Rosberg wins in Brazil as Verstappen entertains

Nico Rosberg won the Brazilian Grand Prix in quite emphatic style from his fifth straight pole position. His Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton claimed he had the pace to beat Rosberg but just couldn't get close enough to pass, but in reality it looked like Rosberg had the world champion covered for the second race in a row.

Maybe if Rosberg had displayed this kind of driving earlier in the year we'd be looking forward to a title decider in Abu Dhabi in two weeks time but Hamilton has had him under the thumb for pretty much the entire season until the pressure was off when the the title was claimed two races ago in America.

It was a less than enthralling race which to be honest matches most of the races in 2015 with only a few epics to remind us how great Formula 1 can be. Once again as the battle at the front remained static it was left to the midfield to bring the entertainment and once again the driver doing most of the entertaining was Max Verstappen. 

This still only 18 year old superstar in the making was mixed up in the fight and for the umpteenth time is star of the race simply for the move he put on Sergio Perez into the Senna S, turns 1 and 2 of the lap.

With the down on power Renault power unit in the back of his Toro Rosso it was never going to be easy to pass for Verstappen or the other Red Bull affiliated cars. So when Verstappen got close enough to the Mercedes powered Force India of Perez it had to be a bit of a do or die move.

He had the DRS on the start finish straight and dived to the outside of turn one and just held it alongside Perez before hugging the kerb and the inside of turn two leaving Perez with the option of giving in or crashing. Perez wisely chose the former, Verstappen was through and went on to claim two points for ninth.

Verstappen has gotten better and better as the season has gone on, it's going to be so exciting to see him in a top car which isn't likely to be too far away.

Meanwhile at the front, Hamilton was asking to be switched to a different strategy in his attempts to get by Rosberg, but Mercedes have a policy that unless it's absolutely necessary then both drivers will run with the same strategy in the interests of fairness.

That is indeed fair enough, but for the entertainment factor there needed to be something different for one of them to provide us with a battle for the lead. Hamilton often closed the gap down, but Rosberg made no mistakes and as the tyres wore down was able to pull a gap to keep Lewis at bay.

There's meant to be a shake up in the rules for 2017 to allow the cars to stay closer to each other, therefore making overtaking easier. Unfortunately a lot of the sports commentators and even the drivers like Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are saying it looks like the direction these new rules are going to go to won't help at all. By allowing the cars pace to be dictated by the front wing and body work it means the car behinds airflow will always be spoiled by the car in front, leaving them with not enough down force to remain close.

If the the cars were given more grip by the tyres and ground effect aero was given more of a priority then this would change. Over the years I've heard this argument many times, but for whatever reason the rule makers are not listening. So even though I applaud the sport for wanting to make the cars look better, sound better and go up to six seconds a lap faster, what's the point if the racing isn't going to be any better? 

Rule changes often allow the bigger teams to increase the gap over the midfield anyway and once again we could end up with one team dominant. If the main aim is to increase competition there is an argument to leave the rules as they are as time and again it's been proven that stability in regulations closes the field up.

There's also been a lot of talk about how to make Formula 1 more competitive in general. Well first thing first is to give the teams equal money. Fine if some teams can acquire more sponsorship, I guess that's just life, but why not let the teams have an equal starting point? I hope the European Competition commission will rip up the current contracts giving some teams a hugely inequitable amount of money and see to it that all teams are paid the same.

For the good of the sport it's about time the teams stopped thinking of just themselves. In a perfect world, all the teams would be paid the same amount with the only difference being the money they get from their finishing position in the constructors championship the previous year. However, that is going to take years to sort out. For the fastest sport in the world, sorting anything out fairly is like watching a snail go from one end of the garden and back. I'm sure it's an interesting journey though.

Formula 1 has it's problems but it shouldn't be forgotten that generally speaking there also isn't too much wrong with the product, there shouldn't be knee jerk reactions just because something isn't working out for a year.

All sports have their seasons where there isn't as much competition at the top but F1 hasn't had it so bad, in 6 of the past 10 seasons the championship has gone down to the last race. There is plenty of competition, sometimes it just takes a while to come together, or as in the case this year, one driver is just simply head and shoulders above the rest which should be admired and not criticised.

However, silly ideas like reverse grids, success ballast, qualifying races and the like have no place in Formula 1. This sport is meant to be the pinnacle and artificial ways of spicing up the entertainment so directly should not be encouraged. Perhaps there could be less practice but a qualifying race isn't a good idea, it would take away from the main event.

If anything perhaps one way of helping keep competition closer is to stop the teams at the front from developing their cars for a few races so others can have a chance at catching up. For instance in a 20 race season, after the first five races, the teams at the top would be held to keep their car in that spec until the final five races and the title run in. 

Teams behind would continue to be allowed to develop but if they haven't caught up in a certain time frame then it's tough luck, they've had their chance. Of course top teams would fight against this, but if they were suddenly in a position that say McLaren find themselves in I'm sure they'd love it. It's a rough sketch, but it gives opportunities for those behind to catch up while leaving the sporting action still a sport and not WWE.

Having said all that with the the current rules generally stable for a third season, next year looks to be shaping up nicely with Ferrari and Vettel on course to give Hamilton and Mercedes a serious run for their money. Speaking of Vettel, he finish third with some good race pace not far off the Mercedes, while his team mate Kimi Raikkonen was a lonely fourth.

Valtteri Bottas in the Williams had the start of the day moving from seventh to fifth where he stayed. Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was sixth, Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull was seventh, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado in the Lotuses were eighth and tenth. Maldonado managed to hit Marcus Ericsson for which he received a 5 second penalty. Both cars managed to continue so that's positive.

Felipe Massa in the other Williams was originally eighth but was disqualified when his right rear tyre was 0.1 psi above the minimum tyre pressure Pirelli allow. The tyre blanket was also 27C hotter than the 110C maximum allowed. For various reasons Williams are appealing as their independent measurements show the tyre was within the required tyre pressures. All very exciting.

McLaren disappointed again but at least Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso got to the finish. Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull started from the back after an engine penalty but could only work his way up to 12th. Speaking of Red Bull all their bluster and threats of leaving the sport have come to nothing. What a surprise when their contract to get paid more money from the commercial rights holders and holds them to the sport until 2020 also stipulates they'd have to pay about half a billion to leave. It looks like they will be back with Renault next season but with the possibility of developing the engine themselves.

Anyway, the F1 circus rolls on to Abu Dhabi now where hopefully we'll get an epic finale to take us into the winter with fond memories of what has otherwise been a less than thrilling campaign.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Rosberg wins Mexican race, Bottas takes brilliant podium

Star of the race

Valtteri Bottas took the final podium place for Williams at the Mexican Grand Prix with a fine drive from 6th on the grid. He made a good start to be battling with the Red Bulls immediately and put a simple but effective DRS assisted move on Daniil Kvyat to move into third place.

What was most impressive was his move on Kimi Raikkonen. I've often thought that Bottas backs out far too often when fighting wheel to wheel but on this occasion he kept his foot in against Kimi. The Ferrari was on worn tyres and having to defend after starting on the medium compound after a poor qualifying and a penalty. 

The Williams had just pitted and was soon chasing down Kimi. He made a move into turn 4, hanging around the outside, Kimi turned in on Bottas leaving the Ferrari out of the race with damaged rear suspension, but luckily for Bottas he survived to score his first podium since the Canadian race in June.

The Winner

Lewis Hamilton may have just been crowned world champion for a third time but it was his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg who drove a brilliant race to remind Lewis and the team he s still a force to be reckoned with... Occasionally.

Rosberg was pretty much flawless all weekend taking his fourth pole position in succession then making a perfect start and leading start to finish not counting the pit stops. Every time Hamilton made a charge, Rosberg was able to counter it with another fastest lap. There were no mistakes and he drove to the chequered flag to take probably his best win of the year.

After Hamilton's decimation of Rosberg this year, it shows Nico's character that he can still bring out a great performance when perhaps he'd just want this season to be done with. If only he could've driven like this every weekend then the title chase might have been a bit closer.

Lewis seemed a bit annoyed when Mercedes chose to pit Rosberg as a precaution and them himself. He stayed out for an extra two laps as he debated with the team why he needed to pit, he felt he could make the tyres last to the end but the team overruled him with a few terse radio messages and eventually Hamilton pitted to fall behind Rosberg once again and take the runner up spot.

Vettel had a terrible race as he suffered with what seemed like braking issues, spinning off once before later crashing and bringing out the safety car. With both Ferrari's out it was their worst race of the year by far. 

Both Red Bull's were fairly competitive in the thinner air pressure of Mexico City as it stands well above sea level. Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth and fifth with the other Williams of Felipe Massa finishing sixth.

The Force India's were strong once again, with Nico Hulkenberg getting the better strategy to beat home hero Sergio Perez, seventh and eighth respectively. Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean completed the top ten. McLaren were out of their depth in Mexico, Fernando Alonso retiring after just one lap. 

The battles


Lots of battles down the field, although the one everyone wanted was the Mercedes cars going wheel to wheel. They remained close all race but there was to be no scrapping. The Williams and Red Bull's provided plenty of close racing as did the Toro Rosso's and Force India's with Carlos Sainz particularly displaying some wild driving.

Kimi was charging well before his accident and Vettel seemed to be involved in incident and action throughout his shortened race.

Things of note
The first Mexican Grand Prix since 1992 was packed to capacity, the appetite for Formula 1 was huge in the central American country. It just goes to show that you don't always need to end up in countries where they have no motor sport tradition but their government has a blank cheque to build a track which ends up being a soulless empty shell that swiftly gets abandoned.

Red Bull and Honda are apparently in talks to finally get some engines for 2016. This story looks like it will run for a while but McLaren certainly don't want it to happen if Honda come good next season after the hell they've been through this year.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Hamilton moves closer to the title as Perez stars

Star of the race

Sergio Perez deserved a little luck as he claimed his and Force India's first podium at the Russian Grand Prix since Bahrain last year. It was a fantastic drive of which Perez has become quite renowned, converting an unconventional strategy into a brilliant result.

The Mexican was one of the drivers to pit under the second safety car which had come out to remove the wreckage of Romain Grosjean's Lotus following a rather dramatic accident. The top eight or so cars stayed out while Perez dived in for fresh rubber after running as high as sixth.

With well over half the race to go he settled down to make his tyres last the distance. As the front runners pitted, Perez moved up the order. Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull was on a similar strategy but neither could hold off a charging Sebastian Vettel.

However, the battling Finn's of Williams' Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen proved easier to keep behind as they squabbled for position. Eventually they found their way past Ricciardo and started to harry Perez, but this was a podium position, Perez wasn't just going to move over. Ricciardo retired later with a suspension issue.

Perez kept them behind but a lap from the end Williams told Bottas to turn everything up on the engine, he went for a gap and pushed Perez wide, Kimi immediately followed through and was on the Williams' tail. There was nothing he could do, the tyres were finished.

Into the last lap Perez watched as the Williams and Ferrari pulled away, but Kimi was challenging. An improbable closing gap became so tempting, the Ferrari went for it, and smashed into the side of Bottas, pushing the Williams out and damaging the red car. Kimi would limp home 5th but was later penalised with a 30 second penalty dropping him to eighth.

Perez was back into third place, disappointment turned to joy once more, Force India were delighted. It was another demonstration of Perez maximising an unexpected opportunity. He's really shone this year, despite the continual hype around his team mate Nico Hulkenberg who spun out at the first corner and collected Marcus Ericsson's Sauber to force both into retirement bringing out the first safety car.

As I've written before Perez's performances have made people question just how good Hulkenberg is, but I find that unfair, Perez is a very good driver in his own right and both deserve a crack at a winning car one day.

The winner

Lewis Hamilton lost out to pole position to his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg who was on it all weekend in Sochi. At the start, Lewis got alongside Nico but had to settle for second before the first corner accident brought out the first safety car. 

It looked like finally we were going to have a great tussle for victory between the Mercedes drivers, but sadly for the race Rosberg retired shortly after the restart due to a throttle problem. It left Hamilton away and clear never to be troubled again as he put on a demonstration run to the chequered flag.

His win and Kimi's demotion meant Mercedes clinched their second consecutive constructors championship with four races still to run. 

The battles

The Ferrari's battling was quite nice but Vettel managed to get by Kimi fairly easily in the end. Bottas started well but was taken over by Vettel during the pit stops. While the lead Ferrari took second to keep his title hopes dimly lit, Bottas was embroiled in a great fight with Kimi which as I've said, ended in Bottas exclaiming 'What the **** was he doing?'

The Toro Rosso's were once again a source of entertainment as they came back from various problems. Max Verstappen suffered a puncture after getting caught up in the Hulkenberg incident and fought back but could only manage 11th which became 10th after a penalty to Fernando Alonso for exceeding track limits. His team mate Carlos Sainz put in a heroic drive despite failing to finish because of brake problems.

He started last on the grid after a huge 46g impact in third practice sent him to hospital resulting in him missing qualifying. He was ok to race though and stormed through to be running as high as seventh before his brakes hurt enough.

The McLaren's of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso finished 9th and 10th (which became 11th) after the high number of retirements, they were still lacking top end speed and it was painfully noticeable. When the recovering Felipe Massa in the Williams came up to the back of Alonso, the team radioed to tell him he was racing Massa to which he replied 'you have a good sense of humour'. After the season he's had, to lose a point sums his season up as he celebrated his 250th Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa had a terrible qualifying to only line up 15th while Bottas was third. Massa mounted a comeback, going for a long first stint on soft tyres before switching to the super soft rubber and charging through, taking advantage of his team mates demise to end up a fine fourth. Behind him Russian home hero Daniil Kvyat was involved in some good dicing, Felipe Nasr rose up from 13th on the grid to a great 6th place and Pastor Maldonado had an uncharacteristically quiet drive to 7th, all finishing positions one up thanks to Kimi's penalty.

Things of note

The European Union Competitions commission has been notified of two complaints from Sauber and Force India regarding Formula 1's governance and inequitable distribution of funds to the teams. I truly hope something comes of this as the way money is distributed and the way the sport is run in general is completely unfair to the small teams in particular, not to mention the circuits as well.

Formula 1 and the teams need to think of the greater good now, the sport, and not just themselves. It needs someone to step in with a clean sheet of paper and start again with a new model and get rid of this money grabbing attitude from CVC, the private equity firm that owns the sports commercial rights.

CVC need to go, they have sucked everything they can from the sport and have left it hanging on the edge with viewing figures down, therefore sponsors payments are decreasing and teams are struggling and traditional circuits are being squeezed out for government backed new ones which have no tradition and no audience just for an extra dollar. 

Of course the TV figures lead people to believe the sport is struggling as a product, but when you sell the rights to pay TV broadcasters, what do you expect? It's short term monetary gain but the actual viewer base is diminished and therefore sponsors get less exposure. 

The product is fine, and nothing too bad that a few small tweaks wouldn't cure. An overhaul of the weekend format is pointless, there's nothing wrong with it. Having qualifying races or reverse grids sound exciting, but it's then less of a sport and more of an entertainment product, it loses it's worth as a sport.

You can't always have last race title deciders, sometimes a team and driver will just be a step ahead and there's nothing wrong with that, it's sport, it's up to the other teams to do better and try and beat the best. What would help with that of course is a more even distribution of funds that would allow 11 teams to compete on a more even keel. With $1.8billion income you'd think that would be easy wouldn't you? Hopefully the EU Competition commission will act, but even if they do it could be years before anything comes of it.

In other news, Button has agreed to race on for McLaren, citing miscommunication with the team for why he was contemplating retirement. It's good for Button but it does leave McLaren juniors Kevin Magnussen and new GP2 champion Stoffel Vandoorne with nowhere to go. Both are exciting talents and deserve a seat somewhere. Hopefully something will be found, maybe even at McLaren as you get the sense that Alonso is getting increasingly fed up, although he probably will stay.

Red Bull look like they are going to have to beg Renault's forgiveness as Ferrari look to have rejected a deal to supply them with power units for 2016. After all the acrimony between Red Bull and Renault it's going to be a hard sell, but the sport can't afford to just let two teams disappear. I'm sure something will happen. Meanwhile Renault have still yet to seal the deal on taking over Lotus. And Finally, Pirelli will remain as the sports sole tyre supplier as they fend off Michelin to win the next three year contract starting in 2017.


The title chase

Hamilton needs to score 11 points more than Vettel and 2 more than Rosberg at the next race in the USA to wrap up his third world championship. He's taken two wins there in the past three years so odds are on the pretence of a title fight will finally be over. Hamilton has dominated pretty much from the first race and this title will be nothing more than he deserves. 

Rosberg has fallen short all year, yes his retirement in Russia has hurt him, but even then he hasn't been in the hunt for some time. The fact Vettel is now ahead of him in a car which although much improved over 2014 is not a match for a Mercedes shows he hasn't been able match Hamilton at all this year. It also demonstrates just how well Vettel has returned to form after his struggles last season.

It's too early to declare it completely over, but I'm pretty sure the championship trophy is sitting there waiting for the engraver to start cutting Hamilton's name once again.

all photos taken from auto-motor-und-sport.de

Alonso still giving everything as Hamilton returns to form in Japan

Star of the race

In 2012 Fernando Alonso put together one of the most near perfect title campaigns in recent memory in a Ferrari that was decidedly second best. Sometimes even third best. The only thing that took the gloss off that year was that he failed to win the title but oh how he battled to the very end.

A few years on and with Ferrari having consistently failed to build the great Spaniard a car capable of winning the title Alonso moved to McLaren, a team which has fallen from such great heights but with Honda was surely going to reach the summit sooner rather than later...

This season was always going to be a struggle for the McLaren Honda combo, but did anyone expect them to fail to deliver so, well to quote Alonso, so embarrassingly? In a way it's been written in the recent history of the sport. McLaren have been plagued consistently by in-consistence. They've not been a dominant package for nearly 20 years, their race day management has often been middling, their pit stops not to envy and their cars have been very much hit and miss and when they've hit they've often then missed.

It's not an enviable track record. But the romance of McLaren Honda, looking back on their four years of domination from 1988 to 1991, driven by the late great Ayrton Senna, the childhood hero of most of the today's grid, oh to be the driver to recreate that glory. Alonso took that chance, to resurrect this fallen team and place it back at the top, to reach that summit and be victorious once more.

How easy it is to shatter dreams. McLaren have been nowhere, Alonso isn't wrong to say it's embarrassing, Honda have come into the sport woefully under prepared and the chassis although better, wouldn't compete with the best, at least not yet. And there, there is the uncertainty that surrounds McLaren Honda.

It could all get better next year, but Honda are so far behind it's surely going to take longer than that. And it's not just Honda, the team are demotivated, they haven't had a title sponsor for years now and don't appear near signing one leaving a budget shortfall for 2016. How long before they fall even further? But this is McLaren and Honda, of course they'll succeed...

They have the ingredients for winning, but how long will it take? With Jenson Button already contemplating retirement over another year of pain how long was it going to take Alonso to ponder on the same thing? The rumours surfaced in Japan that perhaps both drivers, despite contracts, would take early retirement. After all, Button and Alonso are both former champions, they're not in the early years of their careers anymore, they're here to win not battle for 14th with little light on the horizon.

Team Chairman Ron Dennis believes that both his drivers will be at the team next season, but they're going to have to improve a lot to keep Alonso in particular much longer. The fact Dennis has said he will speak to his driver about his radio comments which included saying his engine was like one from GP2 while the Honda top brass were in attendance is likely to cause a rift with a driver as volatile as Alonso can be. 

His eyes are wondering, he's thinking of other things, perhaps a go at Le Mans. Is his will to gain his much longed for third title still as strong as it comes up to 10 years since he last won the biggest prize in motor sport? How much longer can he watch on as his main rivals Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton keep on racking up the wins? He must be thinking it should be him. 

Alonso isn't blameless, he's created a reputation as being difficult and not the best of team players, he's made several decisions which have left him in an uncompetitive environment. But he still gives his all.

In Japan, Alonso battled hard keeping behind cars and drivers he should be beating with ease for as long as he could. That he finished 11th despite his frustrations boiling over, that he keeps on giving his most shows that he hasn't given up and he will win again, whether that's in Formula 1 though remains to be seen. But in my mind, after everything this year has thrown at him, that he hasn't just thrown in the towel and still pushes as hard as he does makes him my star of the race.

The Winner

So was the atrocious last race in Singapore just a blip in Mercedes otherwise dominant 2015 campaign? Yes, yes it was. Lewis Hamilton was back on top form this weekend. He lost out on pole position to his team mate Nico Rosberg after a huge crash for Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull lost Lewis his second run at the top slot.

It didn't matter though as he executed the start perfectly. Drawing alongside Rosberg, Lewis had the inside line for turn one, Rosberg tried to hang on around the outside but Hamilton hung him out to dry, leaving him no room and taking the racing line, Rosberg ran out of road and dropped to fourth behind Vettel's Ferrari and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

Lewis was away and clear, Mercedes were back in a big way. He was dominant throughout, setting a fastest lap a clear second quicker than anyone else. Eventually he won by over 18 seconds to extend his title lead to 48 points.

Rosberg still holds second place in the championship but more and more he looks like a man who knows the game is up, perhaps for as long as he remains Lewis' team mate at Mercedes. Rosberg is a capable driver but as I've said before, it's like Webber with Vettel at Red Bull. Once beaten, always beaten. His words are meaningless, the fight he keeps talking about is simply not there. Not this year.

He put on a good battle today though, passing Bottas into the final chicane and getting ahead of Vettel in the second round of pit stops to take the runner up spot. Vettel's heroics of last weekend weren't to be repeated as he took third. Kimi Raikkonen took fourth after undercutting Bottas, the Williams driver taking fifth. 

The battles

Behind the top five there were plenty of other midfield scraps that caused interest, most with a McLaren heading a line of cars waiting to pass involving Red Bulls and Saubers with the Toro Rosso's playing a part before they got ahead for good. Max Verstappen running his car to the edge as always came from 17th on the grid to finish ninth, one place ahead of his team mate Carlos Sainz. It was another good drive from Max despite a grid penalty for causing a blockage during Q2 when his car failed.

Nico Hulkenberg could have been star of the race after charging up from 13th to finish sixth. He had an impressive first lap to be eighth before jumping the two Lotus cars during the first pit stops. Both Lotus' were in good shape with Romain Grosjean once again leading the charge while Pastor Maldonado had a solid outing as they came home seventh and eighth respectively.

The Red Bull's had a torrid time with Daniil Kvyat starting from the back after his qualifying crash, he made some progress but after various problems could only finish 13th. Daniel Ricciardo was 15th after a clash at the start with the Williams of Felipe Massa left both with a puncture on the opening lap. This incident also helped push Sergio Perez in the Force India out wide too to leave him just 12th. 

Alexander Rossi beat Will Stevens again in the Manor Marussia battle at the back. A spin from Stevens proved decisive, but at least in race mode Rossi looks like he has a lot of potential while Stevens hopes of remaining on the grid next year have taken a dive.

Things of note

Red Bull are still struggling to find an engine for 2016. With their partnership with Renault almost certainly done and Mercedes having rejected a deal it looks like their only option is with Ferrari. However, Ferrari are not keen on supplying Red Bull with the latest specification of engine, they would prefer to supply a year old one, something Red Bull find unacceptable as they look to challenge for the title once again.


And that's the thing that put Mercedes off supplying them. Despite suffering their worst season since 2008, Red Bull still have one of the best chassis around, it's only their power unit that's holding them back. What Mercedes and now Ferrari are worried about is if they supply them with a power unit, they'll beat them with their own product. It's understandable why both are worried about the consequences of supplying Red Bull, but you hope for the good of the sport this is something that is resolved quickly otherwise we could find four cars missing from the grid next year.

Let's not even get started on Lotus, although I feel compelled too. With administration looming if they don't meet a court order on Monday (28th September) then it could possibly be six cars down next season. Renault are still in talks to buy the team and it is to be hoped the deal is completed as soon as possible. 

It's readily known that these power units are complicated pieces of kit, so it seems odd that engine deals are still going on so late in the day when the design process for 2016 must be well on the way. To just slot a different engine in is not the work of a moment. Maybe a very long moment. But with Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Lotus as well as potentially Manor all changing their power units next season I expect testing to be fairly fraught for all.

Romain Grosjean is expected to be announced as the lead driver the new Haas F1 team, which joins the grid next season. With links to Ferrari, Grosjean is hoping to use this seat as a way of getting into the Ferrari team should Kimi Raikkonen retire as expected in 2016.

The title chase

Vettel lies 59 points behind Hamilton with five races to go. Yes Rosberg is a bit closer but if Vettel somehow gets on a charge Mercedes will only put their full support behind Lewis, including Rosberg. 

Hamilton is control, unless he loses control, then I should think he's already clearing a space in his trophy cabinet. 


Result:

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

all photos taken from autosport.com

Vettel takes Singapore win while Mercedes flounder

Star of the race

Sebastian Vettel was brilliant, from a fantastic pole position where he lapped half a second quicker than anyone else to a brilliant race performance where he controlled from the front to take his third win of the year for Ferrari and the 42nd of his career.

In the run up to this modern classic under the lights, all the talk in Singapore was of Lewis Hamilton matching Ayrton Senna's career statistics of 41 wins from 161 starts. But Mercedes were nowhere all weekend, not just behind the Ferrari's but behind the Red Bull's too. Hamilton eventually retired to remain on 40 wins, but it was Vettel, nine career starts behind Lewis who actually overtook Senna's 41 wins to line up third in the all time list behind just Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost.

Someone who has the potential to create his own incredible statistics is a young 17 year old driving for Toro Rosso called Max Verstappen. The hype surrounding this kid has been immense all year. It's thoroughly justified although it does obscure the fact that his equally talented but ever so much older team mate Carlos Sainz (a positively ancient 20 years old) is driving just as well in his rookie campaign.

It's Verstappen with the headlines though and on the strength of this performance it is totally deserved. Aggression, on the edge, sublime passing moves, incredible speed mixed up with a bit of selfishness that characterises many of the greats of the past, his first Singapore Grand Prix was brilliant. 

He was hooked up around this tight street circuit immediately. It is one of the toughest races of the year often going up to the race time limit of two hours, 61 laps of constant direction change trapped between unforgiving concrete walls under intense heat and humidity that would sap the energy of any high performance athlete. 

It all came so naturally to Verstappen, he put his car up against the walls, skimming the paint work, always pushing. He qualified just eighth but possibly could have been mixing it with the struggling Mercedes cars. Off the start there was nothing, everyone luckily avoided him and by the time he got going after he was pushed into the pit lane he was a lap down.

A safety car on lap 12 caused by Felipe Massa's Williams and Nico Hulkenberg's Force India colliding as Massa came out of the pit lane enabled him to unlap himself. Hulkenberg got a 3 place grid penalty for Japan although a bit undeserved. From then on it was charging all the way. A second safety car was scrambled after a lunatic man crossed the track and decided to stroll down as cars sped past at nearly a couple of hundred miles an hour. He was later arrested. 

This helped Verstappen more, but it was the way he scythed through the field and how he managed his super soft tyres on his last stint that was so impressive. His move on Romain Grosjean's Lotus was great to watch and enabled him to hunt down Sergio Perez's Force India, but he couldn't pass the Mexican and finished eighth. He was the most lively entertaining driver on the track. Perhaps sometimes he's too on the limit, there are definitely some rough edges that need to be smoothed down but it was a great performance nevertheless.

In ninth came his team mate Carlos Sainz who also suffered trouble when his car lapsed into neutral at the second safety car restart losing him a lot of places. His recovery was just as good in its own way, but by then he was following Verstappen. His team actually asked Verstappen to move out of the way to allow Sainz through to attack Perez, something the Dutchman refused to do. In the end his team boss backed his decision. When all the world is praising your team mate and backing him up when he defies team orders, it can't be easy on Sainz who has been the unluckier driver this year but has often shown equal speed. 

But there's something about Verstappen, it may seem to be adding enormous pressure to the shoulders of someone so young when talking of him not taking long to get to 41 wins as well, but he's shown already this season, he can handle it.

The winner

So up at the front Vettel did lead. His scarlet Ferrari looked beautifully on the limit under the lights, there isn't one person on the grid who has taken on the challenge of this track as well as the four time world champion. Winning three on the bounce from 2011, he even led last seasons race at one point in a year full of strife. It was no surprise to see him in the mix again this time round.

But the dominance was what was so surprising. The fact he led so well and so easily was startling. No one expected Mercedes to be so humbled this year but they were nowhere. It was Vettel's former team mate at Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo who led the charge behind.

I think it could have been a closer race without the safety car periods, both coming at a pit stop time that may have skewed the result slightly. It's by no means certain but Red Bull had some serious race pace and were looking after the tyres better than anyone. As the first stint drew to a close, Ricciardo was closing Vettel down.

The Ferrari driver had streaked off into the distance in the first couple of laps. Actually that's a bit of a Vettel trademark, usually before he backs off and controls the race. This time though, it looked like he may have taken too much out of his tyres, Ricciardo was catching but then came the Massa Hulkenberg incident and the stint was cut short as everyone dived for fresh rubber.

This time Vettel was cannier, taking it easy and backing Ricciardo and his Ferrari team mate Raikkonen up. It even began to make Hamilton, sitting two seconds back in fourth, believe he could have a chance at the victory as he had taken the opposite strategy to the front runners and taken on soft tyres leaving the final stint to the super softs where techically he would have a pace advantage.

In reality Ferrari and Red Bull had too much for the silver cars this weekend. After he'd trundled around for several laps Vettel bolted and opened up a gap as easy as you like. Ricciardo responded but he couldn't keep up. It was good race from the Aussie, but he probably didn't quite have the speed to properly challenge. Kimi couldn't match his team mate but still claimed his second podium of the season with third. Meanwhile Sebastian had this race in his grasp and he wasn't about to let it go.

It would have been interesting to see how the race might have played out without the safety cars but I think Vettel had the Red Bull covered to take a fine win that gives him just a glimmer of hope in the title chase.

The battles

The Singapore circuit has always been a bit difficult to pass on and in truth this race was a bit processional, but there was plenty going on with the safety cars and for some reason there were also a lot of pit stop problems for the teams with wheel guns jamming and several cars appeared to have electrical problems when their cars went into neutral. 

Still there were a number of trains built up in the early stages with Nico Rosberg holding up several cars and Fernando Alonso doing the same a bit further down.

As mentioned the Toro Rosso drivers provided plenty of entertainment as did the Sauber's and the Lotus'. McLaren's Jenson Button hit Pastor Maldonado as they battled after the safety car restart, something which Button firmly pinned on the Venezuelan.

The race was shaping up nicely after the first safety car as Vettel held up the pack. It was a shame Hamilton's car developed a loss of power as it would have been interesting to see what happened as he lay fourth. He dropped down the field quickly and retired for the first time this year. 

In a way it was fortunate for Lewis that his Mercedes team were off the pace this weekend as it meant Nico Rosberg only claimed fourth to get just 12 points back in the championship. Valtteri Bottas plugged away for Williams to take fifth as his team mate Massa retired due to electrical problems. Daniil Kvyat in the second Red Bull had qualified fourth but lost out in a big way during the pit stops to finish a disappointing sixth. Perez held off the hard charging Toro Rosso's while Felipe Nasr picked up the final point for Sauber.

Things of note

So, well, Mercedes have been dominating the entire year, sometimes a second quicker than the opposition then they turn up in Singapore and qualify over 1.5 seconds off Vettel's pole position time. What happened? Well I'm not sure, and neither I think are the team. The drivers reported no problems with the car, it seems they simply didn't have the pace.

There are theories that the controversial tyre pressures that were so talked about at Monza might have played their part. It's also true that this is not a power track so they couldn't use their number one weapon. But their chassis is brilliant too and they were great around Monaco, so they should have been good around here too.

Ferrari have put a whole bunch of new parts on their car, while Red Bull's power deficit wasn't going to hurt them so much here and as Ricciardo has said, they've been improving the car a lot since Hungary. It seems while those teams were having a very good weekend Mercedes were just having a very off weekend. It'll be very interesting to see what occurs next weekend in Japan where if Mercedes are beaten again, then intrigue will increase on just what is going on. For now, this weekend can just be put down to a blip.

In the driver market it looks certain that Romain Grosjean is off to new team Haas for 2016. It has a lot of links with Ferrari and they should be well prepared so maybe it will be a good move for the future. As Lotus look increasingly like they'll be bought by Renault it also means he'll avoid having to drive one of their power units next year!

Jenson Button is making a lot of off the cuff comments about McLaren and his situation there, towing the party line in an interview with Sky before joking that he'll tell the truth once off air. He also made a few funny radio calls to the team that seemed to be saying I don't really care any more. He retired from the race after various struggles but still was in the points before his incident with Maldonado and then eventual gearbox related retirement. I don't think we'll see Jenson in Formula 1 next year and I think it's his choice too.

Alonso also retired his McLaren after running in the points but in the end it was another dismal weekend for the team who are also now facing a budget deficit for 2016. This was one of the richest teams in the sport a few years ago, always at least challenging for wins, it's a despressing sight for all concerned to see just how far they have fallen in such a short space of time. Honda show no signs of improvement, it's going to be a hard road back to the top from here.

Red Bull look set for Ferrari engines, but after challenging Ferrari for the win in Singapore with a poor engine will the Scuderia go the way of Mercedes and think why should we supply them with our power units when they could then beat us with our own equipment. I think common sense will prevail and Red Bull will get their engines. Rumours of an eventual link up with the VW/Audi group continue to grow too.


One final note, American Alexander Rossi made his debut with Marussia this weekend replacing Roberto Merhi. He did a good job, although he qualified last I don't think his lap was representative and he proved it by out racing Will Stevens who has been driving all year. 

The title chase

Hamilton may have retired but he is still 41 points ahead of Rosberg and was ahead of him when his problem struck. Rosberg isn't the problem, however Vettel has got the gap down to 49 points, under two race wins worth of points. 

If somehow Ferrari can carry this form into the next few races then from out of nowhere we have a title fight on our hands. It's a big if though, don't be surprised to see Hamilton back on the top step in Japan next Sunday.

Result

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

all photos taken from autosport.com

Grosjean storms to podium as Hamilton wins

Star of the race

Romain Grosjean was the undoubted star of the Belgian Grand Prix as he rose up the order from ninth on the grid to take the final podium place with a tremendous carefully constructed drive which demonstrated that despite the problems Lotus have had over the last 18 months he is still a driver of the top drawer and one that deserves a crack at a top team.

He qualified a brilliant fourth but was forced to take a five place grid penalty due to a gearbox problem that relegated him to ninth. A fine start ensued he was mixing it with the Red Bull's, Williams' and Ferrari's as soon as the lights went out.

He made some great DRS assisted moves along the Kemmel Straight into Les Combes, particularly on Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo, always leaving them enough room but giving them no opportunity to get back at him. They were sweetly executed, he really is one of the finest overtakers currently in the sport.

After the rounds of pit stops, most going for a two stop strategy, Grosjean lay in fourth place behind Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari which was attempting to just pit the once. Vettel questioned the decision but with two laps left and the Lotus hunting him down his right rear Pirelli let go shredding itself down Kemmel, Grosjean swept past to take his first podium since 2013. 

It was a starring drive which offered the cash strapped team a well deserved fillip. Rumours go Renault are looking to buy back Lotus and make them a works team once again, although there are further stories linking Renault with Force India. Both teams are currently using the dominant Mercedes power unit so surely a switch to the rather lame Renault unit would be a step back, at least until they get it right, if they do.

For now though the team can bask in a fantastic performance, which might have been even better had Pastor Maldonado not encountered an engine problem.

The winner

World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton extended his lead to 28 points over his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg after a dominat win. This race was the first with the new start rules which forbid the teams from telling the drivers to alter the clutch settings after they leave the pit lane to go to the grid. It made little difference, although Rosberg did get a poor start which left him down in fifth.

Hamilton made a good enough start to lead into the first corner. The only slight wobble in his whole afternoon was on the first lap when he came over the top of Raidillon, getting just slightly out of shape which allowed Sergio Perez's Force India to slip stream him up the hill getting slightly ahead before having to back out.

Hamilton was away and clear and never looked back. Rosberg fought his way through and used good strategy to get into second but once again never looked like troubling his team mate. Rosberg really has sadly slipped into the role of Mark Webber against Vettel at Red Bull. Any real threat of a title battle between the two is just an illusion and one which is getting increasingly easy to see through.

Vettel was an outside bet to challenge and as he lay third in the closing laps it looked like he had plucked an unlikely result out of the air after starting just eighth. After his tyre let go he fell out of the points and now lies 67 points adrift.

Lewis is one of those drivers who if put in the best will clear up and currently he's doing just that.

The battles

There were a number of alternative stars of the race, in particular Max Verstappen who was sensational in his on track fights. His move on Felipe Nasr around the outside of Blanchimont at nearly 200mph was sensational. He was rewarded with eighth place after starting just 18th after a grid penalty.

Perez was another who starred, particularly early on, but the Force India driver couldn't hold on to a podium spot, slipping to fifth at the end of the race. Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull was again fighting as hard as anyone out there. Powered by Renault they were running the car with very little wing but yet he was a podium contender throwing the car round the long fast turns, but an electrical problem shut down his car taking him out of the race and causing a virtual safety car.

The Williams' of Felipe Massa started sixth and finished sixth but was involved in plenty of scraps along the way while Valtteri Bottas started third but was soon pushed down the order and suffered a drive through penalty after his team sent him out with one medium compound tyre on his right rear with the other wheels fitted with softs. Not a great afternoon as he fell to ninth. Bottas is an outstanding driver but he often seems to lose out in wheel to wheel confrontation. Both Williams cars seemed to be losing out down the straights, surely a case of the car running too much wing on a circuit that they were expected to star at.

Daniil Kvyat in the second Red Bull charged through at the end of the race to finish fourth which saw him go above his team mate Ricciardo in the drivers standings which after his tepid start to the season is quite the achievement.

Kimi Raikkonen ended up seventh after starting 16th, he was involved in plenty of fights but couldn't make the progress he'd have wanted. Still, he's signed up for another year at Ferrari now so hopefully his luck will change soon if he wants a final hurrah in what will surely be his final season in Formula 1.

Marcus Ericsson got Sauber back in the points with tenth after a solid drive. 

Things of note

Honda brought an upgraded engine to Belgium that was hoped would match the power output of Ferrari. It seemed to fall way short of that target in what is becoming an increasingly laughable campaign for the Japanese manufactuer and McLaren. In fact Jenson Button seemed to let off a bit of steam by calling the race embarrassing and confessing to not enjoying his Formula 1 that day. 

He was with his electrical energy through most of the race, so there was little he could do to fight after he had out qualified his team mate Fernando Alonso by over half a second with what Button described as a lap to equal his pole position in 2011.

Lotus are in further troubles with a threat to have their cars impounded due a contractual dispute with former reserve driver Charles Pic. This comes after other money issues which has meant development has been scarce this season. A reunion with Renault couldn't come soon enough to ensure their longevity but as mentioned earlier it seems a link up with Force India and Renault may scupper that too.

The title fight

Vettel's tyre letting go has almost certainly destroyed any chance of a title fight emerging this season. The German was justifiably furious at the incident, seemingly blaming Pirelli who themselves say they were surprised that Ferrari went for a one stop strategy. 

Whatever, it has taken away a threat from Hamilton who when everything runs smoothly has Rosberg firmly under control. This is Lewis' title to lose. 

Result

1. Hamilton - Mercedes

2. Rosberg - Mercedes

3. Grosjean - Lotus

4. Kvyat - Red Bull

5. Perez - Force India

6. Massa - Williams

7. Raikkonen - Ferrari

8. Verstappen - Toro Rosso

9. Bottas - Williams

10. Ericsson - Sauber

11. Nasr - Sauber

12. Vettel - Ferrari

13. Alonso - McLaren

14. Button - McLaren

15. Mehri - Marussia

16. Stevens - Marussia

R. Sainz - Toro Rosso - Power Unit

R. Ricciardo - Red Bull - Electrical

R. Maldonado - Lotus - Transmission

R. Hulkenberg - Force India - Did not start

all photos taken from autosport.com