Google+

Monday, September 19, 2016

What The Night Can Do: Rosberg Retakes Championship Lead With Singapore GP Win

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

Providing an stunning atmosphere for witnessing 22 high-powered, hybrid open wheel machines, the Singapore Grand Prix's Marina Bay Street Circuit has quickly emerged as a standout event on the Formula 1 calendar. Ever since the first running of a Formula 1 grand prix at the street race, the race is known as unforgiving to the point that mistakes can prove costly to both a driver's own run or to other drivers based on the close quarters created by the track configuration.

Last year, the Singapore Grand Prix served as a massive abnormally in the season. Sebastian Vettel won the race for Ferrari while the two Mercedes AMG team cars astonished by missing out on scoring a podium position. After a surreal 2015 outing for Mercedes AMG, the race team returns one year later as teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are engaged in an ongoing title fight unlike any seen in recent previous years. Opening domination by Rosberg was countered by Hamilton over the late spring and early summer overtook his teammate ahead of the summer break. When the series returned to action in late August, Nico Rosberg returned to early season by two claiming victories at the Belgian Grand Prix and Italian Grand Prix. With recent wins, Nico Rosberg recovered to be within 2 points of his fellow Mercedes AMG teammate and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton. In qualifying Rosberg carried on his recent momentum by taking pole starting alongside the Red Bull-TAG Heuer car of Daniel Ricciardo.  

Before the race started, the first casualty of the 2016 event would be left in the garage as the remainder of the grid assembled. The Haas F1 Team car of Romain Grosjean developed a brake-by-wire issue that put a cap on a nightmarish outing in Singapore for the French driver. Grosjean encountered problems on Friday and Saturday that also kept the Haas F1 Team crew busy maintaining the race car. "I love the race here in Singapore and I love the challenge, but this weekend was just not ours.” said Romain Grosjean in post-race.

A tradition with the previous eight Singapore Grand Prix events has been the appearance of the safety car at some point in the 61 laps. For the ninth event, the perfect record of safety car arrivals was protected after an early altercation on lap 1. A collision involving Carlos Sainz Jr's Toro Rosso-Ferrari impacting the left rear of the Force India-Mercedes of Nico Hulkenberg resulted with the latter mentioned contender impacting the track wall. While Hulkenberg's car suffered race-ending damage, Sainz Jr continued and would finish outside of the points in 14th place.

FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER PIRELLI MEDIA


The factor that played the most pivotal role in deciding the 2016 Singapore Grand Prix was the use of Pirelli tires. The field almost evenly split the execution of two-stop and three-stop strategies with Nico Rosberg being the most notable to only pit twice. Last pitting on lap 33, the lead Mercedes AMG appeared to be in a position to regret this tire plan late. Daniel Ricciardo's three-stop strategy involved pitting at the final time for supersoft tires on lap 47. Despite the extra pit stop, Ricciardo's Red Bull-TAG Heuer car's on-track pace provided some suspense in the closing laps. At one time up to 27 seconds behind Rosberg, the Red Bull Racing machine piloted by the Australian driver made up considerable ground per lap. On the final lap, Nico Rosberg faced the lurking threat of Daniel Ricciardo but was just able to cross the line first maintaining just effort of a gap after 63 laps.

With a narrow advantage of 0.488 seconds over the charging Red Bull Racing challenge, Nico Rosberg rolled to the Singapore Grand Prix victory serving as the German driver's 8th victory for the 2016 season. The win for Rosberg also secures another major first place returning to the top of the season's drivers' standings. With Lewis Hamilton taking a quiet third place in Singapore, the 10-point lead by Nico Rosberg translates to a lead of 8 points heading to Malaysia.

Once-again, Daniel Ricciardo settles for second place this year at a low-speed street course. Following disappointment in Monaco after starting on pole position, the Singapore race was more of a hard, earnest effort. "I don't really leave here with any regrets." said Ricciardo in a post-race discussion. Totaling four runner-up finishes in 2016, the Red Bull Racing driver has taken sole ownership of the record for second-place results so-far this season.


Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

A two-time winner at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Lewis Hamilton finished a little over eight seconds behind his teammate. Though losing the points lead in the Formula 1 Drivers' Championship, the race did extend a streak of podium results to seven races for Hamilton.

Ferrari arrived at the 2016 Singapore Grand Prix with optimism after winning the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in 2015. Splitting a two-stop and three-stop tire plan, the additional pit stop allowed Kimi Raikkonen to finished one position ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel.

For one of the McLaren Honda drivers, the first leg of this recent Asian tour shows a great improvement for the second year of the team and engine partnership. After both cars failed to finish the 2015 event due to transmission issues, McLaren Honda collected a 7th place result thanks to inaugural 2008 and 2010 Singapore Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso. Jenson Button was unable to complete his final race on the Marina Bay Street Circuit after minor early race contact on lap 1 eventually led to a brake issue.

Climbing 9 positions from his starting spot, Sergio Perez with the sole remaining Force India race car rose to 8th place. Perez is just 4 points short of 7th place in the overall drivers' championship behind Williams Martini Racing's Valtteri Bottas (both Williams-Mercedes race cars failed to score any points in Singapore).

Finishing for positions behind teammate Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen put the second Red Bull-TAG Heuer race car (two positions higher than his rookie run last year at the track with Toro Rosso. Verstappen was the end driver to finish in the top-10 to operate on a three pit stop strategy. For the Russian driver, the 9th place finish was the first time he recorded a top-10 spot since the British Grand and only the third time since being transferred to the Scuderia Toro Rosso squad. Grabbing the final spot in the top-10, Kevin Magnussen driving for Renault finished for only the second time in the points for a grand prix this season.

With six rounds remaining, the 2016 Formula 1 tour next prepares to run at the Sepand International Circuit for the Malaysian Grand Prix set for October 2nd.


2016 Formula 1
Singapore Grand Prix
Race Results


1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG Mercedes-Benz
2 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG Heuer
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG Mercedes-Benz
4 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari
5 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari
6 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG Heuer
7 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda
8 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes-Benz
9 26 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari
10 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault Renault
11 9 Esteban Gutierrez Haas F1 Team Ferrari
12 19 Felipe Massa Williams F1 Mercedes-Benz
13 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari
14 55 Carlos Sainz Jr Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari
15 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault Renault
16 28 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes-Benz
17 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari
18 31 Esteban Ocon Manor Mercedes-Benz
19 22 Jenson Button McLaren Honda
20 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams F1 Mercedes-Benz
21 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes-Benz
22 8 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team Ferrari

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

A Meaningful Beginning: Rosberg Wins At Monza Following Hamilton's Troubled Start

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

The second half of the 2016 Formula 1 season is well underway as Monza, Italy hosted the 14th race for world tour of open wheel racing's most powerful vehicles. Racing one week after Formula 1 competitors competed in Belgium completing a nearly month-long break for the summertime, the Italian Grand Prix serves as the final European round for the year. Autodromo Nazionale di Monza guaranteed a high-speed finale on the continent consisting of 11 turns and a 5.793-kilometer circuit length.



Photo Credit: FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER PIRELLI MEDIA

What was not promised was whether which one of the Mercedes AMG teammates could prevail in the 22-car field. In qualifying, defending event winner of the previous two years Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole at Monza by a convincing margin over Nico Rosberg. Embroiled in a championship fight with one another, the Mercedes AMG teammates have traded the championship point lead early this summer. Following Rosberg's barn-burning start to the 2016 Formula 1 season, Hamilton re-entered his true form at Monaco. The British driver eventually leapfrog his German corporate rival holding a 19-point lead on Rosberg into the mid-season break. Through past seasons, many analysts of Formula 1 would hand an advantage to Lewis Hamilton based on his instant success reflected by a championship earned in only his second full season. This year appears to be a different scenario as Nico Rosberg has been showing himself to be more resilient and a formidable match to Hamilton.

Lined up for the 2016 Italian Grand Prix, the two Mercedes AMG race cars stood at the front of the grid. As Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were positioned side-by-side, the light signals summoning the official start of the 53-lap race flicked off. It was through that initial stage at Monza where one Mercedes AMG car would rise and the other would fall almost instantly as Hamilton launched slowly. By the end of the first corner, the pole sitter of the Italian Grand Prix had fallen from 1st to 6th place as the pair of Ferraris as well as the Williams-Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo found a way by the #44 Mercedes AMG race car. In contrast, Nico Rosberg engaged in a fine start taking a strong lead into the first lap.


Photo Credit: FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER PIRELLI MEDIA

While the race in Italy would not have the same magnitude of collisions as what was experience last week at Spa-Francorchamps, some coming-togethers were part of the 53 circuits. Deep in the field for the first lap, Felipe Nasr's Sauber and the Renault race car of Jolyon Palmer made contact through the Variante Ascari complex of the Monza course. Fighting for 18th place at the time, Nasr's rear tire touched the front tire of Palmer's car resulting in secondary contact damaging the Renault's front wing and the tire of the Sauber. Neither drivers was able to complete the Italian Grand Prix becoming of just four competitors who didn't make it to the finish (joined later by mechanical failures on the vehicles of Daniil Kvyat and Pascal Wehrlein).

While Nico Rosberg lead the way for Mercedes AMG, Lewis Hamilton had to regain ground from the poor start. Hamilton quickly took fifth place and would later overtake Bottas' Williams-Mercedes but his rear-mounted Pirelli soft compound tires quickly wore out through his charge back to the front. Both Mercedes AMG race cars opted for a single pit stop plan and were the only vehicles that finished in the top-10 using the strategy. Since other competitors chose a two-stop tire plan, this led to a majority of runners pitting between lap 13 to 16. Following the opposing team's pit stops, Lewis Hamilton was promoted to second place in the running order.

After an eventful start, the Mercedes AMG team settled into a typical pace. Cruising to a second consecutive victory, Nico Rosberg took his seventh win of the season at Monza with a 15.070-second advantage over teammate Lewis Hamilton. Citing the race as a perfect outing for him, Rosberg stated in post-race team transcript, "It means so much for me to win here at Monza. The crowd were unbelievable over the entire weekend and especially during the podium ceremony. A momentum-building set of races for the German driver, he now closes to within 2 points of his Mercedes AMG teammate Hamilton in the current points standing. Settling for second, Lewis Hamilton had been the Italian Grand Prix winner during past two seasons.

A country containing perhaps the most energized and passionate devotion to Ferrari (understandable since the company operates in the nation), the final spot on the podium was a sentimental achievement. Scuderia Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel held onto a third place spot he earned in qualifying. Vettel was followed across the finish line by teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Still hunting for a first win for the 2016 Formula 1 season, a third and fourth place result for Ferrari did provide a worthwhile reason to celebrate. Mentioning engine upgrades to the Ferrari, Vettel was proud of the effort at Monza but acknowledges challenges as the organization has been working to break into the win column for 2016 saying, "This podium here, it’s not the Adriatic sea, it is the sea of tifosi.. We had a rough season, we had high expectations, we have put ourselves on high pressure, we have also done mistakes, but the most important thing is that we stay a team, that we stay together."


Photo Credit: Ferrari S.p.A.


the 5th and 6th place spots swapped positions from the starting lineup with Daniel Ricciardo taking fifth while Valtteri Bottas captured sixth. Max Verstappen had a quiet grand prix at Monza concluding 53 laps in seventh place with the second Red Bull-TAG Heuer machine.

Overall, the finishing results of the Italian Grand Prix maintained a remarkable amount of stability to the starting order. Positioned at a season-high starting spot with the Haas F1 Team, Estaban Gutierrez would be filtered out of the top-10 over the course of the 53 laps in Italy. Gutierrez would finish 13th placing two positions behind his teammate Romain Grosjean in a similarly prepared Ferrari-powered race car. With the Haas F1 Team out of the points, the second Williams Martini Racing car of Felipe Massa would enter the top-10. Taking 9th place, Massa joined fellow Williams-Mercedes pilot Bottas in the points. Scoring constructors' points with both cars, Williams Martini Racing has claimed at least one point in all but one grand prix in 2016 (the British Grand Prix in Silverstone was the only non-point scoring event for the team). Force India also enjoyed a third-straight double-point finish with drivers Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. Perez grabbed 8th place while Hulkenberg took the final available point in the Italian Grand Prix finishing order in 10th.

Although to McLaren Honda team were not able to crack the top-10 for the Italian Grand Prix, the mid-marker team does leave Autodromo Nazionale di Monza with a small, discrete victory. Fernando Alonso set the fastest lap of the race with a 1-minute, 25.340-second lap time achieved on a set of supersoft Pirelli tires. Two-time winner at the circuit in previous seasons, Alonso finished 14th in the Italian Grand Prix.

The last race on the 2016 Formula 1 schedule takes place in Singapore. On September 18th, the unique nighttime street race at the Marina Bay Circuit will provide an illuminating next round.


2016 Formula 1
Italian Grand Prix
Race Results


Pos # Car # Driver Team Engine

1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG Mercedes-Benz
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG Mercedes-Benz
3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari
4 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG Heuer
6 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams F1 Mercedes-Benz
7 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG Heuer
8 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes-Benz
9 19 Felipe Massa Williams F1 Mercedes-Benz
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes-Benz
11 8 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team Ferrari
12 22 Jenson Button McLaren Honda
13 9 Esteban Gutierrez Haas F1 Team Ferrari
14 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda
15 55 Carlos Sainz Jr Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari
16 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari
17 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault Renault
18 31 Esteban Ocon Manor Mercedes-Benz
19 28 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes-Benz
20 26 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari
21 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault Renault
22 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari


Sunday, September 4, 2016

Lewis Hamilton Is Primo In Italy With Monza Pole


Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG


The 2016 Formula 1 series presses into second race of two consecutive weekends at historic European race circuits as 22 drivers and cars prepare for this Sunday's Italian Grand Prix. Known for high speeds and low downforce, the current Autodromo Nazionale di Monza course is a 5.793-kilometer, 11-turn challenge tests race cars as well as the physical and mental endurance of drivers. Appearing uninterrupted as the host track for the Italian Grand Prix since 1981, the Monza track's continuous presence on the Formula 1 calendar is second only to the Monte Carlo road course hosting the Monaco Grand Prix.

Following last weekend's eventful grand prix in Belgium, all the drivers have returned to their cockpits including Renault's Kevin Magnussen. Another aspect of the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix was also a dominant outing for Nico Rosberg who drove his Mercedes AMG race car from the pole position to the win allowing the German to gain 10 points and pull within 9 points of current Formula 1 Drivers' points leader and teammate Lewis Hamilton. Ahead of the 53-lap main event at Monza, Hamilton has taken the first measure to alter the trend of the previous race by taking pole.

On a hot, Italian track where ambient temperatures exceeded 30 degrees Celsius, Lewis Hamilton reversed his luck of a last place starting spot in Belgium with the first-place position after Italian Grand Prix qualifying. With a 1-minute, 21.135-second top time in Q3, Hamilton his 56th career Formula 1 pole and tied Ayrton Senna for all-time poles by a single driver at Monza with a fifth successful effort. The Brit enters the Italian Grand Prix as the defending winner of the previous two events. Hamilton will be joined on the front row by his Mercedes AMG teammate and main 2016 rival Nico Rosberg. Clocking a lap 0.478 seconds slower than the #44 car of Hamilton, Rosberg's #6 out-powered a pair of Scuderia Ferrari race machines.

With this weekend's grand prix taking place in Ferrari's home country, pressure on the team is quite high. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen are both continuing to fight for the team its first victory in 2016. Vettel was just under a tenth of a second quicker than teammate Raikkonen for the preferential placement behind Lewis Hamilton on the second row. Due to a controversial three-wide mishap in the Belgian Grand Prix, both Ferraris as well as the Red Bull-TAG Heuer car of Max Verstappen weakened from possible podium contention. Ferrari will have some of the strongest of a brand loyal crowd cheering for the constructor destined to dwarf the Mercedes-Benz faithful.

Williams Martini Racing's Valtteri Bottas starts 5th in Italy placed well ahead of his teammate Felipe Massa in 11th. Prior to the Italian Grand Prix, Massa confirmed that this season will be his final Formula 1 effort. In sixth place, Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull Racing car was measured as only 0.001 seconds slower than than Bottas' Williams-Mercedes. Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull-TAG Heuer starts 7th at Monza after a week following the Belgian Grand Prix where the young driver faced criticism from current and former Formula 1 pilots. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg both cracked the top-10 in Italian Grand Prix qualifying behind Verstappen.

Monza is known as a place where surprises can occur. The 2008 victory of Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso-Ferrari in the Italian Grand Prix serves as a recent, potent example. Not as triumphant and disrupting as Vettel's first Formula 1 win, the Haas F1 Team enjoyed claim to a first-time accomplishment for the rookie organization in qualifying. Seventh fastest on the final Q2 charts, Esteban Gutierrez drove his Ferrari-powered Haas F1 Team machine into the Q3 round. Gutierrez would ultimately place at the bottom of the Q3 time trial order but still mounted a milestone effort.  

The 2016 Italian Grand Prix is scheduled for 2 PM local time (8 AM Eastern time).


2016 Formula 1
Italian Grand Prix
Starting Grid

Pos # Car # Driver Team Engine

1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG Mercedes-Benz
2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG Mercedes-Benz
3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari
4 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari
5 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams F1 Mercedes-Benz
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG Heuer
7 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG Heuer
8 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes-Benz
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes-Benz
10 9 Esteban Gutierrez Haas F1 Team Ferrari
11 19 Felipe Massa Williams F1 Mercedes-Benz
12 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda
13 28 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes-Benz
14 22 Jenson Button McLaren Honda
15 55 Carlos Sainz Jr Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari
16 26 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari
17 8 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team Ferrari
18 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari
19 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari
20 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault Renault
21 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault Renault
22 31 Esteban Ocon Manor Mercedes-Benz