Hamilton wins despite threat of disqualification

Star of the race and winner

Lewis Hamilton climbed on to the top step of the podium, winner of the Italian Grand Prix. This podium stretches out above the crowd, often described as the best one of the year for the drivers with thousands of people immediately making their way on to the track to celebrate with the top three, waving their flags, chanting your name, or more likely the Ferrari driver they hope has made it there.

The tifosi may not have got the winner they hoped for but they still had Sebastian Vettel finishing second and former prancing horse hero Felipe Massa on the steps beside Hamilton. These two looked very happy, but what must Lewis have been thinking?

Pole position, fastest lap, leading every lap and winner yet his victory was in doubt. Mercedes were reported to the stewards for a tyre pressure infringement. There's a bit to this story, so pay attention. During the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, there were two tyre blow outs, one for Nico Rosberg's Mercedes during practice and the other for Sebastian Vettel while in third position two laps from the end.

Vettel was understandably annoyed and demanded answers. Pirelli have long been criticised for anything they do with the tyres as you can rarely please everyone, or even anyone in Formula 1. In reality, something that is difficult to comprehend by most teams, Pirelli do exactly as they are told. The tyres are like they are because that is what the FIA have asked them to do. 

Anyway, after the blow outs, a lot of muttered comments were suddenly a lot louder, that the tyres were unsafe and something must be done. Pirelli have given directions about how the tyres should be used, guidelines which haven't always been adhered too. However, despite doing a thorough analysis of the Belgian failures which determined that cuts to the tyre and not how they are constructed were to blame, Pirelli advised putting the tyre pressures up by 1psi after various discussions.

This was to be checked before the race and any team found to be in contravention of this would be reprimanded in some way. Well a few laps from the end of the race and with the win all but secured, Hamilton was radioed by his team and told not to ask questions, but to turn the engine up and go for it.

This was because they suspected they could be in for some sort of time penalty at best, disqualification at worst. As Hamilton stood on the podium, his win was under threat. It was the most serious challenge to his superiority all weekend and made for a tense ending that the race had failed to provide.

The stewards were deliberating why Hamilton's left rear tyre was 0.3psi below the pressure Pirelli had said. His team mate Rosberg's left rear was 1.1psi below. Firstly this rule amendment was brought in for safety but to run under is also a performance advantage here.

Finally, hours after the podium ceremony had finished, Hamilton was declared the winner after the circumstances were explained. When the tyres were fitted to the cars before they left the pit lane the pressures were correct. When they were checked on the grid after being allowed to cool because the tyre blankets were not connected, the pressures had dropped. There was no suggestion Mercedes had done this deliberately. 

It'll be interesting to see the fall out of this because any other engineer asked about it said it should probably be a disqualification. The procedure for checking tyre pressures is already being looked at for future events.

It would have made for a terrible end of the weekend for Mercedes, especially with Rosberg retiring from third place with an engine failure. As for Lewis though, he was invincible, leading from the start and never troubled. A champions performance.

The battles

Jenson Button had some memorable scraps as he vaulted from 15th on the grid up to ninth after the first corner. This power circuit was never going to suit McLaren Honda but he at least put up a fight as he slipped down the field to finish just 14th. He's beginning to look increasingly fed up with the progress the team are making, especially with Honda who claimed their engine was more powerful than also struggling Renault. 

As the French manufacturers cars streamed by the Japanese one's it was tempting to wonder if Honda might have become a bit delusional. I'll not be surprised to see Button leave rather than be pushed. His team mate Alonso had no hope for the race before it started, justifiably so as he retired six laps from the finish. 

There were some good scraps in the pack as after engine penalties had left the Red Bull's and the Toro Rosso's at the back of the grid, they made their way through. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat made in to the points, eighth and tenth respectively, Ricciardo grabbing his place with a last lap move on Marcus Ericsson's Sauber who it is fair to say was a bit annoyed about it. But it was Max Verstappen who made the move of the day on Ericsson's team mate Felipe Nasr into the first chicane with a fine move and exceptional precision on the brakes to come around the outside into turn one. Think about it, at nearly 220mph to 53mph in the blink of an eye, riding the edge of adhesion, but making sure to do later than the person you want to overtake. Great move.

A word on Ericsson though, who despite losing a place on the last lap still finished ninth for his third consecutive points finish. He's really beginning to show his talent now after looking like he might only be there because of the money he brought, but he's finally showing the form he had in the lower formulae.

Kimi Raikkonen provided some entertainment but perhaps not the sort he wanted to. After qualifying a best of the year second, Kimi claims a clutch problem caught him out and he dropped to the back of the field. He raced hard to finish fifth, but a podium is what he wanted. A shame for Kimi as he looked the match of his team mate Vettel who was second after a quiet run to second, apart from when Rosberg was catching him before the Mercedes drivers engine failure.

The Force India's of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth and seventh while Massa held off Valtteri Bottas in the other Williams to claim the final podium spot. Massa claimed he was getting too old for this but he looks to finally on the form he was in back in 2009 before his accident as he continues to outshine highly regarded Bottas.

Things of note

The grid for 2016 looks to be nearly set. All the seats at Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Williams, Toro  Rosso and Sauber are now confirmed as the same driver line up. Nico Hulkenberg has signed up for two more years at Force India as the top teams continue to ignore him.

I wrote earlier in the year that Perez's performances in the other Force India had begun to put Hulkenberg in the shade and this continues despite a mid season up turn after his win for Porsche in Le Mans. Perez had a go in a top team but he only lasted a year, if Hulkenberg really wants a go in a top team when a seat does become available then he has to start thrashing Perez, sadly I think he's missed the boat, but at least with another two years to try and impress he's not given up on the dream yet.

It'll also be interesting to see if McLaren keep Button as they seem to want to or if Button is just going to walk away. They also have Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne on their books, both looking for a drive next year. I think we could see both of them in lower grid teams to learn their trade.

After the podium high in Belgium, Romain Grosjean was bumped out of the race on the first lap while Pastor Maldonado broke the floor of his car as he was forced off the road during the opening corners. Lotus are meant to be being bought by Renault to turn them in to a works team, but original rumours had this being completed by now, so something is holding up the deal. Whatever it is they need it to happen soon for financial security as they are literally only just managing to turn up.

Finally, according to autosport Red Bull are understood to have exercised an option to get out of their Renault contract so they can have Mercedes engines for 2016. This might speed up the purchase of Lotus for Renault and it would also give us the mouth watering prospect of a proper title fight with Red Bull. However, would Mercedes want to give a top team the very real chance of beating them? For the good of Formula 1 and for competition, I hope so.

The title battle

Hamilton is now 53 points ahead of Rosberg and 74 ahead of Vettel. Is it game over? Some might say has there ever been a game to play this season? Well anything can happen, and there is still 175 points to race for. Rosberg has been outclassed all year, but this engine failure is likely to deprive him of much hope. Can he fight back, of course he can but the problem is he's had to fight back all year, but has rarely been able to. I think it's a nail in the coffin for his title hopes. Vettel just doesn't have the car to compete consistently.

In reality this is a demonstration run for Hamilton, it's that rare time in a drivers life, when they have the luxury of driving the best car while driving near the peak of their powers. When that happens it's hard for anyone else to get a look in, it seems to me newly blonde Hamilton is going to have a lot more fun in the coming races.

Result

1. Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Vettel - Ferrari
3. Massa - Williams
4. Bottas - Williams
5. Raikkonen - Ferrari
6. Perez - Force India
7. Hulkenberg - Force India
8. Ricciardo - Red Bull
9. Ericsson - Sauber
10. Kvyat - Red Bull
11. Sainz - Toro Rosso
12. Verstappen - Toro Rosso
13. Nasr - Sauber
14. Button - McLaren
15. Stevens - Marussia
16. Mehri - Marussia
R. Rosberg - Mercedes - engine
R. Alonso - McLaren - electrical
R. Grosjean - Lotus - collision
R. Maldonado - Lotus - collision

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

Three degrees of rookie success

There are three rookies in this season’s Formula 1 and each of them have so far had varying degrees of success. It’s a tough world at the top of motor sport. You can be a hero one race and a nobody the next race.

You can pull off a fantastic move which delights the fans, a few laps later you can outrage the fans as you push that little too far and take out a title contender. Ask Romain Grosjean about that.

Of the three that we’ve got this year I’m quite sad to say that Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson just doesn’t seem to have got a handle on the sport at all this year. He didn’t win the GP2 title but he was a race winner and it seems a shame that his first year in the sport could also be his last.

The Caterham is a no hoper, he was never going to set the world alight but he’s not shone against his team mate Kamui Kobayashi all year and couldn’t even beat Andre Lotterer who stepped into the car in Belgium and was almost immediately quicker. A man who hadn’t stepped into an F1 car since 2002.

He has the backing so maybe he’ll get another chance but although he hasn’t disgraced himself he hasn’t impressed anybody either. Of course with a hard luck story there is also someone else who has set the world alight.

Maybe it’s just me but I was expecting an awful lot from Kevin Magnussen. I wrote earlier in the year, admittedly a bit facetiously that he could well be the next Lewis Hamilton. Well there was a certain amount of truth in that, he was part of the McLaren young driver program, impressed in the junior formulae, was brought into the race team alongside a world champion and scored a podium on his debut in Australia.

It looked like he was about to set the world alight. But the McLaren is nowhere near as good as the one Lewis had. He also hasn’t had even half the testing miles Lewis prepared with. So the comparison was basically completely unfair, Kevin had a lot of learning to do.

It’s been a bit of an up and down season for Magnussen. Over the following races from his debut he was sometimes barely worthy of a mention. He was out-qualified and out raced a lot by Jenson Button, a driver who everyone knows on his day is unbeatable, but also that those days are few and far between at the moment.

The star which shone with such promise in March looked to be gradually fading, so much so that it has been rumoured that McLaren could replace him for 2015 along with Jenson Button. In truth it’s unlikely either of them will go as the driver market is fairly locked off this year, well so it seems.

But it would have been extremely unfair on Magnussen who has been more than competent and done well on a number of occasions through the year. He also had been used to winning in the junior formulae and was certainly not used to having to race mid pack. It was obviously a steep learning curve. But it’s in the most recent races he’s really reminded people of his presence out on the track, and in my opinion for all good reasons.

Ok, it was rude when he ran Fernando Alonso onto the grass in Belgium at 200mph but his defensive driving was hugely impressive during that Grand Prix. He out drove his team mate fairly comprehensively, only to suffer a penalty which dropped him out the points.

He suffered a similar fate when an incident which definitely shouldn’t have been penalised against Valtteri Bottas at the first chicane in Italy dropped him from seventh to tenth. It was a case of the stewards having an over reaction to a driver who might be being too aggressive, maybe it was to teach him a lesson. He does move the car a lot when defending which can be dangerous, but it’s also exciting.

Formula 1 needs drivers who excite and Magnussen is definitely one. After a fast start but then a slow middle he’s beginning to show the potential he looked like he had and that’s going to be great for the sport.

However the man who just seemed to be on it straight away and hasn’t been off it since is Russia's Daniil Kvyat driving for Toro Rosso. There were many who wondered why Red Bull had promoted him in front of some other juniors on their young driver program such as Antonio Felix da Costa or Carlos Sainz Jnr but lets remember he is the 2013 GP3 champion and has a lot of car racing experience behind him as well as having been a successful karter.

As soon as he came into Formula 1 he has been by far the most impressive. Just look at the Italian Grand prix as the perfect example. The team had to give him a 6th engine, breaking the maximum of five rule over a season at Monza thereby incurring a 10 place grid penalty. This season if you don't take all your penalty, for instance if you qualify 15th you're only dropping back seven places, then you are obliged to complete the penalty at the next race. God help the Caterham's and Marussia's!

Kvyat knew this and despite the circuit not exactly being a Toro Rosso friendly track as the Renault unit is significantly down on power compared to Mercedes he still managed to only just miss out on getting into the top 10. From 11th therefore he dropped to 21st. What followed is probably one of the drives of his season so far, he fought hard, unfortunately barely witnessed by the TV camera's to challenge Kimi Raikkonen for a point by the end.

In a Toro Rosso on a power track that is highly impressive. Unfortunately his brakes failed just as it looked he might sneak a point a few laps from home, but he still dragged it home in 11th and the save he made when his brakes did go was amazing. If only Formula 1 allowed you to stick a few videos up without hunting you down I'd show you.

Kvyat has also seen off Jean-Eric Vergne, the man who mostly matched the out standing driver of the year so far during their time at Toro Rosso, Daniel Ricciardo. It's not just perception though, it's borne out by results too. Even though Vergne leads Kvyat in qualifying 7-6 and in points by 11 - 8, it's not quite a true reflection. 

One thing that should be noted is that Kvyat is a rookie so these current results would be pretty impressive anyway, Vergne is still well rated. But actually if you disregard his Monza engine penalty then Kvyat would be leading Vergne 7-6, couple that with often getting into the top 10 and his qualifying speed shouldn't be too much in doubt. Vergne also may have got the better results with two eighth place finishes, but he has scored in just four races compared to Kvyat's five including his first two races. When both cars have finished it is Kvyat who has more often than not been ahead.

If Vergne could match Ricciardo, and Ricciardo can beat Vettel, then Kvyat must be awesome. Of course it is far too early to make judgements like that and circumstances change but Red Bull have to be commended for finding some truly exceptional talent. Kvyat made his debut at just 19 years old. Now only 20 he looks like he's being set up as team leader for next year for the precocious talent of Max Verstappen. Red Bull's newest kid is being promoted to Toro Rosso at just 17 years old after only one years worth of car experience since he left karting.

Compared to Verstappen, Kvyat is positively a veteran with several years of car racing experience behind him as well as his current year in Formula 1, not to mention he's actually allowed to drive on public roads. Have no doubt Verstappen will be a formidable rookie if he's prepared enough, but Kvyat has impressed greatly this year with only one minor misdemeanour when he tried to go round the outside of Sergio Perez but then spun rather clumsily in Germany.

That doesn't take anything away though, he has been impressive and continues to cement a growing reputation of someone who's going to be around the grid for quite some time. With this years inaugural Russian Grand Prix it couldn't come at a better time. It'll be interesting to see how his progress has been received in Russia and how much of a crowd they get at the Sochi circuit, built around the winter Olympics venue. One thing is sure though, he's been by far the most consistently impressive rookie of 2014 so far.

all photos taken from autosport.com