FORMULA 1
Action from Azerbaijan, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary and Germany
MMANY F1 GRAND PRIX have been described as being unforgettable, whether it is for positive or negative reasons, but I can truly say that the 2016 European Grand Prix in Baku (Azerbaijan) was utterly and totally forgettable. It was touted as being Formula 1’s equivalent of the Macau Grand Prix, and in a way, the track was quite Macau-esque. It has a really long straight (the longest on the F1 calendar by far) with some really challenging narrow and twisty bits. The difference is that Macau always seems to produce exciting races, whereas this one was a complete snore-fest. As I sit to write this article, a mere 4 days after the race, I need to watch it again, just to remind myself of what happened on track last Sunday in Baku.
The race started with plenty of expectation of being an exciting one. The GP2 races on Saturday and Sunday morning had been absolute crackers so expectations were high. The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon had produced a bit of excitement as Lewis Hamilton hit the unforgiving walls and would start only 10th, with a lot of overtaking ahead of him. However, once the five red lights went out, pole-sitter Rosberg got a perfect start, and led in to the first corner, a lead he would hold on to, all the way through the race, until the last corner and the chequered flag. He scored only the second grand slam weekend of his career: pole position, led every lap, chalked up the fastest race lap, and won the race. Sebastian Vettel had a similarly lonely race to finish 2nd, but the star of the race was definitely Sergio Perez who qualified gloriously on the front row, but was bumped down to 7th on the start grid, courtesy a gearbox change after a shunt in the practice session. He put in a storming drive and finished a strong 3rd with Kimi Räikkönen breathing down his neck in 4th place and Lewis Hamilton rounding off the top five, almost a whole minute behind his teammate Rosberg.
I really think it’s time that a top team looks at Sergio Perez again. He had an incredibly tough single season with McLaren, when they had a really rotten car, and he was never really able to show his true worth. Force India have had only five podium finishes in their eight years of existence, and four of those are thanks to Perez. That says a lot for the man, in my book at least.
Hamilton had a difficult race. It started off well, as he climbed up to 5th place, but then his energy recovery system started to act up, losing him 2 seconds a lap. A switch on the steering wheel was in the wrong position, and because of the typical kneejerk reaction rule-making that is de-rigueur in F1, his team were unable to advise him on the radio as to what setting changes were necessary to make the problem go away. After probably a lot of guesswork, Hamilton found the correct setting on lap 43, but by then it was too late to catch up with the leaders, and he turned his engine down to save it from more wear & tear. He’s already used up almost his entire quota of engines for the season, so was just being judicious, rather than going for it all guns blazing.
And this is where I think the rulemakers, and other so-called luminaries have failed the F1 fans. We want to see drivers go hell-for-leather for a win, rather than drive each lap to a specific target time prescribed by their engineers, to save the tyres, or the engine (sorry, power unit), or the gearbox. F1 cars these days are just too complex, and this complexity is ruining the racing. There are too many ‘systems’. It’s not just a car anymore.
Up next is the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring and I really hope that it’s going to be a race to restore my faith in the sport I love so much. Maybe the abundance of Red Bull in Austria will give the sport some ‘wings’.