The Finale

The Formula One season comes to an end this weekend, after Mercedes-Benz AMG Petronas wrapping up the constructors championship in Brazil and Lewis Hamilton, the drivers world championship the race before in Mexico, many wouldn't see the point in this race but you're wrong. With Abu Dhabi being a dead rubber race for most of the last few seasons, it still pulls out all the stops to make sure it's worthy of the season that passed. Having attended one myself, I'd rate it as a must if you're an enthusiast of the sport. It gives you the opportunity to visit a world class track, unlike any other, the glitz, the glamour attached to F1 just escalates in the Emirates, with the track being on an island, the yacht's  all docked along side it, the majestic Yas Viceroy Hotel hovering over the track and of course the fireworks. 

But with every final race of the season comes some sad goodbyes, with drivers changing teams and some drivers bidding farewell to the sport. This year see's one of the greats retire from the sport, a two-time world champion and often one of the unluckiest drivers in the field, Fernando Alonso. His 17 year career in the sport which started for him in 2001 at Minardi wasn't all doom and gloom though with him securing 32 wins, 97 podiums and over 20 pole positions. The Spaniard fort many a great driver in his time, while having stints at Minardi, Ferrari and Mclaren but it was at Renault where he truly flourished winning back to back titles in 2005 and 2006 under the guidance of Flavio Briatore. He will be sorely missed in the sport but after clinching a LeMan's winners medal last year with Toyota Gazoo Racing, he has his eyes set on claiming the triple with a win at Indy 500 in sight. His attempt last year was flawless from his side but as per usual in his career of late, the car let him down. 

There will be many drivers changing seats in next years Formula One season, the big one would be the straight swap between Ferrari and the Alfa Romero - Sauber F1 team, which see's youngster Charles Leclerc and Kimi Raikkonen change over. Much has been spoken about the young french man this season. While we still haven't seen his full potential, Ferrari will expect big things from this talent, after the disappointment of the last two seasons, the Italian team will have a point to prove with them bolstering their line up for next year. As for the Iceman, many breathed a sigh of relief to hear he will be staying in the sport and not hanging up his drivers gloves just yet. The often controversial Fin has been a bit more vocal this year, showing more emotion and jovial-ness on racing weekends. It really looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself out there and to his credit performed damn well, I'm sure much more than what his team expected him to do on certain occasions. It will be interesting to see how he goes about his business at Sauber but either way, we're glad his still apart of the sport. 

The other big name move was Daniel Ricciardo leaving Red Bull Racing to join Renault, the Aussie didn't have the best of seasons and with his high profile clashes with his team mate Max Verstappen during races, that didn't help his morale at all. Red Bull seem to be backing the young Dutchmen who has shown some great potential but often has brain farts at crucial times in races. If Christian Horner can set his head straight, he will be a proper contender next year. Once the fireworks have disappeared from the nights sky in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night, it's a long wait till the lights go out in Melbourne next year March, so lets just soak it all in this weekend and enjoy the season finale. 

Formula One - First half complete

The teams and drivers have now gone on their summer holidays, a mandatory break forced into the F1 Calendar so members of formula one have a summer break. It's in essence a 2 week break from all track activities but spans over 3 weeks with 1 week for testing and preparations. The break splits the season into two halves so to speak and with the first half now completed after last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, this years title and constructors race is proving to be a lot more riveting than expected. 

While being a massive fan of the Italian team, I didn't expect Ferrari to be as competitive as they have proven to be this season. They were ruthless and dominant in Hungary, a race that drivers title hopeful Sebastian Vettel had to win to ensure he extends his lead in the championship after it his points gap was reduced to just 1 after the Silverstone Grand Prix which saw his title rival, Lewis Hamilton finish in first place. At the beginning of the season I picked Ferrari to surprise everyone and win the Melbourne race, that victory went on to spur a great revival of this F1 team and ignited a spirit that was last season when Schumacher was in the team. They brought the fight right to Mercedes who had a relatively easy last two years in F1 and one that was much needed to make the sport interesting for viewership. 

That's not to say Mercedes have been poor this season, their number one man Lewis Hamilton has a point to prove after losing out to his team mate last year in the drivers championship. While the team won't admit it, after Nico Rosberg's departure and the addition of Bottas, Lewis is very much their number 1 driver, as was proved on Sunday when Bottas allowed Lewis through to try and catch the Ferrari's but was unsuccessful and valiantly gave back the position just before the race was over. Merc will head into this break scratching their heads on what they can do to catch the red team and make a surge in the second half of the season. They're not far off but there is many factors that play its part. Tyres being a big one with the last few races seeing a lot of drivers getting punctures and blisters. 

While the other teams do make up the pack, it's been interesting to watching them fight it out for the remaining points places. Red Bull Racing have had a decent few races which saw them get onto the podium a few times. Their drivers are young and hungry, maybe just a bit too hungry as proved on Sunday with Max driving into Ricciardo on the first lap. Reliability also played its part at their home race in Austria, hopefully they can sort out those niggles and salvage their season when the break is over. There will be plenty of fight in the back as well, with Mclaren surprising in Hungary, who knows what could happen, would love to see Alonso get up on that podium at least once this year, it is a long shot but you never know what could happen. 

F1 2017

The first free practice sessions got under way early this morning in Melbourne and with it ushers in the new Formula One season. Many enthusiasts were waiting for this day ever since the checkered flag was waved in Abu Dhabi last year, I was one of them. While some were a bit disappointed by the dominance of the Mercedes team last year, I thought the drivers battle for the championship between Lewis and Nico was pretty intense and made for fascinating viewing. Both drivers had their own style and brought 110% to every race, and while there was no love lost for most of the season, in the end even when the German managed to pip his team mate, they both displayed great sportsmanship. That for me is what racing is all about. 

There is a reason F1 is one of the most richest sports in the world, the glamour attached to it will never fade, it is the rock-star in the sporting world and will remain so in the foreseeable future even with the sale of it late last year which saw long time CEO of the FIA, Bernie Ecclestone relinquish his title. Even though he was loathed by many, Bernie was the man that put F1 back on the map and gave it the prestige it deserved and while there were many controversial moments in his tenure, and boy were there a lot, there is no denying he played a pivotal role in the sport. 

Getting back to the action this year, one still feels that the rest of the teams have a lot catch up to play to the Silver Arrows, but while some teams may still be just shy off the pace, it doesn't mean they won't play a major role in being deciders this year. Ferrari is one of the teams that invested a lot of time during the off season to get their car ready for the start of this one, unlike last year where they were left scratching their heads and went back to the drawing board after the first few races. With the hungry German, Sebastian Vettel still unofficially leading the way for the Italian team, you can be sure that the fight is very well on with the leaders. The ever charismatic Kimi Raikkonen doesn't really care what number driver he is, he just gets the job done and prefers not to be disturbed while doing it. It's a solid partnership that should collect a handy amount of points for Scuderia Ferrari.

The next real team I see challenging has to be Red Bull Racing, for so long they were the leaders in recent season with Vettel leading the way to back to back championships for the team you can't help feel that their bubble of bad luck is waiting to pop. With the Aussie driver Daniel Ricciardo leading from the front, he will want to make a mark at his home GP this weekend. His co driver Max Verstappen isn't too shabby either with him taking his first win last season and showing he has what it takes to handle the pressure and get the results. So far in the free practice it was RBR that showed the most resilience against Mercedes so this weekend will be interesting. 

While the other teams are a lot to discuss, they aren't there to merely make up the numbers. There's been some good improvements in most of the teams and some great drivers that are making their mark with them as well as some experienced drivers. Williams see's Felipe Massa return in what must be the shortest retirement ever recorded and Fernando Alonso is back to try and propel Mclaren Honda back to the top where they once were so used to being. With new aerodynamics and engine changes to the cars, as well as bigger tyres, this should make for more  over takings and closer racing for the lower lying teams which will have a major impact this years championship. So you can be sure that the pink Force India car isn't the most exciting thing on the track. 

Coming back to the title favourites, while I want to believe Ferrari and RedBull have managed to close the gap, early indications still say that the Germans are quite ahead of the pack and with Lewis Hamilton bitter for losing out on his 4th title last year, he will be ready for it this year. They have a strong team and with their new driver Valterri Bottas on board, he should be the perfect number two man to assist Lewis in his quest this year. While I say they are favourites, the first race of the season has always been tricky for them with a surprise winner most of the time. So I'm going again with that scenario and hoping Lewis is right and backing Ferrari to take home the first win of the 2017 Formula One race calendar. 

Red Boo Kid

Disclaimer: I am a die hard Ferrari fan so do not take the points in this post personally, its all tongue and cheek and my opinion as well as theory into the matter at hand.

This weekend saw one of my favourite rounds in the Formula One season, the Singapore Grand Prix. Besides it being another breathtaking street circuit, what makes it really unique is that the race takes place at night! Being in the electrical engineering industry, to see so many 1000 watts of light being sprayed onto a circuit to mimic daylight is extraordinary to say the least, I would hate to know the electricity bill for it though!

The race was eventually won by the German kid, Sebastian Vettel, he started on pole, made a good get away at the start and was a pretty straight forward race for him till the end. Now after the race, during the interviews he got a lot of boo's from the crowd, I personally hate people who boo at any sporting event, be it football, rugby or in this case, formula one. Why? It's childish, stupid and end of the day shows your level of intelligence of the sport. There's a few theories as to why the crowd were booing Vettel, the most obvious being that he is making the sport boring again, by winning all the damn time, many compare him to Schumacher in his era of dominance with Ferrari. 

That's a bullshit comparison for me, Schumacher was a legendary driver and has been included as on of the greats, sure Vettel seems to be on track to win his 4th driving championship title but is he great? I don't think so, he is good and has a great car, his closest rival Fernando Alonso, he is great but has a good car. That for me is the vital difference between the two this season. If the Spaniard was given a car with more pace, it could be a different scenario altogether. Getting back to the boo's, this wasn't the first race he has been booed on the podium, in fact it's been sort of a trend over the last few races. Seb even joked and said they have a bus for them that goes around to all the different races, like I said it most likely is down to the dominance of Vettel but I have another theory...

The boo's only start when he is on the podium and particularly when he is given the microphone to speak, that there is clear enough evidence for me. The bastard can't shut the fuck up! Seriously, they ask him one question and he rattles on like he is reciting the bible from front to back and back to front! He loves the sound of his own voice, don't believe me? Next time he is interviewed, be it a drivers briefing, after qualifying or after the race, they'll ask him a question and he'll go on and on and on. I'd hate to know what a normal conversation would be like with him, 'hey Seb, how ya doing?' - Seb: "Ya I'm good, its been a good day so far, woke up, brushed my teeth, went and made a stinky poo, showered, tried to comb my steel wool hair, then ate some breakfast, phoned Mark to tell him what a loser he is..." bla bla bla shut the hell up!

It's obvious to me the crowd hate hearing him go on and on in that mind numbing German accent of his, rambling on shit that no one gives a damn about! When Alonso's name is mentioned, they cheer because he is precise, to the point and tells everyone what they want to hear, let alone he is a the greatest driver in the current season. They love nothing more to see him on the podium and address them like they're meant to be spoken to in that flawless Spanish accent. Heck, they rather listen to an emotionless Kimi for 2 hours than hear that big headed kid utter his nonsense. The guy has got to realise that in getting to the the top there has to be some sort of humility that goes with it or in his case, you're not the only one on the podium that's going to speak!

Other than that, take nothing away from the guy, as much as I said he has a great car, which he does, he has to be a good driver to get it in that winning position. Time will tell if he will be a great driver and be included into F1's hall of fame. Many of you would have read this and think what an arrogant Ferrari fan to speak so highly of Alonso, firstly, yes I am arrogant but I want you to go back to last season and compare the RBR to the Ferrari, I'd say the Red Bull was at least 8 seconds faster than the Ferrari, it may not seem like much but in F1 is a shit load and for Alonso come so close to the title with such a slow car just shows you his quality.

Coming back to this weekends race, that Asstralian who nearly punched his chatter box partners lights out at the Malaysian GP had an engine problem on the last lap of the race which caused his car to burst into flames. Alonso being the saint and saviour he is gave Webber a ride back on his car to parc feme. It's been done loads of times in the past but for some reason FIA chose to reprimand both drivers for the stunt and Webber will serve a 10 place penalty at the next race. Fair enough Alonso could have stopped in a better place on the side but nothing serious came of it and I doubt we going to see these sorts of things happen often in a race. Sometimes the FIA need to take a chill pill.