Hiatus / Formula E

I am placing this blog hiatus in further notice due to my professional journalism commitments. This blog was always written with two things in mind:
1. To showcase my passion for Formula 1
2. To showcase my writing talents

It is partly thanks to this blog that I was able to secure both a place on a highly regarded post-grad diploma course and a job in the magazine industry shortly after. With my workload increasing each week, it makes sense for me to take a step back from writing this blog as I fully focus on furthering my professional career - hopefully, the hiatus won't last for too long!

However, I have been able to combine my passions for writing and motorsport as part of my job at Think Publishing / CMI. I have written a report detailing the first year of the FIA Fomula E Championship, examining the series from a startup perspective.

UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 2015 - Following an extremely busy time over the summer months, I have finally written an extensive follow-up feature. It's again aimed at startups, but examining what they should do from Year 2 onward. As part of this feature, I was given FIA media accreditation for the London ePrix. 

After Race 7: Canada

In stark comparison to last week’s F1 Power Rankings, we’ll crack on almost straightaway! The only thing to mention was the curious fact that Ferrari came to Montreal with an upgraded engine but ended up leaving North America without a trophy – for the first time this season.

1. Lewis Hamilton (no change)

After a winless May, the reigning world champion once again stood atop the podium with a clinical performance – his seventh victory in North America (a strike-rate of more than 50%). Even a truly shocking decision on Friday to send both cars out on intermediates in torrential rain, resulting in Hamilton aquaplaning into the barriers, couldn’t stop him.

Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

2. Sebastian Vettel (no change)

Overtaking under a red flag in practice, technical woes in Q1… the quadruple champ was up against it. He then put in a superb recovery drive, reminiscent of his 2012 Abu Dhabi pit-lane to third performance. However, his faint hopes of upsetting the dominant Mercs in the championship battle probably took a fatal blow. Not that we ever like to see penalties given but he may have been a tad lucky to avoid one for forcing Nico Hülkenberg into a spin as he overtook the Force India – while then cutting across the final chicane.

=3. Carlos Sainz (no change) & Valtteri Bottas (up three spots)

It was here in 2013 that Bottas announced himself on the F1 stage with a fine P3 on the grid in the unfancied Williams. Fast forward two years and he secured his first podium of the season, to add to his half-dozen from last year. Sainz clings onto his place in this week’s F1 Power Rankings after he kept his nose clean in what was a rather miserable weekend for all the Renault-powered cars; although credit him for beating Danny Ric.

Source: Williams F1 Team

5. Max Verstappen (no change)

Like his team-mate, there’s no change for Verstappen this week despite a rather underwhelming weekend, compounded by an astonishing 15-place grid-penalty. Unlike Vettel and Felipe Massa, he was unable to make much headway without straight line speed but both STR boys stayed out of trouble.

6. Felipe Massa (up six spots)

It’s not quite Sergio Pérez’s meteoric rise up the F1 Power Rankings of last week but Massa had an outstanding Sunday afternoon, as Williams firmly put their Monaco nightmare behind them (even if the gremlins did scupper his qualifying).

Massa carved his way through the field
Source: Williams F1 Team

7. Daniil Kvyat (up three spots)

Kvyat built on the momentum from his superb fourth-place finish in Monaco and managed to outqualify and out-race his team-mate. He also did well to keep the Mercedes-powered Grosjean behind him in the final third of the race; the Lotus also on fresher tyres.

Source: Infiniti Red Bull Racing

8. Nico Rosberg (down one spot)

His two-race winning streak came to a halt and he was never really a true threat to Hamilton on Sunday.

9. Sergio Pérez (down five spots)

Made it into Q3 but had a rather anonymous race on Sunday (but not as good as his anonymous Monaco drive) and ended up P11.

10. Daniel Ricciardo (down two spots)

What a difference a year makes… Red Bull Renault came to Canada last year expecting to struggle with their engine and Ricciardo ended up topping the podium for his maiden victory. This year, they expected the same… and it came true. Hugely underwhelming drive from Danny Ric, although the team suggest there may have been an unknown car issue.

Probably the only time Daniel was smiling on race day; the brilliant Canadian parade lap
Source: Infiniti Red Bull Racing

11. Romain Grosjean (down two spots)

Lotus finally netted a double-points finish but Grosjean still threw points away with a clumsy block on Will Stevens as he lapped the Manor.

=12. Felipe Nasr (down two spots) & Pastor Maldonado (up three spots)

Nasr has almost become the forgotten rookie this season as the STR boys take the plaudits (Verstappen especially) and a rare mistake (the old ‘spin off while warming the tyres’) in FP3 almost saw him miss quali but for fantastic work by his mechanics. Besides, plenty of better drivers have been there and done that; notably Scott Dixon in the Indy 500 several years ago. As for his race, a combination of power loss and brake problems saw him struggle to make up much ground.

Source: FOM TV Images

Canada was also the place where it FINALLY went right for Maldonado. Incredibly, this is Pastor’s third best result in F1, after his lone victory and a 5^th place in Abu Dhabi that same year (quite random that this is the second reference to that race in this week’s F1 Power Rankings).

Can Pastor crack on from here?
Source: Lotus F1 Team

=14. Nico Hülkenberg (up three spots) & Kimi Räikkönen (down two spots)

The Hulk geared up for his Le Mans adventure with a strong weekend; comfortably running inside the top ten throughout the race – and took a clever spin to avoid contacting Vettel. Räikkönen meanwhile suffered a curious spin – the same as last year – and no one seems to know who to blame or what went wrong.

=16. Fernando Alonso (down two spots) & Jenson Button (no change)

Yikes. The less said, the better. No speed, no reliability, and fuel-hungry. As we saw with Vettel last year, Alonso found it too hard to restrain his emotions over team radio.

18. Marcus Ericsson (up one spot)

Ericsson’s wheel-to-wheel battle with Massa is probably the most notable moment in his fledgling F1 career to date; not much to report thereafter.

Ericsson earned many plaudits for his battle with Massa
Source: Williams F1 Team

=19. Will Stevens (down one spot) & Roberto Merhi (up one spot)

Merhi moves up and joins his team-mate – but the Manor duo still prop up the F1 Power Rankings. The former was brutally chopped by Grosjean, which led to some humorous team radio from the Essex boy, while Merhi seems to have finally found his feet in the sport.

Merhi had the better of Stevens until his early bath; impressively it was Manor's first DNF of the season
Source: Manor F1 Team

All views expressed in this blog are my own and no copyright infringement is intended.

After Race 6: Monaco

Note: a bit of a long preamble this week, covering the Mercedes fallout (briefly), supposed regulation changes, alcohol sponsorship and the Indy 500…

It’s only been a couple of days but the fallout from Mercedes pitting Lewis Hamilton has already been done to death. It was a grave error but this is a team sport. Whether a strategy miscue or a last-gasp mechanical failure (think of Mika Hakkinen in Barcelona 2001), it’s always the cruellest way to lose a victory. The reaction of some Mercedes ‘fans’ on social media was jaw-dropping. Several Formula One fans like to think that they are of a different breed to football fans but, as with any sport, there are both good and (unfortunately) bad fans.

Since the Spanish Grand Prix, the FIA announced a raft of changes for 2017, including brining back refuelling. Such a change seems unworkable to me – purely on the grounds of cost. Take the Haas F1 team, for example, they will now have to build a new car for 2016 and 2017. Formula 1’s biggest problem is that they are continually radically changing the rules – and that costs $$$. Would refuelling make a difference? Well, cars would be faster from the start of the race, but if you look at the number of ‘exciting’ races and title battles decided with and without refuelling, the difference is negligible. In either case, a team has the potential to dominate if they get it spot on.

Will refuelling make a return to F1? (also note the Marlboro barcode...)
Source: Guardian, AFP/Getty

The topic of alcohol sponsorship was also discussed – and whether it should be discouraged, or even banned. Frankly, F1 teams are still reeling from the ban on tobacco advertising. It’s no coincidence that the average grid size has steadily declined over the last decade or two as laws have become more stringent (the FIA creating more barriers to entry has also contributed to this). Between rule and sponsorship changes, the future of F1 is under increasing scrutiny – with midfield teams seemingly in ever-more jeopardy.

And finally, Monaco Grand Prix weekend also means it’s time for the Indianapolis 500 – and Juan Pablo Montoya won a thrilling race, prevailing in a terrific duel between arch-rivals Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi to take his second Brickyard victory (in three starts). Consider this, the last time JPM won the race (as a rookie in 2000), only Jenson Button was on the F1 grid!

Source: Juan Pablo Montoya (Facebook)

1. Lewis Hamilton (no change)

Mercedes got it wrong. Was it arrogance? Possibly. The team profusely apologised. Let’s all move on, please.

If only Mercedes fans focused on this photo...
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebook)

2. Sebastian Vettel (no change)

The quadruple champ lucked into P2 – but it’s a position he probably should’ve held before Hamilton’s stop (which would have likely meant that Merc would not have pitted him). Ferrari were too cautious with their strategy and never gave Vettel a genuine shot at the undercut on Rosberg (reminiscent of Williams at Austria last year). Rosberg took advantage and kept the position – which then turned into victory.

3. Carlos Sainz (up one spot)

For all the eye-catching overtaking of Max Verstappen, it was once again Sainz who ultimately delivered the results. It says a lot about STR’s performance on Thursday and Saturday morning that 8^th (Sainz) and 10^th (Verstappen) was almost considered an underachievement – and that was before the Spaniard was kicked out of quali for missing the weigh-bridge (probably partly down to both driver and team). A magnificent recovery drive saw him score a point from the pit-lane after a mammoth 65+lap stint on his tyres – despite being held up by the Manors just after his early stop, preventing him from getting the undercut on Marcus Ericsson and co. Oh, and he produced an INCREDIBLE save to avoid slamming into the Swede at the Nouvelle Chicane when he locked his brakes.

Stunning photography
Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso (Facebook)

4. Sergio Pérez (up ten spots)

Seldom do drivers ever rise up the F1 Power Rankings by so much but Checo Pérez had an anonymously outstanding weekend. A magnificent P7 in both quali and the race, he extracted the utmost from the unfancied Force India.

Checo was easily driver of the day
Source: Sahara Force India (Facebook)

5. Max Verstappen (no change)

Having never driven on the street circuit before, Verstappen took the track like a duck to water. A disappointing quali (as mentioned above) and a catastrophic pit-stop put him back in the pack, before Toro Rosso rolled the dice with strategy. He was excellent with his tactics of tagging on the leaders going through the blue flags (although probably shouldn’t have revealed his idea over team radio!) before clobbering the back of Romain Grosjean. Did his age cause it? Absolutely not: it was a racing incident – although the penalty is deserved given it knocked Grosjean out of the points.

The second massive collision at Ste Devote of the day (after the WSR 3.5 race)
Source: Autosport

6. Valtteri Bottas (down three spots) & 7. Nico Rosberg (no change)

Checo’s emphatic rise up the F1 Power Rankings was aided by the likes of Bottas, Rosberg and Grosjean having mediocre weekends – and they even came under threat from the Red Bull duo and Felipe Nasr. As it is, Rosberg stays put at P7. A Monaco hat-trick is a Monaco hat-trick, and he has crucially also won back-to-back races for the first time in his career - despite being thrashed by Hamilton in quali and the race. The less said about Williams’ weekend the better, but Monaco was surely a one-off (hence Bottas doesn’t fall even further).

8. Daniel Ricciardo (up one spot)

Danny Ric moves up a spot after RBR recorded their best result of 2015. He lost out to his team-mate at the start and that cemented his eventual P5 finish. Credit the team for excellent team orders in the closing stages as they allowed the Aussie temporarily past Daniil Kvyat to chase down the leading trio after his ‘interesting’ move on Kimi Räikkönen in the closing stages on fresh tyres.

Kvyat led home Ricciardo for RBR's season best result
Source: Infiniti Red Bull Racing (Facebook)

9. Romain Grosjean (down three spots)

A rather underwhelming weekend for Grosjean: outqualified by his team-mate and spent most of the day running on the bubble of the points before the Verstappen collision.

=10. Daniil Kvyat (up three spots) & Felipe Nasr (up two spots)

Congratulation to Danii K on securing by far and away his best F1 result with P4 (previous best was 9^th). A good start saw him vault past his team-mate and he never looked back. Nasr continued his fine start to the season with a fine drive to P9 – he’s probably a tad unlucky not to be placed even higher in this week’s F1 Power Rankings. This duo, along with Pérez and Sainz (and Hamilton) the undoubted stars of the weekend.

All smiles at Sauber!
Source: Sauber F1 Team

=12. Kimi Räikkönen (down five spots) & Felipe Massa (down two spots)

Poor weekend for Kimi. A crash in FP3 saw him enter the most important quali session of the year on the back foot – and he paid for it. Massa to his credit comfortably outqualified Bottas but Williams had an awful weekend.

14. Fernando Alonso (down four spots)

Monaco was the golden chance to score points – as Jenson Button showed – but it all went wrong on both Saturday – with salt rubbed into the wounds on Sunday. P7 was on the cards but he just can’t catch a break.

15. Pastor Maldonado & 16. Jenson Button (both up three spots)

It might seem strange that Pastor rises three spots in this week’s F1 Power Rankings but there’s nothing more he could have done. Having outqualified Grosjean, his race was over in the opening laps and his disastrous 2015 continued. JB, meanwhile, just missed out on Q3 but kept his nose clean on Sunday and finally got McLaren on the board.

Was it the CR7 magic or the glamour of Cara Delevingne that helped McLaren get off the mark?
Source: McLaren (Facebook)

17. Nico Hülkenberg (no change)

Points were evidently on the table for the struggling Force India team this weekend (as back up by Checo), but The Hulk had a scruffy quali which saw him exit in Q2 and that put him in the danger-zone for Lap 1 in Monaco – where, for the second year running, McLaren and Force India came together at Mirabeau, with the German losing out. Credit his fine recovery to P11 but it’s a missed opportunity.

18. Will Stevens & 19. Marcus Ericsson (both down three spots); 20. Roberto Merhi (no change)

Credit where it’s due to Roberto Merhi – he finally got the better of his team-mate on Sunday afternoon, despite crashing on the bump at the Nouvelle Chicane on Thursday. At a track where his weight-difference matters less, a good result was important for the Spaniard. Ericsson, meanwhile, was once again blown away by his rookie team-mate.

And finally... one happy Montoya family photo
Source: Juan Pablo Montoya (Facebook)

All views expressed in this blog are my own and no copyright infringement is intended.

After Race 5: Spain

The Formula 1 circus kicked off its ever-shortening European schedule with Nico Rosberg finally getting his first W of the season as he continued his rather odd record of finishing every race in the same position he qualified.

Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

If I may digress for a moment in this edition of F1 Power Rankings…

On a personal note, I actually watched the entire Spanish GP weekend on Monday (from FP1 through to Ted’s Notebook post-race) because I was attending the Formula E Monaco ePrix. Amidst a stunning backdrop – where F1 will head to in less than two weeks on the classic Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500 weekend – it was a remarkably accessible weekend. Free tickets, an accessible paddock, test-driving a Renault Twizy on the Monaco hills, and the chance to get up close to the drivers on the Friday before the race day (with all the action taking place on the Saturday) reflects glowingly on the new series.

It was almost access all areas - for anyone - in the Formula E paddock
Source: my own personal photography - Blayne Pereira (please credit if using)

1. Lewis Hamilton (no change)

There was a lot of chatter about Hamilton’s off-field activities in the three-week gap before the Spanish GP, most notably his trip to Las Vegas to see Floyd Mayweather maintain his undefeated record against Manny Pacquiao. Was the criticism substantiated with Rosberg finally getting the better of his team-mate? Probably not; Hamilton’s finished in the top-two in the last twelve races, winning nine of them. He remains the man to beat.

2. Sebastian Vettel (no change)

Much was made about Ferrari’s strategy call on Sunday but third was probably the best they could have hoped for. Hamilton would’ve likely netted the undercut after his second stop, so the Scuderia did the right thing by trying a different strategy. Ferrari were well beaten but at least Vettel helped disrupt Hamilton’s momentum.

Source: Scuderia Ferrari

3. Valtteri Bottas (up five spots)

For the second race running, Bottas managed to fend off a Ferrari and break-up the dominant Mercedes-Ferrari quartet. After a slow start to the season, his back problems are firmly behind him.

4. Carlos Sainz (up one spot) & 5. Max Verstappen (no change)

Sainz just edges Max Verstappen to an outright fourth spot in this week’s F1 Power Rankings after he got the better of his teenage team-mate in both quali and the race. The STR duo starred on Saturday, locking out the third row of the grid for the team’s best qualifying effort since Monza 2008 (Vettel pole, Sébastien Bourdais 4^th). Both fell back in the early stages as they struggled when laden with fuel but Sainz especially came alive in the closing stages, taking advantage of the leaders lapping the midfield to use his DRS. Thankfully he retained his points for P9 – after Daniil Kvyat locked his brakes and ran into the Spaniard it was clearly a racing incident.

Carlos Sainz gets ready for his first F1 home race
Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso

6. Romain Grosjean (down two spots)

It’s a two-place drop for Grosjean despite ultimately scoring what was probably the best possible result for the team in P8. A rather scruffy move on Sainz in the early stages saw him run wide at T1, and then get a little bit too close to Pastor Maldonado – contact which almost certainly caused the Venezuelan’s rear wing endplate to fail. A catastrophic overshoot during his second pit-stop could’ve been even uglier and Grosjean apologised profusely on his in-lap.

Complete with 'Mad Max' sponsorship, Grosjean's chassis exploded in free practice
Source: F1 (Twitter)

=7. Kimi Räikkönen (down four spots) & Nico Rosberg (up eight spots)

Räikkönen will leave Catalunya miffed after Vettel was effectively given all the aero upgrades as Ferrari weren’t sure what was working out of their new parts. He slumped to P7 on the grid before a scintillating first lap saw him execute a couple of superb moves on the Toro Rosso boys… but that was as good as it got, as the Kimster.

For the neutrals, Rosberg’s win is just what the championship needed. Having been decimated by Hamilton in the last dozen races, he’ll hope that he’s mentally turned the corner and will look to clinch a Monaco hat-trick next time out (…although I wonder how many times last year’s qualifying session will be mentioned).

It's not quite visible here, but Mrs Rosberg's baby bump combined with the over-enthusiastic photographers and the gating almost didn't end too well...
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

9. Daniel Ricciardo (down one spot)

Having been outqualified by Daniil Kvyat, Danny Ric was rather anonymous in the opening third of the race before he finally moved up to P7 – a position which he never relinquished in the final 45 laps.

=10. Fernando Alonso (no change) & Felipe Massa (down three spots)

It was a rather gloomy scene at McLaren – with Jenson Button especially bemoaning the team’s lack of, well, everything. Alonso was running inside the top ten on an alternate strategy until a bizarre failure caused by his visor tear-off hampering his brake ducts. Kudos to the savvy front jackman who leaped out of the way as a brake-less Alonso came steaming into his box. Massa had a largely anonymous weekend, and the pendulum has firmly swung to his young Finnish team-mate.

Incredibly, McLaren's new paint job is a kilogram lighter than the previous car(!)
Source: McLaren

12. Felipe Nasr (down two spots)

I could quite easily copy and paste the same thing for the Sauber and Force India quartet. None of them had anything noteworthy to write home about, occupying positions 15-18 on the grid and finishing collectively three spots higher thanks to the DNFs of Alonso and Maldonado and Button’s woes.

13. Daniil Kvyat (up two spots)

Difficult again what to make of Kvyat’s weekend; he again makes steady progress up the F1 Power Rankings – although that’s also in part down to others falling (i.e. Force India, Sauber). A good effort in quali evaporated with a poor opening lap and he spent the first third of the race working his way back up to P9, a position which he more or less held onto until the final lap, when Sainz got the better of him.

14. Sergio Pérez (down two spots)

15. Will Stevens (no change)

16. Marcus Ericsson (down three spots)

17. Nico Hülkenberg (down four spots)

As mentioned above with Nasr and Kvyat, the massively underwhelming performances of Sauber and Force India have seen a collective slump down this week’s F1 Power Rankings. Ericsson moves clear of The Hulk by virtue of having a better overall weekend, and the group sandwich Will Stevens, who once again comfortably outperformed his team-mate (despite falling behind him at the start).

18. Pastor Maldonado (up two spots)

Yet again, we can only wonder “what might have been?” with Pastor. He was a man on a mission in the opening stages with some superb overtakes before the contact with Grosjean, which effectively ended his charge. He did well to continue with the damage as long as he did.

Source: Reddit

19. Jenson Button and 20. Roberto Merhi (both down one spot)

At the risk of repeating myself; rather like the Sauber and Force India lot, this duo struggled all weekend. Button was especially vocal about how bad the McLaren was while Merhi again consistently brought up the rear. Whether it’s due to his weight or otherwise, his days in F1 could well be coming to an end sooner rather than later… Will he really be on double duty in Monaco with F1 and FR3.5 both racing at the circuit?

All views expressed in this blog are my own and no copyright infringement is intended.

After Race 4: Bahrain

With the early batch of flyaway races done and dusted, it's no great surprise that Lewis Hamilton already has a championship lead of more than 25 points. One of the more intriguing storylines will be to see how Ferrari can upgrade their car through the season, and whether Sebastian Vettel (40) will be able to a) match and/or b) surpass Ayrton Senna's tally of 41 race victories before Lewis Hamilton (36). The obvious footnote to this is that the Seb and Lewis will have had longer calendars to work with. Vettel will also look to avoid curious practice incidents - as was his collision with Sergio Pérez in Bahrain. 

Elsewhere, the new GP2 season roared into life this weekend and, to no great surprise, Stoffel Vandoorne, dominated proceedings with a win and a second-place finish in the reverse grid race. It again made me ponder as to why McLaren didn't buy-out Marussia and use it as a Honda B-team – to help with both engine and driver development (Kevin Magnussen and Vandoorne, and Nyck de Vries one day too) However, talking about McLaren, it's clear – as eluded to in the F1 Power Rankings McLaren season preview – they'll be damn fast once they iron out their software and installation issues. Engine penalties are irrelevant to them this year, it's all about focusing on development. Besides, they'll inevitably have company from the Renault quartet with the sanctions! 

This week's F1 Power Rankings proved to be one of the most difficult ever: so many drivers had weekends that seemingly defied their starts to the season, which has resulted in numerous ties throughout. On the flip side, that clearly means there's a decent amount of good battling going on in the midfield.

Lewis Hamilton knocking it outta the park - just like Alfred Morris of Washington
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

1. Lewis Hamilton (no change)

Sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re good – and sometimes you’re both. Hamilton again dominated the business end of the weekend. Even brake failure came too late in the day to stop his charge to his ninth win in eleven races.

2. Sebastian Vettel (no change)

Despite an extremely ragged Sunday afternoon drive, which saw him passed by Nico Rosberg not once, not twice, but thrice – and make a few errors, which also saw him break his front wing and ultimately end up behind Valtteri Bottas; he did secure a spot on the front row and remains in touch with the Mercs in the championships standings – just in case Ferrari did pull a rabbit out of the hat in the second half of the season.

Arrivabene-cam is a must for every race
Source: Scuderia Ferrari

3. Kimi Räikkönen (up two spots)

So close! The Kimster is well and truly back and scored his first Scuderia podium since Monza 2009. Did Ferrari potentially cost him a shot at the race win with a somewhat lazy strategy in the first half of the race? – maybe.

4. Romain Grosjean (up four spots)

After a false start to the new season, Grosjean scored solid points for the second race running and is extracting the most from the Lotus. The wasted 2014 season is well behind him.

Black and gold trees, black and gold car
Source: Lotus F1 Team

=5. Carlos Sainz (no change) & Max Verstappen (down two spots)

The Toro Rosso youngsters cling onto their top five spot in the F1 Power Rankings despite a difficult Bahrain Grand Prix. Sainz qualified a superb ninth but neither he nor Verstappen were a factor in the race as STR suffered their first double DNF since Austria. It’ll be interesting to see how the team progress as we head into the European season with the likes of Force India and McLaren expected to significantly improve.

The former King of Spain was in attendance
Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso

7. Felipe Massa (down three spots)

A three spot drop for Massa is perhaps a tad drop, especially given he managed to score a point despite having to rally from a pit-lane start and early damage inflicted by Pastor Maldonado. Rob Smedley has commented that Felipe is enjoying his best season since 2008 – and he’ll look to bounce back in Barcelona.

=8. Daniel Ricciardo & Valtteri Bottas (both up one spot)

This duo find themselves again locked together in the F1 Power Rankings after two fine weekends. Ricciardo had a rather lonely race en route to P6 before his engine spectacularly gave way as he crossed the finishing line whilst Bottas enjoyed his best race in 2015 so far as he finally felt free of his back pain troubles. Comfortably beat Massa in quali and wasn’t far off Rosberg and Räikkönen, before a sterling defensive performance against Vettel on Sunday.

Bottas superbly held off Vettel
Source: Williams F1 Team

=10. Fernando Alonso (up one spot) & Felipe Nasr (down three spots)

It might be that we’ve had less than 20 cars line up on the grid more often than not but it’s proving extremely difficult to separate drivers after these earlier races in this year’s F1 Power Rankings. Alonso had an excellent weekend, making it into Q2 and coming up just short of scoring McLaren’s first points. Alonso could easily have been ranked as high as fourth but it’s simultaneously difficult to evaluate his weekend when JB’s was a non-starter. Nasr slips a few spots after a rather anonymous weekend – but he again kept his nose clean.

12. Sergio Pérez (up three spots)

Checo had a quietly excellent race as he picked up Force India’s first points since the season opener. Having narrowly missed out on Q3, Pérez defied his team’s launch-spec car to finish a fine eighth – still five places off his superb podium finish from one year ago.

Source: Sahara Force India

=13. Nico Hülkenberg (no change) & Marcus Ericsson (up one spot)

As mentioned above, and before in this column, Force India are in damage limitation mode until their new challenger comes along. On Saturday, it was The Hulk who put in a superb performance to qualify P8 – but it was a position he struggled to maintain as the race wore on. Ericsson, meanwhile, was again outqualified and out-raced by his rookie team-mate, but those don’t reveal the full story. A disastrous second pit-stop saw him lose almost half a minute and dropped him from a possible points-scoring position – a shame, given he had made an excellent start.

=15. Nico Rosberg (up one spot), Will Stevens (down three spots), Daniil Kvyat (up three spots)

On a week filled with ties in the F1 Power Rankings, this trio is a microcosm of how difficult it was this to place the drivers after Bahrain. Rosberg was again poor on Saturday and lost out to Räikkönen at the start. He proved to be very racy thereafter before his late brake troubles. Regardless, he was still blown away by Hamilton. Stevens again beat his team-mate in the Manor battle. His three place fall comes after it emerged that Merhi is losing out partly due to his weight disadvantage. Kvyat made a silly error in FP3 as he beeched his car in the gravel before going out in Q1. It looked like he was heading for another underwhelming weekend before the final third to his race where he methodically worked his way up to score a couple of well-earned points.

Rosberg showed his aggressive side against the Ferraris
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

18. Jenson Button (up one spot)

Without doubt, this must have been the worst weekend of Button’s F1 career. Through the whole weekend, FP3 was the only session where JB registered any meaningful running. And yet he still moved up a spot, can you guess why?

An ultra-rare sighting of JB on track
Source: McLaren

19. Roberto Merhi (up one spot)

Much like Button, it’s a surprise that Merhi was able to move up a spot. He’ll be off to Aragon this weekend to compete in FR3.5, rather bizarre in the modern era of F1. With both series featuring on Monaco GP weekend, he’ll have a busy time come the end of May.

20. Pastor Maldonado (down three spots)

Oh Pastor… This is a rare column that stands up for the Venezuelan – repeatedly pointing out his scintillating Barcelona 2012 victory. But he doesn’t make it easy for himself. Another Q1 exit was followed by Pastor inexplicably lining up in the wrong grid slot before exploring the Bahraini desert on the opening lap and then hitting Massa. If that wasn’t enough, he then managed to switch his engine off as he made his final pit-stop. This should’ve been a routine top-ten weekend, as it was for Grosjean.

Sparks!
Source: Lotus F1 Team

All views expressed in this blog are my own and no copyright infringement is intended.