'Formula One 2014'

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Bahrain Beauty! - Review

Bahrain Beauty
By Simon Baggus

From start to finish the Bahrain GP was a thrill to watch

So all free practices had been led by the Silver Arrows and Lewis Hamilton, no change their from Malaysia then.

Qualifying was much of the same with a Mercedes leading Q1, Q2 and Q3. Rosberg landed pole with Hamilton just behind him on the front row, giving Mercedes their first front row start since rejoining the sport. Ricciardo was blistering again qualifying third but a penalty from last time out meant he started P13 with Vettel in P11 missing out on Q3 by one place, complaining about his downshifts not working properly. One other surprise was the absence of Hulkenberg from Q3. The norm had been eliminated in Q1, consisting of the Caterham and Marussia teams, along with Sutil and Maldonado.

The rest of the top ten qualified like this;

4, Bottas, 5, Perez 6, Raikkonen, 7, Button, 8, Massa, 9, Magnussen and 10, Alonso.

This was going to shape the race very nicely indeed. Not a Red Bull in the top ten and a track that suited the Mercedes engine, what was Sunday going to bring. Well lets find out.

The Race

As one set of lights illuminated the Bahrain circuit, another set of lights went out.

Hamilton put the hammer down, immediately pulling level with Rosberg and more importantly taking the lead around the first corner. Some heavy defending and amazing skills kept Rosberg at bay around the first lap, which set the scene for an enthralling team battle. From then on, action packed it was, for the entire race.

Massa getting a superb start, Magnussen getting tangled with Raikkonen again, Vergne getting a puncture and the Hulk turning the heat on Alonso once more, opened an incident packed couple of laps.

Perez gets passed Massa early on

After a number of overtakes by various drivers, Sergio Perez, who has been poor since the season opener, had a turn of fortune, passing Massa for third, which would shape his race until the chequered flag.

What Bahrain were witnessing was something special. Where did all this overtaking come from? are we not at a different circuit? what was going on?. Spectacular scenes. O and Mercedes and Mercedes powered teams opening a can of woop-ass around this track.

Bianchi and Sutil clash on lap 14, twice. Both carry on.

Then.....

Lap 15. Lets reminisce again. Ahhh, team orders to let Ricciardo through on Vettel, extraordinary. This made me smile, Ricciardo has been my driver of the season so far and has given Vettel a sound hiding from the opening GP, be it not for retirements and disqualifications, would be ahead of Vettel in the championship.

Lap 18 onwards and the arrows at it again. The pair not giving an inch and with no team orders in sight, must of had every single individual on the edge of their seat, watching this battle go on for the next two laps. Rosberg certainly wasn't happy, Hamilton was. Exciting stuff.

Hamilton pits. Rosberg leads the Bahrain GP, only for two laps though, as he pop in the pits, puts fresh boots on and powers back out, this time 8 seconds behind Hamilton. After their pits, the lead pair over 30 seconds ahead of the field.

Vergne and Sutil hang up their boots for the weekend and are out of the Bahrain GP, just as Massa puts Bottas under pressure. WOW, team orders? Massa complaining, Force india hot on their heels. No such thing develops as Bottas dives in the pits.

Mercedes powered trio made for exciting racing

The Hulk slip streams Massa, Massa defends, Hulk under attack from Perez, Perez does it. Exciting stuff again from the trio out on track.

The next couple of laps see places third down to tenth battle it out for position on track, with some brilliant racing, from teams including Force India, McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams. The pack could not get any tighter. Who was going to maximise their chance the most??

Erricson in his Caterham pull up as the final pitstops take place.

In with a shout at the final podium position at this point of the race was Hulkenberg, Perez, Button, Massa and Bottas but what happened next was incredible, yet scary.

Maldonado was stupid, Gutierrez was lucky

Maldonado T-bones Gutierrez coming out of the pits. Gutierrez gets spun upside down, yes UPSIDE DOWN, bounces on the air box and lands on all for wheels. shaken up is an understatement. Some say It was a racing incident, i see it as stupidity from Maldonado, not paying respect to any of his fellow peers. Maldonado has had a 5 place grid penalty next time out in China and 3 points on his super licence for his actions today. Not enough of a punishment i say and doesn't make sense, when Ricciardo gets a ten place penalty for an unsafe release in the pits.

Safety car then for only the second time in 10 years at the circuit in Bahrain. The field bunch up, pit stops are made, Rosberg on options, Hamilton on primes. My word, what Hamilton does for the rest of the race is incredible.

During the safety car period Kevin Magnussen pulls up and out of the Bahrain GP.

10 laps left, the safety car comes in and away they go. By the end of the race the Mercedes duo have 22 seconds on the rest of the field. How can this be possible?. Not even Red bull had been this dominant in their four year reign.

In a race of their own

Still wide eyed on the edge of our seats are we, i certainly was.

Still action to been seen as Perez holds third, Button falling back rapidly, Ricciardo gets past Vettel and Hulkenberg to run fourth on the road, with Vettel complaining again about power. The Williams duo right in the hunt also, with Massa challenging Vettel, unsuccessfully, with the Ferrari pair dropping back slightly on the rest of the top ten.

Button seems to be retiring from the race with only a few laps remaining, meaning a double retirement for the McLaren team, although he was classified 17th.....

With the chequered falling,

Lewis Hamilton crossing the line P1

LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX.

Fireworks exploding everywhere, records being equalled, as Hamilton took is 24th career victory, equalling Juan-Manuel Fangio and records beaten, by the fact this circuit has not seen this many overtakes in its 10 years of running. Alonso adding some comedy, giving a fist pump as he crosses the line in 9th and a spectacular race in Bahrain made for, in my eyes, one of the very best weekends in Formula One history.

Hamilton finished on the top step for the second time in a row and has won two races back to back that he had not won before, Rosberg was second on the road, by less than a second and is leading the Drivers Championship, now only by 11 points. Perez is third on the podium this weekend, taking his fourth in his career and second for Force India.

The rest of the field finished like this;

4, Ricciardo, 5, Hulkenberg, 6, Vettel, 7, Massa, 8, Bottas, 9 Alonso 10, Raikkonen, 11, Kvyat, 12, Grosjean, 13, Chilton, 14, Maldonado, 15, Kobayashi, 16, Bianchi and classified 17, Button.

Hamilton equals Fangio in 24 wins

So Lotus manage to get both cars home for the first time this season, although still no points. Marussia do the same, with Chilton having a good run to P13, again 100% record still intact. Kvyat just misses out on the points. Ferrari although in the points were terrible this weekend as this dry race shows the true potential of all teams speed, showing Ferrari power units are the worst in the field.

We have two weeks until we get to China and the Shanghai circuit, with in season testing happening right at this track in Bahrain in one weeks time. Now after this race you will be silly to miss the season, so all the haters have a re think and tune in for China.

Thank you for reading,
Simon Baggus

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Bahrain GP preview

Bahrain GP preview
By Simon Baggus

Hamilton won last week in Malaysia

The Bahrain Grand Prix is another spectacle built by Hermann Tilke and was the first GP to take place in the middle east.  Its home is the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir.

The venue boasts a capacity of 50, 000 spectators,  has 6 different race tracks, two if which can be used to host Formula one events with the striking eight story Sakhir tower, which incorporates a resaurant, several hospitality suites and offices for the International circuit management, providing views of the entire ciruit.

The first race held here was In 2004, under the ever so dominant Ferrari era, ending in a one - two finish with Schumacher heading Barrichello.

The track contains 12 corners and a massive, long straight, aiding the help of overtaking.  Some people do say this track does not live up to some of the other tracks that Tilke has built, such as Sepang in Malaysia, where Hamilton has just taken a dominant win.

This track has had its fair use of unrest over the years also, having to be cancelled in 2011 due to political circumstances. When the race returned in both 2012 and 2013, extra security had been needed as the capitol of Bahrain was still unsettled, with protesters threatening to boycott the event. A number of teams even got caught up in the cross fire and attacks, driving back to their hotels from the GP circuit.

It returns in 2014 with a new twist up its sleeve. A night race nonetheless.  The track now fitted with state of the art flood lighting to handle such needs. This is not the only night race on the calander so the drivers can take some comfort from the fact they have been there and done it, although it will be a new venture into the unkown, with different track temperatures, humidity and obviously at night.

With no break in between races you can expect to see the same offering as what was in Malaysia. Most teams will be running pretty much the same spec cars as last weekend, which means only one thing really, a Mercedes on pole?, a Mercedes for the win? most likely outcome.

Now we had 1 less retire in Malaysia compared to Australia but it does not tell the whole story about reliability, although it was still evident. I believe reliability had improved and i think going to Bahrain at night, will only help the cars power units, with heat, cooling and performance.

So what can we expect to see then this weekend.

Mercedes will lead the fighting pack in qualifying and the race. Hamilton especially seems to have atleast 0.500 of a second on the field per lap and even his own team mate Rosberg. How far along the road can they actually finish.

Red Bull are Mercedes' closest challengers and they are even 30 seconds behind come race end

Red bulls seem to be next, now the order has settled a little, with the reigning champions getting their act together. There problem is on race day where they lack race pace, as does everyone, but in qualifying they can be a thorn in the side of the Mercedes, over one qualifying lap. I think Mercedes will lock out the front row with Hamiltom leading the team battle, with Red Bull occupying the second row, Vettel leading that team battle.

Ricciardo also has a 10 place grid penalty due to his Unsafe pit release, which seems harsh as he served a penalty in Malaysia also. So even if he gets pole he will be P10 at the minimum, which will surely make his night that much harder. Renault lack straight line speed and if he is behind all those Mercedes powered cars it will be tough for him

All is still unkown for the rest of the field as the pack oder is still changing race by race, but it will most likely be McLaren, Ferrari and Williams fighting it out for the next places with Hulkenberg having a stab with his Force india to mix things up a bit. I think Alonso, Kimi, Button and Magnussen will fight out for rows 3 and 4, what order they line up I do not know.

What we do know is that Williams lack qualifying pace but have great race pace, this is there down fall as they put themselves on the back foot straight away, but don't rule either Bottas or Massa sneaking a podium, if team orders play a part again, it will be interesting to see it play out and I'm sure if Bottas is on the receiving end of an order he will ignore just as Massa had done.

Torro Rossi can also sneak into the top ten in qualifying and hold on to get a bunch of points if they have a fault free weekend. Kvyat has shown consistently that he can produce the results in the first two Grand prix of the year, so he would be a good bet to sneak a few points.

Perez has had a tough start to his campaign so will be hoping for a better showing this weekend as he has been thoroughly beaten by Hulkenberg since the season began. With no points on the board and retirements to his name he needs a good weekend.

Lotus had a better showing last weekend with Grosjean and have said they believe they can be fighting with McLaren for points this weekend. I think this is a bit ambitious as Grosjean only finished ahead of the Caterhams and Marussia in Malaysia. They still have reliability problems as Maldonado suffered his second retirement and they still have the least amount of track time. Still no points after Bahrain seems on the cards.

Sauber still lack pace in an overweight car, which they have said they are going to put through a weight loss programme. They both retired also last time out so it isn't looking hopeful they will score Any points again.

Both Caterham and Marussia will have there own private battle at the back of the field once again, but it does seem the Caterham is a faster package overall then Marussia. Max Chilton will be hoping to continue his 100% record into this race and make it 22 races without retirement.

Your last years podium, Renault powered teams are having no such luck this year

My prediction is Hamilton for the win, followed by his team mate Nico Rosberg. I am going to have a punt and say Bottas will be third on the podium this weekend, with a red bull and Alonso completing the top 5.

All will be revealed come race day, or night as it will be, in Bahrain.

I will bring a blog of the whole weekend this time around, instead of two separate blogs for qualifying and the race, so watch out for that one, early next week.

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Thank you
Simon Baggus

Malaysian GP review - Hamilton does the triple

Malaysian GP review
By Simon Baggus

Mercedes get a blinding start

No such monsoons were insight as race day began, instead the F1 gods granted sun.

As the lights turned green the silver arrow of Lewis Hamilton had a storming start, getting the hole-shot into turn one, meanwhile Nico Rosberg had an even better start, that similar to Australia, pulling alongside Vettel, who tried to squeeze him out but had little success, thus conceding his second place around the first turn.

Vettel was then hounded by team mate Ricciardo and the Bulls in turn, tried charging down Rosberg round turns two, three and four, before they settled into position, with Hamilton already disappearing into the distance.

Lap one then and Maldonado was up to his usual, in having contact with another car, this being Bianchi, who was the cause of the incident. Bianchi was given a 5 second stop - go penalty for his actions.

Lap two had more contact this time, Kevin Magnussen giving Raikkonen a love tap, creating a puncture for the Ferrari man, which would shape the rest of his race.

The first retirement came on lap 7 and it was bad news for Lotus again and Maldonado, who was told to box, thus ending his race. Maldonado is still to complete a full race distance.

Magnussen was given a 5 second stop - go penalty on lap 11 for his contact with Raikkonen, a lap after he had to change his nose, from the same incident.

So far then only one retiree, a load of action packed entertainment and now the beginning of the pit stops for the whole field. This was turning out to be a great race so far.

Our second retiree was Jules Bianchi on lap 13, were we going to see as many retire as in Australia?

So after lap 20 we had seen both Mercedes cars already in cruise control, turning their engines down, saving fuel, conserving their tyres, which makes you think, have we really seen the true potential of a Mercedes yet, i highly doubt it, they are just incredible and we must give credit, where credit is due.

Vettel was chasing down Rosberg as the laps went by, but as we saw, Rosberg had it under control and when he put the hammer down, it was a case of Vettel who?!  as he pulled out a comfortable margin.

The Red Bulls were Mercedes' nearest challengers

So we had Hamilton leading the way by 10 seconds, with team mate Rosberg in second controlling everything Vettel had to offer, Ricciardo was having a fine drive again, running in fourth place after being passed by Vettel earlier on. Alonso again was running in 5th place in an under performing car. Hulkenberg was having a fine drive in 6th place, also leading the race at one point due to pit stops, running on a two stop strategy, with Button running 7th after starting 10th and the two Williams cars of Massa and Bottas progressing up the field as i had predicted with the warm dry weather helping their cars performance. Kvyat was running in the top ten again like in Australia, showing his maturity once again.

With rain on the horizon, it was twitchy bum time on the paddock wall, it did not materialise though and the race ran full distance without disruption.

The next lot of pitstops played out and all was unchanged at the front, it was Mercedes running first and second and commanding the entire race. Which was nice to see.

Sutil was our next casualty from the race to end his dismal weekend in the Sauber, followed by team mate Gutierrez a few laps later, who was actually having a decent run out.

A horrid ten laps then for Ricciardo, who came in for his mandatory pit stop, only to not have his front left wheel put on properly, causing him to stop in the pit lane and lose a whole lap. He later received a 10 second stop - go penalty for these actions. That was not all though before the penalty he ran over a curb which dislodged his front wing, causing a puncture and another trip back to the pits, on lap 53 the team called it a day and he pulled into retirement. What was looking like a solid finish after his disqualification in Australia, turned out to be another weekend to forget. Maybe Australians are not meant to be at Red Bull.

The last six laps of the race proved very interesting to say the least. More team orders for Massa, who completely ignored them, to everyones amusement. Bottas chasing down and getting frustrated and Button being the beneficiary of all this to hold onto P6 at the chequered flag.

Hamilton decided it was time. He let the arrow loose, pumped in a time 2 seconds faster than anyone else, then cruised again till the end of the race, very much Vettel like of last season.

No one could deny Lewis

Again at the rear of the field doing his own thing, was Max Chilton, bringing his car home for his 100% record, finishing. I wonder if he can go two season?.

So Hamilton stood on top of the podium, rocking his new fuzzy hair, getting the pole, the win and the fastest lap. Rosberg was second and Vettel was third. All dripping with sweat and Champaign.

The rest of the order was as follows;

Alonso in action to 4th on the road

4, Alonso 5, Hulkenberg 6, Button 7, Massa 8, Bottas 9, Magnussen 10, Kvyat 11, Grosjean 12, Raikkonen 13, Kobayashi 14, Ericsson 15, Chilton.

Perez did not even start the race so was a retiree before the race began.

Many teams got both cars home this weekend, which is a good sign of reliability. These included, Mercedes, McLaren, Williams, Caterham and Ferrari.

What was also very interesting to see, was the fuel consumption by a %, when you study this data you can see Red Bull have had to push much harder than every other team to finish where they did. Mercedes and especially Hamilton had one of the best fuel consumptions of the whole grid, which just shows he was not pushing at all. Same is said for Rosberg.

I think people are being deluded into thinking Red Bull are closer than they actually are, when in fact they are still miles behind the pace of the Mercedes, as is everyone else, when you take into consideration, Mercedes turned there engines down on lap 20 and had very good fuel consumption, showing they could push much harder if they wanted too, with there winning margin so massive.

So two dominant Mercedes wins into the season, they are leading the constructors and drivers standings. I do not think we will see any change at the top for the next race either, which is only one week away in Bahrain.

Thank you all for reading, what an enjoyable race it has been, i shall see you in a weeks time for the Bahrain GP on the 4-6 April.

Simon Baggus

Malaysian qualifying - Déjà Vu

Déjà Vu
By Simon Baggus

Hamilton takes pole in rain hit Malaysian GP qualifying

So monsoons hit the Malaysian GP surface, postponing the running of the start of qualifying.

One hour passed into the session before we got under way, with conditions still tricky and visibility no where to be seen.

The symphony of those v6 pistons grunted into life and 18 minutes were on the clock, we were go go go!

In Q1 as expected we had seen both the Caterham and Marussia teams bow out, not without incident though as there was a big off for Marcus Ericsson, which was totally driver error, getting on the grass, then hitting the barrier and spinning across the track to bring out the red flags, this was his first time driving the car in the wet.

Ericsson got it all wrong

Also out was Sutil surprisingly, who could not get to grips with his car and Maldonado, which was not a surprise, as his ever so good formula one credentials sprung into action, leading him to choose the wrong tyre, creating his own fate. It was a surprise to see Grosjean make it through to Q2 though.

There was also a brief moment where the world thought Sebastian Vettel was out of qualifying, they were to be disappointed as his engineers fixed his car. He had a stormer later on in the session.

Nico rosberg finished Q1 top of the pile and there was to be nothing but a Mercedes on top in every qualifying session today.

Q2 and 15 minutes began, with the rain still pounding the ever so hot and humid Malaysian surface with temperatures still above 35 degrees, teams tried running on intermediate tyres, they soon found out this was a rookie mistake. But not long into the session and another red flag was out.

This time there was contact between Kvyat  and Alonso, Kvyat who locked up, slid into the side of Alonsos car, breaking a wishbone. He got back to the pits with 12 minutes left on the clock and his mechanics worked hard to get him back out.

Hamilton ended the session on top from his team mate Nico Rosberg.

Out in this session was Grosjean, which was to be expected. What was unexpected was the two casualties in the form of the Williams team. As Massa had stated in Australia, they lacked rear down force. In the wet today this was evident. Im sure if the weather is clear they will both finish in the points, surely with that power from the Mercedes unit.

Massa will be hoping for a better weekend

Also out was Kvyat who was pipped to the post by his team mate Vergne, Gutierrez who dominated Sutil so far this weekend and Perez who is under achieving a hell of a lot compared to his team mate Hulkenberg.

Q3 and 12 minutes set the scene in what most people thought was going to be a Mercedes walk through. All was not.

Again teams went out on inters and after one lap found this was a mistake, Magnussun coming straight in to change for full wets, whilst Button was trying a bold move and coming in to change his full wets to inters, it did not pay off as he was slumped into P10 the whole session.

Vergne finished Q3 in P9 with Buttons team mate in P8. Hulkenberg again managed to extract much more from his car than Perez and for his efforts lines up P7 for tomorrows race, which he must be pleased about.

The top six was dominated by three different teams, three different engines and four world champions.

Ferrari ended the session with Raikkonen in P6 and Alonso in P4. Raikkonen having a better weekend than in Australia but still dominated by his formidable team mate, Alonso who lines up on the second row. We all know how good Alonso is off the start, so will be very interesting.

Red Bull have got their package together very quickly and they have been on the pace all weekend. Ricciardo had another good qualifying to end up p5, but never had the legs on his team mate Vettel, who had a storming (no pun intended) qualifying to be 0.055 away from the pole sitter and lines up P2 on the grid.

Mercedes once again took pole in the form of the one lap specialist Lewis Hamilton, who was faultless all weekend apart from a little off in the final part of Q3, although the job had already been done. Hamilton also equals the British record in taking 33 pole positions set by Jim Clarke. Nico Rosberg again lines up in P3 as in Australia, he must be happy to be up their again.

We have a bit of Deja vu on our hands here at the Malaysian GP qualifying, as it is Mercedes on top split by a Red bull to make tomorrows race very very interesting, with tyres, fuel strategies, turbo strategies, maybe even team orders? Multi 21 springs into mind.

Multi 21 controversy, ended in P1 and P2 here last year

The grid order lines up like this then,

1) Hamilton 2) Vettel 3) Rosberg 4) Alonso 5) Ricciardo 6) Raikkonen 7) Hulkenberg 8) Magnussen 9) Vergne 10) Button

11) Kvyat 12) Gutierrez 13) Massa 14) Perez 15) Bottas 16) Grosjean

17) Maldonado 18) Sutil 19) Bianchi 20) Kobayashi 21) Chilton 22) Ericsson

Stay tuned and make sure you are up for what is going to be a thrilling race tomorrow, live on my preferred channel, the BBC at 8.30 am GMT.

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Thank you for reading
Simon Baggus

The Malaysian GP preview

The Malaysian GP preview
By Simon Baggus

The Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang International Circuit

So race two brings us to the Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur.

This was the first of the new, ultra modern Formula one venues to be designed by Hermann Tilke, the man who has also been responsible for similar projects in China, Barhain and Turkey.

The venue has a capacity of 80,000 fans, with 30,000 of which can be accommodated in a back-to-back grandstand area positioned between the two main straights. Bringing spectacular spectator viewing.

The track itself offers the possibility of exciting racing, with two main overtaking opportunities on those long straights, creating two DRS activation zones. The track also has a variety of high speed sections and slower, more tightly twisting areas with five left and ten right hand turns, with plenty of width out on circuit to promote overtaking.

5 left and 10 right hand turns make this track

The weather conditions at Sepang add further variety, with possibilities of scorching sun, high humidity and tropical downpours in an instant, which could mix things up in qualifying and the race yet again.

Most would agree that the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit has proved a welcome addition to the Formula one calendar, since it began in 1999.

So what do we expect to see when we get to Malaysia.

Well we have had a break between the opening race and here, so teams would have collected all their data from Australia to see where they can develop, bring upgrades and improve. Some teams more than others, like Lotus.

I dont think we will see as many retire from this race and i don't think we will see as many mechanical problems either, but i may be wrong. If there is not, it may show a true reflection of the order of the field and i do not think we will see much change at the top.

Free practices will see all teams trying out upgrades and generally how their car performs on different set ups and runs, as there is data still to explore, with reliability, fuel consumptions and how their new upgrades work. Teams will not be so reluctant in holding back their true speed here as teams now have a general understanding on where they sit compared to each other, so they will be wanting to maximise performance.

If qualifying doesn't bring any unpleasant surprises don't expect to see change at the top of the tree, as you would be silly not to put your money on either of the silver arrows being on pole or even the front row, although there could be a shake up for the rest of the pack, maybe a McLaren or a Williams will line up on the second row?

Two main title rivals will be looking for better weekends on the 30th march, the first being Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton will be hoping he can stick it on pole yet again

Hamilton was the pole sitter in Australia and he must be favourite yet again with his Mercedes, being faster over one lap compared to team mate Nico Rosberg. Mercedes have sorted his problems that sent him into retirement so hopefully they wont re appear here, but most likely an engine change already for safety, for the second race of the season. Will he be able to master the whole package to keep Rosberg behind though, all i can say is this is going to be a great battle between the brain and the brawn all season

The second main title rival being the finger boy Seb Vettel. He also retired after 5 laps with mechanical issues, but must surely have hope of a good weekend, after seeing what new team mate Daniel Ricciardo can do. After all he did assist on the pit wall, with what Ricciardo was doing, out on track for the remainder of the race. Although their true pace is yet to be known as their fuel flow was in breech of the rules at Australia, no doubt making it perform better.

Now what both Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo have over their team mates, is the fact they have actually completed full race distances in full race conditions. This must surely give them a better understanding and advantage of each situation and phase of the race, with regards to fuel loads, when to push, how the turbo reacts, what tyre wear is like etc etc. What is also evident is the fact they did finish 1 and 2 on the road to the chequered flag in Australia, sending out a message that they are going to trouble both Hamilton and Vettel this season.

Vettel was your pole sitter here last year but has been in all sorts of trouble so far this year

Mercedes and Williams have both re discovered form for this season, maybe due to the power unit supplied to them. I wouldn't rule out either of the teams finishing on the podium come race day as their race pace was pretty good, even though Mercedes was another level, being almost over 0.500th of a seconds faster per lap. Both Magnussun and Bottas are the young guns in their teams and they showed their old timer team mates how it is done with mature drives in all conditions. This should send out a message that there time is here and now. Maybe both of them are podium finishers in Malaysia?.

Button would be hoping to make it into the final part of qualifying to begin with this weekend, thus giving him a better chance of a podium and race instead of fighting from p10 in Australia. I do not think he is worrying about Magnussun yet and is mature enough to know not all has been revealed in one race.

The same can be said for Massa who has been around long enough to know one race doesn't define a season and i am sure he will be on pace with Bottas in a whole race distance come race weekend, hopefully not getting caught up in other peoples mistakes.

Ferrari will be wanting a better weekend in qualifying and the race, as the season opener was poor for the prancing horse. Alonso will no doubt work his magic in maximising his rubbish package given to him, where Raikkonen may struggle to make it into Q3 again, as he seems to only be fast enough when he is given something good to work with. He has already said he is struggling with the new break by wire system. What can be said is their engine would not have got any quicker in the space of one weekends break, so they are relying on aero upgrades and fine tuning to do the business.

Ferrari will be hoping for a better weekend

You then have Torro Rosso and Force India who had similar race weekends in the season opener, separated by three points in the constructor championship, with Vergne and Kvyat 8th and 9th and Hulkenberg 6th with Perez 10th. Vergne and Kvyat i feel are not technical enough to extract the maximum out of their Torro Rosso and this will be there downfall throughout the season. I feel they were lucky to get double points in Australia, this was down to retirements and i do not see them repeating this feature.

This is why i put Force India in a better position than them in the form of the Hulk, who i feel will have a good points finish again with that Mercedes power. I also feel he will carry Perez, although i can see the pair of them finishing in the points come race day in Malaysia as this track is very high speed with two long straights. This is where the mercedes power will come into play for all Mercedes powered teams.

Will Sauber be any better with an under powered Ferrari, i do not think so. They maybe lucky enough to get a few points from retirements, otherwise it will be a scoreless weekend again. I cannot see Sutil or Gutierrez getting through to Q3, or making progress in the race with them struggling with straight line speed. Malaysia featuring two very high speed straights, along with a very high speed circuit will create a tough task ahead.

Lotus failed to get either car home at Australia

Lotus will be hoping for a better showing in Malaysia, but being a team to still yet complete a race distance, slim hopes lay ahead. They would have worked a ridiculous number of hours to get their car into some sort of shape, as they have said they will be bringing a lot of aero upgrades to Malaysia and hopefully have fixed the same mechanical problem that sent both Grosjean and Maldonado into retirement. They may get into Q2 but don't count on it and as for actually finishing the race, well all can hope. They have already admitted no big changes will happen until Spain as they do not have the funds and do not have the staff.

Caterhams homes race is here, so they will be hoping for a better outing, but again are like lotus, in being a team without completing a full race distance, although Erricson was showing a decent enough pace. If there are casualties in Malaysia, this team could be there or there abouts, to steal a cheeky point or two. Kobayashi will be hoping for no mechanical problems in Malaysia and hopefully we will see his attacking style once more.

Marussia then looks to head up the rear of the field once more, with the poorest package on the grid. They did get both cars home though, which is a positive start and Max Chilton will be hoping to keep his 100% finishing record going. What can be said is the Ferrari engine, even though down on performance is ever so reliable. Bianchi will be hoping not to lose 6 laps even before he sets of and hopefully both can start from the grid and not the pits and see the end of the race.

That is all from me for now. You shall hear from me next in my Malaysian GP review blog, so enjoy the build up, qualifying and race, wherever you are in the world and you will hear from me soon.

Simon

The story so far, F1 2014

The story so far
By Simon Baggus

A new era begins

So first of all people, grab a cuppa or sit yourself down, as this is my longest, most detailed blog so far.

What has the story told us then.

Well this has been another year of change. The rules and regs, the driver line ups, the favourites for the title. All of which I am pleased about.

Lets begin the story with the power units. The new 1.6 litre v6 turbo units are more economical and only rev to 15, 000 rpm compared to 18, 000 rpm on the 2013 units. The sound, As we found out in Australia and even pre season, has changed also, many peoples view on the sound is, it is like your mother doing the hoovering, which is a fair comparison. But I enjoy the sound, you can hear every cog turning, every gear changing, every spit and splutter from the exhaust. The deep raspy, whining noise from that new unit I enjoy.

There also hasn't been a massive difference in speed or lap time, surprisingly, due to the new ERS system, which is an evolution of the well used Kers, given them 33 seconds per lap of extra horsepower usage, 161bhp usage to be precise. Compared to the 80bhp and 6.5 seconds last season. I feel they will be lapping quicker, compared to last season, in about 6 to 8 races time.

A new regulation to this years championship is also the fuel consumption limit of 100kg per race, which is roughly 35% less than the previos season, which is being monitored by the FIA, through a new fuel sensor, which has already proved costly at the expense of Red Bull and Daniel Ricciardo. Read my other blog for more details on that at, f1grandprixreview.blogspot.co.uk.

Now we can all see Mercedes power has a massive advantage compared to its rivals, Renault and Ferrari. This is due to the engine manufacturer stopping development of the previous power unit early and switching its focus to this years instead, which was done as early as, if my facts are right,  2012, ensuring they are off on the right foot, which indeed they are, after the dominant pole from Hamilton and even greater victory from Rosberg.

Mercedes power has come out on top

Mercedes power also clocked up the most mileage in pre season testing by some margin, with each of its power units showing great reliability, fuel consumption and pace.

This is compared to Renault, who never stopped developing the old power unit in persuit of those four world championships, whose engine was so poor, teams could not complete practice starts early pre season, otherwise the cranks in the power units would snap. Due to too much vibration.

Ferrari meanwhile had a low key pre season, not really excelling in one particular area but just getting down to business. As per the last five seasons, being there or there abouts and leaving its drivers, namely Alonso, exceeding the limits of his car.

The following power units and team combinations are as follows;

Mercedes power

• Mercedes
• Mclaren 
• Williams
• Force india

Renault power

• Red Bull racing
• Lotus
• Torro rosso
• Caterham

Ferrari power

• Ferrari
• Marrusia
• Sauber

This years driver line up is an exciting one too watch also, many new, young, hungry, challenging competitors are coming up through the ranks, trying to show there worth. Also, new team mates, hungrier than ever to knock their respective team mates from their high horses.

Plenty of expectation is on their heads and no more so, than for Kevin magnussun, being drafted in at Mclaren, will it rain or shine all season for him?, or what about Daniil Kvyat, filling the shoes of Ricciardo, a replacment at Reb bull if Vettel moves on?. We also have Marcus Erricson, who you must feel for as he wont be able to show a great deal in the horrid looking Caterham. Apart from being compared to his compatriot and returnee, Kobayashi.

So the scene was set with many many questions unanswered going into the first GP. As we found out, it all unfolded pretty spectacularly right in front of our eyes, or, like me, in front of the tv screen. With more questions unanswered than of that answered after the GP had finished.

Jenson racing at the Australian GP 

So the Australian GP arrived, with a massive buzz around the place and this is what we learnt.

As expected we had seen pre season favourites Mercedes, constantly there or there abouts in all free practices, but the pecking order was still an unkown quantity. Come qualifying, all was revealed. Sort of.

Well Mercedes led the way in qualifying by the man Lewis Hamilton, who many regard, including myself, the ultimate one lap specialist. With the win, going to team mate Nico Rosberg, which was an emphatic 25 seconds. Considering this race was a venture into the unkown, that was spectacular in its own right, which leaves the question, has the championship already been won by Mercedes? I think so, they just seem to have hit the nail smack bang in the centre of that head with the whole package.

That win from Nico must worry Hamilton even if he does not show it, because without doubt, Nico has stepped his game up again and has grasped the new concept well.

Will anything get in the way of the two

I believe Mclaren are next in line, powered by that Mercedes unit. Kevin Magnussun drove spectacularly in what was his first GP start and kept his cool all through the race, to land p3, later p2 after Ricciardo was excluded, which was very reminiscent of how Hamiltons 2007 season began and we all know what happened there? Maybe history is repeating itself.

Finishing up one place behind Magnussun, you have Jenson Button. He had a brilliant race to come from p10. Now Button put there double podium down to other teams reliability issues and misfortunes, which may be right, had Hamilton not retired, but they sure have speed to get a double podium, nonetheless. Will McLaren really want that Honda deal for 2015 now?

The fight is pretty much wide open for a hand full of teams then and too early to predict where they stand in the pecking order, but I will start with Williams who I feel may come next, when all settles down in a few races and this is why. Williams is a team who struck a late deal to switch to Mercedes power and boy it has changed their fortunes dramatically.

Had Bottas, who many feel was the driver of the day, not had that mistake, where would he have really finished is an unknown, maybe on that podium?, but p6 was great. Massa was very unlucky to get caught up in the problems that fell to Kobayashi. Regardless of this he did qualify p9, showing good pace in his first start in a Williams race car. Hopefully a better weekend in Malasiya will do justice for the Williams driver, but will he be out scored and taken to the cleaners this season by Bottas?, I believe so, as this is Bottas' team he has come into.

Red bull are next up in my eyes, maybe even above Williams if they can sort themselves out. Ricciardo who finished p2 in Australia has been under a lot of controversy since the race and I just feel, what is there true speed really?. It certainly isnt as fast as it is made out to be and had his fuel been run at the legal limit, how far back would he have finished?. Vettel had a nightmare weekend also, failing to make the final part of qualifying due to yellow flags and a mechanical problem, also pulling up 7 laps into the race. So much is yet to be revealed from a team that was of utter dominance during the previous phase of rules and regulations.

I am going to put the prancing horse into p5. By no means it was a hard and frustrating weekend for both drivers, who many feel, will have fire works sometime this season. I dont though as Raikkonen wont care about Alonso, but will realise what he has to deal with. As he found out on the weekend when Alonso got the double over him, which was expected being the iceman's first race back at Ferrari. P5 and p8 for the pair of them is certainly below expectation, but I feel the era of dominance from that prancing horse in the early 2000's will never re-appear. which begs the question, will Alonso hang around for another season if he goes 5 years without a title, or jump ship to McLaren where he is highly sought after.

Next you have a hand full of teams fighting for what i feel will be p6 in the championship. I will start with Force India as they must surely have the best chance at the hands of the Hulk. His drive in Melbourne was typical Hulkenberg, finishing p7, showing composure and class, with his team mate Sergio Perez, who had a poor running by my reckoning, finishing p11. They must surely have a chance of fighting for podiums this year as they are equipped with that Mercedes engine, which is the best of the bunch of manufacturers.

You have the sister team to Red Bull, Torro Rosso, who has new boy Kvyat. He had a mature run at his first GP, scoring 1 point in p10, making him the youngest ever points scorer under the new points system, taking the record away from Seb Vettel. Team mate Vergne, who i have never been that fond of was in p9 making it a double points score. Only Ferrari and Mclaren repeated this feat.

Sauber are way down the order this season after a couple of good seasons and podiums previously. They seem way off the pace this year with their whole package and considering you have Sutil and Gutierrez, who i both rate higher than a few top ten finishers in Australia, are struggling. There only hope of a top ten finish is, if more teams suffer reliability issues and even then, they will struggle to make it in. This could also be down to their engine, Ferrari, which is off the pace regardless. Although it has shown to be one of the more reliable units.

In all sorts of problems then are Lotus who had a double retirement. This was to be expected though as their pre season was worse than red bull, dire even, in the fact they did not show up at the first, had pretty much no running in the second, and numerous issues in the third. They qualified at the back of the grid and with their financial worries still at large, begs the question, is there season over already and will they even score a point? let alone a podium. It was a good move for Raikkonen, a terrible move for Maldonado, who has just been robbed of his 30 million investment and Grosjean, who showed much more maturity and promise last season, who would of/could of been a future world champion? What also does not help them is that Renault engine.

The last two teams Caterham and Marussia are pretty much still in the same position as they always have been, at the back of the field.

Caterham have two new recruits, Kobayashi, a previous GP racer, coming back after getting the funds from his fans back home. His flamboyancy is still there and he didn't disappoint, bowing out in fashion off the line. His team mate Marcus Erricson, to me has not proved himself, compared to the talent out there, to justify his position on the grid so if he can out score his team mate, there is a good comparison for us to follow.

Marussia have the same driver line up as last season and Max Chilton carries his record of consecutive finishes into this season making it home in Australia in p13, which was p12 after the exclusion. Bianchi still has much to prove in my eyes but again cannot do much with the equipment he has apart from being measured against his team mate, who he finished behind.

Rosberg takes first blood at Australia

So we had eight retirees, the pre season favourites take pole and the win, an exclusion, disappointments and the newbies excelling in their respective teams.

What will happen at the Malaysian GP on march the 30th, well that is for my next blog.

Thank you for reading, i hope you enjoyed it and i will see you again very soon with another one of my blogs, running through the build up to the Malaysian GP.