MorrisF1

A straightforward case of poor judgement on my part with the bet. Unfortunate, but if I had perfect judgement this betting business would be a lot easier. The start of the race was great. Hamilton was a bit slow and it seemed either Perez or Raikkonen might pass him. However the Ferrari and Mercedes closed off Perez’s path, which meant he had to back out, and Hamilton fended off the Finn’s advances. Hulkenberg passed Bottas and Ricciardo, Sainz pulled off multiple passes and Vettel (admittedly with a much faster car than those around him) roared up the field. It was a bad first lap for Alonso, and worse for Maldonado. The Venezuelan was put out of the race by the Spaniard, who had himself been forced to collide with the Lotus after he was tagged by a Sauber. Alonso was compelled to take an early pit stop, then insult was added to injury when the stewards, led this week by Stevie Wonder, blamed him for it and gave him a penalty. For a short time the top four were pr...

Well, qualifying did not go quite to script. The grid is unexpected in a few ways, which may hopefully create opportunity. In Q1, the Manor Marussias of Stevens and Merhi were at the back, but the other three cars all had misfortune of one kind or another. Ericsson suffered a reliability failure, Alonso could’ve reached Q2 but got a puncture and Vettel/Ferrari simply believed the German’s lap was good enough, didn’t go out again, and ended up 16 th . Of course, Vettel had to start from the back due to disqualification in 2012, and ended up on the podium (I think), so he may yet have a good race. In the second session, Grosjean’s Lotus failed him, so he starts 15 th . Ahead of him as Nasr, Maldonado, Button and Verstappen, who qualified a tiny margin behind his team mate and loses (10-9) the qualifying head-to-head against Sainz, who I think is a bit overlooked. Q3 was quite exciting for a few reasons. After the initial run, Perez was ahead of Raikkonen, in 3 rd . Rosber...

Got the feeling this might be the last race broadcast on the BBC, perhaps on free-to-air TV. We shall see. Important off-track rumours swirl. Aston Martin may end up taking over Force India. The team has punched above its weight for a while now, and has a very solid driver line-up, so I wish it well. Still no official confirmation, but it seems Red Bull, for all its owner’s bitching, will have a Renault engine next year. However, the Lotus-Renault deal, which is meant to be all but done, may have hit a late snag. Not surprisingly, Ecclestone and money are involved (because Renault would be rejoining the sport as a constructor, some manner of deal was done with Ecclestone and apparently it’s fallen through). The sport really does need to get a grip on finance and spread the wealth more fairly. Next year Haas will have the 2016 Ferrari engine, whereas Toro Rosso are likely to have the 2015 version (from around Texas-time). Worth considering when looking at the...

Must be said this was not a classic. Not enthralling to watch, and not profitable either, with both McLarens being uncharacteristically reliable, and not even a crash to enliven proceedings. Bit disappointing, given the circuit. Anyway, off the line Bottas shot up from 7 th to 5 th , but otherwise it was largely trouble-free (before the start, Sainz’s Toro Rosso stopped and he had to start from the pit lane). Sainz’s engine then conked out on lap one. And it pretty much stayed that way throughout. There was some good defensive driving by Rosberg (though Hamilton seemed to give up near the end), and Hulkenberg, little seen, managed to keep Kvyat behind him after retaking the place by undercutting with an earlier pit stop. An impressive drive by the German and a good result to comprehensively beat his team mate after being overshadowed in recent races (must be said Interlagos is not Perez’s favourite track, but might be Hulkenberg’s). Massa was a bit lonely an...

Qualifying went more or less to form, with some woe for Grosjean and McLaren, and a good performance by Hulkenberg. Grid penalties and overtaking potential, and perhaps weather, may present opportunities come the race. In Q1 we saw the traditional McLaren engine calamity, which forced Alonso to sunbathe before joining Button on the podium for larks. As well as the two McLarens, both Manor cars failed to progress, and Maldonado, disappointingly, was fastest of those to leave at this stage. Q2 was rather more competitive. Grosjean should’ve been in with a chance of reaching Q3 but left it late to go out, then spun and ruined his tyres, to the extent he qualified a paltry 15 th . Nasr did well to qualify 11 th , ahead of Sainz and Perez (who was comprehensively outqualified by his team mate), with Ericsson between Perez and Grosjean. Worth noting that as well as Bottas’ three place penalty and Ricciardo’s 10 place drop, Nasr may suffer a penalty for badly blocking Massa in...

Been having some monitor issues, so if the pre-race or post-race pieces do not emerge, that’s why. Unless I’ve keeled over, obviously. In foot-shooting news, Dietrich Mateschitz, owner of Red Bull and Toro Rosso and chap desperate for a competitive engine, has taken the not necessarily clever step of insulting every manufacturer. It seems entirely possible both teams could just leave next year. It’s his own damned fault for burning bridges with Renault and not having another engine lined up, but it’ll be a great shame for the many hundreds of people who work for the two teams if they lose their jobs because Mateschitz is a spoilt brat. Saw neither of the first two practices sessions (I tend to watch online, and, consequently, forgot). Tyres are soft and medium. Anyway, Hamilton was fastest by half a second in P1, leading his team mate, followed by Vettel, Ricciardo and Raikkonen. Kvyat was next, then Bottas, Verstappen, Hulkenberg and Maldonado. In the second ...

A good race from a betting perspective, and reasonable as a spectator. The Nasr bet was plain wrong. I overestimated attrition and the pace of the car, and he was always behind his team mate too, so that was just a smorgasbord of ill-judgement on my part. The Bottas bet had its fair share of luck, but luck does play a role in F1 betting, more, perhaps, than other sports, and I shan’t complain if it’s good. At the start, Vettel and Ricciardo came together at the first corner. The Aussie was clearly behind, and had it been at any time other than the start I suspect a penalty would’ve been dished out. It gave Vettel a puncture at the worst place to get it. Otherwise it was pretty much formation flying. Massa did get ahead of Bottas but then locked a brake and lost the place. Rosberg broke free of DRS range from Hamilton fairly easily, and though the two Mercedes were never more than a few seconds apart the pair of them swiftly began leaving Kvyat, Ricciardo, Bottas et al. far b...

Button was not able to get out for qualifying due to a signal problem, so will start last. Ferrari did good work to resolve an exhaust problem for Raikkonen. In Q1, as well as losing Button, we saw the departure of Alonso, Nasr, Rossi and Stevens. The last few minutes of Q2 saw raindrops coming down. Sainz was the fastest man to leave at this stage (it was tight at the lower end of the top 10), with Grosjean and Maldonado both failing to reach the next session. Ericsson was next, and Raikkonen slowest, due to his issues (detailed below). Raikkonen may well get a 5 place grid penalty should he change his gearbox. He suffered a brake issue during Q2 [although there are reports he just didn’t bother due to his grid penalty], as well as the problem he had in practice. He pitted in Q2 after going out on medium tyres, rather than the faster softs. Bloody odd to just not set the fastest time possible, if that is what happened [possible the car just wasn’t as good as it should ...