Canadian Grand Prix: Nursing versus cursing, Rosberg brings it home.

The end of the Canadian Grand Prix was easily the most intense end to a race I have seen in a very long time. It was the sheer number of cars involved in the battling, in the second half of the race, that made it so intense. It was difficult to know who was going to achieve success by the chequered flag. The very last lap proved to be explosive, as feelings of excitement and anticipation turned immediately to panic and worry. Massa and Perez collided and both hurtled towards separate barriers, in to the first corner. The impact for both drivers was massive, the G-forces that Massa's car experienced instantly alerting the FIA, to send the medical team. I and my family, and I have no doubt spectators around the world, collectively breathed sighs of relief when, first we saw a marshall gesture with a thumbs up, as he reached Sergio's car, and a few moments later we saw Filipe moving around in the cockpit of his. The latest news, and hopefully the only news, is that both drivers are absolutely fine. However, at the time of writing this, both drivers had been taken to the medical centre, as a precautionary measure.

Now, where do we start with the rest of the race? Lately, it has become characteristic with Formula One, that there is a period of procession, where we sit back in our seats, awaiting and speculating what will happen towards the end. The Canadian Grand Prix was no different, since the action of the final few laps began developing around lap thirty-seven, almost precisely halfway through the race. Surprisingly, those developments began with both of the Mercedes cars. There will have been a wry smile, or perhaps even an excited yelp amongst neutral and non-Mercedes fans, as Hamilton and Rosberg both reported power issues and it became obvious that they were losing pace. Straight away, the commentators were buzzing as they calculated that the distant following pack would catch and pass the usually dominant "best friends", before the end.

By lap 53, and after Hamilton's retirement, that following pack consisted of Massa, who led for a few laps, before pitting and dropping back to seventh, behind his teammate, Bottas, and the Force India of Hulkenberg. Ahead of them were the two Red Bull's held up by the other Force India of Sergio Perez. It was confusing at the time! Massa dispatched Bottas and Hulkenberg pretty convincingly and was then on the hunt for the Red Bull's and potentially the race win. The pack got closer and closer, eventually reeling in the remaining Mercedes of Rosberg, until there were less than two seconds between first and fifth. As much as we were all rooting for him, Massa showed his apparent weakness, as he failed to capitalise on his blistering pace over the front runners. Ricciardo, on the other hand, succeeded in doing what Perez had struggled to do for a good twenty laps, as he got past the Mexican and then chased down and stole the race win from a labouring Nico Rosberg. It marks the Australian's first race win and Vettel's astonishing praise and congratulations represented the feelings of everyone...well, except Rosberg's fans.

I think the most interesting aspect of this race was the discovery, handling and eventual result of the issues that both of the Mercedes drivers experienced. This is the reason Rosberg receives The F1 Spectator's coveted accolade of Driver of the Day. I have a theory that is not based on fact, but is derived from observing both Hamilton and Rosberg during their careers. It appears, to me, that as both Hamilton and Rosberg discovered the problems their cars had developed, Hamilton began complaining and driving quite erratically; for example, hurtling past Nico in to the final chicane and running across the corner. As a result, I think it is feasible to conclude that Lewis took a damaged car and broke it. Nico Rosberg then took his damaged car and adapted his drive, to nurse the sick car home. It's one of the reasons I see Rosberg as the better driver of the two and the reason he is my Driver of the Day. All of that aside, it's great that their relationship is still visibly strained and that their ongoing battle will continue in to Austria.


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The Result:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	70	1:39:12.830	6	25
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	70	+4.2 secs	1	18
3	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	70	+5.2 secs	3	15
4	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+11.7 secs	9	12
5	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	70	+12.8 secs	11	10
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	70	+14.8 secs	7	8
7	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	70	+23.5 secs	4	6
8	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	70	+28.0 secs	8	4
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+29.2 secs	12	2
10	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	70	+53.6 secs	10	1
11	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	69	Accident	13
12	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	69	Accident	5
13	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	69	+1 Lap	16
14	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	64	+6 Lap	22
Ret	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	59	+11 Lap	14
Ret	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	57	+23 Laps	15
Ret	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	56	+24 Laps	2
Ret	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	23	+47 Laps	21
Ret	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	21	+49 Laps	17
Ret	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	7	+63 Laps	20
Ret	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	0	Accident	18
Ret	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	0	Accident	19

Italian Grand Prix qualifying...

Qualifying in Monza started slowly and then by the time Q2 arrived things really took off. There were some shock results at the end of the second session and many of the top players failed to make it through to the final shoot out. The Force India drivers look to be having another one of their difficult weekends, Paul Di Resta having a crash in Free Practice and then both cars failing to make it in to Q3.

Both Lotus cars failed to make it to Q3, which is a huge blow to Kimi Raikonnen's championship challenge. The small consolation for Kimi will be the massive shock of Lewis Hamilton dropping out in Q2. He was back to his unprofessional ways in his post session interview, in which he decided not to be reserved and diplomatic, but instead to call himself an idiot and blame Adrian Sutil for one of his poor laps. However, Lewis will certainly feel that he has thrown away his chance at the Championship.

Red Bull Racing were wonderfully dominant again and showed up the Ferrari drivers who attempted a bit of team strategy, which couldn't have backfired better. Alonso was meant to receive a tow in Massa's slipstream and instead was out qualified by Felipe. Vettel took pole position, with Mark Webber taking the second place on the grid. Hulkenberg was the surprise qualifier, securing the third grid slot, without a Mercedes car in sight. It will be interesting to see what Lewis and Kimi can do from way down the grid, but it is more likely that we will see the Red Bull's flying to yet another victory.

British Grand Prix: full blown mayhem!

The British Grand Prix was explosive, but unfortunately not in the right way. At one point during the race I couldn't help thinking, it really should have been abandoned, as Pirelli tyres failed left right and centre, resulting in at least two drivers almost having very big crashes. Massa had a big spin when his tyre delaminated and exploded on one of the fastest corners of the circuit. During the first of two safety car periods, pundits, officials and teams were trying to work out exactly what was going on, through a combination of speculation, investigation and simple guess work. Could it have been a failure of the Pirelli tyres themselves? A particular corner on the circuit? Or simply the geometry of the track? As the race progressed it looked like things had been resolved, however a blowout for Sergio Perez, in the final few laps, proved otherwise. Should the race have been abandoned after the first three blowouts? I think so.

The beginning of the race saw Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, displaying some unusually good race pace. Rosberg lost second to Vettel, in to the first corner, but then both Mercedes cars kept up the pace very well. Webber had another characteristically bad start and dropped all the way from fourth down to fourteenth, whilst Massa engineered the opposite for himself, powering from thirteenth all the way up to fifth. Things were going well for him, up until the tyre failure that really scuppered his race.

It was Hamilton who experienced the curse of the tyres first, much to the disappointment of his adoring followers. To make matters worse, the blowout occurred right at the end of the lap and after the pit lane entrance, meaning he was forced to drive an entire lap on three wheels. It was a credit to Lewis that he was able to work his way all the way up to fourth place by the chequered flag.

The end of the race was extremely exciting. Rosberg put in a sterling effort to take the win and its nice to see Mercedes managing to convert a perfect qualifying result in to another win. Webber caused a lot of excitement by discovering some blistering pace and storming past car after car, to take second place. He almost managed to snatch the win from under Nico's nose, but in all fairness Rosberg didn't deserve for that to happen.

The biggest story of the race, for me, was the British fans displaying their lack of sportsmanship, at the apparent 'home of Formula One'. It was shameful to hear a huge roar go up as Sebastian Vettel suffered an engine failure on the home straight. I think what made it worse was the fact that, it wasn't the case that Vettel's cruel luck allowed a Brit, Hamilton or Button, to come through for the lead. It was the bitter jealousy and soreness that resulted in a crowd of baying patriotic Brits, jeering and mocking (and later booing) the brilliant young German driver. I think its time we moved on and put the boring and poorly managed 'home of Formula One' behind us, to enjoy some racing in a far more welcoming venue.

The Race Result:

1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:32:59.456
2.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	+0.765
3.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+7.124
4.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+7.756
5.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	+11.257
6.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+14.573
7.	Adrian Sutil	Force India	+16.335
8.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+16.543
9.	Paul di Resta	Force India	+17.943
10.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber	+19.709
11.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+21.135
12.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	+25.094
13.	Jenson Button	McLaren	+25.969
14.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber	+26.285
15.	Charles Pic	Caterham	+31.613
16.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	+36.097
17.	Max Chilton	Marussia	+1:07.660
18.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham	+1:07.759
Did not finish
19.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	+1 Lap
20.	Sergio Perez	McLaren	+6 Laps
21.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	+11 Laps
22.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+17 Laps

  

Monaco Grand Prix: Get in or go home, on the streets!

It was a case of do or die in Monaco this weekend, with lunatic plunges in to corners, specifically from some of the less experienced drivers in the field. There was very little respect shown to former world champions when it came to passing, as the likes of Perez and Sutil took the fight to seasoned racers like Button and Alonso. At times the race became quite processional, however despite this it was far from boring. It was extremely cagey for long periods, but kept you on the edge of your seat with the threat of exploding in to action, which it did, a number of times.

The big story of the race was the fantastic performance from Mercedes and, the race winner, Nico Rosberg. I have spoken about the very poor race pace of the Mercedes cars and also hinted at the fact that Nico and Lewis might have had the chance to hold the others behind them, around the tight streets of Monte Carlo. Far from that, they showed some very good pace, with Nico finishing the race a good distance ahead of the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton may have come in behind Rosberg, but for his poor luck during the first safety car period. He pitted with his team mate, on lap 30, after Massa had a massive smash on the first corner and the safety car was deployed. Nico Rosberg was able to leave the pits in to first place again, whilst Lewis Hamilton was released in to fourth, the two Mercedes cars split by the Red Bulls.

As to that drama at the front, things remained pretty much the same for the rest of the race. It was further back that things really got messy. It was back around fifth and then down the order that drivers were dicing and taking wild lunges at their rivals. Amazingly, one of the drivers in the limelight was Sergio Perez. I say amazingly because most of his crazy passing attempts were down in to the Nouvelle chicane, where a few years ago he had a huge crash in a Sauber. He had run ins with Button, Alonso and eventually came to grief when he went a step to far against Kimi Raikonnen and caused fatal damage to his own car.

Adrian Sutil flew the flag for Force India this weekend, taking similar risks to Perez, but ultimately being more successful. He managed to finish fifth and continues Force India's great season. Di Resta didn't fair too badly either, finishing in ninth place, just behind the battling pack that Sutil led over the line. Overall, it was a race of cagey and tightly strung processions, pock marked with short periods of high action and high risk. Plenty of incident, plenty of great racing and, thankfully, no rain; a thoroughly enjoyable Monaco Grand Prix.


Full Race result:

1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	2:17:52.056
2.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	+3.800
3.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	+6.300
4.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+13.800
5.	Adrian Sutil	Force India	+21.400
6.	Jenson Button	McLaren	+23.100
7.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+26.700
8.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+27.200
9.	Paul di Resta	Force India	+27.600
10.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	+36.500
11.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber	+42.500
12.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	+42.600
13.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber	+43.200
14.	Max Chilton	Marussia	+49.800
15.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham	+1:02.500
Did not finish
16.	Sergio Perez	McLaren	+6 Laps
17.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	+15 Laps
18.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+17 Laps
19.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	+20 Laps
20.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+34 Laps
21.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+50 Laps
22.	Charles Pic	Caterham	+71 Laps

 

 

Five week break and back in to the foray...

The Belgian Grand Prix started with a big smash, a common occurrance at the hugely exciting Spa Francorchamps circuit. Controversy surrounded the blame game, regarding the crash at the first corner, which saw two of the main title fighters prematurely taken out of the running. I think that after all had been said and done, and all angles had been looked at, the accident should have been put down to a racing incident. However, that wasn't the view of the officials, who have now penalised Grosjean, far too harshly in my opinion, by banning him from the next race. The resultant pile up was massive, but the original contact was fairly innocuous and was arguably a complete accident. I can't help thinking that drivers like Lewis Hamilton, who feel that they deserve to be at the front of the field, are often reluctant to ease off and concede position and in this instance it led to two cars making significant contact.

The main thing was that nobody was injured and, once again, Formula One safety regulations kept all the drivers out of harm's way. As somebody who knows a few F1 drivers personally, my heart is always in my throat when an incident like this occurs and I find myself praying, as the cars spin through the air and bounce over each other, that they don't flip over or catch a driver's head as they leap over a nose cone. Safety prevailed and we have to be thankful for that and, I have to admit, it's difficult to deny the excitement of an incident of this nature.

As to the victory, Jenson Button ran a fantastic race; faultless and composed. Sebastien Vettel also ran a splendid race, to take second place, coming from all the way down in ninth and driving a Red Bull car that looked completely unbalanced in the opening stages. In fact, both Mark Webber and Vettel looked unfeasibly good in the corners, whilst being incomprehensibly slow in a straight line. Webber seemed unable to pass the Williams of Bruno Senna, even with DRS, despite catching up at a scary rate in the winding parts of the circuit. Michael Schumacher was up to his old tricks again. He has a knack of taking his racing right up to the edge of the rule boundaries, whilst being well over the line of sportsmanship. In a situation where I felt Michael should have eased off and allowed Sebastien Vettel to pass him at the bus stop chicane, since Michael himself was pitting, he instead managed to get himself the wrong side of Vettel and nearly caused an accident. Sebastien was forced to drive almost straight through Schuey's Mercedes.

Interestingly, tyre wear didn't play as much of a part this weekend as at other Grands Prix. Perhaps during the five week break the teams used their opportunity to research and look in to the existing telemetry regarding the tyres, to try to improve their approach to dealing with the issues. Some of the drivers were able to preserve their tyres and utilise a one stop strategy, without finding themselves falling back in to the clutches of drivers on fresher rubber. Is this a sign that teams are truly coming to terms with the difficult Pirellis, or was it just the circuit and we can expect to see things becoming chaotic and unpredictable again in the remaining races?

Alonso's early exit meant he was unable to protect his World Championship lead. Fortunately for him, it still remains, however Vettel was able to eat in to that lead in Belgium and Button made steps towards keeping in touch with the fight at the top.

I think I speak for everyone when I say "welcome back to our Sundays, Formula One!"