Chinese GP Report - Chinese new year

It may look regulation. Lewis Hamilton today claimed victory in the Chinese Grand Prix. His fifth at this track and Mercedes's fourth in a row here. It was a 'Grand Slam' for Lewis too - pole, win and leading every lap. But that's only the beginning of the tale - both of the race and of the new F1 we appear to have stretching ahead this season. It's an appropriate place to pay homage to a new year.

Lewis Hamilton took his fifth Chinese Grand Prix win
Photo: Octane Photography

The anticipated rain deluge didn't arrive for the Shanghai race but we did start on a damp track. Yet as early as the warm up lap it was clear that the intermediate tyres almost all were starting on wouldn't be needed for long. The track looked pretty much dry aside from on the pit straight, although it was deceptively perfidious as early slick switchers had problems staying on the straight and narrow.

The anticipated Lewis versus Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari battle at the front didn't really happen either. After Lewis led from the line the pair were decoupled early when Seb - alone among the leaders - dived in for dry weather tyres on lap two under an early virtual safety car deployment.

It looked briefly a masterstroke as Seb emerged with only a 17 second deficit to Lewis and all ahead - including Lewis of course - still were on inters and clearly required their own imminent change. However no sooner had this became clear Antonio Giovinazzi for the second time in two days changed things all around him (in more than one sense) by rearranging his Sauber on a pit straight wall. This brought out the safety car proper, which let Lewis pit and retain his lead, as well as all the other five ahead of Seb to also bolt on slicks and also stay ahead of the Ferrari. It left the German in a net as well as actual sixth place. The day, in this sense, was already framed.

New Grand Prix Times article: Why Ferrari's slump comes as no surprise

Photo: Octane Photography

It seems from another age now, but at the outset of this season we were convinced that Mercedes would have something to think about. From the red corner.

Ferrari made an astonishingly bound forward between 2014 and 2015 and a similar bound we thought would give us a title fight. The sport's most famous name looked back on song - what could possibly go amiss?

Well, as suggested, plenty has gone amiss. And in my latest my Grand Prix Times I explain why Ferrari's difficult season should have been no surprise.

You can have a read here: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/id/13231

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Pokemon GO Monsters At Formula 1 Races?

With Jenson Button's help we've cracked the perfect idea to bring younger audiences to F1 races – install Pokemon Go monsters at every Grand Prix! Maybe they're already working on this and decided to live test in Singapore on the perfect target audience, Max Verstappen. Yes, we are referring to the 'Godzilla' on track. Although, this novel idea of ours may lead to more jaywalkers on track - like the marshal in Singapore (but seriously, shouldn't the FIA be penalised for this incident?)! After encountering the Hulk at the start of the race on Sunday, young Verstappen did have the perfect teenager of a weekend.

Nico Rosberg won in Singapore, but the race went down to the wire. In an attempt to bring Lewis Hamilton back on the podium, did Mercedes jeopardise Rosberg's win? What if the situations were reversed? There'd be carnage!

It was also Rosberg's 200th Formula One start – and another driver's 300th, tune in to find out who. As the Drivers' Championship battle continues, we're not taking sides yet - 6 races or nearly 1/3rd of the season yet remaining. But Ferrari, what were they thinking? Or were they thinking at all? After being butted off the podium, maybe Kimi Raikkonen tipped the Singapore cops about Maurizio Arrivabene's cigarette butt, we think.

Ferrari praised Raikkonen's race as a 'World Champion' effort, but they didn't act like a World Champion team. We'd not blame them though; it's been nearly a decade since their last crown. While we missed Raikkonen's uncomfortable waving on the podium and the mumbling, the Iceman did get some overtaking practice in Singapore along with some opportunity for to play his radio classics.

We thank Red Bull Racing for allowing us to enjoy the Max Verstappen vs. Daniil Kvyat battle on-track without issuing team orders. Although, we were almost certain to hear back a 'NO' had they instructed Kvyat to move over. In some ways, did this 'personal' battle help Kvyat get some closure on the unceremonious demotion? Let's hope so. And of course, thank you to Red Bull Racing for livening up the last 14 laps of the race with a well though of tyre strategy for Daniel Ricciardo, who is increasingly becoming our choice for the 'Driver of the Season' and should've won 'Driver of the Day' in Singapore.

We are impressed by Niki Lauda's humour, top marks for his comeback to Max Verstappen on their ongoing "psychiatrist" banter. A new but expected power struggle seems to be brewing in Formula 1 between Bernie Ecclestone and Chase Carey, which way will things go? Carey's biggest short-term task will be to retain Fernando Alonso after 2017. In the meanwhile, we're happy to enjoy some hilarious jokes at Mr. Chase Carey's expense. Are we the first ones to do so?

NASCAR has named a race 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles', will Formula 1 ever get so cool? And if it ever thinks of doing so, let's call the Singapore Grand Prix night race the 'The Dark Night'! Finally, we congratulate Alex Zanardi, a true champion and remember one of our greatest - Keep Fighting Michael! Tune in!

(Season 2016, Episode 30)

Italian GP Report - Redressing the balance

To think that we were convinced that someone, somewhere, was smiling on Lewis Hamilton just lately. I guess this one in Monza you can file under redressing the balance. Yin and yang.

Against the form of most of the weekend,
Nico Rosberg triumphed
Photo: Octane Photography

For most of the Italian Grand Prix weekend though it appeared that Lewis wouldn't need any of the luck that he might have been benefiting from in recent times. He looked on utterly dominant form, and rather relishing the fact too. Almost gleefully braking later than late and throwing his car expertly through Monza's chicanes. He certainly looked gleeful out of the car. And it all added up to a half second advantage over his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg next up in the final qualifying order, a margin between them almost unprecedented. And at a track with but a handful of corners.

And the two Mercedes were as per Sebastian Vettel's lucid words "in a world of their own". As with the gap between the two Mercs, this also was the expected situation but was manifesting itself to a greater extent than usual this time.

Yet even in the afterglow of Lewis's qualifying effort paths that diverged from his imperious march to victory could be, and indeed were, charted. The run to the first turn is a very long one here; the Mercs' starts have been of variable quality in 2016 thanks to an 'inconsistent' clutch.

German GP Report - The hunter gathers

It often feels trite to say such things, but F1 is indeed a lot like life. And in this game just as in the world around it, you can spend however long building something up layer by layer, to the point of appearing rather imposing indeed, but it remains so that it can all be brought crashing down in seconds.

Lewis Hamilton won out yet again
Photo: Octane Photography

This was Nico Rosberg's German Grand Prix. From the moment Hockenheim running started on Friday morning he was on a plateau it seemed. Topping every practice session; even further ahead on race runs. Throughout proceeding around the circuit with graceful ease. Out of the car he beamed - accepting questions left, right and centre; lapping up the local support he was receiving (and the local turnout was noticeably larger than in the previous visit here). He also won an amazing pole, and did it by overcoming considerable adversity.

And topping it all off on Saturday after qualifying his team mate and chief antagonist Lewis Hamilton - who reckoned pole was his but for his own errors - appeared floored by it all. Introspective, distracted as well as, um, economical in his prose. That way we're all familiar with when he feels he's let himself down. It seemed impossible that we wouldn't be entering the summer break after this one without Nico having checked Lewis's astonishing and long-lasting momentum, as well as having re-established his long-held 2016 title lead in so doing.

Choppy Waters still ahead of Red Revival, by Ewan Marshall

Another week, another hurdle for the Prancing Horse to navigate. But are the latest developments at Ferrari cause for concern or simply part of the course in its search for supremacy?

Only a day after Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene called on critics to leave the team "in peace" to address its problems, news broke that its technical director James Allison would depart with immediate effect.

Maurizio Arrivabene and James Allison have parted ways
Photo: Octane Photography

Allison, who previously worked for Ferrari between spells at Larousse and Enstone-based Formula One team, is highly regarded within the motor sport world and was thought key in returning the team to glory. Initial signs were positive, with the Englishman helping extinguish memories of a winless 2014 with three victories last season.

Of course, tragic developments in Allison's private life have been well documented by other outlets. Whether this was instrumental in his decision remains speculative, however his expertise will surely be missed by Ferrari, and will be fought over among its rivals should he wish to make a swift return to the sport.

2016 was a year which promised so much for the Prancing Horse, even if talk of wresting the championships from the ever-dominant Mercedes team seemed highly unlikely.

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Ban The DRS, Not The Radio

The radio ban is unfair, and Lewis Hamilton will agree. How can you expect drivers to race and solve engineering puzzles at 300kmph? For all the stupid rules Formula 1 has, DRS continues to live on. In this week’s episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, ban DRS and not radio, we say! And till then, Lewis will be happy to know that the radio ban does not extend to Snapchat!

Formula 1 went wrong with their map, letting a country that's more in Asia host the European Grand Prix. Guess money can buy anything in this sport! If Baku becomes a night race, we won't get to see the pretty castles - through we are no longer sure if they were just giant print outs of castles? We also deconstruct the entire incorrect engine mode saga (Mercedes, so stupid).

Formula 1's favourite bromance has gone further downhill after Lauda openly criticised Hamilton’s race at Baku. Nico Rosberg is not just copying Hamilton's car setup, but he's also copying helmet manufacturers. Hamilton has managed to get Mercedes to sponsor his acting films, smart guy. But just what does he have to do to get Penelope Cruz's attention?

Sebastian Vettel should be appointed as the Official Joker of Formula One - as Bernie Ecclestone's successor, we mean. Perhaps Heineken will consider a sponsorship with Ferrari because the team seems drunk all the time - they still think they can win the Constructors' Championship! Vettel made Ferrari change their pitstop strategy mid-race, so obviously it's him running the team and not Arrivabene. Could Sergio Perez have won the race if not for his gearbox penalty? Alonso is having a 'luxury retirement' at McLaren, is that why the team has just appointed a lifestyle partner?

Lastly, Red Bull Racing had a forgettable outing in Azerbaijan, but it seems that Daniel Ricciardo chose to forgive and forget while renewing his contract. Or is this a hint that Ferrari will renew the always struggling Kimi Raikkonen?

Tune in!

(Season 2016, Episode 21)

Final thoughts on 2015: Car wars

Perhaps it says something about ripple effects. That it can take a time for reverberations to make themselves felt. But there was an irony around in the 2015 F1 season.

Rewind 12 months previously to the start of the 2014 campaign, F1 was about to undertake its biggest leap in technical regulations ever particularly in its move to a hybrid-type 'efficiency' engine formula and there was no shortage of those fearing the worst. Lots of it wasn't realised then, indeed some of the fears were silly, but some of it was prescient. It just rather oddly took a year to reveal itself.

Debilitating costs; dominance of a small number of manufacturers; soporific fare.

For more reason than one, the year in F1 was all
about Mercedes and Ferrari
Photo: Octane Photography

We got all of those this time. In more ways that one F1 in 2015 became absolutely about Mercedes and Ferrari. Only they offer competitive engines - and indeed come next year it looks like as many as 16 of the 22 cars will be so powered - therefore they have huge say in the sport's effective competitive order. It manifested itself precisely too - 'Mercedes - gap - Ferrari - gap - the rest' was a common sight on Saturdays and Sundays this season just finished, the two works teams won every race and the rest didn't really get within shouting distant of the podium's top step. The pair also have huge say, it is said, over its customers politically in terms of their votes on the sport's regulations and the like. Red Bull, even the powerful entity that is Red Bull, showed this year what happens if you get on the wrong side of them. It wasn't pretty.

Therefore in F1 2015 not even the usual last resort in the face of predictable results of pointing to meritocracy had the same effect as normal.

Why, this time, I struggled to sympathise with Pirelli

So it hadn't gone away. It merely had lingered, waiting for something to set it off again. And that something arrived in the course of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. Despite a few notable matters therein - among others Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes reasserting themselves; the fabulous yet bitter-sweet tale of Romain Grosjean and Lotus - there appears one talking point dominating all others. Yes, in a throwback right to 2013 Pirelli is in the doghouse once again.

Pirelli was under scrutiny once again
Photo: Octane Photography

As you'll be aware by now Nico Rosberg had a rear tyre burst at high speed in Friday practice which only by sheer fortune didn't result in his Mercedes hitting something solid. Then of course with two laps left in the race Sebastian Vettel's beautifully-driven one-stop strategy that looked near-certain to be awarded with an unlikely third place was ended by a spectacular tyre failure of his own on the Kemmel straight.

Pirelli of course has had its fair share of adventure in its time as F1's sole tyre supplier since 2011. Some misadventure. And regular readers of mine will know that I've been a fairly consistent defender of the Italian company and for a number of reasons. That it often seemed a soft target. That the sport and its competitors hadn't always done it many favours, such as in agreeing on tyre testing. That some of its criticism received has reflected sheer politicking from teams minded mainly of their level of competitiveness (see Red Bull in early 2013, despite subsequent attempts by the team to rewrite history as to its motives).

Sometimes the demands made of the company have been downright unreasonable - quintessentially I recall some FIA statement or other in that 2013 campaign demanding of Pirelli "assurance that there will be no repetition of the tyre problems" that were so notorious in that year's British Grand Prix at Silverstone wherein there were several blow outs. As Peter Windsor noted that gave Pirelli the unique status, and not just unique in F1, of never being allowed to make another mistake. There also is that whatever you may think of what might be termed the 'Pirelli formula' with its deliberate degradation built in, it only reflected the Italian company taking orders from above.

History repeating for Mercedes and making life difficult for itself

F1 loves its parallels. Its coincidences. Its mirror images. And so it is now.

Go back 12 months and there are a few parallels
Photo: Octane Photography

Rewind 12 months almost to the day and we'd just had a Hungarian Grand Prix that took us into the summer break on the back of a thrilling afternoon's entertainment. It had a surprise victor, that driver's second win of the season, which cemented his position as best of the rest behind the two apparently dominant Mercedes in the championship table. Replace Daniel Ricciardo's name with Sebastian Vettel's now and the similarities compared with then are eerie.

And then chat burgeoned in the race's aftermath that Mercedes might even by fumbling between themselves let Ricciardo in for the title honours - the historical  pseudo-parallels of what Kimi Raikkonen did to McLaren in 2007 and Alain Prost to Williams in 1986 were pointed to knowingly.

It always was the longest of long shots for a few reasons, and so it proved in time. But even so it's odd that there seems far less audible talk to that effect now. Not only is Seb much closer at hand on points than Danny Ric was then (42 points to the summit for Seb now compared with 71 for Ricciardo at last year's summer break) he's also closer on general pace.