Post by Dirty Epic on Apr 23, 2019 10:39:19 GMT
Due to our brilliant meet over the weekend I wasn’t able to see the 1000th race until the other day but here goes a review of the action in China.
The big talking point was the swapping of Leclerc and Vettel by Ferrari. Maybe at the end of the season this could make the difference when the title battle comes down to the wire but right now and given how evenly matched the two drivers seem to be I feel it didn’t really make much sense for Ferrari to have swapped them especially as doing this resulted in Leclerc losing position to Verstappen in the end.
Yes there was the issue with team orders in 2010, ‘Fernando is Faster than You!’ etc. However that was a different proposition compared to here in China. That German race was mid-way through the season, apart from that race Massa wasn’t as good/the same driver he was pre his 2009 accident and the momentum this move gave to Alonso was a massive tilt towards his title charge that year that he very nearly won and ironically lost out – mainly due to tactical error, in the last race ironically to Vettel.
Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto has gone on record they’ll let Vettel and Leclerc race but in 50/50 situations they’ll favour Vettel over Leclerc. This didn’t really seem to be a 50/50 situations as Leclerc got track position and seemed to be holding Vettel off in the race. Also Vettel doesn’t quite seem at the races at this early stage of the season. He’s already +20 odd points behind Hamilton and Bottas and if he is to land the WDC this season he’ll need to up his game considerably compared to how he’s delivered in these opening races. His teammate has delivered in comparison and could be more of a prospect to deliver the WDC for them. I suppose though like Barrichello compared to Schumacher, Massa to Alonso, Raikkonen to Vettel etc. for the moment at least Leclerc will have to play second fiddle and it will be interesting to see how he reacts to this over the season especially if Vettel continues to misfire this year.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not against Vettel. You don’t get to be a 4 time champion by accident and some of his lights to flag victories like the one I saw in Canada are up there with the great drives. But he’s not as good an overall package as what Hamilton has been and currently is and as we’ve said previously he doesn’t cope to well when he has to fight his way through the field to win unlike Hamilton and lesser extent Verstappen can. Vettel’s also prone to a fair few hissy fits and brain fade compared to his rivals. Everything from his crash with Webber in Turkey 2010, Multi 2-1, the clashes with Kyvat and Verstappen from which he went all potty mouthed with Charlie Whiting (RIP), Baku, Germany 2018 seem to have put him under a cloud Hamilton and others don’t have. Arguably he could/should have delivered at least one WDC for Ferrari in 2017 or 18 and right now I don’t see him doing so anytime soon. A lot of what he had at Red Bull also seems to have dried up over the last few years too so with Leclerc posing a major challenge and already falling significantly behind to the Mercedes drivers in the title race it’s make of break for him right now. Who knows Vettel may suddenly find his form like Alonso in 2010 or Schumacher in 2006 did but seeing it right now can’t see that happening somehow.
A textbook/processional win for Hamilton. Still for the criticism he does the business when it counts and as I’ve said before up to others to put up a challenge him, when that happens he can be beaten. I was surprised Bottas didn’t have more to give in the race compared with the good qualifying performance he had. Maybe Melbourne was a flash in the pan, maybe China was a scruffy race but to a lesser degree compared to Vettel he simply needs to get fully focused on beating Hamilton and having the ruthless streak he had in Australia in order to do this. Otherwise he’ll quickly slip behind Hamilton over the season and will again be required to be a compliant number two to Lewis, especially if Ferrari suddenly find a sweet spot and take wins over the season.
Red Bull were the best of the rest with perhaps not much spectacular to report there, decent points again for Raikkonen and nice to see Daniel Ricciardo get a decent finish at last for Renault too. Also good to see rookie Alexander Albon in the Top 10 too but his more experienced teammate Kyvat… what the hell was he thinking at the start playing dodgems with the McLarens who unfortunately didn’t score as well in China than they did in the previous races. The big surprise this season is Haas seem to have faded away from the consistent Top five/six position they’ve had over the last few seasons. Grosjean is like Jekyll and Hyde. Can be brilliant on his day when he’s on it, but also abysmal when he screws up. The usually consistent Magnussen also isn’t on it at the moment so perhaps this might be the season their progress comes to a halt. Same as usual for Williams but as sad as it is to say this Kubica unfortunately isn’t what they need he’s too off the pace compared to how he was before the 2011 accident. Even if this car is a dog surely loaning Ocon from Mercedes would maybe help them to improve their poor position at the moment. Question is would Ocon risk his reputation with Williams and is the Merc seat waiting for him in 2020? Massa’s retirement has hurt them as they’ve not got anyone of his driving/technical level to move them on and realistically can’t see Williams scoring points this year unless we get a freaky or carnage-style race where they suddenly end up in a Top 10 finishing position.
Perhaps the 1000th race (on the track) wasn’t the most exciting or interesting but it’s a milestone none the less. Here’s to the next 1000 and onwards to Baku next week. That one has been interesting over the years.