Tag Archives: 2014 Austrian Grand Prix

F1 Midweek – The Restoration of Williams

Kansas City – This past weekend’s resurrected Austrian Grand Prix was a rebirth in many different ways. Firstly, the obvious rebirth of Formula 1 in Austria. Secondly, the awakening of Michael Schumacher from his long coma in the week prior to the grand prix. Thirdly, the restoration of Williams Martini Racing from their slump of recent years. The old champions of the 80s and 90s came back in full force at Austria, with their two drivers taking the front row in qualifying and finishing in 3rd and 4th in the race. Between Brazilian Felipe Massa and Finn Valtteri Bottas, Williams has a dynamic duo that could very well earn more points for the team than could have been imaginable in the last four years.

Williams is one of those teams that generally everyone seems to like. They have been referred to as the sort of “everyman” of Formula 1. Team head, Sir Frank Williams, worked his way up in the motor racing world, running cars in GP2 races among other lower tier events before making his way into Formula 1.

With many famous drivers having worn the Williams white, including legendary Brazilian Ayrton Senna, the team has quite a storied history. It also has the third most world constructor’s and driver’s championship victories, winning the constructor’s title 9 times and the driver’s title 7 times. All of their championships took place in the 80s and 90s. Only Ferrari and McLaren have won more driver’s and constructor’s championships.

So it is rather sad that over the past few seasons, since 2004, Williams has been unable to finish the season higher than 4th place. Yet after this past weekend, that may be liable to change, as the team was able to finish quite strongly at Spielberg. If not this season, then certainly in 2015 I believe we will see Williams up at the top alongside Mercedes AMG Petronas, Ferrari, and Red Bull. They certainly have the talent between their crew and drivers, and should under all circumstances be able to win a few grands prix this season, with more to come next time around.

On a final note, about this fellow who stole Michael Schumacher’s medical records:

How stupid can you get! The poor man has just woken from a long coma! I know you want to make some money, but the least you can do is leave the poor fellow in peace to recover.

Rosberg wins Spectacular Austrian Grand Prix

Spielberg – If the Formula 1 world was looking for a good way to reboot the classic Austrian Grand Prix, they couldn’t have had a better race. It began with the surprise front row of Williams’ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, who were closely followed by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Mercedes’ other half, British driver Lewis Hamilton started from 9th after a very poor qualifying round. The two Red Bulls equally did not fare so well in qualifying at their home circuit, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo starting from 5th and his German teammate, the 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel starting in 13th after having not made it out of Q2.

The race began with strong starts from Massa, Rosberg, and Hamilton. The Brazilian was able to keep 1st place for the first 12 laps of the race until he had to pit due to tyre degradation, whilst the German briefly took 2nd from Massa’s Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas. Bottas made Rosberg’s conquest brief, as he restored his second place by the end of Lap 1. Meanwhile, Hamilton was able to advance by 5 places on the opening lap, overtaking a number of cars on the opening straight.

A major factor that played merry hell with the various team strategies, and in my opinion did not do a good deal of help for Massa in particular, was just how heavy the tyre degradation was within just a handful of laps. Both of the Williams had to pit by Lap 13, resulting in their 1,2 lead being lost and never really recovered. On the tyre side of things, Sergio Pérez performed outstandingly, being able to stay out for the first 30 laps on his first set of tyres, resulting in the Mexican maintaining first place in the wake of the Williams pit stops.

This race should very well have gone to Williams if it weren’t for their poor timing for pit stops, often, as the NBC Sports commentating crew made note of, having their drivers box a lap or two too late to keep a good advantage over the rest of the field. For this reason, Mercedes AMG Petronas was able to advance ahead of the two Williams to take the race victory.

On another note, Red Bull was once again plagued by electrical trouble, as Sebastian Vettel suddenly lost power in his car on Lap 2. Luckily for him, power was restored within a couple of laps and the German was able to continue in the race. A subsequent radio message from the team to Vettel’s Australian teammate confirmed at least somewhat that the issue arose when Vettel used the overtake button on his steering wheel. Eventually, Vettel would be forced to retire on Lap 35 after Vettel and Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez made contact, damaging the nose of Vettel’s car. Gutierrez had another troublesome incident at Lap 14 when his car was released from a Pit Stop without the back right tyre fully in place. The Mexican would serve a 10-second stop and go penalty on Lap 23.

Red Bull’s Italian sister team, Scuderia Toro Rosso had an even worse day than the rest of the pack, with both drivers retiring from the race. Russian Daniil Kvyat retired on Lap 26 after his brakes gave way, resulting in his right rear tyre being shredded and bent horribly out of shape. His French teammate, Jean-Éric Vergne returned to the pits to retire at Lap 61 with a rear brake issue.

The race finished spectacularly, with the two Mercedes in front, Nico Rosberg (1st) beating Lewis Hamilton (2nd), followed closely by Williams’ Valtteri Bottas (3rd) who won his first career podium. Close behind Bottas was his teammate, pole-sitter Felipe Massa (4th) with Massa’s old Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso finishing in 5th. Alonso was followed by Force India’s Sergio Pérez (6th), who overcame the 5-spot grid penalty given to him following his crash with Massa on the last lap two weeks ago in Montréal. On the last laps Pérez had just passed rookie Kevin Magnussen of McLaren who finished in 7th. Magnussen was followed by Red Bull’s currently most successful driver, Daniel Ricciardo (8th), who finished just ahead of Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg (9th), who came just ahead of the Iceman, Kimi Räikkönen (10th) of Ferrari.

The non-points-scoring positions were taken by McLaren’s Jenson Button (11th), Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado (12th), Sauber’s Adrian Sutil (13th), Lotus’ Romain Grosjean (14th), Marussia’s Jules Bianchi (15th), Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi (16th), Marussia’ Max Chilton (17th), Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson (18th), and Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez (19th).

One element of this race that made it unique from those that have come thus far this season is the fact that only 3 drivers had to retire! In comparison with the 9 out of 22 drivers who retired in Canada and and 8 of 22 who retired in Monaco.

F1 Midweek – Schumacher update and looking ahead to Austria

Kansas City – If you haven’t heard, on Monday seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher at long last came out of his coma that had been caused by a skiing accident on 29 December at the French resort of Meribel. That being said, after having been in a state of comatose for that long, it will undoubtedly take quite a while for the German to fully recover, which in itself is unlikely.

News bulletins flew around the world on Monday from the Grenoble University Hospital, announcing that Schumacher had been taken out of France to University Hospital Lausanne in neighbouring Switzerland. Despite this, The Independent reports that Schumacher still is unable to talk. According to a 16 June article by John Lichfield of The Independent, Schumacher has a “one in ten chance of making a full recovery.”

That being said, at least the poor man is out of his coma at long last. I can’t imagine what his family has been going through during all of this. No doubt the F1 world will continue to have “Schumi” in their thoughts as they descend on a circuit which was last won by the seven time world champion, the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria this weekend for the resurrection of the Austrian Grand Prix, which was last run in 2003.

Formerly known as the Österreichring from 1969-1995, and the A1-Ring from 1996-2004, the circuit has since been bought by the energy drink company Red Bull, who have since become famous within motorsport for their ownership of two of the current eleven Formula 1 teams, Infiniti Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso respectively. I have little doubt that the pressure will be on the two Red Bull drivers to win their team’s home grand prix.

At the same time, as we have seen throughout this season no one has been able to compete with Mercedes AMG Petronas as long as the silver arrows make it through the race damage free. We saw two weeks ago in Canada one of the weaker points of the Mercedes cars, namely brake failures, which resulted in Lewis Hamilton retiring and Nico Rosberg finishing in second behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. At the same time, knowing the Mercedes team I have little doubt that the will have fixed that problem by now in preparation for Austria.

The Red Bull Ring track runs clockwise, with ten corners. It runs 4.326 km (2.688 mi) in length. To date, the fastest lap record stands with Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, who finished Lap 41 during the 2003 Austrian Grand Prix at 1:08.337. Only three of the current Formula 1 drivers, Kimi Räikkönen, Jenson Button, and Fernando Alonso have driven in the Austrian Grand Prix before, Button having competed in the 2000-2003 Austrian Grands Prix, whilst Räikkönen and Alonso have only competed in the 2001-2003 Austrian Grands Prix.

We will have to wait until this Sunday to see how the teams compete at the Red Bull Ring in Formula 1’s triumphant return to Austria after 11 years away. Hopefully Schumacher will be well enough to see at least a couple of the races this season.

F1 Midweek – Safety First

Kansas City – The whirlwind that was last Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix certainly has made an impact on the season. I say this for many reasons, chief amongst them being the fact that now we will not be seeing a Mercedes season sweep. Though it would be too much to say that Hamilton’s brake failure destroyed what momentum the team had, it certainly made a major impact upon that force of nature that has been Mercedes AMG Petronas. On the other hand, Nico Rosberg was able to stay in the race to the end, despite finishing in 2nd, his resilience and sheer luck may be what keeps Mercedes at the top.

This past weekend also saw the reawakening of the Red Bulls, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo securing the team’s first win since the final race of 2013 last November in Brazil. From all the reports that I have read and heard, Ricciardo appears to be one of the nicest guys in Formula 1 right now. For that reason alone, I was happy for his win on Sunday.

Red Bull’s momentum could very well keep up with the next few races, as the circus returns to Austria on the weekend of the 22nd for the first time since 2003. The race will be held at Red Bull’s home circuit, the aptly named Red Bull Ring. It will be good to see the sport return to such a beautiful country.

On the flip side from the jubilation of the Red Bulls, Sunday saw quite a few mishaps and crashes. Starting on Lap 1 with Max Chilton crashing his Marussia into the car of his French teammate Jules Bianchi. Chilton has been given a three-place grid penalty in Austria as punishment for his actions in Canada. At the far end of the race from the elimination of the Marussias, Force India’s Sergio Pérez and Williams’ Felipe Massa made contact at Turn 1 on Lap 70, sending both drivers hurtling with the force of 27 Gs into the barriers. Thankfully both the Mexican and Brazilian were released from hospital soon there after without any reports of major injuries.

The questions arose soon there after as to whom was to blame for the crash. From the initial Formula 1 television feed it appeared that Massa had made contact with Pérez, thus making Massa the guilty party. However, according to an FIA analysis, Pérez left his line at the last moment, crossing into Massa’s path, which then resulted in their elimination from the race and close encounter of an unwanted kind with the Turn 1 barriers. Naturally, Force India has denied that Pérez caused the crash.

In a press release that appeared on the Force India Facebook page on Monday the 9th, Pérez said, “I was following the same line and braking patterns as in the previous laps and I just got hit from behind by Massa.” He continued later saying, “I watched several replays of the incident and I can’t help but notice how Felipe turns right just before he hits me.”

Pérez's statements on the crash. / Sahara Force India Formula One Team Facebook

Pérez’s statements on the crash. / Sahara Force India Formula One Team Facebook

On the Williams team website, the race recap told a slightly different, if not more simple, version of what happened, with their main comment on the crash being, “Felipe was attacking Perez for fourth on the final lap when Perez crashed into him.”

One thing we can say for certain is that the sport’s safety has greatly improved in the last 20 years. Thankfully, as I already said, both drivers were able to walk away from their cars after a fashion. Because of the force of the crash, when Lap 70 finished, my family was far more muted in our celebrations of Ricciardo’s first grand prix win than we would have been otherwise.

After this past weekend’s race in Canada, I am unsure what to expect in Austria. True, it is very likely that the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix will be won by either a Mercedes or a Red Bull, but with the issues that plagued the teams last weekend, one can never be too sure of what will come next. Who knows, perhaps the lads at McLaren will finish on the podium following a Mercedes-Red Bull blow out similar to what happened to Pérez and Massa or even to what happened to the two Marussias on Lap 1.