Tag: williams

F1 2020: Portugal Gp Preview – Primed for Portimao

The Circuit Algarve, known casually as Portimao, is the newest venue to makes its 2020 debut as Formula 1 heads to Portugal for the first time since the 1996 grand prix around the famous Estoril circuit.

Portimao is well known to World SBK (Superbike) fans which has been on the championship calendar since 2008. Designed by Ricardo Pina the track has hosted several motorsport series including A1 Gp, the Le Mans Series, FIA GT and World Touring Car Championship, and an F1 winter test back in 2009.

At 4.7 kilometers in length the undulating nature of the Portuguese circuit is comparable to Belgium’s Spa-Franchorchamps and Austin’s Circuit of the Americas. The circuit width should present the opportunity for some overtaking but it is unlikely to be race that overwhelmed by the number of positions changes. The lap will be a quick one due to the flowing nature of the layout and the slipstreaming effect should play a fairly big role too. The downhill braking in some sections and blind entry in others should be a test for drivers.

There is little that suggests anything other than a Mercedes win this weekend. So dominant has the team been in 2020 that development has ceased on the W11 in favour of focusing all their attention of 2021. A mammoth 180 lead over Red Bull in the constructor’s standings has made Mercedes decision to shift its focus to next year’s car all the more obvious and comfortable. There is some reliability concern however given Valtteri Bottas’s retirement at the Nurburgring being related to the power unit. Nevertheless, with a 69-point lead over Bottas it is rather when and not if Lewis Hamilton will wrap up title number seven.

The race towards the driver’s title may be over bar the shouting but the midfield battle is as tight as it has been at any point in 2020. A scant eleven points is all that covers five drivers from Sergio Perez (68) in fifth through to Lance Stroll (57) in ninth. Add into the mix Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz, in tenth and eleventh, only a handful of points adrift and it’s clear that the midfield is by far the most intriguing on-track battle. The mid-field has already produced numerous scintillating dices and given how close it is, on pace, between the likes of Racing Point, McLaren, and Alpha Tauri it promises to be the most exhilarating watching too.

October 21, 2020
F1 2020: Eifel Gp Preview – F1 Returns to Nurburgring

The last time the Formula 1 paddock visited the Nurburgring was in 2013. Back then the sport was vastly different to how it’s known today. For one the sports was still running the 2.4-liter V8 and were standing on the cusp of switching to the hybrid power unit packages still being run now in 2020. There was some expectation that works team would excel in the hybrid era but no one could have foreseen the utter Mercedes dominance that ensued.

In 2013 F1 too was on the eve of welcoming Honda back into the sport after its so stunningly quit the sport three months before the start of the 2009 season. Seven years later it’s rather frightening how history repeats itself. Though they’ve given more notice than they this in 2008 Honda has again announced its intention to leave F1 at the conclusion of the 2022 season. It leaves Red Bull, and Alpha Tauri, without an engine supplier and it also leaves F1 in a difficult spot.

For Red Bull they’ll have to consider whether they want to go knocking on a current manufacturers door or even consider building its own engine. There is peril in both choices. For one they may, and probably will, get turned down by Mercedes and Ferrari as neither would want to provide an engine to a direct competitor. Designing and manufacturing an in-house engine is an enormous financial undertaking not to mention the resources required. And there’s no guarantee that it will work as needed straight away. Case in point is Honda who toiled under extreme pressure and were only able to reap the rewards years later. Heck, even the might of Ferrari’s resources can’t get it right.

If all options are exhausted Red Bull could revert to once again running Renault engines. The split between the pair was anything but amicable and Christian Horner and Cyril Abiteboul have nothing but a hate-hate relationship. However, the Concorde has a provision that just might save Red Bull. It states that the manufacturer who has the least amount of customer teams will be compelled to provide an engine should a team have no other option. In this case it will be Renault which will have no customer teams when McLaren switch to Merc power in 2021. It might be some time before anyone knows what Red Bull’s decision will be.

Back in 2013 it was Sebastian Vettel, on his way to title number four, that stood on the top step at the Nurburgring with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean alongside. It will be some race if those three end up on the podium this weekend. Nevertheless, the Nurburgring is a technical circuit that comprises mostly of high-speed corners and only one or two obvious overtaking opportunities. The level of grip that a 2020 car produces will also shorten the braking distance and even negate some altogether which will make for a exhilarating lap. It may well be even more of an adventure as cold and, potentially wet, weather is predicted for the weekend.

This weekend also marks the 323rd race start of Kimi Raikkonen’s F1 career. It started all the back at the Australian grand epic in 2001 and was followed by glittering stints at McLaren and Ferrari for which he won the world championship in 2007. It also included a deviation to rallying and even some NASCAR in 2010 and 2011. The enigmatic Finn returned to F1 for a two year run at Lotus which was highlighted by a third place finish in the driver’s standings, a slew of podiums, and two memorable wins. The wins were elusive in his return to Ferrari before an outstanding drive secured him victory in Austin in 2018. When most expected him to hang up his gloves off he went to Alfa Romeo.

Though the Ferrari power unit has severely stunted the competitiveness of the Alfa in 2020 Raikkonen has shown that he’s lost none of fire or pace with some outstanding drives this season; not least of all in Mugello. Raikkonen’s so-called imminent retirement has been a story probably the last seven or eight years. And while he is definitely in the twilight of his career his prowess and technical ability means that it’s up to him to call time. But Alfa team boss Fred Vasseur wants the Finn to stay on and it seems likely that the Iceman, easily on the most beloved drivers on the grid, may well line up again in 2021.

October 7, 2020
F1 2020: Russian Gp Review – Hamilton own goal lets Bottas In

Since its introduction to the F1 calendar in 2014 the Russian grand prix has never really set the racing world alight. It wasn’t really any different in 2020 either as the 53 lap race petered out to a bit of a damp squib.

There was some commotion before lights out as stewards investigated pole sitter Lewis Hamilton for failing to follow the race director’s instructions, specifically article 19.2 of the event notes. As it were the Mercedes driver twice conducted practice start outside of the designated area at the exit of the pitlane. Though it took some time to examine Hamilton was given two five second penalties for each infringement. The effective ten-second penalty was served at Hamilton’s one and only pitstop of the race.

The opening stint of the race, led by Hamilton, made it clear though that he more than had the pace to hold off teammate Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen. But for a minor annoyance of Bottas trying to take the lead Hamilton led easily off the line and was seemingly able to up his pace at will. Several drivers didn’t make it to the end of lap one including Carlos Sainz who clipped the barrier at turn 2 when trying to rejoin and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll who had tangled with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The safety car was deployed to clear the track of debris and the reset could’ve been a good opportunity for Bottas to snatch the lead off Hamilton but the Finn isn’t exactly known for bold or aggressive or really any type of moves especially not against his Mercedes teammate.

The race re-started and after only one lap Hamilton had pulled a gap of 1.5 seconds over Bottas. Nevertheless, the ten-second penalty still loomed over Hamilton and was sure to drop him out of contention. In fact it dropped Hamilton to third and though he delivered some quick laps never really looked able to threaten Max Verstappen for second place. Further down the field the racing the in mid-field was the only true highlight of the grand prix. It might have been for the lower end of the standings at the time but Lando Norris, George Russell, and Alex Albon produced genuinely entertaining scrap between them that is a sure indication of what the future of F1 could look like.

The ever-dependable Sergio Perez delivered an impressive fourth place finish and has put himself well and truly the shop window for any team who might in the market for a 2021 driver. Daniel Ricciardo seems to have finally found his feet at Renault as he delivered a superb fifth place despite a five-second penalty for not rejoining the circuit in the correct manner at turn 2. In sixth Charles Leclerc thoroughly earned to be driver of the day as he somehow brought the Ferrari home in a position far ahead of what it should be capable of.

The second Renault of Esteban Ocon had made a bright start to the race but faded throughout the succeeding laps to eventually finish seventh overall. Daniil Kvyat delivered a strong drive on home soil to finish eighth ahead of his Alpha Tauri teammate Pierre Gasly in ninth and Red Bull’s Alex Albon in tenth. It was yet another forgettable day for Seb Vettel who finished one lap down in thirteenth place.

It came as no great surprise that Bottas was able to cruise to his second win of the season given the pace advantage that Mercedes holds. What was somewhat of a surprise however was Bottas’s post-race team radio. The Finn proclaimed that the win was a “nice time to answer his critics” and added what seems to have become his rarely uttered catchphrase: “To whom it may concern, f@#$ you”. It is sort of comical though that Bottas was this pumped. His words made it sound as if he’d wiped the floor with Hamilton when in reality he was gifted the race lead. And perhaps this is where Valtteri Bottas finds his motivation. Maybe he sees Hamilton’s own goal as a change in his fortunes and maybe it energizes him. But given that he didn’t beat his teammate in a straight-out fight his ‘defiance’ it feels rather manufactured.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

September 30, 2020
F1 2020: Tuscan Gp Review – Mugello Madness

For several months it seems unlikely that formula 1 would turn a wheel in anger. All indications were that it would be near impossible to get sort of calendar together for 2020. But behind the scenes F1, Liberty Media, and the circuit stakeholders were working overtime to put something together. The announcement that F1 would race at Mugello, more known for motorcycle racing, was met with excitement. But not in our wildest dreams could we have predicted the utter madness that Mugello delivered.

A yellow flag in the dying seconds of Saturday qualifying kept Valtteri Bottas from going for pole position. He made amends though on Sunday bad he surged into the lead of the race. But the racing pack had barely managed three corners before chaos descended.

Three cars next to each other on the narrow Mugello circuit just don’t go as Pierre Gasly, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen found out. For Verstappen and Gasly, last week’s race winner, it was he end of the race while Raikkonen escaped albeit with damage to the front wing, bargeboard, and floor. Verstappen had initially roared off the starting line and look for a moment to be challenging Hamilton for second. But the Red Bull suddenly lost power and the Dutchman was swallowed by the pack, which left him in the dreaded carbon fiber zone. The safety car, clad in red to celebrate Ferrari’s 1000 Gp, was deployed while the stricken cars were recovered.

The Mercedes of Bottas led the pack as the safer car pulled in but mere seconds later utter chaos erupted on the start/finish strait. Several drivers, bidding to get a run on one another, had misjudged the restart. It meant that they had to slam on the brakes but those following behind had zero time to react. It resulted in a scary pile up which involved Kevin Magnussen, Nicholas Latifi, Antonio Giovinazzi, and Carlos Sainz. Thankfully, all drivers escaped without injury. As carbon fiber and destroyed cars were scattered across the track the race was red flag to accommodate the cleanup process. Renault’s Esteban Ocon would retire from the race during the red flag period with rear brake failure.

The cars lined up on the grid for the re-start as in Monza seven days ago. The drag down to the first corner meant that Bottas was always at a detriment and it proved to be exactly so as Hamilton leapt into the lead of the race as soon as the lights went out. Charles Leclerc valiantly held onto third place for several laps but was ultimately unable to hold off Lance Stroll who took third off the Ferrari driver on lap 18. Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, and Carlos Sainz too easily overtook Leclerc.

The race seemed to settle for a spell with Hamilton in the lead. Bottas kept his teammate mostly insight until running into trouble with his medium compound tyres. The Finn lost a handful of seconds in traffic before stopping for a set of hard tyres. Despite telling the Mercedes pitfall that he wanted the opposite tyre strategy to his teammate the team opted to fit hard tyres to Hamilton’s car too. Meanwhile, with Ricciardo, Renault opted to affect the undercut by bringing Ricciardo into the pits before the Racing Point. It worked a treat as the Australian secured third place over Stroll.

There was another lull in the race during which Stroll, now in 4th, and Albon, in 5th, were beginning to close the gap to Ricciardo in third. But just as Stroll was beginning to exert pressure on the Renault he appeared to suffer a tyre failure and crashed hard into the barriers at the second Arrabiatta. Though Stroll walked away without any injury his car was completely totaled. The barrier too had sustained some damage, which prompted the second red flag of the race.

At the second re-start the roles were now reversed and Bottas was in prime position to pick up Hamilton’s slipstream. However, he just couldn’t seize the opportunity and even briefly dropped behind Ricciardo as the lights went out. Albon too had a poor getaway but recovered brilliantly with a move around the outside of Perez for fourth. Next the Thai driver pulled off a brave move around the outside of turn 1 on Ricciardo to slot his Red Bull into third.

Daniel Ricciardo eventually finished an impressive fourth ahead of Perez in fifth. Lando Norris kept his nose clean and netted a solid sixth for McLaren while Daniil Kvyat was seventh for Alpha Tauri. On the track Kimi Raikkonen finished eighth ahead of Leclerc in ninth. However these positions were reversed on the timing sheets due to a five-second penalty for Raikkonen.

The penalty, for cutting across the pit entry line, was nearly negated by Kimi Raikkonen who drove a stunning final stint to ensure at least two points on the day. Seb Vettel, who announced this weekend that he would be an Aston Martin driver in 2021, finished tenth. George Russell was achingly close to scoring his first point in F1 but just didn’t have enough pace to overtake the Ferrari.

There was great uncertainty as to what modern F1 would produce when combined with the epically fast and flowing Mugello circuit. It’s an old school circuit with no asphalt run-off areas to be seen. It’s a great test of driver and car. It’s a track layout that is unbelievably fast and extremely challenging. And it’s a place that surely deserves a spot on the F1 calendar.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

September 17, 2020
F1 2020: Italian Gp Review – 100% Full Gas

At the midpoint of the 2019 season Red Bull announced that Alex Albon would replace Pierre Gasly with immediate effect. It didn’t come as much of a surprise given Gasly’s less than impressive run in the Red Bull team. But what has been most impressive about this story is the manner in which Pierre Gasly responded to being thrown out of the senior Red Bull team.

There are likely dozens of points that could be elaborated on when it comes to the last eighteen months of Pierre Gasly’s life. But what is most important and most impressive is the revelation of his incredible character and how risen to the very top of Formula 1. In dramatic fashion the 24-year-old Frenchman became the 109^th grand prix winner on unforgettable day.

The race started as normal with Lewis Hamilton leading away from pole position. Carlos Sainz, who qualified an impressive third, made short work of Valtteri Bottas to run second to Hamilton but was unable to hang on to the rear of the Mercedes. Lando Norris roared off the starting line from his sixth place grid slot and scythed past Bottas to run third behind his McLaren teammate for much of the opening stint of the race. Bottas’s dismal start left him in sixth overall and unable to even get close enough to the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo to affect a pass. It’s clear that Bottas has some big questions to ask himself after this race. Whether he will find the answers though seems doubtful.

At the front the race settled relatively quickly with Hamilton easily extending his advantage over Sainz by roughly half a second each lap. After failing to get either car in the top ten shootout in qualifying it hardly seemed possible that Ferrari’s weekend could get any worse. But it did. Sebastian Vettel became the first retirement of the race with brake failure on lap 17. By lap 20 Hamilton had built a gap of around thirteen seconds when Kevin Magnussen pulled out of the race at the exit of Parabolica with a suspected engine issue.

The Haas’s proximity prompted the deployment of the safety car and seemingly presented Hamilton with a perfect opportunity for a cheap pitstop. Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi seized the same opportunity as Hamilton but both failed to notice that the pitlane was closed to facilitate the recovery of Magnussen’s stricken Haas. Meanwhile all the other drivers stayed out and only made their stops once the pitlane was reopened. The race resumed a few laps later with Hamilton still in the lead but with Sainz now down in P8.

A hefty crash into the Parabolica barriers for Charles Leclerc not only brought an end to the Ferrari driver’s race but also necessitated a red flag in order for the car to be recovered and the tyre barrier to be mended. Hamilton and Giovinazzi’s illegal trip into the pitlane netted each of them a ten-second stop/go penalty. After a twenty-five minute delay the race was restarted with Hamilton still leading but yet to serve his penalty. Through pitting just before the Magnussen-safety car Gasly and Kimi Raikkonen found themselves at the sharp-end. The decision to put Raikkonen on the soft tyre for the remainder of the race did not pay dividends as the Finn ran out of the rubber and eventually finished thirteenth.

With Hamilton serving his penalty and emerging in last place it left Gasly in the lead while Raikkonen was quickly swallowed up by the pack. In P2 was Carlos Sainz and the McLaren had a better pace than the Alpha Tauri. But Gasly had crucially built a bit of a buffer while Sainz was making his way to second place. Meanwhile Lance Stroll was fairly secure in third while Norris, in fourth, held off Bottas in fifth. In sixth was Daniel Ricciardo with Lewis Hamilton recovering to seventh overall. Esteban Ocon, Daniil Kvyat, and Sergio Perez rounded out the points paying positions.

Though he came agonizingly close Williams’s Nicholas Latifi ultimately finished eleventh overall. It was a monumental day for F1 as earlier in the week it was announced that the Williams family would be stepping aside from the team after its sale to Doritol investment. Despite being asked to remain as team principal Claire Williams declared her decision to leave the team. Though the team will continue to run under the Williams name it is an end to an unforgettable era of the sport. As the last of the independent teams Williams reached epic heights of a staggering sixteen championship titles, 114 victories, and 312 podiums. And even during their lowest moments they never lost the ethos of what made the team great – never, ever giving up. Through Williams Racings’ 43 years Sir Frank and Claire has written an indelible part of Formula 1’s history. The sport will be irrevocably poorer without them.

As a new era dawns for Williams so does it for Pierre Gasly too. In his return to then Toro Rosso he showed incredible mental strength and gave us all a glimpse of his steely character. And again in Italy we were let into something a bit special as he delivered, under significant pressure, a stunning drive to the chequered flag and the first win of his F1 career.

It may not have been the race that Mercedes, Red Bull, or Ferrari fans would’ve wanted. But many are likely to agree that days like these reaffirm why Formula 1 is greatest sport in the world. Grandé Pierre!

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

September 7, 2020
F1 2020: Belgium Gp Review – Hamilton, One hand on the trophy

The writing was on the wall as early as Saturday qualifying during which Lewis Hamilton secured a dominant pole position. The only chance, and it was a small one, that anyone would have of delaying his progress was at the start of the race. However, he led serenely from the front and strolled on to the top step of the podium for his fourth win in Belgium.

Valtteri Bottas came home in second place some eight seconds adrift of Hamilton. The Finn now languishes a massive fifty points behind in the driver’s standings and has seemingly no chance of getting his hands on the coveted trophy. For some of the opening laps Bottas kept himself relatively close to Hamilton’s gearbox. However, we he asked for an increased power mode in order to attack his teammate it was shot down by the pitwall. Effectively, the team had ordered Bottas not to race his teammate and he obeyed. For Mercedes Bottas is the perfect wingman to Hamilton. Yes, he may sometimes score a pole and maybe even a few wins but he is never going to disrupt Hamilton enough to truly take the fight to him over an entire season. The chance to win the title this year has already gone for Valtteri Bottas. Since joining in 2017 he has never mounted a serious and sustained challenge and is very much in danger of becoming F1’s nearly man. For while Mercedes will be happy with Bottas as a second driver at this stage there is some serious talent, in the form of George Russell, ready and waiting to slot into the Mercedes team.

Max Verstappen racked up another podium finish but described his race as fairly boring. The Red Bull driver was caught somewhat in no man’s land, as he wasn’t quick enough to challenge the Mercs and saw no one behind mounting an assault on his third place either. There is no doubt that Verstappen is ready to win a championship however he simply doesn’t have the car to challenge the might of Mercedes weekend in and weekend out. He can try his level best and sometimes even snatch the odd win but the reality is that Mercedes will not be conquered in 2020.

Formula 1 has always been better off when it has produced a battle for the championship titles but in 2020 the question is not if Hamilton will take his seventh crown but rather when. A dominant pole on Saturday saw the writing on the wall for 47 points It will have to be a bungling of monumental proportions for Mercedes and Hamilton to lose the titles from here.

Daniel Ricciardo not only set the fastest lap of the race but also drove a stellar race to finish fourth in the Renault ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon in fifth. The low-downforce setup adopted by Renault for the race paid huge dividends and will bode well for this weekend’s race in Monza too. Alex Albon was sixth in other Red Bull ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in seventh. Pierre Gasly’s choice to start of the hard compound tyre paid off the final stint of the race as he netted an impressive eighth place finish. Racing Point would likely have hoped for more on the power-dominant Spa circuit but has to be satisfied with ninth and tenth for Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez respectively.

While Carlos Sainz was unable to take the start of the race due to an exhaust failure only two driver retired from the race proper. Antonio Giovinazzi lost the rear of his and destroyed his Alfa Romeo. The pursuing George Russell had to take avoiding action which pitched the Williams into the barriers. Though both drivers escaped unscathed the incident brought out the safety car.

It was by all accounts as miserable a day for Ferrari as they have experienced in some time. With thirteenth for Seb Vettel and fourteenth for Charles Leclerc there was never even an inkling of scoring any point. In fact so poor was the works Ferrari team performance that Kimi Raikkonen easily finished ahead of the pair of them in a customer Alfa Romeo. It used to be an honour to don the red overalls and drive for Ferrari and maybe one day it would be again. But what is happening in 2020 is utterly embarrassing. Some serious conversations need to be had over the next while and some serious changes will need to be implemented if Ferrari is ever going to recover from the doldrums.

To add insult to an epic lack of pace F1 heads to Monza this weekend, an even more power sensitive circuit. If Spa was a painful experience Monza is likely to be even more so. The only saving grace is that the grandstands around Monza will be empty which means that, at the very least, Ferrari wont have to face up to the Tifosi.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

August 31, 2020
F1 2020: 70th Anniversary Gp – Verstappen Aces Red Bull Strategy

A masterful and bold strategy call on Saturday qualifying and a stellar drive by Max Verstappen on Sunday proved the perfect combination for Red Bull’s first win around Silverstone since 2012.

For Red Bull and Max Verstappen it would’ve been easy to cover the bases in quali and run the medium tyre as everyone else did. But Red Bull has never been a team that’s fit the mold. They have always pushed the boundaries and always dared to do things out of the ordinary. The call to start the race on the hard tyre, made by strategist Hanna Schmitz, was as definitely Red Bull as it comes.

It still had to be executed though and Max Verstappen did so in extraordinary fashion. The early part of the race saw, as usual, the two Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton leading the way. However, what was different this time was Verstappen’s ability to stick much closer to the Mercs than he’s been able to at any stage this season. Overworking the tyres in the dirty air of Hamilton’s car quickly became a concern for the Red Bull pitwall. Verstappen was instructed to drop back slightly from the car ahead but opted not to in typical Verstappen fashion by firing back that he wasn’t going to sit behind like a grandma. It proved the correct decision as pressure on the Mercs forced them into upping their pace and pushing their tyres into high levels of degradation.

It was clear early on that Verstappen had the race firmly under control. Through his own driving style and the make-up of the Red Bull car he never experienced the same tyre issues as Mercedes. The win on Sunday marked his ninth in Formula 1 but also showcased how much he has matured since his early days in the sport. There is no doubt that if Verstappen had a car capable of it he would be serious contender for the title.

Despite their tyre degradation issues Mercedes still finished second and third with Hamilton and Bottas respectively. It was announced this past weekend that Valtteri Bottas has signed a new one-year deal to remain at Mercedes till the end of 2021. While the Finn seemed happy enough with the deal one can’t help but surmise what this really means. A one-year deal with any driver is most often indicative of a team that doesn’t have long-term faith in the driver and that said driver is not in the teams long-term plans. Mercedes can’t be blamed for this stance towards Bottas. He simply doesn’t have what it takes to be a champion. Case in point was his performance in the weekend’s race. While an argument can be made that he was slightly hard done by when it comes to strategy it will also be where the excuses end. For the opening stint the race he was holding his own in the lead after securing pole the day before. But as soon as the pressure started to mount he folded. Verstappen emerged from the pits, after the first round of stops, slightly behind Bottas. It should be noted that Verstappen was a man on a mission and in a mood like that, with a sniff at the victory, he’s hard to resist. But Bottas put up a meager resistance. In a peculiar ‘defensive’ move he pulled to the outside of Brooklands and left Verstappen acres of space to send the Red Bull up the inside. For good measure he repeated the same move against Hamilton later in the race. So poor was his defense that if you didn’t know better you’d have thought he was moving over to be lapped. Bottas has dropped to third in the driver’s standings and its difficult to imagine how he could beat Hamilton to the title from there.

Behind the top three Charles Leclerc completed an impressive one-stop strategy to finish fourth. The afternoon wasn’t as good for his teammate Sebastian Vettel who could only recover to twelfth after a first-lap spin. The strategy to put Vettel on the hard tyre for ten laps and the less durable medium tyre for twenty laps made little sense other than the fact that it is Ferrari’s strategy calls as its diabolical best. It clear too that the relationship between Vettel and Ferrari is completely broken down. It’s almost as if Ferrari has already bid farewell to Vettel and has focused all of their attention on the other car.

In the sister Red Bull Alex Albon pulled off several impressive overtakes to finish a solid fifth ahead of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll. Stand-in driver Nico Hulkenberg was seventh after making a third stop late in the race while Esteban Ocon was eighth for Renault. Lando Norris was ninth for McLaren ahead of Daniil Kvyat in the Alpha Tauri.

The decision by Pirelli to run softer compounds around Silverstone this weekend added a tremendous excitement and unpredictability to the race. It’s clear too that the Mercedes has a bit of weakness when it comes to tyre management in high temperatures. Formula 1 travels to Spain this weekend where temperatures are expected to soar.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

August 10, 2020
F1 2020: British Gp Preview – Silverstone Primed for Merc Dominance

After a short break F1 returns this weekend for the first of two races at Britain’s Silverstone circuit.

Given what’s transpired in the first three rounds of the season it is difficult to look past Mercedes for the victory. With one win for Valtteri Bottas and two for Lewis Hamilton the Mercedes team has established itself well ahead of the rest of the field. Red Bull, seemingly the closest challenger, languished well behind in Hungary and chalked up their lack of pace to setup issues.

Traditionally the Hungaroring, and the Red Bull Ring for that matter, have been circuits where Red Bull has excelled in the last few years. But it hasn’t been the case in 2020 and it all has to do with timing. By the time F1 normally arrives in Austria and Hungary teams would have already run several races and would know their cars inside and out. What we know of Red Bull in the last few years is that they have tended to start the year slowly and gradually built momentum as the season progresses. However, in 2020 they haven’t had that luxury.

Instead they arrived in Austria and Hungary still learning the behaviour of the car and still discovering exactly how to extract best performance from it. Unfortunately for Red Bull the 2020 season will not afford any time for teams or drivers to find their way. The good news is that the calendar has been extended by three more races with the inclusion the Nürburgring, Portimaõ, and Imola. More good news is that the Red Bull does appear to be a quick car but unlocking the pace is reliant on hitting the setup nail on the head. And even then it might not be enough, on merit, to challenge the might of Mercedes.

Valtteri Bottas sits only five points behind teammate Hamilton. In the next two races at Silverstone he has a big opportunity to not only regain the lead in the driver’s standings but to land a significant mental blow on Hamilton. It’s been repeatedly proven that over the course of a season it is highly unlikely that Hamilton will be beaten in terms of pace.

The only way to ensure eventual victory over the six-time champion is to get inside his head, as proven in 2016 by Nico Rosberg. It will be a monumental effort but if Bottas manages to beat him two weeks running, especially at Silverstone, he will force Hamilton to take notice and adjust his approach.

For Ferrari it was slightly better in Hungary but still nowhere near where they are expected to be. A restructuring back in Maranello has taken some of the pressure off team principal Mattia Binotto but there is a substantial amount of work ahead of Ferrari to return to the top step of the podium. Silverstone should produce a better yardstick for the upgrades introduced in race two but the power deficit of their engine will likely be even more telling around the British circuit.

For much of the first half of 2020 the Formula 1 season was seriously in doubt. It is a real treat then to have back-to-back races on, arguably, one of the most iconic and historic circuits in the world. Silverstone hasn’t only been on the F1 calendar since 1950 but was the first circuit to host a championship race. The power dominant circuit has been re-modeled since and newish layout is possibly even better than its predecessor. Formula 1 too has raced through seven decades that has delivered unforgettable moments and memories. This latest iteration seems primed for Mercedes domination unless Max Verstappen can coax enough pace out of his Red Bull to contest the victory.

July 29, 2020
F1 2020: Hungarian Gp Review – Merc in a class of one

Ninety-one race victories and seven world championship titles seemed inaccessible for so long. But now it is case of when rather than if Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton will reach and break the lofty records set by the great Michael Schumacher.

Lewis Hamilton cruised to a dominant victory in round three of the 2020 championship. An eighth win around the Hungaroring, with a fastest lap and pole position to boot, has also given Hamilton the lead in the driver’s standings. So comfortably dominant was Hamilton’s pace that he was able to pit near the end of the race and still emerge well ahead of second-placed Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas who completed the podium in third.

The races started in damp condition but the switch to slick tyres happened within a few laps of the race start. There was drama before the race even started for Red Bull as Verstappen fell foul of the slippery conditions on the way to the grid. The Dutchman clouted a barrier with the front-left of his car breaking the track rod and front-wing. Somehow his mechanics were able to change the track rod in record time to get their driver into the race. Max Verstappen may have been voted Driver of the Day by fans on social media but the real MVPs were unquestionably his mechanics.

Saturday qualifying confirmed Racing Point’s pace as they locked out the second row of the grid with Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez. It is often easy to dismiss Lance Stroll seeing as his father owns the team he’s driving for. But his performance and fourth place finish in the Hungarian Gp deserves praise. He thoroughly outpaced Checo Perez whom is the much more highly rated of the Racing Point drivers.

Alex Albon recovered from a nightmarish qualifying position of 13^th to finish fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in sixth. Ferrari’s woes were eased somewhat with Vettel but Charles Leclerc was only able to bring his Ferrari home in 11^th. It’s going to be a long old season and, unfortunately, the light at the end of the tunnel is nowhere near in sight for the Scuderia.

Sergio Perez was seventh for Racing Point however Renault hit them with another protest after the race. Renault had also lodged a protest with the FIA following the Stryrian Gp (Austria Part 2) challenging the legality of the Racing Point’s car design. Racing Point has made no secret about the fact that they had copied, from pictures, the design of the 2019 Mercedes. Renault believe though that Mercedes lent more of a helping hand than was legal.

Renault would likely not have raised the issue if they were ahead of Racing Point on pace, but they aren’t. As it were Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth for Renault ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz in ninth and Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen in tenth. Magnussen had finished ninth on the track but was subsequently dealt a ten-second-time penalty for receiving prohibited instructions during the formation lap.

On current pace it is clear that Hamilton might only have one challenger in 2020 – Valtteri Bottas. Valtteri Bottas started the season like he has in the last few years. Victory in race one is almost a given for the Finn but inevitably he is bested by Hamilton in the next few races. Bottas made two mistakes in the Hungarian grand prix. A stutter, nearly a jump start, at the beginning of the race saw him lose several places but luckily avoid a penalty as he was adjudged to still be in his grid slot despite a small amount of relative movement before the lights went out. The second slip-up was his inability to overtake Verstappen despite having significantly fresher tyres and boatload more pace. Yes, overtaking around the Hungarian circuit isn’t the easiest feat but if Bottas is serious about taking the challenge to Hamilton then he must make that pass for second. The fact is that Bottas is not going to beat Hamilton, over a season, on pace. The only way of beating Lewis Hamilton is to get inside his head. Bottas needs to be utterly relentless and to make Hamilton aware that he isn’t going to yield.

The good news for Bottas is that there is unlikely to be a consistent challenge from anywhere else. Mercedes Benz is simply in a class of its own. The on-board footage of Hamilton’s qualifying lap pretty much defied the laws of gravity so ridiculously planted was the Merc around the Hungaroring.

It is quite astonishing that the Mercedes factory and engineers is still able to produce an even quicker car than they have in the previous six years. Every year the car created is a masterpiece of engineering and innovation to the point where one thinks it surely cannot get any better. But it does. And what they have conjured with the W11 in 2020 is gob-smacking. It is unfathomable to imagine that the championship titles will be going anywhere other than Mercedes’s undoubtedly overflowing trophy cabinet in Brackley. In fact, the rest would do well to get a win off them this season, on merit.

July 23, 2020
F1 2020 Game Review: Codemasters Set New Benchmark

When Codemasters took over the franchise of F1 games there were those who had doubts and there were those that had a wish list twice as long Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Year on year the doubters have been silenced and Codemasters have steadily chipped away at the lengthy wish lists. But surely those most outlandish dreams on said wish lists were assumed to be mere pipe dreams destined to remain fantasy. After all, it is a title based on the F1 season of a given year; a race around a set calendar with real-world teams. You would assume then that there’s only so much evolution that can take place in terms of gameplay. But Codemasters has set such a lofty benchmark for itself with every new F1 release that now even some of the most incredible wishes have been granted.

Not only has Codemasters produced a brilliant F1 racing game but also they have combined it with a fully-fledged management sim. In F1 2020 you are the boss. In the new ‘My Team’ features players can, for the first time ever, create their own teams from scratch and line it up on the F1 grid as the 11^th team in the paddock.

You won’t only be the boss though as you’ll be pulling double-duty as a driver too. In addition to customizing your own character there is a whole host of important decisions to be made. From selecting a team name, a second driver, a new livery, main sponsors, and an engine supplier to managing the various departments the new game mode is stuffed full of content that will keep you busy and engaged for some time to come.

The handling model of the title has been overhauled too. In many instances the handling of the 2020 cars feels slightly easier to manage but you’ll have to take more care accelerating out of corners as the cars now have slightly less traction. There are a litany of things that standout in F1 2020 from the razor sharp graphics to the minute details of the asphalt on the different track surfaces. The sound deserves its own mention. From the ultra-realistic gear shifts to the throaty off-throttle growl of the Honda engine to the plank of the Alpha Tauri skimming along the main strait of Brazil’s Interlagos circuit – the sound in F1 2020 is a marvel.

A tour, or several, around the newly added Zaandvoort circuit is highly recommended too. The experience is a spectacular tear around the undulating Dutch circuit akin to an exhilarating rollercoaster jaunt. You don’t have to feel daunted by F1 2020 either as a new set of assists allows even the most inexperienced gamers to try their hand at it and have fun while doing so.

In addition to the sparkly new features it also maintains several customary game modes (Time Trial, Grand Prix) including a traditional career mode, which allows the player to step into any of the current F1 teams and perform simply as a driver. And if you’re not ready for the cutthroat world of F1 you can ply your trade at F2 level with the full rostrum at your disposal.

If you are looking for the most complete racing experience possible then look no further than F1 2020 by Codemasters. Dazzlingly authentic, stunningly engrossing, F1 2020 is a wonder.

July 15, 2020