new Red Bull graduate Daniil Kvyat once again.

Sauber had Esteban Gutierrez in 13^th, Magnussen eventually got home in 14^th with the Lotuses 15^th and 16^th, Romain Grosjean ahead of Pastor Maldonado. Marcus Ericsson headed the Marussia Caterham battle ahead of Max Chilton and Kamui Kobayashi.

But it is Jules Bianchi who our thoughts are with. Adrian Sutil’s crash the lap before meant a safety vehicle was brought onto the track covered only by waved double yellow flags. Perhaps the conditions warranted a safety car, Sutil explained that as the rain got harder he was experiencing aquaplaning.

It seems Bianchi suffered a similar accident; it was just unfortunate a safety vehicle was already at trackside which the Marussia struck. I wish Jules Bianchi a speedy recovery. 

all photos taken from autosport.com and bbc.co.uk/formula1

Jules Bianchi suffers head injury after accident in Japanese Grand Prix

Jules Bianchi of Marussia has suffered a severe head injury and is undergoing surgery after suffering a horrible accident in the Japanese Grand Prix. Following surgery he is to be moved to intensive care.

He had spun off at turn 7 and hit a recovery vehicle that was picking up Adrian Sutil’s Sauber which had hit the wall at the same corner the lap before. It appears as if the Marussia struck the back of the tractor causing the race to be stopped with nine laps to the end.

The FIA has released a statement saying "The CT scan shows that he has suffered a severe head injury and is currently undergoing surgery. Following this, he will be moved to intensive care where he will be monitored."

The Grand Prix took place at its scheduled time despite the threat of a super typhoon heading towards the circuit in Suzuka. There will be a lot of conjecture about what should and shouldn’t have taken place today and at what time but the fact is it did, and I don’t think the horrible accident to have injured Bianchi should affect people’s opinions on that.

When Bianchi’s Marussia hit into the JCB that was picking up Sutil’s already crashed Sauber it was nothing to do with if and when the race should have taken place, it was just a terrible accident. The rain had got heavier after a convenient break in the weather allowed the race to go ahead but an incident like this could even have happened at a dry race, although as Sutil said after he believes a safety car might have been appropriate to allow his car to be rescued. He also reported ‘aquaplaning at this corner’ which appears to have caught out him and Bianchi.

Having said that it’s not your usual situation when there’s a rain storm and you can’t judge how much rain there will be. They knew a typhoon was heading for the track days ago and that the start time was only two and a half hours before sunset. There was obvious potential for the race to be delayed and they had plenty of opportunity to move the race to an earlier start time but the circuit owners Honda refused. This seems like it would have been the sensible option but as so often happens in Formula 1, the sensible option is often the route least likely to be taken.

However, in the end I don’t believe that this had any effect on the race, it was just a wet race and it certainly didn’t really contribute to Bianchi’s accident. With hindsight, perhaps given the conditions there should have been a safety car when Sutil crashed.

For the future maybe there should be more cranes around circuits to pick up a car without having to send a recovery vehicle on to the track. Formula 1 cars are very low down and if striking a higher vehicle can have terrible consequences as Marussia know from the terrible incident with Maria de Villota during straight line testing in 2012.

Bianchi is part of the Ferrari driver academy and has been tipped to one day driver for the Scuderia after impressing during the last two years and scoring Marussia’s first points earlier this year. It can only be hoped he makes a full recovery.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Rosberg wins in Monaco as Mercedes civil war begins

The Monaco Grand Prix truly ignited the battle for the 2014 world championship. In the all Mercedes fight for the title Lewis Hamilton looked to be in the ascendancy. Having taken the points lead in Spain after his fourth successive win it was crucial for Nico Rosberg to strike back around the streets he won on last year.

Rosberg duly took the victory from pole position, holding off sustained pressure from Hamilton for most of the race. He made a perfect start and despite fuel issues during the middle part of the race kept it all under control to take his second win of the year and hit the front once again in the championship battle.

If Rosberg had lost out to Lewis for the fifth time in a row, then it was going to start looking rather sketchy as to whether he’d ever manage to take the fight to Lewis. Have no doubts it was essential that he won this race.

That meant he had to lead out from the start, the best place to do that is to start at the front of the grid. He did this under, shall we say, controversial circumstances. Every time the Formula 1 circus arrives in Monaco there is mention of how Michael Schumacher supposedly parked his car at La Rascasse in 2006 and blocked the track to prevent Fernando Alonso setting a better time during qualifying.

No wonder there was immediate suspicion on Rosberg as knowing he was down on his own provisional pole lap he locked up going into Mirabeau and ran down the escape road bringing out the yellow flags. The pressure certainly seemed to be getting to him at this point, but suddenly that pressure was transferred to Hamilton.

Hamilton was behind Rosberg on the track, and after the first laps had been set was just 0.059 slower. On the second run he was quicker at the first sector but backed off as the yellow flags waved for his team mates car, Hamilton’s chances of securing the most important pole position of the year were over. Immediately he thought it had been done on purpose and from there his head seemed to go, this was a race he desperately wanted to take pole at and win to demonstrate his dominance over Rosberg as he had intimated in the lead up. That it seemed like he'd been wrong in his efforts to do so struck him hard.

My initial reaction to the incident was it was just a mistake, a driver pushing too hard knowing he was slower than his first lap and knowing that Lewis often pulls it out of the bag on his final attempt, just like he’d done in Spain. In fact Rosberg has had previous at messing up his final attempt in qualifying a few times this year, perhaps it was no surprise it should happen again.

I still think it was just a mistake, I don’t think Rosberg is the kind of driver who would do this kind of thing deliberately. But when you look at the replays it does at least look like he unsettles the car with a few movements of the steering wheel before he actual locks up his left front tyre. He just manages to guide the car down the escape road, but even with that most drivers would know that would bring out the caution flags.

Only Rosberg knows but on this occasion you have to give him the benefit of the doubt especially with regards to what has happened in qualifying in previous races this year. What it did do is ignite the fire that’s been smoking away for the past few races as the Mercedes drivers have come to realise this title is going to be fought by themselves.

Hamilton particularly seems to be letting the pressure begin to get to him despite his four wins this year. He knows he’s the quicker of the two drivers, but he knows that with the advantage Mercedes have Rosberg is always going to be there. So when on the occasions that Rosberg is quicker, and amplified by Lewis’ non-finish in Australia, he knows Nico will stay close to him on points and on weekends such as this can retake the points lead.

Lewis looked just utterly downcast, he obviously feels something dodgy went on despite the stewards exonerating Rosberg from any wrong doing. He even went so far to say that these two karting buddies were no longer friends. He ignored Rosberg completely after qualifying and after the race too. Nico is taking a more light hearted approach and saying they are still friends but this battle is just going to get more and more intense.

I hope Lewis doesn’t let it get to him too much as in reality this title is his for the taking. He is the better race driver, but he has in the past sabotaged himself by not letting his driving do the talking. Monaco could well have been a pivotal weekend in the championship.

Lewis’ driving can be affected by his emotions, when he’s in a good place he’s brilliant, when he’s not it can start going wrong. He can’t let any paranoia creep in. He already started questioning the team on the radio for not pitting him earlier when the second safety car came out for Adrian Sutil’s crash. But Mercedes have a policy of favouring the lead car as most teams do, something he did actually acknowledge after the race.

Rosberg needed to steal the advantage this weekend and he did just that. He was fast all through practice and looked in general to have the edge over Lewis. He took pole position, he made a perfect start and never let Lewis get to him despite two safety car periods. In the closing stages Hamilton got something in his eye which cost him several seconds and left him vulnerable to attack from the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, who hounded him to the flag to make up the podium. Even during this period of the race Hamilton was more concerned with how far away Nico was rather than the fast catching Australian.

Whatever though, Rosberg took a fully deserved victory for Mercedes and with it there will now be two very distinct teams within the Mercedes garage. Canada can’t come soon enough for the next chapter in this title thriller.

Final Result:

1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes

2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

3. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull

4. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari

5. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India

6. Jenson Button - McLaren

7. Felipe Massa - Williams

8. Romain Grosjean - Lotus

9. Jules Bianchi - Marussia

10. Kevin Magnussen - McLaren

11. Marcus Ericsson - Caterham

12. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

13. Kamui Kobayashi - Caterham

14. Max Chilton - Marussia

R. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber - Accident

R. Valtteri Bottas - Williams - Power Unit

R. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso - Exhaust

R. Adrian Sutil - Sauber - Accident

R. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso - Exhaust

R. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - Turbo

R. Sergio Perez - Force India - Accident

R. Pastor Maldonado - Lotus - Fuel pump

all photo's taken from autosport.com