Formula 1 2015 - Rosberg reigns supreme at Interlagos

After taking the win at Mexico last time out, Nico Rosberg not only made it five consecutive pole positions in 2015 at Interlagos, he also made it his second consecutive victory at the track and it was back-to-back wins for the German as well after the win in Mexico. He saved his tyres in Q2, knowing those would be the ones he would start the race on, then narrowly beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the race, then soaked up the pressure from the World Champion to control the race superbly.

For the battle for the championship, it is a shame that Rosberg was not performing like this at the start of the year. It is difficult for any driver to take five consecutive pole positions, so for Rosberg to do so was some achievement, and he seemingly has rediscovered that lost qualifying form. Off the line, he defended well from Hamilton, the World Champion thinking about a move around the outside of his team-mate but in the end deciding against it. He dutifully slipped in behind Rosberg, and it was there that Hamilton spend nearly the entirety of the race, only not being behind when the two Silver Arrows made their pitstops. This was massively from frustrating for Hamilton, who was shouting over the radio 'its impossible to pass', although Max Verstappen had no difficulty later on in the race (we will come back to that later). 

Hamilton had yet to win in Brazil and only had two podium finishes to his name at Interlagos, and was desperate to change that in 2015. He did get very, very close to Rosberg several times, but Nico did not buckle or break a sweat, calmly sticking to the racing line and getting the perfect exit out of the corners, and letting Hamilton enjoy all of the dirty air coming from the back of his W06 Hybrid. Mercedes originally planned for a two stop race, but with Ferrari switching Vettel onto a three stopper, that changed, although neither Mercedes was ever threatened by the Prancing Horse. As the race entered its final stages, Hamilton declared his tyres were finished, and by the checkered flag, he was nearly eight seconds behind Rosberg. Nico had lead from start to finish, and was delighted at taking yet another win at Brazil. If Rosberg can carry on like this in Abu Dhabi, maybe 2016 will be a better year after all.

Apart from the strategy change for Vettel and the early close action between the two Mercedes, there was little action among the top four all race, with Kimi Raikkonen having a lonely run to 4th place. It was behind the 5th placed Bottas that all the action was taking place. Bottas jumped up from 7th to 5th at the start and had a look at Raikkonen but couldn't pass him, nor could he for the rest of the race, so behind him was where all the fun was, as Max Verstappen pulled off to brilliant overtaking moves into the Senna S', first on Sergio Perez, where the two touched, thus allowing Romain Grosjean to go round the outside of the Force India through turn 3, and next on Felipe Nasr, both moves around the outside of the respective cars.

Verstappen has already pulled off some spectacular moves this year, and the overtakes in Brazil only further highlighted the talent of the teenage sensation. The two points he scored for the Toro Rosso team were crucial for their quest to take 6th place from Lotus in the constructors championship, a task made harder with the Lotus cars of Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado finishing in 8th and 10th respectively, after Felipe Massa's Williams was excluded from the race with tyre temperature issues. In a race with little overtaking, Verstappen really got peoples attention. For Torro Rosso to take 6th from Lotus in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen will need to race like he did in Brazil again, but then again, when doesn't he race like that?

Brazil also marked the last race in 2015 for American Alexander Rossi, who stepped in at the Manor team at Singapore for five of the last seven races, the other two races (Russia and Abu Dhabi) being driven by Roberto Merhi, whilst Rossi finished the GP2 season. Rossi had done a superb job, the only blot on his copybook being when he crashed at turn 18 in Singapore FP1, but since then had not put a foot wrong (bar clattering into Stevens at turn 1 in Austin), and had pushed team-mate Will Stevens hard in his five races and surely has done enough to warrant a seat with the Manor squad for next season. The safe bet is that he and Stevens will be in the car, but we will have to wait and see.

For the second year in a row then, Brazil belonged to Nico Rosberg and the resurgence from the German continued, raising hope further of proper title fight in 2016 between Rosberg and Hamilton. If Rosberg can take pole and the win again in Abu Dhabi, 2016 could really be a year to remember, especially too, if Ferrari can join the party and don't discount Williams either.

Formula E 2015/2016 - Rounds 1 & 2

Round 1 - Beijing

Buemi dominated the even in Beijing

Formula E roared back into action on the 24th October in Beijing as the second season of the electric racing series got underway, and it got underway in emphatic style for the Renault e.dams team, as Sebastian Buemi took pole position and the win and won in dominant style. He won by 11 seconds and only lost the lead as drivers made their pitstops for their second cars. Behind him came Lucas Di Grassi, the Abt driver pleased with 2nd place despite the big gap to the winner, and 3rd was a very happy Nick Heidfeld for Mahindra racing, who had been running in 2nd place early on and benefited from problems for the other Renault e.dams. Di Grassi benefited early on from a mistake from Prost, who ran wide at turn 3 on the second lap, and was stuck in fourth for the first part of the race.

All the action happened behind Buemi as he pulled away from the rest of the field

Simona De Silvestro stuffed her Amlin Andretti car into the barriers at turn 3, where Prost made his earlier mistake. This brought out a full course yellow for a few laps, and when the race resumed, Buemi bolted from the rest of the pack and pulled away. Behind the leader Jean-Eric Vergne was having an almighty scrap with first Bruno Senna, then Loic Duval,the DS Virgin car ultimately losing out to the pair. Heidfeld's Mahindra nowhere near the pace of the Renault car. Buemi lead the charge into the pits for the car swap, and Di Grassi and Prost got the jump on Heidfeld, although Heidfeld managed to re-pass the Renault driver into turn 2, however Prost soon got him back, the pair having a fantastic scrap like they did last year. Another full course yellow then came out, this time for a collision between Jaques Villeneuve and Antonio Felix Da Costa. Jaques managed to continue but Da Cost was out on the spot. Back up front, after there scrap for the lead last year, it didn't end in tears for Nick Heidfeld this time round. However, it did for Nico Prost. Prost's rear wing decided to give up and collapsed, and even though the Frenchman race on for a few more laps, he was given the black and orange flag and had to retire the car.

Nico Prost surveys his damaged car, gutted at losing a potential podium

This elevated Di Grassi into 2nd place and Heidfeld back into 3rd, however Loic Duval soon closed up on him in the Dragon car and threw absolutely everything at him to try and get onto the podium. Determined to pass him was his team-mate Jerome d'Ambrosio, who had caught up to him and made a lunge for Duval's position but it was unsuccessful. Duval regrouped after his team-mates attack and threw caution into the wind at Heidfeld, lunging himself to try and grab the final position on the podium but id didn't pay off and the dragon driver had to settle four 4th place with d'Ambrosio behind. It was a very successful day nonetheless for the Dragon Racing team, and a great day for Mahindra, their first podium in the sport.

Sebastian Buemi celebrates an absolutely dominant win in China

No one though could come close to Sebastian Buemi. He had lead all but one of the racing laps and took the victory by just over 11 seconds from Di Grassi, who pushed hard to close the gap but to no avail. When the Formula E grid regrouped just two weeks later in Putrajaya for round two of the championship, it looked like it could be another Buemi walkover after the Swiss driver took pole position. In the end, no one could have predicted what happened in Malaysia.

Round 2 - Putrajaya

Things looked good for Renault in Putrajaya before the heat got to them...

In qualifying, Renault weren't quite as dominant as they had been in Beijing but Buemi still took his second consecutive pole position for the team. Stéphane Sarrazin took a brilliant 2nd place on the grid but an issue with his Venturi car at the start meant he was pushed off the grid and started from the pitlane. As the lights went out after the first aborted start, Buemi made the perfect start to lead into turn 1, Loic Duval grabbing 2nd and Antonio Felix Da Costa, who qualified an amazing 4th in an Aguri car running last years powertrain, was running in 3rd place. Turn 1 was a disaster for Nick Heidfeld and Jean-Eric Vergne. Vergne, Villeneuve and Heidfeld touched, Heidfeld spinning and Vergne's front right suspension being destroyed, taking him out of the race instantly. Apart from that, the first few laps were relatively incident free, until Oliver Turvey brought out the safety car after stuffing it into the wall on lap five. Buemi had edged clear of Duval during the period before the safety car, but now that gap was reduced to nothing.

Buemi pulled away from Duval once again after the safety car

At the restart Buemi pulled away from Duval, who was foccussed on keeping Da Costa at bay, as he had made a great restart and was pressuring the Dragon Racing machine. He was soon passed by Prost, who made an undercut on lap 9 into turn 4, and he was up into third place, and it was a Renault 1-3. Duval then managed to cut into Buemi's 2.5s lead when all of a sudden the Renault car slowed out of the hairpin and stopped on track, and dropped way down the order. At the same time, Prost dived into the pits as he was suffering with a temperature issue, and Buemi had managed to get going again and came into the pits as well to change cars. Both got back out on track fairly quickly, however they had to energy save like crazy stay in the race as they had both swapped cars a lot earlier than was originally planned.

Di Grassi closes in on Prost after the Renault car's issues

Things were now really starting to kick off.  With Buemi and Prost out of the picture, Duval now lead from Da Costa and Di Grassi and a few laps later the leading trio came into the pits with Robin Frijns an amazing fifth, the Amlin Andretti car running last years powertrain like the Aguri. He stayed out one more lap as the others went in, but it was disastrous stop for Duval. His pitstop was six seconds longer than Da Costa's and Di Grassi, and now Da Costa was in the net lead of the race, as Prost had somehow managed to come around and take the lead of the race after his force pitstop. His lead was however an illusion as he was saving so much energy just to stay in the race, and after quickly dispatching Da Costa, Di Grassi closed in for the kill.

After passing Prost, Di Grassi left all the carnage behind him

Within a few laps Di Grassi had passed Prost, and soon after Da Costa passed the struggling Frenchman. However shortly after, Da Costa locked up into turn 1 then, when rejoining the track, his car shut down, dropping him to 7th but he managed to get going again, only for the car to stop again and then carry on, this time he managed to keep going for the rest of the race. He was outside the top ten but would finish 6th, thanks to the carnage that was about to unfold upfront. Robin Frijns was now in 5th with Sam Bird ahead in 4th. Both cars then suddenly closed up onto the Dragon of Loic Duval who had ran straight on at turn 1 with a damper problem. Frijns passed him on the run up to the hairpin but carried to much speed into the corner and smacked into the wall, damaging the right rear suspension, and then knocking the front wing of the car slightly on the back of the limping Duval, as Sam Bird passed both and was up into 3rd. Frijns though incredibly carried on, ahead of Sarrazin who had stormed to 5th place. Then on the last lap, d'Ambrosio, who had passed Prost for 3rd earlier on, and then his team-mate after his damper issue, wacked his right rear suspension against the wall at turn 7, taking himself out of the race, elevating Bird to 2nd and Frijns to an incredible 3rd place!

Di Grassi celebrates the win after an incredibly crazy race

In all the carnage, Nico Prost ran straight on at turn five and Sebastian Buemi stopped on track AGAIN, to cap a horrible day for the Renault team. Ahead of it all, Lucas Di Grassi must have been incredibly relieved, as he took his second career victory in Formula E and moved to the top of the drivers standings comfortably, and Abt took a comfortable lead in the teams championship as well. By all rights, Di Grassi should have three wins to his name, after being excluded from a brilliant drive in Berlin last year due to an issue with the front wing of the car. Abt had the pace to challenge Renault in Malaysia, despite Di Grassi's 6th place on the grid in qualifying, Virgin got the podium there car is capable of getting after a tough Beijing and start to the race in Putrajaya, and Frijns crabbed his way to an amazing podium, in a car with a year old power train! A podium spot that by all rights however, should have been Da Costa',s but both put in stunning drives. The next round is in Punta Del Este in Uruguay on December the 19th. After two amazing opening rounds, what can Uruguay deliver? If only we didn't have to wait more than a month to find out...

Sam Bird, Lucas Di Grassi and Robin Frijns spray the champagne on the podium

All images copyright of the FIA Formula E Championship

An F1 round up and an apology

I'm back! First of all I would like to apologize to you all for not blogging in a very long time. A lot has gone on in my personal life and having recently started back at college I have not had the time or energy to blog, but now I do and I think its only right I tell you what you can expect from me. I will soon be publishing reviews of the IndyCar and DTM seasons, and a review of the MotoGP season after this weekends finale in Valencia has finished. A review of the WEC season will follow after next weekends Bahrain Finale.  As well as this, I will be writing up a report on the Beijing and Malaysia Formula E. First of all though I am going to sum up the 2015 F1 season as it stands with two rounds left. I am only doing this as the championship is over, and with 17 of the 19 races done and dusted with there is plenty to talk about...

This season has really been all about Mercedes (again) and their continuing dominance of the sport. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have won 16 out of the 19 races so far this season, with 12 of those victories going to Hamilton, who this year has been phenomenal, surely the best season of his career to date. His off track lifestyle and persona has divided opinion, but on track he has let his driving do the talking. This more often than not has rattled the cage of Nico Rosberg, who is still a fast driver, and has had some great drives himself this year, such as in Austria, getting the jump on Lewis into turn 1 and controlling the race thereafter, and recently in Mexico, on it from Friday to Sunday, taking pole, fastest lap and the race win, his first 'triple crown' in a race.

However, Rosberg's qualifying form has tailored off dramatically, after taking 11 pole positions last year, he currently sits on 5. Nico claims this is down to focusing more on race pace but that hasn't really been there either this year. Recently, he has started to look more like the real Nico Rosberg. Four poles in a row seemingly showing he has recovered his qualifying form and an assured drive to victory in Mexico. Austin by all rights was his. He took pole and despite dropping to fifth at turn 1, he muscled his way into the lead and even passed Hamilton very decisively on track. However, he made a mistake with just a handful of laps to go and handed victory and the title to Hamilton. Rosberg should also have won in Russia but for a throttle damper failure, and a loss of power off the start line in Japan and a shove off the track by Hamilton lost him another potential victory. If Rosberg though can carry on his Mexican form and win the last two races, it does indeed bode well for 2016. With the title over, perhaps Nico now feels more at ease with his racing?

Hamilton though has been sensational, dominating not just his team-mate but the entire season, wrapping up the championship with three races still to go. Mercedes themselves have improved, the W06 more reliable the W05 and a more complete package than the already amazing W05 from 2014. This year, the Silver Arrows have been incredible, and have had no competition at all from the rest of the field...that is except, from Ferrari.

Ferrari had a horrific 2014. Two podiums, neither of them wins, three team principals in the same year, star driver Fernando Alonso leaving for McLaren-Honda, sackings galore and Luca Di Montezemolo stepping down as president, no one expected them to have such a good year that they have had in 2015. Yes, they aren't yet on Mercedes level but they have been the second fastest team all year and Sebastian Vettel is now the man we saw prior to last year. Happy, smiling, cheerful, full of humor and on track, fast and consistent and showing all the skill we saw from him at Red Bull in his championship winning years. He won the second race of the year with great tyre management and a incredible race pace, grabbed an opportunity in Hungary with both hands to take the win when Mercedes fluffed their starts, and dominated qualifying and the race in Singapore, taking the first non Mercedes powered pole position of the hybrid era and taking a brilliant win whilst leading ever single lap, although he didn't get his customary fastest lap on that day, his old team-mate Daniel Ricciardo robbing him of that one! Ferrari themselves have made significant strides with the car, the SF15-T is much better than the F14-T, and with a vastly improved power unit and hybrid system they have made huge strides this season. 

The only slight blot for them has really been the man in the other car. Kimi Raikkonen is a much better driver this year, but has scored less than half the points of Vettel. He hasn't won a race, despite the car being capable of doing so, and has scored only two podiums. The first was in Bahrain, and a fantastic strategic drive gave him second place, and nearly the win with both Mercedes suffering brake by wire failures in the closing stages. The second came in Singapore with third place but he was no match for his team-mate on that day, and couldn't pass the Renault powered Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo either. At times he was two seconds a lap slower than his team-mate. Kimi is staying on in 2016, as Ferrari really could do with some continuity for once as they continue to rebuild themselves and aim to challenge the Silver Arrows in 2016. Beyond that though, it is unclear where Raikkonens future lies. He see's himself as a contender for the title next year as long as the car is quick enough to allow him to do so. If he doesn't step up another gear though, 2016 could well be Kimi Raikkonens swansong in Formula 1.

Whilst 2015 has been better than expected for Ferrari this year, it has been somewhat disappointing for Williams. They lie third place again in the constructors in a bit of a no mans land, safe from the under-powered Red Bull team behind them but nowhere near Ferrari in front of them. Whilst being third with a much smaller budget than the teams they are around is a feat the team can again be proud of, they had much higher expectations going into this year. In pre-season testing, both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were singing the praises of the FW37, identifying it as a much better car than the brilliant FW36 from 2014 and the team were hopeful of challenging Mercedes for victories whenever the opportunity arose. Overall yes, the car may be better to drive, but they have slipped behind Ferrari and only have four podium finishes to their name this year. 

At this time last year, they had 7 podiums and a pole position and were easily the second fastest team on the grid. It isn't a huge difference but with Ferrari jumping ahead of them the podium has been harder to reach. However, a podium was lost in Russia after Raikkonen made a ridiculous dive bombing move on Bottas on the last lap of the race and a potential victory was lost at Silverstone as well after both cars made lightning starts. The car though is still atrocious in the wet and the team have even set up a 'Wet Weather Working Group' to try and find out why.. However, they are again consistent podium challengers and would appear to be finally rebuilding and heading in the right direction, after several ups and downs in recent years. Felipe Massa is driving brilliantly and pushing Valtteri Bottas hard, who himself is driving fantastically and made some fantastic overtaking moves this year, most notably on Perez in Russia before he was clouted by Raikkonen and despite having fewer podiums than last year, they have still scored more points than they did last season. So even though its not been what they expected, Williams can still smile and be proud of where they are and where they are heading. Third place two years in a row, and the first time they have achieved this since the early 2000's. Now we will have to wait and see if the team can go one step further in 2016, and challenge Ferrari and Mercedes for race victories. 

If 2015 has been a disappointment for Williams, then it has been a disaster for Red Bull. Engine supplier Renault has struggled since the start of the hybrid era, but last year still took three victories with Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull finished a solid second in the constructors championship, with Ricciardo 'best of the rest' behind the Mercedes duo in the drivers standings. After an awful pre-season it was a good recovery, and a lot of people expected them to be once again in the mix around the top end of the grid, with a potentially thrilling scrap between Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari. The reality couldn't be further from what was predicted, as Red Bull lie fourth in the standings, some distance behind Williams and with only three podium finishes to their name. A win was possible in Austin with the damp track, but once slicks were bolted onto the cars the Red Bull's pace dropped, Ricciardo finishing 10th after a collision with Nico Hulkenburg and Danill Kvyat crashing out into the last corners. With the team still without an engine supplier for next year (although latest reports are that this is sorted, the team to run unbranded Renault engines) the future for Red Bull, and indeed Toro Rosso, is in doubt.

The public spat between the team and Renault has not helped them in the slightest. Had the team handled things less publicly and more civilized, perhaps the whole mess they are in now might not have happened. The jobs of many people are hanging in the balance and four drives careers could well be over before they have had a chance to begin. Verstappen and Sainz have excelled at the junior Toro Rosso team and Ricciardo and Kvyat have had some strong races too, Kvyat's drive to fourth in Mexico very impressive and he was unlucky that the safety car late in the race handed a podium to Bottas' Williams. Formula 1 cannot afford to lose two teams and four drivers. Lets hope this whole mess gets sorted out soon.

The midfield has been full of action all year, and the fight for fifth place in the constructors championship has largely been between Lotus and Force India. Force India arrived late to the party pre-season and only debuted the full 2015 car at Silverstone, race 9 of the championship, but they had scored solid points before then and since the full VJM08 was launched the team have been in the points at nearly every race since. The car has performed brilliantly and so have Nico Hulkenburg and Sergio Perez, Hulkenburg having a great mid-season after winning the Le Mans 24 Hours with Porsche, and Perez starting to really showcase his driving talents, and taking a podium for the team in Russia after the Bottas and Raikkonen and collision. If the team finish in 5th place it will be their highest ever position in the constructors table.

With Force India looking to be safely in fifth place, behind them is a great battle for sixth place between Lotus and Toro Rosso. Recently Toro Rosso have scored heavy points when Lotus haven't, the Italian team taking a fine 4th and 7th place finish at Austin recently and getting both cars into the points again in Mexico, with the team now just six points behind Lotus and with potentially their best ever finish in the championship up for grabs. This is despite Lotus scoring a great podium at Spa with Romain Grosjean, but the financial troubles the team have faced this year has rather stalled development of the E23. With Renault close to purchasing the team, 2016 should be much better for the Enstone gang. Lotus had an awful 2014 and have recovered solidly this year as have Sauber, lying in 8th place in the standings. The car, basically an upgraded 2014 car with the new Ferrari power unit is much improved and Felipe Nasr took a brilliant 5th place in Melbourne at the start of the year and took a strong 6th in Russia, with Marcus Ericsson bringing in more points for the team. It must feel surreal for them right now, because right now, Sauber are ahead of McLaren....

McLaren's renewed partnership with Honda promised so much but has produced so little. The team are ninth in the standings, an appalling performance and the revived Manor Marussia squad now has almost as many sponsors as the world championship winning team! Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have let their frustration out at times (Alonso's "GP2 engine!" radio message in Japan being a stand out moment) but both are still keeping the faith that the project will come good, although they will have to wait until next year to see if that happens. The issue has been the ERS system, whilst the ICE has been largely pretty good. Surely it can only get better for McLaren?

Having survived administration, this year was always going to be one of rebuilding for the former Marussia squad, now Manor F1. They have soldiered on with last years car and Ferrari engine and have secured a deal to run brand new Mercedes power units from next year onwards, and with a brand new chassis as well as a technial deal with Williams. However, the passing of Jules Bianchi affected everyone in the team, and arguments between new owner Steven Fitzpatrick and Graeme Lowdon and John Booth would appear to be resulting in the latter two leaving the team at the end of the year. Bob Bell has already left, and is now heading back to Enstone. Will Stevens, Alexander Rossi and Roberto Merhi have all done solid jobs behind the wheel and the safe bet would be on Rossi and Stevens driving the team next season, although new DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein is also in contention. With Lowdon and Booth leaving however, not long after things were starting to look quite good for Manor, things might not end up being so great heading into 2016.

With the championship over and just two races left, the teams will be battling out as hard as they can to finish the season on a high. This year, it has all been about Mercedes and Hamilton...can Ferrari, Williams or anyone else challenge them next year? Unfortunately for us, it will be a long wait to find out!