Ferrari spices up season
HAT-TRICK: TEAM FROM MARANELLO HAS TAKEN THE LAST THREE CHEQUERED FLAGS IN A ROW
Magnussen and Grosjean to stay with Haas, Williams offloads Kubica.
The team from Maranello certainly has done its homework with wins for Charles Leclerc in Spa and Monza plus last Sunday’s first victory for Sebastian Vettel since Belgium in 2018.
Team Principal Mattia Binotto smiled from ear to ear after the Ferrari one-two at the Singapore Grand Prix – the first time any team has achieved this.
Binotto appeared to have placated Leclerc, who was not enamored with the team’s strategy switch resulting in his team-mate’s victory.
The 49-year-old Swiss-born engineer’s calm approach to previous setbacks is producing a revitalised team and one must hope this continues for an exciting second half of the 2019 season.
Typically the Singapore event tended to be somewhat processional as drivers attempt to limit tyre degradation, increasing the possibility of making just one pit stop.
The almost guaranteed Safety Car is very much a part of team tactics at the Marina Bay circuit – as we saw in last Sunday’s race. Nothing to have you on the edge of your seat, but different teams fighting for position at the sharp end of the field might encourage many to follow the sport once again.
Probably the biggest news stories for the week were the Haas F1 announcement that they would be retaining the services of Dane Kevin Magnussen and Frenchman Romain Grosjean for 2020.
Grosjean was a shock for many as it was rumoured his seat would be filled by Nico Hulkenberg when he leaves Renault at the end of the season. Grosjean has not exactly covered himself in glory in his F1 career.
If he is not complaining about the brakes or being hit by opposition cars, he has earned a reputation for being overly aggressive in overtaking manoeuvres, frequently ending his and other drivers’ race. Just ask Kimi Raikkonen.
The other news concerned Robert Kubica who will be leaving Williams at the end of 2019.
It is suggested that the Pole will join a DTM team for next season. Before some mutter that he should never have got the F1 seat in the first place, take a look at the car.
Despite Mercedes power the last two positions of any result sheet are almost exclusively Williams’s property.
Kubica’s input in the development of the car has been impressive but it would appear that the FW42 is one of those designs that just does not work.
An amazing driver with a career interrupted by that horrific rally crash but who never gave up and came back to F1, Kubica is a driver whose ability and courage will always be remembered.
I note that yet another idea to spice up the sport is not creating positive waves with everyone.
Once again qualifying is under the microscope.
This time the F1 chiefs are considering a qualifying race with the grid reversed and it is proposed to do this for three races next year.
This will require a totally unanimous vote to be implemented and some drivers have already voiced their displeasure.
Current champion Lewis Hamilton is reported as saying: “The people proposing that do not know what they are talking about.”
Vettel is equally vocal: “I do not know which genius came up with this, but it’s not the solution. It is completely wrong and complete bulls**t.”
This weekend the teams will be at the Sochi Autodrom for the Russian leg of the 2019 championship and it might just demonstrate how sustainable the Ferrari challenge really is.
First held in 2014, the race has been a total Mercedes benefit run, the team having won every single race – three wins for Hamilton, plus one apiece for Valtteri Bottas and Nico Rosberg.
The Brackley-based team has also taken pole for four of the five races, Vettel’s Ferrari taking the prime spot in 2017.
Not everyone’s favourite circuit but it could be a very interesting one this weekend, with the battle for supremacy coming alive. I hope for a race worth remembering.