Allow me to explain why most comments you read about the Singapore start are wrong...

Hi, I'm back.

I had to jump in, for what it's worth, to explain why the response to the first lap crash at the Singapore GP was an even bigger clusterfuck than the clusterfuck itself.

I think peak bullshit came when the collective British and Dutch twitter contingent clutched their pearls after Ferrari put out a tweet containing a simple, if not fully grammatical, statement of fact:

VER took #Kimi7 out and then he went to #Seb5 #SingaporeGP

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) September 17, 2017

Yup, Max did bump into Kimi who then hit Vettel.   That is how the incident played out, mechanically.   Heavens forbid anyone describe the sequence of events.

What's more interesting is the WHY it happened.   And here, the Spanish fans, pining for Alonso blamed Vettel,  Italian Kimi haters blamed the Finn, the British mostly remarked on Hamilton's skill at being on the other side of the track while tisking at Vettel's "Schumi chop",  a move Lewis successfully pulled off at Monza two weeks ago.  The Dutch? They mostly showed class by blaming Italians for having better food that they ever will.  And Vettel fans, they pretty much blamed Max.

In short,  everyone just saw their bias. Is it worth it to assign blame?  Sure, but it was a racing incident firmly in the "shit happens when you point a bunch of cars into a corner you all have to get to first to win" bucket.

Two points, before we start

1) on a wet track, the "dirty" side has more grip.
2) Singapore, like Monaco, is a track you where, to win,  you have to lead out of the first corner.   Even more so in the rain.

OK so, to the start.  Vettel on the "clean" side has a poorer start than Verstappen and Raikkonen on the "dirty" side.  In fact everyone but Bottas has a great start on track left. Look at Alonso, Wow!





Verstappen, at the start, is pointing towards the right, hoping no doubt to cut off the Ferrari.

Vettel, for his part does what any driver in his situation would have done and is, by the rules, allowed to do, move to cover.






At this point Max realizes Kimi smoked him and and turns left to block him.   Notice how much room there is between Max and Seb,  the notion the Dutchman changed direction because of Vettel is not very likely.

Vettel cannot see the other Ferrari so it's plausible he though Max was going for the inside and increases the angle to cover more.

A-HA! you say...  Wrong.

That Vettel actually timed the "chop" on Max to perfection is demonstrated by him not hitting the Red Bull at any time.   By millimeters, yes but fully ahead of the blue car when Kimi bangs into him.

















Of all three, the one who is certainly blameless is Raikkonen, you can look at the clip and you can plainly see he is 100% straight up until the contact.

Vettel played a legal. but risky game and paid for it, no doubt. But you don't win a championship against Lewis and Mercedes by playing it safe,  Not in F1 and not on a track where you have to lead from the start to win. (unless you have Nelson Piquet jr.)

Max, as he has been known to do in the past, changed plans in the middle of something and shifted his attention from Vettel to Raikkonen.    He's aggressive and he has a lot to prove after the terrible season he's had so far.  That is part of his attraction but also something he has not quite worked out (see Hungary).

More interesting might be speculating if Vettel would have run into Raikkonen, had the contact not happened.   That might have been a possibility but, that's also science fiction and in the end, the stewards made the only possible call:

"Shit happens".

2017 Bahrain GP: Two out or three ain't bad...

....especially with a car that is not quite the best of the bunch.

Ferrari still lacks the outright pace to dominate F1 but, with the SF70h, they have managed to put enough pressure on Mercedes to knock Lewis and company out of their comfort zone.

Did Ferrari win or did Mercedes lose in Bahrain?  Depends on who you ask,  does it matter?
One thing is for sure,  Hamilton was beaten off the line by Vettel and later managed a very silly penalty when he blocked Ricciardo into the pits.  Not the best of week ends for the World Champion whorls missed out on pole.

Ferrari gambled on an early stop and it paid off perfectly despite the safety car caused by the Sainz-Stroll, get together at turn one.

Vettel executed the race perfectly, great first lap, great fight with Bottas on the re-start.   Towards the end he was in the position to control the race and pace himself in front of a charging Hamilton.

Would have Hamilton have caught him without the five second penalty? Probably not but it would have been a different race.

The wheel to wheel moment between Vettel and Hamilton is brewing,  when it finally happens it could be a heck of a lot more exciting than Alonso driving at Indy.

Put your headphones on

No, seriously, put your headphones on...



Holy crap, this is beyond awesome,  Bravo Bozzy!

What makes it so awesome is the 3d binaural sound,  you will feel like you spent 20 minutes walking around Monza's Parco Reale during the recent ELMS testing.

How does 2017 F1 compare?   Well,  for sure the engines sound bizarre but in no way could you say they are not loud!

The Australian GP was everything some hoped for and everything some feared.

If the new owners of Formula One could have scripted their first race it probably would have ended with redemption for the once great team, recently crushed by the might of the Mercedes behemoth.

The first Australian GP win in 10 years for Ferrari, the return of "the Finger" for Vettel,  everyone's happy,  even the vanquished Hamilton seemed chill  on the podium.

And that's not all, the new cars are beasts to drive,  they move around much more that you would think given bigger tires and added downforce, they even sound pretty decent.

The new Pirellis are good for more than three laps, people had been wondering what that would look like in F1, they got their answer:  Drivers can push, Vettel was a hammer as he steadily pulled away from Hamilton.

But,   and of course there is a but...

People did not get to see a real battle for the lead....again.

Before people start to pull their hair out and tell everyone who would listen how WEC and MotoGP are way better than this horrible corrupt F1, yadda yadda.  let's add some perspective,  Melbourne has never been a track where there is a lot of passing.

But Vettel never tried to attack Hamilton you say?

Well, to be clear, Vettel is there to win and he's a professional,  the right call in the first part of the race was to sit just outside Hamilton's wake and wait to see who would blink first.

Hopefully Hamilton will have a better sense for designing sneakers or writing songs than he seems to have for calling tire strategies.   On Sunday ha once again bullied his team into stopping earlier than the pit wall wanted and this gave Ferrari the opening it needed. No wonder Toto Wolff was punching tables, Lewis gave up track position on a track where passing is hard, passing Max Verstappen, impossible.

La que nos ha liado Toto Wolff en un momento... #F1 pic.twitter.com/tKFKm6uHSv

— MrAlexF1 (@MrAlexF1) March 26, 2017

The next few races will show if it's like everyone, logically thinks, wider cars with bigger tires and more downforce just make it harder to see any wheel to wheel action past lap one.

There is a saving grace,  these care are absolutely harder to drive and that will produce fatigue and errors.   In other words, the human element is more important than ever.

To that end, one would hope moving forwards F1 will work to keep that human element alive.
Hamilton lost the race because he made a wrong call?  Great,  make it so making call on tires, is up to the drivers, not 100 computer banks a half a world away.   Eliminate some of the sensors that feed every little detail back to the pits,  enhance the role of the sensor implanted in the driver's seat!

Naturally, manufacturers would like to eliminate every surprise. F1 should make it harder for them.

Well Played Ferrari, well played

In the "good old days" Ferrari used to wield so much political power those on the receiving end renamed the FIA,  Ferrari International Assistance .

In recent years this has certainly not been the case, what with the sport bending over backwards to please Red Bull and Mercedes.

Don't have the player, hate the game right?

Well it looks like someone at Ferrari remembered to play the game again in a clever, rather than overt way.

What happened?  You can read all the fine details elsewhere but, in simplest form, Mercedes and Red Bull developed suspensions systems which they claimed were doing one thing while in fact were doing another, namely they influenced aerodynamics.

Ferrari had been aware of this since last season (see some of Sergio Marchionne's comments) and in the off season wrote to the governing body declaring their intention of utilizing a similar system in 2017.

"Just checking to see if it's legal..."

Right, on.   The FIA clarified suspensions are not to be designed so as to influence aero and now Mercedes and Red Bull who had set up cars around that concept are forced to a more conventional system.  Ferrari saves the development time and cost.

Don't hate the player...  Mercedes and Red Bull would/will do exactly the same.

End of an era.

It's not like you didn't know it was coming, sooner or later, but it's still a bit of a shock.

Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed his exit from an executive position in Formula 1.

Ecclestone has been blamed for pretty much everything wrong with F1 and people have been calling for his head for decades but will the sport automatically get better without him?

Herding cats is never easy.

Cheers Mr E. and thanks for the good bits.

Who is Toto Wolff calling today?

Can you imagine the number of calls in and out of Brackley in the last 24 hours?    Social media certainly had a good time with it yesterday.

Rosberg's surprise retirement leaves the undisputed number one. team is an odd place:  they. must fill what is arguably the most desirable open seat at a time when all of the sport's stars are (technically) not available.

Of course, F1 contracts have historically shown not to be worth the paper they are printed on and if there is the will and a check there's a way so, who is Toto Wolff calling today?

His easiest call would be to Pascal Wehrlein, he's already under contract to Mercedes.  Moving Pascal up  would mean depending on a Hamilton the team has learned it can only partially do.  You never know when Lewis might skip a tire test because of a "sore foot" or need to go shopping in Malibu.
Certainly Lewis has delivered for the Germans (and the team for him) but Mercedes is not the type of team  happy to put all of its eggs in one basket,

The most obvious choice and the one most would like to see is Alonso.   A talent like his,  in a Mclaren in disarray as it has been in the last eight years, is not good for the sport and, among top drivers, he is the one most likely to have a valid escape clause in his contract.

The downside for Mercedes is that someone has to tell Lewis.  Sure, Hamilton has said he does not care, but then again he has said a lot of things.   Having those two on the team could mean nightmares more than dream team for Wolff.  

For the public?  Pass the popcorn.

Verstappen or Ricciardo?   Not a chance.  A move to Mercedes would not be the smart play for either of them, not with new regulations tailor made to Red Bull's strengths.  

Bottas? Hulkenberg? Why when you have Wehrlein or Ocon?

And then there is Vettel.   Another year with Ferrari and not in a happy place at the moment. Certainly one could imagine a numbers oriented character like Sergio Marchionne not getting especially sentimental if those numbers were right.

A guy like Vettel, four championships, not short of funds, two young daughters,  perhaps the only thing left to prove's that it was not just the car,  does he go for the top team or does he stay on the more difficult road Ferrari is on,  for the satisfaction of seeing it through?

You have to wonder what wheels have been set in motion by Nico's choice.

Stunner: Nico Rosberg retires from racing.

While much of the world's press seemed obsessed with debates overs "worth" as a Champion,  Nico Rosberg had other ideas.

ROsberg's announcement on Facebook:


"“Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘one thing’ to become Formula One World Champion. Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target.And now I’ve made it. I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right. My strongest emotion right now is deep gratitude to everybody who supported me to make that dream happen.

“This season, I tell you, it was so damn tough. I pushed like crazy in every area after the disappointments of the last two years; they fuelled my motivation to levels I had never experienced before. And of course that had an impact on the ones I love, too – it was a whole family effort of sacrifice, putting everything behind our target. I cannot find enough words to thank my wife Vivian; she has been incredible. She understood that this year was the big one, our opportunity to do it, and created the space for me to get full recovery between every race, looking after our daughter each night, taking over when things got tough and putting ourchampionship first. 

“When I won the race in Suzuka, from the moment when the destiny of the title was in my own hands, the big pressure started and I began to think about ending my racing career if I became World Champion. On Sunday morning in Abu Dhabi, I knew that it could be my last race and that feeling cleared my head before the start. I wanted to enjoy every part of the experience, knowing it might be the last time… and then the lights went out and I had the most intense 55 laps of my life. I took my decision on Monday evening. After reflecting for a day, the first people I told were Vivian and Georg (Nolte, from Nico’s management team), followed by Toto.

“The only thing that makes this decision in any way difficult for me is because I am putting my racing family into a toughsituation. But Toto understood. He knew straight away that I was completely convinced and that reassured me. My proudest achievement in racing will always be to have won the world championship with this incredible team of people,the Silver Arrows.

“Now, I’m just here to enjoy the moment. There is time tosavour the next weeks, to reflect on the season and to enjoy every experience that comes my way. After that, I will turn the next corner in my life and see what it has in store for me…”

I'm certain  some will figure out how to turn this into a negative for Nico.  Walking away from a great team, a great car, defending a championship and a new contract., it takes a lot of balls.

Ultimate walking away on top move, Nico!

Nico Rosberg: Revenge of the Underdog

Nico Rosberg became a Formula 1 World Champion in Abu Dhabi,  It took him 11 seasons and 206 Grand Prix.

He did it the hard way, beating arguably the fastest driver of the moment, in the same car.

He did it after being beaten by Hamilton three years in a row.


He did it despite being the butt of jokes for his looks in the paddock (remember the Britney license?), being hammered by a lot of the motoring media as unworthy and "dirty",  criticized by the boss of the sport as too boring and painted as an entitled rich kid by his own teammate.  

Nico and Keke Rosberg.

"He grew up with jets and hotels, I slept on couches",  it was a famous dig by Hamilton towards his rival from their earliest days in karting.  Turns out one of this couches was at the Rosberg residence where he was often a guest in earlier, friendlier days.  
There is no doubt the Rosberg name opened doors and opportunities, but it must also be remembered Hamilton had Ron Dennis behind him since age 13 and that, after winning GP2,  he came into F1 at the top with Mclaren while Rosberg arrived at Williams when it was far from a top car.

At Mercedes, Rosberg was consistently faster than a Schumacher indeed past his prime, but still one of the top drivers ever to sit in a car.  Later,  Nico bested Hamilton on race wins in 2013.

In 2014 and 2015,  with the new turbo hybrid engines,  Hamilton beat him badly.
Tough losses, especially in '14.  A lesser driver might have gone the way of a Massa or Barrichello but Rosberg proved to be way more bulldog that Britney.  He may be a 10th off Hamilton's pace over a single lap but even his most rabid detractors have to acknowledge his remarkable consistency and resilience.

"Lewis is raw talent, Nico is hard work twenty four  hours a day, seven days a week" is a quote from Toto Wolff and in the end it's good for the sport to have different personalities, the jet setting social media star and the hard working family man,  both rewarded.   Kudos to Mercedes for trying to give both

Even Bernie made peace with it eventually and Nico didn't hold a grudge.   Perhaps even the Hamfosi can get past their prejudice and admit Nico drove a better season than Lewis this year rather than moan about it in perpetuity.

Bravo Nico,  now bring on 2017!

How Max Verstappen exposed Formula One groupthink.

"Max Verstappen is redefining physics"

Startling statement from Toto Wolff, a man now at the pinnacle of Motorsport and one who has some understanding of physics himself.

But what Max should really get credit for is exposing Formula One groupthink.

Because what Verstappen did was something many of you with even basic track experience will understand,  he drove classic rain lines!

Driving off line and avoiding apes?  That's Skip Barber racing in the rain 101.





We got driver coach Peter Krause  on the horn:  

"Max was doing everything Bruce MacInnes and other Skippy instructors have taught for four decades!"

So, the bigger question: are we to believe the top drivers in the world (and if you doubt they are, you didn't watch the race in Interlagos)  forgot how to drive in the rain?

Not exactly, but Verstappen exposed the rut many of them may be stuck in.

For years, high downforce and very good rain tires allowed drivers to largely ignore rain lines, relying on car setup to drive the essentially the same places on the track they would in the dry.   In Brazil,  a combination of factors dropped grip  below a certain critical threshold  yet most drivers appeared to not adjust their approach.

We also asked coaching guru Ross Bentley to weigh in:

"Verstappen's performance in Brazil illustrates a few things.  First, with youth often comes a good form of not knowing what you shouldn't do. In other words, he's naive, but in a positive way. Too many drivers, after just a few years, start to follow what they think they should do. And they believe what they think they should believe. Verstappen doesn't believe he has any limits, and that's why he's doing what he's doing in F1. Let's hope he continues this way, because it's what Senna and Schumacher did longer than most."

When I hear people like Toto Wolff saying things like Verstappen is "redefining physics," it also shows how even people at the top of the sport can get into this "follow others" mindset. Verstappen isn't redefining physics. He simply drove further off line than other drivers because he wasn't set in his ways, and there is more grip that far off line. On one hand, what Verstappen did was nothing special - go to any junior formula race and you'll see a lot of that. On the other hand, what he did was special because he didn't follow everyone else, or the way others think.!

Peter Krause again:

This is the problem with the "funnel" approach. The higher they get, the narrower their view on what works. VES might be a tad immature, but he goes where there is grip, and he has ultimate confidence that IF he gets into trouble, he has the skillz to get out of it. Witness the epic save!

Yes "THAT" save, Let's have a quick parenthesis there.   I think even the most rabid Max fanboy will admit there was an element of luck involved but that said,  Max did everything he could, phenomenally right.     Pay attention how, once the car is sliding well over a 45 degrees to the direction of travel he locks the tires and straightens the wheel.  This gives him the best possible opportunity to prevent a tank slapper once the car straightens out in one direction or the other.    The true magic moment is the precision and timing of when Verstappen releases the brakes, taming momentum and catching the car.  



A lot of drivers made a lot of saves this year at Interlagos. They will not get the glory the Dutchman will get and,  in part,  that's because it's show business.

Ross Bentley:

When TV commentators and journalists rage about a driver's performance, and wonder how he's doing it, remember that they're being paid to entertain. Former drivers who are making comments know what's going on, but it's more entertaining to marvel at the situation. Or maybe they've just forgotten what it was like to be young and naive!

Young and naive FTW then,  it's all about an open mind.  A good lesson for all, no matter where you race or how old you are!

Bring gravel traps back to F1.

Let's keep it simple.   Formula 1, and as a consequence, racing in general moved to turn gravel traps into parking lots because too many racers ended up beached after screwing up.

Keeping more cars in play is good for the show and good for business, the feeling went,  but unintended consequences of consequence free racing were on full display at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City on Sunday.

There will be controversy about what happened at the beginning and the end of an otherwise rather dull Mexican GP,  hopefully it will lead to a wider discussion of the direction of a sport.

It's a complicated issue to discuss because you always run up against the safety argument,  obviously nobody wants to see anyone injured but at the same time there is the paradox where racing has been made so safe that young drivers simply do not even consider the possibility  of getting hurt and drive dirty from a younger age.  

Juan Pablo Montoya commented recently on how young karters are routinely making incredibly dangerous moves, blocking very aggressively.    You don't want to discourage drivers from attacking, said the Colombian, but at the same time not setting a higher standard will result in a "bunch of lunatics" when these kids get to F3 and above.

After Japan, Verstappen, asked about his aggressive style said: "this is the new style of driving" and older drivers should get used to it.

One way to curb some of this behavior might be the return of some nice fluffy gravel traps.   Let's examine the key incidents of today's race beginning with the start.

Hamilton missed the braking point and went through the grass, gaining perhaps 10 car length on his pursuers.
Granted his advantage was nullified by the safety car on lap one, but there is no scenario where you could argue he would not have gained track position on the rest of the field by cutting through the grass.

To the key incident at the end of the race, with Vettel catching Verstappen while in turn being pursued by Ricciardo.

Verstappen, under pressure makes a mistake, locks up and goes through the large runoff cutting two corners, gaining a few car lengths on Vettel who did not make an error.

The grown up thing to do is: admit you blew it and give up the position,  that's the Gentleman's Agreement for having those comfortable runoffs. but I guess that's not "the new way of racing".  
Despite a single message to the Dutchman, Red Bull looks to have viewed the situation as a chance to back the Ferrari into a faster Ricciardo.

British Fair Play....

There were two other incidents surrounding the off track excursions that should be discussed.

Many called for Rosberg to be penalized for going off track at the very first corner and gaining an advantage.   Is it a similar situation to Verstappen going off?   Not by a long shot.
Certainly he might have been caught up in our hypothetical gravel trap but it's important to note he went off not because of an error on his part but because a dive bombing, understeering Verstappen shoved him off.

Verstappen is only ahead after bumping the Mercedes off.  You can debate Max's move as a racing incident or just "the new way of driving"  but a penalty to Rosberg in this case would have been unfair.

The final incident between Vettel and Ricciardo should also be dismissed.    Setting aside Vettel would never had been caught by the second Red Bull had Verstappen and Red Bull had behaved like men and not children,  the Ferrari driver leaves enough space for one car under braking .    That is indisputable, end of story.

The "Verstappen rule" you say?   The clarification issued by Whiting after Japan said stewards would examine and incident if a driver makes a move under braking that causes another to take evasive action.

This was simply not the case here.

Finally ass this yammering about Vettel cursing Whiting on the radio.  

"I have a message for Charlie:  Fuck off!"

To be honest, I thought it was awesome.   Everyone's constantly complains about F1 being sterile and we get upset at a driver showing emotion?   Everyone praises Hamilton for brooding on top of his airplane in his underwear but gets in a tizzy at the German telling the white haired dude to of stuff it?

Are these the same people who claim to love James Hunt?

Please.

Just bring back gravel traps.

2016 US GP: Exciting track but yet another snooze fest

(Mark Thompson/Getty/RedBull Content Pool)

You could not watch Lewis Hamilton's pole lap on Saturday and not felt amazement at what F1 cars are capable of on a spectacular track like Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

The change of direction in the "esses",  the speed through that long right hans turn towards the end of the lap.

Incredible stuff.



And then there was the race.

A vague promise of Red Bull taking it to Mercedes evaporated fairly quickly.  And let's get real, the Germans are still just toying with the rest of the field,  anyone knocking at the door and they turn the PU up to 11.

Bye bye.

Hamilton did what he had to do, Rosberg did the least he had to do.   A hint at how safe Nico played it came lap one, turn one:  had he been interested in attacking, he would have pointed to the inside, like his teammate did to him in 2015.   He instead chose not to tangle with Hamilton and Ricciardo and went for the outside line.  It was the smart thing to do.



For his part, Hamilton drove, shall we say, a very Rosberg like race:  precise and error free, leading start to finish.
Interesting who Lewis "threw a Pirelli hat" at his teammate in pre race interviews when he happily told anyone who would listen (many) Rosberg had a lot of easy wins this season.
After this easy win, Lewis went on about how hard it was and how nervous he wasthat his engine might blow.

Whatever.

Despite his refusal to listen to team strategists and his ridiculous error of coming into the pits without the team telling him to, there was not much criticism for Verstappen. Shocking, right?    Later, Max blamed the team for telling him to stop the car in a place where it caused the Virtual Safety Car that destroyed the race and gave Hamilton certain victory.
It's not all bad for Max though,  he was voted "Driver of the Day" in an internet clicker poll...

Hilarious.




Speaking of drivers of the day,  many chose Carlos Sainz but I would have to go with Fernando "Yee Haw"  Alonso.   When a two time world champion, who has not won a race in years and is racing with that dog of a team that is current day Mclaren Honda gets that excited about making a last lap pass for P5, he's the man.

That being said,  how he escaped any sanction for causing a collision (with Massa) and track limits, given recent decisions by the FIA Stewards is...inscrutable.

Can we not talk about Ferrari?   Thank you.

Now the gap is 26 points with 75 still to be awarded.  Mexico is this coming week end and the first "match point" for Rosberg: if Nico wins and Lewis does not score, there will not be enough points for the Briton to make up in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

If the reverse happened, Rosberg would go into the final two only one point ahead and then it would most likely be advantage Lewis.

Barring a DNF it's unlikely Rosberg will score less than two seconds and third place in the last three races. But not impossible, maybe Lewis is wishing his old friend Timo Glock were still racing!

I kid, I kid.

Hamilton denied in Malaysia.

Hamilton was cocky about his chances but his lump blows early in Malaysia.

Hamilton, confident before
the race.

There is this mock religion whose main belief is in a "Luck Plane", which can tilt your way or not.  

The Luck Plane definitively tilted both for and against Lewis Hamilton in Malaysia.

"Someone does not want me to win"

Lewis' fans do not believe in luck of course.  Aided by an off the cuff comment by their idol, the fires of conspiracy have been stoked on the internet.   Because, after all,  it makes perfect sense Mercedes would diabolically arrange for Hamilton's engine to let go, insuring they would not clinch the constructor title in front of all their title sponsor's brass, at their home race.  

Makes perfect sense.

Thank god for engine failures,  frankly if engines were slightly less reliable we might have had a more exciting championship.    "Stuff happens" has a place in racing,  it should not be completely regulated out.

But the Luck Plane had been tilted in Hamilton's favor on lap one, Vettel managed to pull a Verstappen and spun Rosberg.   Vettel had the position but not the traction to make the low percentage move stick.

His error, no doubt.   Curiously, the FIA stewards decided to apply a different standard then they applied to Verstappen's almost identical incident in Spa: 3 grid spot penalty in Japan and 2 points on license for the German.

Ah FIA, don't ever change...

For all the online hate he receives, Rosberg drove a hell of a race, from last after turn one to an eventual third.  Nico now finds himself with a more than twenty point lead in the championship despite being handed a penalty for contact with Raikkonen.

It's funny, how may times have you heard people cite the Villeneuve-Arnoux battle at Dijon as one of the greatest things ever?  Rosberg hip checks Kimi to, finally,  make a non DRS pass, there is no damage to either car and he gets slapped with a penalty.  

Ah FIA,  don't ever change...

Is this the end for Hamilton's championship?  Hardly.  Rosberg did go from a 19 point deficit to a 23 point lead since the summer break, erasing Lewis' surge, but that's just one DNF in the remaining five races.  What remains uncertain at this time is if Hamilton will need to take additional engine penalties as a result of this rather massive looking blow up.

Very happy for Ricciardo,  he had a great moment with Verstappen,  they both went at it hard but, it must be said, 100% fair,  well done the both of them.

Finally, can we have a slow clap for Fernando Alonso dragging that path negra pig of a McLaren from last to seventh.   He is still the man,  and he deserves a better ride before he retires.

The internets were busy after the race!

Le FRIC, C'est Chic

Funny how the newest things in F1 really have roots that go back ages.   Take the latest Mercedes nomination "secret",  a trick front suspension that has roots back to the Citroen DS?

What?

OK,  that's a bombastic statement but we are talking about a clever "analog" hydraulic suspension developed by Frenchmen.

You can read about the particulars of what the Brackley Silver Arrows  have done with their front suspension elsewhere,   I will try to distill it.

look at where the pushrod is attached

Mercedes have figured out a loophole in the regulations that allows them to fit a front suspension system that gives them the competitive advantage over Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of aero efficiency and tire management.

Red Bull has something similar but not quite

You remember FRIC (Front to rear interlinked Suspension) introduced by Mercedes in 2011 and banned in mid 2014.  Turns out the re-written rules forbid front to rear and diagonal linkage but there is nothing preventing left to right connections (think sway bar in normal car terms) so teams have been taking advantage of this and have continued to develop suspension that take advantage of this system.    The key has been packaging, most team use a version of a "hydraulic computer" suspension in the rear where space is not at a premium but only Mercedes has figured out how to fit the system on the front axle.

Ferrari is sticking by the letter of the rules... and suffering.

And this is where the clever exploitation of a rule loophole comes in.  Mercedes took advantage of an allowance which had been made for Manor where they were permitted to add a chassis "spacer" to adapt their 2014 car to fit 2015 regulation,  Taking advantage of this gray area allowed the German team to create the space needed  to fit the intricate components needed and to use the vanity panel, an esthetic part for most other teams, as a structural piece.

It's borderline legal and brilliant.

Why go through all this effort? Because the system gives you the ultimate in suspension, soft over fast bumps and stiff over sustained corners,  allowing the car to float over kerbs while maintaining the optimal ride height and aero efficiency in the fast bits while utilizing tires most efficiently.

It's not a new concept,  think Renault mass damper and of course the original FRIC.    Ferrari and Red Bulls chassis are not made in a way this can be easily retrofitted but more crucially, Mercedes have the expertise in tuning what is a very complicated system.

The brains behind this system is said to be French engineer Loic Serra, McLaren tried unsuccessfully to poach him away from Brackley.   Red Bull however was successful in tempting a Mercedes hydraulic engineer over to their side for next season.   At RBR, this yet unnamed tech will work with Pierre Wache another highly touted suspension specialist who,  like Serra, came through Sauber from Michelin, where they both were tire interaction engineers in the early 2000s.

You can read more tech details at Auto Motor und Sport and at Motorsport but score one for engineers and zero for the rule makers.

The fine line between genius and Maxdonado

"I did not want to let them by because they wrecked my race,  Sure I was aggressive but I was correct, in fact the stewards did not penalize me"

Max Verstappen


Let's keep this short and sweet,  while you could argue the first corner incident between Versappen and the whole Ferrari team was a "shit happens" racing incident,  it's harder to argue it was the smartest move by the Dutch "teenage sensation".    Max was clearly beaten off the line by the two red cars behind him on the grid and tried a Kamui Kobayashi style dive bomb into a space that was not really there.

Vettel was not without fault here, if anything a four time champion should know better than to just concentrate on his teammate.



But there is much less of a justification for the way Verstappen behaved later in the race when he once again displayed  some rather dodgy defensive moves against Raikkonen, Vettel and Perez,  all of whom eventually passed him anyway.







Is there any doubt Max is a huge talent?  No,  but he's got a lot to learn about being a grown up, the quote above along with his result today,  show it.

By the way,   he came within inches of the outside wall at Radillon on the first lap.  a crash there would not only have been huge for him but it would likely have taken off most of the field behind him.

More troubling is that the penalty happy FIA seems blind to his conduct,  something I'm sure has nothing to do with how packed the stands have been,  how could we be that cynical...

Rosberg did his job superbly,  Hamilton took advantage if his good luck with a very controlled race,  truly a champion's drive.   Ferrari and Red Bull could have had a nice battle today but it was not to be.

Great day for Force India, Williams were a bit disappointing but can we give "driver of the race" to ol' Fernando?   I think he and Hamilton had the most fun.

The same can not be said about Magnussen though and Renault need to figure out why the head protection collar came off in the crash

2017 F1 driver market still far from settled.

While 2017 drivers at top teams, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull,  have been locked in early this year,  many seats further down the grid are still very much in play.

Both Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas are rumored to be out at Williams.  Felipe is said to have been told in Monaco his contract option would not be picked up and Bottas is likely paying for the disappointing season Williams had in 2016.

Replacing the two at the Martini sponsored team would be Jenson Button and Lance Stroll.   Stroll,  is an ex Ferrari Academy driver who this year signed on to be Williams' development driver. His seat is contingent on his European F3 series results being good enough to obtain points needed to qualify for a Super License.  But it's also contingent on the $60 Million his father Lawrence Stroll (Michael Kors-Tommy Hilfiger among other investments) is said to be prepared to spend on his son's career.   

At one point Stroll was rumored to have bought into Sir Frank's team though the team denied he bought in.  What is certain is that he's hired ex-Ferrari race engineer and Ferrari Driver Academy chief Luca Baldisserri to be Lance's personal mentor. 

Jenson Button will finish his career where he started his F at age twenty, sixteen years ago.  Jenson is super marketable and, by all accounts, great at sponsor events. 

Button's seat at Mclaren will got to Stoffel Vandoorne with Alonso riding out the third year of his contract "evaluating" if the new regulations are to his liking before deciding if to continue beyond 2017.

Renault's lineup will also change with the team not needing to rely on pay drivers after this season.   Bottas and Esteban Ocon, on loan from Mercedes, are top contenders for the French team but Perez is still hoping to jump ship from Force India  along with his considerable sponsorship backing.

Haas too is up in the air,  Grosjean said not to Renault this year with the hope he might get a call from Ferrari but that was dashed when Raikkonen's contract was renewed.  The chance of his moving to the Scuderia now in 2018 look slim and that seat at Renault looks quite inviting.   But after turning the team down this season, his future does not look yellow.

The second seat at Haas may got to Charles Leclerc,  a driver Ferrari wants to evaluate for future consideration.   Leclerc would need to win the GP3 championship to score the points needed for a Super License in which case Esteban Gutierrez might land at Sauber or at Force India.

Of course no Silly Season would be complete without juicy rumors.  The one floated during the NBC broadcast of Friday practice, that Mercedes would leave the sport in 2018,  seems unlikely for a team party to the Concorde Agreement expiring in 2020.  

The other, floated by Autosprint, is more plausible: Vettel "procrastinating" on any early discussions of a post 2017 renewal because he's evaluating McLaren Honda's progress versus the Scuderia's long term prospects.

That should warm a few seats at Maranello.

You be the steward: 2016 Hungarian GP edition.

The Hungarian GP was, like all the races this season except for Spain, a tale of two races.   There was the Mercedes class and the rest.

In Mercedes class, it was all over by turn one:  Rosberg, too busy looking behind,  got out-braked by Hamilton and Ricciardo.   He made a good move on the australian in turn two but by the end of lap one his teammate was already a second ahead.    The gap between the two varied but Rosberg never even tried to attack Lewis.  In the final stages it looked a lot like team orders to keep station were in effect.   The two silver cars finished a second apart but were a massive twenty seconds ahead of third place Ricciardo.    In post race interviews Hamilton revealed they were doing the minimum necessary to save the engine.    Pretty demoralizing for the rest of the field, bit dull for anyone but diehard Lewis fans.

Take the Mercs away though and you still had a rather old school Hungaroring, no passing race.    The only bright spot was that "washed up, good for nothing" Kimi Raikkonen charging from fourteenth on the grid to sixth.    Along the way,  the only real controversial on track incident, the collision with Max Verstappen's Red Bull.

Ferrari crisis: James Allison to leave the Scuderia

Something was in the air after the British GP disaster and a first half of the season devoid of victories,  with the Scuderia slipping further away from Mercedes and behind a resurgent  Red Bull.