Max Maxed Out

Personal commentary. (Chinese Grand Prix 2015 - Race)

I may have been spoilt for given too much hope from the previous race or am I the only one who actually felt that the race was such a torture to watch?

The first lap was really good but aren’t all first laps always the most delightful part of the race? It is the most chaotic lap that builds up to what is to come and pretty much determines where the drivers end up in.

To me, Max Verstappen was the driver to have brought life to the race. Starting from 13^th and having to overtake three times through Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr and Sergio Perez, one has to remember that was a doing of a 17-year-old who is just in his third F1 race of his F1 career. If it was not for him, it was just like watching a two-hour race that is as repetitive as watching NASCAR cars going round in ovals. My heart cried out for how unfortunate Verstappen’s race ended at the second final lap. He was so close to adding more points to make up for what he lost at the Australian GP!

So let me list the other points during the race to take note of. There was the Daniel Ricciardo and Marcus Ericsson duel that lasted for a few laps. It was a great overtake to watch when the rest were just idly racing in the same position. Then we have that team order in Red Bull where Daniil Kvyat was ordered to give up his position to Daniel Ricciardo and we see the Russian retiring a few laps after from engine failure, making it his second unfinished race of the year. 

 

This is the race we finally see McLaren catching up to get closer to the top ten. It was also the one they had caused Pastor Maldonado to be falsely accused. Jenson Button and the Venezuelan made contact, the Briton touching his rear that had resulted in a spin. Just at the right time, Button’s teammate Fernando Alonso had seized the opportunity to move up when the two were struggling to get back their grip from their cars.   

Mega congratulations to both McLaren and Manor-Marussia for getting both cars through the chequered flag. It definitely is not the best positions to be in but it is definitely an achievement and progression. Also the same extend to the Saubers who have both cars through the top ten and Romain Grosjean for scoring Lotus' first points. 

I have not found the time to watch the replay of the post race press conference but I did read tweets about it and it seems like Mercedes will have a difficult time controlling their drivers from next race onwards. More team orders will be broken and putting Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will never be the same again. Everyone will be in a state of nerves as the race goes on to the final races of the season. 

I have a friend who saw the race in a different viewpoint. His views somehow opened my eyes to watching races. He pointed out that different tracks are designed differently and they cannot be made perfect in the sight of a F1 fan. This is how there will be a specific race that will be etched in our memory at the end of each season. There has to be a stand out to make that race special and the most memorable. As a true F1 fan, one should not miss the other aspects in the race that that makes up for it. If you are a true F1 fan, we should actually look forward to each race and end up enjoying it rather than picking on it. Boring is too much of a vague description (a big UNLESS you are completely watching a race that has zero overtakes). We can definitely do better than that. That being said, I will still set my expectations at a minimum before watching the race next Sunday (it will be Monday midnight for me, hah) just so I will not be let down. 

Chinese Grand Prix Race: 

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 56 laps 1hr 39m 42.008s 
2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +0.7s 
3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +2.9s 
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +3.8s 
5. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +8.5s 
6. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +9.8s 
7. Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes +19.0s 
8. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +22.6s 
9. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault +32.1s 
10. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap 

11. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +1 lap 
12. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +1 lap 
13. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap 
14. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +1 lap * 
15. Will Stevens GBR Manor-Ferrari +2 laps 
16. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor-Ferrari +2 laps ** 

Rtd Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault 53 laps completed engine 
Rtd Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes 50 laps completed accident damage 
Rtd Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault 16 laps completed engine 
Rtd Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 9 laps completed gearbox 

Cars Going Bonkers

Personal commentary. (Australian GP 2015 - Race)

Who would have thought we would have less than twenty people starting the grid in the first race of the season? Not me for sure. We were told yesterday that Manor would be missing the Australian GP today. That brings the total number of drivers from 20 to 18. Valtteri Bottas was admitted to hospital yesterday after qualifying for a back problem he experienced during Q2. This morning, all of us were updated that he would be sitting out for the race because of a tear of the disc in his lower back. So we were down to 17. Right on the installation lap, Daniil Kvyat’s and Kevin Magnussen’s cars would not move ahead like the rest of the other cars. Each to their personal problem: Kvyat with a broken gearbox whereas Magnussen had a Honda engine failure. Before the green lights went out, we only had 15 drivers racing in the 2015 season opener, that is the lowest number of starters we see for a season opener since 1963. Nevertheless, the figure does not stop there.

First laps have become a crucial period in which a driver will try his best to squeeze himself through the mass of slower cars to gain a better position. Aside from the first two drivers at the front, that was what the rest of the 13 drivers tried to do. That was the lap we saw Lewis Hamilton getting far ahead from Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel getting in contact with Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Nasr sandwiching between the Finn and Pastor Maldonado that sadly sent the next casualty out of the race as Maldonado crashed to the wall. His teammate was not lucky either as Romain Grosjean’s car faced an engine failure just a few minutes later. 

I would say the race was more interesting to watch from the back than the front. The rookies have clearly given their all in their debut race with Carlos Sainz Jr and Felipe Nasr making it into the points. Unfortunately for Max Verstappen who, again, missed the opportunity to finish the race with a possible point due to engine failure. Even Aussie’s favourite Daniel Ricciardo had his chance of a podium robbed away for the RB11’s slow pace. It was clearly a Renault trouble week. The drivers at Sauber have taken the week’s unfortunate development and turned it around into an outstanding achievement by both drivers. They have collected 14 points in their very first race: one as a rookie and another as a new Sauber driver, giving the team the most points they have scored in more than a season. This has placed them third on the constructors’ standings, just one point shy from Ferrari. It is true that the number of drivers on the grid makes it hard to assess the true performance of the car but their overtaking skills on track were enough to prove that Sauber was way better than where they left off last season without a single point.

The Sergio Perez-Jenson Button battle rages on as both went head-to-head to stay ahead of being the last driver. Button was comfortably ahead of Perez for some number of laps and being a three-time champion on this track, he was doing his best to keep up to that record. At lap 12, the Mexican was gaining speed to the Brit for an overtaking attempt. Button did not give in easily, showing us seconds of brilliant defences. It took Perez another two laps before he finally took hold of his former teammate’s position but not without slight contact, severing a bit of his car. With his unstable Honda machinery, it was a bonus for Button to have finished the race albeit coming in last with the possibility of finishing in the points. It is safe to say that Fernando Alonso made the right choice to take this week and the next off to recuperate and make more preparations for the Malaysian GP. If you think of it this way, he would not have been as lucky as his teammate because the car he would have been given would be what Kevin Magnussen drove in.    

Ferrari has found a better footing in the WCC fight. Both drivers have a competent car. If Ferrari would have bucked up on their pitstop: reduce the time taken to pull everything together within a few milliseconds and be more alert at changing the car parts, they would not have caused Kimi Raikkonen and the team their points because the Finn clearly had found the momentum in the car. As for Sebastian Vettel along with Ferrari’s clever strategy, the team had helped move Vettel up head of Felipe Massa for third, delivering a stunning performance in his first race with the Scuderia. Looking happier in the scarlet red colours as compared to the race in 2014, it is clear that the four-time world champion is more comfortable and confident at where he is at to break more records.

By the end of the race, we only have 11 finishers. Mercedes’ one-two win just proves that the WCC title is here to stay. How long will it take for us to see teams getting closer to them to close the gap? Just like Daniel Ricciardo lament of another boring race and Sebastian Vettel's observation of the Mercedes' 34s gap away from the third driver, when will the other teams be able to keep up to their level to give us F1 fans the thrill we were so used to watching in F1 a few years back? With Caterham’s departure from F1 and some other mid-tier teams struggling with finances, when will we see F1 becoming too expensive, leaving these teams failing to meet demands and “disappear” from the F1 world as a result? Also, with the increase of restrictions FIA sets each year, how is F1 still an entertaining motorsport? This is no longer the king of motorsport, it is getting lower in status. With rumours of a Renault comeback and again those annual hearsays of an Audi involvement, will this be enough to challenge the dominant German team or will F1 be a dying rigid motorsport in the future?

Australian Grand Prix Race: 

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 58 laps 1hr 31m 54.067s 

2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +1.3s 

3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +34.5s 

4. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +38.1s 

5. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +1m 35.1s 

6. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault +1 lap 

7. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +1 lap 

8. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap 

9. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap 

10. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +1 lap 

11. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +2 laps 

Not Classified 

Rtd Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 40 laps completed 

Rtd Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault 32 laps completed 

Rtd Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes 0 laps completed 

Rtd Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes 0 laps completed 

Did Not Start 

Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault gearbox 

Kevin Magnussen DEN McLaren-Honda engine 

Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes back injury 

Will Stevens GBR Manor-Ferrari did not qualify 

Roberto Merhi ESP Manor-Ferrari did not qualify 

Thanks to Michael West (who knows how huge of a fan I am of Vettel) for the photos of Sebastian Vettel and also for all the motivation you would give me every time I blog! :) Sorry if this entry is way lousy than the previous one. I had writer's block yesterday and I kinda rushed through this 24 hours later after the race. My bad. :( 

Fernando, Felipe is Faster Than You

Personal commentary. (Brazilian GP 2014 - Race)

The sun was shining unabated yesterday since morning. There was no sign of the reported rain that was predicted to happen at Sao Paulo. The track was as dry as the desert ground. Whoever said we were having a wet race again?

Thanks to the searing heat, it did make the race more interesting with the already tricky circuit. The top three from qualifying had so many obstacles thrown at them. The weather did the tyres no justice.

Felipe Massa was a podium favourite. A Brazilian for a Brazilian podium. He got into the race and received a repeat of history: a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Just when we thought that was the end of his misery, he wasted some time on the second pitstop, deciding to leave for Williams and race for McLaren? Each overtake from the Massa was constantly cheered on by the Brazilian crowd. "OLE OLE OLE MASSA MASSA MASSA." Indeed, with his well-informed understanding of the track and the car he was driving this year, it had placed him back on third place. Third place was already enough for the hungry Brazilian crowd. Parabéns, Felipe Massa! You so totally deserve the last podium yesterday! He may not have the most Brazilian GP wins but he is definitely the Interlagos king of the 21st century.

Romain Grosjean seemed to have horrible bad luck whenever he races during the Brazilian GP. The track does do him "wonders" every single race he has there since 2012. He has not finished a Brazilian GP before. He did pass the tenth lap mark successfully yesterday (at least) but he was still brought down at the 63rd lap for a power unit failure. What an abominable misfortune!

Kimi Raikkonen may have been overtaken by Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel on lap 62, he did, however, put up a stronger front when his teammate was hot on his heels. It displayed some amazing defences from the Finn. Even the team was so silent during the battle. We all knew that his position would eventually be snatched by Alonso due to his older set of tyres but those few laps were enough to conclude that Raikkonen has found himself at a very good position in the F14T at last.

The Honey Badger was not a Honey Badger for long. He was down with suspension failure while former finger boy soared to the fifth spot. Due to Valtteri Bottas' one point finish and Alonso finishing behind Sebastian Vettel, this had placed Vettel right behind Daniel Riccciardo in the world drivers' championship, surpassing the two drivers.



Nico Rosberg had such a trouble free race thanks to Lewis Hamilton's constant display of his ballet techniques (in reference to Burn's tweet "Hamilton performs a pirouette"). He spun again which ultimately cost him a possible win. The points are now narrowed down to 17. This makes the Abu Dhabi GP 10x more exciting and nerve-racking. Bring on the fire! Well, we all know it is either of the Mercedes drivers but the real answer we would want to know is, who will it be? Will it be the one time British F1 champion or Britney who has already won the sassiness award but is yet to win the driver's championship?

Brazilian Grand Prix Race: 

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 71 Winner 1 25
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 +1.4 secs 2 18
3 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 71 +41.0 secs 3 15
4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 71 +48.6 secs 5 12
5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 71 +51.4 secs 6 10
6 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 71 +61.9 secs 8 8
7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 71 +63.7 secs 10 6
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 71 +63.9 secs 12 4
9 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 71 +70.0 secs 7 2
10 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 4 1
11 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 70 +1 Lap 17
12 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 70 +1 Lap 16
13 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 70 +1 Lap 15
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 11
15 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 18
16 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 13
17 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 63 +8 Laps 14
Ret Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 39 Suspension 9

Everything is Bigger in Texas

Personal commentary. (US GP 2014 - Race)

Let's be honest here. Being an extreme F1 fan in this 21st century is rather tough. There are so many social media platforms out there a typical F1 fan will own. I myself own most of the popular ones: Facebook (to interact with my fellow F1 friends I have made in Twitter/Instagram), Twitter (to tweet real-time race weekend updates and check up updates from the teams/drivers/significant people in the F1 field), Instagram (to post pictures with the occasional addition of breaking news captions on the race weekend), Tumblr (reblog/favourite/post pictures/quotes) and of course Google+ (that is the reason why I am here right now, hehe). With that in mind, it is undeniably tough to be active in all places at once during race weekends with such odd timings. Truth is, I just want to apologise on this super late post and I hope you guys understand now that I am a rather committed F1 fan in all aspects. HAHA. :) 

I was still in a fuddled state when I tuned into Martin Brundle's grid walk, an hour before the race began. I had only managed to fit an hour's sleep as I was simply too stubborn to leave those Instagram photos I have found and edited for another day, seeing that I would be posting behind schedule if I were to procrastinate. So yes, I was not 100% into the race up to the point I saw the crash between a Force India and a Sauber. Yes, I was that disoriented. I had zero clue on who exactly crashed into who until a few minutes after the names were announced. My eyes just popped wide open when the accident was replayed. I thought that was what Pastor Maldonado only does (no hate on him, just a rather straightforward reference) because Perez had done it so dangerously. Furthermore, this is not his very first mistake. This is no stranger to him. He did it to Felipe Massa earlier this year at the Canadian GP, the EXACT SAME mistake. I did praise him before but at times like this, any driver deserve the criticism and Perez truly deserved the seven-place grid penalty this time round. I did feel a bit of heartache for the Mexican though because he had to retire at the track so close to home. BUT he bumped Kimi Raikkonen and then crashed into Adrian Sutil who could possibly have won the first points for the Swiss team if not for that accident. In conclusion, I would say these two did not deserve the retirement but who am I to stop the crash? It was so abrupt and I am not god... At least both of them are safe.  

Joining alongside Perez was his teammate Nico Hulkenberg who simply lost drive on lap 17. This is the second race since the Hungarian GP which had both of them retiring from the race.  

It must be his beard that has been doing wonders 

to Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian was initially struggling as he lost grip in the starting lap. He easily picked up pace after a while, overtaking a frustrated Fernando Alonso and the Williams to put the Renault powered car right behind the Mercedes for the eighth time. As for the other Red Bull driver, Sebastian Vettel was seen struggling throughout the race, having to start all the way from the pit lane with an uncooperative car. He had to go for four pitstops and his last one had changed his chances around. His option for the softs had given him a mad chase in the final lap, moving him from the no-point to the point finish in the final seconds. It seems like Vettel does work extremely well under pressure. 

This race had brought rise to a number of smashing overtakes by the best drivers as compared to the previous race at Sochi. We had the usual Vettel and Alonso, Alonso and Button (a battle to see who keeps or takes over the 2015 seat of McLaren?), Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg (basically, it was just the two of them for the first place but it was a dramatic fight because the gap in their lap times were so close to each other). Not forgetting Romain Grosjean's and Jean Eric Vergne's French kiss in lap 51 which had our speakers filled with Grosjean's French accent and other stuff that the FIA would not approve of if I were to type the word. :p The two friends did banter about the accident on Twitter, teasing each other on exchanging the car part for time loss. Friends forgive and forget no matter what eh? Fair play! 

The Lotus were definitely back in running form yesterday. Pastor Maldonado was so fast in his E22 that he was penalised twice in a day, that second 5 second stop/go penalty affecting his final finish position. As for Grosjean, he was not as fortunate as Maldonado. He was just one position short of the points, where he originally started from 17th. If he was given a few more laps to tend to his injured front wing and recover from the crash, I believe he could easily send the E22 to a top ten finish. 

Here we have another 1-2 Mercedes. This puts the final two races a battle for the world drivers' championship just between Hamilton and Rosberg. Hamilton's win has made him the most successful British F1 driver with 32 wins. He has become the fifth driver with the most wins, on par with Alonso's 32 wins (I believe that won't last that long). 

I would say the race was WAY BETTER than the Russian GP but it was not the best race of the 2014 season. One more (South) American race will take place this week and I will be done with midnight races for the year! Hoping to see some serious title fight between the Brit and the German to the end! 

US Grand Prix Race: 

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 56 Winner 2 25
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 56 +4.3 secs 1 18
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 56 +25.5 secs 5 15
4 Felipe Massa Williams 56 +26.9 secs 4 12
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 56 +30.9 secs 3 10
6 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 56 +95.2 secs 6 8
7 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 56 +95.7 secs 18 6
8 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 56 + secs 7 4
9 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 56 + secs 14 2
10 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 56 + secs 10 1
11 Romain Grosjean Lotus +1 Lap 16
12 Jenson Button McLaren +1 Lap 12
13 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari +1 Lap 8
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber +1 Lap 15
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +1 Lap 17
Ret Nico Hulkenberg Force India +40 Laps 13
Ret Sergio Perez Force India +55 Laps 11
Ret Adrian Sutil Sauber + secs 9