Thursday 28 August 2014

Horner refusing to rule out title charge

(Florent Gooden DPPI for Renault Sport F1)

Infiniti Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner is refusing to rule out the possibility of Daniel Ricciardo winning this years drivers championship following his victory at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix and with the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton seemingly at war with each other Daniel Ricciardo has made the most of his chances.

The Australian has taken three race wins this season two of which came back to back after taking victory in Hungary the last race before the Summer break and followed that up with a fantastic victory at the Belgian Grand Prix beating reigning world champion and Infiniti Red Bull Racing team mate Sebastian Vettel who had started the race from third place behind the two Mercedes drivers.

The Australian is now only 64 points behind championship leader Nico Rosberg with 175 point still on the off from the reaming six Grand Prix this season.

Speaking to Crash.net Christian Horner said of Mercedes:

'It's good to be keeping them honest, we take things one race at a time. We've had a good couple of Grand Prix to win at Spa is against all our expectations but hopefully we have got some tracks coming up that should be quite good for us coming up'.

Horner has already expressed his delight and surprise at how fast Daniel Ricciardo has settled into the team and that he is outperforming Sebastian Vettel so far this season. The Australian is currently in third place in the championship 58 points ahead of Vettel who is in 6th place while Red Bull find themselves in 2nd place in the Constructors championship 157 points behind leaders Mercedes.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Mercedes and Hamilton put the brakes on contract extension talks

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

The Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team and Lewis Hamilton have put their contract extension talks on hold it was confirmed today. Although Hamilton has a contract in place with the Brackley based outfit for next season the team are looking to bind him to a long term agreement with the team like the that they signed with Nico Rosberg earlier this season.

However the talks will have to wait for now at least until the tense situation between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton settles down. Things came to a head between the pair at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit when on the second lap Rosberg hit Hamilton which result in the 2008 world champion receiving a puncture which eventually led him to retire from the race with five laps to go.

Rosberg went on to finish on the podium in second place and extended his advantage in the championship over Hamilton to 29 points.

The team have stated that they will wait until the championship battle is over between their drivers before they sit down with Hamilton to discuss the future. The team stated that they have no interest in any other driver and that Hamilton has no interest in driving for another team so that will make it easier for the pair to thrash out a new deal when the time comes.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has stated that right now the Silver Arrows and their drivers are just concentrated on the championship battle and that there in not point in discussing something that is a year and half away.

Hamilton joined Mercedes at the start of last season on a three year contract while team mate Nico Rosberg has been with the team since Mercedes bought Brawn GP ahead of the 2010 Formula One season and is now tied into a long term contract with the team after signing a multi year extension earlier this season.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Button refuses to rule out Formula One retirement

Jenson Button on track.
(McLaren Mercedes)

McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button has refused to rule out retirement from Formula One at the end of the 2014 season. The 34 year old made his debut in the sport in the year 2000 before moving to the Benetton Renault F1 Team. Button was with the Renault F1 Team for their first season back in Formula One as a full constructor in 2002 before moving to the BAR Honda for 2003.

Button remained the Brackley based team until the end of the 2008 season. However the team were put up for sale by Honda at the end of the season.

Button remained with the team in 2009 when team boss Ross Brawn took over the team and with the help of Mercedes engines the BRAWN GP team won the Constructors championship while Jenson Button won the Drivers championship before moving to McLaren for the 2010 season.

Speaking to BBC Sport Button, who is out of contract with McLaren at the end of the season said:

'We haven't sat down and talked about it, If I have to retire at the end of the season then so be it but I feel that I have so much more to give and I can't imagine life without motorsport particularly Formula One.'

© Ben Johnston 2014

Lotus F1 Team link up with Hisense

(Lotus F1 Team)

The Lotus F1 Team announced this morning that they have signed a two race agreement with the multi national electronics company Hisense. The new deal will start at the upcoming Italian Grand Prix in Monza and they will come together once again for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas in November.

The Hisense logo will appear on the side pod of the E22 for both the Italian Grand Prix and again at the US Grand Prix while the logo will appear on the air-box of the E22 for the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday 23rd November.

Hisense are based in Qingdao, China. The company is a world leader in the provision of flat panel TV, mobile communications as well as household appliances.

Speaking about the deal Lotus F1 Team CEO MatthewCarter commented by saying:

'We are thrilled that Hisense has chosen Lotus F1 Team to enhance and strengthen its continued global development. Headquartered in China, Hisense has shown impressive development and worldwide expansion as a challenger brand, something which Lotus F1 Team can relate to closely as we continue to challenge on the track. 

Hisense has shown it recognises the value of sports marketing on several occasions and to have Lotus F1 Team identified as a key association as part of Hisense’s growth is a substantial compliment.'

Hinse vice president Dr Lin Lan commented by saying:

'Joining with Lotus F1 Team at the Italian, United States and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix is a very exciting prospect. As we grow our brand awareness globally, we aim to use proven partnerships that we know will deliver. Formula 1, and in particular Lotus F1 Team, has huge potential and we are looking forward to working together over the coming months.'

 
(Lotus F1 Team)


Click on the images above for high-res versions.









(Lotus F1 Team)
(Lotus F1 Team)












© Ben Johnston 2014   

Wednesday 27 August 2014

Sauber set to hand Van Der Garde a race seat in 2015

JSX7341.jpg
(Sauber F1 Team)

Reports in the Dutch media have suggested that the Sauber F1 Team are set to promote their test and reserve driver Giedo Van Der Garde to a full time race seat for the 2015 Formula One season. Van Der Garde joined the Swiss based outfit this season after losing losing his race seat with the Caterham F1 Team at the end of last season.

The Dutch driver was in action for the Sauber team during Free Practice One at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit where he drove in place of Esteban Gutierrez.

The report in the Dutch media has even suggested that Van Der Garde could be in lie to replace German Adrian Sutil later this season as Esteban Gutierrez's team mate however this has yet to be confirmed by the team. It is not the first time that speculation has emerged about Adrian Sutil's seat at the team.

Earlier this season it was reported that Sauber were looking to replace Sutil however the team denied that this was the case. 

The team are also evaluating their other test drivers Simona De Silvestro and Russian Sergey Siroktin. De Silvestro has been undergoing an intensive test programme with the team in recent months and will be back in the car in Austin Texas at the Circuit of the Americas later this season. 

© Ben Johnston 2014


Hamilton not interested in revenge

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team driver Lewis Hamilton has stated that he has no intention or interest in getting pay back on team mate Nico Rosberg following the the pairs racing incident at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix which saw the 2008 world champion retire from the Grand Prix while Rosberg went on to finish the race in second place and in doing so extended his championship lead over Hamilton to 29 points.

Hamilton has stated that he only has the best interests of the team in mind and will do everything in his power to obtain the best possible result for the Brackley based outfit.

Hamilton heads to the Italian Grand Prix at the start of September having finished the race there last year in 9th place while Rosberg finished the race in 6th place. Mercedes will be hoping for a much better result there this season and will also be looking to get back to winning ways as the Silver Arrows have now failed to take victory in the last two Grand Prix in Hungary and Belgium.

Despite missing out on the last two Grand Prix wins the team are still on target to wrap up the Constructors championship early provided that there is not repeat of the racing incident from Sp Francorchamps.

The team are currently 157 points ahead of Infiniti Red Bull Racing, their closest rivals in the Constructors championship. The characteristics of the Monza circuit should suit the Mercedes powered team's due to the high speed nature of the circuit while Red Bull had expected prior to the Belgian Grand Prix weekend that their next opportunity to take victory would could come at the Singapore Grand Prix in September.

However having taken victory at the Belgium Grand Prix last weekend the Milton Keynes based outfit may be in a position to challenge for the race win particularly as Sebastian Vettel will have a new chassis for that event.

© Ben Johnston 2014 

Vettel set to get a new chassis for the Italian Grand Prix

(Renault Sport F1)

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel will get a new chassis for the next race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza from 5-7 September the Infiniti Red Bull Racing team confirmed today as they attempt to get to the bottom of the issues that have blighted the German's 2014 season. Vettel qualified in 3rd place behind the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton but struggled in the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend.

The quadruple world champion went on to finish the race in fifth place behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen while his team mate Daniel Ricciardo went on to take his second consecutive race win.

Team boss Christian Horner felt that there was something wrong with the chassis that Vettel used at the Belgian Grand Prix and confirmed that the team would investigate the issue. However they have now decided to give Vettel a new chassis to see if that will solve the problems that Vettel has encountered so far this season.

It will be Vettel's second chassis change of the season after he was given a new one for the Spanish Grand Prix in May. 

The German has struggled compared to Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo so far this season and has just the podium compared to the Australian's six podium finished including his three victories in Canada, Hungary and the last race at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Vettel will be hoping that the new chassis will enable him to be more competitive at the Italian Grand Prix and the following Grand Prix.

© Ben Johnston 2014



Ferrari getting stronger




Embedded image permalink
(Scuderia Ferrari SpA via Twitter)

Kimi Raikkonen has praised the recent work done by the Ferrari Formula One Team saying that the Italian are 'Getting stronger'. The Finn recorded his best result of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit where he finished in 4th place ahead of team mate Fernando Alonso who ended the race in seventh place. 

'Little by little we're getting stronger on every side. For sure we don't have the down-force that some of the other teams have. It's the package. Some circuits are better for us than others but we keep working and improving things little by little.'

The Finn's performance on Sunday has now lifted him into the top ten in the championship for the first time this season after overtaking McLaren's Kevin Magnussen and Sahara Force India's Sergio Perez and is now just one point behind former Ferrari team mate Williams Martini Racing's Felipe Massa who is on 40 points.

At the Hungarian Grand Prix prior to the Summer break Fernando Alonso secured his second podium finish of the season when he finished in second place behind race winner Daniel Rcciardo while Kimi Raikkonen finished the race in 6th place. As the team prepare to head home for the Italian Grand Prix they find themselves in 3rd place in the Constructors championship on 160 points ten ahead of the Williams Martini Racing Team.

Raikkonen will be hoping that he will be in a position to challenge for a podium finish in Monza as the Finn is yet to secure a podium so far this season. Ferrari will also be hoping to close the gap to Infiniti Red Bull Racing who are in second place in the Constructors championship.

© Ben Johnston 2014


Tuesday 26 August 2014

Rosberg's move 'unbelievable'

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button has described championship leader Nico Rosberg's move on Lewis Hamilton on the second lap of last Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps as 'unbelievable'. Button has sympathized with his former McLaren team mate who was forced to retire from the race five laps from the finish despite calling for the team to end his race earlier due to damage sustained to his car.

Button believes that when things have settled down following the incident Rosberg will reflect on the incident and say:

'What was I thinking'.

During their time together at McLaren the Button and Hamilton had a good relationship however in 2010 Hamilton caused controversy when he tweeted a picture of his and Button's telemetry after qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix when Button took pole position for the Woking based outfit. Button went on to win that race.

Button feels that Hamilton has dealt with the situation with Rosberg in a mature fashion. However he feels that what happened between the pair on Sunday was not good for the sport as there was no on track battle for the race win between the Silver Arrows duo which is what the fans wanted to see.

However the McLaren driver does believe that it means that there will be huge excitement among the fans for the next race at the Italian GP in Monza in a week and a half. Sky Sports F1's Natalie Pinkham was due to interview the Mercedes drivers in Stuttgart on Tuesday for a feature that the channel are doing however she took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to confirm that the interview had been postponed saying:

'Sorry folks, the Stuttgart shoot with Nico and Lewis has been postponed...'

The sport heads to the final European race of the season at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza from 5-7 September with the wounds still fresh following the incident so it will be interesting to see what happens at that race and whether or not the Silver Arrows duo will end up going wheel to wheel again in Monza.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Greece looking for Formula One race

(Wikipedia.org)

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that Greece is looking into the possibility of hosting a Grand Prix. 

Ecclestone said that private investors are looking into the possibility of funding the construction of a street circuit in the Keratsini-Drapetsona municipality. In an interview with CNN.com Ecclestone stated that he has been asked to meet with the Greek prime minister who is apparently extremely keen for a Formula One Grand Prix to be held in Greece.

The idea of a Greek Grand Prix was lsst mooted in 2012 however with the economic situation in Greece at the idea was shelved however it now appears that the idea of hosting a Grand Prix would help bring money into the Greek economy through tourism revenue.

It is believed that the cost of staging a Grand Prix from the cost of constructing the circuit to hosting the event is in the region of £1 billion and this is something that the Greek government and the Greek public would be unwilling to fund.

It is believed that if a race were to take place in Greece it would be known as the Mediterranean Grand Prix.

If Formula One is to go to Greece it is unlikely to happen any time soon as Formula One is set to go to Sochi in October for the inaugural Russian Grand Prix while New Jersey is likely to make it's Grand Prix debut next season while Azerbaijan is set to become a Grand Prix venue in 2016. Formula One will also return to Mexico next season.

A number of circuits have also recently extended their contracts with Bernie Ecclestone to host Grand Prix events so it will be difficult for the sport to find space on the calendar for a race in Greece.

© Ben Johnston 2014

McLaren considering Vandoorne for F1 role

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(McLaren Mercedes)

McLaren Mercedes who are yet to confirm their driver line up for next season have confirmed that they are considering the possibility of promoting Stoffel Vandoorne from their young driver programme to a role within the McLaren F1 Team. Speaking following Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix Racing Director Eric Boullier stated:

'It is a little too early to take a decision, he (Vandoorne) is doing a good job for the first year. You can see really clear progress over the last few races. He is very dedicated and I am happy to see he's getting there, but it is too early to have plans so everything is open'.

Boullier has also stated that although it may be too early for Vandoorne to race for McLaren they may place him in the team as a test driver or indeed try and find a race seat for him with a team lower down the grid so that he could gain experience in Formula One before making the move up to a race seat with the Woking based outfit. 

Jenson Button who is out of contract at the end of the season finished Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix in 6th place just behind reigning world Sebastian Vettel. The 2009 champion has expressed his desire to remain in Formula One next season with McLaren but the team have struggled so far this season and are currently in 5th place in the Constructors championship on 105 points two ahead of the Sahara Force India Formula One Team.

Speaking following Sunday's race Button commented:

'We played the long game today – most people were making their pit-stops early – and I felt I kept the tyres in good condition.

“I also had a lot of fun out there, especially racing Kevin [Magnussen], Sebastian [Vettel] and Fernando [Alonso] at the end.

“In the final laps Kevin and I didn’t touch, although I had to back off a bit at Turn Eight, when Fernando ran off as he and Kevin were dicing. I lost a place to Fernando there, which was a bit of a shame, and in turn a place to Sebastian after that, but as I say I really enjoyed it out there.

“It’s such a fantastic circuit; driving here always feels so good.'


It is also unclear what McLaren will decide to do in relation to Kevin Magnussen who was promoted to the race seat alongside Button for this season after Sergio Perez across to the Sahara Force India F1 Team. The Dane was classified as finishing the race in the 7th place but was a handed a post race 20 second penalty for forcing Ferrari's Fernando Alonso off the track. He was therefore classified as finishing the race in 12th place. Speaking following the race the Dane said:

'Despite being penalised after the race, I have to say I enjoyed the weekend. I had great fun out there this afternoon – I was involved in exciting racing on an awesome circuit.

“It was a tough challenge, because everyone around me had slightly fresher tyres than I did, and they’re all great drivers: they’re not the easiest guys to keep behind. So I just tried my best to defend my position as well as I could.

“Changing the subject, I want to say how brilliant it was to see so many Danish fans in the crowd. The support I’ve had this weekend has been incredible – I’ve never experienced anything like it, to be honest.

“Last but not least, it was good that Jenson got past Fernando at the end, to score some useful points for the team.'


In the last three season's McLaren have had three drivers alongside Jenson Button with Lewis Hamilton. He was replaced last season by Sergio Perez after the 2008 world champion moved to Mercedes where he is currently in second place in the championship. While Magnussen joined the outfit this season.

It would make sense for McLaren to retain both drivers next season as it will be a year of transition for the outfit as they switch from Mercedes to Honda power units the team will have enough going on next season as they are also expected to announce a new title sponsor too which would mean another new partnership so they will have enough going on next season without bringing in one or two new drivers next season who would have to get use to the McLaren set up.

Eric Boullier has also stated that McLaren have a third option in mind for Vandoorne and that is that he could remain in the GP2 Series next season where he won the Hungarian round this season and finished the last GP2 feature race at the Spa Francorchamps circuit where he finished the race in 2nd place.

Speaking following the race Boullier stated:

'Before I say anything else, I want to pay public tribute to Formula 1, which delivered a magnificent afternoon’s entertainment here in Belgium today.

“On the most daunting racetrack on the Formula 1 calendar, there was cut and thrust all through the field, and the resulting spectacle must have made for fantastic television.

“Throughout, Jenson and Kevin were in the thick of it, and it was great to see them racing the Red Bulls and the Ferraris fast and hard. They both drove extremely well, exhibiting redoubtable derring-do, and, although they raced wheel to wheel with each other, they never touched.

“From here we go to Monza, another classic low-downforce circuit, where we’ll be hoping to capitalise on our steady ongoing performance development and score a useful number of World Championship points.'

© Ben Johnston 2014

Whitmarsh parts company with McLaren

(Guardian.com)

McLaren have officially confirmed confirmed today that they have parted company with former team principal Martin Whitmarsh. The 56 year old who had been in the role since taking over from Ron Dennis ahead of the 2009 season was replaced at the head of the Formula One team at the start this season when Mr Dennis returned to the Formula One set up as Chairman.

Whitmarsh was replaced by former Lotus F1 Team boss Eric Boullier who took up the newly created role of Racing Director as Dennis felt that the role of team principal no longer applied to McLaren due to the hectic schedule of events throughout the season and the need for a constant presence at the race track.

Whitmarsh has not been heard from since being replaced at the team and is now free to pursue other interests as he now no longer part of the McLaren set up.

A McLarem spokesman confirmed  that:

'McLaren and Martin Whitmarsh have agreed amicably to part company.'

McLaren also confirmed that Whitmarsh has received a generous package to reflect his 24 years of service to the McLaren Group however the details of that settlement are of course confidential.

It remains to be seen whether or not Whitmarsh will one day return to the Formula One paddock in the future in a team management capacity.

© Ben Johnston 2014

FIA rule out investigating Rosberg/Hamilton incident

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

Formula One's governing body the FIA have confirmed this morning that they have no plans to investigate the racing incident between Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton which result in Hamilton retiring from the race.

Speaking to the Daily Mail Newspaper FIA Communications Director Pierre Regent confirmed that:

'The FIA will not intervene in this issue. Only a new element that would have appeared after the results became final could justify us opening an investigation. A comment alleged to have been made in an internal briefing and later denied by the team does not constitute 'a new element'.

The FIA would only have intervened has the incident taken place between two drivers from rival teams and it would have been completely unprecedented as this has never come up within a team.

Mercedes have already confirmed that the issue will be dealt with in house and will not be in the public eye. The team have a numbers of options open to them in relation to Rosberg with the most likely being a fine for the German. 

The team have also confirmed that Rosberg DID NOT hit Hamilton deliberately but was making a point.

© Ben Johnston 2014


Monday 25 August 2014

Horner defends Vettel Belgian Grand Prix performance

(Bernard Asset DPPI for Renault Sport F1)

Infiniti Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has defended reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel's performance during yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit where the German finished the race in fifth place behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. 

Vettel started the race from third place on the grid and made a great start and ended up in an intense on track battle with Williams Martini Racing's Valtteri Bottas who went on to finish the race on the podium to take his fourth podium in five races. The German finished in 5th place collecting ten points and is now 12 points behind Valtteri Bottas who is in fifth place in Drivers championship.

Horner believes that Vettel's down turn in performance in yesterday's race was not his fault but is unsure whether or not it was caused as a result of damage to the RB10 so the team will investigate what the issue was. 

While Vettel finished the race in fifth place, team mate Daniel Ricciardo secured his third race win in six Grand Prix having taken victory in Canada, Hungary and in Belgium on Sunday. 

Horner has once again reiterated how his team were not expecting Daniel Ricciardo to be so strong going up against a four time world champion in Sebastian Vettel. Ricciardo has really hit the ground running the season and has secured six podium finishes including the three victories. 

The Australian now finds himself in third place in the drivers championship just 35 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the championship battle.

Infiniti Red Bull Racing went to the Belgian Grand Prix not expecting to win the race with Christian Horner saying in the build up to the race that he felt that the teams next real opportunity to win a Grand Prix would come at the Singapore Grand Prix which takes place from September 19 - 21. 

© Ben Johnston 2014

Alonso certain Sainz Jr will be in Formula One

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(Scuderia Ferrari SpA via Twitter)

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso is absolutely certain that countryman Carlos Sainz Jr will race in Formula One 'sooner rather than later' and has expressed his surprise that Toro Rosso decided to sign dutch teenager Max Verstappen to replace Jean Eric Vergne instead of Sainz Jr. 

Carlos Sainz Jr is part of the Young driver programme at Red Bull Racing and has driven in Formula One when he took part in the 2013 young driver test following the British Grand Prix. The 19 year old is currently racing in the Renault 3.5 Series for DAMS and is currently in first place in the World Series by Renault 3.5 Series championship. 

The Spaniard who has yet to experience the new era of Formula One car has shown great pace in his previous outings in a Formula One car.

It was reported over the course of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend that Red Bull could be prepared to pay the Caterham F1 Team to put Sainz Jr in the second Caterham for a Grand Prix weekend as the Caterham F1 Team are powered by a Renault power unit and although talks have been held between the two parties no agreement for a Formula One race debut has been completed but it is expected that a deal will be concluded at some stage during the season.

If a deal is completed it won't be the first time that Red Bull have helped a driver to make their Formula One debut as in 2011 Australian Daniel Ricciardo was handed a race debut with  HRT before moving to the Toro Rosso outfit for the following season and now sees himself beating reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel at Infiniti Red Bull Racig after claiming his third Grand Prix victory this season following a gret win at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps yesterday.

It will be interesting to see if Sainz Jr does gets a Formula One drive this season.

© Ben Johnston 2014


Rosberg not interested in airing his views on Spa incident

(Nico Rosberg via Youtube.com)

Mercedes AMG F1 Team's Nico Rosberg has released the following video message to dispute Lewis Hamilton's version of what happened in yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit. Rosberg started the race from pole position but was overtaken by team mate Lewis Hamilton on the first lap of the race.

The German has also stated that would prefer to his opinion to himself and wants to move on from the incident and concentrate on getting the maximum result from the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit. 

Rosberg stated that they need to move on from the incident following discussions with the team at the debrief and he has said that the team will have another meeting to discuss where the team go from here and whether or not they need to change their approach to Grand Prix events.

It had been reported following the race on Sunday that Hamilton and Rosberg have not spoken to one another in the team environment in over a month.

This incident in Spa was not not the first time that the pair had raced wheel to wheel with Bahrain and Monaco two examples of the pair pushing each other however Spa was the first time that there had been contact between the two drivers.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Strong result for Button who benefits from Magnussen penalty

Jenson Button on track.
(McLaren Mercedes)

McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button drove a fantastic race during yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix to finish the race in 6th place after starting from 10th place to score eight points for the team who are locked in a great battle for fifth place in the Constructors championship with the Sahara Force India Formula One Team. As a result of his sixth place finish Button has helped McLaren to reclaim fifth place in the championship as the Woking outfit are now two points clear of Force India.

Ironically Button benefited after his team mate Kevin Magnussen who finished just ahead of the 2009 world championship was handed a 20 second time penalty following the race after the race stewards deemed that the Dane had forced Ferrari's Fernando Alonso off the track as pair battled for position going down the Kemmel straight so as a result of the penalty Magnussen ended the race in 12th place while Alonso was promoted to seventh place.

The result came at just the right time for Button who has yet to be confirmed with the McLaren team for next season. The 2009 champion has been with the Woking based outfit since joining them from Brawn in 2010 when he drove alongside Lewis Hamilton and beat the 2008 world champion on a regular basis. 

It was expected that Button would comprehensively beat Magnussen this season after the Dane was promoted from the McLaren young driver programme but so far this season that has not been the case. In the opening race of the season Magnussen on his Formula One debut finished the Australian Grand Prix in second place just ahead of Button who finished in third. 

However Button is ahead of Magnussen in the championship by  31 points. Button has expressed his desire to remain in Formula One with McLaren next season when they make the switch from Mercedes to Honda power and although McLaren chairman Ron Dennis had made no secret of the fact that he was chasing Fernando Alonso's signature for next season that door has been slammed shut as Ferrari boss Marco Mattiacci confirmed over the weekend at Spa that both Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso will remain with the Italian team next season.

McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier has confirmed that they will have a decision about their driver line up for 2015 within the next few weeks and also confirmed that he has not held talks with his former driver Romain Grosjean who is currently weighing up his own future following a difficult season with the Lotus F1 Team.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Slap on the wrist may not be enough

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

Mercedes Executive Director of Business Toto Wolff has stated that Nico Rosberg may receive something more than just a slap on the wrist following the racing incident in yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix which arguably cost the team victory.

As it is now a matter that will be dealt with by the team internally Wolff refused to comment on what the team would do in relation to the current situation the team finds themselves in.

In a separate development relating to the team Lewis Hamilton has now stated that he will find it tough to trust Rosberg from now on when it comes to the pair racing wheel to wheel. Hamilton believes that the blame for the incident lays squarely at Rosberg's door as do the Mercedes management however Rosberg was blaming Hamilton for the incident.

Hamilton has stated that it couldn't have been his fault as he was the one who was out in front at the time of the incident. The 2008 world champion has admitted that he does not now know how he will approach the next race at the Italian Grand Prix but will be going out of his way to avoid a wheel to wheel situation with Rosberg.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Mercedes set to review racing policy

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

Mercedes Executive Director of Business Toto Wolff has confirmed that following yesterday's racing incident between Nico Rsoberg and Lewis Hamilton that the team are now switching their focus to winning this years Constructors world championship.

The news comes following the clash between Rosberg and Hamilton on the second lap of the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit. The team were almost certain of taking victory in the race however Hamilton was forced to retire from the race as a result of the damage he sustained on his W05 while Rosberg went on to finish the race in 2nd place to extend his championship lead over Hamilton to 29 points.

Speaking after the race Wolff who was fuming following the incident said that the team will now focus on the collecting as many points as possible for the Constructors championship. The Brackley based outfit head to the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks time with a 157 point advantage over their nearest rivals Infiniti Red Bull Racing who took victory in yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix.

When asked if Mercedes will change their policy of allowing their drivers to race Wolff said that the team will review the situation and decide what course of action needs to be taken.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Sunday 24 August 2014

Ricciardo could win the championship

(Florent Gooden DPPI for Renault Sport F1)

Infiniti Red Bull Racing's rising star Daniel Ricciardo still has a very real opportunity to win the season's Formula One world champion after the Australian took his third win of the season and second race win in a row in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit. The Red Bull driver took victory by 3.3s from Mercedes Nico Rosberg to close the gap in the champion to Lewis Hamilton to 35 points with seven Grand Prix remaining this season.

Ricciardo has had a sensational season with Infiniti Red Bull Racing and for the most part has left team mate reigning quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel in the shadows. Vettel did a fantastic job in qualifying on Saturday to be best of the rest behind the Mercedes duo and battled at the front but was eventually beaten by Ricciardo who started the race from 5th place on the grid.

The Australian has now taken six podium finishes so far this season including three victories in Montreal, Canada, Hungary and the Belgian Grand Prix despite the fact that Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner stated that he felt that the reigning world champion's best opportunity to take another race win would be at the Singapore night race in September. Horner made his comments prior to the Belgian Grand Prix and was surprised but delighted with Ricciardo's victory.

Ricciardo took his first podium finish of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix in May when he finished the race in third place and followed this up with another third place at the Monaco Grand Prix. 

The Australian believes that if the team can keep up their level of performance for the rest of the season and with double point's for the final race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that he can still win the championship as he is now following his victory 64 point's behind championship leader Nico Rosberg with a maximum of 200 points available from the final seven Grand Prix of the season.

Ricciardo has also done a fantastic job going up against Sebastian Vettel at Infiniti Red Bull Racing and currently leads the German by 58 point's and is three places above Vettel in the championship. 

As a result of the victory Infiniti Red Bull Racing are 94 point's ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors championship and are 157 point's behind championship leaders Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Williams continue points scoring run with another podium finish for Bottas

(Williams Martini Racing Team)

The Williams Martini Racing Team continued their fantastic run at today's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit as Valtteri Bottas scored both his and the Grove based outfit's fourth podium finish of the season finishing the race in third place after starting the race from 6th place on the grid. The result means that the team have now closed the gap to Ferrari who are third in the Constructors championship.

Speaking following the race Bottas commented:

'Our pace was solid today and a lot better than in qualifying, with some good battles with the Ferrari’s and Red Bull’s, and I think third was probably the right result. I was stuck behind slower cars at the beginning which made the first stint difficult, but I managed to make my way past cars when it was needed and that was important for my race. We came into this race aiming for a podium and it is very satisfying to achieve that after an up and down weekend with tricky weather and Felipe being very unlucky today with debris. '

Felipe Massa had another difficult race weekend in the second Williams and after qualifying for the race in 9th place the Brazilian was disappointed to end the race in 13th place. Massa is now just one point ahead of former Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen in the championship. Speaking following the race Massa said:

'Unfortunately at the beginning of the race I had some tyre debris stuck in the floor that came from Hamilton’s car and this made the car very slow, losing about two seconds per lap. This wasn’t removed until my second pitstop and after that I was nearly three seconds quicker and the fastest car on track, but at this point it was too late for me to really do anything. Obviously I’m very disappointed that something like this has hurt my race and I just hope that in Monza my luck will change and I am able to put the car in the sort of position it is capable of.'

Speaking following the race Williams Martini Racing Team's Head of Performance Engineering Rob Smedley commented by saying:

'Valtteri had a brilliant result today, putting in a really mature drive and passing cars when he needed to thanks to the impressive chassis and power unit package. The strategy worked perfectly for us as well; we stuck to our plan and this paid dividends. 

Felipe was incredibly unlucky, picking up a large amount of debris from Hamilton’s tyre that stayed under his car for 20 laps and probably cost him about 40 seconds in total with his compromised  pace and strategy. As we are continuing to do, we need to improve our operations. This has not been a straight forward weekend so to finish with a car on the podium is a decent result and we look forward to Monza.'

Heading to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza in two weeks time the Williams Martini Racing Team are currently just 10 point's behind Ferrari. The circuit should suit the characteristics of the Williams FW36 as the team have a great all round package which includes the Mercedes power unit.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Sainz Jnr set to get a run in the Caterham this season

(Frederic Le Floc'h DPPI for Renault Sport F1)

Red Bull Junior driver Carlos Sainz Jnr looks set to make his Formula One debut with the Caterham F1 Team later this season according to Sky Sports F1 who reported following today's Belgian Grand Prix that Red Bull will pay the Caterham F1 Team to put the Spaniard in the car.

Kamui Kobayashi was replaced for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francrochamps by World Endurance Championship driver Andre Lotterer who is a friend of new Caterham F1 Team adviser Colin Kolles and it is expected that the team will put a different driver in the second seat alongside Marcus Ericsson for each of the remaining seven race's with Kobayashi who is still part of the set up at the Leafield outfit expected to be back in the car for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Sky's Ted Kravitz has also reported that Mercedes are prepared to pay to put German Touring car driver Roberto Merhi in the Caterham seat as he was spotted in the Belgian Grand Prix paddock during the race weekend.

Caterham are currently in eleventh place in the Constructors championship and are yet to score a point in Formula One. 

It is not yet known who will be in the seat alongside Marcus Ericsson for the next race, the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit as Andre Lotterer's deal was just for this weekend's race at the Belgian Grand Prix.

© Ben Johnston 2014

Clean races key for Kimi

Embedded image permalink
(Scuderia Ferrari SpA via Twitter)

Kimi Raikkonen has stated that his clean race at today's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit just shows what he can do when he has a trouble free race. The Finn, who started this afternoon's race in eighth place following a few mistakes in qualifying yesterday bounced back by making his first stop early and taking advantage of better pace from the F14-T.

The Finn also finished the race in fourth place which was his best result of the season so far and in doing so he has broken into the top ten in the driver's championship and has also beaten team mate Fernando Alonso for the first time this season.

Raikkonen stated:

'We had decided to tackle this race more aggressively, making an early stop to get ahead of the cars that had yet to pit and that meant I was able to stay with the leaders for much of the race. 

When Bottas in the Williams began to close on me, I knew I didn’t have the speed to defend on the straight and with a few laps to go, he managed to pass me. In general, I’m happy with how this weekend ended. We knew it would not be easy on this circuit, but we did our utmost and for the first time, we managed to have a clean race without any problems. 

The car has improved and today the pace was good. Fourth place shows we are going in the right direction, but it doesn’t mean we can settle for that. 

Today, we scored a good number of points, but we are here to win and we will continue to work to reach the top.'

Raikkonen has now scored a sixth and a fourth place finish in the last two races at the Hungarian and the Belgian Grand Prix and is now just one point behind former Ferrari team mate and the man he replaced at the Italian team Williams Martini Racing's Felipe Massa.

© Ben Johnston 2014

50th Grand Prix victory for Renault/Red Bull partnership


BELGIAN GRAND PRIX RACE REPORT
(Renault Sport F1)

Infiniti Red Bull Racing scored their third victory of the season as Daniel Ricciardo scored his third victory of the season and his second consecutive win of the season following his victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix prior to the Summer break. As a result the Australian has cemented his third place in the driver's championship on 156 points.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel finished the race in fifth place in the second Red Bull RB10. The Infiniti Red Bull Racing/Renault partnership has now claimed 50 race wins since the partnership began in 2007. Their first race win for the partnership came at the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix when Sebastian Vettel took victory from pole position while Mark Webber finished the race in 2nd place.

 It was a disappointing race for the Lotus F1 Team as both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were forced to retire from the race. Maldonado's retirement from the race was as a result of a power until failure.

Daniil Kvyat also manged to bring his Renault powered Toro Rosso home in the point's as he finished the race in 9th place.

Speaking following the race Renault Sport F1 Track Operations Remii Taffin stated:

'We came into the weekend with cautious expectations, knowing it would take some luck, but we took full advantage of the conditions here today. 

A victory at an engine circuit where we were expected to struggle shows the never give up, never surrender mentality we have at Renault Sport F1 and how the knocks just make us work harder and smarter. In the past few months we have been working even closer with Red Bull and today was an example of optimizing a chassis and engine package. This clear direction and streamlining is playing dividends.

Reliability is obviously now the key, and enhancing the package where we can. F1 is hard work, but also luck, and we had this today. We’ll now carry forward this renewed confidence to Monza.'

© Ben Johnston 2014

Mercedes left to pick up the pieces following a disappointing race.

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team left Belgium despite this evening after dominating a wet qualifying session yesterday locking out the front row they could only manage to get one car to finish with championship leader Nico Rosberg finishing in second place behind race winner Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo.

Despite finishing the race on the podium Nico Rosberg was at the centre of a controversial racing incident involving his team mate on the second lap of the race which resulted in Hamilton retiring from the race. 

Speaking following today's Grand Prix Nico Rosberg who heads to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza in two week's time with a lead of 29 points over Hamilton commented:

'That was a tough race. We had the pace to win today but the incident cost us a top result, so I’m really disappointed because for the  team it was a bad day. 

As drivers, we are here to entertain and to show the fans a good time, so our duels are always on the limit. I regret that Lewis and myself touched, but I see it as a racing incident – just as the stewards did. I was quicker down the straight and went to the outside as the inside line was blocked. I gave it a go and, after we touched, I realized that my front wing was damaged and thought that was it. In the next second I saw that Lewis also had a problem, which was very unfortunate for him and for the team. We sat down quickly after the race but there will be some more meetings to be held in to avoid races like today.'

Lewis Hamilton went into today's race with a deficit of eleven point's to Rosberg and had taken the lead of the Grand Prix when the incident happened. The 2008 world champion believes that it could be difficult to close the gap to Nico Rosberg in the championship. Commenting after the race he said:

'I’m gutted with the result – not just for my own Championship hopes but for the team, as we really should have had a one-two today. It’s been a tough year for everyone and the whole team has been working so hard – every time we’ve been knocked down they’ve never given up. 

I didn’t fully understand what had happened until I saw the replay just now, but I gave him plenty of space, took the corner like I usually do and suddenly felt a big hit from behind. There was nothing I could do about it and that was effectively my race over. I wanted to retire the car early – not because I was giving up, but because I couldn’t catch the people in front of me and even with a safety car I don’t think I would have been able to pass them. The car was quite badly damaged and my thoughts were to preserve the engine after the last one was destroyed in Hungary. What happens next is not my call – that’s one for the bosses to make. But I’m now almost 30 points behind in the Championship so that’s the main thing on my mind. It’s a big gap and it will be hard to recover from here. That’s tough to swallow – but ultimately it’s just been one of those days.'

Mercedes Executive Director of Business Toto Wolff was unimpressed with how the race played out for the Brackley based outfit as they were well placed to bring home yet another race win this weekend. The Austrian stated:

'Today we saw our worst case scenario when the drivers made contact on lap two – and that ultimately cost us a one-two finish today, because we saw that our car had that kind of performance in it. It has been our clear policy to let the drivers race this year but rule number one is: don’t hit each other. To see that kind of contact, so early in the race, is an unacceptable level of risk to be taking out on track. 

It cannot – and will not – happen again. After the collision, Nico drove the first stint with a significantly damaged front wing, changed it, then had to make an additional stop after flat-spotting his left front tyre to the point where it was dangerous. He then charged back through the field and was impressively close to taking the win in spite of a dramatic race. 

As for Lewis, he was fighting with one hand tied behind his back after the puncture, which damaged the floor and cost him a significant amount of performance. We left him out there in case the Safety Car came out, bunched up the field and allow us to gain some places, but it became clear that he had lost too much performance and was continuing to do so, so we retired the car before the finish. Overall, not a good day for the team – and it is clear that we need to strengthen our focus on securing the Constructors’ Championship by delivering the potential of both cars in the next races. Now we need to regroup and come back stronger in Monza.'

Mercedes Executive Technical Director Paddy Lowe was also deeply disappointed with how the race played out saying:

'We got off to a strong start, with Lewis taking the lead and Nico eventually recovering second place from Sebastian. One lap later, however, the incident between the two at turn five effectively ruined our afternoon. It’s a great shame, as the car had looked strong all weekend and we were in an excellent position to potentially score a one-two finish. 

We opted to continue the race with Lewis in case of a safety car scenario, which may have given him an opportunity to recover the lost ground. But in the end this never came and, with his floor heavily damaged by tyre debris on the second lap, the condition of the car deteriorated further as the race continued. For Nico it was a case of damage limitation. Our calculations confirmed that we would have to change his nose to have any chance of a podium – but of course that cost time. 

As it was, although he was closing in rapidly at the end, a lockup and resultant flat spot on the second set of tyres ultimately cost him that opportunity. Overall, massive disappointment after all the hard work put in by the team to come away with a result not matching our potential this weekend.'

© Ben Johnston 2014

Pirelli Belgian Grand Prix Report Ricciardo does the double


(Pirelli Motorsport Media)

Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo took his second victory in row at today's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit. The Australian used a two stop strategy to finish the race just ahead of Mercedes championship leader Nico Rosberg. The Australian started the race on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow marked Soft tyre before switching to a second set of the P Zero Yellow Soft tyre before finishing the race on the While walled Medium tyre.

Ricciardo set his fastest lap of the race on the final lap of the Grand Prix and finished the race 3.3s ahead of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes.

Rosberg went on a different strategy to Ricciardo starting the race on the Soft tyre before making two stops for the Medium tyre before stopping one final time for a set of the Soft compound tyre. Williams Valtteri Bottas finished the race on a set of the Medium compound tyre which mean that he was able to overtake Kimi Raikkonen towards the end of the race to claim his fourth podium finish of the season. 

Raikkonen completed the most number of laps of anyone on the Medium tyre as the Finn managed 23 laps on that tyre, while the Marussia F1 Team's Jules Bianchi completed the most number of laps 22 on the Soft compound tyre. 

Speaking following the race Pirelli Motorsport Director Paul Hembery commented:

'Track and ambient temperatures were higher than they had been up to now during the weekend, which meant that we saw a little less life out of the soft tyre than we had initially predicted. But considering the demands of this circuit and the nature of the soft and medium compounds that we had chosen to bring, wear and degradation was still well within expectations. It was interesting to see the different strategies at work, especially with the extra speed of the soft tyre. In retrospect, there were probably more drivers who wished they had used the soft for a third pit stop, but our calculations from yesterday indicated that two stops was the best way to go – and we got a very exciting race.'

© Ben Johnston 2014

Difficult day for Lotus in Spa

Belgian Grand Prix
(Charles Coates for the Lotus F1 Team)

The Lotus F1 Team endured another difficult race weekend as both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado suffered a double DNF at today's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit. Romain Grosjean started the race from the race from 15th place on the grid and pitted at the end of the first lap to change tyre's. He retired from the race after picking up debris on track which caused damage to the car and speaking afterwards the Frenchman said:

'The car was pretty good; the pace was much better than expected, which is encouraging. Unfortunately the race was compromised early on, we had to change the nose on the first lap and we picked up some damage later on from debris on the track. We lost a lot of downforce as a result so we retired the car. We’re moving forward every weekend and learning a lot, though Monza is likely to be challenging too. Singapore should suit us a lot better.'

It was a disappointing day at the office for team mate Pastor Maldonado who suffered his fourth retirement of the season following power unit failure at the end of the first lap. The Venezuelan who recently signed a new contract with the Enstone based outfit for the 2015 season is still searching for his first points as a Lotus driver commented after the race by saying:

'We were expecting a tough weekend – both here and Monza are challenging tracks for us – although the car seemed competitive and consistent today. It might have been possible to fight with Sauber and Force India during the race. Unfortunately I felt a big loss of power at the end of the first lap and saw in the mirrors that the engine was smoking a lot so we had to retire.'

The Lotus F1 Team have been extremely unfortunate so far this season with a number of different issues with the car causing problems for the team but they have an extremely strong and talented workforce in Enstone and they will get back to competing for points and podiums on a regular basis but it is just going to take some time. 

Lotus deputy team principal Frederico Gastaldi is hopeful that the team will be able to turn things around in the next few Grand Prix following an 'unfortunate' weekend in Belgium. He said:

'It was highly unfortunate that we had to retire both cars today. There is pace and the team is working extremely hard to extract every ounce of performance. We will regroup between now and Monza of course, and do everything we can to improve further. We’ll also keep looking for that pot of good luck.'

Track Operations Director at Lotus, Alan Permane summed up the weekend by saying:

'A tough race. Romain sustained damage at the first corner, which meant we had to change the front wing at the end of that lap. We opted for the prime tyres and he was actually running very strongly from then on, although obviously a long way back. Unfortunately, he picked up some damage after his final pit stop which made the car a real handful for him – he radioed in that the car was dangerous, so the only sensible thing to do was retire. Pastor suffered from what looks to be an exhaust failure early on in the race. We’re investigating both cars to understand what happened.'

Renault Sport F1 Track side support leader Simon Rebreyend is confident that the team will be able to turn things around for the next race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in two weeks time by saying:

'We knew Spa would be difficult but we fell short of our expectations this weekend. Pastor suffered an exhaust failure soon after the start, while the team had to retire Romain’s car due to a bodywork issue. We’ll look to Monza now and hope for better.'

Although it has been an extremely difficult weekend for the team Lotus remain in 8th place in the Constructors championship on 8 points ahead of the Marussia F1 Team, Sauber and Caterham however they will be hoping for a better run of form from the next Grand Prix onwards.

© Ben Johnston 2014

'Unacceptable'

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

Mercedes AMG F1 Team's Executive Director of Business Toto Wolff has described as 'unacceptable' the second lap incident between his two driver's Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton which saw Hamilton suffer a puncture which sent the 2008 world champion to the back of the pack and was forced to retire from the race.

Nico Rosberg on the other hand went on to finish the race on the podium in second place behind race winner Daniel Ricciardo to extend his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton to 29 point's as Formula One heads to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the final race of the European season.

As a result of the incident the team lost out on a certain victory for the team. 

© Ben Johnston 2014

Fantastic win for Ricciardo in Belgium for Red Bull as Bottas takes his fourth podium of the season for Williams

(Florent Gooden DPPI for Renault Sport F1)

Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo took a surprise victory in today's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit following a dramatic race. The race started under a cloud for the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton as the pair collided which resulted in a puncture for Hamilton that would later lead to the 2008 world champion having to retire from race denting his championship hopes. Speaking after the race Ricciardo stated:

'You know everyone was saying we didn’t really have a chance around here, but I think we had some really good pace today and surprised ourselves. It feels a bit surreal, but another win is very cool, very cool. It was difficult staying out at the end of the race. When you’re the leader as well you always feel like you’re the most vulnerable when it comes to a pit stop or not, but Simon my engineer came on the radio and said I think it’s 11 laps left, can these tyres get to the end? 

And I said I think I can keep more or less this pace, and we were able to, and then on the last lap I found a couple more tenths, so I was having a bit of fun then! There’s been a lot of good things about the win today, obviously the last two came from a more aggressive style of race, but today was more calculated and it was nice to win under different circumstances.'

After starting the race from pole position Nico Rosberg went on to finish the race in 2nd place finishing the race just ahead of the Williams Martini Racing's Valtteri Bottas who drove a spectacular race to finish on the podium for the team having started the race from 6th place on the grid. The Finn has now secured four podium finishes this season as the Williams revival continues.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen had his strongest race of the season following a difficult start to 2014. The Finn who has won the Belgian GP four times. The Finn ended the race in fourth place. The Iceman finished the race just ahead of reigning world champion Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel. The reigning world champion commented:

'Towards the end of the race was good, I was in a rush to get through because the laps were going down and obviously Alonso and Magnussen didn’t have fresh tyres, so Jenson and me caught them fairly quickly. In the end it was good not to lose a position compared to when we decided to pit, which was probably a little bit late, but in the end we maintained the position. 

The battle was fairly interesting, it was a bit all over the place with people pushing each other off on the track, but we race hard, although sometimes maybe a bit too hard! The team did a great job in the pit stops, three perfect stops, they felt really quick.'

Infiniti Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner commented:

'A phenomenal performance today to get our 50th win. Of all the tracks to win at, Spa was one of the ones that we didn’t expect to! Daniel drove an incredible race and had good pace throughout; it got very close at the end there with Nico, but he just managed to hold on and have enough in hand to get to the chequered flag first. Sebastian, after a great start, was racing with Bottas, we didn’t want to get undercut so we pitted quite aggressively with him to make sure we stayed ahead of him but thereafter we seemed to struggle with pace, so whether there’s some damage with the car or not we really need to look into, but it wasn’t Sebastian’s fault today.'

McLaren's Kevin Magnussen had a great race for McLaren finishing the race in 6th place just ahead of team mate Jenson Button to give the Woking based team a good haul of point's which now puts the team back ahead the Sahara Force India team into fifth place in the Constructors championship. 

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was handed a five second penalty prior to the start of the race as the team were working on his car on the grid when they shouldn't have been. The Spaniard finished the race in 8th place just ahead ahead of Sahara Force India F1 Team's Sergio Perez. Speaking following the race Sergio Perez who moves up to 8th place after Kevin Magnussen was penalized for an incident with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso commented:

'Somehow I avoided all the crazy battles that took place today because my race was quite straightforward. I went flat out and I think we achieved the most that was possible from the race. I lost a bit of time in the second stint, having to pass the two McLarens and I took a bit too much out of the tyres, which cost me some time later in the stint. In the final ten laps I was under a lot of pressure from Kvyat: he was catching me quickly, but I managed to hold him off. In the end, we got some points out of this weekend and that's the important thing.'

Daniil Kvyat did a fantastic job for the Toro Rosso team as he rounded out the top ten. Nico Hulkenberg drove a brilliant race to recover from a disappointing qualifying yesterday where he started the race from 18th place and finished the race in eleventh place just missing out on a collecting a world championship point. The German moves up to 10th place to pick up a point and stated after the race saying:

'It’s a shame to miss out on points today but I guess I paid the price for the mistakes yesterday [in qualifying] which gave us so much ground to recover in the race. My start was not great, but I was able to gain a few positions on the first lap. After that I had good pace, but it was hard to show it because I was stuck in heavy traffic. There was a train of cars in the midfield with everybody using DRS and making it very difficult to overtake. I think that’s where we lost the most time today and it stopped me from scoring points. I was closing quickly on Kvyat at the end and I was very close, but I probably needed an extra lap to be able to get ahead.'

Sahara Force India's deputy team principal Robert Fernley commented:

'Considering the issues we had in qualifying yesterday, it’s good to see the team recover some ground today and score points. The two-stop races for Sergio and Nico went to plan, without any significant issues, but starting outside the top ten meant we were always going to face an uphill struggle this afternoon. Both drivers were caught in the midfield train of traffic and that made it difficult to demonstrate our true race pace, especially early on. Sergio drove a very mature race and picked up a couple of points, while Nico came close to claiming the final point. We remain in a strong position in the championship and hopefully Monza will give us a better opportunity to show our potential and get both cars in the points.'

Jean Eric Vergne finished the race in 11th place just ahead of the Williams Martini Racing car of Felipe Massa who was left disappointed after finishing the race in 13th place when his team mate Valtteri Bottas finished on the podium.

The Sauber F1 Team leave the Belgian Grand Prix in search of their first point of the season as Adrian Sutil finished the race in 14th place with his team mate Esteban Gutierrez finishing the race in 15th place. Speaking after the race Sutil said:

'It was an exciting race, but 14th was the maximum today.Unfortunately, I got stuck behind  Felipe (Massa). As I came in for the pit stop, he also went in at the same time. In some sectors on track Iwas faster than him, but on the straights he was just too fast. Felipe’s engine was simply too strong and I could not overtake him. We then decided to race with a three-stop-strategy, which in the end was the right choice. I felt more comfortable with the soft compound in comparison to the medium tyres. I am satisfied with the procedures over the weekend. The team did a good job without making any mistakes.”

Esteban Gutierrez in the second Sauber commented by saying:

'It was a tough race. The race strategy was to attack straight from the beginning on. Unfortunately, it did not work out as expected, but at least I was able to gain some positions during the first laps. Throughout the race I struggled a lot with the medium tyres. This aspect made things complicated and put us in a difficult position. Our pace was too slow to finish the race in the points. We need to keep working to be in the top ten as soon as possible.'

Sauber team principal Monisha Keltenborn commented:

'The whole crew delivered a race without any mistakes. However, it is disappointing to see that on a track where power and top speed are crucial, we were simply not fast enough. For the upcoming events it will be important for us to build on the improvements that we were able to make recently on the chassis side during the last few races.'

The Swiss team's head of track Engineering Giampoalo Dall'Ara concluded by saying:

'This was a disappointing result after a reasonable race. We expected that we would struggle in dry conditions, and we finally achieved more or less what we could expect. We tried something with Adrian‘s strategy, starting on the medium tyre, which was clearly slower than the soft. This was working until he got stuck behind Felipe Massa. We then decided to switch to a three stop strategy, which didn’t work out because Adrian got stuck behind slower cars. In the end, our drivers finished behind each other.'

Max Chilton finished the race in 16th place just ahead of the Caterham of Marcus Ericsson. It was a disappointing race for Jules Bianchi who started the race from 16th place as he was forced to retire from race. Andre Lotterer was left disappointed as he retired from the race in the early stages of the event. 

It was  also a disappointing race for the Lotus F1 Team as both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were forced to retire from the race.

Drivers Championship Standings

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG F1 Team 220 Points
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG F1 Team 191
3 Daniel Ricciardo Infiniti Red Bull Racing 151
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 119
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams Martini Racing Team 110
6 Sebastian Vettel Infiniti Red Bull Racing 98
7 Nico Hulkenberg Sahara Force India Formula One Team 70
8 Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes 68
9 Felipe Massa Williams Martini Racing Team 40
10 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 39
11 Kevin Magnussen McLaren Mercedes 37
12 Sergio Perez Sahara Force India Formula One Team 31
13 Jean Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 11
14 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team 8
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 7
16 Jules Bianchi Marussia F1 Team 2

Constructors Championship Standings

1 Mercedes AMG F1 Team 411 Points
2 Infiniti Red Bull Racing 254
3 Ferrari 160
4 Williams Martini Racing Team 150
5 McLaren Mercedes 105
6 Sahara Force India Formula One Team 103
7 Scuderia Toro Rosso 18
8 Lotus F1 Team 8
9 Marussia F1 Team 2

© Ben Johnston 2014