The DRS Zone

Tag: Lewis Hamilton

  • Dutch Grand Prix

    Is The Title Fight Over

    The Dutch Grand Prix was going perfectly to plan, until Lando Norris’ engine gave out just a handful of laps from the end. The McLaren pair, closely matched as usual were in a class of their own, even with two safety cars to neutralise the race.

    In a season where the margins between the two McLaren drivers are closely matched, one has to wonder how hard it will be for Lando to overcome a now 34 point deficit. Obviously we still have another eight races to go, and as they say anything can happen in F1, I just feel that Piastri seems so unflappable that the only way he will drop significant points is via a DNF, which to be fair as we saw with Lando, is possible. You also have to assume that at some point Lando is likely going to have to take a number of penalties with the need to have some new parts for the engine. The next few races will certainly show us how strong Norris’ resolve really is, he would have no doubt have been disappointed to finish second in Zandvoort having dominated everything up until Q3.

    Ferrari Woe

    It was a weekend to forget for Ferrari, they looked absolutely no where in practice, but managed to pull it out the bag for qualifying. Their race pace initially, although they could not get past Hadjar, looked strong. When the drizzle came the race started to unfold, Hamilton got onto the damp paint at turn 3 and couldn’t avoid hitting the wall bringing out the first safety car. It looked like a slightly clumsy accident to be honest, however looking at the off-board Hamilton was also caught out by the camber change at the top of the corner and was always going to head for the wall.

    After a VSC restart, Leclerc seemed to have intent in him, he made a cracking pass on Russell and had some great close wheel racing with him, despite Russell’s complaints on the radio. Unfortunately a few laps later he came across Antonelli as he exited the pits. Antonelli, who pitted the lap before made a wild lung up the inside of turn 3 that was never going to work and made contact with Leclerc which sent him into the barrier and back across the track, bringing out the second safety car.

    Ferrari have an odd car, on their day they seem like they can be unbeatable, however that day doesn’t happen very often and the drivers are often left chasing performance. I had been hopeful that after last seasons close battle between Ferrari and McLaren, we would get a close battle again this year, however that has not been the case and whatever they have done with the car has not worked. With their home race at Monza up next, they will be hoping for a repeat performance that got them the win last year.

    Hadjar Gets His First Podium

    With Norris retiring late on, it promoted Isack Hadjar into the final podium place. Having ran strongly all race in 4th he was in the best place to benefit from any issues the top three ran into. It was a perfectly managed race from Hadjar and the VCarb team. The strategy worked and they made no errors in the pits when the safety cars came out. It was throughly deserved and he seems a million miles away from the driver that started in Australia.

    With Hadjar’s podium however, it once again showcased the inability that these generation of F1 cars have at overtaking. Hadjar had several cars that are much faster than his, but the nature of the circuit combined with the ground effect cars and the dirty air they throw out means overtaking is almost impossible unless you have a significant speed advantage.

    Safety Cars Make The Race Interesting

    Had it not been for the safety cars, it would have meant for a very boring race. We hoped the rain would come and make it more entertaining but it didn’t really. Last year we saw over 100 overtakes on track, i’d be surprised this year if we had 15. With the loss of DRS next season, I really worry that overtaking in F1 is going to become even rarer, the last few years very few overtakes have taken place without the aid of DRS.

    Final Thoughts

    A final thought about Aston Martin. I don’t know what they have done with that car, but the last couple of races it has looked much better. I don’t know if its because the last few tracks have suited the car or if we are starting to see the Newey affect. What is clear however is that Stroll is not the drive they need if they want to be challenging the top teams. There is a potential that Stroll will have his hands on an Adrian Newey championship contender next season and I fear the teams hopes with rest solely on Alonso.

    Monza will be interesting to see how Norris recovers from this setback. Its probably a good thing that it is this weekend so he doesn’t have too much time to dwell on it. In some ways you could probably say now that being 34 points being, the pressure is now off him.

    Results

    1stOscar Piastri11thFranco Colapinto
    2ndMax Verstappen12thLiam Lawson
    3rfIsack Hadjar13thCarlos Sainz
    4thGeorge Russell14thNico Hulkenberg
    5thAlexander Albon15thGabriel Bortoleto
    6thOliver Bearman16thKimi Antonelli
    7thLance Stroll17thPierre Gasly
    8thFernando AlonsoDNFLando Norris
    9thYuki TsunodaDNFCharles Leclerc
    10thEsteban OconDNFLewis Hamilton

    Race rating 6/10

    Up Next…

    Monza, Ferrari will be hoping for a better performance and Norris will be looking to bounce back. Its a great circuit that promotes overtaking so I am hoping for a good race.

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  • 2024 Season Review – Mercedes

    The Mercedes Ups and Downs

    It was a strange season for Mercedes, they noticeably struggled in pre-season and naturally that flowed into the start of the season. They had some difficult results, particularly for Hamilton who seemed to struggle more than Russell. Come the middle part of the season their fortunes seem to change for the better. Several podiums for both drivers included a win in Austria for Russell and two wins for Hamilton in Britain and Belgium. Russell did win the Belgium Grand Prix, only to be disqualified after the race after the car failed to make the minimum mandated weight. From then on until the end of the season it was a bit hit and miss, a podium in Baku and a 1-2 in Las Vegas being the only real highlight. Toto Wolff blamed the car even though Russell seemed to regularly extract the best results out of the car. In the end 4th in the constructors is the worse they have finished for several years, having lost ground to both McLaren and Ferrari.

    The Team

    There were no real changes to the team structure for the 2024 season. James Allison was the latest of the more notable members of the team, but he had already arrived for the 2024 season. They did however go with a different concept for 2024 regarding the car design. Not something that seemed to pay off, however when the car worked, it was clearly very fast. The team struggled to understand the car at times and subsequent updates did not always correlate to the track.

    The Drivers

    Obviously, the biggest talking point here was the announcement that Lewis Hamilton would be leaving at the end of 2024 for Ferrari. The announcement made before the 2024 season got under way, suggested it could be a year of struggles for Hamilton. I say this because the team will naturally start to shy away from sharing new concepts and ideas with the driver leaving and the knowledge, he would be a lower priority for any new developments coming to the car. That seemed to show with Hamilton’s early struggles, however he seemed to get over them, got himself a few wins and ended up 22 points behind Russell in the standings.

    Russell had a solid season all things considered, and he will be looking forward to 2025 where he will be the team leader.

    For next season Andrea Kimi Antonelli joins the team. The jury is still out on the rookie as his only outing in the Mercedes car during practice at Monza he put it into the wall. If Antonelli tries to go too quick too soon we could see the Merc in the wall a fair bit.

    For 2025….

    Mercedes will want to move back up the Constructors table, they finished 2023 in 2nd and 4th in 2024. They desperately need to put more pressure on McLaren and Ferrari. They need Antonelli to be more consistent than quick to start with and if they are not at the front, they should be in a good position to take advantage of any issues with the guys at the front.

    2024 Season Rating 6/10

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  • Happy New Year

    A Round Up Of The Gossip

    I hope if you are reading this you had a good Christmas and New Year and took the time to recharge and indulge. Since my last post there has been a few items of gossip worth talking about, so let’s get straight to it.

    Cheerio Checo

    Red Bull confirmed the departure of Sergio Perez from the team with Immediate effect and as expected announced Liam Lawson as his replacement. You must feel for Checo as he comes across as being a nice guy but ultimately you can’t be surprised at his departure given his form last season. F1 is a ruthless sport and Red Bull are known to be one of the more ruthless teams and arguably his results this season, or lack of them, potentially cost RB the Constructors Championship. Red Bull did however shoot themselves in the foot and made it harder by giving him the new contract just before the Canadian GP, I personally think they should have tried to go after Sainz, but I understand that Sainz Snr and Jos Verstappen don’t like each other, shock.

    He is replaced by Liam Lawson, getting the drive over Yuki Tsunoda, despite Tsunoda comfortably beating him in their head-to-head last season. For me the jury is still out on Lawson, I personally don’t think he’s shown anywhere as much as some of the other drivers that have had that second seat, but time will tell, and I may be proved wrong. I can see however, that he will likely cause sparks within the team and will possibly get his collar felt by Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen.

    One wonders what Tsunoda must be thinking, he has done everything they have asked of him, and he has improved massively since he first entered F1. Unless Lawson fails spectacularly and gets the early axe, I think he will look elsewhere for 2026. Hard to know really where he would go, however. His best options might be Haas or trying for one of the spots with the new Cadillac team.

    What next for Checo? There is a strong possibility that we may not see him as a driver on the grid again. As with Tsunoda, spots for 2026 are already looking slim and unless there are any significant driver swaps/ moves the only real place I could see Checo ending up is either Haas or Cadillac, both teams would certainly benefit from the financial backing he brings.

    Isack Hadjar Takes The Last Seat

    With the promotion of Lawson, the young Frenchman takes the last spot on the grid. Again, for me I don’t really think this is a particularly strong choice. I have seen him in several F2 & F3 races over the last couple of years and whilst he has flashes of brilliance, he does have occasions where he goes missing or makes a lot of mistakes. For example, he had the chance to win the 2024 F2 Championship and stalled on the grid, then he had the audacity on team radio to blame the team! Time will tell and we will see how ruthless RB will be next year if he does not perform.

    Bottas Returns To Mercedes

    Another one to lose his seat at the end of 2024, Bottas is returning to Mercedes to be their reserve driver. Smart move for me, he did well when he was alongside Hamilton and will bring some experience that Antonelli can learn from for next season. He is also in prime position should Antonelli fail to deliver anything but the car back in bits.

    Hamilton Starts At Ferrari

    Finally, as its the start of a new year, that means that Hamilton has officially now joined Ferrari, despite the hoopla that surrounded him in Abu Dhabi he has not left the sport and will be donning the red overalls this season.

    What’s To Come?

    For F1 next up is the fancy multi-team reveal of their 2025 cars/ liveries in London. It’s more likely to be a livery reveal than an actual car launch.

    For me over the next couple of weeks I will be releasing my review and thoughts of 2024 team by team. I will start from the back of the grid and move forward. Looking forward to starting to add more now we are in 2025, evolving and hopefully growing. To stay up to date please subscribe (its free) and drop a like on the post.

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