(Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team)
The Formula One circus is ready for its final act before the curtain falls on what has been an absolutely fascinating 2014 Formula One world championship both on and off the track. The season got off to a dramatic start Down Under in Melbourne's Albert Park circuit for the Australian Grand Prix where all the talk was about the 'new era of F1' would the lack of noise take away from the excitement on track? The answer was...a resounding NO!
Nico Rosberg took victory in Melbourne in a dramatic season opener which saw Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo disqualified from second place on his debut for the reigning world champions due to a fuel irregularity which promoting McLaren Mercedes rookie Kevin Magnussen to a podium on his Formula One debut. He was joined on the podium by team mate Jenson Button.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished the race in fourth place with Williams Martini Racing's Valtteri Bottas in fifth place which was a great result for the Grove based outfit as they had just days before the start of the season had announced a long term title sponsorship deal with Martini which has seen the team renamed Williams Martini Racing and have a power unit supply with Mercedes.
The Sahara Force India F1 Team's Nico Hulkenberg finished the race in 6th place with Kimi Raikkonen in his first race since returning to Ferrari for the first time since 2009 over the Winter replacing the Williams bound Felipe Massa finished the race in 7th place.
Toro Rosso's Jean Eric Vergne finished the race in eighth place with Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat fishing in the points on his Formula One debut in 9th place while Sergio Perez finished the race in 10th place for his new team Sahara Force India.
While Nico Rosberg took victory it was a disappointing start to the season for Lewis Hamilton as he was forced to retire from the race with an engine failure while reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel began his title defense with a retirement due to a power unit failure.
From Australia the F1 road show headed to Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit. This race gave the paddock a glimpse potentially of things to come as Lewis Hamilton took his second pole position in succession and went on to take victory in the race leading home team mate Nico Rosberg.
Following the controversy caused by his win in Malaysia last season Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel could only manage to finish the race in third place just ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Nico Hulekneberg had another fantastic race for the Sahara Force India F1 Team as the German came home in fifth place just ahead of McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button.
The Williams Martini Racing Team had good race in Malaysia too as both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finished the race in the points in 7th and 8th place respectively. Kevin Magnussen finished the race in ninth place with Daniil Kvyat once again proving to be a very mature rookie scoring another point finishing the race in 10th place.
The Malaysian Grand Prix proved to be a breakthrough race for the Caterham F1 Team as Kamui Kobayashi finished the race in 13th place for the Leafield based outfit while Marcus Ericsson finished the race in 14th place.
In Bahrain the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team secured their second 1-2 finish in succession with Lewis Hamilton once again taking victory ahead of Nico Rosberg while Sahara Force India's Sergio Perez secured the Silverstone based outfit's first podium finish since Giancarlo Fisischella finished the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix in second place behind race winner Kimi Raikkonen.
Daniel Ricciardo did a great job under the lights in Bahrain for the Infiniti Red Bull Racing team as the Australian finished the race in fourth place having started the race from 13th on the grid.
Nico Hulkenberg put in another strong race for Force India as the German came home in fifth place just ahead Sebastian Vettel.
Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas once again showed what the Williams FW36 was capable of they finished the race in 7th and 8th place just ahead of the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
While the previous race in Malaysia was a breakthrough for the Caterham F1 Team, Bahrain proved to be the same for the Marussia F1 Team as Max Chilton finished the race in 13th place between the Lotus F1 Team pair of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. Ahead of the race in China it emerged that following their poor start to the 2014 season Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali had reigned from his role and was replaced by Ferrari North America president Marco Mattiacci.
As the teams headed to China the question on everyone's lips was would Mercedes continue to dominate? The answer was..YES! Lewis Hamilton took his third consecutive victory finishing the race just ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg giving the Brackley based outfit their first every hat-trick of 1-2 finishes.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso gave his new boss something to smile about in his first race in charge of the team as the Spaniard finished the race on the podium in third place just ahead of Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo who for the first time finished ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel.
The Chinese Grand Prix marked the end of the first leg of the flyaway part of the season with the Formula One circus heading to the Spanish Grand Prix for the opening race of the European season and for the first time I was going to be at the Barcelona Circuit du Catalunya for the race which was an absolutely amazing experience.
© Ben Johnston 2014
The race was once again dominated by the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg who took a dominant 1-2 finish for the Brackley based outfit with Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo picking up his very first Formula One podium as he brought his RB10 home in third place just ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel.
It was an absolutely fantastic race and the atmosphere was absolutely amazing. It was another great race for the Williams Martini Racing Team as Valtteri Bottas finished the race fifth place ahead of the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
Romain Grosjean did a great job for the Lotus F1 Team to score their first points of the year following a difficult start to the season for the Enstone outfit. The Frenchman bringing his E22 in 8th place just ahead of the Sahara Force India Formula One Team pair of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg who rounded out the top ten.
The following race in Monaco proved to be a fantastic race for the Marussia F1 Team as Jules Bianchi scored the Banbury based outfit's first ever Formula One points coming home in ninth place to secure two points for the team.
Mercedes Nico Rosberg lead yet another Mercedes 1-2 finish at what effectively is a home race for the German as he grew up in Monaco. Daniel Ricciardo had another fantastic race for Infiniti Red Bull Racing as the Australian scored his second podium finish in row finishing the race in third place just ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Sahara Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.
McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button finished the race in sixth place just ahead of Williams Martini Racing's Felipe Massa while Romain Grosjean scored more points for the Lotus F1 Team with 8th place for the Enstone based outfit.
The Caterham F1 Team had another great race as Marcus Ericsson finished the race in eleventh place while Kamui Kobayashi finished the race in 13th place.
Formula One took a break from European for the Canadian Grad Prix in Montreal where after starting the race from second on the grid alongside team mate Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire from the race due to brake failure.
Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo pounced on the opportunity to take his maiden Formula One victory while Nico Rosberg finished the race in second place having managed a brake problem of his own. The German finished the race just ahead of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel and McLaren's Jenson Button while Nico Hulkenberg put in a great performance for the Sahara Force India Formula One team with a fifth place finish.
Formula One made a return to Austria this season for the first time since 2003 with the circuit having being renamed the Red Bull Ring after the Austrian company bought the circuit. This event proved to be a breakthrough race for the Williams Martini Racing Team as the Grove based outfit secured their first front row lock out since the 2003 German Grand Prix with Felipe Massa starting the race from pole position alongside Valtteri Bottas.
However the race was a disappointing for the Grove based outfit as they were beaten by the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton who took the Brackley based outfits sixth 1-2 finish of the season.
It was also a breakthrough event for the Williams Martini Racing as Valtteri Bottas scored the teams first podium finish as a Mercedes partner, their last one coming at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2012 when Pastor Maldonado won the race. Bottas finished the race in third place just ahead of team mate Felipe Massa.
At the British Grand Prix in Silverstone Lewis Hamilton put in a dominant display to take pole position on Saturday and take victory at the British Grand Prix for the first time since 2008 the year he won the championship.
It was another fantastic race for the Williams Martini Racing Team as Valtteri Bottas scored another podium finish securing second place. The team's test and development driver Susie Wolff also made history by becoming the first female driver in over 20 years to part in official Grand Prix weekend when she drove the FW36 in Free Practice One in Silverstone.
The British Grand Prix was also a fantastic race for McLaren's Jenson Button as the 2009 world champion scored his best race result since the Australian Grand Prix finishing the race in fourth place just behind Daniel Ricciardo.
While Lewis Hamilton took a dominant victory, Nico Rosberg was forced to retire from the race as a result of a gearbox problem.
In Germany, Susie Wolff was once again back in action for the Williams Martini Racing Team and did a great job to end her run in Free Practice One in 15th place ahead of Geido Van Der Garde in the Sauber and the Lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado.
Nico Rosberg took victory in Germany in front of his home crowd finishing the race just ahead of Valtteri Bottas who once again showed the pace of the the FW36 while Lewis Hamilton put in a fantastic recovery drive after starting the race from 20th place to storm through the field to finish the race on the podium in third place.
In Hungary, Hamilton put in another fantastic performance to finish the race on the podium behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and race winner Daniel Ricciardo as the 2008 world champion made his way from the back of the grid to for the second race in a row to claim another podium finish.
In Hungary, Kimi Raikkonen secured his best result of the season for Ferrari as the Finn finished the race in 6th place having suffered a tough start to his return to Ferrari. Hungary also saw Ferrari score just their second podium finish of the season as Fernando Alonso finished the race in second place 5.2s behind Daniel Ricciardo.
The following race in Spa Francorchamps the first Grand Prix following the Summer break proved to be the most controversial of the season as the Mercedes duo who locked out the front row with Nico Rosberg on pole clashed resulting in Lewis Hamilton being forced to retire from the race due to damage.
The clash handed the race win to Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo who took his second victory in a row and his third of the season while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen scored his best result of the season finishing the race in fourth place just missing out on a podium finish. Valtteri Bottas once again showed that Williams have created an extremely quick package in 2014 as he scored his 4th podium finish of the season.
Daniil Kvyat did a great job in Belgium as the Russian scored more points for the Toro Rosso team as he finished the race in 9th place just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.
From Spa the F1 circus headed to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza where it was revealed that Nico Rosberg had been fined a reported £100,000 by the Mercedes team for the clash with Hamilton. The 2008 world champion put the incident behind him by claiming pole position and going on to take victory in the race just ahead of Nico Rosberg while Felipe Massa scoed his first podium finish for the Williams Martini Racing Team as he finished the race in third place just ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas.
It was a great weekend for the pair as they were both confirmed for the 2015 season. It was a disappointing race for Ferrari's Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard was forced to retire from the race with Energy Recovery System failure.
In Singapore, Lewis Hamilton once again took victory finishing the race ahead of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel who recorded his best result of the year following what has been a miserable season for the quadruple world champion as the German finished the race in second place just ahead of team mate Daniel Ricciardo.
The Japanese Grand Prix was won by Lewis Hamilton who lead home yet another Mercedes 1-2 however the race was overshadowed by the horrific accident suffered by the Marussia F1 Team's Jules Bianchi who remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital in Japan after suffering a diffuse axonal brain injury after hitting a recovery vehicle in horrendous conditions at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Formula One community continues to pray for Jules and his family and continue to have them in our thoughts.
At the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in Sochi his Marussia team opted to run just one car as a show of support to the Frenchman and his family.
Jules Bianchi's accident overshadowed the news that Daniil Kvyat would replace Sebastian Vettel at Infiniti Red Bull Racing in 2015 after the quadruple world champion informed the team that he will be leaving them at the end of the season with his team boss Christian Horner confirming that the German told him that he be joining Ferrari in 2015.
The race in Russia went ahead under extremely difficult circumstances with Lewis Hamilton once again taking victory ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg ensuring that the Brackley based Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team secured their first ever Formula One constructors championship.
Valtteri Bottas put in another fantastic performance for the Williams Martini Racing Team to finish on the podium in third place just ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen. In the week leading up to the United States Grand Prix it emerged that both the Caterham and Marussia F1 Teams had entered administration and would miss the next two race's in the United States and Brazil but that they were both hopeful of returning to the grid for the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
In the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas Lewis Hamilton took his tenth win of the season finishing the race just ahead of Nico Rosberg while Daniel Ricciardo secured his ninth podium finish of the season with a third place finish.
It was a great race for the Lotus F1 Team's Pastor Maldonado who finally secured his first points for the team following an extremely tough season for the Venezuelan as he finished the race in 9th place just ahead of Jean Eric Vergne.
In Brazil at the weekend Lewis Hamilton who went into the race with a 24 point advantage over team Nico Rosberg at the top of the championship saw that lead cut to 17 points as Rosberg completely dominated the race weekend leading every session and taking his fifth race win of the season setting up a title showdown between at the season finale in Abu Dhabi in just under two weeks time which is worth double points.
© Ben Johnston 2014
McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button finished the race in sixth place just ahead of Williams Martini Racing's Felipe Massa while Romain Grosjean scored more points for the Lotus F1 Team with 8th place for the Enstone based outfit.
The Caterham F1 Team had another great race as Marcus Ericsson finished the race in eleventh place while Kamui Kobayashi finished the race in 13th place.
Formula One took a break from European for the Canadian Grad Prix in Montreal where after starting the race from second on the grid alongside team mate Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire from the race due to brake failure.
Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo pounced on the opportunity to take his maiden Formula One victory while Nico Rosberg finished the race in second place having managed a brake problem of his own. The German finished the race just ahead of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel and McLaren's Jenson Button while Nico Hulkenberg put in a great performance for the Sahara Force India Formula One team with a fifth place finish.
Formula One made a return to Austria this season for the first time since 2003 with the circuit having being renamed the Red Bull Ring after the Austrian company bought the circuit. This event proved to be a breakthrough race for the Williams Martini Racing Team as the Grove based outfit secured their first front row lock out since the 2003 German Grand Prix with Felipe Massa starting the race from pole position alongside Valtteri Bottas.
However the race was a disappointing for the Grove based outfit as they were beaten by the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton who took the Brackley based outfits sixth 1-2 finish of the season.
It was also a breakthrough event for the Williams Martini Racing as Valtteri Bottas scored the teams first podium finish as a Mercedes partner, their last one coming at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2012 when Pastor Maldonado won the race. Bottas finished the race in third place just ahead of team mate Felipe Massa.
At the British Grand Prix in Silverstone Lewis Hamilton put in a dominant display to take pole position on Saturday and take victory at the British Grand Prix for the first time since 2008 the year he won the championship.
It was another fantastic race for the Williams Martini Racing Team as Valtteri Bottas scored another podium finish securing second place. The team's test and development driver Susie Wolff also made history by becoming the first female driver in over 20 years to part in official Grand Prix weekend when she drove the FW36 in Free Practice One in Silverstone.
The British Grand Prix was also a fantastic race for McLaren's Jenson Button as the 2009 world champion scored his best race result since the Australian Grand Prix finishing the race in fourth place just behind Daniel Ricciardo.
While Lewis Hamilton took a dominant victory, Nico Rosberg was forced to retire from the race as a result of a gearbox problem.
In Germany, Susie Wolff was once again back in action for the Williams Martini Racing Team and did a great job to end her run in Free Practice One in 15th place ahead of Geido Van Der Garde in the Sauber and the Lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado.
Nico Rosberg took victory in Germany in front of his home crowd finishing the race just ahead of Valtteri Bottas who once again showed the pace of the the FW36 while Lewis Hamilton put in a fantastic recovery drive after starting the race from 20th place to storm through the field to finish the race on the podium in third place.
In Hungary, Hamilton put in another fantastic performance to finish the race on the podium behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and race winner Daniel Ricciardo as the 2008 world champion made his way from the back of the grid to for the second race in a row to claim another podium finish.
In Hungary, Kimi Raikkonen secured his best result of the season for Ferrari as the Finn finished the race in 6th place having suffered a tough start to his return to Ferrari. Hungary also saw Ferrari score just their second podium finish of the season as Fernando Alonso finished the race in second place 5.2s behind Daniel Ricciardo.
The following race in Spa Francorchamps the first Grand Prix following the Summer break proved to be the most controversial of the season as the Mercedes duo who locked out the front row with Nico Rosberg on pole clashed resulting in Lewis Hamilton being forced to retire from the race due to damage.
The clash handed the race win to Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo who took his second victory in a row and his third of the season while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen scored his best result of the season finishing the race in fourth place just missing out on a podium finish. Valtteri Bottas once again showed that Williams have created an extremely quick package in 2014 as he scored his 4th podium finish of the season.
Daniil Kvyat did a great job in Belgium as the Russian scored more points for the Toro Rosso team as he finished the race in 9th place just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.
From Spa the F1 circus headed to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza where it was revealed that Nico Rosberg had been fined a reported £100,000 by the Mercedes team for the clash with Hamilton. The 2008 world champion put the incident behind him by claiming pole position and going on to take victory in the race just ahead of Nico Rosberg while Felipe Massa scoed his first podium finish for the Williams Martini Racing Team as he finished the race in third place just ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas.
It was a great weekend for the pair as they were both confirmed for the 2015 season. It was a disappointing race for Ferrari's Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard was forced to retire from the race with Energy Recovery System failure.
In Singapore, Lewis Hamilton once again took victory finishing the race ahead of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel who recorded his best result of the year following what has been a miserable season for the quadruple world champion as the German finished the race in second place just ahead of team mate Daniel Ricciardo.
The Japanese Grand Prix was won by Lewis Hamilton who lead home yet another Mercedes 1-2 however the race was overshadowed by the horrific accident suffered by the Marussia F1 Team's Jules Bianchi who remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital in Japan after suffering a diffuse axonal brain injury after hitting a recovery vehicle in horrendous conditions at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Formula One community continues to pray for Jules and his family and continue to have them in our thoughts.
At the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in Sochi his Marussia team opted to run just one car as a show of support to the Frenchman and his family.
Jules Bianchi's accident overshadowed the news that Daniil Kvyat would replace Sebastian Vettel at Infiniti Red Bull Racing in 2015 after the quadruple world champion informed the team that he will be leaving them at the end of the season with his team boss Christian Horner confirming that the German told him that he be joining Ferrari in 2015.
The race in Russia went ahead under extremely difficult circumstances with Lewis Hamilton once again taking victory ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg ensuring that the Brackley based Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team secured their first ever Formula One constructors championship.
Valtteri Bottas put in another fantastic performance for the Williams Martini Racing Team to finish on the podium in third place just ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen. In the week leading up to the United States Grand Prix it emerged that both the Caterham and Marussia F1 Teams had entered administration and would miss the next two race's in the United States and Brazil but that they were both hopeful of returning to the grid for the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
In the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas Lewis Hamilton took his tenth win of the season finishing the race just ahead of Nico Rosberg while Daniel Ricciardo secured his ninth podium finish of the season with a third place finish.
It was a great race for the Lotus F1 Team's Pastor Maldonado who finally secured his first points for the team following an extremely tough season for the Venezuelan as he finished the race in 9th place just ahead of Jean Eric Vergne.
In Brazil at the weekend Lewis Hamilton who went into the race with a 24 point advantage over team Nico Rosberg at the top of the championship saw that lead cut to 17 points as Rosberg completely dominated the race weekend leading every session and taking his fifth race win of the season setting up a title showdown between at the season finale in Abu Dhabi in just under two weeks time which is worth double points.
© Ben Johnston 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment