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.
“The Sauber F1 Team is pleased to announce Felipe Nasr as its driver for the 2015 season and Banco do Brasil as its partner. Felipe Nasr completes the driver line-up alongside Marcus Ericsson.”
And with that Sauber has finalised its 2015 driver line up with the 22-year-old Nasr to drive alongside Marcus Ericsson, who was announced by Sauber during the United States Grand Prix.
Nasr is currently the reserve driver for Williams and is competing in the 2014 GP2 series, where he has accumulated four wins and is second in the championship. He also won the 2011 British Formula 3 championship and joins former alumni in Jaime Algeursuari, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne as title holders who have progressed to F1.
“This is an unforgettable moment that I owe to all of those who have supported me,” said the young Brazilian. “Today the dream has come true.
“Sauber was responsible for the arrival in F1 of great names such as Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel. I am proud now to also be part of this racing family.”
The signing leaves current Sauber drivers Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez with uncertain F1 futures. The prominence of Nasr’s personal sponsor Banco do Brasil in the official team statement probably gives a clue as to why that may be the case. Although, Nasr’s achievements in the junior categories do look sound.
In the world of serious Lego play MOC stands for My Own Creation and Luca Rusconi aka RoscoPC is king of Formula 1 MOCs. So far he has published 12 designs ranging, from a Lotus 43 through to the Williams FW14B you see above.
We’ve assembled a simple gallery below, but make sure you follow the link through to his website’s gallery, the level of detail is quite incredible. Luca’s work has seen him earn Lego Ambassador status and you can even buy the instructions to recreate these designs for yourself.
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.
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.
Nico Rosberg (1:32.506) has qualified on pole for the eighth time this season and will start alongside his Mercedes AMG teammate, Lewis Hamilton (1:32.703), for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix at the much loved Suzuka circuit.
The second-row is an all-Williams affair, with Valtteri Bottas (1:33.128) to start from P3 ahead of Felipe Massa (1:33.527). Fernando Alonso (1:33.740) has put his Ferrari on P5 and has Daniel Ricciardo (1:34.075) to his side.
“I’m happy with how we bounced back in qualifying after my mistake yesterday,” Ricciardo said. “I thought we would be better here, but I think sixth is realistically what we could do today. If it rains tomorrow then we should be looking a bit better.”
Daniel’s departing teammate, Sebastian Vettel (1:34.432), could only manage P9. Ahead of the four-time world champ are Kevin Magnussen (1:34.242) in P7, then Jenson Button (1:34.317). Kimi Raikkonen (1:34.548) rounds out the top 10.
Heavy rain is expected for tomorrow’s race and it’s likely to be an entertaining affair. For Australian readers don’t forget the change to daylight savings time tonight. Check your local guides for TV times, it looks like we’re set for some awesome race!
Victory at the Singapore Grand Prix makes it two wins in a row for Lewis Hamilton and with that he has put himself atop the drivers’ championship standings. No wonder he has such a smug look on his face.
At least Lewis has stopped pulling his hair out over the frustration of mechanical failures. Or has he?
You can see all that and more with our gallery of images below, some of which do literally contain the bright lights of Singapore.
We’re a little bit later in the week than usual with our Formula 1 photo smorgasbord, but here we are ready to help you relive Lewis Hamilton’s win at the 2014 Italian Grand Prix. How good is that lead image?!
Hopefully you will forgive our lateness, the 120-plus images for you after the break should help with that. And they’re in new 2560x1690px mega sizing too. Oh yeah!
Even more beautiful.
Thanks to Marussia for images of the famed Monza banking right at the end as well.
While Ferrari is making heads roll off the track Williams will go into 2015 with the same driver pairing doing the business this year.
It’s great timing for Felipe Massa who stood atop a Formula 1 podium at Monza for the first time in over a year. While Valtteri Bottas who has collected four podium finishes so far this season looks every bit a grand prix winner in waiting.
You can read the team’s official statement after the break.