MorrisF1

This year has been a slightly odd season. One team was utterly dominant, but because they allowed the drivers to compete and they were pretty evenly matched it remained closely fought until the final race (and it’s worth noting that if Hamilton rather than Rosberg had suffered the power failure in Abu Dhabi then Rosberg would be world champion right now). Teams From the very first race a few things which would be critical for the season were apparent. The Mercedes was fastest, by a mile. It was also a little bit unreliable. The Mercedes engine was the best, by a mile. Ricciardo would confound expectations and beat Vettel. The Williams was very fast. We also had a red herring with a great McLaren result [something I’m considering for next year is that McLaren seem to, for some reason, punch above their weight in Australia, and the same may be true in Russia]. As the season wore on it became clear the title would be between the Mercedes’ team mates. We saw an epic du...

The bet came off, huzzah! Even if Rosberg hadn’t suffered ERS woe, it would’ve, so a rare case of just being completely right. That said, shortish odds, but still a good way to end the season. I’ll do a proper season review in a little while. In title terms, I would’ve been better off if Rosberg had won the title, but I’d hedged on Hamilton so I was still green. The race was entertaining, though as a title decider it left a lot to be desired. Off the line, Bottas yet again left the handbrake on (he needs to sort that out) and Rosberg had a slow start, losing first immediately and almost getting passed by Massa. Magnussen also had a very poor first lap. Hamilton quickly accelerated away and got outside DRS range. From there it looked like it might be a strategic game, but fate intervened. Rosberg lost ERS, which is worth about 160bhp. He also had some other issues, it seems, and fell all the way from second to a final result of 14 th . It’s worth noting that when s...

I thought Massa was going to end up third on the grid, but Bottas pipped him at the end. The Williams were more competitive than I thought they would be. Q1 had five eliminations this time. Unsurprisingly, both Caterhams went out, dead last, as did both Lotuses. Gutierrez also left at this stage, although his team mate made it through. In Q2 neither Force India progressed, Sutil was last, and Vergne and Magnussen also failed to get any further. Bit of a poor result for the Dane, to be honest. Q3 had a surprisingly comfortable Rosberg pole, nearly four-tenths up on Hamilton. Bottas, who starts third, is closer to Hamilton’s time than the Briton was to Rosberg’s. Massa lines up alongside his team mate, and may feel disappointed that he didn’t match earlier pace to end up third himself. Ricciardo and Vettel are next up, with Kvyat and Button on row four. Raikkonen leads Alonso at the back of the top 10, a pretty shoddy result for the prancing horse. The Williams...

I must admit to being significantly surprised Caterham will be racing in Abu Dhabi. Kobayashi will drive one of their cars [Ericsson, of course, has terminated his deal with the team already and next year will drive for Sauber, assuming the contract dispute with Sutil is resolved in the team’s favour]. The second will be driven by British chap Will Stevens, who makes his F1 debut. At the same time, it’s sad to hear that over 200 Caterham employees have been made redundant, and that some feel the announcement of the return in Abu Dhabi was made to try and bury that bad news. Surprisingly, Eddie Jordan has called on Ecclestone to stand down. It was my understanding the two got along pretty well, but it’s worth recalling that Jordan used to run his own midfield team, which may well affect his view of the current financial situation. In staggeringly unsurprising news, it’s finally been confirmed Alonso’s leaving Ferrari, and is being replaced by Vettel. At the time of writ...

An absolute cracker of a race, and a green one as well. Obviously, due to the hedge, better if you bet and forget than if you hedged. Off the line it was formation flying for the front four. The Red Bulls drifted backwards and Button held fifth. There was no contact on the first lap despite the tricky opening few corners. Rosberg set off at a blistering pace, and at the end of lap 1 was 0.8s ahead of Hamilton. Bottas was hot on Massa’s heels and the top four were slowly drawing away from Button. The Red Bulls (Vettel ahead) had gotten stuck behind Alonso. The Red Bulls were faster in the twisty middle sector but it’s hard to overtake there, and once again the car was shown to be lacking in straight line speed, preventing them from effecting a pass in the prime overtaking spot (the ‘straight’ at the end of the lap). The track was hotter than expected, and was actually damaging the tyres. Pirelli had wanted a medium-hard combination, but the drivers thought it too conserv...

Damned weather forecast. Second race in a row I’ve had a qualifying bet in mind and not backed it, although this time it was down to the forecast being wrong. Oh well. Grosjean, Vergne, Perez and Maldonado went out in Q1. Due to penalties reshuffling the pack, Vergne, Maldonado, Kvyat and Perez will be the last four on the grid. In Q2 we lost Gutierrez (surprisingly quick in eleventh), Hulkenberg, Sutil and Kvyat. The penalties mean Grosjean will start alongside Sutil in the race. Q3 was a bit tighter than expected. Rosberg claimed pole (and the qualifying trophy, a new prize this year) just 0.033s ahead of Hamilton. Massa might’ve challenged for pole but made a mistake on his final run. Despite that, he still claimed third ahead of Bottas. Either the Finn’s just happened upon two tracks he isn’t quite right on or Massa’s in the zone right now. After a dodgy Friday, McLaren recovered well and Button got a strong fifth (incidentally, the rumour mill suggests an anno...

Surprisingly, Marussia has folded. Given they had tens of millions in prize money likely coming for 2015 and even missing Brazil and Abu Dhabi they still had a live entry for the next year I expected them to be a going concern at the end of 2014. Given it was seen as the better bet compared to Caterham it may be we’ll have 18 cars permanently next year. Full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29954250 This comes a day after Christian Horner, principal of a team bankrolled by a billionaire, opined that poorer teams shouldn’t speak publicly about money troubles because it’s bad for the sport. Not a very impressive statement. In other news, Felipe Nasr (pronounced Nassa) has been named as a Sauber driver. I’m sure that won’t confuse commentators at all. He’s joined by Marcus Ericsson, but Sutil, an incumbent of the team, has raised a contract row, claiming he’ll still be driving for them next year. Gutierrez hasn’t really impressed at any time, so it’s not s...

A thoroughly entertaining race, albeit another red one. It really didn’t go at all as I expected, but was fun to watch. The second half has become a little redder, but there are still two races to go to turn that around (and the profit, either way, of the title bets). I’m writing this the morning after the night before, so if I forget something, that’s why. Off the line Bottas started badly and Ricciardo left the hand brake on. Massa passed his team mate and a quarter of the field (or ‘four cars’ to be technical) passed the Aussie. Otherwise it was largely plain sailing. Very early on Perez attempted to defy the laws of physics and crashed into Sutil, which must’ve gutted both him and Sauber as they desperately need points for both morale and money. It also earnt Perez a penalty for the next race. To round off a terrible weekend for Force India, Hulkenberg was forced to retire due to a reliability failure. This brought out the safety car and many cars dove int...

In addition to the 5 and 10 place grid penalties for Button and Kvyat respectively, and a pit lane start for Vettel, Vergne has changed his engine and earnt himself a 10 place grid penalty. In Q1 we said farewell to Vergne, Gutierrez, Vettel and Grosjean. Vettel was only trundling about as a token appearance rather than putting in any effort, due to his starting from the pit lane. Q2 saw Maldonado, Perez, Hulkenberg and Kvyat depart. However, it was great for Sutil and Sauber, who got a car in the top 10 for the first time this year. In Q3 Rosberg got pole (mildly irked I didn’t back that, but if he can convert it to a win that’ll be nice for the title bets) ahead of Hamilton, with Bottas next on the grid. Worth mentioning the odd side of the grid is reckoned to be a bit of an advantage off the line. Massa is alongside Bottas, and after that the rows are: Ricciardo, Alonso, then Button, Magnussen, with Raikkonen and Sutil at the end of the top 10. Hamilton reported...

The tyres this time are soft and medium, a bit softer than previous years. This is because the two races to date on this circuit only had a single pit stop and the intention is to increase this number. Only four cars will be dropped from one session to the next, due to both Caterham and Marussia entering administration. Neither team will, it seems, be at Brazil either, but Abu Dhabi is a possible final appearance. Even if neither enters that race, the last of the season, they will still (if financially secured) be able to compete in 2015 with no problem as a team can miss up to three races in a season and still have an active entry on the grid for the following year. Marussia may well return (it’s got circa £60m of prize money coming unless Sauber can score a few points), Caterham seems unlikely to come back. Neither Frank nor Claire Williams will be present. He’s in hospital (sounds routine rather than anything especially sinister) and she wants to be with him. Claire Willi...

I had intended not to post anymore early thoughts this season. However, given the significant occurrences recently, and the slightly lengthy three week gap, I thought it’d be better to have a place to discuss such things ahead of the race weekend, rather than making the pre-qualifying piece bloody enormous. The back of the grid is not so much in serious turmoil as missing, fallen from the heavens of F1 to plunge into the Bermuda Triangle of financial woe. For years, many have complained that the way the money flows in F1 is nuts and, worse, unsustainable. Now we have proof, were it needed. Two non-team examples of this are that Monaco (dreariest circuit on the calendar, possibly excepting Singapore) pays no race fee, whereas fantastic Spa is at risk of folding because it can’t afford the race fees. Even more bonkers, mega-rich Ferrari get more cash (before points are totted up) than any other team, for ‘historical’ reasons. Anyway, to the current quagmire of woe and doom. I’...

Well, the Kvyat top six tip looks bloody stupid now. After Vergne got a top 6 somewhere recently and with Red Bull looking ropey I thought it worth a shot. It appears Toro Rosso screwed up their set-up so it was stellar in qualifying and appalling in the race. Disappointed, and although the qualifying tip means the loss is minimal, it’s still another red race and (in the latter half) I’ve had a single winning race tip from seven attempts, which is just rubbish. The race itself wasn’t the best, although my prediction of it being mostly processional at the sharp end and more competitive in the lower points positions was accurate. Kvyat had a shocker of a start, Magnussen had a good one and Alonso also flew up the order. Rosberg just about got the jump on Hamilton but braked badly, flat-spotting both tyres so he had to pit on lap 1. Massa also pitted on lap 1, although he went for softs, with Rosberg opting for mediums. For Hamilton, it was a lovely day at the seasid...

Qualifying was quite unexpected. The bet came off, thankfully, but (top three aside) the grid is ordered pretty different to how I expected. Because Marussia only ran one car, five rather than six drivers left the stage in Q1. As well as the Caterhams and Chilton, as expected, Maldonado (who seems to have had an ERS issue) and Massa (who had some sort of pressure problem with his engine) failed to escape to Q2. This was particularly rough on Massa, whose car has been looking rather tasty. Q2 was mostly as expected. The two Force Indias, who have been losing the development war with McLaren quite badly of late, left, as did both Saubers. Grosjean likewise. Most unexpectedly, however, was Vettel in 11 th . He was a tenth off being in Q3, but failed to make the cut. The Red Bull’s looked a bit ropey, certainly compared to how it should be, all weekend, but the fact is his team mate got through and he did not. Q1 was a mix of the routine and the remarkable. Hamilton pole, R...

The main news in F1 is that Bianchi, who had that horrendous crash in Japan, has suffered diffuse axonal injury. It is an incredibly serious injury, and let’s hope Bianchi can make the fullest recovery possible. Marussia are (as a mark of respect) only running Chilton this week, and have not replaced Bianchi. As well as by all accounts being a tremendously popular driver, Bianchi was also a real talent. Like Grosjean and Hulkenberg, it was very easy to see him in a top team, and the sport may have lost one of its great starts of the future. Lotus will have Mercedes engines next year. A great coup for the beleaguered team, who were reportedly struggling to find, essentially, the cash for a deposit. Mercedes engines are cheapest, most efficient and fastest, so that’s a nice plus for Lotus which hasn’t had much good news of late. First race in Russia. My impression of the track isn’t great, to be honest. Anyway, grip’s fairly low, medium and soft tyres appear to last forev...