Ayrton Senna's Lotus years, by Ibrar Malik

As we mark the upcoming 26th anniversary of Ayrton Senna's passing, most will undoubtedly dwell upon the more celebrated cornerstones of his extraordinary career. His obliteration of the opposition during qualifying at Monaco '88, or the race at Donington Park '93. His compelling personality which shone through during interviews. Or what might have been with Williams had he not tragically met his untimely death at the '94 San Marino Grand Prix. This blog aims to be slightly different, by briefly looking at Senna's formative years at Lotus.

Coming into 1985, the Norfolk-based team had not won a race since the sudden death of its charismatic founder, Colin Chapman, in December 1982. Lotus had endured a turbulent '83 season. But it bounced back superbly to become a regular frontrunner again during '84, enjoying its most successful season since 1978. The newly-released book, Team Lotus: Beyond the Colin Chapman Era, details precisely how the team achieved this. But by the end of '84, it seemed a key ingredient to elevate Lotus back to the winner's circle was missing. Enter, Ayrton Senna – Lotus's new signing for 1985. 

Senna was widely touted as a future world champion following his stellar performances within the unfancied Toleman during 1984

The Top 5 Favorites To Win The 2020 F1 World Championship

The 2020 F1 World Championship season is just around the corner. With the world’s top sports leagues slowly returning to action, Formula 1 recently confirmed that they will be opening their 2020 season next month, beginning with a double-header in Austria’s Red Bull Ring on July 5th.

Oddsmakers have put defending and six-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton as the odds on favorite to win the 2020 F1 World Championships. Aside from Hamilton, 19 other drivers are eyeing to become the next Formula One world champion.

According to this list of highly-rated F1 betting sites, the following five drivers are the favorites to win the 2020 Formula 1 Drivers Championship.

Lewis Hamilton

Leading the list of the top five favorites is Briton Hamilton. The 35-year-old has dominated the F1 scene during the current decade, winning five out of the last six F1 World Championships, including the last three. Hamilton has won 22 out of the last 40 Grand Prix races over the last two years and showed no signs of slowing down last season.

Hamilton set the record for most points earned in a season with 413 last year. He is just seven wins behind the legendary Schumacher's record of 91 career wins and one shy of the German's record seven F1 World Championships. With 11 race wins each in 2018 and 2019 plus world title in both seasons, Hamilton has both Schumacher records in sight in 2020.

During the preseason testing last February, Mercedes looked good as ever and ran many laps without major issues. With an innovative steering system, Mercedes’ cars are primed for success in 2020. With one of the greatest (if not the greatest ever) on the steering wheel, there is no question why Hamilton is the betting favorite to win a fourth consecutive F1 World Championship.

Max Verstappen

In 2015, Max Verstappen was the youngest driver to ever compete in an F1 race. Five years later, the now-22-year-old son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen continues to improve and is coming off a 2019 season where he won a career-high three races.

The Belgian Red Bull driver finished third in the 2020 F1 World Championship, his best finish ever. Aside from three Grand Prix wins, Verstappen also had two poles, three fastest laps, and nine podium finishes in 2019. Except for two races that he didn’t finish, Verstappen placed in the Top 10 in all other races last season.

Red Bull also looked good during preseason training and they trailed only Mercedes in lap runs during the first practice session. If Red Bull’s cars can be reliable and fast, Verstappen might be able to pick up more wins in 2020 and challenge Hamilton for the F1 World Championship.

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari’s highly touted rookie had an impressive debut season in 2019 where he became the youngest driver to win the Pole Trophy (with seven poles in 2019) and the first non-Mercedes driver to do so since 2014. The 22-year-old Monegasque also finished fourth in the 2019 F1 World Championship while winning two Grand Prix races last year.

Leclerc's win at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix was the first time in a decade that Ferrari won its home turf race and Leclerc's victory came one week after his first-ever F1 race win in Belgium. Although he only had three podium finishes in the six races after his win in Italy, Leclerc is seen as the future of Ferrari and F1 racing.

With Ferrari ace Sebastian Vettel set to leave the team at the end of the year, Leclerc should be the lead driver for Ferrari in 2020. And he will need to take charge from the front despite the presence of his more bemedaled teammate. Ferrari has not won since Kimi Raikkonen triumphed in 2007, and the pressure is on Leclerc to deliver what his predecessors could not.

Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas is Lewis Hamilton’s running mate at Mercedes. The 30-year-old Finnish driver is coming off his best season ever in Formula 1 after finishing second behind Hamilton in the 2019 F1 World Championship.

Bottas had a career-high four wins last season and he also had five poles, three fastest laps, and 15 podium finishes in 2019. He finished with a personal-best 326 points and was the only driver within striking distance of Hamilton throughout the year.

Bottas and Hamilton were a dominant pair last season as Mercedes won the first eight races of the 2019 F1 World Championship and 10 out of the first 12. The duo finished 1-2 in the first five races of the season and six out of the first eight overall as Mercedes ran away with the 2019 Constructors title. With Mercedes assuring the Finn that they aren’t going after Vettel at the end of the season, Bottas should be primed for a big year in 2020.

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel was supposed to be Lewis Hamilton’s chief rival last year, but the German driver faltered and had his worst full season ever. Vettel only won a single race in 2019, which is his lowest output since going winless in 2014. With Charles Leclerc emerging for Scuderia, Vettel is at a crossroads after announcing that he will leave the team at the end of the year.

The 32-year-old is a four-time world champion, having won the F1 World Championship in three consecutive seasons from 2010-2013 while driving for Red Bull. He had been Ferrari’s ace since coming over in 2015 but has not delivered the title that Ferrari has been longing for.

Vettel was outperformed by Leclerc last season, and his status as the team’s ace has been put in doubt. The German was in talks for a contract extension earlier this year, but the negotiations broke down and Vettel will be leaving Scuderia after the 2020 F1 World Championship season.

Monza 1994 - Team Lotus's Last Hurrah, by Ibrar Malik

One of the victims from a turbulent 1994 F1 season was Team Lotus, which finally succumbed to its financial struggles during the year. Like Brabham two years earlier, a once-great name would vanish from F1. Lotus was Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi as well as Ayrton Senna's first top team in F1. The upcoming 1983-'89 Lotus book (http://www.1994f1.com/lotusprintbook/) charts how Team Lotus went from being regular a frontrunner during the mid-1980s to a midfielder only a few years later.

After its release on May 1 2020, we then intend to write a follow-up print book covering the team's final years of 1990-'95. This follow-up book explains how Lotus then changed ownership at the end of '90 and went from merely surviving that winter to finishing an incredible fifth in the '92 constructors' championship. It seemed the former seven-time world champion team was on a clear upward trajectory having re-establishing itself as a regular point scorer. More good news came in the form of its leading driver, Johnny Herbert, re-signing within the team for another five years by the end of 1992. Unfortunately this revival under Peter Collins proved short lived because behind the scenes debts were still piling up. The team only survived two more seasons in F1 after '92.