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

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