After Race 2: Malaysia

The 2002 Formula One season marked the midway point of the Schumi/Ferrari dominance, as he secured his fifth title a mere 11 races into the 17 race season. What, you might ask, does this have to do with the current edition of the F1 Power Rankings? Well, the 2002 Malaysian Grand Prix – also the second race of that season – was won by Ralf Schumacher, leading home Juan Pablo Montoya for a Williams-BMW 1-2. It was the only time Michael would finish outside of the top two all season.

A (baker’s) dozen years later and Sebastian Vettel upset the dominant Hamilton/Mercedes combo to take his first win for the Scuderia. Neutrals everywhere will take delight at the prospect of Ferrari taking the fight to Mercedes but it remains a distinct possibility that Lewis will rack up another 10+ wins this season.

Incredible scenes of joy in the Ferrari camp
Source: Scuderia Ferrari (Facebook)

Mercedes spent the entire 2014 in a class-of-one. Reliability cost them in Canada and a somewhat inevitable collision cost them in Belgium. Hungary, on the other hand, proved to be a slight precursor to what we witnessed in Sepang 2015. Throw in an ill-timed safety car and a jumbled strategy, and Mercedes’ pit-wall melted in the Malaysian heat. Their insistence on keeping both drivers on the same strategy, as opposed to rolling the dice when the SC came out, likely cost them a victory. Similarly, they were painfully slow to react to Vettel’s performance thereafter, with both cars being kept out far too long on old tyres. Ferrari were quick this weekend – you only need to see how Kimi Räikkönen stormed through the field to thrash Williams to understand this. It would not be incorrect to consider Mercedes arrogant.

Finally, I had mentioned on Twitter during the Australian weekend that there was a strong ‘2008’ feel to this season, and that continued this weekend. Mercedes v. Ferrari up front, Toro Rosso beating Red Bull, and Honda mired to the back of the pack. Some things never change, eh? (if you want a controversial one, how about a Ferrari-powered car deliberately spinning out to get an SC that helps another Ferrari-car… note: not for one second do I subscribe to this conspiracy!)

It's been all smiles at Toro Rosso this season!
Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso

1. Sebastian Vettel (up three spots)

After Melbourne, I wrote: “Just what must Fernando Alonso have been thinking as he watched a resurgent Ferrari […] the spring in [Vettel’s] step is back, as evident by the joyous celebrations with Maurizio Arrivabene post-race.” Fast-forward two weeks and this whole scenario was replayed after the Malaysian race – on steroids! A simply incredible victory for the Scuderia, using a scintillating combination of pace, strategy and opportunity; the team radio on the in-lap and the emotion on the podium was magnificent. A German driving red no.5 evoked memories of the Schumi/Ferrari early 2000s era (and, indeed, Vettel’s first win with Toro Rosso).

An added note to UK fans: if you ever felt your coverage was biased in favour of Hamilton/Button, you should have heard what Spanish TV said after this race as they eulogised over the work F. Alonso did, helping to build Ferrari. There’s no doubt he contributed to this win but, at the same time, it’s a huge insult to Vettel, James Allison and co. to bring it up immediately after the race.

2. Lewis Hamilton (down one spot)

Hamilton remains the clear championship favourite but he was let down by a combination of poor strategy and arrogance from his team.

Oh FIA... why do you focus on such frivolous rules...
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebook)

3. Carlos Sainz (no change)

Two races, two points-finishes, and the youngster continues his impressive start to life in F1. Ultimately beaten by the headline-grabbing Max Verstappen on both Saturday and Sunday, Sainz rallied from a rookie mistake in Q2 to storm from 15^th on the grid to an eventual P8. Aside from Vettel, he was the only man to maximize a two-stop strategy – and that’s not bad company to be keeping!

4. Max Verstappen (up two spots)

It took the 17-year-old just two races to match his father’s best ever qualifying performance. From sixth on the grid, Verstappen struggled in the early stages – and was asked to let his team-mate through before the SC bunched the field up. He kept his nose clean throughout and edged Sainz to the checkered flag courtesy of his significantly fresher tyres to secure a fine P7.

Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso

5. Kimi Räikkönen (up four spots)

Räikkönen is one of the biggest gainers in this week’s F1 Power Rankings, matching his superb recovery drive on Sunday. He agonisingly dropped out in Q2 having been held up by Marcus Ericsson and then picked up a puncture from the other Sauber in the opening stages on Sunday. The SC helped him catch the back of the pack and he methodically worked his way through the field, storming through to an eventual P4 – highlighting Ferrari’s raw pace.

Source: Scuderia Ferrari

6. Felipe Massa (down one spot)

It was Massa who once again prevailed in the Williams Q3 battle – although the team still hasn’t cured its relatively poor wet-weather car-performance from 2014. Massa ran ahead of Bottas all day long (pit-stop sequences aside) until the Finn edged him in the dying stages on slightly fresher tyres. Unlike last year, Massa had no answer to defend.

7. Valtteri Bottas (up four spots)

With his back problems hopefully behind him, Bottas finally took the starting grid in Sepang. He ran an almost identical race to his team-mate, the main exception was clipping Maldonado on the opening lap. As mentioned in last week’s F1 Power Rankings, the intra-team Williams battle will be fascinating to watch.

Williams were one of several teams to come home in Noah's Ark formation
Source: Williams F1 Team

8. Felipe Nasr (down six spots)

Maybe Sauber need a week from hell in order to deliver a strong performance! Although Ericsson did a good job in getting into Q3, it was largely thanks to the conditions. Nasr exited in Q1 and had a hugely anonymous race – giving Räikkönen a puncture aside – but he did wind up ahead of both Force Indias. He’s the biggest faller in this week’s F1 Power Rankings but remains in the top ten thanks to his superb debut.

=9. Daniel Ricciardo (up one spot) & Daniil Kvyat (up five spots)

The good news first: both RBRs qualified in the top five, with Kvyat matching his career-best from Sochi. It was all downhill from there as they fell to the foot of the points on raceday. Kvyat ultimately edged his more experienced team-mate in the closing stages (on fresher tyres, like many others did) but he did also lose time mid-race with the whack from The Hulk.

Not quite Multi 21...
Source: Infiniti Red Bull Racing

11. Nico Hülkenberg (down four spots)

Even Kvyat felt The Hulk’s penalty was harsh but this wasn’t to be Nico’s day. He ended up behind his team-mate but that was due to team orders on different strategies. Force India are very much in damage limitation mode as they await the B-spec version of their 2015 challenger.

Neil's Wisdom #ForzaJules #KeepFightingMichael
Source: Sahara Force India 

12. Nico Rosberg

No change for Rosberg as his average start to the season continued. Of note, his race pace in the second half of the race was a tad better than his team-mate’s.

=13. Jenson Button (down five spots) & Fernando Alonso (not ranked last week)

JB’s a big faller this week but that was probably to be expected after the chaos of Melbourne. Alonso joins this year’s F1 Power Rankings tied for a fittingly unlucky 13^th with his team-mate as McLaren edged their way towards the main pack. Both cars exited in Q1 but they proved to be rather more competitive in the race, with Alonso running in the top ten when his car failed.

Source: McLaren (Facebook)

=15. Romain Grosjean (no change) & Marcus Ericsson (down two spots)

Grosjean remains mired down in 15^th as his desperately unlucky start to 2015 continues. Having made it 2-for-2 in Q3 appearances, he was relegated to 10^th on the grid for queue-jumping, before being spectacularly spun around by Sergio Pérez midway through the race and finishing an agonising P11 – having also suffered from power problems.

Ericsson, meanwhile, looked to be on course for a rapid rise up the F1 Power Rankings following his impressive quali effort that saw him benefit from being towards the front of the queue in Q2. It all went for nought, however, after an abysmal rookie error saw him spin off in Turn 1 after a solid start.

17. Pastor Maldonado (down one spot)

A weekend to forget for Pastor; he was again an innocent victim in the first corner melee and didn’t really make much of an impression thereafter.

=18. Sergio Pérez (down one spot) & Roberto Merhi (not ranked last week)

Pérez suffered the ignominy of plummeting through the field after the SC at a rather comical rate. He later spun around Grosjean it what looked like a pretty clear penalty but replays suggest it may have been slightly more of a racing incident that at first glance.

Merhi and Manor were quite difficult to rank. As we saw last year, Jules Bianchi made 3^rd place his own in the F1 Power Rankings; he was clearly class of the backmarkers and, of course, scored points in Monaco. Based on pure hard work and overcoming adversity, Manor deserve more – after all, they did something even McLaren-Honda with their huge resources and funds couldn’t do and finish in the searing Sepang heat and humidity. But Merhi’s fastest lap was even slower than Marcus Ericsson’s – who completed just two flying laps on a full tank of fuel before his early exit. It’s hard to see them making the same kind of progression as McLaren did between the first two races and they will do well to last the distance this season.

Merhi briefly ran inside the top 10 during the SC
Source: Manor

Not ranked: Kevin Magnussen, Will Stevens

Stevens failed to take part in either quali or the race as rumours swirled as to why only one Manor appeared on the track at any given time.

I mentioned Montoya earlier, JPM won the first race of the new IndyCar season in St Pete
Source: Juan Pablo Montoya (Facebook)

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

After Race 1: Australia

It’s back! Almost four months on from Abu Dhabi, the Formula One circus made its annual trip Down Under to kick off the new season. And, typically for F1, there was just as much mayhem off the track as there was on it.

Sauber’s horrendous week had a fairytale ending, despite Ian Parkes asking Monisha Kaltenborn if she was too incompetent to run an F1 team – further tarnishing the profession of journalism at the same time. It was a terrible mess and, while I’m personally inclined to believe that Peter Sauber wouldn’t have let this happen, times have changed and the midfield F1 teams are fighting for their lives more than ever – you only have to look at the struggles of Lotus and Force India (and we keep our fingers crossed for Manor).

At the front, meanwhile, Mercedes were rampant. Their dominance was no surprise. Such was their advantage last season, they had ample time to ensure this didn’t change entering the new season (and beyond). It was a sorry sight seeing just 15 cars take to the grid, although it’s something I fully expected to see before last year’s race as the technology was brand-spanking new. Eleven finishers was also a throwback to the sport in the early 2000s and before.

A common sight last year... and this year too
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

A reminder to those that haven’t read the F1 Power Rankings before; they’re a mixture of weekend performance and overall momentum. Individual brilliance takes precedence over car performance (as Jules Bianchi and Daniil Kvyat showed last year) but the latter does still play a key factor. Let’s get cracking…

1. Lewis Hamilton

Simply the perfect start to his title defence. After conceding the top of the timesheets to Nico Rosberg on Friday, Hamilton stormed back to take a dominant pole position and strolled away on raceday as he took his seventh win in eight races.

Starstruck: "I'll be back"
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

2. Felipe Nasr

If you foresaw this performance from Felipe Nasr, I sincerely hope you put money on it! A fine quali performance saw him line-up in the top ten after Valtteri Bottas’ DNS and he survived being the meat in the Räikkönen-Maldonado sandwich to run inside the top six all day long. Considering Sauber didn’t even hit the track till FP2, it was a scintillating debut drive.

Source: Sauber F1 Team

3. Carlos Sainz

Such has been the attention surrounding his 17-year-old team-mate, it could’ve been easy to overlook the terrific job Sainz did on his own debut weekend. P7 on the grid after Bottas’ withdrawal and he found himself fifth after Turn 1 (granted, he did tap the back of Räikkönen). He dropped back after the SC with software issues before a horrendous pit-stop saw him drop to the tail of the field. He recovered strongly to claim a well-deserved two points. 

Source: Toro Rosso

4. Sebastian Vettel

It’s a funny old sport, isn’t it? Just what must Fernando Alonso have been thinking as he watched a resurgent Ferrari battle to be best-of-the-rest. Vettel edged out Räikkönen in qualifying and cleared Massa using an overcut to claim a podium on his Scuderia debut. The spring in his step is back, as evident by the joyous celebrations with Maurizio Arrivabene post-race.

A German driving a Red 5...
Source: Scuderia Ferrari

5. Felipe Massa

Good weekend for Massa, if a touch disappointing to lose out to Vettel in the battle for the podium. The intra-team Williams battle will be fascinating this year and it’s first blood to the Brazilian as he edged a scruffy Bottas on Saturday – with the Finn having to sit the race out as a result.

Massa and Vettel fought to be best-of-the-rest
Source: Williams F1 Team

6. Max Verstappen

Verstappen has the honour of being the top ‘second driver’ in this year’s first F1 Power Rankings. A mistake in quali saw him exit in Q2 but he avoided the first corner melee and ran strongly inside the top ten all day long until his car ground to a halt in the second half of the race. It’s a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’, he’ll become the youngest ever points-scorer.

The 17-year-old discusses with his team what stopped him scoring debut points
Source: Toro Rosso

7. Nico Hülkenberg

The Hulk wins the award for most anonymous driver of the weekend. Force India start the new season with a launch-spec car after various issues during the off-season and Hülkenberg edged out Sergio Pérez by 0.001secs in qualifying – suggesting both drivers extracted the maximum from the car. Sunday was a different story as the German put in a controlled, if rather lonely, drive en route to seventh.

8. Jenson Button

JB finds himself a rather astonishing eighth in this week’s F1 Power Rankings, mainly thanks to a fine defensive performance against Pérez in the first half of the race. The pressure was also on to beat Kevin Magnussen in quali – which he did – before the team surprised themselves in finishing the race (and only two laps down!).

McLaren probably thought they wouldn't have a meaningful pit-stop
Source: McLaren

9. Kimi Räikkönen

It was good to see the 2007 Champ seemingly back on form after a dismal 2014 campaign, although he was outperformed by his new team-mate. He was unlucky not to claim a top-five finish as he had a three-wheels-on-my-wagon moment with another malfunctioning traffic light. Equally, he was lucky to avoid a grid drop for Malaysia; sure, the wheel didn’t fly off, but then it’s not exactly a deterrent for future races, is it? Uncompromising approach to tyre safety is normally one of the few things the FIA get spot on.

10. Daniel Ricciardo

With Lotus out of the picture, the idea was that Renault would forge even closer ties with the Red Bull family. Instead, relations seem to be at an all-time low with the Aussie the only one of the Renault quartet not to have any troubles on Sunday. Ricciardo assumed the de-facto role of team leader but could only muster a sixth-place finish – behind Nasr and light years away from Ferrari and Williams. So bad is their situation that rumours are swirling about their continued involvement in the sport…

Smiling even through a tough weekend
Source: Infiniti Red Bull Racing

11. Valtteri Bottas

One of the more difficult drivers to place in this week’s F1 Power Rankings, Bottas leaves Melbourne with a DNS after an error-strewn Q3 saw him pick up a back injury that forced him out of the race. Several podiums must be the realistic target this season – and perhaps steal that maiden win.

12. Nico Rosberg

If you’ve not read the F1 Power Rankings before, you might be stunned to see Rosberg so low on the list. Quite frankly, he was blown away by Hamilton when it mattered this weekend; and he simply hasn’t been the same since that opening lap in Belgium.

13. Marcus Ericsson

First of all, massive congratulations to the Swede for picking up his first points in F1 after such a tumultuous week. Now for the bad news… he was outclassed by debutant Nasr on both Saturday and Sunday. He also had a rather scruffy race but, worst of all, he’s made himself the sitting duck should Giedo van der Garde get a drive in Malaysia (and beyond).

14. Daniil Kvyat

The last of the five drivers to fail to make the grid, Kvyat did a solid job on Saturday to keep his head amidst a problematic quali that saw him have one-shot in Q1.

15. Romain Grosjean & 16. Pastor Maldonado

The Lotus duo find themselves in similar positions as last year in the first of this year’s F1 Power Rankings. Clearly, they have taken a giant step forward thanks to the Mercedes switch (both cars in Q3!) but Grosjean suffered teething problems as the lights went out and Maldonado was an innocent victim in the first corner incident. It was a shame to see the Pastor-haters out in force again as his race ended in the barriers – it’s as if people deliberately choose to forget his stunning 2012 Spanish GP win; something that the likes of Bottas, Hulk, Grosjean and Pérez have yet to achieve. 

The only photo of both Lotus cars on Sunday... on the parade lap
Source: Lotus F1 Team

...as Pastor was spun into the barriers
Source: El Nacional (Venezuela) / EFE

17. Sergio Pérez

And speaking of the Mexican, he props up this week’s rankings after a disastrous race – despite claiming a point thanks to the attrition. As mentioned earlier, quali was almost a dead-heat between the two Force Indias but Checo had a mare in the race as he just couldn’t clear the woeful McLaren-Honda.

Initially well matched, The Hulk ran away with team honours
Source: Sahara Force India

Not ranked: Kevin Magnussen, Will Stevens, Roberto Merhi, Fernando Alonso (and Giedo van der Garde)

It was great to see Manor in Melbourne after all their woes but I just hope they can survive the season. We wish Alonso well in his recovery from his testing crash, and hope to see him in Melbourne. Magnussen, meanwhile, had a dreadful weekend; he crashed in practice and was set to bring up the rear on the grid before his Honda failed on the installation lap – and that’s one of Alonso’s three engines gone.

I didn’t write a season preview as such (they’ve been done to death and, unlike 2014, it wasn’t that necessary), but only a comment piece on McLaren instead. There’s fundamentally no point in McLaren running their engines on full-lean. They may as well accept the fact that power unit penalties will happen in the second half of the season and see where they stand with their car operating much closer to its full potential. It’s their only chance of scoring points and we saw in 2014 how such penalties can be overcome.

The family photo (minus Bottas)
Source: Infiniti Red Bull Racing

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