Australian GP Review

Hello and welcome to the first of my race reviews of the season, which I am planning to do every race, where I review the happenings of each race.

The start

The start saw a lot of action. There was a bit of drama before the race got underway when Kvyat stopped at the end of the formation lap, meaning he couldn't even start the race for the second year running. Off the start, the Ferraris flew off the line and Vettel took the lead, similar to Hungary 2015. Going into Turn 1, Lewis got ran out wide by his team-mate and dropped to sixth, behind the Ferraris, Rosberg, Verstappen and Massa. He cleared Massa without a problem but then got stuck behind Verstappen. The pitstops then took place, where Rosberg got ahead of Raikkonen and almost Vettel. Whilst Hamilton converted to a one-stop strategy. In the midfield, many supersoft runners from the top 8 pitted and were making their way through slower cars.

Alonso's massive shunt brings out the red flag

Here was a major defining point of the race. Among the supersoft runners making their way through slower cars who hadn't pitted was McLaren's Fernando Alonso. He then caught up to Gutierrez, but misjudged his braking at Turn 3 and heavy contact was made. Alonso went into the wall hard, and when the car went on the gravel, it sent the car into a series of barrel rolls until the car came to rest deep into the gravel trap. The McLaren was completely and utterly destroyed, but somehow, he walked away with a slight limp. Because of all the debris, the race was red flagged. This completely changed the race, as the drivers could change tyres under the red flag, which benefited the Haas of Romain Grosjean, who hadn't stopped yet and could effectively use that as his pitstop. However it messed up the strategy of many drivers, such as the Force Indias and the Toro Rossos.

Ferrari's mistake

Interestingly, race leader Sebastian Vettel put on a new set of supersoft tyres, whilst Nico Rosberg was on the mediums, which meant he could go to the end. That would be a mistake as he couldn't pull out a big enough gap before he had to pit, dropping him to third. By this time, Kimi Raikkonen had suffered his next dose of bad luck as an airbox fire forced him to pull off into the pits.

Toro Rosso's dispute

When the race got back underway, the two Toro Rossos of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr fended off Hamilton till both pitted. Sainz pitted first, before Verstappen pitted, but a lap on new tyres and a delay in Verstappen's pitstop meant Sainz was ahead. The Toro Rossos then caught up to Sergio Perez and Jolyon Palmer, on his debut and passed them without a problem. But they then caught up to the Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Bottas train. Sainz could not make the move, which led to Verstappen saying to the team they should ask Sainz to move over as he thought he could make the move. Their refusal to do this infuriated the teenager.

Rosberg wins

In the closing laps, Vettel caught up to Hamilton, but ran wide at the penultimate corner. Nico Rosberg crossed the line to take the season opening win ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second. Sebastian Vettel rued a missed opportunity to win in third ahead of the home-hero Daniel Ricciardo, who passed Felipe Massa in the closing laps for fourth. In my opinion, driver of the day had to go to Romain Grosjean, on Haas's debut, to benefit from that red flag and then fend off cars such as a Force India and a Williams which should be a lot quicker than him, to take sixth. Nico Hulkenberg finished in seventh ahead of Valtteri Bottas in eighth, with the two Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen rounding out the points.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I thought it was a good start to the season, and the exciting race F1 desperately needed after the farce of qualifying, and thank god they are bringing back the old format for Bahrain. There were a lot of things to be celebrated from that race, the ditching of that qualifying, Haas scoring points on debut but I think the biggest thing to be celebrated should be Alonso escaping from a crash that just 25 years ago would've probably been fatal.

Team by team review
Mercedes: Easily the quickest on race day but had stiff competition from the Ferraris, but eventually finished 1-2.
Ferrari: A missed opportunity after strategy errors. More bad luck for Raikkonen.
Williams: Reasonable run for Massa, Bottas doing damage limitation after his qualifying woe.
Red Bull: Good drive from Ricciardo to take fourth despite not having the best pace. Kvyat could've scored points even with his low grid position if he was able to make the start.
Force India: Could've been better had it not been for the poor timing of the red flag. Seventh for Hulkenberg is good considering.
Toro Rosso: Also could've been better had it not been for the timing of the red flag, and only finished ninth and tenth.
Renault: Palmer just missing out on points on his debut, Magnussen doing a good job to fight back to thirteenth after an early puncture.
Sauber: Very quiet but not a good race, with Nasr finishing fifteenth and Ericsson having to retire from the race.
McLaren: Had reasonable pace, and Alonso could've scored points had it not been for his horrific crash, whilst Button has a quiet race to fourteenth/
Manor: Good start, still behind Sauber but on a consistent basis were only around 3-5 tenths off them. Wehrlein showed good pace especially in the early stages. Haryanto unfortunately had to retire.
Haas: The biggest celebrations in the pitlane I'm pretty sure were at Haas, who became the first new team from scratch to score points on debut since Toyota in 2002 courtesy of Romain Grosjean. Shame Esteban Gutierrez had to retire.

 Hope you've enjoyed reading this blog, and I hope to write another article like this for Bahrain!

F1 2016: Season Preview

Its that time again, the 2016 season gets underway in two days time. Its the morning everyone looks forward to where we get up at 4 in the morning with anticipation of what is to happen in the first race of the Formula One season.


Technical changes
In terms of technical regulation changes, there isn't any major change to the regulations. The biggest change is the introduction of the wastegate exhausts in an effort to make the cars louder this year. According to people at the track, they have only made the cars around 10-12% louder, and doesn't have an effect on the performance of the cars.


Tyres
In terms of the sporting regulations, there are quite a few changes. The one that's going to affect the regulations is the tyres where the teams have 14 sets of dry tyres but they ask Pirelli which tyre compounds they take, with 3 compounds available to use in the race. I think this could make the racing more exciting. Races like Melbourne, Bahrain and China, where the Supersoft has been picked, a lot of the drivers that make Q3 will want to use the supersoft in Q2 to get through, but the rules in starting the season on the compounds used in Q2 is still there, meaning drivers who don't make Q3 can choose their tyre compounds. The supersofts will only get around 3-5 laps into the race so the drivers who make Q3 will have to make an extra stop. This means we will have situations like in GP2 feature races where all these front runners are making their way through midfield runners, and say a Williams or a Red Bull could benefit from just missing out on Q3, as if they just stick with the front runners, they can get through the race on one less stop than the front runners and those front runners will have to overtake them on track. This could easily result in more overtaking.


Qualifying Format
There has been an interesting debate about this. This year, sees a new qualifying format introduced into Formula One. The 3 sessions remain but after five minutes in each session, a driver is eliminated every 90 seconds. I think there are good points and bad points about this session. The good point is this means everyone will exit the pits straight away at the beginning of a session, which is good particularly for fans at the track. The bad thing about it however, is the fact it applies for Q3 as well, I just worry that because in the last 90 seconds there is only going to be two drivers left, it'll lead to anti-climactic sessions. In my opinion, if Q1 and Q2 was done this way but Q3 the way it was before, it would be a fantastic innovative format.


Team by team preview;
Now I am going to go through each team and do a quick paragraph of what their expectations for this year could be.


Mercedes
Going into the season as drivers and constructors champions for the second consecutive year, Mercedes surely have high expectations for 2016. In pre-season testing they showed fantastic pace and reliability, which gives people the impression that this year they might display a similar level of dominance, especially with their strong line-up of reigning champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.


Ferrari
There was a lot of talk going into this season after their step forward last year that in 2016, they could challenge Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen remain their drivers, but I honestly believe that this year would have been the year Jules Bianchi would've replaced Kimi in a Ferrari. The car seems to be a step forward from last year, but judging by testing, I don't think that they are quite at Mercedes level just yet.


Williams
Williams seem to be at around the level they were at last year. But we don't know if their weaknesses, which were at slow-speed tracks, have been sorted out yet. If they have, with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas staying on, they should easily maintain third. Whether they will win a race, they have to get their strategic team together first as their strategists still seem to not quite have got accustomed to being a front running team yet.


Red Bull
With the Renault engine for another year, many thought Red Bull may slip to the midfield and drop behind teams such as Force India and even their junior team Toro Rosso. However judging by testing, they seem to be consistently up there with Williams, so I'd say they are going to be the fourth quickest team again, especially with Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat staying on.


Force India
Force India have high hopes going into this year after such a strong end to 2015, with Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez staying on. Judging by preseason testing, they seem to be at the level of where they were at the back end of last year. So I'd say they might have a similar year this year, hopefully without the appalling start, with maybe a podium or two. Hopefully Nico Hulkenberg can finally take his maiden podium.


Toro Rosso
Toro Rosso have looked fantastic during the preseason, with Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr entering their second year of Formula One. The car was fantastic last year aerodynamically but had the underpowered Renault engine. Now they have a Ferrari engine, albeit 2015 spec, but still better than what they had last year, that has been sorted. My prediction for them this year, is that they will take a podium, with Max Verstappen taking it.


Renault
For this year, Renault have retaken the Lotus team and returned to F1 as a works team. They have an all new line-up, Kevin Magnussen, and rookie Jolyon Palmer (2014 GP2 champion) which is a very strong line-up. The car has looked around the level Lotus were at the back end of last year, so that is where they will probably start, but with their budget, I can see them improving to the level of Toro Rosso and maybe even Force India by the end of the year.


Sauber
Sauber have been rumoured to be suffering a lot of financial issues, even with two pay drivers, Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. I personally think Sauber could be in for an extremely rough 2016 season. I think they will start ahead of Manor, but then as the season goes on, Sauber's financial issues will start to hit, with them being unable to upgrade the car but others are. I personally think they could be last in the constructors this year.


McLaren
After a horrible 2015 season, McLaren will hope to improve, especially with two world champion drivers, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Before preseason testing, I believed McLaren would get their act together and be back to 2014 pace, but judging by preseason testing, that might be a bit of a tall order, but this year will be an improvement for them in terms of pace and reliability. So I can see them scrapping with teams such as Renault.


Manor
There have been a lot of high hopes for Manor this year, with them managing to get a Mercedes engine. They have a line-up of two rookies, Mercedes junior Pascal Wehrlein and Indonesian Rio Haryanto. I have high hopes for Wehrlein this year, I honestly believe he is going to be the team's best driver since Jules Bianchi. Judging by preseason testing, I can see Manor being in the thick of it with teams such as Sauber at the start, but will be a bit behind. But as the season goes on, with teams around struggling with budgets and their use of the Mercedes windtunnel, I can see them moving ahead of Sauber and maybe even a few teams ahead. I'll be very surprised if they don't score points.


Haas
There have been a lot of high hopes for Haas as well, in their first season of Formula One. They have signed Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez. Judging by preseason testing, they will probably start the season around Sauber/Manor level, but with their budget, I can see them improving as the season goes on.


After reviewing each team, this is my prediction for the pecking order this year.


Pecking order in Melbourne;
Mercedes
Ferrari
Williams
Red Bull
Force India
Toro Rosso
McLaren
Renault
Haas
Sauber
Manor


Pecking order in Abu Dhabi;
Mercedes
Ferrari
Williams
Red Bull
Force India
Toro Rosso
Renault
Haas
McLaren
Manor
Sauber


That is it for my season preview. I hope you enjoy the 2016 season!

F1 2016: Livery Reviews

Now all the teams have officially unveiled their 2016 cars in their race livery, I have written a review of how I feel each car looks and what could be improved on it. The first thing I am going to say is in my opinion, I think this year has been a better year for car liveries than previous years. Its really good to see that some teams have listened to fans complaints about how dull liveries have got these days. Here I've done a team-by-team review of each car.




Mercedes

I've said many times that Mercedes should scrap the green and go for a plain silver livery with the numbers in a white circle on the engine cover, harking back to the 1930s, but they clearly haven't done that, in fact they have increased the amount of green on the car, but it is a massive improvement on the last couple of years. The fact they are using the black to separate the green from the silver gives the livery a bit of a Brawn GP feel but with different colours, and the fact the green now separates onto the side of the bulkhead as well makes it more consistent.

Ferrari

Finally Ferrari have done something with their typical red! Something I have been waiting for them to do for years, which is bring back the white engine cover from the 1970s! The white engine cover really goes well with the red, as well as the red stripe on the underside, they were clearly trying to replicate their 1970s livery. The only improvement I think they could do to it is replace the black with the Italian flag stripes.

Williams

Not much to say about the Williams, people say more can be made out of the Martini stripe but if more was made out of it, it would look tacky and wouldn't have the historic image this one has. So I'm happy they've stuck with what they had.

Red Bull

At first, when it was unveiled, I thought it was absolutely hideous, especially as in the studio room, the blue looked black. I thought the matte finish really did not work, but after seeing pictures of it on track, it has really grown on me. It may look hideous at night races but it stands out in daytime, even though I still preferred the Infiniti livery.

Force India

I was a little disappointed they had kept the same livery, as I feel that this livery is good and striking but is a livery that only works for one year in my opinion. If they kept the same livery, they should've added a bit more green to it but at least I don't have to get used to seeing my favourite team in a new livery again...

Toro Rosso

I was hoping to see the Toro Rosso return to its old livery from 2006-2008 with the bull filling up the whole side of the car. So on first sight I was disappointed, but with Cepsa gone, that has created more space, and they have made good use of that space by promoting one of Red Bull's brands, it really works.

Renault

This in my opinion is one of the big disappointments of this year. It was a relief to find the livery they unveiled in France was not the race livery. But this livery is better but not by much. Good they have chosen yellow as the base colour, but I am disappointed with the lack of the classic black stripes. It just looks very bare, and a bit too Jordan-esque, which is not what a Renault should look like. Yellow should obviously be the base colour but they need some of the black stripes. Like the Sauber which is the next car to talk about, its two colours with a lot of potential to look good but they haven't made good use of them.

Sauber

Like the Renault, this is one of the big disappointments of last year really, the fact that blue and yellow are two colours that have a lot of potential but the team haven't made good use of them. It was disappointing that they stuck with this livery as it just looks bare.

McLaren

Some people were disappointed that McLaren kept the same livery but I think this is a livery that does work for the team, and if they win races, this could be a livery that people remember, the menacing gun metal colour they have used along with the red McLaren curves really works and makes the team stand out.

Manor

This is one of the most praised liveries on the F1 grid. Manor clearly made an effort with this livery. Firstly good to see that they have kept their fluorescent red, and secondly the addition of the metallic blue really looks nice, especially with the white separating the red from the blue. Its a livery that will really stand out. Good job Manor!

Haas

At first Gene Haas kept saying their car was going to be yellow, they said they wanted to stand out from the rest and at that time when Gene said it, there wasn't much yellow on the grid so that would've, and I think yellow was their original plan. But then Renault joined, and with them likely to go for yellow as their livery, the yellow wouldn't then 'stand out from the rest' as Haas wanted it to. Haas though have picked a good alternative. The silver and the black alone would be an extremely dull livery. But the red really gives the car character and definitely does make it a recognisable livery that stands out from the rest. I wouldn't be surprised if their original plan was this livery but the silver replaced with yellow, I can see how that would've worked, but they have picked a great alternative.

So there we have it, as I said, I think this year has been a better year for car liveries, with more colour on the grid, especially with the addition of the Renault yellow. Each colour that should be on the grid has a reasonable presence, however there are still annoyingly a lot of monochrome cars on the grid...