2016 Singapore Grand Prix Review

Now they're three!

The momentum that Nico Rosberg had been working on ever since coming back from the summer break just continues to push him forward in his championship challenge, which he is back on!

Just as I pointed out in my Italian GP review, in this 'final stint' of the season, each and every race becomes more and more important in terms of the title fight, particularly for Nico, whose comfortable phase at the moment just seems to continue.

Every win Nico has taken recently, has made him more confident for the next one, when he wins the next one he's even more confident for the next one.

This is the exact reason why I have been pointing out how vital it was for Nico to string together a series of wins, which he managed to do two weeks ago in Monza and now continues to do today in Marina Bay.

Earlier in the season we saw how important the phase which a driver is going through is, as Rosberg was unable put his European GP win to good use to cut the good moment teammate and championship rival Hamilton had at that moment.

Meanwhile even earlier in the year we witnessed the dominance with which Rosberg cruised through the championship in the first four races, while Hamilton just couldn't help but settle for second place.

Despite eventually standing at the top of this night race's podium, Nico had to break a sweat for the win this time around, as Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo came only half a second behind in second place.

A small but significant strategical mistake from Rosberg's crew was to blame for putting the German in a risky position in the closing stage of the race.

We had another shaky start to the race with a hard shunt between Carlos Sainz Jr. and Nico Hulkenberg right at the home straight with the latter paying the ultimate price, ending up in the barriers with the back part of the car destroyed.

Still, the incident happened down in the midfield and did not influence the course of the race for the front runners, except for a short safety car period which made little impact on the racing order.

A few front runners such as Rosberg and Ricciardo pitted while the safety car was out, in order not to lose positions.

After things went back to normality, Rosberg and Ricciardo took no time to increase their advantage over their respective pursuers, Ricciardo and Hamilton, putting in 2 seconds each before lap 10.

Subsequently, Hamilton experienced a sizable loss of time to Ricciardo due to a a brake issue, that Rosberg himself would have a few laps later.

Such issue shortened the gap between Nico and Ricciardo to only 1.5 seconds.

While Nico sailed from this small setback onto a somewhat calm Sunday drive, Lewis would have to reduce his pace again later in the race due to the same brake problem. He lost a lot of distance to Ricciardo, which eventually caused Lewis to lose third place to Kimi Räikkönen on a master move from the Finn.

Kimi looked poised to take a second consecutive Singapore Grand Prix podium as Lewis didn't have the pace to take the position back from the Ferrari driver, but during his final stop, Kimi had a small mishap, which meant that he would come out behind Hamilton, who had already made his last stop.

This series of stops was the one that marked the beginning to the exciting finale no one expected to see from this race.

As both Ricciardo and Hamilton made their last stops of the race, suddenly and out of nowhere Nico Rosberg's calm drive was turned into a do or die dilemma.

His pit crew was ready to receive him at the end of lap 49 but Rosberg decided to stay out on a set of worn out soft tyres in a very questionable and risky decision.

He could've had the option to pit in the next lap but that alternative was quickly gone as Ricciardo had cut the gap down to 24 seconds in that lap, while Rosberg needed at least 26 seconds to stop and still come out in front.

Pitting quickly went from being a safety measure not to risk the tyres, to being a gamble to take in order to win without risking the tyres, a gamble which obviously required Rosberg to recover the lead from Ricciardo, which being in a street circuit wouldn't be an easy task at all.

Both options meant taking a risk, either risk staying out and lose out to Ricciardo or pit and let Ricciardo seize control over the lead.

As laps went by, it became clear Rosberg and his crew were going to take the first out of the two possible risks, and in my opinion, the lesser one.

Rosberg and his crew did certainly not expect for Ricciardo and Hamilton to stop again, as they were now in a situation they didn't need to be in.

Nervous faces filled the Mercedes garage as Ricciardo took big chunks off Rosberg's once healthy 28-seconds advantage, lap by lap.

Then, came the race defining moment. Not particularly an overtake or a mistake from any of the two drivers involved. As usual at this stage of the race, the leaders reached a group of cars to be lapped.

Rosberg obviously lost a small amount of time going through it, setting the tone for Ricciardo to pose a last minute attack for the lead, but he had not much to lose by going there.

On the other hand, Ricciardo had everything to lose. Not only going through lapped cars meant he would lose the time he had just made on Rosberg, but more importantly, he lost the pace and rhythm he had worked on building since he began his last stint.

By having to slow down significantly, he cut down the pace he was on, a pace which was certainly going to take him to the race victory.

It's not the time lost with the lapped group that cost Daniel a shot at the race, but the fact that he would take a few more laps to recover the feeling he had just before.

A nail-biting, unexpected ending to a race which Nico Rosberg walks out victoriously, not only having won another consecutive race, but another consecutive first win at a circuit which helps him to recover the lead of the championship.

A third consecutive win for Nico which makes it feel like the man is back to his 'early 2016' form, which he has desperately been looking for since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton's lack of pace and consequent third place finish, meant the Briton would come out of Singapore 8 points behind Rosberg in the standings. A disappointing outcome to a race which could've been better for him.

Still, he seems to have understood what his role in this race was, and probably will be in some other races, he looked to be aware that his pace around this circuit was not comparable to that of Ricciardo or Rosberg, putting that together with the brake issue which hampered him early in the race, he really didn't stand much of a chance of getting higher than P3.

Actually though, he got lucky that Räikkönen had a slow stop after the Finn overtook him, because otherwise the podium finish would've been a long shot for him.

Nico could've not arrived to the final stage of the championship in a better form, having achieved consecutive wins at circuits where he was yet to take the win, and with only six races remaining in the calendar, although many things can happen in so little time, I think only two more consecutive race wins will be enough for Rosberg to strengthen his championship lead and more importantly, to finally knock out Hamilton's morale.

The only problem Rosberg has is tha Hamilton only needs to squeeze one victory out of the six remaining in order to cut Rosberg's good moment, which is more than enough to change the championship battle completely.

The only thing we can be sure of is that the title won't be decided before the last race.

Ricciardo will have to wait for another chance for the win, after having come so close to it this time.

It was a fantastic drive from the Aussie and an even better late rally which almost ended at the top.

Although he will definitely be one to keep an eye on for the next races, as he could be the one to spoil either Lewis' or Nico's party, today's excellent performance from the Red Bull driver should not be taken as seriously, given that this race was run on very different conditions from the majority of the others, in a colder surface and much more softer tyres.

Besides, had Rosberg's crew brought Nico in before or when Ricciardo had stopped, perhaps this would've been reduced to no more than a great effort on keeping Hamilton behind instead of the amazing late charge that it was.

But who knows, I could definitely be wrong on that one.

On the other hand, his teammate Verstappen finished P6 in a race which was much more promising for him, given his starting position.

The Dutchman blamed the bad start he had, which was the main cause of Hulkenberg's incident, on his finishing position, while it's not bad it's definitely less than what he could've done without such a start.

The early 2016 Kimi Räikkönen who was known for his charges late in the race and his excellent pace in the closing stages of competitions, was out in almost full force today, and I say almost because his ultimate target, which was the podium, just barely slipped out of his grasp, and through no mistake of his own as he had pitted ahead of Hamilton in P3 but somehow ended up coming back on track behind him.

The pace shown by the Finn was still outstanding, leaving to the imagination what he could do if he could have himself a good qualifying to work with.

On the other side of the garage, Kimi's teammate turned what was set to be a horrible weekend for him into a great one.

Sebastian Vettel started the race after a bad result in qualifying caused by a mechanical issue, as if it weren't enough he subsequently received a grid penalty that sent him to the bottom of he grid.

However, Seb's pace, together with a solid strategy from Ferrari made up for a steady progress from the German through out the race, which discretely but noticeably lifted Vettel a total of 17 (!!!) positions to reach top 5.

Seb usually finds a good rhythm around this track and this time it has been greatly timed as the result helped Ferrari collect a total of 22 points, enough to stay close from Red Bull in the constructors standings, important as we are heading into the climax of the season.

Today's special mentions are out to point scoring returnees Daniil Kvyät and Kevin Magnussen.

The 'Toro Russian' seems to have ended a long slump, a long pointless run that started at the British GP, when he last recorded a top 10 finish.

Meanwhile, the Dane has succeeded in cutting an even longer slump, not only his but his whole team's.

Kevin Magnussen arrived P10 here in Singapore after not being able to record a point since the Spanish Grand Prix, despite great efforts where he came close to do so.

The final mention goes to Checo Perez, today's underrated driver of the race.

The Mexican had to carry the team on his back for this race after the big shunt his teammate Nico Hulkenberg unfortunately suffered.

Starting from eighteenth placed due to an unfair penalty he was handed , Sergio's task was a major one, but Perez completed it amazingly, as he was able to climb 10 places in the race. A result which had a high level of importance, as Massa's P12 and Bottas' retirement meant that Sergio's eight points were enough for Force India to climb up to fourth in the championship standings, position which they look set to retain.

That's it for this weekend's race review, I hope you enjoyed it!

I'll see you lot  in two weeks time for the thriller that the Malaysian GP promises to be!

Thanks so much for the reads, visits, support and all of that!

Remember to like, +1, leave a comment, send feedback, share and recommend with your friends!

Don't forget to either add me to your circles in Google Plus and turn my notifications on, or to become a follower of this blog so you are notified as soon as I post and article on this blog!

2016 Italian Grand Prix Review

Aaaaand the kid's done it!

After one previous failed attempt (Europe GP win) and after a long spell of races lost to Hamilton, Nico Rosberg has capitalized on his opportunities of lacing two race wins together.

As I've stated in previous articles, this was exactly what Nico Rosberg needed in order to get himself back into good position to pose a threat to his teammate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton's title chances, which ever since the pair's collision in Spain, have only gone higher and higher.

However this tendency was finally cut as Rosberg took the victory in Spa only a week ago. A win that came as a sign that Rosberg would be making one final big push for the championship in the second part of the season, looking to turn around his results in the last few races of the first part of the year.

Rosberg's completion of this double race win could've not come at a better point, as the blow towards Hamilton this weekend was bigger than in Belgium.

The German Merc driver started the weekend looking to have to settle for second place as Hamilton, who has won at Monza in three past occasions, was really getting around well at the track, topping FP2 and FP3 before going on to claim pole position just ahead of Nico.

The Briton's luck would take a terrible turn to the worse in less than ten seconds as Hamilton would suffer a terrible start to the race, losing a total of 5 positions in only the first half of one lap. The reasons for Lewis' terrible start are still unknown, though it is likely that it was a mistake of his own, or caused by wheel spin, as Lewis himself stated shortly after the race.

Despite Sebastian Vettel's attempts at arriving first placed to turn one, Nico Rosberg was able to hold on to the lead, thus inheriting the calm Sunday drive Hamilton was settled for before his start.

Hamilton tried to undo his mistake, by trying to recover some of the ground lost, hoping to at least get back to the second place. He took less than two laps in taking P5 from Ricciardo and proceeded to take control of fourth place after overtaking Valtteri Bottas, who meant a little bit more of a challenge for the championship leader, as Bottas' Williams also runs a Mercedes power unit, being able to stay ahead of Lewis in the straights, eventually giving out after four laps.

The damage was done after this point, Hamilton was a mere 12 seconds behind his teammate Rosberg after Lewis' pass on Bottas, and third placed Räikkönen was far enough for the Englishman to attack the Finn.

The only way in which Hamilton could get to second place was through strategy, which him and his team completed successfully as they ran with a one-stop strategy, just as Rosberg, while both Ferraris ran on a two-stop strategy.

This meant that by the time both Ferraris and Hamilton himself had completed their first stop, the latter was already ahead of both red cars.

Lewis' hopes of regaining the lead late in the race, increased as the race progressed, as he took several tenths off Nico's lead, following both of theirs stops.

The progression was set to continue throughout the race as Rosberg approached cars to be lapped, setting the stage for a spicy end to the race, however a small mistake from Hamilton where he ran wide at the first corner, lost him all the time he had made on his teammate and eventually the mistake cut off the potential gains of Hamilton on the race leader. It cut off the rhythm that he had worked on since the start of the second stint, messing up whatever future progress he could've had.

Rosberg endured an easy, calm race at the front, leaving no space for doubts, taking the win by a margin of 15 seconds.

With the win, Rosberg completes a fantastic feat to kick off his charge to the title, taking consecutive wins at two tracks where he hadn't been at the top of the podium before, chopping the difference in the championship standings to only two points. What a way to head into Formula 1's Asian tour for the German.

Nico started creating momentum with this win, and not only that, but such momentum could tilt further towards his favor as the first symptoms of Hamilton losing his cool were rather noticeable. 

Lewis was looking unamused throughout the whole podium ceremonies and was reluctant to talk about the mistake at the start during the interviews.

Next race will be equally important in the course of the championship, as Rosberg heads as the man of the moment into yet another race in which he is yet to taste the win, Singapore, which is an aspect that Hamilton could take big advantage from.

However, as it has looked in the last few races, it doesn't seem like stats such as that one are going to stop Rosberg from taking another step towards title glory. 

But who knows, nothing is done until the flag drops.

On the other hand, Hamilton could learn a few things from Rosberg. Lewis' German teammate seems to have an attitude of always looking forward to the next race, knowing that there's enough races to make up for the points lost in the race in which he finished second, while Lewis doesn't seem to cope well with losing the first position, regardless of the fact that he's only losing 7 points to Nico.

Just as I said on my last review, Lewis' only duty at this point is staying calm, understanding that it is Nico's moment now, and that his might as well come later, which he could take advantage greatly, rather than risking second position in an attempt to take the win by all means.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Passing on to other topic, it is inevitable not to mention Ferrari's and Sebastian Vettel's return to the podium at the Scuderia's home race, after five races outside of the rostrum.

With today's start and today's 3-4 result, Ferrari have shown what they couldn't last week at Spa, their improvement in performance during the summer break.

We saw glimpses of it in Belgium, with qualifying and the start, before the first corner incident, but this time we were able to see the Scuderia being comfortably quicker than main rivals Red Bull.

In a track where engine power is key, Ferrari fulfilled the expectations set on them after what was seen at Spa's qualifying.

Beating Red Bull with the margin with which they did today is a great sign for everyone in Maranello, as the team was desperate for good results in order to recover the second place in the constructors championship, which they lost to the aforementioned Red Bull Racing Team.

It looks like Ferrari are not to drop this form anytime soon, so probably they have their way back into second place already paved or considering Red Bull could improve in the next races, the way there could become slightly more difficult.

Talking numbers, today's performance has helped the emblematic squad to position themselves only 11 points behind Red Bull, after earning 27 points today, 11 points more than the Austrian team.

The podium has also helped Vettel's personal cause, as the German is now 18 points behind Daniel Ricciardo in the drivers standings, hoping to set an attack in the Aussie for third place in the standings, with his team's performance looking likely to improve.

No doubt, both the drivers and constructors championships are going to go down to the wire, with Nico and Lewis, and Red Bull and Ferrari, respectively. 

Things are going to get more interesting with the passing of each race, will be exciting to see how everything unfolds.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That is it for this race's review! 

A vibrant, busy back to back pair of racing weekends are wrapped up and F1 heads into the Asian tour to begin the closing stages of the season, and it starts in two weeks time, with the Singapore Grand Prix!

Thanks for all the reads, visits, support, reshares, likes, +1's and all of that!

Don't forget to like, leave a comment, share, recommend, +1 and much more!

Make sure you become a follower of this site, or follow me on Google Plus so you get a notification as soon as I post an article!

2016 Belgian Grand Prix Review

After a summer break that from my personal point of view went incredibly fast, F1 racing is back for the final half of the season with the fierce championship battle resuming at Spa.

Nico Rosberg head into this weekend having used the break to get back at the top of his game, to be able to pose a threat to his teammate Hamilton for this year's title. Having struggled in the last races of the first half and having missed out monumentally on creating momentum by beating Hamilton on the last race of the first half and also Nico's home race in the German GP, Rosberg was desperately looking to secure the 25 points this time out, to kick off the closing stage of his season in the best way possible.

Considering that he had the golden opportunity to win handed to him in a silver tray back in Germany, this time he had it handed in a golden tray, as not only did he dominate in two of the three free practice sessions before going on to secure pole but Lewis Hamilton was hit with a heavy 35-places grid penalty for numerous changes in the Briton's car.

With the dominant performance of the German machinery and Hamilton's misfortunes, Rosberg's odds of not only winning but even of beating Hamilton to the line by quite a few positions to recover the lead of the championship were as high as possible.

In all fairness, Nico did accomplish his part of the duty by winning the race, and he did so in a dominant fashion that he needed to show at this point of the season.

However what Nico probably didn't even notice and definitely did not count on, was the mess that happened behind him in the early laps, that happened to become a pivotal moment in the course of the race.

An incident in the very first corner between both Ferraris and Max Verstappen's Red Bull caused a chaos on the rest of the field, with numerous drivers being forced to go through the outside to the track to avoid Vettel's and Räikkönen's car, a few of which were forced to pit in either due to wing damage (Vettel,Räikkönen and Verstappen) or due to punctures caused by the debris left by the accident.

A couple of other incidents and Sainz's puncture, lifted both Hamilton and Alonso up to the doorsteps of point scoring positions.

On Lap 6, a massive crash for Magnussen on the exit of Raidillon, which he fortunately came out of unharmed, caused the deployment of the safety car. Numerous drivers took the decision to pit as soon as the safety car was out, however neither the front runners nor Hamilton and Alonso were among those who pitted, which further aided the Englishman and the Spaniard to reach fifth and fourth place, respectively.

A few laps later, the red flag was brought out, stopping the race for the marshals to be able to properly repair the barrier damaged by Magnussen's crash, this meant that Hamilton and Alonso would both take the restart inside the top five, when only 10 laps before they were dead last.

Ten laps into the restarted race, one one side, the table was set for Alonso to take the amount of points that his teammate Button was poised to take before his retirement early in the race, on the other side, it was all set for Hamilton to lose the minimum amount of points to Rosberg, when at the beginning he was set to pay the ultimate price.

Hamilton's already paved way to the podium began shortly after the race resumed, as he took a few laps to sweep past Alonso and only a couple laps later he overtook Hulkenberg to put himself inside the top 3, before the middle point of the race.

Then, while Nico found himself safe at the lead, Lewis was set to reach second placed Ricciardo, only four seconds behind him, the expectations being that the Merc would eventually outpace Ricciardo's Red Bull.

A small time loss in Hamilton's next stop coincided with the subsequent stops by the cars ahead of him and thus did not undo the progress he had experienced throughout the race but probably it did end the possibility of Hamilton reaching Ricciardo at the closing stages of the race.

While both Force Indias seized control of P4 and P5 and 6th-10th positions remained very contested towards the end of the race, things at the front were pretty much set in stone, with Hamilton being unable to get close enough to Ricciardo in his last stint despite a quick last stop and with Rosberg staying safe at the front after his last stop.

After the disastrous start, Vettel and Räikkönen set limits in the damages caused by the first lap incident and arrived sixth and seventh in the end. 

An absolute shame after both drivers gave a great impression of the Scuderia's work in the summer, having put solid performances on qualifying. 

With solid starting positions and great starts before the incident, sneaking past Verstappen, and with Hamilton out of the equation, this race was crafted for Ferrari to claim a double podium, or who knows, even a shot at a victory, considering that Rosberg's gap in front was initially created by the mess that happened behind him, and without such mess, perhaps any of the two red cars could've stood a chance at beating the German.

Now, regarding the turning point of the race, the first lap incident.

From my point of view, I think it was in part Vettel that caused the big shunt, as he took the corner a bit too tight, too close to Räikkönen when he still had plenty of space in the outside. The way in which he took the turn forced Kimi to turn further to the right, where he found and made contact with Verstappen, whose role in the incident I will address in a few paragraphs. 

On the other hand, Räikkönen is not to blame at all in this, as every move he made was just in attempts to avoid hitting Vettel. He was not counting on the way Vettel turned now in Verstappen just throwing the car in the narrow space on the inside. A total shame, given the things he can do at this track.

On to Verstappen, from what I saw it seems as if the Dutchman endured a tough start and desperately tried to recover the positions lost to the Ferraris, arriving too hot at the corner and having no room to go through but a small space between Kimi's car and the barrier.

As Verstappen couldn't exit the corner as tight as he needed to in order to avoid the contact, due to his closeness to the wall in the entrance of the corner, he was forced to go wide, collecting Räikkönen in his way, the move coincided with Räikkönen's move to avoid Vettel and hence disaster happened.

Verstappen not only hampered Ferrari's aspirations in this race, but also his own team's final haul of points as the damage to his car added up to his struggles, which caused him to finish in eleventh place, when he could've easily achieved a top 5 finish.

Ricciardo recovered the day for Red Bull as a  quiet, discrete race took him to the control of the second place for most of the race, showing good pace and losing no time to Lewis Hamilton in the final two stints.

The podium from Ricciardo came in clutch, as it helped the team to remain 22 points clear of Ferrari in the second place of the constructors championship.

(amazing to be graced with Mark's presence on the podium)

Meanwhile, Ferrari's mishaps could've not come at a worse point, having lost the second place in the constructors championship to Red Bull in the last race, having shown good progress from their performances in the past few races, standing a good chance at a double podium,and being a week away from such an important event as the Italian Grand Prix.

Hopefully they will have another opportunity like the one they had today, next week in Monza.

It was a great start to the second part of the season for Force India! They were amazing during the free practices, featuring on the top five in all of them, and they were decent on qualifying, occupying sixth and seventh on the grid.

On the race, Nico Hulkenberg had a great start after the first corner shunt, getting into second place for most of the first part of the race, before the safety car, when he was called into pits, which pushed him back onto the midfield, unable to recover the positions he had been in at the start, due to Alonso's and Hamilton's rising, arriving to the line in fourth.

Just behind his teammate, in fifth, was Checo Perez. The Mexican suffered at the start, as he was one of the drivers who had to go through the outside of the track due to the incident in the first turn, but he was able to recover from this, not dropping out of the top 10 in the early stages of the race and timing his stops excellently to recover, after the relaunching of the race.

Thanks to Williams' poor weekend, collecting only 5 points, Force India's harvest of 22 has helped them to get ahead of their opponents in fourth place in the championship standings, a great achievement for the team, that looks ready to improve their last year final standing position of fifth.

Now, what does this result mean for the course of the championship?

Rosberg not only snipped 10 points off Hamilton's lead to set it back into only 9 points, but has taken an important win at an important point such as the beginning of the second part of the season.

Important to remind that the second half of the season features less races than the first, which is why this win is important for Nico as  it's a start to the second half better than any other, winning dominantly. 

Moreover, Hamilton knows that when he is committed to do so, Rosberg is capable of lacing race wins together, as he did at the beginning of the season.

With the standings favoring Hamilton, I bet Rosberg could come from summer break committed to make one final push to beat Lewis to the title.

With the races being back to back this time, I think it's even more possible for Rosberg to capture another win in a row to create more momentum.

This win and Hamilton's unlucky weekend could've not come at a better point for the German.

For Hamilton, all he has to do is not lose his cool despite weekends like this, because this could not be the last one of its kind for him. This season is looking almost like a copy of 2014, only that this time it is him who is ahead in the standings at the start of the second half, this time he is the one to be reached, this time the title is his to lose.

All he has to do is to drive without risking much, taking it one race at a time, if he tries to desperately stop a charging Rosberg from catching him in the points standings in one of the few races, he might end up risking too much and thus putting the title on the line, when he really shouldn't need to. 

Special mentions of this race have to go to Fernando Alonso because despite the fact that the Spaniard's rise to the top 10 was crafted through the incidents ahead of him, he made a great job running successfully in the midfield only losing out to Vettel to finish P7.

Both Renaults are also worthy of a mention as they had climbed to 7th and 8th positions in the first laps before Magnussen's heavy crash.

Daniil Kvyät may have finished down in 14th but similarly to the Renaults, the Toro Russian found himself fighting for the points in the first few laps. This, after a bad day in qualy.

Last but not least Esteban Gutierrez, as the Mexican once again finished the race just outside the top 10, definitely can see him taking his first points of the season anytime soon.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's it for this weekend's race review! I'll see you in a week, when F1 is ready to race in another historical venue like Monza, for the Italian Grand Prix!

Thanks a lot for the support, reads, visits, feedback and all of that!

Remember to add me to your circles on Google Plus and turn my notifications on or to become a follower of this blog so you receive a notification as soon as I post an article in my site!

Don't forget to like, +3, reshare, comment, recommend, share, leave feedback and all of that!