Monaco Grand Prix review for Motor Verso - A game for two players

The Monaco round divides opinion like no other, and has done for years. Yet for all of its well-known downside it remains probably the greatest driver challenge on the modern-day F1 calendar. And is especially so when the rain comes down...

Photo: Octane Photography

And we got all of that last weekend. A thrilling and tense affair, which started wet and dried throughout. And which boiled down largely to a fine, exhilarating battle for the win between Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo. Typically, they were brave, fast and no quarter was given. But there were plenty of other worthy drives out there too.

I give my take on it all in my latest Motor Verso race review. You can read it here: http://www.motorverso.com/monaco-gp-2016-review/

Do check out the Motor Verso site too; you'll find motoring news, car reviews and features - the team on the site carry out week-long test drives of the latest cars - as well as photos and videos of the machines.

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Hamilton's Monaco GP Was A Gift

Lewis Hamilton finally won a Grand Prix after a long drought that lasted close to eight months. He was cheered on by his new friend Justin Bieber - musical collaboration, 'just good friends' or a full-blown bromance? Sorry Niki Lauda, Hamilton seems to have moved on quickly.

The one Bieber song that Red Bull Racing must dedicate to Daniel Ricciardo is 'Is It Too Late To Say Sorry' after the "screwed" pitstop which cost the Australian a race win. To top it off, Red Bull Racing came up with the most ridiculous justification for their error. Should Ricciardo move on or stay put and hope for the best? Is the 'Baby Webber' to the 'Baby Vettel'? And we're convinced that Max Verstappen's only possible weakness is the Monaco Grand Prix.

Did Red Bull Racing gift the race to Mercedes to settle their debt from Spain? If Pirelli's ultra softs can last 47 laps, does that mean that the hards would last two race distances? If so, that's longer than what the Honda engine lasts!

What the hell happened to Nico Rosberg, does he deserve to be World Champion after a drive like this? And a BIG cheer for Force India and Sergio Perez for their podium finish! We also tell you why Fernando Alonso should play football before every race, how Sauber are learning from the best, and why McLaren-Honda will finally win races in 2022. Tune in!

(Season 2016, Episode 18)

Monaco GP Report - Fortune favours the brave

It's a pity really you can't have two winners of a Grand Prix. Today's really would have merited one. In a wet-to-dry Monaco Grand Prix, forbidding barriers nearby as ever, the sport's two best wet weather drivers (probably) disappeared into a race of their own. One thought of Jacky Ickx, Pedro Rodriguez, Zandvoort...

There could only be one victor, and it was Lewis Hamilton
Photo: Octane Photography

But just as was the case in the Netherlands dunes 45 years ago, in F1 there can only be one winner - no sharing; no honourable draws. And it was Lewis Hamilton that claimed the prestigious in-more-ways-than-one victory. The at least as impressive Daniel Ricciardo was the one this time to miss out.

Lewis had luck, though you could argue that given how his season has gone so far he was due some. He was also bold, particularly in almost uniquely choosing to skip a stop and go straight to the slicks from the full wet that everyone started on in the streaming conditions, in order to get track position on pole man and pace-setter Ricciardo. He also was bold in his driving, not to mention quick. Perhaps fortune favoured the brave today.

Not that's much compensation to Ricciardo, nor is it any slight on his own fortitude today, which also was considerable. As while there was no travesty in Lewis winning this one there was in Ricciardo losing it. From the off the Australian simply left everyone to be a spec in his rear-view while Lewis was bottled up by his team mate Nico Rosberg. Eventually after some synchronised swimming on lap 16 Lewis was allowed by and made a race of it, though by this time after just eight laps of green flag racing Ricciardo was 14 seconds up the road.

Talking about F1's Graham Keilloh talks Monaco Qualifying on Radio Woking

You may be aware that I'm a regular guest on Radio Woking on its Saturday afternoon sports show, where I chat about the latest F1 goings-on with their presenter Declan McCarthy.

I was on the show today after Monaco's qualifying, talking about the amazing quali hour, what we can expect in the race, as well as a few other recent F1 matters.

You can have a listen to all 15 minutes of our chat via the player below:

Monaco Qualifying - A place for stars...

In a place known for attracting stars, today was one for possibly F1's very brightest. Daniel Ricciardo's sheer sparkle in and out of the car is not to be denied and today he made good on the former at least in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. That most important pole of all, for more reasons than one, is his. And is his in stupendous style.

The bright star of Daniel Ricciardo took his first ever F1 pole
Photo: Octane Photography

"My time" concluded the triumphant Australian on his cool down lap. Not only was that apt but was another thing that could have more than one simultaneous interpretation.

Given everything you had to remind yourself it was in fact his first ever pole in F1. "It's been my time for a little while" Ricciardo added picking up the theme later, "and here it's the most rewarding place as you know, sure we've got a great car and the upgrade has helped us this weekend with the power unit, but there's that bigger percentage of driver difference here than at any other place on the calendar, so that's a nice little one". All was said with his habitual broadest of smiles of course.

But his lap time too, from his first effort in the vital final part of qualifying, sent reverberations up and down the pit lane - a 1m 13.622 mark that at the time Nico Rosberg could only get to around three tenths of and Sebastian Vettel barely within a second. Ricciardo promised in advance he would be "ragging it" in Monaco. I'm uncool and therefore not sure what that means, but from watching his astonishing and danger defying commitment through the final turns of that crucial lap he may have provided a clue. It certainly was on the ragged edge. "Just dynamite" was how his boss Christian Horner summed it up.

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Le Mans Says No To Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg claimed that they 'cleared the air' over their collision at the 2016 Spanish GP. But we're in Formula 1 - we don't clear the air, we dirty it! In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, Mithila and Kunal give you a sneak peek into the conversation between the two not-so-bitter title rivals.

Le Mans has rejected Formula 1 - by saying NO to the FIA's proposal to race at the legendary Le Mans circuit. What hurts more is that MotoGP already races there! Hamilton is keen to race in MotoGP too, presumably to take some more selfies.

We give you our predictions for our favourite race of the year, in Monaco. Can Max Verstappen pull off another victory? Hamilton has not won in Monaco since 2008. In fact, he's never won here with Mercedes. Maybe he needs to focus on his opening lap strategy and quit pretending to be James Bond!

There's also chatter about Formula 1 drivers racing in the Indy Car series one day. While Perez is open, Hamilton has declined interest. But we wonder if that's possible and if it is fair, after all, the Indy Car series is all-American.

Finally, we tell you why Rosberg moving to Ferrari is only a rumour (he's not good enough!) and how the rumours of Hamilton missing the Monaco GP came about (he wanted to party on Saturday night). Will the new Red Bull Racing engine update propel the team to the podium? McLaren claims it will dethrone Mercedes, does that mean they will have Alonso and Button crash into each other? Oh yes, we also tell you why they have 'Sensodyne' as their sponsor.

Tune in!

(Season 2016, Episode 17)

Monaco Preview: A nice change...

Once upon a time, Formula One fan and more general wit Clive James noted with his typical dryness that "it is said these days with increasing frequency that Monaco makes a nice change from Grand Prix racing". And with but the latest visit now upon us, it's hard to argue with his sentiments.

Despite everything, there's something about Monaco
Photo: Octane Photography

Really, what is it with the place and its 'jewel in the crown' status in F1? There are so many reasons to dislike Grands Prix around the Principality. If you're to be critical the Monaco round is an anachronism. If you're to be very critical, it's an absurdity. To adapt the saying, if the Monaco Grand Prix didn't exist then there is no way you could invent it.

A narrow and bumpy, as well as tortuously sinewy, tunnel of barriers. Famously Nelson Piquet described its challenge as like trying to ride a bicycle around your living room. The cars never are allowed close to their full potential and that has been the way for decades. No-one can pass here, and that's been the case ever since the insertion of the 'swimming pool section' (apparently to give more room for grandstands...) in 1973. As has been the case for just about all of this time qualifying will do a lot to frame the race result.

New Grand Prix Times article: Young guns and Bull runs - why the future is bright both for Verstappen and Red Bull

You'll have read plenty of eulogies about Max Verstappen, what with his debut win at the Spanish Grand Prix. You'll probably have heard that he's 18 too.

Photo: Octane Photography

The future indeed looks bright for him, and in my latest article for Grand Prix Times I explore what it is that makes him very good - in many ways unlike what we've seen before - and what might lay ahead for him.

I also look at the team he's just committed to until 2019, Red Bull. The team hadn't died, instead it seems they went to sleep for a while. Or rather, had been hamstrung by a poor Renault engine for the most part. Post Newey, Vettel et al it's somehow maintained its motivation and its performance. Remarkable, all in.

You can have a read here: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/id/12066

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Max Verstappen, Talent Of The Century

Lewis Hamilton must be pissed with Niki Lauda for two reasons - first, Lauda blamed Hamilton for the Mercedes collision and second, Lauda called Max Verstappen the 'talent of the century.' Well, for that compliment, even Sebastian Vettel must be pissed!

Max Verstappen's maiden race victory on his Red Bull Racing debut gives us plenty to cheer about. We heard the Dutch national anthem on the Formula 1 podium for the first time ever and it seems fans should get used to hearing this anthem very often.

The 'Civil War' that broke out on track between the Mercedes drivers - who was to blame? We give you our view, but we wonder if the Lauda-Hamilton bromance has actually come to a premature end.

Did Red Bull Racing favour a Verstappen win over Ricciardo? For a brand built on 'shock marketing', a Verstappen win would and was perfect PR for their 'Gives You Wings' tagline. Horner has labelled Verstappen as the 'future' of Red Bull Racing - will they now chase the Formula 1's 'Youngest World Champion' record? And where does this leave Ricciardo?

We find amusement in Alonso's lack of power (yes, it's still funny), Kimi racing against both generations of Verstappens and Vettel's cranky rants. Also, is Red Bull Racing Ferrari's Young Drivers' Program?

Tune in!

(Season 2016, Episode 16)

What F1 can learn from Formula E

"We don't want comparisons", said the Formula E series CEO Alejandro Agag recently of those that might be made between his own category and its formidable old motorsport relative of F1.

And he has good reasons to think that way. Comparisons between motorsport forms aren't always helpful, at the very least they need to be applied with caution. Different categories have their different place in the landscape, and something that works for one may not be sensibly transported into another.

F1 has some things to learn from Formula E
By Avda - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40410786

Take BTCC for example. It's popular and exciting, but much of its excitement is linked to rather interventionist measures like success ballast and often rather Destruction Derby-type racing. Whatever F1's problems few think it should be doing something similar, it's simply not in its DNA. Even at the other end of the scale for all of WEC's success and growth importing things wholesale into F1 wouldn't necessarily be helpful, as was explained in this excellent article by Edd Straw.

In other words, all motorsport forms have a right to exist in their own terms, at least to some extent. But it doesn't stop us trying to make comparisons, particularly with F1 which all psychological roads in motorsport seem to lead to.

As these Formula E highlights show there has been plenty of drama and associated stories in FE's almost-two seasons of existence. The on-track racing has been good, and this campaign shed a lot of the amateur hour and repeated crashing that some accused it of in its opening season in 2014-15. Its driver line-up is a strong one also, aided by F1's tendency to discard or even not let in in the first place rather worthy pilots. Yes I'm looking at you Helmut (though Dr Marko in fairness is far from the only one).

Spanish Grand Prix review for Motor Verso - Crash and Burn

It started with a crash - that long anticipated but somehow not quite comprehensible in reality prang of the imperious Mercedes taking each other out. Then it ended with the astonishing young talent Max Verstappen burning the rest.

Photo: Octane Photography

The oft-cited hypothetical of what would races be like without the Mercs was therefore played out in the Spanish Grand Prix. And it played out as Red Bull vs. Ferrari, and by the looks of things Daniel Ricciardo vs. Sebastian Vettel. Being Barcelona the battle was strategic rather than wheel-to-wheel.

But it took another twist for Max to triumph, as the fall back strategies given the the 'second' Red Bull and Ferrari just in case turned out to be the best one, Max's astonishing assurance did the rest as he held off a challenge from Kimi Raikkonen for several laps to still be out front by the end. It truly was a day for the other guy.

I give my take on it all in my latest Motor Verso race review. You can read it here:
http://www.motorverso.com/spanish-gp-2016-review-crash-burn/

Do check out the Motor Verso site too; you'll find motoring news, car reviews and features - the team on the site carry out week-long test drives of the latest cars - as well as photos and videos of the machines.

Spanish GP Report - F1 to the Max

We never learn, do we? We - and I include myself in this - love to look at the numbers and everything else then conclude anew that we can predict with confidence what lays ahead in F1. Often we can in fairness, yet sometimes, just sometimes, we can't. As in this game things can happen. Every so often they are big things. And the Spanish Grand Prix of 2016 will be long remembered as the scene of more than one of those big things occurring on the same afternoon.

Max Verstappen was a highly unlikely victor
Photo: Octane Photography

Unlike in many sports, in F1 whatever your wares your day can be ended at a stroke, and it can have nothing to do with the one who ends up taking advantage to triumph. The two Mercedes team mates who were expected to run and hide in Barcelona did for each other after just a few corners, in that way we'd often speculated about but just like the content of some wacky dream we couldn't quite comprehend it happening for real.

And were that not enough for startling stories, after some adventures along the way we got our youngest winner in the sport's history in their stead. A man still a teenager. A man who wasn't even driving for his current team in the previous round. The first Grand Prix triumph for a truly astonishing young racer, who keeps on facing down without a flinch every latest and greater challenge before him in his progression. Yes you may have worked out that I'm talking about Max Verstappen. With today's win you could hardly see a minor ripple in his apparently inexorable upward trajectory.

Barcelona Qualifying - Delivering on time

Some 43 points off his team mate at the championship table top, in a season in which nothing it seemed would go his way. And some 87% of F1 races at this circuit this millennium have been won from pole position. Make no mistake about it, Lewis Hamilton simply had to deliver in this one. And he did.

Lewis Hamilton delivered when it mattered
Photo: Octane Photography

And he did it when for the most of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend before it the outcome appeared far from likely; like things would not go for him once again. Lewis's Mercedes had looked evil on track for most of the time in Montmelo and with it a deficit of a couple of tenths or more per lap to stable mate Nico Rosberg lingered persistently. Complicating matters further the Ferraris were right there too it seemed, with one post-Friday analysis declaring the Scuderia challenge as "the closest it's been [to Merc] since testing".

Not much changed outwardly at the start of qualifying either, and it looked like Lewis's only hope was something akin to what he did in Bahrain's qualifying earlier in the year, which was simply to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the last. But Lewis did find something, and something a bit more tangible than he had scavenged at Sakhir.

Evolution of F1 Video Games by Select Car Leasing

The Evolution Of F1 Video Games by SELECT CAR LEASING.
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Inside Line F1 Podcast - Can Max Verstappen Score A Podium On His Red Bull Racing Debut?

Max Verstappen drives his first race for Red Bull Racing and Mithila and Kunal couldn't be more excited. Can Max manage a podium on his debut? And can we get a little optimistic and hope for a race win (after all, the statistics are in his favour!).

After his Pastor Maldonado-like movie in Russia, can Danii Kvyat pull off a 'Maldonado' again in Spain? That would mean winning the race - because Maldonado was a race winner here in 2012! What sweet revenge that would be.

Of course, Verstappen faces a host of challenges on his debut - but his biggest test is when he & Kvyat face the media together on Thursday. Certainly the FIA has a sense of humour!

If Renault had a sense of humour, maybe they would give Kevin Magnussen one of their new Renault trucks instead of a regular road car.

McLaren is doing their bit of social service for Formula One - they've an exclusive agreement with Honda, so thank God none else suffers with a Honda engine like them!

Carlos Sainz is patiently waiting for his turn for a promotion to Red Bull Racing (what else can he do?). It's likely that Sainz's shot at a promotion will come only when Ricciardo or Verstappen move to Ferrari. Where would that leave Kimi Raikkonen? Perhaps he is well suited to act as Formula 1's relationship manager with Vladamir Putin (in vodka we trust).

Lewis Hamilton has been racing against young karting drivers at the Barbados Festival of Speed - is he gearing up to take on a young Verstappen?

And finally, we tell you why MotoGP is cooler than Formula 1. But no, we're not going to start the Inside Line MotoGP Podcast!

Tune in!

Barcelona Preview: No alarms and no surprises

Some Grand Prix host countries, such as Italy, hardly have changed their venue throughout F1's extended history. Others, such as France and the USA, have had several come and go. And the Spanish Grand Prix belongs firmly in the latter camp.

The Montmelo track near Barcelona finally ended
the race's nomadic existence
Photo: Octane Photography

It's right up there in the hit-and-miss stakes. Six different circuits in Spain have hosted its Grand Prix - and you can add a seventh if you include Valencia which run under the 'European Grand Prix' moniker in fairly recent years. Moreover, again like France and the USA, for extended spells the country dropped off the calendar altogether.

In its nomadic existence first we had the attractive Pedralbes track, run through wide open avenues in Barcelona's suburbs, popping up twice in total in the 1950s before the Le Mans disaster and its safety fallout did for it. A couple of decades on there also, briefly, was the undulating, challenging and scenic Barcelona street track at Montjuic, but with its magic it also was fated and its safety arrangements were pitilessly, tragically, revealed as sub-standard in the final 1975 visit. Jarama near Madrid and Jerez in the south of the country came and went in a sporadic fashion too; both suffered from rather torturous layouts and often poor crowds.

New Grand Prix Times article: Red Bull - ruthless but right

Photo: Octane Photography

But a single race after a fine drive to the podium, as punishment apparently but for two clumsy crashes early in the Russian race, the famously ruthless Red Bull programme strikes again. Daniil Kvyat is out with immediate effect, demoted to the Toro Rosso B team but that part is presumably a stay of execution only. While the young prodigy Max Verstappen as a swap is in the plumb A team drive in Kvyat's stead.

Some have sympathised with Kvyat. Some have said the team's got it plain wrong in its decision. But as I argue in my latest Grand Prix Times article, there's more to this than is being let on. And ultimately it's hard to argue with Red Bull's logic in doing what it's doing.

You can have a read here: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/id/11964

Talking about F1's Graham Keilloh talks Red Bull and Mercedes on Radio Woking

You may be aware that I'm a regular guest on Radio Woking on its Saturday afternoon sports show, where I chat about the latest F1 goings-on with their presenter Declan McCarthy.

And I was on the show today, talking mainly about the big news of recent days that Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat - following the latter's prangs early in the Russia race - have been swapped by famously ruthless Red Bull with immediate effect. And we also talked about the season so far more generally and in particular the disparity of luck between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, as well as explored the talk of Mercedes conspiracies...

You can have a listen to our chat via the player below:

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Red Bull-sh*t

Red Bull Racing did post-Russia what everyone imagined they would do towards the end of the 2016 Formula 1 Season. They gave wings to Max Verstappen's Formula 1 career while clipping Daniil Kvyat's. The former World Champion team's decision evoked applause from most quarters and shock from a few. Would they have taken a similar decision had Kvyat rammed into a 'less important' driver? What if Verstappen would've committed a similar error?

While we hint of 'favouritism' in Formula 1 (well, it's human nature!), we also point out Bernie Ecclestone and Mercedes's favouritism towards Lewis Hamilton.

We reveal Nico Rosberg's ONLY issue in the recently concluded Russian Grand Prix and how Fernando Alonso is now playing 'sales agent' for the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix organisers.

Lastly, we tell you how the 'right to engine' clause will still unsettle the new regulations Formula 1 announced for 2017-2020.

Tune in!

(Season 2016, Episode 14)

Russian Grand Prix review for Motor Verso - It couldn't happen, but it did...

Really, what are the chances?

Photo: Octane Photography

We know what to associate with F1 in 2016 so far. Everything, somehow, going Nico Rosberg's way. His presumptive closest challengers all having something impede them, often early in proceedings.

And surely this one, round four in Russia, would be the scene of the return to normality? Perhaps even the start of the regression to the mean? Nope. In an extraordinary case of repetition we got loosely the same again in Sochi. The upshot is Nico now has four from four and the rest have a mountain to climb.

I give my take on it all in my latest Motor Verso race review. You can read it here:
http://www.motorverso.com/russian-gp-2016-review/

Do check out the Motor Verso site too; you'll find motoring news, car reviews and features - the team on the site carry out week-long test drives of the latest cars - as well as photos and videos of the machines.

Russian GP Report: Everything's coming up Rosberg - again

That thing we all said couldn't happen, did happen. We couldn't have another weekend in which everything would fall for Nico Rosberg, giving him an open goal in which to drive the ball home with aplomb for victory. But that's what we got. Again. Four wins from four this campaign are his.

Once again it was Nico Rosberg smiling after this one
Photo: Octane Photography

In the Russian Grand Prix today luck didn't turn; things didn't begin to regress to the mean. Yet it would be harsh in the extreme to say that has been the entire story. Yes Nico by his own admission has had the fortune so far in 2016, but that's hardly his fault, plus there is little to say that whatever the distribution of chance thus far Nico is at anything other than the top of his form right now. Fast, flawless, nailing things when it matters, that all continued in the Sochi weekend too. And perhaps to bring emphasis to that it's not all a matter of Goddess Fortune smiling his way, Rosberg set a fine fastest lap of more than a second under the track record on his penultimate tour, long after the important matter of 25 points was framed as coming his way. Now he has a seven up of consecutive wins - only the fourth in history to do so - and probably more important a ton up in points already.

Some four rounds in we still await our straightforward weekend where we get our close fight and measure of the lay of the competitive land between not only the two Mercedes but also between the Mercedes and the Ferrari. In these regards we're not much further forward than where we were in pre-season testing. Yet in the meantime Nico is making all of the hay he can as the sun shines upon him, and going a long way to building a title with it.