Nico Rosberg’s win at the 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix will give his confidence a nice boost going into the title deciding double points bonanza in Abu Dhabi.
Wouldn’t it be the ultimate troll on British F1 fans if Nico could beat Lewis Hamilton to the title with four fewer race wins!
This morning’s 1–2 result for Mercedes AMG at the Brazilian Grand Prix was their eleventh of the year, the best ever in a single season, eclipsing the 10 1–2 results secured by Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna at the wheel of the legendary McLaren MP4/4 in 1988.
In the post-race presser there was a bit of focus on the history made by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Also of note are some of Hamilton’s answers where he’s clearly trying to get into the mind of Rosberg as the pair head into the title deciding final race in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, in what’s probably his worst race weekend all year, Daniel Ricciardo remained philosophical: “When I went into Turn One, the car went to the right and I knew there was a problem. I came into the pits and the team told me it was suspension failure and we retired.
“It had been a bit of a boring race, we were close to everyone but not close enough to have many fights. It’s a shame, but I had a pretty good run until now, so I can’t be too greedy. It would be good to finish on the podium at the final race of the season.”
The full press conference transcript featuring Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa can be read after the break.
[Pic: Sky Sports F1]
Nico Rosberg has kept his title hopes flickering by winning the Brazilian Grand Prix this morning. He was fast all weekend, he started the race from pole and he was fast when it mattered most. Lewis Hamilton was second, of course. It’s the eleventh 1–2 finish for Mercedes AMG this year.
Rosberg’s winning margin was only 1.4 seconds and but for a spin early on Lewis Hamilton might have overtaken Rosberg during the second round of pitstops. As it stands the Brit takes a 17 point lead into the final race, with a maximum of 50 points for first, 36 points available for second and so on.
Felipe Massa’s good late season form continued and he was able to overcome clumsy tyre change and a five second penalty for speeding in pit lane to finish third in his home race. Jenson Button reminded Ron Dennis that he’s actually a pretty handy driver by finishing fourth (five places ahead of his teammate Kevin Magnussen).
Sebastian Vettel made a clunky start, losing two places, but clawed his way back to fifth, finishing ahead of the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. There was a moment late in the race where Alonso was behind Raikkonen and clearly the faster of the two. In the past Ferrari would have paved the way for Alonso to stroll past his teammate, this morning though he was made to earn it. There’s no favours now for the wantaway Spaniard.
Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top 10 in a race that didn’t have any major incidents or excitement it has to be said. If you slept in past your 3am alarm call you didn’t miss much.
Daniel Ricciardo’s race came to an uncustomary early finish on Lap 39 when his front left suspension broke, forcing him into only his second retirement for the year. The other was in Malaysia, where he suffered wing damage late in the race.
In better news for Daniel other results from Sao Paulo mean that he will finish third in the world championship this year; he enjoys a 55 point lead over Sebastian Vettel, who now sits fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas.
The season will reach its climax in two weeks at Abu Dhabi and with Lewis Hamilton’s title chances looking good the bias and focus on his fortunes during the race from the British media and commentary crews will be nigh on unbearable. C’est la vie. Love or hate Lewis, with 10 race wins already to his name, it’s hard to deny him the championship this year.
Before you wake up at ungodly hour to follow the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend here’s your pictorial reminder of what went down in Austin last weekend.
With his tenth win of 2014 Lewis Hamilton became the winningest British driver in Formula 1 (to use the bastardised US vernacular). The 2008 world champ now has 32 career wins, one more than Nigel Mansell.
Here’s what the first three drivers in the United States Grand Prix had to say after this morning’s race. Not surprisingly there were a few questions about the double points coming up in Abu Dhabi. We can expect those questions to increase until the season climax in the middle east.
In some ways the best result in Brazil this weekend would be to see Nico win and Lewis have a retirement. That way the two drivers would go into the final race separated by a single point and the double points novelty is just that, a novelty and not the determining factor in who wins the championship.
Lewis Hamilton has extended his championship lead by winning the United States Grand Prix. With two races left he now enjoys a 24 point lead over his teammate, Nico Rosberg, who finished second in Austin.
Rosberg made a clean getaway from pole and held Hamilton at bay until around one third race distance. Once Hamilton took the lead he had Rosberg’s measure.
Finishing third was Daniel Ricciardo who dropped places after a poor start from P5. He fought his way back up the field through a combination of great on track driving and clean pit stops.
The Williams pairing of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finished fourth and fifth. Ricciardo overtook Massa in the last round of tyre changes and opened up a small but comfortable gap. Massa came back late in the race but couldn’t get past the likeabkle Australian.
Fernando Alonso finished sixth ahead of a fast charging Sebastian Vettel who made a late change for fresh tyres and spiced up the latter part of the race with his charge through the pack. Kevin Magnussen, Jean-Eric Vergne and Pastor Maldonado rounded out the top 10.
Maldonado finished P9 on track but was given a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. He still finished in the points, the first time for him in 2014.
The F1 circus backs up next weekend in Sao Paulo before the double points novelty of Abu Dhabi closes out the season. Of course, that means Rosberg can easily close up that 24 point gap to Hamilton with a good drive or a stroke of luck.
However, Hamilton has won five races in a row now and has 10 wins for the year, compared with Rosberg’s four victories. It would be unjust if Hamilton didn’t win his second world title. And if that proves to be the case won’t the British F1 media mafia let it be known!
The fun has come and gone from the Sochi sun and the Russian Grand Prix passed by without any idiot from the Formula 1 world threatening to “shirtfront” Putin. Which, in some ways, in just as bad as it would have been if some idiot did engage his mouth before his brain.
Anyway, enough of that, let’s just try and enjoy the images from the race. Hopefully, they’re not quite as dull as the on track action ended up.
So after Lewis’ procession to win the 2014 Russian Grand Prix maybe the post-race presser had some spark in it? Something to add a bit of life to the race. Well, don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo explains a little about his tyre performance and some of the challenges he faced in securing P7.
“Starting the race the tyre was already blistered, it had quite a bit from qualifying,” Daniel said. “So it wasn’t looking too healthy and the first stint made it worse; I could see it starting to come apart, so we had to pit quiet early.
“Then on the prime the tyre lasted well and we had good pace and could match Alonso, but couldn’t get past. Congrats to Mercedes—it’s been a dominant season by them, so hats off to them.”
Lewis Hamilton has won the Russian Grand Prix and in doing so has helped the works Mercedes AMG team secure its first ever constructors’ world championship. It’s Hamilton’s ninth win of the season and the second time this year he has won four races in a row. He now has 31 career grands prix victories, which puts him equal with Nigel Mansell.
For all of that though it was a boring race. The only excitment was at the approach to Turn 2 on the opening lap when Nico Rosberg overtook Hamilton for the lead, but in doing so locked up his tyres so badly that he had to pit for new rubber at the end of the lap.
In an illustration of how lifeless this race was Rosberg was then able to complete the race on the tyres he had fitted at the start of Lap 2. That enabled him to claw back every position except the lead and claim yet another Mercedes AMG 1-2 for the year (nine in total so far this season).
Valtteri Bottas continued his good form to finish P3 and ensured the Silver Arrows didn’t have it all their own way by securing the fastest lap of the race on his final tour. Jenson Button came home fourth, ahead of his teammate Kevin Magnussen.
If you’re paying attention you’ll notice the first five cars were Mercedes-powered.
Fernando Alonso was the first non-Mercedes powered driver across the line, hanging on to keep his Ferrari ahead of the Red Bull pairing of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel. Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10.
With three races left, including the double points novelty at Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton has a 17 point lead over Rosberg and seems unstoppable for the drivers’ title. But as we all know, anything can happen in Formula 1 and it usually does.
Let’s hope that is the case, because after tonight’s Russian Grand Prix we need soemthing to wake us all up.
Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole position for the first Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix. Hamilton’s time (1:38.513) was exactly two tenths quicker than teammate Nico Rosberg (1:38.713) who will share the front row.
Valtteri Bottas (1:38.920) was looking good to upset that Mercedes front row until he made a mistake on the final corner. He had to settle for P3 and will have Jenson Button (1:39.121) to his side.
The third row gives us a brief insight into 2015, with Daniil Kvyat (1:39.277) delighting both his Toro Rosso team and the local fans by qualifying fifth. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo (1:39.635) qualified seventh, but inherits P6 thanks to an unscheduled gearbox change from Kevin Magnussen (1:39.629), who drops to P11.
“It’s tough to get a lap together around here,” Daniel said. “For a new track it’s really high in grip but at the same time it’s hard to read the grip; it’s not such a natural feeling that it gives us behind the wheel, but it’s fun and a new challenge.
“We were trying to get the fronts in and get grip out of them and on the last lap I lost the rear. We’re better off than we were yesterday, but I was hoping for more than seventh.”
The top ten is rounded out by Fernando Alonso (1:39.709), Kimi Raikkonen (1:39.771), Jean-Eric Vergne (1:40.020) and Sebastian Vettel (1:40.052). Vettel missed out on Q3, qualifying eleventh, but moves up due to Magnussen’s penalty. Felipe Massa was another unexpected quali casualty, failing to make it out of Q1 after suffering from a fuel pressure problem. He will start from P18.
The drivers have, in general, praised the Sochi circuit. Its high grip and low abrasion mean there is a low level of tyre degradation. It will be an interesting race tonight, make sure you tune in.
Lotus is having a crap year in Formula 1 this year. After being underdog darlings in previous years, now they’re just dogs. Their 2014 got off to a slow start following dramas with the Renault power unit.
They’ll be hoping 2015 is a lot better thanks to a new deal that will see them race with Mercedes power next year. The switch also means dropping Total lubricants in favour of Petronas.
“We are pleased to have been chosen by Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains in a significant long term deal,” said Matthew Carter, CEO, Lotus F1 Team. “The Mercedes-Benz Power Unit has shown good performance on track and it is our goal to marry this motive force to Enstone’s chassis expertise. It is our desire that the E23 Hybrid, powered by Mercedes-Benz, heralds a new era of success for Enstone.”
With the McLaren-Honda reunification in 2015 Mercedes said it was important to continue supplying three customer teams with power units; Lotus will join Force-India and Williams.
“It was strategically important for Mercedes-Benz to continue to supply three customers throughout this generation of Power Unit,” said Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. “It was therefore clear that we would be looking for a new customer from 2015.
“Lotus F1 Team is an impressive organisation that has delivered competitive on-track performances in recent seasons. We are pleased to welcome them to the Mercedes-Benz family and look forward to building a productive and performant working relationship in the years ahead.”
Meanwhile, Renault will work more closely with Red Bull in 2015 in a bid to improve the performance of its often troublesome V6 power unit.
Usually we like it when it rains at a grand prix because the images are pretty cool. But the end of this year’s Japanese Grand Prix was not very cool at all.
Forza Jules.