Since it’s a Wednesday you know what that means – oh yeah another F1 Wednesday post!
Belgian GP
The F1 came back from the summer break with a bit of a bang! First race post break was the Belgian GP which is always a good one.
This year there was no rain which is such a disappointment! But even so there was still some action on track.
Vettel’s Tyre Blowout
The main thing that happened is that Vettel had a tyre blow out just after Eau Rouge.
In the interview afterwards needless to say Vettel was annoyed and made damn sure the world knew. He had rather a foul mouthed rant at Pirelli.
Whilst I can see why he was angry – it wasn’t because of him missing out on a podium but because had it happens a couple of meters before he would’ve crashed straight into the barriers at the top of Eau Rouge which at the speeds they do there (over 300mph) it could’ve been fatal
However I don’t think it was entirely fair to blame Pirelli. They had said that the max a tyre could cope with was 22 laps and I believe that Vettel was on the 27th lap on those tyres. When you push the limits then inevitably something has to give.
(I believe last week Pirelli have been cleared of any wrong doing although there seems to be some doubt over the validity of this)
Grosjean’s Podium
The good thing that came from the Belgiam GP is by Lotus (via Grosjean) scored their first podium of the season. I was so pleased especially given Grosjean’s past performance at Spa (2012 anyone?).
The podium couldn’t have come at a better time – rumours were rife that Lotus were in big financial difficulty and that bailiffs were there to seize the cars! Thankfully all seems to have settled down as they went on to race in Italy.
(Oh and before I forget – it’s been 4 years since we were there!)
Italian GP
Pretty much another race dominated by Hamilton and yup getting pretty boring now!
Massa’s Podium
Yay Felipe Massa crossed the line in 3rd place and nabbed that final step in the podium. I was so pleased for him! Honestly if there’s someone is like to see win the championship it’s Massa.
#DeflateGate F1 Style
Tha was the main story from this race. After the whole tyre blowout incidents in Spa, Pirelli changed the tyre pressure levels for this race.
A couple of laps before the end of this race Hamilton was told by the time to make sure h pulled out a 25 second gap on second place Vettel. This was rather an odd request as no one expected Hamilton to pit again. However Nico Rosber’s car begs car blew up and then it was rumoured maybe a similar problem in Hamiltons car.
After the podium celebrations it came out that the tyre pressure on Hamilton’s rear left was 2.4 psi under the limit. The team that requested the 25s gap just in case a post race drive through penalty was applied.
After much discussion the stewards decided that Hamilton and no penalty was applied. Something I didn’t agree with. Earlier in the day GP2 pole sitter Mitch Evans was disqualified and had to start from the backh of the grid after it was found his tyre pressures failed to meet the minimum levels. Why apply the penalty in GP2 but not in F1 – same rules, same stewards I believe?!
Singapore GP
Well what a difference Singapore was! Hamilton out with power failure, 2 Ferraris on the podium and a 2nd place for Ricciardo.
Nice night for a stroll?
A 27-year-old man has been arrested after the Singapore GP was interrupted by a track invader http://t.co/MgYNJoYmBN pic.twitter.com/LmdtTHlLas
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 20, 2015
However it would appear that the man of the moment (albeit not for good reasons) was the idiot who decided to take a stroll along the track mid race. Thanks to him a safety car was deployed which meant the pack closed up which Red Bull think cost Ricciardo the win.
McLarens
I’ve blogged about the McLarens before and it was said pre-race that this could be the one that would serve them best from a points perspective. Fat chance of that! They completely bugger up Jenson’s pit stop with a humiliatingly slow tyre change (wheel nut problem again – Jenson is cursed I’m sure as it’s not the first time it’s happened).
BOTH McLarens retired from the race! Honestly, can it get any worse for this team?!
And now it’s on to Japan!
Pirelli initially said they recommend a 22 laps on the tires and then they gave another interview and said they didn’t mention any number of laps to Ferrari. I would be so happy if other tire manufacturers will be able to supply F1, it seems that Pirelli have amazing tires and the drivers are at fault, Vettel, Rosberg in the same weekend. The following race they tested the tire pressure only for Ferrari and Mercedes after what they said in interviews.
I agree with you, Hamilton should have been disqualified for the tire pressure, especially as that happened in GP2 (I had no idea).
Singapore has been amazing. I loved Verstappen’s race, he is a star. I was quite annoyed with Toro Rosso asking him to let Sainz pass when Verstappen was brilliant the whole race. Taking a stand at 17 and not obey team orders is brilliant, I think he will become the next Schumacher (I still consider myself a Schumacher fan 🙂 ). Vettel was fab too, especially when he has holding Riccardo so Raikkonen could have a go at him. It’s a shame things seem to get back to “normal” this weekend with Mercedes on 1-2.
I missed what happened with Verstappen & Sainz. I didn’t even watch the Japanese GP – we saw the result come up when we turned to Sky Sports news, saw it was another Mercedes 1-2 and decided not to bother watching it.
So is Jenson confirmed for 2016 now?
In Japan was exciting (more or less), Rosberg was on pole and at the start he and Hamilton fought for 1st place. Rosberg ended up on 4th position and had to pass Bottas and managed to have a better timing for the pitstop and took Vettel like that.
Jenson and Alonso are confirmed for 2016.