 Force India, AGP. (C) If ever you wanted a glowing endorsement for Formula One, just head south of the border, down Mexico way. F1 made a triumphant return to Mexico for the first time since 1992, and the fans embraced it in droves. The packed grandstands were out of their seats during the formation lap, cheered during the warm up lap, went ballistic when local hero Force India's Sergio Perez overtook rivals in the stadium section and adopted winner Mercedes' Nico Rosberg as one of their own. Their unabated enthusiasm translated well across the television medium.
Recent years F1 has expanded its horizons into new countries, but if you were ever considering an overseas trip to attend a race, wouldn't you want to attend the venues bristling with atmosphere? The knowledgeable Silverstone crowd, the parochial Ferrari fans at Monza, the glamour of Monaco, the party vibe of Brazil, the opening European race in Spain, the hugely popular Austrian GP, the carnival in Canada, sun drenched Australia, and the Japanese cheering well, everything. Don't you think the celebratory nature of the Mexican fans did more to promote F1 to the greater world than any advertising or marketing exercise could ever hope to achieve? Made you wish you were there, right? Bodes well for their longevity as opposed to half empty grandstands at circuits that drop off the calendar within a few years of joining. Come March next year, we'll be heading south of the border, down Melbourne way. Ciao....
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 Melbourne. (C) Once again criticism questioning the Australian Formula One Grand Prix's viability has risen its ugly head, and once again we'll rebuke it. The figures are out, with the Victorian government shelling out a reputed record $62m to stage the F1 season opener. Are they justified in spending that much of the taxpayers hard earned?
Despite viewing figures dwindling due to the shift to Pay TV, Formula One is still the most watched sport worldwide outside of the summer Olympics and World Cup soccer. Those events are every four years, whereas F1 is on average every two weeks between March and November every year. Popularity equals exposure. F1 showcases Melbourne and Australia for that matter to the world. The great land Down Under translates to an attractive tourist destination for overseas patrons, even when F1 is not in town. During GP week in Melbourne, the restaurants are full, the bars are full, the cafes are full, the night clubs are full, the motels are all full, the transport industry benefits, and guess what? We're all spending money. Doesn't the Victorian government collect taxes from that? Don't these venues need to employ more staff to cater for the demand? The point is, the benefit fiscally, economically and socially is surely immeasurable. Besides, do you think the government would continue to throw money into staging the F1 GP if it was akin to ditching it in the Albert Park lake? Remember the contract was just renewed. The benefits both directly and indirectly are surely tangible. See you at Albert Park in 2016....  Jenson Button, McLaren, F1, AGP. (C) McLaren are enduring, to say the least, a rather arduous 2015 Formula One campaign. Here's one of F1's grandee teams, who have won numerous driver's and constructor's championships, currently struggling to evade the Qualifying 1 cutoff and languishing towards the bottom of the constructor's championship. Dark days indeed.
From 1995-2014 McLaren utilised Mercedes engine power. Now the other powerplant providers in F1, namely Ferrari and Renault, are widely considered to be not up to the calibre of the current Mercedes powerplant, as evidenced by the works Mercedes team currently dominating the championship. Would McLaren be challenging for the championship if they'd stayed with Mercedes? Could McLaren be sure Mercedes were providing the latest spec powerplant with which to achieve their championship aspirations? Their ethos, according to McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, is "We exist to win". Therefore, in their quest to quench their championship thirst, McLaren adopted Honda power for 2015 and beyond. Sound logic, right? Who could ever forget the halcyon days of the McLaren-Honda package back in the late '80s. Couple this with the star driver lineup of the driver still widely considered by many to be the best in F1, two time champ Fernando Alonso, and 2009 champ Jenson Button, and McLaren seem to have all boxes ticked. But the on track results are testing McLaren's resolve and the driver's patience. Four double DNF's and currently (pre-Russian GP) second last in the constructor's on 17 points. The car's deficiencies seem to be attributed to, not the chassis or aero, but to the new Honda powerplant. Fernando Alonso's poignant comments over the radio during the recent Japanese GP for the whole world to hear, including Honda's big bosses who were trackside, highlights the frustrations felt by the whole team. All interviews with McLaren personnel, including the drivers, state that Honda are making huge strides in understanding the new complex hybrid powerplants, and will be punching at the front of the grid again. But when? Will frustration and impatience get the better of their drivers? Fans want to see McLaren back at the front of the grid. Have McLaren made the correct evaluation concluding that championships in the foreseeable future cannot be won with the current powerplant providers, thus introducing a new combatant by rekindling their relationship with Honda? As always, time will tell....  Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, F1, AGP. (C) It's always difficult to compare elite sportsmen from different eras, and Formula One is no exception. The circuits have changed, the machinery has progressed technologically, safety vastly improved. With this weekend's F1 night race in Singapore, talk has predominately revolved around Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton's F1 statistics and their similarity to the great Ayrton Senna. Whilst a name as evocative as Senna provokes passionate parochialism amongst fans, you cannot deny that the figures possess an uncanny resemblance.
Lewis Hamilton missed out on Ayrton Senna's 26 year record of 8 consecutive pole positions by qualifying on the third row of the grid for tonight's Singapore GP. However, other stats deserve mention. Despite the tight confines of the Marina Bay circuit offering little to promote overtaking, if Hamilton is the first to pass the chequered flag tonight, he'll equal Ayrton Senna's record of 41 wins from 161 race starts. At the last GP at Monza, Hamilton had acquired 81 podiums to Ayrton's 80. He's also achieved five consecutive wins compared to Ayrton's four, 25 wins from pole position compared to Ayrton's 29, and 84 front row starts to Ayrton's 87. The rest of the 2015 F1 season seems close to being a mere formality regarding Hamilton winning and therefore equaling Ayrton's record of 3 driver's world championships. Only a remarkable change of fortune would deny Lewis Hamilton emulating his childhood hero later this season. So how will Lewis Hamilton be revered when he eventually retires from F1? His win tally (40 wins) is staggering. Equal with current Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, and bettered only by Ayrton Senna (41), Alain Prost (51) and Michael Schumacher (91). We can only imagine where the final number of victories will rest. Will Lewis be touted as one of the greatest grand prix drivers of all time? And what legacy will Lewis leave? F1 supremo Bernie Eccelstone has often stated that Lewis does more to promote the sport than any of the current crop of drivers and recent champions, and credits him with sparking interest in F1 from the younger generation. The daunting prospect for his rivals is he's only 30 and still has more to achieve in Formula One. Ciao....  Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, F1, AGP. (C) Enthralling, entertaining, emotional. There isn't enough superlatives to describe last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix. With races like we had at the Hungaroring, there certainly isn't a lot wrong with Formula One. The race had it all.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel secured his second victory for 2015. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen looked set to complete a 1-2 for the Scuderia until his Kinetic energy recovery system failed, thus limping into retirement. Red Bull's Daniil Kyvat acquired his maiden F1 podium, while team mate Daniel Ricciardo finished third after threatening for victory, showing the field that overtaking is definitely possible around the twisting Hungaroring. Championship protagonists Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both had eventful races and for the first time this season were unable to stand on the podium for Mercedes. Rookie Max Verstappen achieved his best result in F1 with a mature drive to fourth. Have McLaren's fortunes finally started to change with a double points haul for the first time this season with their new Honda package? Williams slid backwards while struggling Sauber picked up a point with Marcus Ericsson claiming 10th position. Lotus' Romain Grosjean incurred a penalty for a pitlane unsafe release and held off Rosberg to finish 7th. The driver you had to sympathise with was Force India's Nico Hulkenburg who spectacularly retired with a front wing failure down the main straight. He looked set for a strong result. Fortunately he was not injured. Punctures, penalties and plenty of passing. It was compulsive viewing. The Hungarian GP was the culmination of an extremely emotional week following the passing of Jules Bianchi after a brave fight from the injuries sustained at last year's Japanese GP. Earmarked for a future Ferrari drive, Jules was extremely popular and well liked amongst F1 fraternity and fans worldwide. A touching ceremony before the race with the Bianchi family and all the drivers present. No doubt Jules would of been watching the Hungarian GP and been impressed with what he saw. Vale Jules Bianchi.  Ferrari, F1, AGP. (C) Recently a meeting of the Formula One Strategy Group legislated some interesting regulations to come into effect from this year's Belgium GP. No longer are drivers to receive coaching from their teams through radio communications during the formation lap. They are now to be solely responsible for propelling the car off the grid from the time they leave the pitlane to lights out.
In the past teams have been able to instruct their drivers on optimum settings attained from practise starts during the formation lap with a view to maximising the race start. The new rule translates to clutch bite points to be set before the car leaves the pitlane. Any manual offset switch or any other switch associated with clutch settings can only be adjusted after the race start for the purpose of improving subsequent pitstop getaways. This quite clearly puts the emphasis back on the drivers. Are formation lap procedures now more important than ever? Reigning champ and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton welcomes the new plan, citing driver only activated starts suit his driving style and are reminiscent of his Formula 3 days. In addition to coaching, all radio communications between the teams and the drivers during formation laps will be limited. The only permissible comms are on safety grounds only. Teams may inform drivers of punctures, whether to pit to fix damage. or to stop the car if sensing terminal damage. They may also warn of damage to a competitors' car, oil or debris on circuit, or whether the track is wet. Many will argue that the abolition or limiting of driver aids can only benefit F1 by promoting driver skill. However there are those that state that the pinnacle of motorsport should fully embrace technology and all it has to offer. Will the new rules create glaring disparity amongst the grid when the lights go out? Will drivers with a more discreet feel now be rewarded off the line? We'll start to get an idea at Spa. Cheers....  Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, F1, AGP. (C) Mystifying. Mercedes decision to pit Lewis Hamilton for fresh rubber during a late Safety Car at last weekend's Monaco GP. Costing him almost certain victory, handing it to team mate Nico Rosberg, they inadvertently gave Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel a helping hand in the championship by way of inheriting second place with Hamilton relegated to third. Mercedes claim they misinterpreted the gap behind Hamilton with no GPS available at Monte Carlo, plus wanted to cover Vettel in case Ferrari pitted him for fresh rubber. If so, would Vettel have been able to overtake both Mercedes' around the tight confines of Monaco anyway?
The impressive element of the whole scenario was the way Lewis Hamilton conducted himself post race. Although clearly disappointed, his mature response was nothing short of exemplary. As he so clearly pointed out, to react negatively is not befitting of the current F1 world champion. Stating that he aspires to be team leader, he and his team win and lose together. Vowing to come back stronger in the next race, there's a lot to learn for all racers of all ages from Hamilton's classy behaviour. The happiest driver on the Monaco podium however, seemed to be Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Imagine if Hamilton narrowly loses the championship to Rosberg by virtue of the points squandered at Monaco though. Ouch....  Pirelli F1 tyres, AGP. (C) Lately we've found Formula One racing a little stagnant. It's not because Mercedes seem to be waltzing away with another title, despite a decent challenge from Ferrari. It's because the cars don't seem to be allowed to exploit their full potential. It's akin to a jockey constantly pulling back on the reins trying to slow a thoroughbred racehorse with not a thought of cracking the whip.
A recent meeting of the F1 Strategy Group comprising FIA president Jean Todt, F1 tsar Bernie Eccelstone, and reps from teams McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari, Force India, Williams and Red Bull formulated some interesting proposals for the forthcoming seasons. Next season teams will be able to nominate which two compounds of dry tyre out of the four available they wish to utilise for each event, rather than tyre supplier Pirelli decreeing the compounds. Will this open up strategy options and more to the point, at what point do they have to make that decision? Will teams be able to evaluate all four compounds before making their decision? Will this provide more Friday running for the punters? 2017 also sees the return of refueling during the races. The teams will still maintain a maximum fuel allowance of 100kg/race, but once again strategy options will open up. Does this mean the end of fuel flow rates (see Archives April 2015)? Lap times are also predicted to improve by 5-6 secs/lap due to the evolution of aero regulations, wider tyres and louder, higher revving powerplants. Other suggestions include starts activated only by the driver with no outside influence from the teams. Finally a review of race weekend formats will be undertaken through global reflection. Does that mean fans will have a say in the formulation of a race weekend? All this still requires ratification by the F1 Commission and World Motor Sport Council. Intriguing times ahead....  Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, F1, AGP. (C) Confidence is paramount to a racing driver's psyche. To race in Formula One, a driver's ego must also aspire to a reasonably high level. However, they can also be a fickle bunch with emotions bordering on fragile if they feel someone's conspiring against them or support waning. As fans we love it when intra-team rivalries begin to simmer over and the heat between Mercedes team mates Nico Rosberg and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton is steadily increasing.
During the recent Chinese GP, over the team radio for all the world to hear, Rosberg felt he was being slowed up enough by leader Hamilton to push him back into the clutches of Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. This prompted the team to urge Hamilton to speed up or risk the undercut of Rosberg by pitting him first. Was Rosberg making a valid point? Shouldn't he simply attack and try to overtake? Rosberg claimed he'd tried this earlier in the race but destroyed his tyres as he couldn't punch through Hamilton's dirty air, therefore was biding his time for an attack in the latter stages of the race. However, it was the post race press conference that made for compulsive viewing for the punters. A still clearly frustrated Rosberg strayed outside the standard corporate moniker and vented his spleen and questioned Hamilton's racecraft. With Hamilton stating it was not his brief to assist anybody else, this clearly did not appease Rosberg. Should the race leader control the pace of the race as they see fit? Isn't the optimum strategy to win the race at the slowest possible pace? Is Rosberg's argument justifiable, or is he just throwing his toys out of the pram? More to the point, should Rosberg have voiced his frustrations so publicly via the post race press conference? He had already stated his concerns over the radio to his team during the race. Is it a case of if Rosberg wants to control the race, he needs to out-qualify Hamilton, make the better start and get to the front? We thought the most telling factor was Hamilton's wry smirk, knowing he's got the measure of Rosberg and already at this early stage of the season, seems well on his way to a third driver's crown. Let the season unfold. Ciao....  Mercedes, AGP. (C) When Pirelli became Formula One's latest tyre supplier, they were mandated to provide a tyre that degrades quickly, thereby forcing the various teams' strategists to rethink how they attack each race meeting. No longer could the drivers push to the limits and have flexibility in their stategies. Instead they had to nurse the tyres which once they'd reached the precipice of adhesion, would literally fall off the cliff in the space of a lap or two, thus necessitating a pit stop for new boots. Remember Michael Schumacher's qualifying-esque in and out laps around pitstop times to demoralise the opposition during his Ferrari heyday? In recent times the drivers seem cautious on their in and out laps. Recognising they'd possibly gone too far, Pirelli to their credit have produced more durable tyres for the 2015 season. They still degrade quickly, but not to the startling levels of previous seasons.
Now to accompany the new turbo powerplants we have fuel flow limits, whereas a maximum amount of fuel of 100kg/hour is allowed to be utilised. We like the idea of the cars carrying a finite amount of fuel in their tanks to cover the entire race distance, once again forcing teams to evaluate their strategies, but why is the amount that the powerplants can draw upon at any given time legislated? We all know more fuel flowing through an engine's veins produces more power, so why not leave the fuel flow rate to the teams to manage? They still only have a certain amount of fuel to get their cars to the chequered flag. Does limiting the fuel flow rate stifle the powerplant's potential? Is qualifying now the only time we see the pinnacle of motorsport at its fastest? Sure is nice to see F1 cars throwing up sparks from their titanium skid blocks though. An intriguing race in China looms. Will Ferrari continue to challenge Mercedes? Ciao.... |
Will Brown, Red Bull Racing Aust., Supercars.
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