F1 So Far

Q1) Throughout the season several drivers have added slight adaptations or had radical design changes to their helmets. Do you think that drivers should stick to one distinctive design, and then just adapt their design slightly for special occasions to keep a consistency, or do you like seeing the constant changes?

A: Couldn't help but giggle at this question when I first read it! The regular Fan Formula crew will know why, especially @AilishCatherine, @squiffany and @PAGIE03. #F1Smut. I'll say no more ;)

But being childish aside, I really don't mind what the drivers do with their helmets. Yes it's a pain trying to figure out who's driving what car when they change their designs constantly, some being worse than others (yes Mr Pointy Finger, I'm looking at you). But a racing driver's helmet is their identity, and a person's identity is ever-evolving, so I've no problem with them doing as they please with them.

This may be a slightly biased view, seeing as I'm entering a certain helmet design competition...


Q2) Which driver has disappointed you through their performance the most this season and why?

A: Jean-Eric Vergne. When you look at his performances compared to Daniel Ricciardo, he really hasn't done that badly (JEV's average finishing position has been 12th, compared to Ricciardo's 11th), but he hasn't been as good as I was expecting him to be. All the pre-season hype, as well as the high expectations of the Red Bull young driver programme, were promising great things from him that haven't materialised yet. It's a shame really, as despite him not looking very good at the moment I think the car is holding both of the Toro Rosso drivers back.

Q3) [as suggested by @F1_Fans_Updates]) We've had seven races and seven different winners, but what was your favourite race win and why?

A: I have two. Sorry for being awkward!

They're both for drivers that got their first wins. Nico Rosberg's victory in China is one of my choices as it was brilliant to see everyone willing him on to win. The outpouring of affection and congratulations for him on Twitter was lovely and I'll remember it for some time.

The other is Pastor Maldonado's win in Spain. Not because I'm a fan of Maldonado, but because it was wonderful to see Williams finally get a win after the torrid time they've endured of late, and it was their first win in eight years! It was long overdue and the best reward for the Williams crew, who will have worked very hard over the winter to deliver what's turned out to be a decent car up to now. It was quite emotional!


BONUS) This weekend saw a break for Formula One but a variety of other motorsport races taking place. Did you watch any of them and if so, which ones and why? If not, why not?

A: I didn't watch the MotoGP race at Silverstone as I'm not really into bikes. Although, kudos has to be given to Cal Crutchlow for racing with a broken AND dislocated ankle, and finishing the race in 6th after starting last. What a man!

My main focus for the weekend was the Le Mans 24 Hours. I wanted to make an effort to watch it despite not knowing the faintest thing about endurance racing, and I'm glad I did as I really enjoyed it, despite being a wooss and going to sleep at 1am. So much so, that a couple of the Fan Formula crew want to go next year! It's only a pipe-dream at the moment, but I've met many great people through Twitter and I'm sure a Fan Formula holiday would provide more of the same, so it'd be a weekend I'd definitely be up for. Just need to get saving the pennies now...

Sunny Sakhir

Hello everyone! Firstly apologies for not doing any #FanFormula posts for the last couple of weeks, I've had various events back home which meant that I couldn't write my thoughts up. Hopefully, normal service will now resume.

Q1) Friday saw Force India pull out of FP2 due to an incident involving their team personnel on the Wednesday night. What did you make of their decision and the controversy around FOM showing no coverage of the team during qualifying?

A: After what happened to those Force India mechanics I really don't blame some of them for going home. It was interesting to hear deputy team principal Bob Fernley say that the team were pretty much on the verge of a meltdown, had they not skipped FP2 to get back their hotel before sunset, so in that sense I thought it was a sensible decision and one that was for the the greater good of the team. Though it didn't seem to affect their performance all that much, with Paul Di Resta equalling his best-ever finish in Formula 1 by crossing the line in 6th.

The Curious Case of the Invisible Force India's... © Force India/Sutton Images

However, qualifying in particular will be remembered for FOM's apparent snub of the team's performance. It's fair to say that Force India have had a somewhat lukewarm start to this season, so making Q3 was quite an achievement that many weren't expecting. Unfortunately we never got to see any of their hard work, as hardly a shot of them made our TV screens. Social media went rife with conspiracy theories that Bernie Ecclestone had ordered FOM not to cover the team as revenge for them missing FP2, while Bernie's comments on the matter didn't help:

"Nobody cares if someone is 9th or 11th, only the people that are watching a particular team"

By that logic, no-one cared when Michael Schumacher only qualified 18th due to problems; no-one cared when Sebastian Vettel qualified 11th in China; no-one cared when Kimi Raikkonen qualified 18th on his return to the sport in Australia, after so much hype. I often wonder if Bernie makes these controversial comments just to draw more attention to the sport (as the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity). At a time when the whole world has been scrutinising Formula 1, comments such as these show that he's becoming increasingly out-of-touch and as such, it really wouldn't surprise me if he did order FOM to snub the Force India's as revenge.


Q2 [as suggested by @HedgeryHoops]) The stewards reviewed the two incidents between Nico Rosberg and Hamilton/Alonso and have decided not to penalise him. Do you agree with their decision? If not, what would you have done?

A: No I don't agree! I couldn't believe what I was seeing as the incidents, especially the one with Hamilton, reminded me of the Schumacher and Barrichello incident at Hungary 2010:

If it had been another few centimetres Hamilton would have slammed into that barrier, and if that run-off had been grass instead of concrete a crash would have been almost certain to happen. At least Schumi had the good grace to apologise to Rubens after their scrap, unlike Nico, who defended his actions and said that it was good racing. He's entitled to his opinion but in my view pushing another racer off the track, especially so close to barriers and walls, is completely unacceptable and downright dangerous, and he should have been given a drive-through penalty for both incidents.


Q3) Bahrain was our first dry race of the season, which saw the first win for Red Bull and a double podium for Lotus. Do you think that this indicates that even without weather intervening, that the grid is a lot closer this year and that we will continue to see a variety of drivers and constructors on the podium for the rest of the season?

A: The grid has definitely been much closer this year and that's been evident in qualifying, with the top 10 in Bahrain (barring Alonso and Di Resta, who didn't set times in order to save tyres) being covered by just under a second. Red Bull not being the dominant force they were last year, Ferrari struggling, McLaren's pitstop problems, Mercedes' tyre wear and Lotus' pace have really opened up this year's championship and have given us some great racing up to now, which makes a nice change from the domination of last year. Having said that, with Spain being the traditional time of the teams bringing big updates, I think the top 4 teams (McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Lotus) will pull away slightly from then on, but the way the results have gone up to now it would be silly to make any concrete guess as to how the rest of the season may unfold.


BONUS) Who was your driver of the day and why?

A: This is a really hard one to answer. There were quite a few great drives to choose from - Vettel did what he does best and left the rest for dust after starting from the front; Webber scored his fourth 4th place in a row in a great show of consistency; Raikkonen performed some great overtaking, as well as using the set of soft tyres he saved in qualifying to challenge Vettel for the win; and Di Resta managed to make a 2-stop strategy work despite a late charge from Alonso.

But my driver of the day is everyone's favourite croissant/giraffe/Sid the Sloth, Romain Grosjean. He finally proved that he has the raw pace to score podiums, maybe even wins, and gave Raikkonen a good run for a while before having to yield to save his tyres. It was a very mature drive and I have a feeling we'll be seeing much more of him on the podium, as long as he can keep out of trouble!

Smile! © AFP

Mega Melbourne

Wow, what a brilliant race we've had this weekend! There were plenty of great performances from a whole host of drivers and teams which made for a really exciting race, though I'll admit Vettel was extremely lucky with that safety car. Well done to Button for a great win, hard luck Lewis, but I'm sure he'll bounce back. Onwards with #FanFormula!

Q1) Williams appear to have come back strong with a great battle between Maldonado and Alonso. But what did you make of the 'midfield' teams today battling against the like of Ferrari and Mercedes?

A: I thought it was absolutely brilliant. It was great to see Williams fighting for those points after such a torrid couple of seasons and I was genuinely gutted for Maldonado when he had his hefty shunt, despite some questionable moves earlier on in the race. Watching the 'midfield' teams mixing it up with the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes was so exciting to watch; Sauber's tussles with the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg made up half the action that went on in the race, and it was so wonderful to see them have a really good go at getting some points. The battle between Alonso and Maldonado was gripping too, kudos to Fernando for managing to stave off Pastor in the end, as it was no mean feat with that extra DRS zone this year. All in all it was just such an exciting first race, helped a lot by Ferrari and Mercedes' performances seemingly becoming the opposite of their qualifying pace.

Q2) What do you make of the rule that lets back-markers unlap themselves under the safety car? Does it just prolong the safety car period, or is it fairer on those that would be out of place due to lapped cars?

A: Let me start by saying that knowing Hamilton would be pushing for Vettel, unhindered, after that safety car today was a quite a nerve-wracking thought! It certainly makes for a much more exciting spectacle for the fans, but for sure it prolongs the safety car period by quite a distance. I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking 'just get on with it' by the fourth lap under it, but I think it'll be something we'll get used to eventually. Given more time, the positive of drivers being able to have clear runs at each other on the restart will outweigh the negative of waiting longer to see it happen.


Q3) If you watched via Sky what is your overall opinion of the new team and coverage? If you watched via BBC, how did you find watching the highlights show rather than live coverage? Did it lack the excitement knowing that the race was already over?

A: I watched both the Sky and BBC coverage as I'm still in two minds as to which provider I'm going to stick with this season.

Sky Sports F1

Sky need to be given some space for the first few races, as they're new to covering the sport and the team will need time to gel and properly understand how they'll work together. A lot of people have argued that Simon Lazenby seems to be a little 'wooden' and lacking some knowledge and charisma, but the guy is relatively new to Formula 1 and I imagine must have been quite nervous (it's shown, with him sometimes interrupting Martin Brundle and/or Damon Hill in full flow to get a word in), so I'll be giving him the benefit of the doubt for now. Getting Ted Kravitz as part of the team has been a major coup, because the money Sky have to invest in technology has allowed him to really delve deep into the technical side of the sport; I've really enjoyed him explaining about the new innovations with the SkyPad, particularly Mercedes' rear-wing 'F-duct' and the different solutions teams have come up with in trying to cope with the double diffuser ban. In the commentary box David Croft and Martin Brundle seem to be a great pairing, you can tell they get on well and both have a raft of knowledge - Crofty made a few mistakes today but it was a pretty hectic race, and you can't deny that the guy has passion.

Having said all that, up to now I've been a little disappointed with build-up and post quali/race round-ups. This may just be because I have a short attention span, but 30 minutes build-up for practice and 90 minutes for the race seems much too long, so much so that at some points Simon seemed to struggle to think of what to bring up for Martin and Damon to discuss. Keep in mind that this is being written prior to the airing of the F1 magazine show, but I can't see what Georgie Thompson is bringing to the coverage up to now, apart from being something pretty to look at. When she's presented analysis on the SkyPad it's been clear that she doesn't really understand what Anthony Davidson is saying. Again, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, but I'm sure she knows that she'll need to do her homework to keep up to speed. Overall I think Sky have made a very promising start and that given time, they'll improve even more.

BBC F1

Watching extended highlights will of course never be the same as watching a race live, but the BBC seem to have coped incredibly well with the budget cuts imposed on them. I wasn't too keen on the idea of Ben Edwards taking the lead comms helm but I take it back now - he may get a bit over-excited, but him and David Coulthard have already established a good rapport and were pretty much flawless during the race. Gary Anderson's technical input has also been a very interesting addition, while the camaraderie between Jake, DC and Eddie Jordan is still great to watch despite the shirt jokes being very old now. It's this in particular that gives the BBC a much more casual feel, which is perfect for them as the casual F1 fan is their target audience after all. It's not to everyone's taste, but they're doing a good job and I'll look forward to watching their live race coverage.


BONUS) What was your favourite moment of the weekend?

Vettel's pass on Rosberg in the first couple of laps was sublime, it was very brave of him to try that on the outside of a corner and it payed off beautifully. And who said he couldn't overtake?