Category: Formula One

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Destination IndyCar: Marcus Ericsson joins Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

The list of ex-F1 drivers on the IndyCar grid is getting longer by the day, this time with the addition of the recently-ousted Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson who will line up with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM) for the 2019. With Felix Rosenqvist’s earlier move to Chip Ganassi, Ericsson takes IndyCar’s Swedish driver count up to two, an unprecedented amount for the modern era of IndyCar which has seen none from the country since its merge with Champ Car back in 2008.

Marcus Ericsson. Image courtesy of Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team

Ericsson comes from F1 having spent five years in the series, the last four of which have been with Sauber F1 Team. There’s no doubt that the significant funding that accompanied Ericsson played a part in how long he spent at the team, especially as he’s been comprehensively beaten by the majority of his teammates, however, his talent is not to be overlooked.

Where many expected soon-to-be Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc to absolutely wipe the floor with Ericsson, the Swede has stood up for himself and avoided complete embarrassment. Even so, it was not enough for him to warrant keeping his driver at the team, being replaced by 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen who will line up alongside Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi.

Having spent so long in F1, a change is scene will probably do Ericsson good, though his predicament on entering IndyCar is remarkably similar to Andretti’s Alexander Rossi. When Rossi came to IndyCar, it was seen as though he was using the series as a filler until he could get back into F1 but soon after joining he fell in love with it and kissed goodbye to his F1 dreams. Ericsson has said that he wants to return to F1, but his mind could well be changed… just as Rossi’s was back in 2016.

Ericsson joins SPM at a rather troubled time in their history, to say the least. Last season’s rookie sensation, Robert Wickens, has been left paralysed (at least for now) by a horrific crash at Pocono while racing for SPM, with teammate James Hinchcliffe’s car also being wrecked in the crash. Certainly, the financial backing that Ericsson brings will be very well-received at SPM, given all the crash damage they’ve had in previous years, but that was not the only reason that they chose the Swede.

The 28-year old will pilot the #7 SPM car with Hinchcliffe in the #5, with the #6 seat remaining empty for Wickens to retake when or if he wants or is able to. Hinchcliffe is one of the more experienced drivers on the grid and definitely one of the most popular, so Ericsson will have his work cut out going up against him. Equally, Hinchcliffe will not want a repeat of 2018 where Wickens came in as a rookie and beat him, the Canadian will want to stand his ground, that’s for sure!

Either way, SPM is a very good team to be going into as a rookie and Ericsson will have all the tools he needs to turn into an IndyCar contender, much like Rossi has in the last few seasons, and his entry into the series is an exciting prospect for all.

Featured Image courtesy of  Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team

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Daniel Ricciardo: Why the Aussie has nothing to fear ahead of Renault move

 

Daniel Ricciardo in Aston Martin RedBull Racing garage at the 2018 Mexico Granprix. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Another race; another retirement due to a mechanical failure for Daniel Ricciardo. Every time he steps in the car, something seems to go wrong, even when he won in Monaco. It has led him to say that his Red Bull is “cursed” and that he might just let Pierre Gasly drive the car for the last two races of the 2018 season in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

These comments were, of course, in the heat of the moment, but reliability-wise, the Red Bull with a Renault engine has not treated the Aussie well at all this year.

During the summer break, shockwaves were sent through the world of F1. Ricciardo was leaving Red Bull, but the shock wasn’t that he was leaving; if we’re being honest, the news was something we anticipated even before the turn of the 2018 season. The shock was who he was joining.

He wasn’t off to Italian giants Ferrari, instead to the midfield team that has yet to really prove itself since its return to F1 in 2016: Renault.

The French team was not really anyone’s expectation for Ricciardo, but the surprise factor was, truth be told, a negative one. Overall, there was a sense that Ricciardo is taking a career with prospects of a world championship and flushing it down the toilet. However, this may not be the case.

In reality, all you really need to do is look at the progress Renault have made since 2016. They took over a Lotus team that was in tatters, and they had to start a process of reinstating themselves as a Constructor in F1, after past success in the sport, most recently with Fernando Alonso in his two championship-winning years in 2005 and 2006. Of course, they had success supplying to Red Bull, but being a team that has to make a cohesive car with the chassis and the engine is an entirely different beast.

They went from being a team that was often at the back of the field in 2016 to a team that is now expected to score good points in 2018, and therefore, with the fast progress of a manufacturer team, will be handed even higher expectations for 2019. Therefore, this may be a leap, but it’s a leap to a fast-developing team, with a team boss in Cyril Abiteboul who demands the very best of everyone at the team, and certainly lets them know when he’s not satisfied.

Christian Horner over looking Dan’s car before the race. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

The main talking point in the races since the announcement has been that of reliability. Ricciardo’s scream of anger after an engine failure in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix in early October told us everything we needed to know about just how bad the Renault engine has been for Red Bull this season.

But if we look at the wider angle of this, Ricciardo has had 6 retirements due to mechanical issues this season compared to just two for soon-to-be team mate Nico Hulkenberg in the factory Renault car – I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions on just how much of a difference there is in reliability between the factory team and their customer. However, perhaps the most important aspect of this is that Ricciardo’s failures have not always been Renault’s fault. His retirement at last weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix was down to a hydraulic failure, which lies on Red Bull’s side of the blame. A lot of pain for Red Bull in terms of reliability and performance has come from the French manufacturer though.

However, the Renault engine at certain circuits, when it is not failing, can be competitive – a good chassis for Renault next year and another factory push with the engine, and Renault could be a serious threat to Red Bull.

And let’s not forget Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes, in 2012, were dire. They, too, were somewhat of a midfield team, albeit more competitive proportionately than Renault are right now. Hamilton left a McLaren team accustomed to winning, and went to a struggling Mercedes team that had won one race that year and had been fairly average in most others, often struggling to score points. He has since won four championships with the German manufacturer.

Of course, this is not to say things will turn out equally for Ricciardo; two careers rarely turn out the same, but they say fortune favours the brave, and the Honey Badger has certainly lived up to his nickname with a bold move that might turn out a lot better than many are anticipating.

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2018 Mexican GP Review: F1esta Mode for Mercedes

We’re in the final stages of the 2018 season, and as F1 entered round 19 of the calendar for the Mexican Grand Prix, another chance emerged for Lewis Hamilton to become a five-time world champion, with his rival Sebastian Vettel 70 points behind and just three races to go.

Qualifying was once again very close, with Daniel Ricciardo stealing pole from team-mate Max Verstappen by just 0.026 seconds. Behind them, it was close as well, with Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas and Raikkonen making up a very interesting grid.

On Sunday, Hamilton got an amazing start and got past pole-sitter Ricciardo, but didn’t quite manage to get past Verstappen. Ricciardo dropped to third, with Vettel and Bottas still in fourth and fifth.

It took only five laps before the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was brought out, after Fernando Alonso pulled over having had his car damaged by some flying debris from Esteban Ocon at the start.

Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Hamilton started losing time to Verstappen once the green flag was shown, allowing Ricciardo to close to within DRS range by lap eleven, although he wasn’t quite close enough to attempt an overtake.

On lap twelve, Hamilton came in for his first pit stop along with Bottas just seconds after, and Ricciardo and Verstappen pitting on successive laps, all opting for the supersofts. On lap fifteen, Verstappen used his DRS to overtake Raikkonen, the winner of last week’s United States Grand Prix

With Raikkonen’s tyres fading, he dropped into the clutches of Hamilton and Ricciardo, with the former pulling off an overtake in turns two and three.

On lap eighteen both Vettel and Raikkonen finally made their pit stops, switching onto the supersofts and making Verstappen race leader once again, this time by a margin of eight seconds.

A second Virtual Safety Car was brought out on lap 32, with Carlos Sainz having parked his Renault at the side of the track.  When the green flag was shown once more Vettel saw a chance to get past Ricciardo and, on lap 34, he  finally overtook the Australian and set about closing the gap to Hamilton. By lap 38 he was within a second, and the following lap he overtook his rival on the main straight.

He now had a thirteen second gap to Verstappen he needed to close down, but more interesting was the fact that Hamilton was losing almost a second per lap to Ricciardo. The Brit would still become World Champion even if he got overtaken, but that wouldn’t be in style as he was now at risk of losing a podium place.

2018 Mexican Grand Prix, Sunday – Wolfgang Wilhelm

In an attempt to overtake Hamilton, Ricciardo tried the move on the main straight but Hamilton braked way too late and overshot the first corner, going across the grass. Unsurprisingly, he pitted at the end of the lap for a set of used ultrasofts.

With 22 laps to go, both Vettel and Verstappen pitted. Vettel went to the ultrasofts, whilst Verstappen opted for a new set of supersofts. This promoted Ricciardo into second place but, with him being on older tyres, Vettel soon closed the gap again.

On lap 62 Vettel’s job was made a lot easier when Ricciardo once again retired due to an engine problem. The Virtual Safety Car was called out for the third time, and Bottas took the opportunity to pit.

After 71 laps it was an outstanding drive from Max Verstappen, who took the chequered flag and claimed his fifth win in F1. Following him home were the two Ferraris of Vettel and Raikkonen.

Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Verstappen’s victory, however, was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth place, which was enough for him to be crowned the 2018 Formula One World Champion. He gave the crowd a bit of a show by doing some doughnuts in the stadium section of the track. Even Will Smith left a radio message for him, and Vettel showed his sportsmanship by congratulating his rival.

There are still two races left of the season to go. Sure, the tension of the championship is now over, but that doesn’t mean the upcoming races will be any less interesting. The Brazilian Grand Prix is up next, which always makes for a great race, especially as the weather gods always play their part there. But, for now, the party mode can be turned on at Mercedes.

 

 

Featured image: 2018 Mexican Grand Prix, Sunday – Steve Etherington

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Rich Energy Drink UK enters the Fray

Rich Energy, a UK Limited company which produces energy drinks much like Red Bull and Monster Energy, has been confirmed for the 2019 season. Haas have signed them as their title sponsor, so the team becomes Rich Energy Haas F1 Team. They had a deal pretty much sealed with Williams but decided to go elsewhere, showing a sign of the times in current F1 racing.

Williams are in need of a title sponsor as Martini are leaving them at the end of the season and this deal was the answer to their woes. They had it confirmed with meetings but nothing written and signed. With a poor 2018 season not helping them, albeit being such a legendary name in F1. Rich Energy have gone elsewhere as Haas can provide more TV time as they are more likely to be at the front of the field. Williams may struggle to get any sponsors, much like Mclaren, which could put financial strain on the team.

Haas, on the other hand, have many stories circulating in the rumour mill for the American team. Is this a true sign of future commitment to the sport? Owner Gene Haas has put forward alot of his own money and with this he could relax as they enter their third season. With Rich Energy’s colour scheme being black and gold, this is going to be a total refresh for the Haas. 

One question that does arise is about finance – with new rules and regulations coming in for 2019 and 2020, do they need the investment to compete? It will be interesting to see what will come of it. Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen have kept their seats for 2019, so familiarity with the team and car could make high finishes and podiums a possibility in 2019. Time will tell.

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2018 Mexican Grand Prix Preview

The 19th round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship brings us to the 4.3 kilometre-long Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexican Grand Prix, where the world championship is set to be decided in Lewis Hamilton’s favour.

The circuit is named after brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez. The first ever Mexican Grand Prix took place in 1962 in a non-championship event and, tragically, Ricardo was killed during the race, with Pedro carrying the Mexican Grand Prix into the world championship the following year.

1992 would be the last race in Mexico for 23 years, before the circuit’s reintroduction as a revamped circuit in 2015, with the victory being taken by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg.

GP MESSICO F1/2017
© FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER FERRARI MEDIA (© COPYRIGHT FREE)

A week after narrowly missing out on his fifth world title in the US – the country where he desperately wanted to get the job done – Lewis Hamilton now will need just a seventh place finish to overtake Sebastian Vettel on the world championship count.

After a brilliant race last time out, it was a third place finish for Hamilton, behind second-placed Max Verstappen, who started 18th, and extremely popular race winner Kimi Raikkonen, who took his first win in Formula One since the opening race of 2013.

Off the back of that, Mexico is a track where we should expect a tight battle between all three of F1’s top teams. Max Verstappen won the race last season, and Red Bull are anticipating another strong weekend this year. Furthermore, Ferrari are expected to be slightly stronger than Mercedes, which for really the first time this year, gives us a race in which any of our top six could take the win.

Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

A win is something Sebastian Vettel will desperately want, having seen his team-mate win in the States. In order to achieve this, however, he will need a weekend free from mistakes. The four-time champion has proven to be a bit of a magnet to the two Red Bulls in the past couple of races, hitting Max Verstappen in Japan and Daniel Ricciardo in the States.

However, a perfect weekend with a victory will probably not be enough for Vettel to keep his title hopes alive, and he would need a remarkable amount of bad luck for Lewis Hamilton who, excluding his DNF in Austria, has a lowest finishing position of fifth.

As if the task weren’t difficult enough already, Ferrari will have to factor in the Red Bulls, who will up for a fight for victory at a track where they will be brimming with confidence. Verstappen will be a tough man to pass, and Ricciardo will be desperate to get one last win before he leaves the team for Renault at the end of the season. This, though, could also be a potential banana skin for Lewis Hamilton, making Mexico an eagerly anticipated race at the tail-end of a season which has seen Mercedes turn the tables on Ferrari from the start of the year and give them a vicious beat-down in the championship.

It was an uphill struggle already for Vettel, but a series of errors from himself and Ferrari this year have meant that Hamilton is one step away from title number five, and in a race just a week before Mexico’s death festival, we are set to once again see the death of Sebastian Vettel’s title challenge, and the rise of Lewis Hamilton to the level of the great Juan Manuel Fangio.

 

 

Featured image: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

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2018 United States GP Review: The Iceman Returns

The United States Grand Prix had the potential to see the crowning of a five-time world champion. Taking place at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, F1 entered the eighteenth round of the 2018 season with a 67-point difference between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

With only three races left after this one, it would need a miracle for Vettel to overturn that gap and take his fifth world championship. A win for Hamilton in the US Grand Prix meant that Vettel couldn’t afford to finish third or below, as this would extend the gap to over 75 points and hand the championship to Hamilton. Did the (American) dream end here for Vettel?

In qualifying it was a heated battle up front. Lewis Hamiltom claimed pole, with only seven hundredths of a second covering the top three. Behind him were Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas, with Vettel being demoted to fifth because of a penalty he was given after free practice for failing to slow down sufficiently under a red flag.

One notable name missing from that top ten was Max Verstappen. He set a fast lap in Q1 and advanced to Q2, but broke the rear suspension of the car after he hit a sausage kerb. Red Bull didn’t have enough time to fix the car, and he didn’t set a time. To add insult to injury, Red Bull had to change his gearbox, leaving him with a grid penalty and an eighteenth place starting slot.

Once the lights went out, Räikkönen made a great start and overtook Hamilton on the inside going into turn one, with mayhem breaking out behind them. Vettel tried to overtake Ricciardo, but crashed into the Australian and spun. He rejoined in fourteenth place, behind Vandoorne. He made up some places very quickly, but he still was twenty-two seconds behind his teammate, who was leading the race.

Verstappen was already in seventh place after five laps and was closing on his team-mate, when Ricciardo once again suffered an engine issue and had to come to a stop at the side of the track.

The parked Red Bull brought out the Virtual Safety Car, with Mercedes calling Hamilton in to change from the supersofts onto the softs. He re-emerged in third place, eight seconds behind Raikkonen.

Valtteri Bottas was asked on lap fourteen to let Hamilton through, and Hamilton set about closing the gap to the race leader, who was on the ultrasofts, and eventually catching up on lap nineteen. The Mercedes made it to within DRS range, but couldn’t get past. After defending all the way through sector three, Raikkonen came into the pits and changed onto the softs.

A strange call from the Ferrari team came on lap twenty-five, when Vettel was asked to let his teammate go by. He was then overtaken by Verstappen before he had the chance to go into the pits, and dropped out of the podium positions. By the halfway mark of the race he was 43 seconds behind race-leader Hamilton and in fifth place.

Hamilton started to struggle due to blisters on the rear tyres, allowing Vettel to close the gap back to less than thirty seconds. On lap 37 it became clear Hamilton wouldn’t be able to make it to the end, and he came in for another pit stop. He re-emerged in fourth place, ahead of Vettel and with Raikkonen still leading.

For the second time in the race, Bottas was asked to let Hamilton by, with his team-mate on the fresher tyres and charging his way back up. By lap 45 the top three were very close, with two seconds separating Raikkonen and Vertappen, and another three second gap to Hamilton in third.

By lap fifty Vettel was within DRS range of Bottas in fourth, with the top three now separated by just two and a half seconds. With Vettel where he was, Hamilton needed to finish in second, and that meant getting past Verstappen.

On lap 53, Verstappen made a slight error and gave Hamilton the opportunity to overtake. Verstappen defended and didn’t give the Brit any space, with Hamilton running wide and losing time.

Two laps later, Vettel overtook Bottas for fourth place, meaning that the chance for Hamilton to win the championship this race was gone

After 113 races, Räikkönen finally got another victory. It may certainly be his last for Ferrari, but it was probably one of his best. Verstappen finished in second having started from 18th, a performance which resulted in him deservedly winning Driver of the Day. Behind them, Hamilton finished in third and Vettel in fourth, with Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Ocon, Magnussen and Perez completing the top ten.

With three races to go, the gap between Hamilton and Vettel is now 70 points. Vettel needs a miracle to happen if he wants to become five-time world champion, whilst Hamilton just needs to defend his major points advantage.

Up next is the Mexican Grand Prix – will Hamilton be crowned five-time world champion there?

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McLaren abandon IndyCar 2019 plans but leave door open for Indy 500

McLaren team principal Zak Brown has admitted that the team have been forced to put their plans for a full-time IndyCar entry on hold after engine negotiations stalled. The failure of the deal is a partial legacy from the explosive McLaren-Honda relationship in F1, with Honda reluctant to supply the team that criticised them so heavily during those turbulent years.

Admittedly, it was all getting a bit late in the day for a new entry anyway, given that there are only a few months until the new season gets underway in March next year. If McLaren were serious about being in IndyCar full-time, a deal would have been sorted out months ago. They have, instead, made the decision to focus on their F1 project, which certainly needs some sorting out!

Earlier in the year, it was said that the McLaren shareholders were less than keen on the team entering IndyCar for 2019, again based on the fact that they need to get their F1 performances back to a respectable level before they allow themselves to get distracted by IndyCar.

Even with all of McLaren’s internal problems, the biggest issue for them was always going to be engine supply. IndyCar has just two engine suppliers: Honda and Chevrolet. The dawn of the universal aero kits has brought the two closer together than ever before, but Honda have rather stolen a march on their American counterparts, taking the drivers championship and nearly locking out the top ten with only Penske getting a nose in for Chevrolet.

This means that, in an ideal world, McLaren would want to team up with Honda, especially given that they are the suppliers of Andretti, who McLaren were looking to do some sort of partnership with. However, all the aforementioned F1 shenanigans has made that nigh on impossible. A Chevrolet deal hasn’t proven any easier, because the only team that realistically has enough resources to accommodate McLaren is Penske, and they’ve said that they’re not interested in such a partnership.

That has left McLaren in a tight spot and, despite some rumblings about a potential Harding link-up or even buyout, they’ve been forced to put their IndyCar aspirations on the shelf, at least for now.

Zak Brown has, however, not ruled out the potential for an Indy 500-only entry for Fernando Alonso, presumably in association with Andretti again. This would be no mean feat for the Spaniard though. It will not be as easy for him as it was in 2017 because of the universal aero kits which have closed the field up and made it much more difficult to jump in and be fast straight away.

Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada
Sunday 10 June 2018.
Fernando Alonso, McLaren.
Photo: Steven Tee/McLaren
ref: Digital Image _1ST0758

To win the mystical ‘Triple Crown’ Alonso would realistically have to look at a full season of IndyCar, and even that holds no guarantees of Indy 500 success, something that any IndyCar driver would agree with.

All of this really begs the question of just what Alonso will do in 2019. He’s yet to make any announcement or even drop a cryptic clue on Twitter about it, leaving everyone guessing. If he is to do IndyCar it won’t be with McLaren, but surely McLaren wouldn’t be talking about doing an Indy 500 entry if they knew Alonso was going to another team. Maybe he isn’t going to do a full IndyCar season after all?

If it’s not IndyCar, then the sky’s the limit for Alonso. It really is anyone’s guess as to what he’ll do next season, but it’ll probably be more than one series, given that he’d race every weekend if he could!

Anyway, while 2019 may be off the table for McLaren, they have reiterated the fact that they do want to do IndyCar at some point in the future. The time just isn’t right for them yet, but hopefully it will be soon.

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2018 US Grand Prix: The final word in the title race?

As with most things he does in life, Lewis Hamilton would love to win the 2018 championship in style,  the United States Grand Prix would be a great place to wrap up a title that started as a close battle, but has ended up as a ruthless beating.

Lewis Hamilton with the media and the crowds. Image courtesy of Steve Etherington / Mercedes AMG

Hamilton enters this weekend with a 67-point lead in the championship over title rival Sebastian Vettel, meaning that should he outscore Vettel by 8 points on Sunday, he can wake up on Monday 22nd of October and call himself a five-time Formula One World Champion, equalling the much revered Juan Manuel Fangio. There are numerous permutations to achieve this, but if Hamilton leads a Mercedes one-two, which is exactly what has happened in the last 2 races in Russia and Japan – he is the World Champion.  If, however, Vettel manages to finish second or above, the title race will be kept barely alive going into the Mexican Grand Prix.

The 18th round 2018 takes us to Austin, Texas, host to the 5.5 Kilometre Circuit of The Americas (COTA). The task was already difficult enough for Vettel, but COTA is predominantly a power circuit, which will suit Mercedes, and the first sector, realistically, is the only part of the track where Ferrari can hope to gain any time.

Stats for the Circuit Of the Americas at Austin, Texas. Image courtesy of Pirelli

COTA, of course, is not the first track to host the US Grand Prix. It is the latest in six tracks to host the event, following on from Sebring, Watkins Glen, Riverside, Phoenix, and Indianapolis; the scene of the Michelin tyre controversy which led to just six cars starting the race. It was an embarrassing day for Formula One, and Indianapolis was dropped from the calendar after 2008.

The US Grand Prix then would not return until 2012, when COTA took control. The beautiful 20-turrn track features echoes of circuits around the world, such as turns 16, 17 and 18; a right-handed version of turn 8 at Istanbul Park, home to the old Turkish Grand Prix.

Ultimately, this championship is all but sealed, but Toto Wolff, honest to his word, will not celebrate until both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles are won, and thus he will be galvanising another enigmatically brilliant performance out of Hamilton and Bottas to bring home the championship that make the Hamilton the most successful out of the current crop, moving ahead of Vettel.

With so many of history’s sporting successes taking place in the States, Hamilton’s American dream of becoming truly the best in the world are potentially one victory away from being realised, as the F1 bandwagon takes a trip across the pond to the United States of America.

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Expanding to the US: How it can be properly done

Formula One’s unfulfilled dream is and has always been to expand to the USA and gain popularity in a market of 300 million people—but how can this be properly done?

Thirteen years have passed since that bizarre 2005 US Grand Prix, when Michelin’s teams decided not to race, scared of what could be the outcome of a tire exploding on the mighty Indy oval. F1 remained in the States for the next two years, but its pride had been hurt irretrievably.

F1’s journey in America has been an adventurous one, with many ups and downs along the way. It’s not so common for a country to host a Grand Prix on 13 different circuits, and it’s not a coincidence that this happened with the US.

The popularity of IndyCar and NASCAR meant F1 struggled to gain the American support it wanted. Constantly changing the venues was a way for F1 to become relevant, and earn the respect of the crowd. Some prestigious tracks have welcomed F1: Sebring, Watkins Glen, Long Beach, Indianapolis. Nothing was enough, though, to convince the fans.

But when it was announced in 2010 that F1 would have its own track in the States, the Circuit of the Americas, it marked the first step in the long journey to establishing itself on the other side of the Atlantic.

Since 2012, F1 has proved that everything is bigger in Texas. It’s not just Americans who have embraced the US Grand Prix in Austin—huge numbers of Mexican fans make the small trip into Texas to watch their heroes. Even when Formula 1 returned to Mexico City, their support at COTA didn’t deteriorate.

Nevertheless, Liberty Media wants to expand its activities in the US by adding another Grand Prix to its calendar. The proposed Miami street circuit was the chosen one, but negotiations broke down and the plan for a 2019 race was abandoned.

And that’s because while a street circuit may seem the easiest solution, it’s much more complex than it looks to get right. Building a track from scratch is a financial and commercial challenge, and that leaves the street circuit looking a more viable choice.

But designing a street layout has its own complications, given the many concerns that need to be settled with the city council and local population.

It can be done, but the biggest mistake with the Miami case was the hurry in which every party acted—besides the fact that the layout itself is a mess, if we want to be honest.

But this does not mean that F1 should abandon its expansion plan to the United States. Street circuits seem to be the perfect choice, and big cities have offered to host a second GP there, but the selection of this city is really important. Miami is one of the best candidates, plus New York, Los Angeles, even Boston or Seattle. Big cities that can draw a big crowd make headlines and have people interested in F1 genuinely, not artificially.

Apart from races, events like this weekend’s F1 Festival in Miami can act like bait to F1 fans who want to see some action. In that way, F1 can engage with its fans on another level—a level that Europeans take for granted.

The sport’s leadership should understand that the USA has nothing in common with Europe, or even Asia, in terms of marketing and promoting. Having a proper second Grand Prix, plus special festival events, are good solutions, but it will take some time for those to make a difference.

By Dimitris Bizas

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Ferrari’s year turned into Ferrari’s nightmare

Photo credit: Ferrari Media Site

My name is Dimitris Bizas, I am from Greece, and I study Communication, Media and Culture at Panteion University. I have been writing about Formula 1 since 2012, firstly at totalracing.gr and, for the past 18 months, for the ‘4Wheels’ magazine. Motorsport is my passion and getting to write and report on it is a true blessing.

2018 was supposed to be Ferrari’s year: they built a good, competitive at any given Sunday car, they had Sebastian Vettel at his prime and they carried with them a year’s worth of experience in title battles, from their 2017 campaign. However, they seem to have failed to capitalize on their chances once again, and the reason is simple, but not so obvious.

Let’s start from the very beginning of this season, the Australian Grand Prix. Ferrari did the unexpected, with Sebastian Vettel winning a race which Hamilton led up until the Safety Car, having taken a remarkable pole position the day before. They continued their winning ways at Bahrain, they were held up by the Red Bulls at China, and then came the first real ‘wake-up call’ for Vettel and his team: the Baku incident.

He could be on the podium, on the second or third place, hadn’t he been in such a hurry to overtake the Mercedes boys. He was somewhat lucky that he did not end up on the barriers at the exit of Turn 1, taking the checkered flag 4th.

This was the first sign of his lack of composure under pressure. But, since it was so early in the season, it didn’t affect his championship aspirations, despite the fact that his arch-rival, Lewis Hamilton, took his maiden 2018 win that day.

Fast forward to France, and Vettel has just taken a commanding victory on Hamilton’s ‘second home’, at Montreal. He grabbed a truly unbelievable pole on Saturday (sing of his confidence at that point of the season), and he went on to win, reminding to his nemesis that 2018 is not a 2017 repeat.

Of course, this feeling of superiority against Hamilton was short-lived. Paul Ricard marked the first of a series of mistakes from Vettel – mistakes that ultimately cost him the world title. He got off the line brilliantly, before hitting Bottas from behind, losing place after place, and finishing only 5th – a result far from representative for his overall performance that weekend.

Then there was Germany and his biggest mistake of his career, probably. That was the first turning point for his campaign – losing 25 points, in front of his home crowd, and seeing his rival taking the win instead, was a huge blow, not only for his team, but also for his confidence. Sebastian Vettel is and has

always been a driver whose performance is affected completely from his morale. If he is elevated and on a roll, he seems unstoppable, invincible. However, a single race gone bad can make him vulnerable, prone to mistakes. It is as if a huge weight is put to his shoulders, and this year, that weight is all the expectations from within his team and from the hundreds of thousands of Tifosi. It is not an easy task.

The final nail on his title hopes’ coffin was put at the Italian and the Singapore Grand Prix. His spin at Variante della Roggia and the crucial mistake during the FP2 at Marina Bay were the ones which gave Hamilton a huge advantage, both on the standings, and on the ‘psychological war’, as he calls it. He now stands 67 points ahead of Vettel, and Austin could be the place where he will have both hands on his 5th world championship.

Ferrari’s fault on this run

Although it is easy to point fingers and proclaim that Vettel lost the title on his own, Ferrari has been subpar when the stakes were extremely high.

One of their biggest weaknesses is the consistency they do not show during the season, not only on the track, but also back at the factory. Keeping a respectable –nay, a competitive- level of performance during the span of 21 races is crucial for the title battle, and the Maranello squad has not met the standards of their rivals, Mercedes.

Both at Brackley and at Brixworth, work was done in order to close the gap from the dominant –as it stood in the first 1/3 of the season- SF71H. The disadvantage on the power unit area and the tire management were the two main factor that held the Germans back, and they made a remarkable job recovering from a deficit on and off track. This allowed Hamilton to push harder, to build his confidence with the car, and ultimately to win one race after the other.

On the other hand, Ferrari made some marginal gains over the summer, and all their upgrades after the summer break were not what they expected. They fell back when their rivals pushed forward, got ahead of them and tried to stay there.

Even if Vettel was perfect (which is highly unlikely in such a lengthy season), his team would have failed on him. Stagnation is a poison for every F1 team, especially in such a hard-fought battle.

The bottom line is that the Ferrari-Vettel combination lost another chance to make history, to bring the crown back to Italy after 11 years. The legacy of this cooperation is still a work in progress, and if these two years are just the beginning, they have time to improve, to learn from their mistakes and

mishaps. But, if this was their final chance (and that’s a big hypothesis), then History will not be lenient with them.

Dimitris Bizas

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