Monday 6th July 2015

Motorsport on Monday: 06/07/2015

Showman Lewis wows the crowds. Again

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On pole and with his clutch functioning, this should have been a Lewis Hamilton masterclass: he'd have led at the first corner and then monstered the race in an uneventful but patriotically-pleasing fashion. But not a bit. Making the 2015 British Grand Prix a don't-fall-asleep thriller.

Blissfully it's been all over the news sports reports, how Lewis fought back and won in front of 140,000 people, but it was the racing along the way that was most satisfying. That mistake after the first safety car that put him behind Bottas, the Schumacher-like in lap after the Williams finally pitted, the outstanding "was it local knowledge" call to pit just at the right moment.

If only all F1 races were like this; if only all F1 circuits were classics, rather than cynically-built tedio-bores with no crowds. F1's joint-oldest race circuit has put the excitement back into the sport - and to think we're possibly going to lose the other, Monza...

Could have been great for Williams - wasn't

Williams blunders
We hate reading it as much as we hated watching it, but Williams got it wrong. Given a surprise 1-2 at the start of the race, Valtteri Bottas was clearly faster than Felipe Massa, with the prowling Mercs in hot pursuit. A team that really races should have raced: let the quicker guy past and try to build up a lead that could take the fight to Hamilton and Rosberg.

But no. Williams was instead, for a few crucial laps, a team like a rabbit blinded by the headlights. It froze. It bafflingly told the drivers not to race and so didn't allow Bottas past. When it finally came to its senses, it was too late. Reward for this silly anti-racer stumble? No win, not even the podium place it deserved, but fourth and fifth.

Now any right-thinking British motorsport fan loves Williams, which is why we can say this: that was the wrong call. You blew it. Silverstone was a race you really could have won, but pit wall procrastinations meant that, despite being given a chance, you didn't take it. Will you get another chance like that this season? Probably not. Which is why, for all its brilliance, a part of the British Grand Prix was tarnished. Please, Williams, don't let it happen again.

Things have to improve soon, right?

McLaren: oh, McLaren
To fans, things are going from bad to worse for McLaren. To McLaren, things are going exactly to plan and looking more and more positive with every race. No, I can't square that one, either. But I do know that, almost half the season in, still tooling round at the back of the grid battling with the Manors is, in PR terms, disastrous. We may well be proven wrong when Honda develop sufficiently to become a Mercedes-like force - but patience is thin in F1 and how long will people like Alonso stick around waiting for it to come good?

Even Schumacher at Ferrari started from a better base than this, which is how he had the opportunity to pounce when the rain fell in Spain in 1996. Alonso was perhaps thinking of that when he signed the contract; now, he's maybe more keen to get out of it, and certainly not at all keen to look at what Vettel is doing in his old Ferrari.

The experts say there's more of the same in store for McLaren-Honda over the next few races, meaning yet more Q1 drop-outs and yet more dismal, depressing messages over the radio. The ignominy was compounded at Silverstone when the two cars hit each other, leaving one of the two former World Champions driving the slothful cars to trudge back to the pits in front of his home crowd, denied the chance to at least try a bit of his well-known wet-weather magic later on. How much more pain is in store for McLaren before something gives?

Aston rumours only that for now; let's see

Aston Martin Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Infiniti Racing?
Because Red Bull has taken the bizarre PR approach of rubbishing the engine supplier that helped it to four World Championships at every opportunity, many in the paddock are wondering where it can turn to. Obviously not Honda (although if they're like this with Renault, it would be hilarious to see how Red Bull coped if they DID have Honda), which leaves Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz.

Ferrari seemed most likely until Saturday evening - when Autocar reported that extraordinary conversations were underway to rebrand a Merc engine as Aston Martin and start supplying them to Red Bull from next season. It would be a badge-engineering deal rather like the current one that sticks the Infiniti badge on Renault motors, made possible by Mercedes' five per cent stake and tech-sharing partnership with Aston Martin.

"A load of rubbish," Niki Lauda in his inimitable style told Reuters. "We have not been asked, we never thought about it. That's it." But then, respond others, he would say that, wouldn't he? The thought is absolutely fascinating; now let's see how it develops this week...

[Sources: Autocar, LAT]

 

[Oddball RS]

I don't follow,

"A team that really races should have raced: let the quicker guy past and try to build up a lead that could take the fight to Hamilton and Rosberg."

That's not racing is it? that's what they used to do......

As for Honda, you expect them to get to Mercedes levels? I really wouldn't hold your breath, times have changed, I would put more money on them admitting defeat and bailing.