Chinese GP: Highs and lows

The Chinese Grand Prix wasn't very exciting. Anything but, really, with the only fact that it was the 1000th Grand Prix for the World Championship to be exciting. Still, there are a few highs and lows to be noted from the third race of the season.

Highs:
-Mercedes:
What a recovery from Mercedes. Ferrari seemed to be extremely quick on the Friday, but on the 2 days when it mattered, Mercedes led the way and Ferrari just seemed to have lost out again. Ferrari does not seem to have the pace in most cases and reliability-wise, there is something not going properly. Leclerc being hit by problems in Bahrain and Giovinazzi hit the same kind of problems in the qualifying for the Chinese GP.

-Gasly:
Yes, he may still have been far off the pace in comparison with Verstappen, but he did at least grab a couple of points for the team in P6 and scored the extra point for fastest lap, meaning those 3 points are now equally divided by the top 3 teams. I sincerely hope he can gain confidence with this result, as I do believe his lack of pace partially comes from the lack of confidence. He had 2 incidents during testing, which doesn't help in that concern, so let's hope he can get closer to Max the next few races and show his true potential. He has some great potential and he should be able to showcase it in the Red Bull.

-Räikkönen:
Another solid weekend from Kimi Räikkönen. He did not manage to qualify in the top 10, but on race pace, he did manage to score another few points and sits in P7 in the championship. There seems to be no wear on his skills, something I wasn't too sure about, but his performances during the first 3 races have been top class, especially noting that Giovinazzi has yet to score his first points.

-Albon:
A stupid mistake could have cost a lot for Albon, but a sensational drive on Sunday gave him P10 and 1 extra point. It was a strong race from Alexander, which is remarkable, as he should have been in Formula E by now, instead of driving for Toro Rosso. He is definitely one of the highlights of the season so far, with 2 point-scoring finishes so far. I do still expect him to have a little dorp in performance every now and then, but that is to be expected from a rookie.


Lows:
-Williams:
Nothing to say here, really, apart from again being over a second slower than any other car. Let's hope they can gain some time on the track soon, otherwise this really is a wasted season for the team and in that case, it may be rewarding to put their focus onto the next year and make sure they won't repeat the same mistakes they did this season. A second per lap is just a lit to make up and I'm not so sure they can, especially if others do improve as well.

-Haas:
How about Haas? It haas to be a disappointing weekend for Haas. They did qualify for Q3, but did not manage to put any lap time in due to all the cars being clustered in the final sector, also resulting in the Red Bulls not making their second run. It's easy to blame others, but in this case, I feel like both teams got it over themselves with extremely tight timing and perhaps a bit unlucky with cars ahead slowing down, but in the end, there is 12 minutes in the session to put in a time and even though the track is faster later on, I don't expect the track to be that much faster to stay in early on and hope you can put in 1 lap. But the biggest disappointment was the race, in which they really dropped down the order, out of the points, and so they left the Chinese GP without points in the bag.

-McLaren:
China was also a big let down for McLaren. No McLaren in Q3 for the first time this season and both Lando and Carlos involved in an incident with Daniil Kvyat, resulting in big time loss and a race to forget for the team. That was a shame, although I did not expect them to score any points this weekend after their disappointing qualifying.

-Ferrari's management:
How must Charles Leclerc feel after all that happened during the race? He was ordered to let Sebastian Vettel by, who wasn't that much faster, and having to stay out to slow down Valtteri Bottas for Vettel. I do understand it in a way, Vettel is the more experienced of the 2 drivers, but Charles has impressed a lot more throughout the first 3 events, whereas Vettel just hasn't. Lost his podium finish in Australia to Max Verstappen, did a lot of pain to his race in Bahrain by spinning and with that eventually damaging his front wing. The team order felt so awkward, as Charles told the team he was about to pull away. If Sebastian has a few more incidents early on in the season, I'd say it's wise to support Leclerc in a possible bid for the World Championship. Sebastian has shown last year he isn't capable of handling the pressure of a title bid, having quite a few incidents whereas I can't recall that many of Hamilton, if any.

F1 2019: 5 things I expect to happen this season

It's February, the month in which the new F1 season will start. Teams will uncover their new cars, testing will get underway in Barcelona and a couple of rookie drivers will make their debut. Looking forward to the upcoming season, these are 5 things I'm expecting to happen in 2019.

The fight between Mercedes and Ferrari to continue

One of the best things that happened in 2018, was the competition between Mercedes and Ferrari. Ferrari eventually lost that battle, but I have high hopes they will show they've learned from 2018 to improve their 2019 campaign. Promoting Binotto to lead the team could prove to be a good thing, although I'm cautious to say he's the missing link for success.

Also, I believe that replacing Räikkönen with Leclerc might help Vettel in the long run. Apart from a few moments last season (like Kimi's victory in Austin), he could not match Sebastian. I do think Charles can be a better match for Sebastian and hopefully it will trigger Sebastian to perform better (and more important: more consistent). Especially on consistency Sebastian has to improve massively to mount a title challenge in 2019: His mistakes in 2018 has cost him many points, which made it easier for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton to take both titles.

Honda to surpass Renault as third-best power unit (if not already)

2019 will be of great importance for Honda. For the first time since their comeback in 2015, they will be providing power units to 2 teams: Red Bull and Toro Rosso. This will mean they will be able to collect twice the data for development and upgrading, which is a massive advantage over the last couple of seasons.

I don't expect them to be up the field early on, but I do expect them to improve quite a lot throughout the year and will pass Renault as the third-best power unit, if not already. Renault has been down on both upgrading their power unit and the reliability of it, which will cost them this year (with also losing 1 customer team with Red Bull). Reliability-wise Honda seemed on the right way last year, although there were some moments it's still lacked of reliability. Also, they stayed with the same concept for their power unit, whereas they changed it completely after their first 2 seasons.

Kubica to underperform in 2019

One of the biggest surprises in the driver market, is the comeback of Robert Kubica with Williams. And even though I do sincerely hope he will perform better than teammate Russell, I don't expect it to happen. I'm quite sure his right arm will be a too-big-of-a-deal in F1, especially in race conditions with 1,5 hour races. I'm curious to see how he will handle tracks like Monaco and Singapore, both challenging for any drivers.

The movement in his right hand is extremely limited, which will be difficult to work around for him and the team. I do believe Kubica could be of value for the team and rookie Russell, but not in the role presented to him for 2019. I'd rather see him as driver coach for Russell and see him do simulator duties for the team. I hope he proves my wrong.

The rookies will show their potential

2019 will be the year of the talented rookies. 3 graduates from the F2 is just massive, with George Russell (Williams, loaned out), Lando Norris (McLaren) and Alexander Albon (Toro Rosso). And a possible 4th rookie, if you would count Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) as rookie.

I have the most expectations from George Russell, even though it's hard to prove yourself in a boat like the Williams car last year. Let's hope for him they will be able to do much better this year and give him the tools to show his potential. I also believe Lando Norris can be a F1 driver for many years to come, although he did get beaten by Russell in F2 last year. I'm not 100% sure about both Giovinazzi and Albon though. Giovinazzi showed great skill in Australia 2017, substituting for Wehrlein in a car he was unfamiliar with. But whereas he impressed me there, he far from did in China, where he had 2 almost identical incidents on the start/finish straight.

A great battle in midfield again

Something I'm looking forward to even more, is the potential battle in the midfield. It was one of the most exciting things in 2018 and I expect even more competition between these teams. Racing Point is financially stable, Sauber has Räikkönen to help develop the car even more, Haas with a title sponsor, McLaren got a new team boss and Williams has attracted a experienced and a talented driver.

Also, I do expect Renault to be able to break away from that midfield and getting closer to the top 3. Although i'm not sure Renault can actually reach those 3, getting closer should make it easier for them to close the gap entirely in 2020. I believe recruiting Ricciardo for Sainz Jr. is a good thing, as Ricciardo is way more experienced and overall just a better driver to have.



All these things could suggest a great year is coming. What are your expectations of the upcoming season?

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.