Author: Drew

Romain Grosjean Will Be Looking For a Repeat of 2013 at Suzuka

Lotus driver Romain Grosjean

In the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean finished on the podium in third position.  This result was tied for his highest finish last year, and he’ll be looking to do it again come next Sunday.




Grosjean currently sits in 14th place in the championship standings, just 11 points behind Toto Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne.  A good result in Japan this weekend could see him inch even closer to the top ten with just five races left on the 2014 calendar.  If there was a good track for Grosjean to take a jump in the standings, it’s Suzuka.  

“Suzuka is probably my favorite track in the world and for many, many reasons.  But mainly I love it so much because the track is a massive challenge and also the spectators are so passionate about F1. There is not a single corner on the track that is not a big challenge.”

Qualifying has also been a point of success for the 28 year old Swiss driver, with 4th place starts the last two years.  

“It is the kind of track that you find time and improvements, however small, all of the time. It is a very special race track in this respect.”

Suzuka is one of the toughest tracks on the calendar in Formula 1, with it’s 18 turns and little run-off area, there is no room for driver error during the race.  

“There is no margin for error with very little run-off area and the track is quite narrow, especially at the top of the hill. I love it. Every meter of the Suzuka track is special and every meter a challenge.”

Grosjean also commented on just how hard is is to overtake at Suzuka, saying “There are a few good areas [for overtaking] like the first corner, but only if you get a good exit from the last chicane.“

“But probably the best one is in to the chicane itself, after the long back straight and 130R. If you get a tow here you can get inside under braking.”

“There is also a small chance at the hairpin and maybe in to Spoon Curve too, but you have to be brave and usually rely on the guy in front to co-operate.”

Grosjean also added, “Suzuka is quite a narrow track so it is not that easy to overtake, but it is a great challenge and very satisfying when you manage to execute one.”

Do you think Romain Grosjean will be able to bust into the top ten again this year at Suzuka?  Let us know your race predictions and result below.  

All quotes were from Romain Grosjean, and obtained from F1.com

Mercedes Need to Straighten Out Their Reliability Concerns, and Fast

Nico Rosberg was forced to retire during the Singapore Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg only managed to complete 14 laps of the Singapore Grand Prix before he was forced to retire for the second time this season.  Lewis Hamilton had to retire in three races of his own this year, at Melbourne, Montreal, and Spa.  

Reliability has been a big concern for teams this year, only Force India has managed not to have a technical failure on the car this season. Lotus leads the board with 10 reliability caused DNF’s this year in the 14 races that have been run.  After that, we have Toro Rosso and Caterham both on the list with nine, but that is expected.  Neither of these teams are considered “front-runners” to win races this year.  Mercedes on the other hand is, and although the team has won all but three races this year, they too are having a large number of technical failures that just shouldn’t be happening to a team of their caliber.  

At the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend, Nico Rosberg had to start from pit-lane after electrical failures on the car plagued him from starting on the formation lap.  And things went from bad to worse after that with Rosberg running less then a quarter of the race before he was forced to retire.  With the 21st place finish, Rosberg’s championship point total remained stagnant at 238 while his teammate Lewis Hamilton won the race and with that, surpassed him for first place in the championship with just three points between them. Rosberg told of the car troubles in a press conference after the race:

“The problems with my steering wheel began in the garage even before the race and it was a difficult moment when I couldn’t pull away from the grid – the car didn’t get out of neutral. When I left the pit-lane, I was only able to change gear – there was no radio, no DRS and reduced Hybrid power.” You can read the full statement here or watch it below: 



After the race, Toto Wolff, head of Motorsport at Mercedes, commented on the situation, “It would not be satisfying at all to have the championship decided because one car let the driver down.  We need to refocus, get our heads down and keep concentrating on preventing these reliability problems reoccurring.”  

Clearly the team wouldn’t want the championship to be decided this way, but if they want to act on their statement they need to start now. So far this year Mercedes has had five technical failures: one electrical, one gearbox, one engine, one brakes failure, and one handling problem.  Three of the five happened to Lewis Hamilton, who wasn’t very relived when he heard that his teammate had retired on Sunday because of a reliability issue.  After the race he stated, “For me, it’s happened quite a bit, so it’s definitely a worry… Conscious thing you’re thinking about when driving, trying to look after the car, saying ‘come on baby, let’s make it to the end’”.

The championship looks as if it will be decided between the two Mercedes drivers come time for Abu Dhabi; only six drivers are mathematically eligible for the championship now with only 150 points left for the taking.  The Mercedes team will be pouring over data this week to figure out what went wrong with Nico Rosberg’s car in Singapore, fighting to prevent a future breakdown with so few races left.

Nico Rosberg gets serviced in the pits before he is forced to retire from the Singapore Grand Prix.

If all in the reliability department goes well, Nico Rosberg has the (slight) historical upper hand.  In 2013, in the last five races of the season, he had an average finish of 5.4 compared to Hamilton’s 9.6.  But there’s a catch, Lewis Hamilton had a DNF in Japan last year with a puncture that sent him out of the race after seven laps.  Reliability issue?  Maybe not, but Hamilton (and Mercedes) hasn’t had luck on his side in the final races of any recent F1 season.  In 2012, Rosberg retired from three of the last six races of the season with crashes.  

Whatever the end of the season brings for the silver arrows, be it reliability issues or crashes, it’ll sure be an interesting end to a season dominated by Mercedes AMG Petronas.   

“These things take time to get a grip on – but we will not stop until we stop suffering these DNF’s. If we could do anything more to prevent further retirements we would be doing it – I would break my arm again to make it happen!” – Toto Wolff

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Singapore Grand Prix: Live Blog, Stats, Analysis


We’ll be live blogging throughout the 2014 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Singapore.  Stay tuned for live stats, analysis and more. 

Update: That’ll be the end of the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix live blog.  Thanks for sticking with us throughout the race!  

Post Race:

10:13 – Let us know who you think was the driver of the day in the comments below.  

Provisional points standings. 



//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js 10:06 – Hamilton will now have a three point lead on Rosberg with 241 points.  

Race:

0:00 – Bottas gets a flat tire on the last lap.  This will drop him back down to fifth in the championship standings behind Alonso.  

0:00 – Hamilton wins the Singapore Grand Prix.  Vettel finished P2, Ricciardo P3, Alonso P4.  

1:22 – Bottas trying his best to fend off Raikkonen.  

Lap 59 – VET P2 – RIC P3 – ALO P4 – Race switched over to a timed race.  2:00 min. left to race.  

Lap 58 – Ricciardo is all over Vettel; Alonso is all over Ricciardo.  Just three laps left for the positions to sort out.  


Lap 57 – MAG overtakes MAL for 10th place.  VER is up next.  HAM pulled out a 6+ second lead over VET now.  

Lap 55 – Battle for second between Vettel, Ricciardo, and Alonso.  All three within 1.5 seconds of each other.  

Lap 54 – Just 7 laps left.  Hamilton is in first, followed by Vettel and Ricciardo.  

Lap 53 – Crowd is going crazy. Hamilton .4 sec. gap to Vettel.  No way Vettel can hold him off for 7 laps.  Hamilton takes the lead again! 

Lap 53 – 1.1 sec. gap to Vettel and dropping.  Hamilton is reeling him in! 

Lap 53 – Hamilton in, 2.9 second pit-stop.  Just what they needed.  Vettel takes the lead. Hamilton comes out in second.


//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Lap 52 – 25.2 gap to Vettel, 9 laps left.  

Lap 51 – Hamilton says “tires are going off.”  He wants to pit, but he is still pulling out a lead on Vettel.  Up to 24 seconds.  Pit-lane delta is a few seconds longer than that.    

Lap 50 – 22 second lead for Hamilton, set to pit within the next two to three laps.  Not enough to come out in the lead, yet, but he will have the advantage of fresh tires.  

Lap 49 – Perez passes Kvyat for 14th after a tough battle.  12 laps remain.  

Lap 47 – Magnussen into the pits with a 2.5 sec. stop.  He rejoins the track in 14th just ahead of fellow rookie Kvyat.  

Lap 46 – Hamilton has brought out a 17 second gap on Vettel.  Getting bigger by the lap. Strategy could work out for him.  

Lap 45 – Daniel Kvyat says “I’m dying here” in the heat.  


Lap 41 – Hamilton gap to Vettel is 9.5 sec.  Seb said he doesn’t think he’ll be able to make it to the end on his tires.  Only a few drivers look like they’ll be able to make it to the end, we’ll see.  

Lap 41 – Sutil pulls into the garage to retire.  Double retirement for Sauber this race.  

Lap 40 – Battle for 7th between BUT, RAI, VER and MAG.  Button current has a .6 sec. lead on the bunch.  

Lap 39 – Hamilton is gaining nearly a second a sector.  Just what he needs to pit and come out with a chance to win.  

Lap 38 – Hamilton still needs to pit for tires to comply with regulations.  Gaining a big lead on Vettel for the time being, over a 3 second gap.  

Lap 37 – SC in this lap, Hamilton gets a good jump on Vettel.  

Lap 36 – Five second stop/go penalty for Sutil.  Hamilton will need a good restart here as the Safety Car pulls in soon.  

Lap 35 – Still under Safety Car at Singapore.  Cars can now start un-lapping themselves, expect a few more laps under caution.  

Lap 33 – Vettel to team “let’s go for as long as we can on options, then do last laps on options.“


Lap 32 – Hamilton concerned about running over Perez debris, telling his team to watch his tire pressure.  

Lap 31 – Safety car out.  Perez’s wing breaks clean off after colliding with Sutil, debris all over the track.  Teams getting ready to pit and put their drivers onto supersoft tires.  

Lap 30 – Halfway through the Singapore Grand Prix.  HAM – ALO -VET – RIC – BUT are your top five.  

Lap 29 – Magnussen radios in “My seat is very hot, it’s burning.”  Alright then.  

Lap 28 – Ricciardo pits for soft tires.  Rejoins the race in 4th ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.  

Lap 27 – Hamilton into the pits for supersofts.  He rejoins in second behind Ricciardo with a 4.7 sec. stop.  

Lap 26 – Vettel into the pits.  2.6 sec. stop for soft tires.  He comes out in 4th place behind Alonso who still has to make another stop.  

Lap 25 – Rosberg on his retirement”…we need to get to the bottom of all these things, and get the car 100% reliable.”  

Lap 24 – Massa into the pits, Bottas follows one lap later.  Looks like we will see a three stop strategy from the Willaims duo.

Lap 22 – Alonso is closing in on Vettel in second place, could see a battle soon. 

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Lap 20 – Chilton into pit, a right front puncture caused some jack issues for the Marrusia team.  Slow pit-stop for Chilton who will rejoin in 19th. 

Lap 19 – Gutierrez retires due to an unknown cause.  Throws gloves in team garage, looks visibly upset.  

Lap 17 – Current leaders are Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso.  As they run Hamilton holds a 3 point championship lead over Rosberg. 


Lap 14 – Clutch won’t engage for Rosberg in pit-lane.  Looks like he may retire.  

Lap 14 – Nico Rosberg will have a steering wheel change come next pit-stop.  

Lap 14 – Rosberg told to “save tires and fuel” by Mercedes team.  Perhaps going to try a different strategy to save his race.  

Lap 13 – Vettel, Alonso, and Ricciardo all come in to pit on lap 13.  Vettel rejoins in 4th, Alonso 5th and Ricciardo 6th.  

Lap 12 – Radio communications with Rosberg are spotty at best.  

Lap 12 – Raikkonen in from 5th place.  3.3 sec. pit-stop which puts him back onto the track in 9th. 

Lap 11 – Massa into the pits.  Rejoins the track in P13.  

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Lap 9 – Rosberg is 49.97 sec. behind teammate Lewis Hamilton.  Points as they run would put Hamilton in first place by 3 points.  

Lap 7 – Rosberg is lapping seconds slower than Hamilton, even when he is in clean air.  Problem on his car seems to be more than just electrical. 

Lap 5 – Sebastien Vettel has just set the fastest lap of the race, is currently trailing Hamilton by 1.5 sec. 


Lap 3 – HAM – VET – ALO – RIC -RAI are the top five.  Rosberg is P 21. 

Lap 2 – Rosberg’s dashboard is not showing any information, reports team.  

Lap 1- Rosberg has left pit-lane, teammate Lewis Hamilton is creating a gap to Vettel already.  1.5 second gap. 

Lap 1 – The lights are out!  Hamilton gets a great start followed by Alonso in second. 


Pre Race:

8:00 – Rosberg will be starting from pit-lane.  

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7:58 – Nico Rosberg’s car is being worked on by mechanics minutes before the Grand Prix is set to start. 

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7:46 – A reminder of the tire choices for the Grand Prix. 


Singapore Grand Prix: Race Notes

The start of the 2013 Singapore Grand Prix.


Hamilton will start on pole for the Singapore Grand Prix tomorrow, and he’ll be looking to break down the 22 point gap that his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg has on him.  With only six races left on the 2014 calendar, these are valuable points that can’t be lost.  


Schedule:

  • Race: 8 a.m. EDT 9/21
The Singapore GP is the longest of the year, with the second slowest average speed of any track on the circuit (Monaco is first with an average speed of 113.4 mph in 2013).  This means that drivers face some extra challenges that cause some to argue that the Singapore GP is the hardest race of the year, especially with the new radio ban becoming active this week.  

Reliability is a huge issue at the Marina Bay Circuit, with a 61 lap race, there’s a lot of time for cars to break down.  Last year three drivers failed to finish the race, down from six DNF’s in 2012.  The extreme heat not only causes car unreliability, but also driver.  The 23 turn course leaves little room for mistakes with almost no run-off on most of the turns.  Look for at least one safety car this Sunday, as there has been one in all of the last six races at Singapore.

Sebastien Vettel dominated this race last year leading all 61 of the laps, but things won’t be that easy for him this year.   Vettel will start in P4 tomorrow behind both of the Mercedes drivers and his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, but he’s not counting himself out just yet.  In the post-qualifying press conference, he said: 

“We’ll hope to have a good race tomorrow, with good pit stops and a good strategy and we’ll see what we can do from there. I think we have good speed, but everyone seems to have good speed here. It’s a long race, so we’ll see how the tyres work and what we can do.”

A maximum of 175 points are available to any one driver in the rest of the season and if Hamilton hopes to make a run at the championship, he’ll need to start getting race wins now.  Getting pole position is a good start, but Hamilton will need wins to reel back in an escaping Rosberg, especially with the double points race in Abu Dhabi (double points may not happen in 2015).  Overall, Hamilton can be pleased with his qualifying performance and expect a good race come Sunday night (or morning if you’re in the U.S.).  

The Singapore GP is one of the most exciting races of the year, the nighttime, the lights, the fireworks and of course the racing are sure to prevail this weekend.  Look for Lewis Hamilton to defend his starting position for the long run when the lights go out.  Lewis finished fifth at Singapore last year, but with a new car and a chance at the championship, anything but a win will be disappointment for the Englishmen. 

          – Drew Bennison 

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