Photo courtesy of Jamey Price, http://www.jameypricephoto.com

Saturday in Montreal brought a touch of rain for, at times, a mildly damp track, which added to the drama, but not the lap time. Here are six highlights:

 

1. Fernando Alonso made it to Q3, if only just. Jenson Button did not. During his last Q2 lap he locked up, which cost some time, but Button blames his P12 on not getting a tow (a draft) from another car. Instead, Alonso got Button’s tow, the Britain claims.

 

2. Ricciardo ahead of Verstappen, for now. Once again Verstappen seemed to have the edge on Ricciardo in qualifying. But, as in Spain, the Australian pulled out a killer time in Q3 to take P4 and it took a brush of the Wall of Champions to do it. Lucky for Ricciardo, it didn’t damage the car.

 

3. Gutierrez edged Grosjean to take P14. Grosjean complained of his car’s balance as “miles off,” which “means you can’t drive the car as you like.” No matter, his fast lap was a quarter of a second longer than his teammate, only good enough for P15. Far from the early form Haas began the season, but more akin to what everyone expected.

 

4. Kvyat bests Sainz by six seconds to start 13^th on the grid. Of course Sainz hit the wall of champions early on in Q2, so never set an actual lap. His lap in Q1 was a 1 min 14. 714 sec, over a tenth quicker than his Russian teammate.

 

5. Mercedes back in front, but by less of a margin than many expected. Hamilton won pole with his first flying lap as Rosberg couldn’t quite match it and suffered a big lock up on his second attempt.

 

6. Pole time last year, Hamilton at 1 min 14.393 sec, this year: 1 min 12.812 sec, that’s 1.6 seconds faster! (1.581 seconds)

 

This is the tightest run for pole we’ve seen in a while. It’s very encouraging to see six tenths of a second cover the top five. Enough so, we may see an honest to goodness fight for the lead in the race. And not just between teammates, either Ferrari or Red Bull could challenge. For full results click here.

 

-Robin

As Jamey Price said, Monaco supersedes Formula 1. The culture and atmosphere is larger than life. The pomp and circumstance is uncanny. And the racing is the most wonderfully absurd. Jim and I watched, loved, and produced an over hour long podcast about Monaco. Jamey Price did better. He Spent five days at the principality and shot amazing photography. Below is but a glimpse at Jamey’s work.

Monaco at night, basically backlit money. What a scene, what a place. In this electric photo, the entire principality is alive, land and sea.

 

After consistently beautiful weather, race day brought heavy rain and the green flag flew with safety car lights flashing.

 

Seven laps later, the Mercedes with doors drove aside and Daniel Ricciardo immediately pulled a gap from second place Nico Rosberg and built a comfortable lead.

 

But as the track dried, the fateful Red Bull pitstop occurred. Hamilton now ahead of Ricciardo, if only just.

 

And Lewis Hamilton carried on to win his 44th Grand Prix, his second at Monaco. Incredible drive, he was happy.

 

Daniel Ricciardo wearing his trademark, entrancing smile…before the race.

 

And his facial expression after the race…man, that’s hard to see.

 

But we end on a happier note. Unrelated to the drama in front, the elated Mexican, celebrates a Monaco podium.

 

Sergio made his father proud. That is bone deep joy he feels for his son, uncontrollable happiness.

 

To see more of Jamey’s pictures goto: http://www.jameypricephoto.com

The Monaco Grand Prix always entertains. Today the small fishing village turned racetrack set an entirely new path for the 2016 championship. Here are five things that stood out:

1. Lewis Hamilton’s win and Nico Rosberg’s seventh place finish change the trajectory of the championship. Hamilton outpaced Rosberg in the wet, so much so Mercedes ordered Rosberg aside. Later on we learned Rosberg suffered brake trouble and couldn’t push.   He went on to finish seventh, earning six points. Now Hamilton is within one race win of taking the championship lead.
2. Red Bull Racing cut a deep fissure in the bond with their Australian superstar, Daniel Ricciardo. Two races in a row now, team decisions cost him a win. In Spain it’s easy to see the team’s side of the call. Not today. Ricciardo paced Monaco at a winning speed, but when he arrived in the pits mid-race the crew did not have tires waiting. This mistake cost Ricciardo at least five seconds and quite possibly the win. On the podium, the Australian looked dejected and was dismissive and downbeat.
3. Max Verstappen showed his age…again. Quite simply he pushed too hard, locked up, and hit the wall. After the win in Spain, it’s excusable. But perhaps this is the beginning of too much pressure placed upon a too youthful soul. Canada will be telling for the soft drink magnate’s team’s health.
4. Sauber in deep trouble. Already financially strapped, the teammates took each other out. Nasr refused to follow orders to let the faster Ericksson by, then Ericksson got anxious and looked for a gap that didn’t exist and ruined both their races. Who deserves more blame? I say Nasr. What do you think?
5. Double points for McLaren. Button finished ninth, Alonso fifth. A strong result for the team that continues to crawl toward the front. More to come from McLaren? I think Canada will give a great indication of how the Honda pulls. If it does, it will be good. Very good.

Hamilton and Ricciardo dominated coverage. But so much more happened. I always love the Monaco GP. And this year was better than most.

-Robin

Qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix produced two red flags, a first time pole sitter, a wrecked car, a blown engine, and a lapse in Mercedes dominance. It was thrilling. Here are six of my favorite facts from Qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix:

1. Red Bull very nearly bookend the grid today. Verstappen finally acted his age and made a mistake, damaged the car, and will start on the back row.

2. Ricciardo collected his first ever pole position with a stunning lap of 1 min 13.6 secs. That’s 1.5 seconds faster than last year’s pole time, when Hamilton laid a 1 min 15.1 sec lap.

3. Rosberg out qualified Hamilton, who once again suffered from engine trouble. Within the first few seconds of Q3, Hamilton radioed his team with engine trouble, the team scrambled to get the car back out with six minutes to spare. All was not well, however, as Hamilton took several laps before making a real attempt at pole. His first two sectors were quickest of all, yet he came three-tenths short at the checker. Something was clearly still amiss.

4. Ferrari’s laps couldn’t compete with the top two teams, meaning there’s still work to be done to gain downforce. In fact splitting the two prancing horses, Nico Hulkenberg nabbed an impressive top five. The German showing, yet again, he deserves a top team ride.

5. Carlos Sainz is two-for-two in out qualifying Kvyat. The Russian unable to convince anyone he still deserves his recently lost seat.

6. And McLaren continues to inch forward with Alonso setting a fast enough time to make Q3, even if only just.

Rain or no, Monaco is, once again, set to be a thriller.

 

Robin

The 2015 Formula 1 season wraps up this weekend in Abu Dhabi, but Lewis Hamilton already claimed the driver’s championship, his third, a month ago. What’s worse, Rosberg and Vettel also secured second and third place, respectively.

But fourth! Well…

Fourth in the championship is undeclared and could prove both exciting and important. Call it the battle of the Finns. Valtteri Bottas currently holds the mark by a single point. Kimi Raikkonen, his countryman and oldest driver on the grid and 2007 Formula 1 World Champion, has 135 points and, based on Friday free practice times at least, the quicker car. The elder of the two also has a second place finish in Bahrain. The best Bottas managed this year is third, which means a tie in points falls Raikkonen’s way. It couldn’t be closer.

The graph below shows every possible outcome.

They could finish 111 different ways. Green goes to Bottas, which happens in 56 cases, blue means Raikkonen triumphs, 55 chances of that. The numbers in the boxes equal the margin of victory (Raikkonens are negative because of the math I used).

Actually three drivers could claim the most coveted available spot. Felipe Massa, currently sixth, is 18 points behind Raikkonen. But for Massa to take it, he’d have to win the race and have the good fortune of both Bottas and Raikkonen finishing seventh or worse. Not impossible, though the rule of probability effectively throws him out, so we’re back to Finland.

Okay, my money won’t bet on either one winning the race, but just about any other result is plausible. One of them on the podium even creeps towards likely. All things considered, Raikkonen stands with momentum, the faster car, and more resourceful team on his side. I think he’ll take it. But, if Bottas holds position and finishes the season in fourth, he may very well join Vettel in Ferrari red in 2017.

-Robin Warner

13 April 2015

Who is Antonio Felix Da Costa?

Born in Lisbon, Portugal on the 31st of August, 1991, Antonio is a DTM driver, a Formula E winner, and a Red Bull test driver. Starting in karts, Da Costa moved to cars in 2008, racing in Formula Renault. He first got in a Formula 1 car in 2010 driving for Force India during the young driver’s test at Yas Marina. In 2012, Da Costa joined the Red Bull Junior team, though that has yet to turn into a Toro Rosso race seat, and, at the ancient for Red Bull age of 23, it’s unlikely to ever do so.

Da Costa also raced a DTM BMW M4 for Team MTEK in 2014. He took 10 starts with a best finish of 21st. That may not sound terribly impressive, but his performance was good enough to be retained for a 2015 DTM campaign, now racing for BMW team Schnitzer.

Da Costa also competes in Formula E, with the Amlin Aguri team. His most recent win came in the engineless formula car, at the Buenos Aires ePrix , 10th of January of this year. He beat two sons of racing legends in the process, Alain Prost’s son Nicolas finished 2nd; and Nelson Piquet Jr. 3rd.

Da Costa must have dreams of one-day driving in Formula 1, I mean, I did, and so has most any other racing driving in the world. But unlike most of us, his chances are reasonable. Da Costa’s best bet will come from leveraging Portuguese sponsorship, as he is the sole driver from the costal nation. Regardless, I respect that Da Costa keeps himself busy in other formula. And who knows, Formula e might be the next big thing…might be.

I know that lap times and running order of the first pre-season test held in Jerez, Spain tells me between little and nothing about team performance in 2015. But I also know that speculating is fun, and fun is good! Seriously, though, I can’t help but glean opinions from the first test of the year. So here goes:

 

Manor/Marussia

I first noticed two teams absent from the test. I say two because the Marussia F1 Team refuses to quit and is vying to run a modified 2014 car in 2015, this despite missing the last races of 2014 and entering receivership late in the year. If they somehow make the Australian grid in March, will it mark the beginning of a second chance; a shot in the arm where Marussia not only survives, but thrives? Or will it be a last gasp effort that simply delays the inevitable fall of the young team? I’m certain Bernie would rather see ten teams than nine in the paddock this year, which helps Marussia’s chances, but I still think it’s unlikely to see MR03 on the grid.

 

Force India / VJM08

Force India didn’t make it to Jerez either. They claim to simply have run into “production issues.” But it’s a slightly growing concern because Force India originally planned to launch the car Feb 19 and run VJM08 for the first of two Barcelona tests. Now they plan to run VJM07, not rolling out the 2015 car until the Feb 26. I’m sure we’ll see Hülkenberg and Pérez clicking off laps soon enough, but this delay doesn’t help Force India’s march towards the front of the grid.

 

 

Sauber / C34

But lap times beckon. I can ignore them no longer, and Ferrari dominated the metric. Every day ended with a Ferrari powered car at the top of the timesheets. On the third day of testing, however, it was Sauber, not the factory boys, that set FTD. Brazilian Felipe Nasr bolted a set of super soft tires on the C34 chassis and stopped the clock at 1 minute 21.545 seconds, a couple tenths quicker than the rest. More critically (but also totally unfair), Nasr was half a second clear of teammate Marcus Ericsson, who took over the next day. None of this means Sauber will chase podiums this year, but hopefully it means they’ll score a few points.

 

 

 

Ferrari / SF15-T

Kimi Räikkönen led the Maranello factory effort and ended the four-day test with the fastest time, beating Sebastian Vettel by a tenth and a half with a 1 minute 20.841 second time. In related news, a cold front swept Finland as all 5.5 million citizens breathed a sigh of relief.

The Iceman likes the car. “Over the winter, we have made a good step forward and this car is definitely an improvement over the 2014 one,” Raikkonen said. Whether Ferrari’s SF15-T is truly the pacesetter is irrelevant. It’s great news that the team set the pace at Jerez as it grew confidence in the car and in both its drivers.

 

 

 

Mercedes / F1W06 Hybrid

Perhaps the most important metric wasn’t lap time, but lap count. And Mercedes built a 2014 esque margin from the others. The folks from Brackley logged 516 laps in four days. Rosberg circled Jerez more than 150 times the first day, and the team systematically and reliably went through a fat checklist. Lap times put them behind Sauber, but I find it near impossible that Mercedes showed their full potential.

 

Lotus / E23 Hybrid

Speaking of laps, Lotus ran 190 of them and did so in only two and a half days of running. The Mercedes power unit showed real promise for the Enstone, UK team. Pastor Maldonado drove the car first and loved it right from the off, “It was fantastic to get behind the wheel for the first ever lap of this exciting new car,” said Maldonado. “Even though it’s early days, we achieved a lot today. It was already exciting to feel the potential of the car and I can’t wait to get back in the car tomorrow. The car certainly looks fantastic and I know we have a lot of potential for the season ahead.”

The team ran 6^th fastest, ahead of Red Bull and McLaren in lap times, but that’s not important. This test result compared to last year is. With luck, we’ll see a regular points-earner in the E23 hybrid chassis.

 

Williams / FW37

The Last, and certainly not least, Mercedes powered team, Williams, never went fastest, but ran consistently with minimal delays or concerns. Again, I think the most valuable asset gained is confidence. Felipe Massa summed it up best, “The feeling in the car was good even for a first impression and it’s well balanced,” Massa said. “I am also confident in the car setup. The FW37 is another step forward from where we left the FW36, which is promising.” Another step forward in results would be a win.

 

Red Bull / RB11

Red Bull, by contrast, struggled with the RB11. That’s perhaps fitting giving they run Renault engines even when the former Renault factory team, Lotus, doesn’t. That power unit and team struggled again, running fewer timed laps than Lotus, despite running all four days. Despite the troubles, perma-smile Daniel Riccardo remained optimistic. “Although we were limited with running today, we got some long runs together and that was encouraging,” Ricciardo said. “In terms of where we’re at, it’s impossible to know about the pace because we don’t know what people are running, but I think the consistency today was good, we put a few laps together in the end, so a few positives to take away from today.”

Red Bull seemed stagnant while the other teams progressed. If that’s true, the Milton Keynes team won’t win this year. Its last winless season was 2008. Adrain Newey taking a step away from the team may be the root cause; after all, he joined the team in 2006 and winning started coming as he took more control over design.

 

Torro Rosso / STR10

Worse still for the energy drink giant, its support team got a better start. Toro Rosso lapped more, and lapped faster. This, despite hiring a minor to pilot one of the STR10s and a rookie in the other. Overall they went 9^th and 11^th fastest, with merely a few tenths of a second between their times, while the Dans at Red Bull on managed the 12^th and 14^th best times. Right now Scuderia Toro Rosso leads the effort for Renault and managed Jerez with the least trouble.

 

McLaren / MP4-30

Honda struggled to reliably power the MP4-30, but I understand. The brand new unit experienced, let’s call it, teething problems, but Honda progressed and got Jenson Button and McLaren redo man Fernando Alonso around the track 79 times by the end of the  fourth day. The best McLaren time was nearly seven seconds slower than Ferrari, but compared to Renault last year, the work Honda completed is admirable.

Alonso agreed, “Given the complexity of modern Formula One machinery, the sorts of issues we encountered today weren’t too surprising,” said the Spaniard. “They’re just the things you experience on the first day of a Formula One test. But it’s been a fantastic day for me: to have the privilege to drive the car for the first time – for the comeback of McLaren and Honda after 23 years – makes me feel extremely proud.”

I’m confident that McLaren will lay down more competitive lap times at Barcelona and Honda will add reliability to the power unit quickly. It will take a bit longer to get up to Mercedes’ peak power levels, but Honda will do it faster than Ferrari or Renault, then they’ll surpass them. Honda is that tenacious and capable.

 

So despite what we saw out of the first test, I’m bullish with McLaren Honda. Alonso and Button make a strong driver pairing, with complemented talents: the Spaniard capable of eking out performance in a compromised car and the Briton sensitive and technical enough to get to the root cause of the problem. McLaren won’t steal away the championship, but they’ll make the podium. Lotus also looks promising, after such a disastrous 2014, I just want them to score more than 8 points and I think Mercedes power will make that easy. And fingers crossed that Ferrari can maintain their testing form. I want to see Raikkonen on the podium again.

More broadly, it’s great to see how far we’ve come with our new engines in just one year. Already all of them more reliably make more power, which dropped lap times, and will add excitement to the races. And, Jim, I hear they now make 1000hp.

 

-Robin Warner

 

This week’s unofficial aggregate test times from Jerez:

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 20.841s, 200 laps
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1m 20.984s, 149 laps
3. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1m 21.545s, 197 laps
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 21.982s, 308 laps
5. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1m 22.019s, 185 laps
6. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 22.172s, 208 laps
7. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m 22.276s, 144 laps
8. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 22.319s, 134 laps
9. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1m 22.553s, 170 laps
10. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 22.713s, 137 laps
11. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1m 23.187s, 183 laps
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 23.338s, 84 laps
13. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 23.802s, 53 laps
14. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1m 23.975s, 82 laps
15. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 27.660s, 41 laps
16. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1m 35.553s, 38 laps

 

Total distance run – by team (power unit, where different):

1. Mercedes, 516 laps – 2,284km
2. Sauber (Ferrari), 382 laps – 1,691km
3. Toro Rosso (Renault), 353 laps – 1,563km
4. Ferrari, 349 laps – 1,545km
5. Williams (Mercedes), 278 laps – 1,230km
6. Lotus (Mercedes), 190 laps – 841km
7. Red Bull (Renault), 166 laps – 735km
8. McLaren (Honda), 79 laps – 349km

 

sources:

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2015/2/16793.html

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2015/2/16796.html

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2015/2/16799.html

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2015/2/16805.html

http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2015/2/16808.html

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117622

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117583/

On January 28th 2015, Williams Martini Racing announced that GP3 champion Alex Lynn will join Susie Wolff as a test driver. Lynn will spend most of his time on the simulator, but is also scheduled to participate in the Barcelona mid-season test in May. The Essex born, 21-year-old adds another english face to the Grove, UK race team. Only he and Susie will wear helmets bearing a Union Jack from the FW37 cockpit.

“As a British team we are always on the lookout for emerging home-grown talent and Alex has caught our eye with his impressive performances in GP3.” Claire Williams said, adding, “He has been chosen on merit,” which implies he’s not bringing money to the team, but talent. That’s a good thing for two reasons. First, Williams is financially sound and not looking for sponsorship help from their drivers. Second, it’s not always the fastest that bring a sponsor, ahem, examples will go nameless.

Not at all a surprise, Lynn is excited at the opportunity, “I am extremely excited to be joining Williams, a team with such incredible history and amazing potential,” Lynn said. In addition to his test driver role, Lynn will compete in the GP2 championship with DAMS racing. And, if Lynn is fast and lucky enough, we’ll see a second British team/driver combination on the F1 grid in 2016. The most experienced active F1 driver, Jenson Button, is alone in that camp, driving for McLaren.

Fun with Cars wishes Alex Lynn the best of luck.

-Robin Warner