Archive for category: The Point by Gian Carlo Minardi

Lewis Hamilton closed the tour-de-force of 4 grands prix in five weeks with another very important win that brings his advantage over his direct rival Sebastian Vettel to 24 points. Hamilton is the driver in the best shape at the wheel of the best car supported also by the most valid squire, Valtteri Bottas who was certainly the protagonist of a great race when he thrashed Vettel, even if he then ruined everything in the final laps when he touched the Ferrari driver and then also Ricciardo. Bottas clearly had problems with his tyres and now we will wait and see what the marshals decide.

Ferrari says goodbye to Budapest with second and third place and more points than expected, even if they must regret the two mistakes in the pit stops that cost Vettel and Raikonnen precious seconds that would surely have allowed them to come back onto the track in front of Mercedes’ Finn driver.

It was a great race by Ricciardo. On this occasion Red Bull did not live up to expectations and also suffered problems of reliability that forces Verstappen to retire. The Australian was very good as he managed in any case to finish at the foot of the podium after the order to Bottas gave him back the position.

It was a very good result also for Toro Rosso reaching sixth place with Gasly and for McLaren that finished in eighth place with Fernando Alonso. I am sorry to see Force India in difficulty as the team had achieved incredible results in the last two years.

Now we have to wait three weeks for the world championship to start once more at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza. However, this Mercedes is now scary, especially in view of two such very fast tracks.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Ferrari that wins so well on a track such as that of Silverstone, which on paper should have been unfavourable, says a lot about the path to the world championship and can only be a good sign in view of the next two rounds in Germany and Hungary.

We saw an absolutely fantastic weekend and race that was run to the sound of battle until the last lap. Ferrari showed that it is decidedly worthy of the situation with excellent work by the drivers, mechanics and the people at the wall. Qualifying was also stupendous with records and a minimal gap (44 thousandths of a second) between two world champions who shared the front row.

Lewis Hamilton will surely be very angry even though he made a great climb back to second place in any case, limiting the damage. I surely do not share his behaviour because a World Champion such as he must respect the rules and must know how to deal with any negative situation even from the media point of view.

Kimi Raikonnen took all the blame for colliding with the British driver even if I do not share this manner of assigning penalties with decisions far removed between one episode and another and too subjective. The Finnish driver made a mistake and he was rightly penalized but in other occasions the penalties were much lighter. Excluding the mistake in the first lap the Finn became a leading player with a solid race that finished in third place ahead of Bottas.

Ferrari leaves Silverstone after having consolidated its leadership in both ladders, with the twenty point advantage over Mercedes in the Constructors’ championship and with Vettel holding scoring an eight point lead over Hamilton.

We prepare for the second part of the tour-de-force in two weeks time with another two grands prix (Germany and Hungary) in successive weeks before the summer break.

Gian Carlo Minardi

With Hamilton’s win and Vettel’s fourth place there is once more the 14 point gap between the two drivers that existed before the Canadian Grand Prix. In France the situation was turned upside down once more, this time in favour of the British driver. This is the confirmation that we are faced with a championship that will be uncertain until the end and where mistakes will make the difference. This time it was the Ferrari driver’s turn to make one.

Vettel started very well trying to attack Bottas immediately at the first curve, however they collided. It is not a matter of being caught up in the heat, above all when you run on a track where, as we saw, it is possible to overtake. It was a grand prix with a number of overtaking manoeuvres and between the number two drivers Kimi Raikonnen was not caught unprepared. In addition to overtaking a number of cars he also gained a good podium in front of Red Bull which, with Verstappen, was the protagonist of a great grand prix close behind the winner.

On paper the Paul Ricard was a race in favour of Mercedes and Hamilton’s times confirmed this, especially in light of the times set from the 23rd to the 26th laps.

It was once again a decidedly positive weekend for Leclerc who “gave” Alfa Romeo Sauber a vital point on the occasion of the Milanese carmaker’s 108th anniversary, showing that he is now ready to make a leap in quality. The moods are decidedly different at Williams and McLaren that are paying a heavy price of assessment and organization. Williams’ situation is inexplicable as, despite counting upon a fantastic Mercedes motor, it is not going through the development and growth that had been hinted at in recent years. It is surely not being helped by its two drivers. It is certainly clear that McLaren’s problems are to be found within and the prediction made by Alonso lets us understand that they are well aware of their limits. They are two of the most famous teams in the history of F1 and it is very sad to witness this involution.

We now start a very intense and hot month of July with four appointments (Austria, England, Germany and Hungary) within five weeks in which there will be no time to breathe and at its end we will have a very significant picture.

Gian Carlo Minardi

With his win in Monte Carlo Grand Prix Daniel Ricciardo caught up with Hamilton and Vettel with two wins each and the difference in points is only due to the different placings. This opens up an extremely interesting championship with Red Bull becoming the needle of the scales in the struggle between Mercedes and Ferrari.

It will be interesting to see how the team will now behave considering that Max Verstappen is now out of the running. His mistake a few minutes from the end the Free Practice 3 was unforgivable and he compromised his whole weekend. After three seasons I find that mistake unacceptable and those in Red Bull should intervene, also because Ricciardo’s future is drawing increasingly away from Milton Keyes and ever closer to Maranello. Should the farewell materialize, Marko and Horner will have to solve a not so minor problem on the driver’s front, to which must be added the unknown factor of the supplier of the power-unit. They still have an option in Carlos Sainz jr who is currently committed to the Renault Team, but for the first time they may be forced to opt for a driver from outside their orbit.

We saw an extremely technical and competitive grand prix with five cars in the space of six seconds. With these numbers, on a track such as Monte Carlo, it is practically impossible to see overtaking at the top. Ricciardo achieved a win with authority and determination despite the problems with his car and with Vettel and Hamilton catching up behind him.

I am increasingly puzzled by these tyres. The difference lap times with the HyperSoft, UltraSoft and SuperSoft was practically nil.

In two weeks we will be back on track at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Gian Carlo Minardi

The design of the grand prix changed with the entry of the safety car after the accident between the two Toro Rosso cars caused by Gasly’s great mistake. Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull achieved a strong win as well as putting up the race’s fastest lap thanks to great intuition and perfect execution of the two consecutive pit stops by the mechanics.

They were also helped by luck because both Ricciardo and Verstappen were in the right place at the right time. When the safety car took to the track Mercedes and Ferrari had already crossed the line and they had no chance to enter pit lane.

In any case, this result will give Homer’s men something to think about since they are letting escape (with one foot already in Italy) a driver who was the author of a great error free race, unlike his companion.

With an impetuous act Verstappen managed to ruin not only what good had been done up till then in his Shanghai weekend, but he was also the inconsiderate referee of the world championship who heavily conditioned Sebastian Vettel’s performance and result. The Ferrari driver managed only in part to limit the damage. I found the 10” penalty inflicted by the Dutchman’s commissars light, after they compared the contact with the Gasly-Hartley episode (with the Frenchman receiving the same penalty). It was a pity that Verstappen ruined the race for the championship leader. The commissars should use a heavy fist with repeat offenders and evaluate not only the gravity of the act, but also the consequences of the incident.

After the first three grands prix the championship is becoming increasingly interesting with five drivers within a handful of points and a fascinating battle between three teams with Red Bull growing, Ferrari with both cars on the front row of the grid for the second consecutive time and Mercedes still without a win.

We also saw an intense grand prix in the rear with an overtaking manoeuvre in the limit by Alonso at the expense of a Vettel in difficulty with the car. A race within the race which ended with three different drivers of as many teams on the podium (Ricciardo-Bottas-Raikonnen). The Finn sacrifices himself for the team by delaying his stop and then defended the result with a strong race which finished on the podium.

In two weeks we will be in Azerbaijan, a very insidious circuit which last year was the stage for the contact between Vettel and Hamilton during the period with the safety car that ignited the rivalry between the two. Between the two litigants Ricciardo emerged as the winner in front of Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll.

Gian Carlo Minardi

The 2018 Formula 1 World Championship began under the sign of two great World Champions, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton who shared the win and pole position respectively. The result was certainly a tight fit for the Englishman who had to “surrender” to Ferrari which was very good in its strategy and supported by Sebastian who showed that he is a winning driver in times of need.

Valtteri Bottas’ mistake in qualifying had a negative effect on Mercedes’ strategy when found itself outnumbered by the two Ferraris, but it will be a championship which will also be played on mistakes and in which the contribution of all its main players will be essential. Despite the three DRS areas, Melbourne confirmed that it is a difficult track for overtaking and the Finn was unable to regain positions despite the potential of his W09.

The gap between Ferrari and Mercedes seen in qualifying (0.664 of a second) came down during the race, even though there were still four tenths of a second between Hamilton and Vettel’s best times. It was a very technical race run at a very high rhythm (14 cars on full laps with only Hartley’s Toro Rosso lapped) with Red Bull which made the fastest lap with Daniel Ricciardo who finished in fourth place behind Kimi Raikonnen despite the (excessive) penalty given him by the race marshals on the starting grid. It was a false start by Max Verstappen who should examine admit his blame after the errors he made as this is already his third season.

McLaren promoted

Alonso placed his McLaren-Renault in fifth place between Ricciardo and Verstappen’s Red Bulls with Vandoorne who finished the weekend in ninth place. The team from Woking needs these results in order to look for new sponsors which could breathe new life into the team and from which there are few comforting signs. From what we learn it seems that McLaren-Automotive is up for sale. BMW seems to be interested.

Disaster Haas

It was a decidedly bad day for Haas after the positive results in qualifying and the first part of the race. Two important results were wiped out in just as many mistakes. In any case, it is still the car to watch as it was able to take a great leap forward compared to last year.

So ends the first grand prix. In two weeks the second act will take place in Bahrain.

Gian Carlo Minardi