Austrian GP preview

By Simon Baggus

We will all be watching as the lights go out in Austria

You have to go back to 1964, at Zeltweg Airfield, where the first Austrian Grand Prix was held. It had been a success but was then deemed to unsafe to race on. The race was removed from the F1 calendar until 1970, where a new circuit, purpose built for F1, made its way back onto the calendar.

The legendary Osterreichring was the new home, again located close to Zeltwerg. The Austrian GP was at this venue for 18 consecutive years. 1987 the year it was closed, this time being regarded too dangerous to race on.

The Austrian GP again, was removed from the F1 calendar, this time for a whole decade. The track needed updating and modernising.The track had several changes to its layout and re opened as the A1-ring. The A1-ring went onto hold championship events from 1997 to 2003.

In order for the circuit to be reaccepted by Formula One, several changes again, had to be made. This time, the circuits length had been reduced, the sweeping curves had been cut short or bypassed and a slower, twisting infield section had been inserted. 

From the outset, the circuit seemed to many to be a shadow of its former self and when we return there this weekend, with the circuit re named the Red Bull Ring, there will no doubt be a cloud of doubt as to what it will bring. 

All we can say is that it has long fast straights, with tight and twisty corners, that will again, be a problem on brakes. 

Ironically with Rosberg leading the championship this year, one of the highlights from this circuit was of his father Keke Rosberg, who recorded one of the closest ever finishes in Grand Prix history, just 0.08 separating himself and winner Elio De Angelis. 

Schumacher won last time in Austria

Last time out, in Canada, Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo scored a memorable maiden win. Capitalising on a troubled race for previously dominant Mercedes, the result was a major step forward for the Austrian-licensed team and it will be looking to continue that good form at its home track.
 
In the Drivers’ Championship, second place in Montreal allowed Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg to extend his title lead over team-mate Lewis Hamilton to 22 points. The Briton will be keen to redress the balance in Spielberg, but on a circuit unfamiliar to the bulk of the current field, this latest iteration of the Austrian GP could turn out to be one of the most unpredictable of the season so far.

Mercedes are by no means still the class of the field, lets not forget that please, they only suffered mechanical failures and Red Bull pounced on the opportunity. 

Hamilton has it all to do and for some reason everyone still seems to think this championship is his, but Rosberg is going about his business plucking away in the championship and this weekend is no different. He will draw on his fathers experience of past times to help him.

Ricciardo will look to keep his momentum going and to beat him team mate Sebastian Vettel, who has been told to up his game. 

Ricciardo would love another win

Force India ran fantastically in Canada and Austria should bring the same, they will resume their battle with Williams but they will both be hoping for an incident free weekend. I am sure something will be said this weekend about it and both Massa and Perez have their views on it. Lets see who comes up best. Putting your money on Hulkenberg is not a bad bet. 

Ferrari, need a miracle, lets be honest. They can draw on Alonso and Raikkonen, two of only three drivers to race on the track last active in 2003. Although how much help this is going to bring is yet to be seen. 

Button is the only other driver to have raced on the track in 2003, still active in the sport. McLaren puts everything on his shoulders as Magnussen will be of no use to extract information to help the team. Just like many a driver who come to this track as a Virgin race driver.

Lotus will be hoping to just get two cars home this weekend and with the upturn in performance they could be in the points. Grosjean seems to be the one the team is getting behind for the remaining races to this season. Not a bad bet is that of this being Maldonado's one and only season in Lotus and maybe his last season in Formula One.

Torro Rosso are still there and still scoring points. which is encouraging. Austria brings a new challenge to all teams and they will be hoping to sneak in and score more points at the rear of the top ten. Again JEV needs to be on his best form as his position in the team has started to be jeopardised.

Sauber look like it will be a season to forget, will they score any points, i don't think so, will they perform any better this weekend, no, not at all. If i was head of Sauber now, i would stop all progress to this years car and start work on the following season.

Marussia may even beat Sauber and be comfortably ahead of them come season end. 9th in the championship would be a major achievement for the outfit, but if Chilton carries on under performing, they may need to look at another driver. Chilton has nothing to hold on to anymore, as his record of consecutive finishes are now gone. Bianchi will need another strong showing to keep his place in the team. Austria could see them finish ahead of 3 or 4 teams near the rear of the field.

Caterham are at the rear of the field now, still the only team to not score any points. Will they make it to the end of the season? Many rumours are Caterham will pull out and rumours are they will not be here this weekend. If they are it will be another race at the rear of the field.

Rosberg will want to beat Hamilton yet again

All i can say is Buckle up and enjoy the ride. If the past is anything to go by, this track will produce a thriller. Rosberg and Hamilton will resume their battle up front, Lets see who is best of the rest, lets see how many actually make the chequered flag. This could be an historic event in the making.

Thank you

Simon Baggus

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Schumacher

Michael Schumacher
By Simon Baggus

Schumacher pictured here in 2003

Michael Schumacher was born on the third of January 1969 in Kerpen, Germany. The birth of a champion in the making.

Michael Schumacher has rewritten the record books and many believe it will never be broken. He is the only driver to have taken five driver world championships in a row, surpassing the late great Juan Manuel Fangio. Fangio took four straight titles in a row, now being joined with Sebastian Vettel in the quadruple club.

A young Michael

His Formula One debut was at Spa Francorchamps in 1991, driving for the then active Jordan race team, owned by the ever present Eddie Jordan in the modern formula.

Schumacher had retired before the race end, but with Schumacher putting the car P7 in qualifying, he quickly turned heads in the paddock, as the Jordan was a bit of a dog in its day.

1991 was dominated by Senna and this would be the last world championship Ayrton Senna would win, with his Honda powered McLaren

He switched teams in a blink of an eye and two weeks after Spa you would see the man in a Benetton, where he rewarded them with a fifth place at Monza.

1992 was his first full season as a Formula One driver and at the year end he ended up P3 in the driver standings, regularly appearing on the podium, with a win at the track he made his debut on the previous year, Spa Francorchamps.

1993 gave him his second win of his career amongst eight other podiums that season, as Prost went on to win the world title in his Williams. Senna coming home in second place before his switch to Williams as Prost retired for good.

1994 was the beginning of Michael Schumacher and his legacy. He was world champion, although not without controversy with Damon Hill in the final race at Adelaide. He then retained his world champions status come the following season with an emphatic nine wins, showing he was the real deal.

Title rivals in 1994

He was then signed by Ferrari in 1996. This partnership was to be the best partnership to ever grace the Formula One world, alongside team mate, Rubens Barrichello, who joined the team in the year 2000.

From 1996 until the year 2000 Ferrari and Schumacher won nothing, but not without more controversy, failing in his attempt to take Jaques Villeneuve out in the title decider at Jerez. but when the new millennium hit us, all things changed.

Schumacher took five straight world drivers titles in the years 00',01',02',03' and 04'. His best year being 2004 when he won 12 of the first 13 rounds.

Schumacher in his 2006 Ferrari, his last season

Schumacher, coupled with a Ferrari engine and chassis that was the class of the field, along with Bridgestone tyres, which he and his team had mastered, made him unstoppable. Something Sebastian Vettel had also mastered in recent years. Vettel on the other hand though has been prone to abuse, claiming it was his car and not him that gave him his four championships.

The year 2005 and major rule changes were put in place to even the field out. That it did, as Schumachers reign had ended. He took only one win and five podiums that year, finishing third in the championship behind A very young and fresh faced Fernando Alonso, driving a Renault, who was your double world champion in 2005 and 2006.

2006 was to be Michaels final season in F1 and his chances of winning the title that year looked slim with a dominant Alonso, controlling the first half of the championship. Michael did begin to catch Alonso though and they were level on points with two races to go, sadly engine troubles ruled him out after all. Kimi Raikkonen took over in Michaels place and was duly crowned the champion in 2007, by one point, from rookie Lewis Hamilton.

Schumacher and his return was not a success

Three years on the sidelines and Schumacher was not satisfied. He made his comeback with the new Mercedes GP team in 2010. Mercedes GP was an evolution from Brawn GP, who had won the world drivers and constructors title in its one and only year as a team.

Mercedes wanted an all German outfit, they recruited Nico Rosberg as his team mate. Nico Rosberg actually outscored Schumacher two to one in that years world championship and what looked like a dream becoming true, turned out to be just a dream.

Schumacher in action

Two more years with the Mercedes team and still little success, one podium was all the seven time world champion could achieve, where Rosberg took the one and only Mercedes win, as there time as partners drew to a close.

What seemed to be a match made in heaven turned out to be far from it with crashes, mistakes, and a lack of race craft from the man. Three short years is all it took for his second retirement, this time for good. Making the way for one Lewis Hamilton.

Many thanks
Simon Baggus

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Canadian GP review

Canadian GP review
By Simon Baggus

Well well, i could not have been so wrong in my preview to the Canadian GP. There i was blabbering on how i thought it was going to be a boring F1 weekend and i was hung out to dry on that prediction.

Qualifying went to the norm, with Mercedes locking out the front two positions. Surprising for many was how good Nico Rosberg was to claim the top spot, Hamilton just saying he under-performed sitting in second. 0.079s was the difference.

Another surprise was Sebastian Vettel managing to slot home into third on the grid just ahead of both Williams drivers of Bottas and Massa, with Ricciardo starting in sixth place, the race winner that nobody would have predicted. Again the marginal difference between these four drivers alone was only 0.041s. Incredible stuff really.

Alonso was seventh, Vergne was eighth, Button was ninth and Raikkonen rounded out the top ten, just 0.04s slower than Alonso. Did Ferrari and there upgrades improve the car, not really.

Starting from eleventh with free tyre choice was Hulkenberg, who chose a very long first stint in the race on the 'prime'. Behind 'the Hulk' was, Magnussen, Perez, Grosjean and Kvyat.

Sutil led the rear of the field from Maldonado, Chilton, Bianchi, Kobayashi and Ericsson, who has his garage working overtime, as he crashed out in Q1, damaging the left rear of the car.

Gutierrez did not take part in qualifying due to his crash in FP3, which damaged his chassis, he starts from the pit lane.

Canada woke to race day in Montreal, poised to see a spectacle. It did not disappoint, let me tell you that much.

Rosberg leads Hamilton into turn one

The formation lap complete and Go, Go, Go. Hamilton and Rosberg drew neck and neck off the start, Rosberg taking the racing line, forced lewis to go onto the grass and back out of it. Promoting Vettel up to second around the second corner, i was already on the edge of my seat!.

The first part of the race ran like clock work. The Mercedes pair driving off into the distance, in there own private battle. Hamilton never really more than 1.5 seconds away from Rosberg.

Lap one though and my eyes could not believe that i was actually seeing Max Chilton retire, what has this world come too (insert sarcasm). Chilton understeered as Bianchi made an aggressive attack around the outside and Chilton could not control it, sliding into the side of Bianchi, thus sending him into the wall and out of the race. Chilton causing his own fate at the same time. Safety car period for seven laps.

Rosberg held the lead through the first pit stops, followed by Hamilton, who made his way past Vettel, but Hamilton was hounding Rosberg now and looked to be setting up a move.

But Lap 22 and the ever reliable Maldonado, determined to set a new world record by the looks of things, pulls up in the pits with a poorly Lotus and retires.

Lap 25 and Kobayashi spins, he is also out of the race as he finds out there is a problem with his car.

Lap 27 then, lap 27. My my people, very interesting indeed, very reminiscent of a corner in Monaco, were Rosberg locked up and went straight on to bring out the yellows, when he was under pressure from Hamilton.

Final corner and Hamilton had closed the gap nicely, surely eyeing up a pass on the very next lap. Rosberg had a very big lock up, decides against making the corner and shoots straight on over the run off area. Rosberg rejoins the track ahead of Hamilton, sets his fastest lap of the race at the same time and builds a nice cushion again of about 1.5s to stop Hamilton attacking.

Rosberg was investigated by the stewards but was only given a final warning, even though he gained an advantage.

A brilliant battle developed in the middle of the race, with Perez giving us one of his trade mark long stints that seem impossible, going 34 laps on the 'option' tyre. Perez was running third and rejoins eleventh.

Perez headed a pack before his pit stop which included Force India team mate Hulkenberg, Vettel, Bottas and Ricciardo.

Lap 37 and 38 was the turning point in this race. Mercedes Surprisingly, seemed to suffer an electrical problem at the same time on both cars and had to race without the hybrid system for the duration remaining. They were losing 2/3 seconds per lap to the chasing pack, who were 25s down the road.

Incredible and climatic, Mercedes looked like they were going to be caught, who by, well Hulkenberg was in third at the time and only 20s down the road, with the Bulls and the Williams not far behind.

A minor spin for Raikkonen on lap 41, just to please the fans at the Chicane. He carries on after losing a few positions.

A rare mistake by the Finn

The final pitstops were in full motion around the lap 44 mark for pretty much most teams. Massa led the race for a brief moment before having to be pulled in for a final pitstop and the battle commenced at the head of the field. Hamilton was now in the lead after Massa peeled in, as Rosberg lost two seconds in his pitstop.

Lap 46, this time Rosberg hounding Hamilton, seemed at first to send Hamilton into a mistake as he ran wide at the chicane, only later to find out it was a brake issue. They seemed to have contact at the final corner, this time Hamilton going straight on to take avoiding action, but what we had witnessed was a loss of brakes, this was tragedy.

Lewis Hamilton was out of the Canadian GP, could you believe it, what a dramatic twist in the championship battle. I did not want to get out of my seat, i even sacrificed eating, my own health here, to watch the end of the canadian GP before i departed for work that evening.

With Rosberg down on power and the pack right with him now, headed by Perez, from both the Red Bulls. This was going down to the wire, with Massa also closing quickly on a new set of tyres.

Ricciardo set up a pass on Perez and then he was on a mission to hunt down Rosberg, he did not want to miss out on his maiden F1 victory.

Lap 68 and Ricciardo made the pass, he pulled to the outside of Rosberg and nipped into the lead before the final turn. Game, set and match Riccardo, as one lap later a massive accident happened at turn one and the race was stopped prematurely.

Ricciardo wins his maiden F1 GP in Canada!

A race winner at last and well deserved

What looked as if Massa mis judged his braking point going into turn one, turned out to be a sudden change of direction by Perez, causing both to collide, sending them both spinning off into the barriers at the first turn, experiencing up to 27 G's.

Vettel meantime was in the middle of all this and managed to weave his way through the carnage to hold onto third in the race.  Button come out of no where in a late charge to pass Hulkenberg and Alonso on the final lap to take fourth, by everyones surprise and Bottas took seventh from Vergne, Magnussen and Raikkonen, to round out the top ten points scorers.

Perez and Massa ended up being classified eleventh and twelfth, with Sutil and Guttierez rounding out the remaining finishers.

DNF's then for, Hamilton, Grosjean, Maldonado, Kvyat, Chilton, Bianchi, Kobayashi and Erricson in a race that was highly dramatic.

Ricciardo then has beat Vettel in the last five races, Rosberg now has a 22 point lead in the drivers championship from Hamilton, Massa cant stay away from barriers and Chilton had his first dnf, to name but a few highlights, in what was a thrilling race

A big shunt for Massa

Thank you for reading, i hope you enjoyed it.

See you in to weeks time for what is a return to Austria.

Simon Baggus

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Canadian GP preview

Canadian GP preview
By Simon Baggus

The wall of champions says it all, it has cost many a champion their race

The Canadian GP was introduced onto the calendar in 1967 but did not move to its current location, on the Ile de Notre Dame, a man made island in the St Lawrence River, Montreal, until 1977.

Designed by a man named Roger Peart, it contains long, fast straights and tight, slow corners and chicanes and although it is not an over-demanding track for drivers alike, it presents a problem for brake-wear. The track has ample overtaking opportunities at the hairpin and down the long straights in-particular, with the DRS activation zones.

The race itself produces some exciting, action packed battles, with many experienced champions having been caught out by the circuits characteristics, including the 'wall of champions'.

The first Canadian GP held at here, in 1978, was won by non other than, Gilles Villeneuve, the home grown talent, who, on his own, sparked the Formula One love in Canada in the 1970's. It was his first win of his career also.

1982 brought tragedy to Gilles Villeneuve, who sadly lost his life in the 1982 Belgian GP qualifying. This is when the Canadian GP circuit was renamed in his memory.

Robert Kubica, who is deeply missed by most of the F1 community, won here in 2008 for BMW Sauber which brought to an end Montreal's 31 year run as a Formula One circuit, as it was dropped in 2009 to make way for the newly built Abu Dhabi GP in 2009.

It returned in 2010 with backing from the Canadian government.

Two highlights of recent years that stand out for me are that of 2007 and a fresh faced Lewis Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton had been on the podium every race since the beginning of the season in his debut year and this was his first win of the season, holding of the challenges of 4 safety car periods, wet weather, dry weather and obviously the drivers. He held the championship lead right until the last race, only to lose by a single point to Kimi Raikkonen.

The second one was that of Jenson Button in 2011, finding himself in last place and much work to do, his team mate at the time, Lewis Hamilton had retired from the race, but he romped back up through the field and with half a lap to go, had his sights on Sebastian Vettel. Applying pressure on the current champion he forced Vettel into a mistake, which sent the crowd, the drivers, the pits and everyone behind the T.V wild. He went onto win a race which will go down as a great in modern history.

Your podium in 2013, Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton 

This years Canadian GP then, i can't see being much of a thriller, sorry F1 fans.

The fact is Mercedes are still the class of the field and with Canada rewarding straight line speed, expect Hamilton and Rosberg to be in a race of their own, far far away in the distance. Their battle will resume from Monaco, still hot and fiery, with revenge in Hamilton's eyes and a smirk on Rosberg's face, both have determination and desire, but are very different in their approaches.

I do expect Hamilton to have the edge on Rosberg, he seems to light up the circuit in front of him here and has great success winning three times since 2007. He will be looking to add a fourth, to close the gap in the championship, whilst Rosberg will be looking for his first here, to extend his gap in the championship.

Red Bull have come out second best across the first lot of races, but that doesn't mean they are in for an easy ride here in Canada, with their engine still down on power, they could be sitting ducks to Mercedes power.

Ricciardo seems to be in the form of his life in this years Red Bull and will be looking to carry the momentum forward and build on a strong third place from Monaco. Sebastian Vettel will just be looking to have a problem free weekend, to get to the finish and score some decent points, maybe he will swap his chassis on the sly, who knows!

Ferrari have under performed to their standards, but Alonso once again has kept them in the mix. Raikkonen has improved in the last few races but got off to a slow start. Ferrari come here with a brand new package, a new car practically, in the search to rescue their season before its too late.

Force India have quietly gone about their business, plucking away at every race to score decent points, that put them fourth in this years constructors championship, behind the top three that have been mentioned.

Hulkenberg, like Ricciardo, has been outstanding and has scored points at every race so far this season in his Force India, he is a contender for driver of the championship in my eyes and will be looking to bag some big points this weekend, in his Mercedes powered car. Perez has been less consistent, although he was on the podium in Bahrain. He has been at the lower end of the points compared to his team mate, but has contributed non the less.

Hulkenberg in Monaco, his third 5th place finish of the year

McLaren have been like Ferrari, very poor all season, failures, non point finishes and under performing at all levels. Magnussen had so much hype and began strong but has looked more like a rookie as the season goes on, Button has complained about him on more than one occasion and Button himself has not lived up to his world champion status.

McLaren seems to be the slowest of all Mercedes powered cars also and this doesn't do themselves any favours in the constructors. Canada will be a place they hope to have a turning point, being Mercedes powered they hope to capitalise on their opponents and have a decent run just like Australia and Button will hope his experience will help the team to better things.

Williams have been battling it out mid pack all season with Ferrari,Force India and McLaren and will be hoping for another strong showing in Canada. Williams sit level on points in the constructors championship with McLaren heading into Canada and Bottas has been great all season sitting ahead of both McLaren drivers and his team mate Massa in the drivers championship. Massa has come into Williams and has had problems compared to Bottas, he will be hoping for a good showing in Canada but the top ten will be very close for all non works Mercedes powered cars.

Torro Rosso may see themselves outside the top ten in Canada even though they have been a consistent pairing in Kvyat and Vergne and have been pretty equal throughout the year, bagging points finishes between on a few occasions so far. Their power unit may succumb to that of Mercedes power and with Lotus stepping up their game, could find themselves even further behind.

Grosjean finished 8th in Monaco

Lotus have finally gathered momentum, well Grosjean and Lotus have. Maldonado is an exception who should not be on the grid, he has had crashes, failures and dangers that no-one on an F1 grid should be experiencing anymore. Except him to be somewhere at the back or retired before the end of the race, Grosjean has scored the only points for Lotus so far and you can expect him to be up their and in the points once again in Canada.

Marrusia scored their first ever points in Monaco and will no doubt give them a massive financial benefit come the year end, was it a one off, absolutely, Monaco is that type of track, with so many retirees and mechanical issues, they picked up the left overs. Can they repeat it in Canada, absolutely not, Bianchi as good as he is and i think he is good, who deserves to be in a much better team, will not be able to repeat Monaco and i'm sure they will be fighting with Caterham once again, if not just ahead of them at the rear of the field. One thing Max Chilton will be clinging onto, keeping his name to fame, is a 100% finishing record, apart from that he cant deliver much else.

Sauber are just awful this year, a car they claimed to get better after upgrades is still slumped at the bottom of the constructors with no points to their name. Sutil and Gutierrez wont be able to pick any points up in Canada either as their car is still one of the heaviest on the grid, which will surely slow them down, with Canada rewarding speed, this looks grim for the Sauber outfit, although Gutierrez has been the better of the two.

Caterham lay dead last with no points, a rookie who is not ready for F1 and Kobayashi, who can't do much with the car either. This team looked to be on their last legs. Tony Fernandez has put the team up for sale, he has had enough, will they be on the grid next year, only time will tell. All they can hope for in Canada is to get both cars home and a miracle for the rest of the year.

Title protagonists

So tension builds with these two title protagonists, what will be the outcome on Sunday afternoon, will team orders be put into place? will a collision occur? will their be any bad sportsmanship again? tune in to find out. All i can say is it will go down to the wire this year and the double points at the last race of the year could just be the title decider.

See you back here for the review of the Canadian GP early next week.

Simon baggus

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Thank you

Apologies

Apologies
By Simon Baggus

The two title protagonists

I would just like to write this quick blog to apologise to everyone who reads my reviews and opinions to a Formula One weekend, My last blog was from the Chinese GP, we then had the three week break in the build up to Monaco, which unfortunately i was absent from, thus did not produce a Blog/Review of the weekend, which i am deeply sorry about, as it was probably the best weekend consisting controversy in a long while. Anyway we are back up and running after a few minor issues and we will be back with you to the build up of the Canadian GP next weekend. I will have my Blog of the preview out Wed/Thurs, so keep a look out.

Sorry once again and thank you.

Simon Baggus

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Chinese GP review

Chinese Grand Prix Review
By Simon Baggus

A perfect start for Hamilton in the Chinese GP

So after Hamilton topped Practice, slammed the silver arrow on pole and romped to victory in the race all seems a full gone conclusion for the rest of the season doesn't it?

All seems so simple yet so complex, as when you look at the figures and detail in which Hamilton is perfecting his race craft to adapt the best from the new rule changes, he is just blowing every single competitor out of the water, including his team mate Nico Rosberg. Yet he is making it look easy.

Hamilton had a clean start and the race was effectively won from their. By lap 10 he had a 10 second cushion and by the time he made his pit stop, on lap 16, he was 30+ seconds ahead of Alonso in second as others around him had made their pitstops. Hamilton went longer than any of the front runners on his first set of tyres, to keep a comfortable lead after his first stop.

Lap 21 and Hamilton was 6 seconds ahead, lap 31 and he was 13 seconds ahead. Hamilton took his final pitstop on lap 39 and come out with a 12 seconds advantage to cruise to the finish, which fell a lap early, to his surprise. Hamilton had a winning margin of 17 seconds come the flag, but he also had the best fuel usage and best tyre management of all the front runners to take three wins in a row. A first for the Brit.

Hamilton has re written the record books also and is now the outright and most successful British driver  to take pole positions. His 34th in total. Amazingly he is still second in the championship, only by four points now to team mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton, the all time leading Brit for pole positions

Rosbergs weekend was blighted by problems. Straight from the start he had telemetry issues which meant he had to be extra cautious in the race with fuel and it also hampered his start. He dropped to 7th in the opening laps, had contact with a Williams and had to fight all the way to the flag, showing no matter how dominant you are, when your stuck behind traffic, it becomes harder. He still grabbed second with about 15 laps to go. Rosberg took his third straight second place, only finishing behind Hamilton.

Rosberg made use of ERS and some good race craft to get past the Williams and Red bulls and was up to third by lap 22, chasing down the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

Fernando pitted from second on lap 32 and thus promoted Rosberg up to second for a brief moment, still some 19 seconds behind Hamilton at this stage of the race.

Lap 41 after the pitstops have taken place and Rosberg makes a move stick on Alonso after slowly but surely closing the gap on him lap by lap and the german was clearly annoyed after being hampered by problems, which would have surely slowed his progress. He had enough and told his team over the radio he is no longer listening to fuel usage.

Alonso once again had an incredible race, taking the Ferrari beyond its true potential and landing third at race end, dedicating the podium finish to long serving friend and mentor, Stefano Domenicali.

Alonso made a great start moving into third place after bouncing off the side of Massas chassis, almost snatching second from Vettel and hounding him around until about lap 7, when things started to settle.

Vettel pitted and then Alonso, who was up to second for the remainder of the race, ends up ahead of him and only 3.7 behind Hamilton. It was pretty uneventful for Alonso from then on, although Rosberg was slowly closing on him lap by lap. Lap 33 and Alonso makes his second stop from 2nd and when all other stops play out, Rosberg is on his tale and Alonso loses 2nd on lap 41.

Alonso had a controlled race then to fend of Ricciardo to the flag, although it did go down to the wire.

Team orders played a role in the Chinese GP

Ricciardo put his car on the front row for the Chinese GP and had the better of his team mate, Vettel, once again in the race. Team orders played a role once again as Vettel was ordered to move over for Ricciardo, but in a turn of Bitterness, Vettel declined these team orders saying 'tough luck' to the response on why they asked him to move.

Vettel initially had the better start of the two and Ricciardo was down in fourth in the opening laps but had a brilliant drive to get past his team mate.  After Rosberg passed Vettel on lap 22, Ricciardo tried on lap 23 only to be rebuffed by Vettel. The team oder on lap 25 and the pass on lap 27 as Vettel ran wide into turn one, gifted Ricciardo Fourth who finished almost 20 seconds ahead of Vettel on the road come the flag.

What is evident in this intra team battle is that Ricciardo has adapted better to the new rules and Vettel has conceded he is struggling and is being beaten 'fair and square' by Ricciardo. Which to me, only highlights his credentials and talent and brings into question how great of a champion he really is.

By the way i am no Vettel hater, this is just my opinion. Ricciardo is not even a race winner yet but is taking Vettel to the cleaners in every race he has finished. Simple facts. The fact Vettel cannot extract the potential from his Red Bull where he is the reigning and 4 time world champion is saying something and the fact Alonso is in a slower car than Vettel yet is beating him and beating Raikkonen like he is, shows what true race craft is about.

Your 2014 podium

A pretty boring race then for the rest of the field with little action and little to talk about. Apart from mandatory pit stops and how poor McLaren were again.

The rest of the top ten finished like this;

6, Hulkenberg 7, Bottas 8, Raikkonen 9, Perez 10, Kvyat.

Hulkenberg once again goes about his business and notches another 6th place finish, leaving him fourth in the championship standings. He always manages to extract more than Perez and he is being rewarded for this through the championship. Ahead of both Red Bulls is a statement.

Bottas, after his first lap incident, kept Hulkenberg honest through out the race and shadowed his every move. Little separated them come race end and again Bottas is showing their is a new Finn in town. Finishing one place ahead of Raikkonen

Raikkonen again had a poor race by his standards and just cannot get a grip of his Ferrari. The fact he isn't even in the top ten positions in the drivers championship standings is telling its own story and to finish 8th, almost a whole minute down the road, behind his team mate in third, is not good news for him. The strongest, dream pairing, is showing to be all but a dream.

Perez again gets into the points to help with the constructors championship with Force India, who are in third place. His race was average compared to his third place in Bahrain, finishing 30 seconds behind his team mate. Perez has shown this through out his career, the fact he is like a one hit wonder, then fades into the back ground for the rest of the season.

Kvyat done a brilliant job again to finish in the top ten after starting 13th on the grid and is showing he is up for the job after critics thought he was not ready, you can sense a steely determination about Kvyat and i think he will be a name for the future.

Outside the top ten then was Button in 11th and Magnussen in 13th, split by the Torro Rosso of Vergne. In a race that McLaren want to forget, Button and Magnussen cast, down beat figures, clearly showing their frustration, that they are going backwards rather than forwards. A second consecutive non points finish for the pair is not good enough and they will both be relieved there is a three week break, to sort the mess that has befell them.

Maldonado had an uneventful drive to 14th place, going through the motions in a poor car, with a poor driver.

Massa who had problems early on fell to the back of the pack after his one minute pitstop and faced an up hill struggle to achieve anything, showing once again, like with Rosberg, this year, progress is hard to come by. From 21st he did battle back to 15th come race end but for a top ten, maybe a top five team, 15th is really poor.

Gutierrez finished 16th on the road in a car that is still only marginally better than the Caterham and Marussia teams.

Talking of the teams at the back of the field, Kobayashi finished best of the rest in 17th, catching Bianchi with a hand full of laps left, Bianchi finishing in 18th, Chilton finishing in 19th on his 23rd birthday, taking him to a total of 23 races finished in a row, still going with his 100% record and the last finisher being a very poor Erricson. Is he really cut out for Formula One?

Two non finishers in Grosjean, who had a gear box problem, and Sutil who had power unit issues.

A race that wont go down in history as a classic, but a race that has set things up nicely when we return in 3 weeks time. Intra team battles at an all time high, Drivers and teams alike under performing. Team principals stepping down and one man on top, Lewis Hamilton.

Three in a row for this man

It is safe to say i am LOVING this years championship.

See you in three weeks time for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit De Catalunya.

In the mean time, head over to my partners group 'AddictedToF1' to catch up with and get all the latest news, gossip, pictures and info on all things F1, you would be silly not to.

Also head over to my 'FormulaOne2014' Facebook page and follow my blogs all season long. A like wouldn't go a miss. Thank you.

Simon Baggus

P.s, Apologies for being a few days late, i had an extra long Easter break!

Take it easy guys!

China-Shanghai GP preview

China GP preview
By Simon Baggus

The first corner at Shanghai, amazing for spectators 

Like the Bahrain GP, the Chinese GP became a new addition to the Formula One calendar in 2004.

The event took place at a brand new circuit, where expense wasnt' the limit and this announced China as a main player on the Formula One stage.

As at Bahrain, the Shanghai International Circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, who has one more track up its sleeve, in the form of Istanbul Park in Turkey. Unlike Malaysia and Bahrain, this track boats amazing spectator facilities and holds just under double the amount of both Circuits put together with an astonishing 200,000.

The circuit itself has 14 corners divided equally, into right and left hand turns with two major straights, providing plenty of overtaking opportunities. This circuit also boasts harsh acceleration and deceleration changes that are demanding for both the cars and drivers. This should play into the hands of Mercedes powered cars.

The first winner here was Rubens Barrichello, with a young Jenson Button finishing second in his BAR.

Another recent highlight here will be that of Lewis Hamilton, in 2007, his debut year, going into the gravel trap at the entrants to the pits, thus handing victory to Kimi Raikkonen who also went onto winning the title by 1 point that season.

Built at a cost of 240 million US dollars, at the time the most expensive circuit built, Shanghai International is certainly a spectacular venue.

Hamilton was your pole sitter, whilst Alonso was your winner in 2013

Your last three winners here have been, Fernando Alonso (2013, 2005), Nico Rosberg (2012) and Lewis Hamilton (2011, 2008). Alonso and Hamilton being the only double winners since the track was introduced to the Formula One world in 2004.

Hamilton must be revelling in the fact his Mercedes W05 has benefited the most from the rule changes and he is on top of the F1 world riding that ever so bumpy roller coaster. Hamilton being the pole sitter last time F1 visited China, will be looking to repeat history and why not? His form is blistering at the moment, taking back to back wins in Bahrain and Malaysia and being the pole sitter in Australia and Malaysia also.

Breathing down his neck like a fire breathing dragon, Nico Rosberg is hot on his heels. Winner of the season opener in Australia, after Hamilton retired and taking pole last time out in Bahrain, he must fancy his chances in China as well. This intra team battle is very intense, will it turn sour, will they fall out, will the 'real champion' emerge compared to the 'race winner'.

You have to think Hamilton always has the edge on Rosberg. Rosberg seemingly too soft handed, not aggressive enough, not showing as much hunger.

Hamilton seems to have the edge over Rosberg

Best of the rest is still Red Bull. Had Vettel and Ricciardo not started 11th and 13th in Bahrain, they would have been on that podium, as there race pace proved this.

With no penalties to either name and a break to improve reliability, aerodynamics, race pace etc you have to think, Red Bull has the resources to benefit the most from this.

I fully expect either Red Bull to be on that podium come race day and on that second row come qualifying.

Bahrain has shown the true speeds of each team and with China being another high speed circuit, Force India must be in prime position to benefit again as they have seemed to grasp the new Mercedes power unit the best.

Perez had a performance that silenced the critics for one more weekend, just as he was beginning to fall behind team mate Hulkenberg. His third place was great for him, for his team and to kick start his campaign. Force India, incredibly, are second in the constructors championship and Perez will be running off great momentum that should bring him another good run in China. Hulkenberg was again consistent in Bahrain, comfortably in the points, albeit struggling at the end of the race. Expect the same from him in Shanghai. In typical Hulk style no less.

Perez will be looking too continue his good form into China

Williams will be gutted they did not extract the most from their weekend. This could just be down to lack of good strategy, not fighting at the front for podiums for some time, showing their race rust. All will come to them as the season goes on. They will undoubtedly be on that podium more than once this season in the form of two great drivers.

Bottas who is the young pretender, has been great this year, scoring more points than Williams would have imagined at the beginning of the year, after their dire performance the season before. He will be looking at bringing home the points again.

Then there is Massa who seems much happier than his final years as a Ferrari driver, this has shown in his performances so far, as no such mistakes that hampered him in previous years have appeared this season, just consistent point scoring GP's so far. Apart from his retirement in Australia, which was not his fault. China should suit the Williams outfit and more points seem inevitable.

McLaren started this season with promise with a double podium in Australia, after Ricciardo's disqualification, but have fallen back since then, resulting in two retirements last time out in Bahrain.

They will be hoping their luck changes. China is a track that should suit them and with Button winning the 2010 event here, recent history and knowledge could help. Hamilton had his last win here courtesy of McLaren also, so they do know how to approach this track.

Ferrari may be looking at the final point scoring positions again, as the long straight in China could hurt their performance, with an underpowered Ferrari unit. Alonso was the winner last time here, but reminiscing is all he will be doing, as Alonso will know himself he has no chance. If Alonso knows he has no chance, Raikkonen will be in the same boat, as he is struggling even more than Alonso with the Ferrari car this year.

Torro Rosso seem to be hovering around the final points scoring positions with Vergne and Kvyat taking points in the opening couple of GP's and just missing out in Bahrain with Kvyat 11th. They will be looking to get both cars into Q2 and maybe snatch some points.

Lotus made a little progress, by getting both cars home in Bahrain. They still lack overall pace though and it is bold claims they match McLaren for pace and have the speed to score some points. Hard to see from my point of view. Maldonado will be near the back of the grid in China due to his incident in Bahrain, so all hopes look to be on Grosjean for some points. Maybe they will have made some progress from in season testing.

Guiterrez will have a new chassis after this crash in Bahrain

Sauber are another team not performing to expectations, With the speed of Gutierrez and the wisdom of Sutil they should be in the points more often. They both seem to be riding the storm, until significant upgrades emerge in the near future as their package is very heavy and pretty slow. Sutil has been the slower so far out of the team pairing but this is down to his weight disadvantage i feel.

Caterham and Marussia are very evenly matched, bringing up the rear of the field and it will be interesting to see who will take the 10th place position in the constructors. It is swapping at every race we have visited but maybe Max Chilton will be the man to do it for Marussia who has been the most consistent out of the four back runners.

Head over to my partners Facebook group at 'AddictedToF1', you would be silly not to visit the place for all things F1.

Also, head over to my Facebook page 'FormulaOne2014', where you can keep track of all my blogs in one place.

Thank you,
Simon Baggus