Tag: jenson button

F1 2016: Bahrain Qualifying Report – Hamilton Wraps Up Pole

Lewis Hamilton wrapped up his second consecutive pole position of the season for the Mercedes F1 team.

The much maligned qualifying format got underway on the floodlit Sakhir International circuit and claimed its fist victim as Sergio Perez. The Force India driver and his team miscalculated the timing clock which left the Mexican driver towards the back of the grid. Pascal Wehrlein impressed in his Manor F1 car and will start Sunday’s race in 17th place.

The second session of qualifying saw the red light at the end of the pitlane malfunction prompting a marshal to wave a green flag to set the drivers on their way. Stand-in McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne out-qualified teammate Jenson Button and will line up in twelfth position. French driver Romain Grosjean sported a big smile as he will line up the Haas F1 car in ninth place on the grid.

The final session of qualifying produced a surprise for Daniel Ricciardo who will start in fifth position ahead of both the Williams drivers. Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner remarked earlier that they would have to deliver something special to come out ahead in the intensely close mid-field battle.

The first run between both Mercedes and Ferrari team’s drivers saw laptimes split only by a couple of tenths. However, Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton upped the ante for the final run. The reigning champion secured pole position ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg but less than a tenth of a second. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will share the second row of the grid as they did in Australia.

Attention now turns to the start of Sunday’s race and the run down to the all-important first corner. Mercedes will be keen to improve on their starting prowess following the opening round of the season. And with the longer run down to turn one it will have to be inch perfect.

April 2, 2016
F1 2016: Bahrain GP Preview – Bahrain Battle Between Merc & Ferrari

Formula 1 has long been known as a sport that is both complicated and the technical supreme of motorized sport. This and the allure of speed and victory and glamour is what draw millions of fans to it. But recently the sport, which celebrates more than six decades of existence, has been anything but glorious.

Of late all of what makes Formula 1 great has been overwhelmed and buried under the awkward mess of the new qualifying format. The elimination style qualifying format was universally slammed by all who tuned into the farcical hour that would determine the starting grid.

The qualifying change was an idea cooked up by Jean Todt’s FIA, F1’s governing body. It put the choice of the ill-conceived elimination-style quali or a reversed starting grid before the teams. Rather than choose the preposterous idea of a reversed grid they opted for the lesser of two evils and so elimination-style quali came to pass. Subsequent to scorching criticism a reversion to the previous quali session was called for. However, F1’s strategy group has decided to give the new format another chance in Bahrain. It’s difficult to imagine that the new format will suddenly transform unenthusiastic opinion it’s currently viewed with.

The qualifying debacle has, unfortunately, dominated headlines for the last two weeks. It’s nearly made us forget that as the opening round of the 2016 season the Oz Gp was a compelling race. The choice of three tyre compounds in the race worked well and produced several different strategies up and down the field which is an exciting precursor for the rest of the season. And although Mercedes were eventual victors with a 1-2 finish they were pushed to the limit of what they could produce.

As Formula 1 tracks go the Albert Park circuit is unique. Its street-style layout is not a definitive barometer for car performance and it’s difficult to overtake on. As the second round of the season Bahrain’s Sakhir International circuit presents a bigger test on performance and more chances for overtaking. “The last corner flows quite well and if you can get close for DRS you can get a good run [to overtake] into Turn 1,” said Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. “If you don’t get it into Turn 1, then there’s Turn 4 or the middle sectors where it’s easy to make mistakes. There’s probably four places you can pass on the track which is pretty good.”

As you might expect tyre strategy will play its role in determining what the final result on Sunday will be. The medium, soft, and supersoft Pirelli tyres are the choices available to drivers. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen has opted for three sets of medium tyres each while Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has taken only one set of the medium compound. It indicates that Ferrari hasn’t ruled out an alternative strategy of a long stint on the medium tyre should conditions be suitable. In 2013 Kimi Raikkonen pulled off a two stop strategy to finish second for Lotus.

The Finn has a record of seven podiums at the Desert track and despite being inches away from winning the grand prix in 2015 has never stood on the top step of the podium here. As the Sakhir International circuit is clearly a venue where Raikkonen excels the 2007 champion may not be a bad bet for the spoils this weekend.

The Bahrain grand prix exploded into life on account of its transformation into a night race. In 2014 it produced an exhilarating wheel-to-wheel battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. In this race it was Hamilton who emerged a memorable victor. In 2016, it could produce a battle between Mercedes and Ferrari that you do not want to miss.

March 31, 2016
F1 2016: Australian GP Review – Rosberg Wins Frenetic Season-opener

After Saturday’s new qualifying format was unilaterally panned as farcical and anti-climatic F1 needed to bounce back quickly. It did so with an action packed Australian grand prix.

Naturally, before the start of any race several scenarios run through your mind, all them which include some situation that will spice up the race from the get go. The catalyst was an extra formation lap after Dannil Kvyat’s Red Bull was stranded at the back of the grid.

The exhilaration is delivered by the two Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen who blast past Nico Rosberg and Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton and first and second place. Behind the two Ferraris Rosberg fights to maintain his position and squeezes Hamilton to the edge of the circuit which causes the Brit to fall down to seventh place.

Immediately Vettel is able to open a two second gap over teammate Raikkonen who in turn keeps the Mercedes of Rosberg at bay. It’s a dream start for the Italian team who is more than able to match the race pace of Mercedes.

On lap sixteen the race changes. The race is red flagged for a crash between Haas F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren. The Spaniard’s McLaren clipped the left-rear of the Haas, flipped through the air and came to rest, on its side, against a barrier. The damage to Alonso’s car looked horrific but he exited the car and walked away without injury. There is no question that had this accident happened in any other era of the sport it would’ve had a far different outcome. Once more, this proves that the advancement of safety in F1 should never be taken for granted nor rejected because it may not be visually appealing.

This red flag is where the race changed for Ferrari. As the cars stood in the pitlane teams were able to make changes including which tyre compound to restart the race on. Ferrari opted for the red-walled supersoft tyre while Mercedes fitted the medium compound. It was evident that the Silver Arrow’s aim was to get to the end of the race without another stop.

For Raikkonen it didn’t make much difference as he was forced into retirement a few laps after the re-start. With fire and smoke pouring out the Ferrari it looked ominously like the engine had let go however the team later confirmed that it was a turbo failure.

Ferrari still had Vettel in the lead of the race but the tyre choice meant that the former champion had to pit again. It was a strategic error by Ferrari and it cost them a definite shot at winning the race. The possible reasoning for why Ferrari didn’t go with the medium tyre could be because of a lack of confidence that they could get the tyre up to working temperature in the cooler conditions. Vettel nearly recovered to second place but a slight error at the end sealed his fate in third behind Hamilton and Rosberg, respectively.

Sebastian Vettel said after the race that he feels that Ferrari can challenge for the title this year and given that he’s not the type to say things just for the sake of talking, it’s a great omen for the rest of the season.

Nico Rosberg may have taken the big prize but the Haas F1 Team owns the performance of the day. A sixth place finish for Romain Grosjean on the team’s debut is what Formula 1 dreams are made of. Coming into Formula 1 has always been a monumental task and this team is doing it with a staff of only about 170 people. It’s as great debut as we’ve seen in at least three decades.

If you were to look only at the result of this race another Mercedes 1-2 would make you think it’s pretty much the same story, different season. But they really had to work for it. An overheating right-front brake caliper and critical tyre wear on Rosberg’s car is indicative of just how hard they had to push. Twenty races remain in this F1 season and we may just have ourselves a real championship.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

March 21, 2016
Hamilton makes it a clean sweep in dry Australian GP final practice

Lewis Hamilton made it a clean sweep by going fastest once again in the final practice session ahead of the Australian GP. The British driver edged out his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, finishing 0.176s ahead of the German to top the final practice session time sheets with a stonking time of 1:25.624s.

While the Mercedes team are still ahead of the field, it is refreshing to see the dominant gap shrinking – Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completed the final practice session only two tenths behind the Mercs and the entire field of 22 drivers are seperated by only 3.648.

The scene is definitely set for a brilliant qualifying session which will take place in a brand new knock-out format. Vettel’s final practice time was set before the two Mercedes drivers who set their times on a rapidly improving track which suggests their could be plenty of action toward the end of qualifying later this today.

There was no sign of rain throughout the entire final practice session and conditions continued to improve throughout the entire 60 minute run.

Toro Rosso proved to be very impressive with Carlos Sainz Jr – who is running a 2015-spec Ferrari engine – splitting the two Ferraris to go fourth fastest, two tenths clear of Kimi Raikkonen. Max Verstappen brought his Toro Rosso home 6th fastest ahead of Valterri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo.

Felipe Massa finished ninth fastest and Force India’s Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10.

The two McLaren drivers showed that the team seems to have made some encouraging progress with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button setting the 11th and 12th quickest times respectively. Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat was 13th, ahead of the leading Sauber of Marcus Ericsson and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finished 16th fastest with Renault’s Jolyon Palmer behind him.

Some action in the pitlane saw F1 rookie driver Rio Haryanto and Romain Grosjean colliding early in the final practice session when they were both released at the same time.

Haryanto was able to get out shortly after with a new front wing bolted to his car, but Haas chose to change the floor as well as the front wing on Grosjean’s car before getting him back out.

Haryanto finished the session 22nd and last on the time sheets, but only two tenths adrift of team mate Pascal Wehrlein.

Grosjean completed the fewest laps of anybody with 11 and ended the session 19th – a 0.008s shave slower than team mate Esteban Gutierrez.

The new format qualifying format will make its debut just a little later this morning. Will Mercedes continue to dominate? Or could the rest of the field be in it to grab it from them? Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live interaction, commentary and chat throughout the session.

Final Practice FP3 Classification:

Lewis Hamilton Photo Credit – Mercedes AMG Petronas

March 19, 2016
F1 Australian GP FP2: Hamilton fastest, Rosberg crashes

The Mercedes F1 team suffered pretty mixed fortunes in another practice session dominated by unpredictable wet weather conditions. Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the time sheets once again in FP2 ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, while his team mate Nico Rosberg suffered a crash into the barriers at turn 6 during a very wet session.

The wet weather put a real damper on FP2, with conditions only improving ever so marginally during the session. While we got to see some slick running during the first free practice session, drivers were not able to run on anything better than Pirelli’s intermediate rubber during FP2.

Most teams preferred a cautionary approach with seven drivers failing to set a time and three not venturing on to the track at all for any FP2 running. Nico Rosberg’s turn 7 crash early on in the session caused extensive damage to the front wing of his W07. Rosberg was forced to abandon his Mercedes track side for fear of causing further damage to the car. Team Principal Toto Wolff confirmed that Rosberg had been running one of the team’s new S-duct noses. Mercedes does have spares for later in the weekend but sent Hamilton out with an old spec wing so as not to risk losing another one.

With Rosberg forced out of FP2, team mate Hamilton was left to head up the field. He posted a time of 1:38.841. The time was nearly 10 seconds slower than his top time posted for FP1. It was good enough though to finish nearly half a second clear of Nico Hulkenberg in his Force India. Force India are looking impressive – Sergio Perez had set the fastest first and second sectors before losing the rear of his car in Turn 12. There was potential for him to better Hamilton’s time but as conditions worsened his chances of taking a time at the top were quickly snuffed.

Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest for Ferrari, followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz. The McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button followed in sixth and seventh places.

Sebastian Vettel – who had not completed a timed lap in FP1 despite being the first driver out on track – set the eight fastest time with Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat rounding out the top 10.

Esteban Gutierrez ended the FP2 session 11th in the Haas and Pascal Wherlein finished 12th fastest ahead of Romain Grosjean, Rio Haryanto and Rosberg. The remaining seven drivers chose not to set times and Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr and Max Verstappen opted to remain in the dry comfort of their pit garages.

The weather for tomorrow is currently still rainy at times but more favourable than Friday conditions.

Photo Credits: FP2 Screenshots from Sky F1.

March 18, 2016
F1 2016: Australian GP Preview – F1 season of possibility

The question at the forefront of everything is can Ferrari take the fight to Mercedes. All indications are that the Italian team has made strides since last year and has closed the gap to Mercedes. All that remains to be seen is how close they can get.

As F1 2016 gets under way this season will be longest in the sport’s history with 21 races. Germany’s Hockenheim makes a return to the calendar and Azerbaijan hosts its first ever race on the Baku City streets. The confirmation of the US grand prix gives the teams an added bonus. The F1 sporting regulation state that one engine must be used for four race weekends. As the US Gp makes it 21 races the teams will be given a fifth engine thanks to the wording of the rule.

When the change to the qualifying format was announced it left many perplexed. The quali format hadn’t been a bad one so why fix something that isn’t broken? But, let’s give it chance and see how it pans out.

The one hour session will still consist of three parts. Q1 will be 16 minutes, after the first seven the slowest car is eliminated. Thereafter, the slowest car is eliminated every 90 seconds. Seven drivers will be eliminated while 15 advance to Q2.

Q2 will be a 15 minute session with the slowest driver eliminated after 6 minutes. Likewise, every 90 seconds will see the slowest car eliminated. Seven drivers will be eliminated in this session with eight advancing to Q3. The Q3 session will run for fourteen minutes with the slowest driver eliminated after five minutes. The slowest driver will continue to be eliminated every 90 seconds. Two drivers will remain in the final 90 seconds of the session to shoot it out for pole position.

An interesting aspect of this style of qualifying will be that the quickest cars will no longer be able to rely on getting through to the second part of qualifying on the harder of their tyre selection. It’s sure to throw the cat amongst the pigeons when there is rain about, and if it’s a lap longer than 1 minute 30 seconds. And let’s be honest anything that adds a bit of drama and intrigue is never a bad thing. What the new format has in its favour is that it takes the excitement from the final ten minutes of the session and spreads it throughout the entire hour.

The Albert Park circuit is a well known one. But there are many unknowns at the first race of the season. A new qualifying format, new tyre regulations, more driver freedom on strategy calls, to name a few. The clampdown on radio communication from the pitwall carries its own connotation, especially where the start of the race is concerned. Drivers are not allowed any feedback during the formation lap and are only being allowed to use one clutch at the start. This combined with Albert Park’s tight turn one could result in dramatic start to the grand prix. And all of this has the potential to combine into an explosive season-opening race.

Mercedes has chosen to play up Ferrari’s performance so far. Choosing to send both Nico Rosberg and Niki Lauda into the press with statements of Ferrari being a great threat. It could just be some clever psychological play by the champions. Or it could be real and we could in for a F1 season to be remembered. One way or the other the more than 100 day wait is finally over.

March 16, 2016

F1 2016 Pre-Season Test 1 Day 1: Vettel Tops the Timesheets

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished the first day of the first pre-season test of 2016 on top of the time sheets ahead of defending champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes W07 Hybrid.

The German set his best time of 1:24.939 on the medium compound tyres just before lunch to take the top spot for the day. For the rest of the day it was testing as usual for Ferrari which seen Vettel rack up 69 laps.

A few doors up the paddock, Lewis Hamilton racked up an astonishing 156 laps on the day. That’s 698km, which is just a little over two race lengths. “It’s good to be back. It really had felt like a while – but now it feels like home already,” said Hamilton. He finished second fastest on the day with a 1:25.409.

Daniel Ricciardo finished third fastest clocking up 87 laps on the day after a bit of a slow start. This, in contrast to the previous season’s testing, seems like a big improvement from the team. “First impressions are positive but it’s still too early to say much more. We had a good day and I’m ready for more,” said Ricciardo at the end of the day’s running.

Valtteri Bottas ended his day 4th fastest for Williams completing 80 laps. Bottas’ first impression of the car was that he feels many of the issues they’ve had last year have been fixed but he thinks its too early to say where they are in relation to the other teams.

“Valtteri has been complimentary about aspects of the FW38 which is good start,” said the Chief and Test Support Engineer Rob Nelson.

“We are just building up our run lengths and doing our due diligence on reliability, and as the test goes on we’ll feed in more and more performance items. Overall it is a reasonable start to pre-season testing for us.

Mexican Alfonso Celis was in the VJM09 for Force India. He finished 5th fastest with 58 laps to his name. Not far off his pace was Jenson Button in the McLaren MP4-31 finishing 6th fastest with 84 laps on the board. Button’s best time of 1:26.735 came courtesy of a late run on the soft compound tyres.

Carlos Sainz was out for Toro Rosso today. The team chose not to have a big reveal in the pits and instead just emerged from the pits when the green flag dropped for the start of the day. Sainz finished 7th fastest with 55 laps under his belt. His session was cut short when the team saw something strange in the gearbox oil system. The team decided to stop their session as a precaution.

Sauber, who ran an updated livery but a 2015 car, had Marcus Ericsson at the wheel of the C34. He placed 8th fastest on the day ahead of Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein. Wehrlein, on his first outing for the new look Manor team, clocked up 54 laps.

New comers Haas F1 had a good start to their debut test until a front wing failure brought out the red flags. The team say that they have a fix for the wing and will have a replacement by Tuesday. The wing failure put Grosjean out for most of the day. He did, however, emerge from the pits with an hour left in the session to complete a few laps.

Jolyon Palmer was 11th fastest for Renaul in the R.S.16. He had limited running owing to software issued on the car.

POS	Driver	Team/Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari SF16-H	1:24.939	–	69
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	1:25.409	+0.470	156
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12	1:26.044	+1.105	87
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes FW38	1:26.091	+1.152	80
5	Alfonso Celis	Force India-Mercedes VJM09	1:26.298	+1.359	58
6	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda MP4-31	1:26.735	+1.796	84
7	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11	1:27.180	+2.241	55
8	Marcus Ericcson	Sauber-Ferrari C34	1:27.555	+2.616	88
9	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Racing-Ferrari MRT05	1:28.292	+3.353	54
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari VF-16	1:28.399	+3.460	31
11	Jolyon Palmer	Renault R.S.16	1:29.356	+4.417	37

Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1, Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1

February 22, 2016

F1 2016: McLaren on the up?

McLaren has passed a mandatory crash test for the front-end of its MP4-31.

The Woking based team reportedly completed and passed a dynamic test of the front of their 2016 car. The nosecone of the McLaren is rumoured to be similar in style to what the Red Bull Racing team ran in 2015. However, the longer nose as seen on the 2015 McLaren has not been ruled out as a viable option.

McLaren’s MP4-31 will be launched on February 21 in the pitlane of Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya. Rumours have also emerged that team has overcome it’s power unit deficiency. Honda, who struggled throughout the 2015 season, are alleged to have solved the issue surrounding its energy recovery system. Some put the rumoured gains that have been made by the Japanese manufacturer in the region in 223 horsepower.

If it is the case the the Honda engine should be on par with that of Ferrari and Mercedes however it still doesn’t answer the question of the woeful reliability the team endure throughout their 2015 campaign.

As the first test of the season draws closer you’d have to expect that rumours of such significant gains will remain pure speculation until the team and its drivers can get out on track and prove it.

January 25, 2016
F1 2016: What to look out for in F1 2016

2016 is here and it brings with it the opportunity to create a dynamic, and with any luck, an unforgettable new chapter of Formula 1 racing. Already an array of topics from driver line-ups to power unit suppliers is demanding attention.

Ferrari expectations

The Italian marquee’s 2015 season while not earth shattering has created big expectations in Italy. The rest of the world, who’s perspective is a bit more realistic than that of the passion infused Tifosi, know that even matching the might of Mercedes is not a foregone conclusion. Since joining the team in 2013 Technical director James Alison is now firmly entrenched in Ferrari. The turnaround from a disastrous 2014 to a race-winning 2015 means serious pressure on Alison and his team to perform in 2016. It will be the responsibility of team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene to keep his team focused on its goals and to temper the expectations of the Ferrari board and its fans.

Mercedes quandary

It’s no question that where it concerns driver line-ups the spotlight will be squarely focused on the “relationship” between Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Through their partnerships both have enjoyed spectacular and conversely poor moments and spent plenty of time sulking in respective corners. Up until now the team has been able to handle its drivers without too much issue. But the balancing act between placating both drivers and avoiding a full blown war between the two is a tenuous line.

If Mercedes finds itself as runaway leaders of the pack again team director Toto Wolff has said it may prompt them allow the drivers free reign when it comes to strategy, thereby “improving the show.” For the sake of the show let’s hope Mercedes has a real challenger.

Renault resurgence

The French manufacturer’s purchase of the Lotus F1 Team has been made official which will see the championship winning constructor return to the sport as a fully-fledged works team. 2016 is a big year in many ways for Renault of which priority number one will be to silence the boisterous criticism of its power unit.

Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado has been retained by Renault for 2016 and will be partnered by British rookie Jolyon Palmer. Together these two drivers will form one of the weakest driver line-ups of the season. While Palmer appears to be a solid driver any rookie is a leap into the unknown. Normally, a teammate with five years worth of experience would be useful for someone like Palmer. But when that teammate is Pastor Maldonado it’s a bit of a different story.

Many will attest to the fact that you could hardly meet a greater gentleman than Pastor Maldonado in the F1 paddock. He has shown glimpses of real potential throughout his F1 career including the stunning victory at the 2012 Spanish grand prix. But the Venezuelan has a big chink in his armour – his habitual tendency to crash frequently and expensively. For Renault the conservative objective is to finish solidly in the top ten and perhaps snatch a podium or two should the frontrunners fail to reach the chequered flag. Their drivers will have to step-up is this is to be achieved.

Haas’ sure-fire plan

Gene Haas is American racing royalty but he isn’t banking on his stateside fame and success to make it in Formula 1. The team has forged an alliance with Ferrari who will supply Haas with a power unit. In addition, Ferrari can also supply the American team with front and rear suspension and share in the R&D costs. While Ferrari supply the mechanical side of the Haas car Italian manufacturer Dallara has designed its chassis. This resourceful recipe should catapult this team firmly into the midfield.

The next step in preparation for the 2016 season is for the customary shakedown tests of the new cars to be completed before they’re unveiled to the world. Most teams have announced mid-February launches for the respective cars just ahead of the vital first test session of the season.

January 19, 2016
F1 2015: Year In Review

As the year draws to its conclusion it and the 2015 Formula 1 season will soon be consigned to the history books. As ever the season’s intriguing battles were never solely consigned to the race track.

The engine debate

Engines have been the subject of heated debate for the entire season. From the cost of manufacturing to performance levels to how it affects the sustainability of the sport; all of it has been questioned and picked apart throughout 2015.

After months of wrangling Renault and Red Bull have reached an agreement on power unit supply. The public quarrel between the two ended in what we thought was a messy divorce. However, when neither Ferrari nor Mercedes and not even Honda wanted to supply a potential rival the team had to slink back to Renault. After smoothing over some sizeable differences the Red Bull team will run the French engine but it will branded as TAG Heuer.

Red Bull won’t have Renault’s undivided attention though as the French manufacturer has purchased the Lotus F1 Team. It’s a saving grace for Lotus who has been in financial strife for a number of years. The most public example of this was the failure of the team to pay then driver Kimi Raikkonen’s salary. Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado will be partnered by English rookie Jolyon Palmer in 2016.

At McLaren the debacle that was Honda’s season will soon want to be forgotten. In the end Fernando Alonso used twelve engines in the back of his McLaren – that’s three times more than he was allotted. Issue of after issue dogged both drivers throughout the season as Honda, and McLaren fell miserably short of its expectations. The up-side is that 2016 can hardly be any worse than Honda’s first year back in the top echelon of racing.

Mighty Mercedes and a Ferrari revival

Early on in the season it was clear that Mercedes had maintained its pace advantage. For anyone it would be too difficult to consistently beat the mighty Silver Arrows. The highly billed duel between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton never reached the heights or intensity of 2014. This time around Hamilton summarily outperformed Rosberg to the point where when the German driver finally pitched up the championship was already won by his British teammate.

In Texas Lewis Hamilton was crowned a three time world champion and luck had very little to do with it. Three years ago he made a move to Mercedes that was met with a great deal of apprehension. From a team with championship pedigree in McLaren he went to Mercedes who were seemingly condemn to the mid-field. It didn’t suddenly turn around in 2014 either. Rather it was the culmination of years of work put in by those behind the scenes of this team. It is never about one year in isolation and so to winning world titles for any driver is a culmination of years of work and dedication.

A complete reshuffle of personnel at Ferrari resulted in a stunning turn-around for the Italian team. Three dazzling victories and slew of podiums resulted as they continue to push towards the front of the grid. The arrival of Sebastian Vettel and the relationship between himself and teammate Kimi Raikkonen brought a harmony to the team. In 2015 Ferrari admitted that this driver-pairing and their ability to work together has been a relief for the team; something that was sorely lacking in 2014.

Rookie sensation

Drivers that enter F1 for the first time hardly make as big a splash as Max Verstappen has. Not even Lewis Hamilton’s first year, back in 2007, was met with such unilateral hype. The teenaged Dutch driver, Verstappen, burst onto the scene with audacious overtaking manoeuvres and a clear-as-day hunger to go racing no matter what he has to driver. Even the staunchest of critics have to submit that Verstappen has huge potential. While one season does not make a driver it is indisputable that if Verstappen can keep it all together we are all in for a quite a ride.

There was much more than mentioned here which made up the 2015 season. And in less than 100 days it resumes with dynamism that no other sport in the world can match.

December 15, 2015