MotoGP 2015 - Marquez dominates in Germany

After a reversal of fortunes in Assen, and at a track where he has won every year in every category he has raced in since 2009, Marc Marquez finally took his second victory of the 2015 MotoGP season in Germany at the Sachsenring, leading home a Repsol Honda 1-2 with team-mate Dani Predrosa, whilst Valentino Rossi extended his championship lead over Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

Marquez didn't have it all his own way though at the start. He got away okay but Pedrosa slipped past him at turn 1, before Lorenzo got round the outside of both of them, taking the lead as Marc slipped back into 2nd ahead of his team-mate, immediately giving chase to the Yamaha rider. Rossi however was the man being watched, as he set several fastest laps, pushing so hard he nearly came off his Yamaha chasing down Pedrosa!

Marqeuz eventually took the lead from Lorenzo and began to pull away, Rossi then slipped past both Pedrosa and his team-mate, and it looked like he might have the pace to fight with Marc. Marquez though didn't want anyone taking this victory off him and he rode off into the distance. Pedrosa then found his way past the Yamaha or Lorenzo, and slowly began to close in on The Doctor.

Rossi and Pedrosa had a great battle, the gap fairly stable at one stage but then Pedrosa found incredible pace, faster than even the leader and had a great scrap with Valentino before finally going back in-front of the Yamaha too take P2, a great ride from the Spaniard, especially after his arm-pump surgery earlier in the season, which could have ended his MotoGP career. Lorenzo dropped backed to a distant 4th, Rossi taking 3rd and extending his championship lead by another three points.

Ducati had a quiet race. Andrea Iannone finished a solid 5th but Andrea Dovizioso crashed out around halfway through the race. The team has admitted they have lost a bit of their confidence, after such a great start to the season, which included three consecutive 2nd places for Dovisiozo. They haven't been on the podium since Iannone's runner up spot at Mugello, but say they will be back up on the podium soon.

Both Suzuki rider's finished in the points, with Aleix Espargaro 10th and Maverick Vinales 11th. The pair had given us great entertainment with a fantastic battle between the two of them, Vinales initially getting the better of his more experienced team-mate but Aleix fought back to round out the top ten. Another solid weekend for the returning factory squad.

It was all smiles though for Marc, Dani and Valentino, as they took to the podium, and Rossi took a 'selfie' of them all. Rossi is still on top in championship, but Lorenzo isn't far behind. MotoGP returns in a couple of weeks at Indianapolis. The battle continues.

I would also just like to send my apologies for the blog being very quiet until recently. My personal life hasn't been easy for a while now, things have gone on etc etc so I have had little motivation or time to write, and would have written this report and others over the weekend but of course we sadly lost Jules Bianchi, so decided to leave it and first do a tribute to Jules. Normal blogging will resume as soon as it can folks. Thank you.

Jules Bianchi 1989 - 2015

In March 2013, a young Frenchman made his Formula 1 race debut for the Marussia F1 Team. He was a Ferrari Driver Academy graduate, who had earlier been in the running for a Force India drive but ended up with the small Marussia team, partnering Britain's Max Chilton. He was a polite and handsome guy, a lovely guy to talk to and with a great sense of humor. On top of all that, he was one hell of a racing driver. His name, was Jules Bianchi.

Jules won the 2007 French Formula Renault 2.0 title before making his international debut in 2008 in the Formula 3 Euro Series with ART Grand Prix. He claimed two victories that year to finish 3rd in the championship, before claiming the Euro F3 title the following year, holding the points lead for the entire season.

Bianchi didn't take victory in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix, after being involved in a first lap crash in the qualification race, but just a few days after, Ferrari announced he would be given a test in the 2009 F60. He then moved up to GP2, joining ART midway through the 2009/10 Asia series before making his debut in the main GP2 series in 2010.

It was a difficult debut campaign for the Frenchman, who also suffered some back injuries after a crash at the Hungaroring, eventually finishing his first season in GP2 in third place, the championship being won by Pastor Maldonado.

2011 saw Jules first,and ultimately only win, in the GP2 series. It came at the Silverstone feature race, in a battle that has been watched many thousands of times on YouTube since, a battle between himself and now Mercedes DTM driver, Christian Vietoris.

It was a race where Jules showed off his brilliant race-craft. The two of them were in a league of their own, and Vietoris put Jules under massive pressure in what was a damp race. Into Stowe, Vietoris managed to go around the outside of Bianchi, but into Vale Jules dived back down the inside and into the lead. He eventually won the race, and it was his only victory in the GP2 series. He finished third in the championship again.

In 2012 Jules managed to get his foot into the F1 door, becoming Force India's reserve driver, the teams main drivers being Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenburg. He took part in nine FP1 outings for the team, impressing them with his speed and work ethic, and for his racing campaign, he joined Tech 1 in Formula Renault 3.5.

He finished 2nd in his first race but was disqualified for a technical infringement, his car failed to start the second race and after taking a drive through penalty as a consequence of the issue, he finished 13th. However in Monaco he scored his first podium in FR 3.5, finished 2nd to Sam Bird, the pair of them half a minute ahead of the rest of the field.

He claimed his first victory at the Nuburgring, a track where an error cost him another GP2 victory the previous year. Alongside FR 3.5 racing duties, he racked up plenty of mileage for the Force India team, and drove for Ferrari at the 2012 young driver's test in Magny-Cour. Jules had always dreamed of driving for Ferrari, and every outing he had for the team was very special.

Bianchi claimed three FR 3.5 victories to put him in contention at the final race of the season in Barcelona. Sadly, he didn't take the title, a collision with other contender Robin Frijns put Jules out of the race. Frijns was given a 25 second time penalty due to causing it, but he still won the title by four points.

As the 2013 F1 season drew closer, Force India had yet to decide on a driver to partner Paul Di Resta. Jules and former Force India driver Adrian Sutil were in contention, Sutil eventually getting the nod. Jules though was not left out in the cold. Luiz Razia had claimed the second Marussia seat alongside Max Chilton, but funding issues meant the team cut their ties with him, and Jules stepped in to join Chilton for 2013.

He had already impressed his team and rival squads during pre-season testing and in the first race in Melbourne, however in Malaysia, he took a brilliant 13th place for Marussia, a result that neither he, Chilton, or the Caterham squad could better during the year, and this secured 10th place in the constructors championship for Marussia come the end of the year, their first top ten finish in the championship.

Jules finest hour though came the following year, in Monaco. After a difficult start for Marussia in F1's new hybrid-turbo era, things came good for them in the principality, after a positive post race test in Barcelona. In a race where the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg reached breaking point, Marussia and Jules stole the show, taking 9th place and both their first ever points in Formula 1, an almighty performance, and something which many people deemed impossible for one of the young teams that entered the sport back in 2010.

As the year went on, neither Sauber nor Caterham could get anywhere near the points, and Marussia held on to 9th place in the constructors. At the Singapore Grand Prix, Jules took his final checkered flag in the sport in 16th place, ahead of team-mate Chilton and just a few tenths behind Caterham's Marcus Ericsson. It was the last time Jules finished a Grand Prix...

We all know what happened on that horrible day at Suzuka, as the race entered its final ten or so laps. We all know what Adrian Sutil saw and felt as he walked away from the accident. We all know how each and everyone of us felt when we heard the news that Jules was in a coma, with serious head injuries after his accident at the Dunlop Curves. We all held hope for him, he was in our thoughts at the Russian Grand Prix and throughout the rest of the season. And we all knew that he had saved his team, that despite Marussia entering administration, they were to be reborn in 2015 as Manor Marussia, and carry #JB17 on the cars. Steven Fitzpatrick, Graeme Lowdon and John Booth know its thanks to Jules, they can carry on racing in his honor.

Jules passing just two days ago hit everyone in motorsport and in the sporting world hard. His family had gone through torture for nine months, and he sadly lost his fight, a fight we were all praying he would win. We all mourn his loss, but at the same time we remember an incredible young man, who's smile we all loved, who's kindness and sense of humor was felt throughout the paddock, who's charm and personality was a joy to see in an F1 where personalities are so often lacking and we remember a racer, a racer who fought to the bitter end, gave so much in his sport, wowed us for many years, and who we all knew was destined for greater things. Above all else, we will remember one of the most talented racing drivers of modern Formula 1. Au revoir Jules. Sleep well.

Formula 1 2015 - Hamilton and Mercedes defeat Williams in Silverstone thriller

For the first part of the 2015 British Grand Prix, it really did look like the Williams team may just be able to pull off a wonderful 1-2 finish, or at least a victory, their first since the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix. After their drivers qualified 3rd and 4th, they both rocketed off the line, Felipe Massa into the lead and Valtteri Bottas into 3rd, which became 2nd after Lewis Hamilton tripped up overtaking Massa after the lap one safety car. But a not so good strategy put paid to their chances, however it was rain that really did for them as they finished 4th and 5th, jumped by not only the Mercedes cars but the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, in what was one hell of a race.

There was chaos at the start as the two Williams and Mercedes pulled away, the two Lotus cars collided and so did the two McLarens. Both Lotus of Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean were out on the spot, Jenson Button taken out after Fernando Alonso smashed his left rear, although the incident between the Lotus cars had that knock on affect. After the safety car the battle resumed, Bottas getting into 2nd after Hamilton's scruffy attempt at passing Massa, the Mercs and Williams pulling away from a fast starting 5th placed Hulkenburg, Nico Rosberg just hanging back in 4th. He wouldn't be hanging back for long though.

Unfortunatley, after losing the lead to Hamilton, but still running 2nd and 3rd, the Two Williams then lost out to Nico Rosberg, the Mercedes quicker as the rain started to fall and the track got damp. This was when Rosberg was closing right in on Hamilton, taking more than a second out of him and closing to within a second and a half, before Hamilton dived into the pits for intermediate tyres, which Rosberg thought was the wrong call. Ultimately, it was the right call, and in the end he cruised to a third win at Silverstone, Rosberg 2nd and Sebastian Vettel a surprise 3rd, leapfrogging the Williams after an anonymous race for himself and Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen finishing a lap down in 8th after pitting for intermediate tyres much earlier than he should have done, this debacle including a spin on the start/finish straight, something the TV camera's missed completely.

Behind Vettel and the Williams car's, Daniil Kvyat had a solid race to 6th place, Christian Horner feeling he could have been on the podium had he not spun on his in-lap, as he was right behind Vettel as the Ferrari made his pit-stop for intermediate tyres. Kvyat closed right up to Bottas on the final lap, could he have passed if the race had been longer? If's and buts are what make Formula 1 so good. Nico Hulkenburg was another driver that starred as well. After a blistering start, he ran in the top five before dropping to 7th later on, but it was two places abover where he qualified and a very good debut for the B-Spec Force India, his team-mate Sergio Perez finished behind him in 8th place.

McLaren, despite the earlier contact between their two cars, managed to scrape the final point in 10th place. Fernando Alonso changed his nose on the first lap and then drove consitentley and cleanly to bag a point for the team, his first poin since Abu Dhabi 2014. Whilst at the team didn't go away with nothing for their efforts at Silverstone, it was not what the team or Honda wanted, who earlier on this year had set a target of a podium by this stage of the season. That podium looks like it won't be coming for the team anytime soon. Behind Alonso, Marcus Ericsson just missed out on points, the weather turning against him, and the two Manor Marussia's got their best result of the season in 12 and 13th places, the last runners in the race, Stevens requiring a nose change after going off on the inter's.

As well as the two Lotus cars retiring, Felipe Nasr never even made it to the start of the race, a gearbox issue grinding him to a halt on one of his laps to the grid before the race. Carlos Sainz retired in the second half of the race thanks to a mechanical issue, this bringing out the virtual safety car properly for the first time this year, and the other Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen spinning into the gravel at Abbey just after the safety car, thanks to no grip on his cold hard compound tyres. Daniel Ricciardo was another retirement, parking his Red Bull in the garage witha power unit issue. 9 races gone and the gap between Hamilton and Rosberg is back up to 17 points, but Rosberg very nearly made it a three point gap after showing blistering pace just as the rain started to fall. Don't forget the fight between Ferrari and Williams, seemingly well and truly on after the great showing for Williams. Formula 1 needed a good race, and it got it at Silverstone. Stay tuned. This fight is far from over. Three weeks till Hungary, who will be victorious there? Until next time folks, Ciao.

All images copyright of their respective Formula 1 team's

Formula 1 British Grand Prix 2015 - FP1 and FP2

FP1

Nico Rosberg recovered from an earlier hydraulics issue to beat Lewis Hamilton to top spot in FP1 for the 2015 British Grand Prix, setting a time of 1m34.274s, beating Hamilton by just 0.070s. It was an eventful session for the Mercedes duo, as Hamilton spun his W06 early on, before topping the times for the majority of the session. However, the real news was the pace of the two STR10's of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, Verstappen 3rd and Sainz 5th, split only bt the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, the STR boy's setting their best times in the final hour of the session. Raikkonen lost time on his second set of tyres thanks to an MGU-H issue. Sebastian Vettel had a quiet session and was 6th in his Ferrari, followed by the two Red Bull RB10's of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, which were both outclassed by the junior Toro Rosso team, and were over a second and a half slower than Rosberg's best lap time, as the struggles for the team and Renault continued. Nico Hulkenburg, driving with the new B-spec Force India for the first time, was in 9th place,followed by the Williams of Felipe Massa, the team again doing their usual trick of failing to show their hand in the early sessions.

Outside of the top ten was the Sauber of Felipe Nasr, the other Force India VJM08 of Sergio Perez and the other Williams FW37 of Susie Wolff, who had a much more successful FP1 session at Silverstone than the one she had last year, when an oil leak caused her FW36 to grind to a halt. She was 13th fastest this morning and set a best lap time of 1m37.242s, 2.968s slower than the best time of Nico Rosberg and putting 19 laps on the board. Behind her was another Brit, in the form of Jolyon Palmer, making his British Grand Prix FP1 debut behind the wheel of the Lotus E23 hybrid, completing a good 26 laps around the circuit. He was followed by the other Sauber of Raffaele Marciello, doing another FP1 session for the team, then regular Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado.

McLaren had a difficult session, with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button completing only 22 laps between them in the upgraded MP4-30,Button losing time thanks to a leak, whilst Alonso was trialling an experimental suspension configuration for the car, which then had to be changed back once the team got their required data. The MP4-30's were only quicker than the two Manor Marussia MR03B's, the team with another sponsor on the car, with Flex-Box joining them and sporting very eye pleasing blue sidepods on the car's. The MR03B's have recieved their first upgrades since the car was used in the 2014 season, with new bodywork and engine covers. Will Stevens, racing for the first time at Silverstone in Formula 1 was 19th, with Roberto Merhi 20th, nearly two seconds slower than his team-mate.

FP2

After pipping team-mate Lewis Hamilton to P1 in Free Practice 1 this morning, Nico Rosberg took control in Free Practice 2 for the British Grand Prix, hooking up a good lap on the medium compound tyres of a 1m34.155s, to go 0.466s faster than Hamilton, who was behind the two Ferrari's of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen pipped Vettel to P2 by just 0.02s, and both Ferrari driver's and Rosberg looked much more comfortable than Hamilton, who reported that "the car is all over the place" over the radio. Things clearly not good for the world champion, who has now said he will have to dig deep over the remainder of the weekend. After winning in Austria, topping day two of the test in Austria and topping FP1 at Silverstone, Rosberg looks very comfortable and happy with life right now in his W06 Hybrid.

There was a brief red flag early on in the session, as the Romain Grosjean beached his Lotus at Luffield, fortunatley though he was able to rejoin the session later on. Red Bull had a good FP2, Daniil Kvyat going an impressive P2 on the hard compound tyres early in the session, and holding onto P4 on the medium compund tyres before Raikkonen put in his quick lap for P2. Behind the Red Bull's was Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso having another good practice session. He was followed by Nico Hulkenburg in the B-spec Force India, who continues to get more out of the package than team-mate Sergio Perez. Behind Hulkenburg, Carlos Sainz and Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten. Pastor Maldonado slotted his Lotus into 11th, the other Williams of Valtteri Bottas was 12th.

Sergio Perez so far has failed to get the most out of the B-spec Force India, and ended up 13th fastest in FP2. Behind him was Romain Grosjean, obviously hampered by his earlier trip into the gravel at Luffied. McLaren had another bad session, Fernando Alonso was only 15th, and Jenson Button only 17th, split by the Sauber of Felipe Nasr in 16th. With Marcus Ericsson 18th, it looked like it would be another tough race for the Swiss team, who's last points finish came with Nasr's 9th place finish in Monaco, the team dropping off the pace since they took P5 and P8 in the opening race of the year in Melbourne. Will Stevens again beat his team-mate Roberto Merhi at Manor Marussia, although the gap between them was smaller, it was still over a second and a half, Stevens best lap a 1m38.279s, Merhi a 1m39.878s.

All photo's copyright of their respective Formula 1 teams

DTM 2015 - Mercedes dominate at the Norisring

Mercedes took control of the Norisring

After a quiet start to their season, Mercedes hit back in style at the Norisring, round three of the DTM championship, taking a 1-2-3-4 in race one there and a 1-2 in race two, with none of the BMW or Audi driver's able to stop the three-pointed star.

Race one

Paffet and Vietoris went side-by-side into turn 1

On Saturday it was Christian Vietoris that took pole position, alongside Gary Paffet. Paffet got away much better than Vietoris in the damp conditions at the start of the race, but couldn't take advantage of his start and slotted into second place behind his Mercedes team-mate. As they completed the first lap though, the safety car was deployed for contact at the turn 2 hairpin.

Auer and Molina ended up facing the wrong way

The contact was caused by Mercedes driver Lucas Auer. He had gone down the inside of Audi's Miguel Molina, but the move hadn't worked out quite as he had hoped, and he clouted the side of Molina's Audi, spinning both and leaving them facing the wall, the debris caused by the accident resulting in the safety car's deployment.

Wehrlein started on slicks rather than wets

The race got underway again shortly after, and this was when things got interesting. Several drivers had started the race on slick tyres, the majority being on wet's but soon it was time for the wet tyre shod runner's to pit and change. Paffet had been passed by Robert Wickens Mercedes and was now 3rd, but as all this went on, slick shod Pascal Wehrlein was closing the gap to the leaders, closing it so much that once the top three had made their pitstop, Wehrlein had taken the lead away from Vietoris!

Di Resta was on for a good result before a clash with Green

Paul Di Resta should have had a strong weekend, who qualified well and was in contention for a podium finish. However, championship leader Jamie Green, who started third on slick tyres but dropped to 11th at the first turn, made contact with the Scott, damaging the rear right suspension and putting Di Resta out of the race, a great shame as Paul was doing a solid job in the tricky early conditions.

Wehrlein drove a fine race and took a superb win

Nothing though could stop Wehrlein, who took his second DTM career victory in fine style, the gamble to start on the dry weather tyres had well and truly paid off, and he was rewarded at the end. Wickens was a strong 2nd place, and Paffet, whilst dissapointed to have lost out to Wickens, was still happy to claim a second podium of the season, in P3.

Race 2

Spengler lead the field away from pole position

Race two began with a BMW on pole for the first time this season, that honor going to Bruno Spengler, a stunning lap put him ahead of Vietoris and Wickens, whilst Lucas Auer impressed as well. At the start Spengler got away well to maintain his lead, but Vietoris lost out to team-mate Wickens, who got around the outside of Vietoris at the hairpin, and he went straight after Spengler.

Robert Wickens snatched the lead from Spengler in the early stages

Wickens dived down the inside of Spengler into turn 1 a few laps later, taking the lead from the BMW driver, and he was immediately passed by Vietoris, Auer and Mattias Ekstrom's Audi, sporting a retro livery in homage to the livery used by Audi sport in the 1990's and 1980's. Auer though had a 5 second time penalty to be served at his pitstop, for being slightly out of position at the start, so Ekstrom was a net P3.

Ekstrom and Spengler had a great battle over third place

Wickens pulled away from Vietoris after the pitstop's, who in turn pulled away from Ekstrom, but Ekstrom couldn't shake Spengler off, the BMW driver was fine with not having the pace to win, but was hoping to at least finish on the podium after qualifying on pole position. As the race entered its latter stages, the BMW dived down the inside of the Audi into turn 1, and after a bit of wheel barging, got past his friend Ekstrom and was up into P3.

Green goes wheel to wheel with Auer, sadly It wasn't a good weekend for the Audi driver

Wehrlein finished a solid 5th, with Di Resta a much happier man in 6th place and Gary Paffet was 7th, however Jamie Green, after recovering to 7th in Saturday's race, really didn't have a good Sunday. He was battling with Auer and BMW's Maxime Martin later in the race, but contact from Martin after an aggressive move by the BMW gave Green a puncture, and whilst he managed to rejoin the race, he could only manage 18th place at the checkered flag.

Wickens celebrates his dominant race two performance

Robert Wickens though was unstoppable, claiming his second career DTM win, just like Wehrlein had done the previous day, putting him fifth in the championship. Full race results and championship standings are below;

The next round of the championship is at Zandvoort, and the gap from Green to Ekstrom in the standings is only 11 points. Can the Swede close the gap even further? Until next time folks, ciao!

Garry Paffet came away with a 3rd and 7th at the Norisring

All images copyright of the DTM Championship