2015 Japanese Grand Prix - Practice 3 Analysis: Ricciardo gives Red Bull a fighting chance

The final practice session for the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix has ended and to the delight of almost everybody the rain stayed away. We finally saw roughly what the pecking order would be for qualifying and Mercedes managed to up one on there Ferrari counterparts.

The session saw Nico Rosberg finish on top with a lap time of 1:33.995, 3 tenths ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton. The blood red Ferrari couldn't match the Mercs in the qualifying runs as they found themselves a full second adrift in P6 and P8. To be fair though Sebastian Vettel (P8) lost a lot of time on his lap from Daniil Kvyat. However when Mercedes and Ferrari ran there longer runs Sebastian Vettel appeared to be much faster than Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen, with 1 tenth separating all 4 drivers at one point. A difference between the two teams could be set up as Martin Brundle pointed out when he was track side at Degnar 1 and 2. He stated that the Ferrari looks "weak" through both Degnars. However these times aren't 100% representative as we can't be fully sure of the fuel loads that both teams ran.

Red Bull had a strong session on one side of the garage with Daniel Ricciardo finishing a very strong 3rd for the Milton-Keynes team. Results like these are what Red Bull need as they consider leaving the sport. Ricciardo drove 22 laps and as far as I was aware he didn't make any major mistakes during the run. He had pace on the hard tires as well as the mediums in the quali simulations. On the other side of the garage Kvyat was really struggling as he ran wide twice through Degnar 2. For me this will be a corner to watch for Kvyat in qualifying as it appears he isn't full on top of it. Ricciardo wasn't the only one strong on Hard tire runs though as 20 minutes in all 4 Renault powered cars were in the top 5.

Another consistent performer and surprise from FP3 was Williams who were in the top 6 when the Hard tires were being run. They then managed to keep that pace up when running the qualifying simulations. I did think Williams would be strong here as the mainly high speed and medium speed corners would suit there engine and chassis package. For them, Turns 11 (Hairpin) and 16, 17, 18 (Casino Triangle) will be important as they are the slowest and need good traction, something Williams have struggled with.

Once again Toro Rosso also prove to be relatively strong here with there high quality chassis. Toro Rosso would have been a very strong prospect if they had a better engine in the back.

Overall the session finished like this:

1) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
2) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
3) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
4) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
5) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
6) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
7) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
8) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
9) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
10) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
11) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
12) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
13) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
14) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
15) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
16) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
17) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
18) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
19) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
20) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari

Daniel Ricciardo was the star of the session and he is definately one to watch in qualifying. He was driving unbelievely fast in FP3 and outclassed his car. With Ferrari and Mercedes fighting for the pole, Ricciardo could throw a spanner in the works.

Singapore Grand Prix 2015 - Race Analysis: Vettel takes stunning win as Hamilton hits car troubles.

Round 13 of the Formula World Championship took place on the tight and twisty street circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore and it saw Sebastian Vettel take home his 42nd career win overtaking the great Ayrton Senna for third on the list of all time wins. Vettel won from the pole whilst leading every lap for the Scuderia Ferrari. The team has now achieved there goal of 3 wins in the 2015 season.

Race winner Sebastian Vettel goes through Turn 3

The race got off to a relatively clean start with the only start problem coming for Max Verstappen as he stalled off the grid and he had to be restarted in the pits, albeit a lap behind everyone else. The top 7 stayed unchanged off the start with most of the switches coming more in the mid field, The best starts came from Force India who found themselves in 9th and 10th after starting from 11th and 13th. The first lap saw Sebastian Vettel absolutely going 110% and gaining a three second advantages over Ricciardo in P2 as he came onto the start of lap 2.

There was no changes to the order as we neared the first pit stop windows on lap 11. The first overtake of the day came from Romain Grosjean as he overtook Fernando Alonso after performing the undercut. However the action began on lap 13 when Massa was coming out of the pits and Hulkenberg was just coming through Turns 1 and 2. As they both entered Turn 3, it appeared as Nico Hulkenberg didn't sight Massa and turned in on him. Hulkenbergs front left hit Massas sidepod and he lost control on the car and hit the wall, taking him out of the race and bringing out the safety car. Hulkenberg has been given a 3 place grid drop in Japan for the incident. Many people (including most of the leaders) used the safety car to pit for there first stops.

Massa and Hulkenberg collided bringing out the safety car on lap 13.

With the field all bunched up on the restart Sebastian Vettel choose not to use his aggressive strategy he used in the first stint and simply backed Ricciardo up and saved his tires. Ricciardo couldn't get close enough to pass him. The safety car worked well for both Mercedes as they jumped Kvyat who was in P4. This meant Hamilton was now in 4th with Rosberg just behind in 5th. Massa ended up retiring from the incident with Hulkenberg not long after the restart, after he began to have gear box problems.

With Sebastian Vettel still leading from Ricciardo then Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton (in 4th) still saw himself an opportunity to win the race. But it wasn't to be for the Brit because on lap 26 he reported a loss of power, it wasn't a full loss but he was 5 seconds a lap slower than everyone. After a few laps he couldn't find a solution and dropped to the back of the field. Hamilton eventually elected to retire to save his engine for the next race.

Lewis Hamilton retired from the race with an unclear electrical/pedal issue.

Another safety car was called out on lap 37 when one fan got a little lost and found himself walking down the side of the track. The fan was on the track for a good 20 seconds before jumping the fence and exiting the track. He has been arrested. The safety car came at the perfect time to pit for fresh rubber, and almost the whole field did.

On the second restart things got more twitchy as lapped Alexander Rossi found himself between Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen. We saw Carlos Sainz become another victim of a "gearbox ghost" as he mysteriously dropped into neutral on the restart.

A fan takes a walk on the track.

Later in the race Fernando Alonso retired from the race with gear box problems, whilst his team mate was getting racy with Pastor Maldonado which saw Jenson lose his front wing. Button ironically commented on the track invader after the race saying: "He was safer than some of the drivers".

Heading into the last laps the top 6 were sealed, but Sergio Perez was under pressure from Verstappen and Sainz for his 7th place. Toro Rosso asked Verstappen to let Sainz through as they thought he would have a better shot at Perez, to which Max simply replied: "No!". Verstappen couldn't catch Perez as he held onto 7th. Felipe Nasr did well to pressure Romain Grosjean into a mistake at Turn 7 which saw the Brazilian pick up his first point since Monaco.

The race lasted the full 61 laps and Sebastian Vettel crossed the line to take the chequred flag in style with Daniel Ricciardo just seconds behind him. It was a bigger gap to Raikkonen in third who claimed his second podium in the season.

The ending race order was:

1) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
2) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
3) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
4) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
5) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
6) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
7) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
8) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
9) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
10) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
11) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
12) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
13) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
14) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari
15) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
16) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda (DNF)
17) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda (DNF)
18) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes (DNF)
19) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes (DNF)
20) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes (DNF)

(Left to Right) Daniel Ricciardo (2nd), Ferrari technician, Sebastian Vettel (1st) and Kimi Raikkonen (3rd)

It wasn't the most exciting race, but it was one that saw many fans pleased as it wasn't a Mercedes fighting for the top spot. I was personally very pleased to see such a dominant performance from Sebastian Vettel and I would love to continue to see the Scuderia on the top step. Bring on Japan!

More to come on the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix!

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Singapore Grand Prix 2015 - Qualifying Analysis: Vettel takes advantage of Mercedes struggles to seal a brilliant pole.

It has finally happened. The Mercedes power unit dominance in the V6 Turbo Hybrid era has ended with a brilliant pole position lap from Sebastian Vettel in the prancing horse at this years Singapore Grand Prix. Vettel stormed to pole with a 1:43.885 lap, 5 tenths ahead of his nearest rival Daniel Ricciardo.

Pole sitter: Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari

The Mercedes problems from Friday Practice 3 continued onto qualifying as they didn't top Q1, Q2 or Q3 only managing a mediocre 5th and 6th place on the grid. It is Mercedes worst qualifying since the 2013 US Grand Prix where Lewis Hamilton only qualified 5th with Rosberg in 14th. This is also the first time since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix that a Mercedes powered car hasn't been on pole.

Mercedes only managed 5th and 6th.

Everyone has been talking about the amazing performance of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari and a lot of people have forgotten about Kimi Raikkonen who managed an excellence 3rd place on the grid to really back his team mate up. He couldn't quite make it a 1, 2 for Ferrari as Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull spoiled the party. Ricciardo had a great lap after a poor first sector and mediocre second sector but he bounced right back to go purple in the final sector, leaving millimeters between him and the wall in Turn 21. Daniil Kvyat backed his Red Bull team mate up with a career best 4th place on the grid.
Williams would have also been happy with there grid slots as they overcame there traction problems and got both cars into Q3. Bottas got the better of Massa though and finished 7th with the Brazilian coming home in 9th place. Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso split the two Williams and finished in 8th.

Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10 as he managed to squeeze into Q3 for Lotus. He didn't have his team mate to back him up as Pastor Maldonado showed his inexperience and why he truly is a payed driver as he could only managed 18th place on the grid. There really is no excuse for such a poor effort when your team mate can get up to 10th.

It was unlucky 11th again for Nico Hulkenberg after he missed out on Q3 due to yellow flags on his final run. They were bought out after Carlos Sainz hit the wall coming out of Turn 19. This disrupted the laps of everybody and saw both Force India's, McLaren's and Sainz himself instantly lose there chance to get into Q3. Force India will have been very disappointed after thinking they were in for strong Q3 points.

Daniel Ricciardo starts from the front row for Red Bull.

The last 5 slots on the grid were Maldonado as well as both Saubers and Manor-Marussias. Felipe Nasr led that pack in 16th, with his team mate Ericsson behind in 17th. Then came Maldonado's poor effort with Will Stevens getting the better of his team mate in the Manors taking the back row.

The grid order for Sunday looks like this:

1) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
2) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
3) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
4) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
5) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
6) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
7) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
8) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
9) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
10) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
11) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
12) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
13) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
14) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
15) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
16) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
17) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
18) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
19) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari (5 Place Grid Penalty)
20) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari (5 Place Grid Penalty)

For me, Practice 3 and Qualifying has raised so many questions. Can Mercedes still win at Marina Bay? Red Bull gave them a real fight last year, as Lewis Hamilton feared his tires blowing up. Is 5th too far back for them? They haven't showed any long run pace and I don't think they have fixed there degradation problems. Can Red Bull win for the first time in 2015? This is realistically there last shot, and Daniel Ricciardo is pretty well placed to take Vettel off the line. Can Ferrari hold on and take there third win of the season and achieve the target they set for themselves at the start?

I can't wait for all these questions to be answered when the lights go green in just under 12 hours!

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Singapore Grand Prix 2015 - Practice 1 Analysis. Alexander Rossi crashes on F1 debut.

The first practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix was relatively uneventful as we finally saw Nico Rosberg in front of team mate Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes star man Hamilton was a mere 3 tenths off the pace of his team mate and had a Red Bull breathing down his neck for P2.

Nico Rosberg topped the session

The 1 and half practice session isn't the most important as it is held at different times to the highly important qualifying and race. This means tire deg and chassis balance are very different in this session,

We once again saw Mercedes on top as usual, but as mentioned earlier it wasn't a Ferrari that took the best of the rest. Many people expected Red Bull to be strong at the street circuit and Daniel Ricciardo didn't disappoint finishing just a few hundredths off Lewis Hamilton in P2. It wasn't all good for Red Bull though as Daniil Kvyat was kept in the garage for a majority of the session with a fuel flow problem. He only managed 8 laps which only resulted in 18th place.

Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull finished in P3.

Ferrari came next as they were a few tenths off the pace of Ricciardo. Sebastian Vettel led home team mate Kimi Raikkonen in P4 and P5. You could tell all session Sebastian Vettel was pushing really hard as he was leaving just millimeters between the wall at Turn 21.

In 6th place was quite surprisingly, Valtteri Bottas, Williams are very known for running higher fuel and conserving engines in Friday session, and usually find themselves outside the top 10. This should hopefully give Bottas some real confidence heading into the rest of the weekend as he is looking to get the edge over Felipe Massa who is currently beating him in Drivers Championship by 6 points. Massa does has some ground to make up on his Finnish team mate after he could only managed 17th place.

Next was Toro Rosso in 7th and 9th split by the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg. Toro Rosso will be looking for strong points here as they have the chassis to do so. Max Verstappen led home Carlos Sainz with a mammoth 6 tenths gap between 7th and 9th. Hulkenberg in 8th was 4 tenths adrift of Verstappen.

Sauber and McLaren definitely didn't show any real pace only managing 13th and 16th, and 11th and 15th respectively. McLaren are definitely looking stronger than the previous races in Monza and Spa.

Fernando Alonso of McLaren

The session was very boring and very minimal action happened right up till the end. The session ended with a red flag from the new boy of Alexander Rossi in the Manor-Marussia. As he went under the grandstand the youngster appeared to take a little too much speed and over-steered into the wall breaking both his front and rear right suspension. He will be lucky to get any running FP2 as it is a timely repair job.

However all of these times are very irrelevant (as mentioned earlier) with the time of the session not matching the time of qualifying and the race. For me I'll really be interested in the pace of FP2, held at similar times to when the Qualifying and Race is.

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Belgium Grand Prix - Qualifying Analysis

It appears once again that when Lewis Hamilton needs to turn up his game he simply can. The Brit stole the show and recorded his 6th straight pole position of the season yesterday in Spa.

Pole Sitter Lewis Hamilton

It was again a second fiddle for Nico Rosberg as he couldn't find an answer to Hamilton and finished almost 5 tenths down to his team mate.

One of the best chances for a win other than Mercedes is Valterri Bottas. In the last 2 races, the car in the P3 grid slot has found themselves leading out of turn 1. If Mercedes can continue to have problems with the starts, especially with the new rules applied here, Bottas could be a chance to secure his first race win. The numbers are also good for him considering the Brackley team haven't yet experienced the winners champagne in Spa.

P4 was taken by the flying Frenchman of Romain Grosjean in his Lotus but due to a gearbox change has a 5 place grid drop. This will promote Force India to the best grid spot of the season with Sergio Perez qualifying in 5th after flying lap time in Q3. The odds are with him as well as the Silverstone based team tend to do well here with a 1, 2 finish in 1998 (As Jordan Grand Prix) and Giancarlo Fisichella scoring Force India's maiden pole position and podium here in 2009. Perez will hope to repeat the scenes of Bahrain 2014 where he drove his Force India to 3rd place behind the Mercedes.

Force India consider themselves a chance for serious points with P5 and P11 on the grid.

This has certainly been made easier for him with a disappointing session from Ferrari. With Kimi Raikkonen in 14th place after his engine gave up down at turn 15 on his out lap. Sebastian Vettel was the last man to cross the line in Q3 and could only manage a very mediocre 9th. It's definately advanatge Williams in the constructors battle for 2nd.

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari will start in P14.

Red Bull weren't much better with Ricciardo managing 6th and Kvyat only 12th. This probably points to a low fuel load being used in practice where the team appeared to be quite strong and now we are just seeing there true pace.

It was no better day for McLaren as Jenson Button managed to outqualify Fernando Alonso in 17th and 18th places. Both cars will drop to the back due to there engine penalties.

The Belgium Grand Prix will commence in just under 5 hours. The grid order looks like this:

1st) Lewis Hamilton

2nd) Nico Rosberg

3rd) Valtteri Bottas

4th) Romain Grosjean (5 Place Grid Penalty)

5th) Sergio Perez

6th) Daniel Ricciardo
7th) Felipe Massa
8th) Pastor Maldonado
9th) Sebastian Vettel
10th) Carlos Sainz
11th) Nico Hulkenberg
12th) Daniil Kvyat
13th) Marcus Ericsson
14th) Kimi Raikkonen
15th) Max Verstappen (10 Place Grid Penalty)
16th) Felipe Nasr
17th) Jenson Button (50 Place Grid Penalty)
18th) Fernando Alonso (55 Place Grid Penalty)
19th) Will Stevens
20th) Roberto Merhi

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Spanish Grand Prix - Qualifying analysis

Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix has been completed and it certainly had a different nature to it then the first four races of the season. As Catalunya being a naturally difficult circuit to balance the car around, it would be tough for everyone.

Carlos Sainz Jr driving for Toro Rosso.

As we headed into Q1 we saw the likes of Force India and McLaren straight onto the medium tires as well as Kimi Raikkonen later on in the session. The back row of the grid is again locked out by the two Marussia cars. It was a good day for Will Stevens as he managed to out qualify his team mate Roberto Merhi again, and they line up 19th and 20th. A disappointing session for Force India as Perez lines up 18th and Hulkenberg 17th. Hulkenberg went out earlier in the session, and didn't have time for another run towards the end, compromising him. It's the first time Force India have had both cars out in Q1 since Abu Dhabi 2009. The last spot in Q1 went to the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson.

Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull looks on.

Q2 began and the likes of both McLaren's were through, leapfrogging there main rivals Force India. As the session ended 15th spot was occupied by the other Sauber of Felipe Nasr. Disappointing for the team, with both cars lower than expected and meaning that McLaren had jumped them as well. They had wound up 14th and 13th with Fernando Alonso just getting ahead of his team mate by just under a tenth. The last two spots went to the Lotus drivers with Romain Grosjean again being ahead of his team mate Maldonado. Lotus were fairly happy considering a very bumpy and stressful weekend so far.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams, starting from 4th means he is in real contention for some serious points.

Q3 now rolled around, and it was again between Rosberg and Hamilton. There were also both Ferrari's, Toro Rosso's, Red Bull's and Williams all fighting for the top spot. As the flag dropped it was Daniel Ricciardo who found himself in 10th place, which for me was quite surprising. A disappointing session for Felipe Massa found him in 9th. Perhaps Kvyat going to Red Bull might be coming right now, as he drove brilliantly to get an 8th place grid slot, out performing his team mate in the process. Next in 7th after extremely disappointing qualifying, we find the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, I hope he can put a stunning drive on Sunday and recover some points. Another blistering session from the Toro Rosso team as Carlos Sainz out drove his team mate Verstappen for 5th and 6th places, both ahead of the sister team, Red Bull. 4th place went to Valtteri Bottas who has been a little bit quiet so far, but he drove brilliantly, and finished ahead of his team mate Massa. 3rd was the place of Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari, as he had an average day at the office. Now this is where the shocks come, finally an answer to Hamilton's reign, Nico Rosberg put in blistering lap times to take Pole Position over his team mate by a full three tenths. Finally some fight from Nico is great to see. Mercedes achieved their third 1-2 start at Catalunya in a row.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes, the pole sitter

It was a throughly enjoyable session and finally great to see Nico putting a true fight to Hamilton, I cannot wait for race day!