F1 2015 Season Preview: Williams - Practising Alchemy

F1 alchemy almost never happens. Things change slowly; tortuously; at the margins. And outcomes tend to be determined in large part by who has the most cash to splash.

Photo: Octane Photography

But try, on the basis of last season's efforts, telling that to Williams. It started having just experienced a desperately disappointing 2013 campaign wherein it took but two points-scoring finishes, and for the most part was ahead on pace only of the 'B class' of Marussia and Caterham. And yet it finished 2014 making a coherent case that it was the imperious Mercs' most consistent irritant on lap time over the season. And its habitual points-scoring - including nine podiums - totalled up to a haughty third place in the constructors' table, ahead of the much more handsomely-resourced teams of Ferrari and McLaren. It was possibly the most astonishing - almost certainly the most welcomed - story of the year.

New GP Racing Plus article: McLaren’s real parallel from history (and it isn’t with Honda)

"Lauda McLaren MP4-2 1984 Dallas F1" by twm1340 -
1984 United States Grand Prix, Fair Park, Dallas, Texas.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lauda_
McLaren_MP4-2_1984_Dallas_F1.jpg#mediaviewer/
File:Lauda_McLaren_MP4-2_1984_Dallas_F1.jpg

With McLaren teaming up with Honda as its engine supplier for this forthcoming F1 season you hardly could have missed the heavy sense of history that has come along with it. And of highly successful history at that - what with a clean sweep of championship doubles for the partnership in every year inclusive between 1988 and 1991 on the record books.

But in my latest article for GP Racing Plus (formerly F1Plus) I outline that for me, the parallel is far from perfect and instead far the closer parallel from the past comes, still from McLaren, from a few years before that. From 1984 and the Woking squad using TAG-Porsche engines.

You can have a read here: http://gpracingplus.com/en/specials/item/7329-mclarens-real-parallel-from-history-and-it-isnt-with-honda

F1 2015 Season Preview: Red Bull - Short of breath

Don't let anyone tell you different. In F1 very little remains the same for long.

Photo: Octane Photography

And if you'd like a recent example - and an extreme one - then you need look no further than the case of Red Bull.

Around eighteen months ago it was near-impossible to envisage how the team could be beaten. As we stand now it is equally near-impossible to envisage how it can win.

It's not especially the team’s fault either. Not directly anyway. Rather the game changed. In the Bulls' purple patch F1 was close to a spec series on engines; the team could plug in Renault units and go, concentrating instead on the chief discriminator of aerodynamics, which it also so happened to be incredibly good at. The team-manufacturer relationship wasn't as close as usual in a works partnership. But it didn't have to be.

F1 2015 Season Preview: Mercedes - Silver service

It didn't take long for the apparent confirmation. A matter of an hour or so. On the first morning of the opening pre-season test in Jerez while all others did a few first tentative steps (and some didn't even do that) the new Mercedes W06 sprinted from the blocks. Immediately from the get-go of on-track running it functioned like a watch and racked up the mileage, doing 80 laps on the first morning when all others combined managed only slightly more in 96. It all left its rivals stunned. And represented confirmation as if it was required that as far as the Brackley lot are concerned there will be no relent; Mercedes in 2015 will be a lot like Mercedes in 2014. And wasn't caring to conceal the fact.

Photo: Octane Photography

Of course Mercedes starts this particular race with an advantage. Its launch-off point of last year's car already is towering, and with only modest regulation changes in the meantime it should count for a lot this year too. Various things - Mercedes starting off as way ahead in the energy recovery game; giving more time, resource and attention apparently to the new formula; a vital innovation in the power unit layout which as the works supplier it was best placed to benefit from - all came together to send the W05 into the most virtuous of circles last season. It was on another level.

New Grand Prix Times article: For once, I’m pleased that F1 couldn’t make a decision

Photo: Octane Photography

We all know by now that F1's powers-that-be it seems cannot make a decision. Not for anything important anyway. It's a recurring theme. But not surprising when you give power to the teams, each of which have their peculiar, vested, interests.

And in recent days F1's inability to make a decision made itself felt again by halting, at least temporarily, F1's brave strides into a bold future of bigger tyres, wider cars and rip-snorting 1,000bhp engines that will give drivers more of a challenge.

So how on earth could I be happy with this? Well in my latest article for Grand Prix Times I explain why. You can have a read here: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/display/09878

Inside Line F1 Podcast: It's time for Barcelona

The latest Inside Line F1 podcast is here. In this one Kunal Shah and Rishi Kapoor discuss a variety of F1 matters ahead of the latest Barcelona test. These include Ron Dennis's comments about the supposed end of the title sponsor, proposed radical changes and 'cars of the future' mooted for the sport, and Lewis Hamilton's stand off with Mercedes over a new contract. You can have a listen below:

Kunal has been writing on F1 for eight seasons, you can visit Kunal's website at: http://www.kunalsf1blog.com/ and you also can follow him on Twitter here.

Inside Line F1 Podcast: Formula One is Funny

Just the latest Inside Line F1 podcast is here. In this one Kunal Shah and Rishi Kapoor remind us of this sport's persistent ability to amuse us (but perhaps not always for the right reasons) as well as discuss the recent matters of Marussia/Manor possibly taking part in the 2015 season after all. It's lively as always and well worth nine-and-a-bit minutes of your time. You can have a listen below:

The regular Inside Line F1 podcast is produced and hosted by Kunal and Rishi, and is one of the most listened to podcasts in India and Asia, They are looking to expand elsewhere, and here on Talking about F1 I'm delighted to help share it.

Kunal has been writing on F1 for eight seasons, you can visit Kunal's website at: http://www.kunalsf1blog.com/ and you also can follow him on Twitter here.

New Grand Prix Times article: Making bricks from straws in the wind – reflections on Jerez

Photo: Octane Photography

In my latest Grand Prix Times article I become merely the latest to try to ascertain what we learned about the 2015 F1 season ahead from Jerez's initial four days of pre-season testing.

We all know the various pitfalls of trying to do this - headline times are oft-reported but equally can't be trusted entirely - but it doesn't seem to stop us trying to make sense of it all. So what could we take from it?

You can read the article with my take via this link: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/display/09843

Inside Line F1 Podcast: Mercedes vs. Ferrari, really?

As quick as a flash the very latest Inside Line F1 podcast is now with us. This time Kunal Shah and Rishi Kapoor look at Jerez pre-season testing just passed and what we can take from it, as well as discuss the threats to the German Grand Prix. You can have a listen below:

The regular Inside Line F1 podcast is produced and hosted by Kunal and Rishi, and is one of the most listened to podcasts in India and Asia, They are looking to expand elsewhere, and here on Talking about F1 I'm delighted to help share the podcast.

Kunal has been writing on F1 for eight seasons, you can visit Kunal's website at: http://www.kunalsf1blog.com/ and you also can follow him on Twitter here.

Inside Line F1 Podcast: Ice Ice Baby

The latest Inside Line F1 podcast is here. As ever Kunal Shah and Rishi Kapoor discuss a number of F1 matters, this time including mooted revised F1 regs, Kimi Raikkonen's offspring, and even sneak in a name check for me... You can have a listen below.



The regular Inside Line F1 podcast is produced and hosted by Kunal and Rishi, and is one of the most listened to podcasts in India and Asia, They are looking to expand elsewhere, and here on Talking about F1 I'm delighted to help share the podcast.

Kunal has been writing on F1 for eight seasons, you can visit Kunal's website at: http://www.kunalsf1blog.com/ and you also can follow him on Twitter here.