Tag: felipe massa

F1 Paddock Ups Its Game For Spain

In some cases traditional can be interpreted as being out-dated or bland. But sometimes the tried and tested brings its own unique concoction of nostalgia and character to the table. The Formula 1 paddock returns to Europe for a dose of Spain’s historic Circuit de Catalunya and the fifth round of the season.

Despite the few opportunities for testing, all drivers know the 4.655 km layout like the back of their hands. The circuit is a highly challenging one which demands a good combination between power and aerodynamics – the perfect barometer for car performance.

The return to Europe will be the hot-bed for major upgrades up and down the paddock. Some teams have stated more measured aims than others but the common thread will be improvement.

Sauber

Since the start of the testing season in January the C33 Sauber had a significant weight disadvantage. The Swiss team has so far struggled to match the heights of their 2013 season and have spent the last three weeks on reducing the car’s weight.

The team, led by Monisha Kaltenborn, will also introduce a ‘major aerodynamic update.’ A modified front wing, new engine cover, and new sidepod fins and deflectors are believed to be among the parts being rolled out this weekend. In addition, Ferrari has provided a software update to its customer teams which will deliver improved performance from its power units.

Sauber’s aim of a solid points finish seems modest however the team have not registered on the points table in any of the four races so far.

McLaren

The team’s fortune’s seemed to have turned when Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen delivered a double podium finish in Australia. However, going pointless in both Bahrain and China has prodded a management re-shuffle. The restructure and the appointment of key new aero staff have resulted in the hiring of Tony Salter from Sauber and Guillaume Cattelani from Lotus.

Changes have also been made to the way the team operates as McLaren set out to “restore some leadership.” It’s clear that McLaren’s focus on running of the team tells that they believe the MP4-29 to be a good package. The only issue that exists, as McLaren’s re-shuffling suggest, is to find the most effective way of unlocking its potential and carrying it to the front of the grid.

Lotus

The Lotus F1 Team has suffered the biggest loss of form in comparison to 2013. By reaching their simple goal of seeing the chequered flag the team can now start to focus on improving the drivability of the car. “We’ve got a new cooling and bodywork package coming – quite a big upgrade – plus some updates to the rear wing and various other bodywork parts,” said technical director Nick Chester.

Lotus, who runs Renault power, also welcomed more horsepower from Renault Sport F1 in China and is hoping for further upgrades in Barcelona.

Mercedes

Toto Wolff has cautioned his Mercedes team by saying that staying ahead of their competitors will not be enough to ensure victory at the end of the season.

“Our aim must be to increase the advantage we enjoyed at the last race in China,” said Wolff. “We have seen already that our rivals are relentless in their efforts to close the gap.”

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel has, unexpectedly, been in the shadow of teammate Daniel Ricciardo in nearly all of the first four races. Red Bull is not chalking up to one driver simply out-performing the other however. The team has been looking into whether an underlying fault with Vettel’s 2014 car has contributed to the reigning world champion’s struggles. If the team has found a fault with the four-time champion’s car they have not revealed it.

It has been confirmed that a new version (chassis) of the RB10 has been built in Milton-Keynes and will be ready for use by Vettel in Spain.

The Spanish circuit made its F1 debut in 1991 and has been the sight of several memorable victories. In 2014 Mercedes are the undoubted favourites. But the fascination of the weekend will centre on how close the opposition can get to unseating the high-flying Silver Arrows.

May 8, 2014
F1 2014: Chinese GP- Hat-trick Man Hamilton Wins In China

For the first time in his seven year career Lewis Hamilton has scored a hat-trick of victories. A complete domination of the 2014 Chinese grand prix was the latest in a list of victories to be added to the Brit’s resume.

Seemingly nothing can stand in the way of Mercedes’ all-dominant string of results. Not even rain during Saturday’s qualifying session could put a dampener on Hamilton run as he secured pole position ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish as Mercedes once again overshadowed the competition. Teammate Nico Rosberg got off to a slow start and fell all the way to seventh before recovering to second. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa banging wheels meant Sebastian Vettel could snatch second place at this stage.

Despite running second in the race the Red Bull couldn’t match the pace of Mercedes nor Alonso’s Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel also finds himself in territory he doesn’t recognize – being outpaced by a teammate. Daniel Ricciardo has hit the ground running as a Red Bull driver and continues to go from strength to strength in an impressively calm manner. It didn’t sit too well with Vettel that he had been asked to let his faster teammate through in both of the last two races.

The team was quick to insist that Vettel was not creating any tension within in the team by initially refusing to heed the team order. Vettel, informed that Ricciardo had fresher tyres, responded with “tough luck” before eventually letting his Australian teammate through. Team boss Christian Horner saw nothing wrong with Vettel’s response and put it down to the champion being “a race driver.” It is evident from Vettel’s reaction that being out-performed by Ricciardo is starting to affect him. Vettel eventually finished fifth roughly twenty seconds behind Ricciardo.

The Ferrari team showed a marked improvement, at least in the hands of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard blitzed the opening lap of the race, as he so often does, and was able to maintain and beat the pace of both Red Bull drivers. Alonso secured the first podium for Ferrari in which has otherwise been an off-colour start to the season. The third place finish comes at a significant time for the team as new team Principal Marco Mattiacci looks to find his feet.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen didn’t enjoy the same turn of speed as he struggled to an eighth place finish behind Nico Hulkenberg and Valterri Bottas respectively. The Finn endured a difficult weekend compounded by a variety of issues which severely restricted the amount of running throughout the practice sessions. However, Raikkonen pointed out his driving style as the main contributing factor for his lack of pace. The former champion’s famously smooth style prevents him from getting enough heat into the Pirelli tyres which in turn affects grip levels. Typically, this would be seen as an asset as it could extend the life of the tyre however coupled with the low temperatures in China it resulted in an overall lack of pace.

Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten while Felipe Massa’s afternoon was completely destroyed by a pit-stop mistake. The team mixed up right and left-rear tyres costing the Brazilian a chance of a points-paying position. Oddly, the chequered flag was shown a lap early on lap 55 which, according to regulations, meant that Chinese GP was declared to have finished on lap 54. None of the points-paying-positions were affected.

The tension between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg is almost palpable. No congratulatory handshake was forthcoming, not even for the camera and no pleasantries exchanged before or during the podium ceremony. They aren’t expected to be overly excited about the other’s result but the lack of interaction between them is telling.

The tension between the two stems from the wheel-to-wheel battle in Bahrain which Rosberg felt was “too close” for comfort. But there is little doubt that if the German had been the one on attack and the first to see the chequered flag that it would’ve been acceptable.

The reality is that Hamilton struck a significant psychological blow by taking victory in a race that Rosberg seemingly had won. He followed it up with another damaging mental blow in China by completely dominating the weekend.

In three weeks time the first race of the ‘European season’ will take place at Spain’s Catalunya circuit. Most teams are expected to roll out several big upgrades with the hope of seeing significant progress.

Mercedes-Benz images courtesy of @MercedesAMGF1

April 21, 2014
Hamilton claims masterful Chinese Grand Prix pole

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fourth pole position with a time of 1.53.860 ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix in a rather damp and drizzly qualifying session. In doing so, the Briton surpassed Jim Clark’s record for pole positions by a British driver.

Daniel Ricciardo will start second on the grid tomorrow after out-qualifying Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel by half a second. But Ricciardo’s Red Bull was a full 0.6 seconds off Hamilton who was fastest in all three qualifying sessions. The Mercedes driver’s 34th pole position moves him one clear of two-time world champion Jim Clark, and places him fourth in the all-time record list behind Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, and Vettel.

Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg had looked set to challenge Hamilton for pole position, but the German made two costly mistakes in the final session which resulted in him only qualifying in fourth place.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso set the fifth fastest time under the watchful eye of new team principal Marco Mattiacci. The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas brought their cars home in 6th and 7th places. Nico Hülkenberg was eighth, with Jean-Éric Vergne and Romain Grosjean rounding out the top 10 qualifiers.

Several of the top drivers did not make it through to Q3 including Kimi Raikkonen who came close to being eliminated in Q1 already but set the 11^th fastest time in the end. Fellow world champion, Jenson Button also failed to impress an only managed 12^th.

Pastor Maldonado will start from the back of the grid after power unit problems kept his Lotus E22 parked in his garage.

After plenty of wet running so far this weekend, we are not expecting rain for the race tomorrow. What we are expecting is more Mercedes dominance and if Lewis Hamilton has anything to say about – come rain or shine – he’ll be holding the trophy on the top step of the podium tomorrow.

Join us for what’s bound to be an action packed race tomorrow. We’ll be running live commentary on Twitter @F1_Madness with pre and post race news, analysis and quotes from the teams and drivers.

Full timesheet for the Chinese Grand Prix qualifying:

April 19, 2014
F1 2014: Chinese GP Preview – Mercedes battle resumes in China

The Shanghai International Circuit is properly modern Formula 1 track – A gigantic complex of grandstands, large run-off areas and an intricate track layout incorporating long straights, high-speed corners and several chances for overtaking.

The Shanghai International circuit and paddock is an engineering feat which speaks to the country’s determination to be a part of the world’s most prestigious racing series. Thirteen months is all that was needed to convert the swampland to an internationally recognised racing mecca.

Since making its debut in 2004 the Chinese grand prix has seen its own share of Formula 1 drama. In 2005 Renault clinched the constructor’s championship title as Fernando Alonso headed towards his first driver’s crown; four years later a young Sebastian Vettel won his first Formula 1 race for Red Bull; and the most dramatic of the lot was the retirement of Lewis Hamilton during the 2007 race which ultimately handed the initiative to Kimi Raikkonen, the eventual champion that season.

The track layout is typical Herman Tilke, F1’s preferred track designer. Long straights and medium to high-speed corners are abundant, as is the amount of run-off. Overtaking won’t a scarcity this weekend as the Shanghai circuit boasts the longest straight on the Formula 1 calendar. The tight hairpin at the end of the straight will be the prime overtaking zone on Sunday however Shanghai provides several further chances. The intricate complex of turn one/two is a key positioner for an overtaking manoeuvre into turn six. The only defence will be to have a car with good traction out of the slow speed corners.

The weather for the Chinese GP tends to be fairly cool with a track temperature ranging from the high teens to early twenties. The lower temperature is good news for those teams who have been struggling with overheating power units. The likelihood of rain at some point of the weekend is a possibility; and given the performance deficit to the Mercedes team some may even be do a few rain dances themselves.

Unless, there has been a dramatic reversal of form and pace over the last fourteen days the fight to be best of the rest is the most that Red Bull, Williams, McLaren and Ferrari can hope for. Kimi Raikkonen has said that his Ferrari team is “not stupid” and that he believes the team has the ability to turn around their deficit to the frontrunners. The fighting words from Raikkonen will be appreciated by those slogging it out in Maranello. However, with the 2014 season already into its fourth race the question is how fast Ferrari can affect a turnaround in their performance.

In China the Ferrari engine will most likely still be lacking power in comparison to the Mercedes power unit. Nevertheless, the F14T fared fairly well in the high-speed corners of Malaysia’s Sepang circuit which is a feature of this 5.541 km track. However, Ferrari’s biggest change in China will be the absence of the recently “resigned” Stefano Domenicalli. This significant shake-up in the team may have been building for quite some time but is a rather messy situation to deal with in the thick of the season. The question remains if Ferrari’s latest change will the ‘upgrade’ they desperately need or if it is a sign of a much more complicated problem.

The Mercedes’ team domination may lead some to suggest that it’s all a bit predictable. But what they may not be factoring into the equation is the exhilarating clash between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Their breathless battle for victory in Bahrain ensured the highest viewership ratings since the 2012 finale and has been the talk of F1 pages throughout the globe. The prospect of these two re-igniting their spine-tingling duel for supremacy is enough to whet any fanatic’s appetite.

April 17, 2014
F1 2014: Bahrain GP – Mighty Hamilton Victorious

It would be ridiculous to deem the impressive Mercedes team as anything but imperious in Formula 1 2014. Normally, domination by one team in a sport leads to a bit of monotony.   But the Mercedes pair ensured that the tenth anniversary of the Bahrain GP was one of the most exhilarating races in recent memory.

The Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton proved to be in a class of their own as they obliterated the field with searing pace. A front-row lock out of the grid pitted the two Silver Arrows against each other. As soon as the red lights extinguished Hamilton scythed into the lead and produced the most memorable victory on his career.

An astounding and unforgettable wheel-to-wheel battle ensued between the two for nearly all of the 57 laps. At times the Mercedes pitwall would’ve been watching the duel between its drivers from behind a pillow, praying that it wouldn’t end in a shower of carbon-fibre. It didn’t. Instead it gave rise to spectacle worthy of being called a definitive Formula 1 race; terrifyingly passionate and shockingly spectacular.

The rest of the field lapped some two second a lap slower but still managed to deliver an outstanding race. After a difficult year as a McLaren driver Sergio Perez joined the Force India with the hope of rebuilding his stock in Formula1. It has taken the Mexican only three races to show that he has something special to offer.

The Force India driver delivered a stellar drive to secure the final step on the podium. Perez outpaced his highly regarded teammate Nico Hulkenberg and resisted both Williams’ of Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas for the majority of the race. The job wasn’t done however as Daniel Ricciardo made a late charge for the podium. Checo, as he is known in the paddock, resisted an almighty onslaught from the Australian and crossed the line four tenths ahead of the Red Bull.

The second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg nearly fell victim to Sebastian Vettel but held off the German in the closing stages for a fifth place finish. Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas finished line astern in seventh and eighth. Given the dreadful 2013 season experienced this team the Bahrain result will be accepted with both hands. But before long Williams will have to find a way to unlock the potential which seems to be looming just out of reach.

In ninth and tenth Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen would have been relieved to finally see the chequered flag. A dismal showing by the Ferrari team did little to paint the Italian squad as potential championship contenders. Far from prancing horses Alonso and Raikkonen looked more like sitting ducks as several Mercedes powered cars breezed past the Scarlet cars with embarrassing ease.

Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado assured the deployment of a safety car by ploughing into the side of Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez on exiting the pitlane. The Sauber driver was spectacularly flipped over but escaped without injury. Maldonado, known for his dicey reputation, was given a ten second stop/go penalty for causing a collision and will serve a five-place grid penalty for the Chinese GP.

Kudos to Mercedes for letting their drivers’ race each other to the final lap of the race. Lewis Hamilton had no right to win the 2014 Bahrain GP. He didn’t start from pole position, he was on the slower tyre in the final stint of the race and vulnerable in the DRS zone. But the way he barged Nico Rosberg out of the way to seize the lead of the race said a lot. It revealed a passion, skill and determination so staggering it is difficult to foresee it being matched.

AMG Petronas Mercedes F1 team images courtesy of Mercedes Benz

April 7, 2014
F1 2014: Qualifying Results – Rosberg Romps to Bahrain Pole

Nico Rosberg has secured pole position for the 2014 Bahrain grand prix.

In celebration of its tenth year on the Formula 1 calendar thousands of floodlights lit up the Sakhir International Circuit in the middle of the Bahrain dessert. The dominance of the Mercedes team remained intact around the floodlit Sakhir circuit as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locked out the front row of the grid. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was the best of the rest in third place but will drop ten places on the grid due to a penalty incurred in the Malaysian GP.

The first part of qualifying relegated the usual suspects to the back of the grid. Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi out-qualified teammate Marcus Ericsson and both Marussia’s of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi. Sauber driver Adrian Sutil and Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado were the other drivers who failed to advance to the second part of qualifying.

Romain Grosjean, who had snatched a spot in Q2 by nine thousandths of a second was unable to better than 16th overall. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel were the high profile drivers who did not advance to the top ten shoot-out. Hulkenberg had threatened throughout the practice session but was unable to make it count. Sebastian Vettel reported an issue on the downshift of his gearbox before being eliminated from qualifying. Nevertheless, Vettel will start tenth due to teammate Ricciardo’s 10 place grid penalty.

Despite having two bites at the cherry Nico Rosberg’s first lap in the third part of qualifying was enough to secure the German’s fifth career pole position. A mistake on his second attempt meant that Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second. Daniel Ricciardo’s relegation means that Williams’ Valterri Bottas will start the Bahrain GP in third place. Mexican Sergio Perez delivered a stunning performance in his Force India and will share the second row of the grid with Bottas.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen will line up fifth while McLaren’s Jenson Button, celebrating his 250th GP, share the third row of the grid in sixth. Felipe Massa and Kevin Magnussen will start seventh and eighth respectively. Fernando Alonso was unseen for the majority of the final minutes of the qualifying session and will start tomorrow’s race in ninth place.

It seems highly unlikely that the Mercedes duo will be troubled on Sunday. Who will be the best of the rest is anyone’s guess.

April 5, 2014
Bahrain Free Practice 2 – Hamilton Finishes Top of the Time Sheets

Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes made it two from two this evening by finishing on top of the time sheets in the second practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished the session in P1 with a time of 1:34.325. His team mate Nico Rosberg ended the session in P2 with a 1:34.690. Fernando Alonso finished the session in P3 with a 1:35.360, a full 1.035s slower than Hamilton’s P1 time.

Alonso could not do any better than P3. His long run pace looked encouraging but Ferrari are struggling with high tyre degradation. Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari struggled this session. He ended his FP2 down in P14 with a 1:36.962. So not a good session for the Finn who’s looking to get a strong finish in the race.

With 35m left in the session Max Chilton in his Marussia suffered a front left brake disk failure under braking into T4. The front brakes went, the rears locked up and he spun off the track into the run off area and that was his session. He was not the only casualty of the session. Sauber’s Adrian Sutil stopped out on track with 30 minutes left in the session. The final casualty of the evening was Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson. He stopped his car on the back straight on the run down to T11 with just 5mins left in the session. There was a bit of a moment between Rosberg and Perez in the Force India that will be investigated after the session. Rosberg was on a slow-down lap with Perez on a timed lap approaching rather quickly. Rosberg moved to his left to get out of the way, but by then Perez had already committed to passing Rosberg on the left. Perez had to move a bit more to the left to avoid Rosberg. All this happened on the run into T14

The Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas spent most of the session in their garages and with 42 mins left in the session they both took to the track with very encouraging pace from Massa. Massa and Bottas finished P5 and P11 respectively.

Red Bull confirmed just after the start of the session that the had a fuel flow sensor failure together with Toro Rosso and Lotus. They had a relatively quiet FP2 with Ricciardo finishing in P4 and Sebastian Vettel finishing P7. Red Bull do have some tyre degradation issues but not as bad as Ferrari. They actually looked much stronger on the long run race than Ferrari.

Mercedes look to be in a class of their own. At the moment qualifying looks to be between Hamilton and Rosberg for P1 and P2. But we all know how quickly things can change in F1. There’s still FP3 to come.

Below is the timing wall for the session:

April 4, 2014
F1 2014: Bahrain Free Practice 1 Results – Hamilton On Top

Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two at the first free practice session for the 2014 Bahrain grand prix.

The Bahrain GP celebrates its tenth appearance on the Formula 1 calendar this weekend and will host its first ever night race. The first one and a half hour practice session remained fairly uneventful throughout. There was encouraging signs from the Lotus F1 Team who managed to rack up a substantial number of laps without any issues. However, it was the Mercedes team that once again dominated the timing sheets ahead of Sunday’s third round of the 2014 F1 season.

Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari held the fastest time for a short period of time before being pushed down to third overall. Several teams ended there practice sessions before the chequered flag came out. The suggestion was that the most valuable information would be gained in the second practice session; as the condition will be more akin to what qualifying and race conditions are likely to be.

A peculiar lapse of concentration by the Ferrari team saw Fernando Alonso leave the pitlane with three medium and one soft compound tyre on his car. The Spaniard stopped his car in the pitlane and was wheeled back into the garage by his mechanics. Some familiar faces graced the paddock during FP1 from Jean Alesi to Rod Smedley who has joined the Williams team from Ferrari.

Several reserve drivers also got some track time in Bahrain. Amongst them were Felipe Nasr for Williams, Robin Frijns for Caterham and Giedo van der Garde for Sauber.

April 4, 2014
Massa:”No damage to relationship with Williams”

Williams driver Felipe Massa feels that his relationship with the Williams team has not been comprimised after ignoring team orders at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Brazillian was asked to move over to let his team mate Valtteri Bottas through to have a go at Jenson Button in the closing stages of the Malaysian Grand Prix. Instead of moving over, Massa picked up the pace and stayed ahead of Bottas. After numerous messages from Massa’s race engineer and a message from Cheif Test and Support Engineer, Rod Nelsonm, Massa stayed out in front.

After the race Massa was adamant that he did what he thought was right. Bottas on the other hand was very sure that he could get past Button in the McLaren. There were statements from Williams saying that there was a switch back plan if Bottas had failed to pass Button. But in the end it still remained that Massa had ignored the team order.

Speaking to Autosport earlier Massa was confident that all is well between himself and Williams.

“I don’t think it damaged the relationship,” he said.

“When I do something that is my mistake, I will be the first one to say sorry and the team was the first to say sorry here.

“What happened at the last race was not correct. I’m sure the team will say that as well.

“I put my ideas on the table with everybody inside the team and everything was clear.

“Everything should be fine and I believe what’s happened in the last race won’t happen again until it’s the right time for it to happen. It was not the correct time at the last race.”

“What I did in the last race was, for me, the right thing to do,” said Massa.

“I am a very professional driver, I always was, and I will carry on being very professional and doing the best for my team, but doing the correct thing as well.

“We know we need to do the best for the team, but I race for myself as well and I need to do the best for my career.”

April 3, 2014
F1 2014: Malaysia GP Review – Mercedes Asserts Dominance

Not a lot of people were delighted when news broke towards the end of 2012 that Lewis Hamilton would become a Mercedes driver. The gutsy decision went a long way towards being justified as Hamilton dominated the 2014 Malaysian grand prix.

A single victory in Hungary was all Hamilton had to show for his first season with the Silver Arrows. He remained patient in the building of this new relationship and when the all silver Mercedes hit the track in Jerez on the first day of testing it was starting to pay off.

After retiring from the Australian grand prix two weeks ago Lewis Hamilton showed up in Malaysia with the single goal of scoring twenty-five points on Sunday. A second consecutive pole ensured the best possible starting position for Hamilton who shared the front-row of the grid with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. Nico Rosberg rounded out the top three with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in fourth place on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton comfortably maintained the lead of the race over teammate Rosberg and ran untroubled for the rest of the afternoon. One of the few battles during the Malaysian GP transpired at the start of the race as Rosberg and the two Red Bulls jockeyed for position.

Sebastian Vettel finished in third place overall after getting within one second of Rosberg’s Mercedes. It has been a tremendous recovery for the Red Bull team who looked in dire straits two months ago. A podium finish proves that the RB10 is a fundamentally quick car and that should Renault get on top of their issues that Red Bull will be a serious factor in this championship battle.

Daniel Ricciardo was supposed to follow Vettel home in fourth place but a disastrous final pit stop totalled the Australian’s race. An improperly secured front-left tyre forced Ricciardo to stop in the pitlane before being pushed back to his pit box. Eventually released, he was given a ten second stop/go penalty for an unsafe release. As if to add insult to injury the Aussie was forced back into the pits with a damaged front-wing which appeared to have been caused by the front-jack during his stop.

Ricciardo failed to finish the race and was subsequently handed a ten-place grid penalty for this weekend’s Bahrain GP. It is rather extreme to double up on the punishment but the 2014 rule concerning unsafe releases is clear-cut in the application of two penalties. Clearly, Ricciardo has taken over Mark Webber’s rotten luck as well as his race seat at Red Bull.

Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso battled for fourth place on the road with the Ferrari driver winning the close contest. Hulkenberg underlined his class with a solid performance on a tricky two-stop strategy. The Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen showed a marked improvement throughout the practice sessions but an overzealous Kevin Magnussen left the Finn with a right-rear puncture at the start of lap two. After limping around the circuit Raikkonen made it to the pits but had lost seventy seconds to the frontrunners.

Jenson Button confirmed post-race that his McLaren struggled in the high-speed corners but still salvaged sixth place. A spicy fight for seventh between Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas resulted in some inter-team controversy. In the closing stages of the race Massa was given the instruction to let his teammate past. However, amongst several messages to the Brazilian was “Felipe, Valtteri is faster than you.” This message was a near exact carbon-copy of the one given to Massa during the infamous 2010 German GP. For a split second the former Ferrari driver must have felt like he never left the Italian squad. Massa’s engineer will do well in the future to pick his words more carefully. Team boss Claire Williams diffused the situation by claiming that no team orders were imposed on either driver. Rookies Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten.

It’s bad enough not seeing the chequered flag at the end of the race but it’s exponentially worse when a driver does not even make it onto the starting grid. Force India’s Sergio Perez, struck with software issues, was such a driver. Lotus retired the car of Pastor Maldonado as the turbo was in the process of failing while Sauber suffered a double retirement. Seven cars in total failed to see the chequered flag.

In seven previous attempts Hamilton had never won the Malaysian GP but Sunday’s dominant display resulted in his first victory around the Sepang circuit. The absence of significant pressure from behind allowed Hamilton to set a modest pace. It is clear that underneath him he has a Mercedes that is the class of the field at the moment and, if needed, has quite a lot more speed to call on.

It isn’t a case of if but rather when Red Bull, Ferrari and perhaps McLaren will catch up. The gap will be closed. However, Mercedes is making some serious hay while the others are scrambling – and this is ominous. Trust that this team will be working as hard to maintain their pace advantage. And they’re already ahead there too. While others struggle with their power units Mercedes already has the strongest and most reliable engine. At this stage other teams are trying to solve problems and combat issues that Mercedes have long since overcome. The mindset of the Mercedes team isn’t how to fix problems it’s how to go even faster.

March 31, 2014