First 1-2 finish for Mercedes sing the 1955 Italian GP. Well deserved as the Silver Arrows has kicked everyone's butt getting their cars and Power Units ready for the season.
F1 might be in a bit of a pickle, you have one manufacturer with a massive engine advantage and frozen specs. It will be interesting to see if that gets resolved of if we are heading toward another 1988 type season. We got a great first two laps but it was a procession after that.
A third place for Red Bull is not what Vettel wanted but he can be happy to know the RB10 has top grip if not top speed. Radio transmissions were interesting, with the team seeming to want to remind Ricciardo of his place within the team and the Australian not letting himself be too intimidated. It was pretty cool seeing him take it to Vettel in the opening laps, another good performance for him until the classic Red Bull "everything happens to the #2 car" moment.
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| Vettel almost put Rosberg in the wall with a classic Schumacher squeeze. |
Ferrari was nowhere in the race. When Ricciardo and Alonso were side by side after a pit stop, it was painfully obvious how much less traction and grip the Red Bull had. Raikkonen had bad luck when Magnussen ran into him and cut his tire but once out again he showed little pace.
Good race from Force India, gambling on one fewer tire stop for Hulkenberg.
Comic relief came from Williams this time. "I'm not a servant anymore" Felipe must have been fuming. Valteri, classic Finn response.
Comic relief came from Williams this time. "I'm not a servant anymore" Felipe must have been fuming. Valteri, classic Finn response.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m40m25.974s
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +17.313s
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +24.534s
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +35.992s
5. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +47.199s
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +1m23.691s
7. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes +1m25.076s
8. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +1m25.537s
9. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
10. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap
11. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +1 lap
12. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +1 lap
13. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault +1 lap
14. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault +2 laps
15. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari +2 laps
Retirements:
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 49 laps
Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 35 laps
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 32 laps
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 18 laps
Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 8 laps
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 7 laps
Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 0 laps
Drivers' championship:
1. Nico Rosberg 43
2. Lewis Hamilton 25
3. Fernando Alonso 24
4. Jenson Button 23
5. Kevin Magnussen 20
6. Nico Hulkenberg 18
7. Sebastian Vettel 15
8. Valtteri Bottas 14
9. Kimi Raikkonen 6
10. Felipe Massa 6
11. Jean-Eric Vergne 4
12. Daniil Kvyat 3
13. Sergio Perez 1
Constructors' championship:
1. Mercedes 68
2. McLaren-Mercedes 43
3. Ferrari 30
4. Williams-Mercedes 20
5. Force India-Mercedes 19
6. Red Bull-Renault 15
7. Toro Rosso-Renault 7
8. Sauber-Ferrari 0
9. Lotus-Renault 0
10. Caterham-Renault 0
11. Marussia-Ferrari 0
Kimi has pace in all 3 practice sessions then everything falls apart in wet quail. He has a pretty good start and initially challenges Alonso for 4th, but then inexplicably falls back, then the puncture, then . . . nothing. It's painful to watch Fernando drive around in 5th, when it is clear he is driving beyond the car's ability. I imagine he will have had enough by mid year and will be off to McLaren next year. I don't know what's wrong in Maranello . . . perhaps Stefano is simply too nice a guy for the job . . . but witnessing these two great drivers saddled with such a handicap is almost too much to bear.
ReplyDeleteJust realized Kimi was actually 3rd in FP3, and he was pushing Alonso for 5th into Turn 4, not 4th. Time and oxygen are important ingredients prior posting.
ReplyDeleteIts looking like 2014 could be the year of Lewis. Clearly Nicole has been putting plenty of jelly on his Saturday and Sunday morning toast. I too was expecting more from Ferrari this year, especially Kimi. Hopefully Maranello will get their kinks sorted out by the time the European races arrive. They need to find a half a second somewhere. And Kevin Magnussen, he made a rookie mistake, but the kid seems solid. I wouldn't say he's a full F1 Jedi just yet, but he's like Luke in Empire...he can't quite muster getting his x-wing outta the swamp, but he's levitating Pirelli tires and running around flipping over logs with Yoda on his back. The kid seems to be on his way!!!!! He could spark a renaissance at Macca!!!!
ReplyDeletekimi had better outing this time, but to be honest kimi was faster coz he was running light on fuel in all practices, it was planned by team to get him more familiar with the car, i would not bet much on practice times.
ReplyDeletejust curious, where are you getting your information that he was light on fuel? I've not seen the Skysport coverage from the weekend
ReplyDeletehttp://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/alonsos-glueck-im-unglueck-fuenf-minuten-fuer-eine-spurstange-8225002.html this is german site, i use google translate, look at last para. btw since you mentioned sky, that article was by the one talking to vettel in ted's qualy notebook :)
ReplyDeleteSomething I noticed on the broadcast was the fuel usage of the Williams vs...well, just about everyone else. They were both about 2% lower overall than the other teams, so one has to wonder if they're missing some performance from dialing it back a little. Granted, those displays aren't exactly accurate, but if they did leave some performance on the table in the name of efficiency we could well see Williams fighting for the upper mid-field (maybe podiums).
ReplyDeleteAnd Kimi. Ohhhh Kimi. After his puncture he really didn't move up the board much. Watching him get lapped down amongst the Caterhams of the world can not be going over very well back at the shop. This should be a very interesting season on track.