Three races into 2018, here’s how the season is panning out.

There was pessimism around the F1 community regarding how F1 racing in 2018 would pan out. The halo was introduced, which makes the cars look ugly. Pre-season testing arrived, and once it ended it was certain that Mercedes had consolidated their dominant position at the top of F1. They completed almost all of their running on the medium tyres. In contrast with Ferrari and Red Bull, who focused on pace and set eye catching lap times. However, they lagged behind in total number of laps completed.

And so it was confirmed, Lewis Hamilton took a dominant pole position in Australia with a pole lap that was more than 0.5 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Hamilton dominated the race until a lucky safety car break for Vettel allowed him to jump Hamilton, and run away with the race win. It was termed as a lucky win for Ferrari, and seconded by Vettel who claimed that Ferrari needed to put in more work to truly compete with Mercedes.

Two weeks later, the circus moved to Bahrain, and the weekend was dominated by the Ferraris. Vettel took pole, and fought hard to win his second race of 2018, fending off Mercedes all by himself. A strategy bluff by Mercedes put both their drivers on the medium tyres while Ferrari put both their drivers on the softs. It would become a race of who managed their tyres better. In an attempt to keep off the rampaging Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton who had started back in 8th place, Ferrari pitted Kimi to fit in the super soft tyres but the move backfired as the mechanics botched the pit stop, possibly because of a faulty wheel gun and Kimi had to retire. The race came alive in the later stages with Bottas closing in on Vettel rapidly,  because the German’s tyres were wearing off fast. However, he managed to see off the challenge and took the chequered flag. It was also a very strong weekend for Toro Rosso, as Pierre Gasly finished 4th –  the best ever finish for a Honda engine since its return in 2015.

At the Chinese GP, it was expected that Red Bull would be in the fight for race victory as well. They had missed out in the previous two races with double retirements in Bahrain, and both Ricciardo and Verstappen having a tough time in Australia. However, Hamilton dominated the first practice session but the next two sessions were dominated by Ferrari. Vettel took pole from Raikkonen by 0.087 seconds. Mercedes were 0.5 seconds adrift, and the reason for that was that the W09 took a long time to warm up its tyres. Vettel was comfortably leading the race, until Ferrari’s pit strategists were caught napping and were too late to react to Mercedes. Bottas jumped Vettel in the pit stops and led the race while Red Bull did an amazing job of stacking up both their drivers in the pits. Later, a safety car was triggered when the Toro Rosso drivers collided with each other. This prompted a masterstroke from Red Bull when they again double stacked their drivers and fitted soft tyres. The race was starting to come alive. Red Bull would be difficult to hold off with both Ferrari and Mercedes on the mediums. Both Ricciardo and Verstappen started closing the gap to the leaders and were soon on the back of Hamilton. Verstappen botched the move trying to go around the outside and ended up in the grass, while Ricciardo pulled off a super move going into the hairpin. It was a Daniel special, the kind in which he comes from a long way back, goes as late into the brakes as possible and still comes out ahead. With that, he started going after Vettel and passed him at the very same spot.

Verstappen, meanwhile, managed to dispatch Hamilton but then he was punished for his impatience when he collided with Vettel while trying to overtake him at the hairpin. Verstappen was given a time penalty while Vettel dropped down the order to 8th place. With Ricciardo going at such searing pace, it was a given fact that he would pass Bottas but no one expected the move to be that dangerous. He managed to squeeze through and raced away to take a 6th career win. Bottas was 2nd and Kimi 3rd. Hamilton was 4th, Verstappen was 5th, while Vettel was 8th. Toro Rosso had a slump in form with a double retirement, while Alonso scored points for the third successive time this year. Fitting the Renault engine hasn’t quite given McLaren the boost they were hoping for. However, the team’s technical chief, Eric Boullier has claimed that the ‘real’ 2018 car will debut in Spain. McLaren may be on par with Renault now, but with their claims of having the best chassis, they should have been competing with Red Bull.

While it may have been a disappointing day for a Ferrari fan like me, I was happy to see Ricciardo on the top step, and happy to see such racing which we have longed to see for a long time. While there may still be a need to overhaul the current regulations, the past two races in Bahrain and China signaled an arrival of the F1 of old.

The next race is in Baku, which Ricciardo won last year. It will be intriguing to see how Mercedes and Ferrari battle in the land of fire. The circuit is a combination of long straights, some really tight corners and some fast and flowing turns. It is a treat to watch.

(Image source: Google)

F1 2018 : The Talking Points

Formula One returns next weekend with the first race of 2018 at Albert Park in Melbourne! The period of off-season that was quite dreaded by us F1 fans has finally passed.

After what happened in the pre-season test, we have quite a lot of talking points about this season.

Finally a three-way battle in 2018

While Mercedes once again looked ominous with their reliability in pre-season testing, they didn’t show their hand on the softer compounds, as they did a majority of their running on medium tyres. They were the only team to breach the 1000-lap mark in testing, despite interrupted running in the first test. The W09 is an evolution of the W08, and has looked pretty steady and easy to drive on track. An analysis image showed Bottas taking a wider line into a corner and going full throttle. Something which Ferrari and Red Bull cars were unable to do so.

This year’s Ferrari SF71-H is a departure from last year’s car. It has a longer wheelbase, was spotted testing a Red Bull style diffuser and is devoid of Santander branding; it’s blood-red in color which makes it quite a sight to see on track.

However, as mentioned above, it hasn’t looked as confident as the Mercedes in the corners. It was also observed to be giving off plumes of smoke after it was fired up in the garage – something which is the characteristic of the engine. However, Ferrari set the ultimate pace of the pre-season test on hypersoft tyres. Their lap was almost a second faster than Daniel Ricciardo’s lap in Red Bull on the same compound. Still, there’s belief in the paddock that Ferrari may have slipped behind Red Bull in the pecking order. However. they have a habit to prove the media wrong. In 2016, after they set the pace in pre-season test, they were expected to provide a stern challenge to Mercedes, but it resulted in a win-less season. In 2017, not much was expected from their SF70-H, but that season was the closest season of the hybrid era, and the SF70-H won 5 races; Vettel finished runner-up.

Red Bull launched their RB14 ahead of schedule, thus reversing the trend of previous years. It seems to have paid off. They were on par with Mercedes’ and Ferrari’s pace on the medium tyres, but slower on the hypersofts. However, they look quite confident. The Renault engine is running reliably, while the Adrian Newey designed car certainly brings high expectations with it. A three way battle surely is game on!

A packed mid-field

The works Renault team was the surprise package of pre-season testing when it ran without any major issues, and set lap times comparable with the top three. It could be the team to have made the biggest progress over the winter. Last year was all about restructuring the management after its buyout of Lotus, and this year might well be when they push towards the ultimate goal of the world championship.

McLaren switched to Renault engines this year. While a switch won’t guarantee a race win, it will offer a litmus test for the Woking-based team after it endured three torrid years with Honda. Pre-season testing provided a glimpse. The engine at the back of the car is different, but the car beached in the gravel and being recovered by a crane was a familiar sight. It suffered from basic issues, like the bodywork not being able to withstand the heat, a suspension failure occurring, among others. Such issues were ultimately resolved by changing the engine, which cost them a lot of time. The least that they could have done to prepare for the season would be to get some solid running under their belts. However, on the last day, they surprised everyone when Alonso set the third fastest time of the test on hypersoft tyres. It was only 0.4 seconds slower than Ferrari! Genuine pace, or just an attempt to ward off the negative attention from the media surrounding their reliability concerns? Surely, Alonso and Eric Boullier, the team’s technical chief sound pretty confident.

Honda. who are supplying Toro Rosso this season, proved to be the biggest surprise of them all, with their engine running reliably throughout the test. Toro Rosso also surpassed the 100-lap mark on most days, and Toro Rosso even made cheeky remarks at McLaren after seeing the issues that the team was facing. Honda might have got it right this time around.

Haas impressed with their pace and set the fourth fastest time in the latter stages of testing, which surprised everybody. They will be in the hunt as well.

Rounding off the grid

Williams endured a quiet test, and frequently remained in the latter half of the grid in terms of lap times. They have an inexperienced driver lineup. Paddy Lowe may have made a difference in designing philosophy of the car, but the inexperience of the drivers may hurt the team. Robert Kubica, the team’s development driver was often the fastest of the two.

Sauber got Alfa-Romeo branding last year, and will be running the latest spec Ferrari engines this year. With Charles Leclerc, the current F2 champion and Marcus Ericsson as the drivers, they will look to move up the field and score points regularly. However, the car has proved to be a handful and spun numerous times at the exact same places in the hands of both Leclerc, and Ericsson.

Uncharacteristically, Force India had a quiet test with no flashes of speed whatsoever. They were flying under the radar. However, testing only gives so much of a picture and the real order will be revealed in Australia in 5 days’ time.

All things said, it will prove to be a cracker of a season.

What to expect at the launch of the 2018 F1 cars?

The 2018 F1 season is upon us. It’s only 40 days to go till lights-out in Australia. Teams will be launching their 2018 challengers next week, according to the following schedule:

                          Williams FW41               15th February                          

Red Bull RB14                 19th February

Alfa Romeo Sauber C37  20th February 

Renault R.S.18                  20th February

Ferrari                              22nd February

Mercedes W09                22nd February

McLaren MCL33             23rd February

Toro Rosso STR13            26th February

What to expect?

Halo

The most talked about technical and aesthetic change that is coming in 2018 is the Halo. It’s a head protection device which has been trialed on numerous occasions in the past two years, to give us a glimpse of how ugly it will look. Apart from its aesthetic deficiencies, it’s also believed to hamper a driver’s line of vision, and might increase the time in which a driver is able to eject from a car in case of an accident.

On the other hand, numerous simulations have shown how the halo will protect the driver, in case of debris coming from every possible angle, except from directly above the head. It is made of titanium, cost €15,000 and weighs around 14-15 kg. With the FIA adding 6 kg to the existing minimum weight limit of the car (728 kg), it’s quite a headache for the designers to accommodate the halo into the design of the chassis, and there will be problems for heavier drivers.

Vision of the track from driver’s point of view, with halo on the car.

Recent videos of IndyCar using an aero-screen, similar to what Red Bull trialed a few times, emerged.

Here’s a comparison of how they will look:

Lewis Hamilton trialing the halo.

The aeroscreen that will be run in IndyCar.

Conventional Engine Cover returns

The other change, which will be quite visible is the removal of shark fins, and the T-wing. Shark fins made a comeback last year. A lower rear wing opened the door for teams to integrate it with the engine cover.

There were no rules regarding any bodywork between the rear wing and the cockpit of the car, and hence teams exploited it with the use of the T-wing. Its use wasn’t very popular earlier in the season, but eventually it became apparent that a sizable down force advantage was on the offer, and therefore all the teams adopted it.

There was trouble, however with the T-wing on Haas’s car flexing uncontrollably in the corners, and Bottas’ wing failure whose debris caused damage to Max Verstappen’s car. Hence, intense scrutiny has led to them being banned this year, and so cars will be sporting more conventional engine covers.

Suspension

The third change is with regards to suspension. As the steering wheel turns, a change in the ride height of the car occurs. That change in ride height has now been limited to just 5 mm, when the steering wheel is moved from lock-to-lock.

That said, there are no changes expected in the design of the power units, or the shape of the cars. The limit on the penalty-free use of power units has been reduced though, to 3 power units per season in a bid to reduce costs. It has been an unpopular decision with the teams. With driver penalties handed out like candy last year, it might get worse, especially for Renault and Honda, who bore majority of the brunt of those penalties last year. However, it’s a new year and a new season and nobody knows how much they would have worked over the winter, to make up the deficit.

So, it’s only a few days to go before the excitement of the launch begins. Will there ve changes to the liveries of the cars? Teaser videos for the MCL33 have hints of papaya orange. Red Bull’s video showed a hint of pink, while it’s fairly predictable what Ferrari, and Mercedes will look like. Sauber unveiled an Alfa Romeo sponsored livery when they announced the partnership, so it’s expected to be something similar. Force India have undergone a name change, but will a livery change follow?

How will Toro Rosso fare, with Honda as their new supplier? Honda’s return has been quite embarrassing and they will be keen to change that perception about them. Who will we see on the front row, come Melbourne? If Red Bull carry on where they left off last season, and McLaren also get it right with the engines, we might see a 4-way battle for the championship!

We will get an answer to all these questions, come testing, which commences on 26th February in Barcelona!

–-Samin Batra

 

(Image Sources: Google)

The 2017 Season Review

The Sun has set on another Formula One season. An epic season which saw the resurgence of Ferrari, and strengthened Mercedes’ credentials as an all-conquering team. Fittingly, the final race took place at dusk in Abu Dhabi.

It’s been a roller coaster of a season, which saw the momentum of a long awaited title battle between two legends of this generation, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, swing back and forth. Vettel led the championship for much of the year, till the Italian GP, before bad luck and poor reliability struck both him and Ferrari. Consequently, their title challenge faded quickly and Hamilton sealed the championship with 2 races remaining, in Mexico.

However, the difference in points between Ferrari and Mercedes fail to speak the truth. Ferrari have been super-quick all season, their best since the title winning season of 2008. They had the superior car at many of the tight and twisty circuits, and ran Mercedes close at many of the fast circuits. However, it ultimately came down to reliability, which Mercedes have recently become masters of.

The qualifying performance of all teams throughout the season

As you can see, the bottom most line of the above graph is Mercedes’ fastest qualifying time throughout the season. Often, it’s accompanied by another line closely touching it, and that is Ferrari’s qualifying time throughout the season. There’s an anomaly at certain races such as in Monza, where qualifying took place in the rain and Mercedes were head and shoulders above the rest, while Ferrari struggled. The graph shows how close the two teams were in qualifying throughout the season, and they were sometimes joined by Red Bull. That happened mostly in the latter half of the season when Red Bull found some pace.

The top three teams usually had quite a gap to the mid field teams and that’s visible through a constant divide between the bottom three lines and the rest of the lines in the graph. Sauber were usually the slowest, but they managed to close the gap in the latter half of the season.

Such small has been the performance delta between the mid field teams that losing even 0.1 seconds in a qualifying lap could be the difference between 7th and 15th positions.

Intra-Team Battles

Battles between teammates often tend to bring out the best in them, while putting the team at risk, as we often saw with the Force India drivers. So risky were their battles, that they were banned from racing each other for the rest of the season.

Intra-team battles throughout the season.

As you can see, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg enjoyed the highest advantage over his teammates, first Jolyon Palmer and then Carlos Sainz. Alonso also had a similar advantage over his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne at McLaren, While, more closely matched were Ericsson and Wehrlein at Sauber. Verstappen over Ricciardo, Perez over Ocon, Hamilton over new teammate Bottas, and Vettel over Kimi Raikkonen all enjoyed considerable advantages over their teammates. Raikkonen has now been beaten by every teammate since 2014.

Difference in performance of 2017 vs 2016 cars.

Average qualifying time difference between 2016 and 2017 cars.

The 2017 season saw new regulations which allowed cars to become faster than their predecessors. The question is –  how fast? Turns out it was track dependent too. Since the aerodynamic regulations underwent significant change while the power units remained the same, this year’s cars had a higher advantage at aerodynamic circuits such as Albert Park in Australia, Sakhir in Bahrain, in Spa Francorchamps where cars went flat out through some corners where you’d normally brake in a 2016 car. The anomaly is at Monza which wouldn’t have seen a large amount of difference anyway because of lack of corners, but also because qualifying took place in the rain. On average, however, cars were up to 3-4 seconds faster than their previous year’s counterparts.

Average changes in position in a race

There were a lot of races that were pretty close, and that is what Formula One needs. Having less noisy engines doesn’t particularly help, and having procession-like races makes matters even worse. Fortunately, there were many exciting races – I can think of Baku for one!

Average change in position for drivers in races throughout the season.

Looking at the above graph, the data supports the nature of many circuits. Not many positions changed on average in Australia, which is traditionally a difficult track to overtake on. Shanghai saw huge changes, but it was also because it was a wet-dry race. Catalunya also saw high position changes, while they were typically low in Monaco. Hungary too saw low position changes and that confirms the fact that it’s a difficult track to overtake on, as are Suzuka and Yas Marina, which was perhaps the most boring race of the season.

Uncharacteristically, the race in Singapore saw high position changes, but that can be due to the fact that it was a wet race, and (unrelated) the scene of the infamous collision between Vettel, Raikkonen and Verstappen. One could say the same about the Mexico race that it is a difficult track to overtake on, but it still saw high number of position changes possibly because many drivers were serving penalties and also that Hamilton and Vettel collided and had to make their way up the grid.

Signing Off.

Analysis aside, this season was also a season of many lasts. The tumultuous McLaren Honda partnership came to an end, and McLaren are now taking Renault engines next year. (See McLaren sign Renault engines for next year.)

Felipe Massa has finally retired, after an amazing career which saw him come painfully close to winning the 2008 championship, and his epic recovery from a life threatening accident in 2009. He is surely a legend of the sport, and a very amiable guy.

So, that’s that! An analysis of the 2017 season. Hope everyone enjoyed this season, and now we look forward to 2018 where the ‘Halo’ head protection device is coming. Hope to see another close battle between Ferrari and Mercedes, with Red Bull and possibly McLaren also joining in. That would be a treat for the eyes!

 

By

Samin Batra

Brazilian GP 2017: Vettel wins in searing conditions; Hamilton storms from the pit lane to finish 4th

Sebastian Vettel scored his 5th win of 2017 at the Interlagos Circuit, to end Ferrari’s drought of wins in the second half of the season. He made a storming start from second place and overtook pole sitter Bottas at the first turn.

The first lap was chaotic with three cars –  Ocon, Vandoorne and Magnussen getting eliminated in separate incidents. Ocon was stuck by the erroneous Grosjean who lost the rear of his car while trying to fight the Force India. This was Ocon’s first retirement of his career, and it came after 27 races. Vandoorne was involved in a contact with Daniel Ricciardo who managed to keep going after having spun.

Ocon’s retirement triggered a safety car, which allowed several drivers to change tyres, and it also meant Hamilton caught up with the pack, having started from the pit lane after an engine change. Running on soft tyres, he set a searing pace, putting in fast laps and overtaking car after car.

By the time Vettel and Bottas pitted, Hamilton was leading the race but had yet to stop. More importantly, Vettel avoided the under cut by Bottas, when he came out right in front of the Mercedes. From then on, he managed to keep the gap at around 3 seconds.

What was evident was the fact that both Ferrari and Mercedes were evenly matched, with Ferrari holding a slight edge because the Mercs were running in the slip stream, while Vettel was in clear air.

Hamilton pitted for a set of fresh super softs, came out in 5th and went on chasing after a podium finish. He came up short, however as Kimi Raikkonen played a superb defense to keep 3rd position.

Felipe Massa finished in a fine 7th place in his final home race, just ahead of the McLaren of Alonso, who was ahead of Sergio Perez by just 0.1 second.

Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 to take the final point, ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz.

The race in Brazil is a marker for how close it can get in 2018, given the fact that the top 4 cars were separated by just 5 seconds! Ferrari and Mercedes were evenly matched. While Red Bull didn’t look to be on pace here, judging by their form in the previous races, they will be in the fight for the lead in 2018. Possibly, even McLaren when they fit Renault engines.

Stats of the day:

1. This was Vettel’s 47th career victory and Ferrari’s first since July in Hungary this year.
2. Max Verstappen broke the all time lap record at this circuit, with a 1:11.0. The previous record was held by Juan Pablo Montoya, set in a Williams in 2004.

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix: A Preview

Formula One returns to Brazil, the home of the legends, the late great Ayrton Senna, Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, or Interlagos as it was formerly called. Set in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, the track is quite short and narrow in width. It runs in an anti clockwise direction. The weather is unpredictable and many times, races have been held in wet conditions. However, this weekend’s race is forecast to be a dry race.

The frequent wet conditions have played a part in many title deciders over the past few years. It was the scene Vettel’s epic comeback in the rain in 2012 when he beat Alonso to the title, which incidentally was also McLaren’s last race win, and Michael Schumacher’s final goodbye to Formula One. It’s also the scene of a young Lewis Hamilton  winning his first ever world title in just his second year in Formula One, when he beat Felipe Massa by just one point in 2008. This track also witnessed Ferrari’s last drivers’ championship victory with Kimi Raikkonen, back in 2007. Jenson Button’s first and only world title was won here.. the list goes on and on.

Although this year’s title was already decided last time out in Mexico, there’s still plenty to play for. Mercedes will be trying new parts for the 2018 season, and they’re dubbing the last two races of this season as the first two races of the 2018 season. Sounds formidable.

Red Bull will be looking to capitalize on their return to form during the second half of the season. They have won 2 of the last 4 races with Max Verstappen, and will be carrying that momentum into Brazil. Verstappen had a tremendous outing here in the rain, last year when he showcased his maestro in the rain. He executed some daring overtakes and drove over driving lines that we didn’t know existed before.

While Ferrari’s season has unwound in the second half, they still have the pace to challenge for victory, as was evident in Mexico when Vettel took pole. They will also be looking to make a statement of their own and go full steam to win the final two races.

The remaining two races are the final two races of the disastrous McLaren Honda partnership. They will be breaking ties and McLaren will be running Renault engines next year, while Honda will supply Toro Rosso. While Honda still have problems with their power unit, the fans will hope that they can atleast score a decent points finish and go out on a better note.

 

2017 Mexico GP: Verstappen scores a dominant win; Hamilton wraps up the title as Vettel finishes only 4th

Max Verstappen scored a dominant third career victory at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodrigues in Mexico City, by 20 seconds from Valtteri Bottas. He forced his way through at the start of the race in typical ‘Max Verstappen’ style, damaging Vettel’s front wing in the process. Vettel was then being overtaken by Hamilton but his front wing stuck the right rear tyre of the Mercedes which resulted in a puncture on Hamilton’s car. Both title rivals had to pit as a result on the second lap. Vettel came out in 18th place, but soon caught up with the pack and executed a series of scintillating overtakes to make his way up the field. Hamilton, on the other hand was stuck behind the Renault of Carlos Sainz in 20th place for the first 30 laps.

3 of the 6 Renault powered cars suffered engine failures: Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg and Brendon Hartley. Hartley’s retirement triggered a virtual safety car period which was used as an opportunity by many drivers to make pit stops. Vettel fitted the ultra soft tyres, and Hamilton fitted the super softs. Vettel needed at least a 2nd place  finish to be able to carry the title fight to Brazil, provided Hamilton finished lower than 9th position. Vettel was able to salvage only fourth place in the end, despite driving on the limit in the latter half of the race, but the gap was just too big to the leaders. Hamilton after his second pit stop was able to make his way up the field and in the end managed to finish 9th.

There were some intriguing battles all throughout the race. Especially if you’ve got a Ferrari or a Mercedes working its way up the field, you’ll get to see a lot of overtakes. The best part was that the McLarens were actually running really well in Mexico, despite the long main straight. Fernando Alonso gave a tough time to both Vettel and Hamilton and was involved in wheel-to-wheel battles with them both. The thin air of Mexico due to the high altitude meant that it was very difficult for cars, running high downforce setups, to follow each other around the circuit.

We never really got to see Max Verstappen much in the race, because he was all on his own at the front, steadily building a gap, despite the Red Bull team having turned down his engine in order to put less stress on it, after what happened to the other Renault-powered cars. It was his third career win, and it is safe to say that it’s his time now. He is more ready than ever to fight for the world championship, and given how Red Bull have developed their car, we might as well see a three-team battle for the world championship next year.

Facts of the race:

1. ( Or rather coincidence?) Verstappen has now won every race in which Kvyat was either demoted or dropped. In Spain 2016, Daniil Kvyat was demoted to Toro Rosso. In Malaysia 2017, he was replaced by Pierre Gasly at Toro Rosso, and now in Mexico, he was dropped altogether from the team.
2. Lewis Hamilton is now a 4-time world champion, joining Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel.

2017 US GP: Hamilton wins to tighten grip on title, Mercedes become constructors’ champions

Lewis Hamilton won the US GP at the Circuit of the Americas from Ferrari driver, and title rival Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton had lost the lead at the start of the race to Vettel who made a brilliant start from 2nd. However, the Englishman had supreme pace and retook the lead from Vettel on lap 5. Such was the advantage that Mercedes had on this track that Vettel wasn’t able to keep up with Hamilton, who raced away.

Max Verstappen was the standout driver. He started 16th due to engine penalties but was up into 10th place after just 5 laps. He executed some scintillating overtakes on Bottas and Raikkonen. He finished in 3rd place, but was given a 5 second time penalty for going off track while overtaking Raikkonen on the last lap, and so was classified 4th.

The penalty system has been coming into question far too often, with the outrageous amount of penalties that drivers are awarded for engine and gearbox changes. It’s funny, because Stroll qualified 18th, but started in 16th after he himself had a 3 place penalty for impeding Grosjean in qualifying. This was because many other drivers had bigger 25-place or 30-place grid penalties for engine changes. Some decisions by the stewards also came into question. They gave Verstappen a 5-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, but there were numerous drivers who did that throughout the race. Ricciardo was essentially cutting a corner during his battle with Bottas in the early part of the race.

Renault debutante Carlos Sainz finished in 7th place after some intriguing battles with the Force India and Williams drivers. The circuit is wide and has long straights and so we got to see some great racing. Sainz’s battle with Perez was epic.

It’s worrying times for Bottas, because he struggled to match Hamilton’s searing pace all through the weekend. He was overtaken by both Ferrari drivers and Verstappen later in the race, and ultimately finished 5th. As a result, however Mercedes were crowned constructors’ champions for the 4th year in a row.

Hamilton now needs to finish only 5th in the next race in Mexico to win the title.

2017 United States Grand Prix: Hamilton will look to wrap up the title as Ferrari seek better luck and reliability

The F1 camp now moves to the Americas for a series of three races, which kicks off at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, USA. With now just 4 races to go Hamilton has a 59 point lead over Sebastian Vettel which can be attributed largely to the run of reliability issues that have struck both the Ferrari cars over the last two races. Their title challenge lost steam ever since Vettel collided with Verstappen and Raikkonen in Singapore. Then, Vettel was stuck by an engine failure in qualifying in Malaysia where he finished 4th after starting last on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen had qualified on the front row there, but didn’t start the race due to an issue with his power unit. In Japan, Vettel started from the front row, but had to retire by the 5th lap because of a spark plug failure, an issue that the Ferrari team had been ignoring for many races due to its trivial nature.

Hamilton has stuck gold both in form and luck. He dominated in Italy and Singapore, finished second in Malaysia and held off Verstappen to win in Suzuka. Another win at COTA means that he can wrap up the title.

However, everything is not lost for Vettel and Ferrari. Mathematically, they still have a chance to win the drivers’ title, but considering their run of luck and reliability, there’d be second thoughts before someone can put their money on Vettel to win. The track is a power hungry circuit, and so is expected to suit the W08 better. However, this can’t be said with certainty given the Silver Arrows struggled in high temperatures in Malaysia, and the fact that Red Bull have also found much needed pace and reliability.

This race will also be Carlos Sainz’s first as a Renault driver. He makes the switch 4 races early, from Toro Rosso which means Jolyon Palmer will be sidelined, and this year’s Le Mans winner Brendon Hartley will be replacing Sainz at Toro Rosso, along with a returning Daniil Kvyat. Toro Rosso’s other driver, Pierre Gasly will be competing in the Japanese Super Formula, where he trails the leader by just 0.5 points.

Valtteri Bottas has seen a dip in form since the summer break and has struggled to match Hamilton in qualifying and race pace. He will look to get back in the grove. He has not won a race since Austria this year, which was his second career win. If Ferrari and Red Bull are strong here as well, then unless the Finn finds form, it will be difficult for him to qualify near or on the front row.

This race kicks off a double header with the next race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodrigues in Mexico.

 

2017 Malaysian GP: Max Verstappen takes a superb victory as Red Bull beat Mercedes; Ferrari endure a horrible weekend

Max Verstappen won the final ever Malaysian Grand Prix by beating Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in a straight fight. It is the Dutchman’s second ever career win. Hamilton finished second and Daniel Ricciardo came home in third in the other Red Bull, holding off a superb charge from Sebastian Vettel who started in the last position.

Ferrari’s run of bad luck continued into this weekend, from where it left off last time out in Singapore. Vettel was unable to compete in qualifying, after a failure in practice required an engine change, which didn’t solve the problem. Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari qualified missed out on pole by just 0.045 seconds to qualify second on the grid. However, he didn’t even start the race as his Ferrari was marred by an issue which couldn’t be fixed. As a result, his place was left empty on the grid, which gave a clear air to the Red Bulls who started on the second row.

At the start, everyone got away clean, but Hamilton was affected by a battery issue. Max Verstappen overtook him in the early stages for the lead, and was never seen after that. It was all about managing the gap, and he did it well. It was all about wishing that his RB13 didn’t break down, as it has done many times this season. It didn’t. The Red Bull had superior pace compared to Mercedes, whose both cars were struggling.

Sebastian Vettel started on the soft tyres, and made steady progress up the field, overtaking car after car. He made clean overtakes, and tried to avoid contact with any of the cars as much as possible, given the fact that Ferrari were already in damage limitation mode. He broke the lap record numerous times during his second stint as he charged after Ricciardo for third place, but ultimately ran out of grip. The weekend for Ferrari wasn’t over yet. Vettel collided with Stroll after the race finished which damaged his left rear tyre and his gearbox.

Mercedes for the second straight weekend were the third best team on the grid, and they need to find answers quickly. Bottas struggled a lot and finished 20 seconds behind Vettel in 5th place. Hamilton, too had no answer for the speed of the Red Bulls. Given that none of the Ferraris started on the front row, Mercedes could have been further back, because Ferrari were quicker than them on the long runs in Friday practice.

Elsewhere, Stoffel Vandoorne put up a strong performance for McLaren to finish in 7th place, ahead of both Williams. Debutant Pierre Gasly finished in 15th place for Toro Rosso.