Tag: James Matthews

The headlines following Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix were all about the tie between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton at the top of the 2017 World Drivers’ Championship. But what else did we learn from F1’s weekend in Shanghai?

The championship will continue to swing

After the first couple of races we were all hoping to get a clearer picture of whether Mercedes or Ferrari would be the team to beat in 2017. But if the Chinese Grand Prix is anything to go by, the answer to that question looks like it will continue to change from race to race.

According to Shanghai’s long straights and Lewis Hamilton’s two 2017 pole positions, it would appear Mercedes still enjoys enough of an advantage in pure engine power that it should have the edge around the likes of Spa, Suzuka, and the newer Tilkedromes. But when it comes to street and chassis-dependant circuits like Barcelona and Singapore, Ferrari’s better handling will make all the difference in race trim.

Add to that the usual variables of reliability, weather and individual driver performance, and the result should be a title battle that keeps on pitching from one camp to the next.

The driver market is taking shape

It’s never too early to start talking about silly season. We may have only just finished the second of twenty races, but already certain drivers are coming to the fore as potential linchpins in this year’s contract negotiations.

Carlos Sainz was one of those whose CV enjoyed some added sparkle in Shanghai, as he ran in sixth place and within touching distance of the leading pack for most of the race; likewise, his compatriot Fernando Alonso’s efforts in hauling his MCL32 into the points before retiring looked every bit a sales pitch to the likes of Mercedes in the final year of his McLaren contract.

On the other end of the spectrum, Jolyon Palmer had yet another dismal weekend in China, and was shown up considerably by qualifying eleven places behind teammate Hülkenberg. Nor will Valtteri Bottas be particularly pleased with his Shanghai performance—once again the Finn was too easily muscled out at the start by Vettel, which is a trend he cannot allow to continue if he wants to remain with Mercedes beyond the terms of his current one-year deal.

Ferrari needs new blood

Another driver feeling the pressure after China is surely Kimi Räikkönen. Whilst his teammate was carving through the Red Bulls and chasing down Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Flying Finn spent most of the Chinese Grand Prix cruising some way off the leaders, seemingly unable to affect any of the passes that Vettel made look so easy.

Now that Ferrari is in a position to win races and fight for the championship, Räikkönen’s tailing form is being made painfully clear beside Vettel—and not to mention in the light of burgeoning talents like Sainz and Pérez. As much as the sport will miss him, perhaps the time has finally come for the Iceman to move on.

James Matthews, Editor-at-Larges

Vijay Mallya has set his Force India team the ambitious target of leading the midfield battle in Shanghai this weekend, following a successful points-scoring debut for the VJM10 in Melbourne:

“I was proud of our performance in Australia,” Mallya said. “Sergio and Esteban were in the thick of the action and both drivers took their opportunities to overtake. To leave Melbourne with both cars in the top ten was a tremendous team effort.”

Referring to the seventh and tenth place finishes for Pérez and Ocon respectively as “an important boost”, Mallya said that the team is expecting a similar performance in this Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, although he has admitted it will be no easy task to keep ahead of the “exceptionally close” midfield fight.

If Force India can take another double points finish on Sunday, it will be a vast improvement on last year’s Shanghai meet, in which Pérez just missed out on a point in eleventh, and Nico Hülkenberg came home in fourteenth after suffering a puncture in the early stages.

Speaking of his 2017 chances, Pérez is remaining cautiously optimistic after making his best start to a season so far in Melbourne:

“I have a good feeling for the races to come. In the last few years we’ve shown that we can develop the car well and that’s going to be especially important this year.

“Our performance in Melbourne showed that we have done a good job over the winter, but there are still areas where we need to improve,” he added, referring to the overall balance of the VJM10. “The upgrades we have coming during the next couple of races should help.”

Esteban Ocon echoed his teammate’s belief that Force India displayed “a solid base on which [the team] can build” in Australia, but also added that there is still much work to be done in China:

“It’s about exploring the limits of the car and understanding how to manage the tyres during qualifying and the race. What we learned in Melbourne will certainly make things a bit easier this weekend, but you never stop learning in this sport.”

James Matthews, Editor-at-Larges

Toto Wolff has conceded that Mercedes was simply not fast enough to prevent Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel from taking the chequered flag in Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Victory for Mercedes had appeared to be nothing more than a formality earlier in the weekend, with Lewis Hamilton topping almost every practice session on his way to a 62nd career pole position, and Ferrari’s headline testing pace seemingly nowhere to be seen.

But when it came to it in the race, Hamilton was unable to sprint away from Vettel off the line or catch up again once the German had assumed the lead—and although tyres and strategy played a part in Mercedes’ loss, Wolff admitted that even in perfect circumstances his team would still have struggled to keep Vettel at bay for long:

“Some races you win, some races you lose, and when the days come where another team has done a better job, you need to accept that with humility and recognise their performance,” he said.

“Today Sebastian and Ferrari were well-deserved winners. From the early stages of the race, it was clear Sebastian was very quick because Lewis wasn’t able to pull away.”

Wolff also defended the decision to bring Hamilton in for an early stop on lap seventeen, which saw him rejoin the track behind Max Verstappen and unable to clear the Dutchman in enough time to remain ahead of Vettel:

“Sebastian came into the window where the undercut was possible and we had the feeling at that point that [Hamilton’s] tyres were not lasting. It was the team’s impression on the pit wall looking at the data and Lewis’ in the car, too.

“With all the clear risks of coming out in traffic we were between a rock and a hard place, really, and we went for it. But Ferrari played it very well—and they had the quicker car today.

“Now the job for us is to learn the lessons from this race, understand why we didn’t perform to our maximum today and keep working hard to improve the car in every area.”

James Matthews, Editor-at-Large

When Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas enter the cockpits of their new Mercedes W08s in Melbourne this week, they will, for perhaps the first time in many years, be piloting the Silver Arrows into the unknown.

After three consecutive years of domination from Mercedes, much was made of the chance the 2017 regulations revamp would bring for the German marque to be, if not entirely overhauled, then at least kept honest by the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull.

And whilst it’s clear the team at Brackley have produced no slouch with their new challenger, the signs from testing do appear to be positive for those wanting something other than a season of Mercedes-led processions.

The prodigious speed shown by Ferrari in Barcelona will be a particularly large elephant in the Mercedes garage this weekend. With the test-topping times set by Räikkönen and Vettel still rattling around the paddock consciousness, one could hardly blame Mercedes for having a few flashbacks to last year’s Australian Grand Prix—when both Ferraris breezed past the Silver Arrows at the start, and might have gone on to win had it not been for a strategy blunder allowing Rosberg and Hamilton back in front.

And as if Ferrari’s pace weren’t enough of a concern, the Scuderia may also have another advantage over Mercedes in the handling of its car. Many observed from testing that not only was the SF70-H a potential pacesetter, it also appeared top of the class in terms of drivability; by comparison, the Mercedes W08 seemingly required much more hustling around the lap than its predecessors, and when speaking to Motorsport.com Hamilton suggested the complexity of its aerodynamic package made it difficult to get the car “into a good window”.

If that is indeed the case, Mercedes could well struggle in these early races to unleash its full potential against Ferrari—a problem further compounded by the time it will take to fully integrate both Valtteri Bottas and James Allison into its development process.

It’s undoubtable that Mercedes will continue to be a race-winning and title-contending team this season. But as for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, they may just have to settle for second-best.

James Matthews, Editor-at-Large

Sergio Pérez has said he already has good expectations for the first race of the season in Australia after a “positive week” of pre-season testing with Force India.

“I think we made a good step forward with understanding the VJM10 and finding the limit of the tyres,” the Mexican said at the end of the week. “I feel more confident in the car; I have learnt a huge amount and I think my preparation is going to plan.

“There is still a lot of work to be done, but I’m optimistic for Melbourne already.”

Pérez described his first day driving the VJM10 as one “of two halves”: after making steady progress through the team’s tyre and setup programme in the morning, he was forced by a broken exhaust to sit the afternoon session out.

But on his return to the track on Thursday, Pérez enjoyed a trouble-free day and was able to log 82 laps of the Barcelona track, as well as set the sixth-fastest time of the day.

On the middle two days of the test, Pérez handed over the VJM10 to his new teammate Esteban Ocon and Force India’s development driver Alfonso Celis Jr.

Ocon, driving on day two, made a good start to his first season with Force India, exceeding the team’s lap target with 86 tours and completing the setup work leftover from day one.

“It’s very early days, of course, but the initial feelings are positive,” Ocon said of his day’s testing. “We found a good direction for setting up the car…and I’m satisfied with the number of laps we covered.”

The Frenchman also said that the new generation of F1 cars are “proper beasts”, remarking on their increased cornering speeds as “a good step forward” for the sport.

Chief race engineer Tom McCullough said that the team’s “incredible efforts” over the week have left Force India confident about the season ahead, especially after Celis Jr. added another 71 laps to the team’s tally on his day behind the wheel:

“I’m pleased we managed to exceed our target lap count and accrued so much data because the learning curve is so steep in these early days. We have been able to build up good mileage and iron out some of the inevitable teething problems that you get with a new car.

“We are confident we have made some important steps forward…and we are looking forward to next week’s test, when we will focus more on performance and race simulations.”

James Matthews, Editor-at-Large

Images courtesy of Sahara Force India Formula One Team

The Haas F1 team has made good progress in the first round of pre-season testing, according to team principal Gunther Steiner.

The team’s second-ever F1 car, the VF-17, made its track debut on Monday at the hands of new recruit Kevin Magnussen, who recorded the fourth fastest time of the day at a little over a second behind Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark 1:21.765s.

His programme was hampered by a return of the brake troubles that plagued Haas in 2016, but Magnussen insisted the interruptions were just “typical baby problems”, and added that his first taste of the team’s 2017 challenger was an experience he “enjoyed a lot”.

Returning to the wheel on the following day, the Dane on supersofts lowered his best lap time to 1:22.204s, once again enough for fourth on the timesheets. This was set en route to amassing a total of 118 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya—the most of any driver.

Romain Grosjean then took charge of the VF-17 for the remaining two days. As with Magnussen, Grosjean’s first session on track was disrupted by a series of electrical and setup issues, and he ended Wednesday with just 56 laps under his belt.

But on the final day of testing, the Frenchman was able to match his teammate’s Tuesday best by finishing fourth fastest on a 1:22.309s and at the top of the lap count.

At the conclusion of the week’s sessions, team principal Gunther Steiner remarked upon the progress Haas has made since last year and distance the VF-17 was able to cover in Barcelona: “Compared with last year, [reliability has] been a lot better. We know a lot more about the car than we did four days ago. Now we can make the next step and hone it out, make it better.”

Steiner also praised the work of partner Ferrari, hailing the “fantastic job” done by the Scuderia on its 2017 power unit.

Haas returns for the second week of pre-season testing on Tuesday, with Magnussen driving on days one and three, and Grosjean on days two and four.

James Matthews, Editor-at-Large

Images courtesy of Haas F1 Team