F1 2017: Australia GP Review

The first race of the 'new' Formula 1. New regulations came in and made sure that the order was changed only slightly. Who came out as winners of the race and who were the losers of todays race?

Winners:

Sebastian Vettel:

A very strong performance by the German, staying within striking distance of Lewis during the first stint. He could take advantage of Lewis stuck behind Max Verstappen and managed to create a good gap over the few laps that he could drive away of the pair. After Max made his stop, Sebastian still managed to drive away a bit, making sure he could take traffic in a fast way. A very solid drive, no real errors or complains on the radio. A class drive from him and the Ferrari team. 

Antonio Giovinazzi:

Alright, he did not score points or performed anything special, but the way he managed to do his job and be quite competitive with it, shows his true talent that he has. He hopped in as replacement for Wehrlein on Saturday and he was close to Ericsson, with the lack of knowledge of car and track. He did not take any risks in the opening laps and was very easy on the blue flags, but I did not expect anything different from someone who joined during the weekend.

McLaren-Honda:

Again, they did not score points whatsoever. But the fact they were able to run almost the entire race with both cars showed some huge improvements over the weekend compared to the 2 test weeks in Spain. Fernando was around the point-scoring positions for most of the race, Vandoorne had some issues during his first pitstop in which he lost much time. And even though I am still very careful with predicting the progress for McLaren, I'm pleased to see some reliability improvements; To finish first, you first have to finish ;)

Losers:

Daniel Ricciardo:

Made a mistake during qualifying, spinning off in Q3. Has issues driving towards the grid for his homerace, which he eventually started 2 laps down on the field. But that wasn't all his bad luck: He eventually had to retire the car and that way, his awful afternoon became even worst. A bad way to start the new season for him.

Kevin Magnussen:

The new Haas F1 recruit showed some decent things during the winter testing, but showed perfectly why I am still sceptical about him in Formula 1. He hasn't shown it that often, with a podium finish in his first race as best result so far. He needs to show his talent this year, otherwise it may be his last season in Formula 1.

Force India released Nico Hülkenberg, confirmed by Renault F1! [UPDATE]

What seemed to just be a rumor for the last couple of days, have now been confirmed by Force India on Twitter: Nico Hülkenberg is released by Force India. After a 3-year-stint with the team, Nico is going for a new challenge. 

What seemed to be a suspicious tweet from Nico Hülkenberg about a Borussia Dortmund match, now may be more likely a tweet about his future. A future that seems to be with Renault F1, his first true factory team. After Williams, Force India and Sauber, this is his fourth different team he will be part of.

The rumor started during the weekend of the Japanese GP, in which the story was that Nico wasn't paid salary for a couple of months. One of the stakeholders, Dutchman Michiel Mol, could not confirm or deny any part of the story, as he stated in the dutch show F1 Fans Only following the Japanese GP. He was not informed about this situation or could not talk about it.

Though the signing still has to be confirmed, it's more than likely. Any other topteam is not in need of a new driver, whereas Mercedes GP, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren are all set in terms of 2017 line up. Williams Martini Racing is in need for drivers, but does not seem to be a better team at the moment. Renault doesn't seem as well, but has the financial backing to develop towards the front of the field and has stated to have a long-term project on it's hands.

[Update] Renault has officially confirmed that Nico Hülkenberg will join them from 2017 onwards. The deal is for multiple years. Good luck to Nico in this new challenge!!

F1 2016: Japanese GP

The Japanese GP: The only one going around in a 8-figure. A challenging 8-figure. A grand prix with a lot of history: The immense battles between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the bold moves from respectively Alonso on Schumacher and Räikkönen on Fisichella, both in 2005. But the most recent happening might be 2014, sadly enough. The horrible accident with Jules Bianchi, eventual leading in is death, is still a black page for this event. But enough of the history, let's review the highs and lows in terms of driver performances of this years Japanese GP.

Also, in this way, I'd like to congratulate Mercedes with the 3rd consecutive constructors title. Though we all expected it for so long, it's still a massive achievement to do it.

Winners:

Max Verstappen:

Source: Click here

Again voted as Driver of the Day, he was eventually the only one who managed to stay close within the both Mercedes drivers and even managed to stay ahead of Lewis Hamilton, to finish 2nd for the second race in succession. He is now also ahead of Vettel in the world championship standing, perhaps the biggest surprise for now. His defensive line in the second-to-last lap on Hamilton was a bit on the edge, but Lewis wasn't on his inside yet and he would probably not have made the corner anyway. The battle with Lewis also showed how intelligent he is in his racing: He used lots of energy onto the straight, getting away enough to keep Lewis at bay every time he got this DRS. The clever usage of it is the demonstration of what he is capable of.

Williams Martini Racing:

They took the gamble to start on the Medium tire and it eventually worked out, sort of. A longer first stint gave them a little edge over the others, which paid out with a double points finish with P9 and P10. I do believe that finishing fourth in the constructors is still possible, although they do need to raise the game for the last 4 races of 2016 to overhaul Force India. The gap is only 10 points, but in the current situation Force India seems to be in a stronger position. 

Losers:

Mclaren-Honda:

Source: Click here

In the home GP for Honda, Mclaren struggled for race pace. They did not finish close to the points with a P16 and P18 as results. It's a shame, as I felt they were getting close to usual point-scoring positions, but this race showed this might not be the case yet. There is still plenty of work to do for 2017, but they stated that they are ahead with their work for next season. 

Haas F1:

Qualification went great for the both drivers for Haas F1, with both cars in the top 10 qualifying.They could not keep that line up; Grosjean were just behind the 2 Williams drivers in P11, so that wasn't too far away from a single point. But Gutierrez made it even worse: Not even dropping back further, but also a overenthusiastic on Sainz going into the last chicane, leading to a spin and massive time loss. It seems like he is trying his best, but wanting it too much.