Formula 1

RIP Justin Wilson. Another person whose life was taken away doing something he loved.

So so sad. I remember Justin from as far back when he won F3000 in 2001 and ITV F1 did a feature on him when he stormed to the title that year. Being so young and enthusiastic about the sport I remember every little thing about it back then and it was so good to see him driving in the 2003 season with Minardi and Jaguar.

Even though he was only there for one season alongside his exploits in the feeder series, him being a part of the fabric of the F1 circus in an era when I was nothing but a f1 mad kid makes this one harder due to the bonds of memory and nostalgia.

A very talented racing driver he was and a big loss to the world of motorsport on both sides of the Atlantic.

Rest in peace Justin.

FERRARI- 900 NOT OUT

How have Ferrari and Vettel become Formula 1’s most unlikely underdogs?


900 not out. (From @ScuderiaFerrari)

This weekend the summer break ends and Spa-Francorchamps awaits.
It marks Ferrari’s 900th GP and Sebastian Vettel’s 150th.
The former has 16 Constructor titles & 15 Driver titles,
making it the most successful team in the sports history.
With 6 straight Constructor titles between 1999 & 2004 during the dominant Schumacher/Brawn/Byrne era.
The latter broke Alonso & Ferrari fans hearts for 4 consecutive years from 2010 – 2013,
as Vettel and Red Bull took successive Driver & Constructor titles.

Yet here we are:


It went without saying. If you were a Ferrari fan you weren’t a Vettel fan. How dramatically things have changed. With one team dominating titles in one shape or another since 2010, first Red Bull and now Mercedes, Ferrari and Vettel have found themselves as the world’s most expensive and unlikely underdogs.

If there was going to be a driver take that mantle it would have seemed Kimi Raikkonen was set to take it quite comfortably. Gloriously fast and dismissive in equal measure on his return to Formula 1 with Lotus, Kimi’s raw speed and Anti Corporate speak always makes him a fan favourite, but the prodigal son’s return to Ferrari (In 2007 he became their last World Champion) has seen him found wanting.

Out qualified and out raced by Alonso 16-3 in both.
Out qualified and out raced by Vettel 8-2 in both.

The biggest surprise this weekend was possibly the announcement that Kimi had secured another season at Ferrari, when previously rumours had suggested he would lose his seat to fellow Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas. What has been clear this season is that the dynamic between drivers at Ferrari has been very different. Let’s call a spade a spade, there’s a bit of a bromance at Ferrari at the moment. Seb has been comfortably the quicker of the two drivers, but there is some feeling that Kimi has been unlucky. Certainly last time out the Prancing Horse should have taken a 1-2 but for pesky gremlins to strike Kimi’s car. It might be that the person happiest with Kimi’s contract extension is actually Seb:

“We are retaining a very good driver. That is good for the team. I have a good relationship with him and it’s good to keep stability. The best thing is that we work together, working for the team, doing our best, and FOR SURE (TM Michael Schumacher) everybody wants to race them himself, but I don’t think either him or myself have egos that stand in the way of the team.”

“It’s not my decision but FOR SURE (See above) I was asked for my opinion and I said I’d love to keep working with Kimi.”

“The half season that I’ve had so far, I think the results are not fair because Kimi had a rougher season than I had. But in terms of performance I think it has been very, very, close. Most importantly I get along with him. Nothing has changed since we became teammates, so I think that’s a positive for the team.”

You get the feeling from Maranello that the garages are a much more settled place this season than last. Seb has assumed the responsibility of team leader, and fans have seem something of change in the man himself. No, I don’t mean that he has lost any of his ruthlessness. Seeing him immediately switched on when the Mercedes of Hamilton appeared from pit lane at Monaco will show you he is still as sharp as ever. We have seen a new, almost romantic, side to him this season. A German driving for Ferrari. It’s the stuff he now admits was his dream. Maranello once the home of his mighty hero, Michael Schumacher, now sees Seb fully immersed in the same goal that Michael once had. To make Ferrari great again.

Maurizio Arrivabene, who has proven to be a breath of fresh air at both Ferrari and Formula 1 set the teams sights on two wins at the start of the season. Well half way through they’ve already raised the yellow flag twice. There is no mistaking that Mercedes are still the fastest team out there, but Ferrari’s impressive race pace, so often a characteristic of James Ellison’s cars, has meant that when the Silver Arrows have made mistakes the Prancing Horses were indeed poised to capitalise on them.

Vettel is unsure whether changes to the start procedures for the drivers will change much. No doubt he is hoping it enzo-ferrari-what-s-behind-you-quotewon’t change anything and both he and Kimi can get the jump on both Mercedes drivers on the run down to La Source.

“Until now we took the opportunity two times and it worked very well, otherwise we did our best to be right behind, but for sure the advantage of Mercedes is still there and it doesn’t just disappear. We’ll have new rules concerning start procedure this week, but I don’t think they are going to change much, apart from less radio coaching from the pit wall and fewer adjustments on the clutch. I think in a couple of racing we’ll know what to do properly.”



Enzo Ferrari once said “What’s behind you doesn’t matter”
Heading into this weekend, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg might not agree.

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WE KNOW IT IS DANGEROUS, BUT WHERE TO FROM HERE

Motorsport is Dangerous.

It is something we are reminded of every time we zip up a Nomex race suit, pull on a helmet and click in a HANS device. The warnings are there. The label stitched into the suit. The sign on the race licence. Even the fact that an ambulance or emergency vehicle follows the drivers on the approach to turn 1. It is dangerous and yet everything in that paragraph is evidence that despite the inherent danger associated with the sport we love, there are measures we continuously take in an effort to minimise the risk or ensure a fast response time in the event of an accident.

When Roland Raztenberger and Ayrton Senna were cruelly taken from us on that fateful weekend at Imola in ’94, it sparked an unprecedented era of driver and cockpit safety measures. Raised cockpit sides, tethered wheels, crash structures.  Eventually though, momentum slows.

Here we sit in 2015, looking at the loss of another racing driver taken in their prime. Marshall Pruett describes IndyCar as being at “A Crossroads” in his excellent piece for RACER.com  http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints/item/120672-pruett-indycar-at-safety-crossroads-following-wilson-s-crash

On lap 180 of the Pocono Raceway, Justin Wilson was struck by a nosecone which was thrown skyward in Sage Karem’s accident. He subsequently crashed into the inside wall of the circuit. He was air lifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital but succumbed to head injuries. Our thoughts and prayers are with Justin Wilson’s family and friends. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. Another horrible loss for the Motorsport community.
When discussing head injuries and how to protect racing drivers 2 constant points emerge on the opponents of the idea of enclosed or increasingly protected cockpits.

1) It is part of the risk of single seater racing.
2) Open cockpits are part of the very DNA of single seater racing.



However, it is now inherently single seater racings biggest exposure to risk in the modern era. Felipe Massa was lucky in Hungary 2009 when a spring hit him in the helmet. Fernando Alonso was lucky in Spa 2012 when the flying Grosjean narrowly missed him. Kimi Raikkonen was lucky when Alonso’s McLaren mounted his Ferrari at Austria this year. When it came to Jules Bianchi it would appear Formula 1 ran out of luck. The same terminology appears when discussing IndyCar accidents.

Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay:

“Unfortunately, you think back to what happened with Dan (Wheldon, who was tragically killed when he hit a catch fence head first at Las Vegas in 2011), and if that happened again, it would be the only priority,” he said. “Dario (Franchitti) got lucky because the bottom of his car hit the fence. Mikhail (Aleshin) got lucky because the bottom of his car hit the fence. If we’re racing on superspeedways with catch fencing, I fear we’re just playing the odds until we have something protecting our heads. It’s a scary thing to say.”

It is a scary thing to say. It’s scary that even at the top level of motorsport drivers are having to play the percentages. There are always calculated risks associated with the sport, but the role of the governing bodies is to minimize the risk involved. Motor racing has been historically reactive to how it deals with safety issues.



(Via @andriesvo)

Both Formula 1 and IndyCar have looked at solutions before.
Formula 1 tested Jetfighter type enclosed cockpits, but it was decided that they 1) weren’t strong enough and 2) created more issues than they resolved. In the case of the latter, indicating that the possible entrapment of the driver and delay in extraction far outweighed the benefit of the protection offered from debris. In the case of the Alonso/Raikkonen crash in Austria this year it could be argued that had a damaged canopy have been on the Ferrari post-accident, it would have led to significant delays in his extraction. IndyCar were also reluctant to further develop the idea of a partial canopy for the hazards associated with driver extraction if a car was to turn over.

Yet there are example of classes moving away from open top to closed top. WEC LMP1 is a prime example of this. Yes there are other issues that need to be dealt with. Canopies would surely mean that a dedicated extraction team would need to be on Formula 1 and IndyCar races. It’s not the only solution to the problem and suitability of canopies should not be an excuse for ruling bodies to abandon the pursuit of safety measure in the area of cockpit safety. Maybe another solution is needed and the truth is it is needed at more than the top level of the sport. Henry Surtees fatal accident in Brands Hatch ’09 was another reminder that at all levels head injuries are a racing driver’s biggest risk and we shouldn’t stop working on solutions to that.

If nothing else we have seen the FIA announce this week that they continue to research into solutions:

Speaking to Autosport, Charlie Whiting said:

“We had the fighter jet cockpit approach, but the downsides to that significantly outweighed the upsides. We also came up with some fairly ugly looking roll structures in front of the drivers, but they can’t drive with it as they can’t see through it. So it’s been really, really hard to come up with something that is going to do it. But we have two other solutions on the table, with the first something from Mercedes. We have put in a huge amount of time, effort and research into this project, which has not been easy, in fact bloody hard. But I can definitely see the day when this will happen. One day there will be something that will decrease a driver’s risk of injury. Whether it will be as good at protecting a driver from an object coming towards him as a fighter jet cockpit, I doubt that, but it will offer him protection. We have to persevere. We must make something, even if it’s not 100 per cent in terms of protecting the driver under all circumstances. But if it improves the situation it has to be good. There must be a way.”

There must be a way, but there is no quick solution.  Motor racing has served us with some harsh reminders lately that we must never rest in the pursuit of driver safety, that despite all the advances that have been made there is always more to be done.

If there is a legacy for Justin Wilson it may lie away from motorsport.  His brother Stefan took to twitter to say that Justin was a donor and that because of this, and following his wife’s consent, six people’s lives were saved thanks to organ donations from Justin.

Nice work big man.
RIP Badass



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LOTUS- LOTS OF TROUBLE USUALLY SERIOUS

Toleman, Benetton, Renault. All historic names. There are iconic moments associated with all three. Senna’s other worldly drive at Monaco in ’84 with Toleman. Schumacher and Brawn forging together an alliance that would dominate Formula One, starting with ’94 & ’95 titles at Benetton. Alonso bringing the duo’s Ferrari title run to an end, with Renault in ’05 & ’06. These moments, each a decade apart, all under different names, are the moments of a factory that still operates in Formula 1 today. Albeit barely.

Spa saw Lotus take a stunning 3rd place, achieved by Romain Grosjean. The team made headlines for another reason. Bailiffs preventing the team from leaving the circuit because of a legal dispute with former reserve driver Charles Pic. Events which saw Bernie Ecclestone have to admit live on air that, despite them lining up on the grid at Spa, Lotus were impounded.

Staggering stuff. Almost as staggering as the amount of debt that the team was under. Financial accounts statements for the year-ending 31 Dec ’14 showed Lotus with a net debt of €204 Million. Lotus had admitted before that continuing to invest in the technology that kept them at the front of the grid was too much of a burden. (I’ll come back to that later) Three times the amount of any other team. Yet when it came to payments from Formula 1 Red Bull received three times as much as Lotus. €156 as opposed to €51.

Things are so bad at Lotus that Bernie Ecclestone has stepped in and paid the wages of the team for the month of August, telling The Times:
“I thought I should cover the wages of the people there to make sure they were all right and so that Lotus would at least get to Spa and, hopefully, to Italy,” the F1 chief executive said. “But they really need to make progress with Renault now to make sure everything is OK,”

This follows on from Bernie’s statement that if Renault were to complete the buy-out of Lotus they would receive “Historical Payments”.
“Yes. If they take over Lotus and do exactly what Mercedes and Red Bull did, that would be it, so yeah, sure. They have talked about perhaps taking over Lotus, so there is a way in for them, and we’d love to have them on board.”

Part of the reason for the position Lotus finds itself in is its push to be competitive when Kimi Raikkonen was winning races for the team.

“If you have ambition and a slightly competitive character – and for me it is not ‘slightly’, it is a lot – it is hard not to go for it, but you can become your own worst enemy. What I would not do again, perhaps, is that when you are fourth or fifth, try to gamble in going for first place, as we did two years ago,” said team boss Gerard Lopez.

Yet that push has seen the factory at Enstone become one of the most modern in Formula 1, a key factor on Renault’s final decision. Reports from France prior to the Monza GP suggest that a deal is done that will see Renault buy a share of Team Enstone (Lotus) and that Alain Prost (Currently with the company’s Formula E team) will take on a senior role.

In doing so they would rekindle a partnership that brought much colour to the grid for a decade and ensure that the survival of, in all but name, one of the most historic teams on the grid.



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Sorry about that lack of updates lately.

I think that's all of them.

For the weekend that's in it.
More McLaren engine penalties.
Surely a 2015 Album cover.

UNDER PRESSURE! – HALL ON F1

There’s no such thing as bad publicity, or so the saying goes. Certainly this applies for the likes of Paddy Power and Ryanair. When it comes to Pirelli it would be easy to think that a similar philosophy applied.  It would nearly have to when they walk away battered and bruised post Formula 1 weekend.

“What is it this weekend? Those new tyre pressures we introduced almost cost the race winner and Championship leader his win, resulting in prolonged exposure and Social Media discussion”

“Fantastic! It’s not two blow outs in a weekend but I LIKE IT!”

“Oh, and Michelin even had a laugh! Michelin! Put the cigars away!”



We’ve not forgotten Indianapolis 2005 though. You know, that race where Michelin shod teams pitted on mass, meaning only Ferrari, Jordan & Minardi took part in the race. Great for Tiago Monteiro and Jordan. (3rd) Farcical for all concerned. At times it seems like Pirelli are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Work to the mandate that they were given when they first came into the sport (A tyre that degenerates as opposed to disintegrates) and they are criticised for having a tyre that fell off a performance cliff with little to no warning. Arrive at a circuit with two compounds that allow drivers to run a one stop race and they are labelled boring or conservative. Caught between a rock and a hard place. Bernie Ecclestone has stated that Pirelli have given what they were asked when it’s come to tyre degeneration, but drivers bemoan the need to nurse tyres rather than drive at full attack.

In 2013, with the quicker Red Bull and Mercedes teams fighting against Ferrari and Lotus making tyres last longer we seemed set for another fantastic season. Ultimately the fiasco that was Silverstone that year saw Hamilton, Massa & Perez suffer spectacular tyre failures which would ultimately lock in a Red Bull domination for the second half of the season as Pirelli first introduced a Kevlar belt (Replacing steel) and then reverted to 2012 compounds.

In the wake of serious pressure from the teams, Pirelli always maintained that the biggest issue that season was rear tyres being swapped over and tyres being run outside of the recommended pressures and cambers. Despite the changes made, Pirelli were adamant that the tyres alone were not the problem stating that their construction “Does not compromise driver safety in any way if use in the correct manner”.

Once again Pirelli finds itself using similar terminology to defend its position. This time, following the tyre failures of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel during the Belgain Grand Prix weekend. The Ferrari driver making his point quite clear “Things like that are not allowed to happen, full stop. If it happens 200 metres earlier, I am not standing here now. I don’t know what else needs to happen.”

Having received scathing criticism from the drivers Pirelli hit back, blaming external sources such as:
1) Overly long tyre stints “The events at Spa can be put down to external factors, linked with the prolonged use of the tyres on one of the most severe tracks of the championship”
2) Excessive track debris “We need to find a standardised way of cleaning circuits. I know it’s something the FIA are looking at.”

Then came the race itself. An utterly dominant display from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. Except, while Kimi was busy making the race interesting, furrowed brows and worried looks appeared on the Mercedes pitlane. Ferrari and Mercedes had both had their cars tyre pressures checked on the grid before the race. Ferrari were above the minimum PSI set out by Pirelli. Both Mercedes cars were below, on the left rear. Hamilton 0.3psi. Rosberg 1.1psi.

It seemed a dominant display would be for nothing as new measures, introduced post Spa, would claim their first victim.

Except they didn’t. Both Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe straight batted questions from the media immediately after the race. They were adamant that Mercedes had done nothing wrong. In fact Lowe stated that they had set the recommended tyre pressure in front of a Pirelli representative. Extenuating circumstances then for the irregularity? It would appear so and statement was released as such.



Common sense, or highlighting a flawed system for tyre checks? Williams were adamant that rules had been broken and a penalty should be enforced, so why wasn’t it? Rules are rules, no? Except going back to Paddy Lowe’s reaction following the race there are more questions than answers found.

Paddy Lowe claimed, and the statement from the FIA Stewards subsequently copper fastened, the tyres were correct at the time of fitting while they were in their tyre blankets. This is confirmed as being the reason the team was not disqualified. So why take the test on the grid without the tyre warmers in place. This is where the F1 and GP2 infringements differ. Alexander Rossi highlighted his qualifying penalty under similar circumstances, but the GP2 cars don’t use tyre warmers so the situation is different. If you set the pressures in tyre blankets, with tyre pressures staggered due to the right hand nature of Monza, then surely you would expect to find the left hand tyres under regulation if you let the temperatures drop before testing them again. It’s almost like somebody wanted to catch a team running under pressure but were then outmanoeuvred by Mercedes.

If it was meant as a way to make the teams sit up and take notice of tyre pressures, it certainly worked. Especially if you were sat in the number 44 for the last few laps of the race. What should have been a comfortable race win for Mercedes turned out to be the hardest they fought for a win all season. Even if it wasn’t the case and the tests were on safety ground rather than being seen to take a stance against low tyre pressures then why set up a system of checks that are then unenforceable, and if the team showed data that proved that they had followed procedure and not interfered with the tyres prior to the race then why bother testing teams on the grid?

It’s all a bit odd. Especially after the drivers effectively had a gagging order put in place telling them to speak directly to Pirelli and not subject the beleaguered tyre manufacturer to any more bad publicity.

It looks even worse when placed in the context of engine regulations this season. The Token System. While tyre pressure regulations would appear to be set with a handy get out of jail free card there is no such flexibility when it comes to powertrains. The most competitive part of the weekend at Monza? The race to the back of the grid following the extensive penalty list:



22. Button   McLaren Honda   5 place penalty
14. Alonso   McLaren Honda   10 place penalty
55. Sainz   STR Renault   10 place penalty
26. Kvyat   Red Bull Renault   35 place penalty
3. Ricciardo   Red Bull Renault   50 place penalty

That’s 110 place combined penalties for the teams with powertrain infringements. No discussion required. No grey areas. Both the tyre pressures and the power unit elements were items either detected or changed prior to the start of the race. So why have one issue take hours to resolve after the chequered flag has fallen? Consistency. Transparency. It’s something that Formula 1 doesn’t do very well, and in times of relentless Social Media scrutiny, it continues to frustrate.

In a time where Formula 1 needs to be seen to do things in the right way,  both their gagging of drivers and inconsistency in enforcement do nothing but put Pirelli and the sport under more pressure. Whatever the reasons for the events of the weekend, one thing is clear. Changes are needed- and fast if Formula 1 is to move away from the off track drama that was Monza.

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What's everyone's thoughts on Monza at the weekend then?

I only ask as I thought it was quite an interesting Grand Prix with some decent action among those from Vettel back but on Sky Martin Brundle seemed to think it was a bit boring.

What's everyone's thoughts on Monza at the weekend then?

I only ask as I thought it was quite an interesting Grand Prix with some decent action among those from Vettel back but on Sky Martin Brundle seemed to think it was a bit boring.

See my post above.

Kimi made it interesting.

See my post above.

Kimi made it interesting.

He certainly did mate. Most disappointing thing for me was his start although he made up for it with some great driving.

The scene's at the end were fantastic.

He certainly did mate. Most disappointing thing for me was his start although he made up for it with some great driving.

The scene's at the end were fantastic.

I loved it.
Absolutely classic F1 making things complicated when they've not thought something through before implementing it.

A lot of sorting out to be done.

Sensational developments in F1 - Red Bull about to be taken over by Volkswagen!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/34297046

Sensational developments in F1 - Red Bull about to be taken over by Volkswagen!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/34297046

EJ making the claim, much like back with Hamilton.
It says it's for 2018.
Ferrari for the gap years.

Sensational developments in F1 - Red Bull about to be taken over by Volkswagen!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/34297046

Can't wait to hear Horner bitching about new engine rules when Volkswagen come into the sport and their tokens are a lot less than they used to be 

Can't wait to hear Horner bitching about new engine rules when Volkswagen come into the sport and their tokens are a lot less than they used to be 

Hit the ground running or they're fu**ed.

Vettel leads Lewis Hamilton  hasn't made an impact on the leaders so far.

Vettel awesome up front so far. Would love to see Kimi take Ricciardo and claim a Ferrari 1-2! Come on Kimi! With a bit of luck (safety car?!) perhaps the McLaren can claim some points his afternoon as well!

There's a complete nut job in knee length shorts and t shirt who has decided he's going for a walk on the track! Safety car!

Reckon he was pissed or on something mate

Another exciting race, crashes and safety car a few times, Lewis still leads lap 24/53

Vettel pits good stop

Lap 32/53 Lewis going well, Hamilton in and out 3.1 seconds

What a last lap, Reikonnin takes bottas out naughty stewards will have a field day.

Lewis takes another 1st place