Review of the Ayrton Senna McLaren MP4/4 magazine and model assembly from De Agostini

Unless you've been in seclusion just lately you'll be well-aware of the round of commemoration and celebration of the life of the inimitable Ayrton Senna which accompanied the 20th anniversary of his sad, premature passing. As part of this De Agostini Publishing has recently released its Ayrton Senna McLaren MP4/4 magazine and model series.

For this each month subscribers receive parts to in time build a 1:8 scale model of Senna's iconic McLaren along with an accompanying monthly magazine about the late great Brazilian.

And for the model it has chosen, appropriately, Senna's most successful car of all, arguably the most successful F1 car of anyone's ever, in the MP4/4 used in the 1988 season.

Its attributes roll off the tongue. The beautiful, sleek, low-line car, with the gem of a Honda engine and an efficient one that could get the swingeing (at the time) 150 litres of fuel to the end, as well as benefiting from the driving genius of no less than Senna and Alain Prost. It won 15 rounds of the 16 rounds that campaign, coming within but two laps of a clean sweep, and in so doing took Senna to the first of his three drivers' world championship titles.

The biggest question: can Mercedes win every race in 2014?

It may be the biggest question that remains in the 2014 Formula One season. But five races in.

In 2014 the Mercedes have dominated the top places
Photo: Octane Photography

One-by-one all apparently are accepting the grimly inevitable that the 2014 titles are already effectively the property of Mercedes; their eventual destination are a matter of when rather than whether. Even its closest rivals have raised the white flag it seems. Fernando Alonso has declared the silver cars 'out of reach', as has Red Bull's big boss Dietrich Mateschitz who said his team 'probably cannot catch up the advantage that Mercedes has...I don't think we can challenge the points lead, even if we are winning (races) again'. And you'll do well to find anyone disagreeing with either. Even Lewis Hamilton let his guard down ever-so slightly after his outfit's latest decisive triumph in Spain, saying 'from them (Mercedes's rivals) to catch us up at the moment it looks like it's going to be tough for them'.

Silly season latest part 2 - Fernando Alonso to Mercedes rumour

The Spanish Grand Prix weekend's full silliness of the silly season wasn't finished with Adrian Newey to Ferrari. Another rumour doing the rounds was the novel and apparently much less likely concept even than that, of Fernando Alonso doing the opposite journey of checking out of Maranello. But in his case in order to join Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes; Nico Rosberg presumably out on his ear.

Fernando Alonso - on the move?
Photo: Octane Photography

The story - including that the signing of a contract is imminent - seemed to originate from a Twitter account that I'm told, um, isn't always right. But still, such is the way of these things it sprouted legs. Before the weekend was out even Alonso himself was being asked to comment on it in front of TV cameras.

It's always difficult to know what to make of such shall we say rather outlandish suggestions. Of course one should never say never, particularly not in F1. By way of illustration certain rumours that transpired as correct seemed similarly outlandish and were met with similar incredulity when first aired; Lewis Hamilton to the same Mercedes team being the most obvious example. Kimi Raikkonen to call a truce with Luca Montezemolo and return to Maranello would have been considered about as (im)probable this time last year too. Plus it's tempting to think that anything this crazy being mooted must have some basis.

Silly season latest part 1 - Adrian Newey to Ferrari rumour

The world has changed. Not sure when or how, but it has.

As the name might suggest, 'silly season' in F1 used to actually be a season. Time was it used to start sometime around mid-summer and continue roughly to the campaign's end. Indeed the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim was once upon a time viewed as the traditional silly season starting gun; some said that in these pre Schumi-mania days the fact that this meeting, at a rather soulless venue given to tepid races, tended to give not much to talk about on-track so speculation about who was going where would fill the gap (the old Hockenheim seems to have established a curious popularity in hindsight which it never actually had at the time - though I digress).

Hockenheim - the former scene of the start of silly season
Credit: AnRo0002 / CC

Silly season was finite in other words. With a beginning and an end. Meaning we had some respite from it. But it is not a season any more, instead it seems a perpetual, 12 months of the year, presence.

Most likely this is down to the fact that the 'who goes where' activities of an F1 team - be it for drivers or for other staff - is now also a never-ending activity. These days those suggesting waiting until July to think about firming up your various contracts for the following year would be considered close to certifiable by any team principal. And to take an extreme example, Fernando Alonso's deal to take him to Ferrari, originally intended to come into force for the 2011 season, was thought to have been signed all the way back in the July of 2008.

Ferrari favouring Fernando or full fabrication?

It felt rather like a few people had been poised for this moment for a while. The moment where they could claim that intra-team/inter-driver relations at Ferrari were getting difficult. Perhaps worse that the team was doing the dirty on Kimi Raikkonen to the end of favouring Fernando Alonso. They'd been poised indeed since Kimi was confirmed for the 2014 Scuderia ride alongside Fernando late last summer.

Of course, in the opening four rounds of this campaign it never became an issue, given Kimi rarely was within range of Fernando's vapour trails. But in the Spanish race it was different, Kimi running ahead for much of the way, but with Nando for the most part staring intensely at his team mate's rear wing.

For much of the Spanish Grand Prix the Ferraris ran like this
Photo: Octane Photography

What first got everyone going was that at the end of the opening stint, perhaps unusually, it was the Ferrari behind that got to pit first, Alonso stopping on lap 16 and Raikkonen a lap later. This in the normal run of things would be an advantage though as it was Alonso hit traffic on his out lap and the Finn stayed ahead. But later the Ferrari pit wall split its ticket (some redolence of Suzuka last year at Red Bull with Webber and Vettel) - Kimi on a two-stopper; Fernando on a three. And in the late laps on fresher tyres Alonso was able to pass Raikkonen finally (in an ironic reverse of the Suzuka case) and prevail albeit in a gentleman's sixth place.

On the radio on the slowing-down lap however Raikkonen was not best pleased, asking 'who made these calls?' on the grounds that he felt he was getting 'second choice'. And after the race he was seen in a Sky interview answering only in a grunt and then walking off when the matter of strategies relative to the guy across the garage was raised. Later though the Finn did relent somewhat, commenting that 'Obviously there was not much between it (the two strategies)' and 'We still finished far away from the others. It did not make much difference to the result.'

Spanish GP Report: All's well that ends well

Perhaps today underlined that you should never give up on a Grand Prix.

You'd have been forgiven for so doing partway through today's Spanish race. It was rather tepid stuff for much of the way, in the worst Montmelo tradition. No one was passing anyone, and the broader story seemed merely a continuation of what he'd witnessed already in 2014. Lewis Hamilton with a clean pair of heels on his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, but both way ahead of everybody else. Yet, whaddaya know, it got rather fun by the end.

Lewis Hamilton - just - was the one smiling at the end
Photo: Octane Photography

The Mercedes of course remained well ahead of the rest; no need to be silly now. But beyond that there was plenty of tension of the unforeseen sort. This race can be filed under 'slow burner'.

But another thing that stayed the same was that Lewis indeed remained where he needed to be, in first place, when the chequered flag fell. But even in his case there was tension added; he was hanging on at the end. And in the non-Mercedes class there were plenty of intriguing battles going on too.

And how did this come about? Well, unpalatable though it may be to some (especially to Sergio Perez given his sentiments expressed earlier in the weekend), we can thank Pirelli. The Italian tyre company has consciously retracted its horns somewhat this year, but it's still left enough in the rubber to allow strategy variation, and the processional fare early on rather disguised the differences in such approaches that laid beneath the surface.

Barcelona Qualifying - Lewis delivers when it matters

In sport, what sorts the great from the very good? It might be a rather lengthy debate, resulting in an equally lengthy list of attributes. But likely the ability to deliver when it really counts would be close to the top of a few minds.

Lewis Hamilton was rightly pleased with yet another pole
Photo: Octane Photography

And it is this attribute that Lewis Hamilton, not for the first time perhaps, demonstrated that he has, and has over his Mercedes team mate, in today's qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix. In a rather scrappy hour disrupted by two red flags for much of the time it looked like it might be the day that Nico Rosberg struck back, as he consistently beat Lewis's times in the first two sessions. Lewis even in response had an off-track moment that seemed to indicate his being rattled at it all.

But we should have known better. It's Q3 that decides the order for those at the top, and it was then that Lewis stepped up. In a final part truncated in-effect by another red flag Lewis struck first; on used medium tyres beating Rosberg's mark by 0.273s.

Spanish GP Betting Preview - Red Bull will be closer, but not close enough. By Andy Morgan

Round five of the Formula 1 2014 season takes us to the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain as the European stint kicks in and upgrades are expected up and down the paddock.

Red Bull and Ferrari may relish the opportunity to exploit their chassis in Spain, yet the huge gap between themselves and the dominant Mercedes duo is unlikely to be in major jeopardy this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton looks the man to beat once again
Photo: Octane Photography

The lead Mercedes has over second-placed Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship has increased to a staggering 97 points in just four races, while in the Drivers' Championship Lewis Hamilton has closed the gap to just four points to his team mate Nico Rosberg after three consecutive race victories.

For Red Bull to turn this season around they'll need to make imminent inroads into the Mercs' advantage, so news that updates to the Renault engine are planned up until the Canadian Grand Prix in June will give the team some cause for optimism, though it may also have preferred the improvements to be available sooner.

Barcelona Preview: Predictable to a point

Some tracks have a reputation for unpredictability. For the shock result. For dishing out the wild card.

Sadly though the Circuit de Cataluyna near Barcelona which hosts this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix is not one of them. I say sadly as the venue when it arrived in F1 in 1991 was the one that gave the Spanish Grand Prix a permanent home finally; that ended the event's nomadic and patchy presence on the calendar. Unlike Jarama and Jerez it attracted a crowd; unlike the previous Barcelona venues of Pedralbes and Montjuic it satisfied safety standards.

The start and opening corners at the
 Circuit de Cataluyna will likely be vital
Photo: Octane Photography

But I threaten to digress. The Montmelo venue whatever its virtues is the one arguably on the farthest end of the scale from the unpredictable. Instead it's been viewed as the sport's bellwether; F1's indicator of the pecking order all things being equal.

Why is this? Well as is usually the case it can be attributed to a few disparate things coming together.

With the track's layout featuring a succession of long medium-speed corners which require good aerodynamics it isn't one on which a car can be hauled around ahead of itself. If your machine isn't working you have little choice but to sit and wait on it. Inspired drives outperforming your wheels, at least in the absence of rain, are therefore unlikely. And while a horrid chicane was added to the end of the lap in 2007, which rather spoiled the circuit's character (to the point that the final sector is now considered a good indicator for Monaco pace) its status as a barometer of where your car really is at remains.

Slings and Silver Arrows: Thoughts on F1 in 2014

In F1 not much is new. In a sport that prides itself on never standing still that may seem a dubious claim. But such is the expanse of its past that usually some parallel can be found therein whatever happens now. Some things are new however. And it doesn't seem exaggeration to say that more so than at any other time in the sport's long history, F1 in 2014 hit the reset button.

We've had engine regulation changes before. We've also had chassis changes. But rarely have they arrived together. They certainly haven't to this seismic extent. Never before has there been such a leap between F1 seasons; such a leap into the unknown.

In effect all teams had a new and highly complex technology thrown at them - a 1.6 litre turbo internal combustion unit plus greatly increased energy recovery, combined with a 100kg fuel limit, as well as a limit to the flow - and were told curtly to get on with it. Moreover, as Adrian Newey pointed out to Gary Anderson, a new hybrid car on the road will have five years' testing and development behind it, and the F1 equivalent of now is 20 times more complicated than even the most complicated road hybrid. Those in this game had but 12 days of track testing to get it right.

F1 teams have had plenty to be getting on with in 2014
Credit:  J.H. Sohn / CC

And there was plenty of doom mongering in advance about what could be expected in F1 2014-style. The cars would be hideously slow (perhaps lap times would slip over those of GP2); the races would be conspicuous fuel economy cruises; someone even - and with a straight face - in the early part of the round one weekend in Melbourne asked Race Director Charlie Whiting what would happen if no one finished...

We should have known better - compared with such expectations things instead in the opening four rounds have gone rather swimmingly.