Chinese GP Review

18th April 2019

Well, that was more like it.

He may have lost pole to Bottas on Saturday, but Hamilton certainly showed his team-mate that even when he is driving below his best, the Finnish driver is going to have to produce something special to outpace the champion.

Struggling all weekend with the balance of the Merc, Hamilton slowly fought throughout each session to get to grips with his car, and he so nearly got the pole too which would have been surprising considering the way he was struggling.

Bottas looked comfortable from the get-go in FP1 on Friday and I thought that pole was his to lose come qualifying hour; so for the Brit to get within a quarter of a tenth highlights just how well he is still driving and how hard he is working to improve.

Thankfully the strengths of Melbourne and Bahrain remained though with the car, as their downforce levels seem to still be a considerable amount better than Ferrari’s.

Turns seven, eight and nine looked particularly impressive as the quick-changes-of-direction suited the car perfectly. The car looks really agile and softly sprung, nothing like the ‘diva’ of 2017 or the way it did on the low speed tracks of 2018.

And more importantly it is looking as if Bahrain is looking like the outlier of the season so far, not Melbourne, as Ferrari once again seem to be lacking in certain areas.

Mercedes were just as impressive in the pit-lane as they were out on track.

Most controversially of course is this whole team-orders debate that has exploded in the media, with Leclerc having to suffer a disappointing race by sacrificing his position to Vettel.

This whole we favourite Seb in 50-50 scenarios is just making less and less sense. If they want Leclerc to be a number two, they could have just kept Kimi who they knew was happy to play that role as soon as it was needed.

Leclerc on Sunday had just as much pace as Vettel, and vice versa, so this desperation to get the German ahead was just unnecessary.

Mercedes were clearly too fast for the red cars this weekend, so even if Vettel was indeed fractionally quicker, he was never going to even catch Bottas, let alone pass him.

They hired Leclerc to win the constructors’ title – two effectively number one drivers like Mercedes was finally meant to be the winning piece for them.

But as history tells us, that’s not how the Scuderia like to work. I think it’s becoming obvious now that Vettel is the number one in the team regardless of Leclerc’s pace, so it means the only thing that the guy can do is to get ahead in qualifying.

He has still been out-qualified 2-1 by Vettel this year, so it’s not as if he is making him look average. Vettel clearly had car issues in Bahrain, because he was as quick as Leclerc in both Australia and at China.

All I can foresee is them taking points off of each other and giving them to people like Verstappen like they did again at the weekend. They have to be allowed to race until one of them is completely out of title contention – this competition may end up after all helping both of them as they have to now pursue Mercedes.

Leclerc finished a disappointing fifth in Shanghai. Photo: Artes Max

Further back, I’m still shocked that Pierre Gasly is performing as he is. The guy was really quick in all the junior formula and drove great last year and when he briefly went up against Carlos Sainz too in 2017.

His pace though at the moment is just absolutely nowhere. He’s miles off Verstappen in qualifying and likewise in the race too. The fact that he got the fastest lap too by barely a tenth with a lap to go highlights how much he needs to improve.

Everyone knows now ruthlesss Marko is when it comes to dropping Red Bull drivers, so at the moment he’ll be lucky to still be at the team by the summer break if he continues at this current level.

Someone who would indeed be favourite to replace Gasly should the situation arise, would have to be Alex Albon. The Toro Rosso man is driving superbly at the moment, again out-performing team-mate Kvyat, and his point on Sunday was so impressive that his crash during FP3 was almost forgotten.

This new young generation of stars that are on the grid this year are all settling into F1 with ease, and emphasises how bright the future of the sport is.

The likes of Norris, Albon, Leclerc and George Russell all look quick, composed and at times quicker than their more more-experienced team-mates, and this can only be good for the sport as the new talent begin to emerge.

Albon has made a good start to his F1 career. Photo: Nckfy

Bahrain GP Review

3rd April 2019

Esteban Ocon recently said that it would take Charles Leclerc two races to be able to match Sebastian Vettel’s speed, and he was certainly right!

On pole by three tenths, he lost the start but then overtook Vettel immediately, before driving off into the distance like a man with multiple world championships.

Unfortunately for him though, engine troubles meant he had to surrender his lead as he was passed by both Mercedes, instead taking ‘just’ a podium and fastest lap too.

But he has now announced himself on the world stage, and proved he is undoubtedly a future world champion after a weekend-dominating performance.

Despite Lewis still taking the chequered flag, this soaring Ferrari pace was still very troubling, especially their straight-line speed advantage which was estimated to be around 6km/h faster.

The qualifying comparisons between Leclerc and Hamilton showed the Italian team pulling huge amounts of time on the straights compared to the Mercs, around two tenths per straight.

After all these years of acing the hybrid era with their engine advantage, Mercedes again appear to be second best in power terms this year.

Hopefully some of this will be drag related that they can fix for upcoming races, rather than it being about pure power or energy deployment.

The Mercedes was definitely gaining through the corners, whether it be high or low speed, so I do get the impression that Ferrari went for a low-drag set-up this weekend, while Mercedes put more front wing on to help save the tyres.

If this is the case, hopefully they will be able to be closer to Ferrari at the upcoming races in China and Baku, because the red cars didn’t look great at low-speed themselves.

I’ve read a lot of articles saying that Ferrari may have gone down the wrong route aerodynamically compared to the other two teams, and this is why perhaps they haven’t had the huge advantage everyone was expecting.

If their is car is indeed lacking front downforce, you can’t just put it all to the rear because your car will be nowhere in the corners, as it will be ridiculously unbalanced, so the development war is going to be fascinating between the two.

Then again, it could be irrelevant if Seb Vettel continues to be driving as he is. Not only is he arguably speed-wise not the same driver from Red Bull, but now he has in Leclerc a driver who doesn’t look prepared to play second fiddle.

I’m also not buying this wind theory debate that is going on as well with regards to his spain. Cars like the Williams and Haas looked painfully slow throughout the race but none of their drivers let the rear of their car go like that.

It seemed like another desperate chance to win a wheel-to-battle he knew he had already lost, and against Hamilton he has again come out second best.

In a year that could ultimately define Vettel’s entire career, he is doing nothing to silence the growing doubters. Of course when he is hooked up with his car, he is amazing. His driving style is unique, flowing and blisteringly quick, but these days look few and far between at the moment.

Unlike Vettel, Hamilton is still at the peak of his powers. He won the race because he put himself in a winning position that his car didn’t warrant.

He drove the wheels off the car, and because he got ahead of Vettel it was ultimately Hamilton that was the one who benefitted from Leclerc’s woes.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ob__u0N-zns

Ferrari were very quick along the Sakhir straights

Someone else who appeared to get the most out of his car was Alex Albon in the Toro Rosso. After out-qualifying experienced team-mate Kvyat again, he took the first points of his career in ninth. After starting his F1 journey so impressively, what are the chances he begins to get rumoured with the Red Bull Honda seat should Pierre Gasly continue to struggle like he has been?

Also in the midfield, I was pleased for Lando Norris and McLaren. It looked like they had the fourth fastest car throughout the weekend, and had Verstappen not collided with Sainz, it could well have been two McLaren’s in the top seven.

They look a far better team this year; the car looks driveable and kind to its tyres. Who knows if it still had a Mercedes or Honda in the back of it, where they could be at the moment? Then again, we’ve heard that a lot these past few years.

As we head to China next, I think fellow Merc fans need to look at last year to realise that Ferrari were faster in Bahrain then too. This track doesn’t suit the rear tyres that Mercedes often struggle with, nor does the point-and-squirt track layout suit Hamilton’s driving style, something he echoed afterwards.

At least we’ve learnt that Melbourne was for sure an outlier, and that Mercedes vs. Ferrari is now well and truly on for 2019.

Photo: NAvin Shetty Brahmavar

Australian GP Review

21st March 2019

The city of Melbourne is often known for its club life and its Australian soaps. What it is also common in producing is confusing Formula One races.

‘Over half a second they could have potentially have,’ echoed Lewis Hamilton when he was asked about the supposed gap that Ferrari have on the rest of the field coming into this season-opening race.

What instead transpired was another Mercedes masterclass in the form of a one-two on the grid and a one-two in the race.

Valterri Bottas dominated from the moment he jumped Hamilton from pole as he built up a 20 second lead over his team-mate.

Thankfully, Hamilton fans like myself found out he had considerable floor damage post-race which somewhat papered over the cracks of a rather disappointing opener for the champ.

I know that passing is virtually impossible around this track, even with the new regs, so I’m not surprised to hear that he backed off as soon as he fell behind. With the season having three engines per driver still, a repeat of Malaysia 2016 is not something I want happening again further down the line.

Despite this, I still believe that Mercedes have more time in their pocket. Hamilton is normally blisteringly quick around Melbourne, and knowing that he didn’t have a banker lap in qualifying must have meant he was slightly cautious through his pole lap.

Bottas said it was the ‘porridge’ that made him so fast. Photo: pedrik

Even so, it was nice to see the gap to Ferrari so big. As much as I don’t want Bottas to be a challenger by the end of the year, I would much rather have Lewis’ main title rival being from within his own team. As well as Bottas drove on Sunday, he’s no Rosberg.

Slightly further behind, I’m just relieved that Leclerc does indeed look like a guy quick enough to challenge Vettel already, and perhaps even overtake him in terms of raw speed later in the season.

I was surprised by the number of little mistakes he had throughout the weekend, but nonetheless it was certainly refreshing to see a new-team rookie challenge Vettel. He might not have the attitude of Verstappen when it comes to decisiveness and arrogance yet, but for sure he drove a great race overall.

As I said earlier, Melbourne can be a bit of an outlier when it comes to races so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the red cars hit the front by the time Bahrain comes. This track often suits Mercedes, and Red Bull will also have gathered a lot of data by the time round two arrives.

The Mercedes looked quick at Albert Park. Photo: Artes Max

Talking of which, someone who needs to gather a lot of data from the weekend is Pierre Gasly. I have a lot of expectation from him after watching his GP2 performances and seeing him outdrive the Toro Rosso at times too.

Hopefully he’ll adjust to the new car too, the way Leclerc has and the way Lando Norris has also for McLaren. Despite the fact he won F2 last year, George Russell was driving for the best team in ART.

So to see Norris perform so well was good to see, especially making Q3 – Formula One needs McLaren to be fighting at the front, and with Sainz too I think there is a lot of potential in him to become one of the best on the grid.

Someone though whose potential we’ll all never get to see is Robert Kubica, regardless of the miracles he has passed to be driving, albeit for a ridiculously slow Williams.

A driver that I grew up with when I first started following the sport, I know how quick he can be. His qualifying in Monaco in 2010 was simply outstanding, and had he got the pole that day he deserved, I’m almost certain he would have won that race.

Staying with the midfield, I was extremely disappointed to see Renault stay sideways in terms of the pecking order. All the promise and investment seems to be being unfulfilled again, and you can’t blame the drivers anymore when you have Ricciardo and Hulkenberg at your disposal.

It was a disappointing start for Ricciardo at Renault. Photo: Marc Alvarado

Their qualifying was bordering on average, but at least their race in the form of the German was more what we were expecting. Like McLaren, you need Renault to be at the front and as a manufacturer with their budget they really should be making their way up the order.

Whilst it is far too early to judge the likes of Ricciardo and Kubica still, I expected a little more but they will both take time.

Unfortunately for the pair of them, time isn’t something that they have in abundance. If Renault perform as they did here in Bahrain and consistently throughout the year, the Aussie could well be regretting his decision to join the team before we’ve even finished the first flyaways.

 

Photo: Tim Serong