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Post by Shireblogger on Aug 25, 2015 6:18:33 GMT 1
Devastated to read that Justin Wilson has died following his Indy Car accident at the weekend. RIP Justin
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Aug 25, 2015 8:29:46 GMT 1
It is very sad news. A very unfortunate turn of events. RIP Justin Wilson.
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Post by -Big Dan- on Aug 25, 2015 11:48:25 GMT 1
So sad. RIP Justin.
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Post by paulgilb on Aug 25, 2015 22:57:16 GMT 1
Sad to read this. He had 1 season in F1 (back in 2003 - he was due to debut in 2002 but was too tall to fit in the car) driving for Minardi and then Jaguar, in which he made quite a few good performances (but was naturally hindered by his machinery). His best result came in (of all places) the USA, where he was running 3rd for a while in changing conditions before finishing 8th. However, Christian Klien's sponsorship money proved to be more of an asset to Jaguar than Wilson's talent, so he was not retained for 2004.
Wilson isn't the only former F1 driver to have left us in the past few days - both Guy Ligier (founder of the Ligier team) and Eric Thompson (who finished 5th in his only World Championship start in 1952) have also passed away. Thompson, at the age of 95, was the oldest surviving F1 driver - that honour is now held by 94-year-old Ken McAlpine (who competed in 7 races in the 1950s).
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Post by Panda on Aug 25, 2015 23:14:11 GMT 1
A very sad loss. A genuine gentleman whose talent never got the car it deserved in F1 or in the US.
It's always tragic when someone dies racing but it always seems even more so when it's through no fault of their own. When I first heard the news, I was hopeful he would pull though, but I was less hopeful after I'd seen the incident. It reminded me so much of Henry Surtees...
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Post by paulgilb on Aug 27, 2015 23:27:15 GMT 1
One other standout moment from Wilson's F1 career was in Friday qualifying for France 2003 (back in those days there was a 1-lap shootout on Friday to determine the order in which drivers would set their times in the 1-lap shootout on Saturday) where Wilson (driving for Minardi) set the 2nd fastest time, trailing only his team-mate Jos Verstappen. Unfortunately, he was stripped of his time as his car was underweight (and then normal service was resumed on the Saturday).
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Post by paulgilb on Aug 30, 2015 23:59:04 GMT 1
As for last weekend's GP, it was a reasonable affair, although Vettel's tyre failure could have had far worse consequences.
Some stats/facts:
Vettel's first no-score since Austria 2014 (21 consecutive races in the points). Hamilton now has the longest unbroken points-scoring streak (18 races, last no-score was Belgium 2014). Massa has a longer finishing streak (not including classified non-finishes) with 20 races (last DNF was Germany 2014).
100 races since Vettel last had a crash-related DNF (in Turkey 2010, when he crashed into Webber).
First time 3 GP2 champions have shared the podium.
2 of the 3 drivers on the podium were involved in first-laps pile-ups in both 2009 and 2012 and also failed to finish in 2014.
3 of the 4 longest points-scoring streaks have come to end in Belgium (Alonso in 2012, Raikkonen in 2013, Vettel in 2015). The other also came to an end in a country starting with B (M Schumacher in Brazil 2003).
Stevens’ best start of his career (albeit due to various penalties) – previous best was 17th.
3 drivers have overtaken their team-mates in the Championship (Massa, Perez, Kvyat).
Verstappen is the first driver to manage more than one 8th place finish in 2015.
First time since Australia 2014 that the podium did not feature any of the 3 drivers who had finished on the podium in the previous race. First time it has happened within one season since Germany 2013.
First time since Monaco 2013 that the podium did not feature any constructor that had appeared on the podium in the previous race (in the same season).
Next race on the calendar is Monza, which is Round 12. Round 12 is the only round (excluding Round 20) that Hamilton has not yet won.
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Post by paulgilb on Sept 5, 2015 23:02:09 GMT 1
Grid for Monza:
1 Hamilton 2 Raikkonen 3 Vettel 4 Rosberg 5 Massa 6 Bottas 7 Perez 8 Grosjean 9 Hulkenberg 10 Maldonado 11 Nasr 12 Ericsson (blocking penalty) 13 Stevens 14 Merhi 15 Button (engine penalty) 16 Alonso (engine penalty) 17 Sainz (engine penalty) 18 Kvyat (engine penalty) 19 Ricciardo (no time in Q2 + engine penalty) 20 Verstappen (no time in Q1 + engine penalty)
Not only did Verstappen first leave the pits too late to set a time in Q1, he was also released from the pits without his engine cover properly attached (the cover flew off and shattered shortly afterwards), earning him a drive-through penalty for the race (a somewhat lenient penalty in light of recent events).
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Post by paulgilb on Sept 10, 2015 22:44:49 GMT 1
An OK-ish race, thankfully not ruined by the intervention of the stewards after the race. The championship is looking like Hamilton's to lose (although it could so easily have been different - if it had been Hamilton's engine that had failed instead of Rosberg's, the lead would be just 3 points). Hamilton can finish 2nd to Rosberg in all the remaining races and still win the title.
Some stats/facts:
Average changes of position in lap 1 for first 10 races of 2015: 31.8. Average for last 2 races: 61.5.
First time since Brazil 2008 that neither Red Bull reached Q3.
Total grid penalties at Monza: 168 positions. Total grid penalties for whole of 2014: 160 positions.
Vettel is now the outright highest points scorer ever (obviously skewed by the changes in points system).
Maldonado has retired from 8 of the first 12 races this year - last driver to do so was Sutil in 2008.
First time since Belgium 2014 that the podium has featured 3 different teams.
First time Hamilton has won Round 12 in any F1 season (just 2 races after Vettel won Round 10 for the first time).
First time since 2005 that Massa has started somewhere other than 3rd, 4rd or 6th at Monza. Every year since 2008 (excluding his absence in 2009) has seen him finish in one of those 3 positions (prior to 2008 he had not scored a point at Monza).
First time that Vettel has finished on the Monza podium but not won.
First time this year that one driver has led every lap of the race. First race since Russia 2014 that no German driver has led a lap.
First race this year to have 2 classified non-finishers.
Ricciardo is the 11th different driver to finish 8th this year (only Verstappen has done so twice).
60 races without a pole for Ferrari – first time ever this has happened.
First time 2 Ferraris started in the top 3 since Malaysia 2013, first time in a dry qualifying since Canada 2011. Curiously Alonso did not finish any of these 3 races (whether driving a Ferrari or otherwise).
First time since Hungary 2014 that either Mercedes qualified outside the top 3.
First time since Singapore 2008 that no Renault-powered car qualified inside the top 10.
First time since Brazil 1998 (Hakkinen) that one driver topped every practice session, every qualifying session, led the whole race, and scored fastest lap.
Biggest winning margin at Monza since 1998 (M Schumacher from Irvine).
Ferrari have averaged exactly 1 podium per GP at Monza (65 from 65 races).
3rd race in a row that the Marussias have been classified 15th and 16th.
Rosberg has started all of the last 178 GPs (every race since his Bahrain 2006 debut) – this equals Button’s record for the longest consecutive run (France 2005 – China 2015).
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Post by Paddy on Sept 18, 2015 22:10:48 GMT 1
VW group to buy Red Bull and produce engines for the 2018 season so Eddie Jordan has come out to say. Will they take over red bull and torro rosso and bring in two brands for the price of one? Audi and Lambo to rival Ferrari!
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Post by paulgilb on Sept 18, 2015 23:17:44 GMT 1
Interesting...
Other news: Alexander Rossi is replacing Roberto Merhi at Manor-Marussia for 5 of the remaining races (including Singapore). For Russia and Abu Dhabi Merhi is due to be back in the seat as Rossi is competing in GP2.
Rossi has come close to making his debut a couple of times before - he initially stood in for Max Chilton in Belgium 2014 and took part in FP1 before it was announced (during FP1) that Chilton would be driving after all, and was also announced as Bianchi's replacement for Russia 2014 before the team decided only to enter 1 car.
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Post by paulgilb on Sept 19, 2015 22:45:08 GMT 1
Grid for a Singapore (with a few surprises): 1 Vettel 2 Ricciardo 3 Raikkonen 4 Kvyat 5 Hamilton 6 Rosberg 7 Bottas 8 Verstappen 9 Massa 10 Grosjean 11 Hulkenberg 12 Alonso 13 Perez 14 Sainz 15 Button 16 Nasr 17 Ericsson 18 Maldonado 19 Stevens 20 Rossi Ferrari's first pole since Germany 2012, and first pole in a dry qualifying since Singapore 2010. Hamilton fails to equal Senna's 8 consecutive poles, and Mercedes fail to equal Williams' 24 consecutive poles. It is the first non-Mercedes-powered pole since Brazil 2013.
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Post by paulgilb on Sept 24, 2015 23:07:38 GMT 1
An interesting race, with Mercedes being well and truly beaten on merit. The big question is whether this is a one-off or this will continue (similar to Brawn in 2009 but later in the season).
Some stats/facts:
Vettel's 42nd victory - moves him ahead of Senna (and 2 ahead of Hamilton). Despite Mercedes' dominance, Vettel has had as many wins this year as Rosberg.
3rd race since the start of 2000 in which somebody has invaded the track (after Germany 2000 and Britain 2003) - all 3 races have been won by Ferrari, as was Spain 2004 (which featured a protester on track just before the race started).
Raikkonen's 29th 3rd-place finish - 1 more than Barrichello and Alonso.
All current drivers bar Button & Raikkonen have the same number of Singapore GP wins as World Championships.
First time Alonso has failed to finish in the top 4 in Singapore. Vettel keeps alive his record of finishing every Singapore GP in the top 5.
All of Vettel's wins this year have come in races in which both Hulkenberg and Maldonado have been involved in (not necessarily race-ending) collisions.
Hamilton is still to manage more than 2 consecutive wins in 2015.
All 3 drivers to have won in Singapore (Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel) have won there for 2 different teams, and all have the same number of Singapore GP victories as they do World Championships.
First race since Belgium 2009 (Hamilton and Button both crashed out on lap 1) that no British driver scored points.
First time since Italy 2010 that both Ferrari drivers have finished in the same positions that they started.
First time since Canada 1989 (curiously the race in which Senna's 8 consecutive pole positions record was ended) that the 2-hour limit was reached on the scheduled last lap of the race.
First time since Britain 1992 that the top 3 drivers remained unchanged in those positions throughout the race.
First Ferrari win in the second half of the year since Korea 2010.
Perez has started all 5 of his Singapore GPs from outside the top 10, yet has finished all of them inside the top 10, and never lower than the previous year (10-10-8-7-7).
The last 4 races have (going backwards) seen DNFs for the top 4 drivers in the Championship in turn - Hamilton in Singapore, Rosberg in Italy, Vettel in Belgium, Raikkonen in Hungary.
First time Ricciardo has officially finished 2nd.
Force India’s first non-mechanical DNF this season.
First DNF for Williams this season (although they also had Bottas’ DNS in Australia). All teams have now had at least 1 mechanical DNF in 2015.
First no-score for Hamilton since Belgium 2014 – longest unbroken streak is now Kvyat with 5.
First non-finish for Massa since Germany 2014. Longest unbroken streak of finishes is now Bottas with 12 (although Vettel has been classified in every race since Britain 2014).
No Mercedes-powered car on the front row for the first time since USA 2013.
Last 5 Singapore poles: Vettel-Hamilton-Vettel-Hamilton-Vettel.
First time since the last 4 races of 2008 that Raikkonen has managed back-to-back top 3 starts.
First time Rosberg has started outside the top 4 since USA 2013. Only M Schumacher and Senna have managed longer streaks.
3rd year in a row that Maldonado has started 18th at Singapore.
Ricciardo’s 3 Fastest Laps this season have come at the 3 slowest circuits: Monaco, Hungaroring, Singapore.
Drivers who can still mathematically win the Drivers' Championship:
1 Hamilton 252 2 Rosberg 211 3 Vettel 203 4 Raikkonen 107
Raikkonen is definitely a remote possibility (needing to win all the remaining races with Hamilton scoring fewer than 5 points and Rosberg and Vettel not scoring too many), but Vettel cannot be ruled out (less than 2 wins off the lead with 6 races remaining).
Teams that can mathematically win the Constructors' Championship:
1 Mercedes 463 2 Ferrari 310
Over 3.5 1-2 finishes behind, it is unlikely that Ferrari will catch Mercedes.
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Post by Paddy on Sept 26, 2015 16:45:43 GMT 1
Daniil Kvyat will do well to start tomorrow following this crash!
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Post by paulgilb on Sept 26, 2015 22:21:56 GMT 1
^If he does, it will be from the pit lane. Grid in full:
1 Rosberg 2 Hamilton 3 Bottas 4 Vettel 5 Massa 6 Raikkonen 7 Ricciardo 8 Grosjean 9 Perez (no time in Q3) 10 Sainz 11 Maldonado 12 Alonso 13 Hulkenberg (3-place penalty for collision with Massa in Singapore) 14 Button 15 Ericsson 16 Nasr 17 Verstappen (3-place penalty for stopping in a dangerous position in Q1, unable to take part in Q2 as a result) 18 Stevens 19 Rossi (outside 107% in Q1 but allowed to start) 20 Kvyat (no time in Q3 after crashing, requiring pit lane start)
Qualifying has thus suggested that (so far at least) Singapore was a one-off for Mercedes.
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Post by Paddy on Sept 26, 2015 23:06:42 GMT 1
Wouldn't position 10 be empty tomorrow with him starting in pit lane? It isn't a penalty to the back of the grid?
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Post by paulgilb on Sept 26, 2015 23:33:22 GMT 1
Wouldn't position 10 be empty tomorrow with him starting in pit lane? It isn't a penalty to the back of the grid? The position is not left empty if the pit lane start is confirmed before the final grid is confirmed (which occurs shortly before the race). The position is left empty if the pit lane start is due to e.g. a driver stalling at the start of the formation lap.
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Post by paulgilb on Oct 4, 2015 20:34:46 GMT 1
Not the most exciting race. There were suggestions that Bernie deliberately reduced Mercedes' airtime as retaliation for them refusing to supply engines to Red Bull next year - however, there wasn't that much more coverage of the Ferraris (and most of the action was behind them).
Some stats/facts:
Hamilton equals Senna's 41 official wins (although both actually have 42 wins), 1 shy of Vettel.
Second weekend in a row that a driver has missed out on a 'Grand Slam' (pole, fastest lap, led every lap, win) by less than 0.1s - Vettel missed out on fastest lap in Singapore, Hamilton missed out on pole in Japan. This is not the first time that Hamilton has missed out on a Grand Slam by not managing pole - this happened in Belgium 2010.
The top 3 on the grid and the top 3 in the race were both the same as last year's race.
First no-score for Red Bull since Australia 2014 (when Ricciardo was disqualified after taking the flag in 2nd place). First time since China 2008 that both cars were running outside the points at the end of the race.
This will possibly be the last race ever to feature a 17-year old (Verstappen turned 18 on Wednesday, and the minimum age from next year will be 18).
First time since Germany 2011 that Hamilton and Vettel have the same number of career wins to their name (both had 16 then).
Hamilton is the first driver to reach 41 wins without wearing red overalls at the time.
5th time every starter has been classified, after Netherlands 1961, USA 2005, Italy 2005, Europe 2011.
First time ever that the top 5 in the Championship going into the race finished 1-5 in that order.
Vettel has finished all 7 of his Suzuka races in 1st or 3rd.
The last 5 races between them have only had 2 laps in which somebody other than the race winner was leading.
Second time this year (after Malaysia) where the number of cars that were classified is the same as number of cars that started the previous race.
Every driver (excluding Magnussen and Rossi) has started ahead of their team-mate at least twice this season (although Maldonado has only truly outqualified Grosjean once - the other time was due to Grosjean having a gearbox penalty).
The top 5 have all finished in those positions at least 4 times this year.
Maldonado is the 12th different driver to finish 8th this year (only Verstappen has done it more than once).
Kvyat’s first no-score since Austria – Raikkonen and Bottas now have the longest uninterrupted streaks (both last failed to score in Hungary).
25th time Hamilton and Rosberg have shared the front row – equals G Hill and J Clark.
First time a Toro Rosso has started inside the top 10 at Suzuka.
8th win of the season for Hamilton – no driver has ever failed to be World Champion in a season where they have scored 8+ wins.
2nd time in the last 3 races that Hamilton has led every lap – and in the in-between race, he never ran higher than 4th.
Raikkonen has scored over twice as many points so far in 2015 than in the whole of 2014.
First Dutch driver to score points in the Japanese GP.
Alonso finished 11th in Suzuka driving for a team with a 7-letter name starting with M – just as he managed in his debut season (2001).
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Post by paulgilb on Oct 10, 2015 23:21:10 GMT 1
Grid for Russia: 1 Rosberg 2 Hamilton 3 Bottas 4 Vettel 5 Raikkonen 6 Hulkenberg 7 Perez 8 Grosjean 9 Verstappen 10 Ricciardo 11 Kvyat 12 Nasr 13 Button 14 Maldonado 15 Massa 16 Ericsson 17 Stevens 18 Merhi (engine penalty) 19 Alonso (engine penalty) 20 Sainz (no time in Q1 due to big crash in P3) Rosberg's pole means that Hamilton and Mercedes both have 49 poles to their names. Mercedes will clinch the Constructors' title if they outscore Ferrari by 3 or more points tomorrow.
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Post by paulgilb on Oct 15, 2015 23:46:42 GMT 1
Not a bad race, although there was quite a bit of heartbreak (Rosberg, Sainz, Ricciardo, Bottas). Certainly better than last year's race!
Some stats/facts:
Hamilton cannot now beat Vettel's 15-poles-in-a-season record - he can only tie it.
86th front-row start for Hamilton – equals Prost, trails Senna (87) and M Schumacher (116).
Same top 4 on the grid as in Japan.
An all-Spanish back 3 on the grid - first time something like this has happened since an all-Brazilian back 3 in Monaco 2001.
9 different constructors in the top 10 (only Ferrari scored with both cars) - first time since Malaysia 2012 (both races saw 7 different teams in the top 7).
Hamilton now has as many wins with Mercedes as he managed with McLaren (21).
Hamilton will definitely be the driver to have led the most kilometres in 2015 - he also managed this in 2014 (but had never previously done so).
Top 5 at end of lap 51: Hamilton-Vettel-Perez-Williams-Raikkonen Top 5 at end of lap 53 (before Raikkonen’s penalty): Hamilton-Vettel-Perez-Williams-Raikkonen
5th race in a row in which at least one podium-finisher from the previous race failed to score.
Rosberg’s 18th career pole – ties Arnoux for the most poles without being World Champion (yet!).
Vettel, Verstappen, and Button were the only drivers to both start and finish ahead of their team-mates.
Bottas’ first non-finish (albeit classified) since his DNS in Australia. Longest unbroken streak is Kvyat with 12 (last non-finish was China).
Vettel’s first fastest lap of 2015 means that he keeps alive his record of at least 1 fastest lap every year since 2009.
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