The Roar
The Roar

Ben Waterworth

Roar Guru

Joined July 2019

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Ben is a journalist and radio host currently living and working in Sydney after stints in Canada, New Zealand & New York. He has a particularly strong passion (and somewhat obsession) with Formula 1, as well as North American sports & the Olympics. Ask him about his beloved Raptors winning the NBA Championship in 2019 or Chloe Esposito winning gold in 2016. He'll happily engage in conversation with you about them again and again and and again.... www.benwaterworth.com

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Yeah Alfa has been a surprise. Started off quite well but fell off a cliff rapidly. It’s a shame

Azerbaijan GP talking points: Perez a bona fide contender as Red Bull pull away from pack

Ricciardo definitely would’ve had a bit of a smile on his face this weekend it would have to be said

Verstappen silences Aston threat with Bahrain GP Pole

Definitely early days but I guess we can hope for a few of them to come through!

Verstappen silences Aston threat with Bahrain GP Pole

Pot calling the kettle black my friend

Five talking points from the 2020 F1 Season

By answering your question? Lol. Okay champ

Five talking points from the 2020 F1 Season

Always have that love ready to go…tables beware!

NFL power rankings: Week 15

As someone who has had to be quiet for all my life around his love of the Bills, can I please just use this opportunity to say this: #BillsMafia

NFL power rankings: Week 15

There was a Russian Grand Prix?

Five talking points from the 2020 F1 Season

I would think referring to it still as a ‘boring season’ would be fairly explanatory to your question

Five talking points from the 2020 F1 Season

Yeah I never understand why nobody really complains about this notion to add concrete run offs to all the new circuits. It doesn’t punish a mistake. Why are we worrying about drivers going over track limits and being warned about it? There shouldn’t even be that option. Bring back sand & gravel traps so a mistake is punished like how it should be

Five talking points from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Fantastic article. For stats geeks like myself, this just gets the juices flowing. Fascinating stuff

Analysing Australia’s most successful ODI cricketers

My guess is SCH as MSC was only ever because Ralf was around at the time, so it helped distinguish Ralf & Michael with RSC & MSC. So I’d assume they’ll just go with SCH, although it would be nice to see MSC return to our screens

Five talking points from the Sakhir Grand Prix

Ah wasn’t aware that Fittipaldi had been confirmed. They did seem satisfied with his performance so wouldn’t be surprising

Five talking points from the Sakhir Grand Prix

At the time the conspiracy was that Ferrari asked him to ‘make the mistake’ so that Fernando could take the win, and they were mightily happy with 2nd as it was a shock to see Sauber finish 2nd without BMW behind them at the best of times. But it was an amazing effort all the same

Five talking points from the Sakhir Grand Prix

A lot. Definitely

Five talking points from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Verstappen set the standard of younger drivers coming in. You have a 17-year-old coming in and everybody loses it and thinks that’s the way. That’s something about Stroll nobody remembers. He was 18 when he made his debut. The second youngest in history. And people expected another Verstappen but as much as I love Lance, he ain’t no Verstappen. So that sort of made it so youth becomes more of a factor. I remember in 1998 when Esteban Tuero made his debut at just a smidge under 20 and people lost their minds at how young he was. And Jenson Button in 2000. Then Kimi in 2001. And these guys were 20 and 21. Now that almost seems too old! Remember Webber was 25 when he made his debut and Alan McNish was 33, both in 2002! Could you imagine a driver that old making their debut now? Would be unheard of. That’s why it’s just fascinating the age scenario in F1 now. It has it’s ups and downs. And similar to what I said about Albon, I want to be wrong about Ocon. I always am open to being proven wrong. But I just don’t see it. Never have. I honestly thought Pascal Wehrlein was a far far better talent back in their Manor days, but somehow he got overlooked instead for Ocon. But hey, that’s probably why I’m not an F1 team owner eh?

Five talking points from the Bahrain Grand Prix

The early 2010s was definitely an interesting era for potential Ferrari drivers. I think ultimately Kubica was the domino there that made all that happen. He would’ve surely been in a Ferrari had he not had his accident, and then you would wonder if Alonso would’ve stuck around had Kubica got the better of him. Webber too was very close to signing but didn’t, and it wasn’t until Massa finally got dick of them and left that things finally changed a bit. Still dreaming of that day when an Aussie finally ends up in red. It’s a weird ‘could’ve been’ story with Jones, Webber and Ricciardo all so close but just so far away from it.

Five talking points from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Hmmm Magnussen I don’t necessarily agree with. I think Kevin is just a balls to the wall racer who doesn’t give a rats about how he races. I actually like his style and attitude. It’s easy why he gets under the skin of other drivers but it’s real old school and I like it.

Five talking points from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Romain is an interesting one. He definitely has a reputation that’s for sure and alongside a certain great Venezuelan, has that distinction of being that Andrea de Cesaris of the modern era. But I will say that Romain had a period there where he was overlooked as a shining talent. That 2012-13 period when he was constantly on the podium was widely overlooked in my eyes and really should’ve caught more teams eye. Romain actually did an interview recently saying that a few drivers around the early 2010s were overlooked because there weren’t any opportunities for them which I have to say I agree with him. He mentioned other drivers like Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg who say had of gotten a start today or a few years earlier might’ve been in a better team or position. But that’s sport right? Look at tennis, and how many greats we will never see when you have the Federers and Williams dominating the game. It’s how it happens.

Perhaps Romain will end up in the F1 rejects series aka Formula E shortly. At least there won’t be a fuel tank to explode and risk his life that way.

Five talking points from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Completely agree with you on all levels on all your points. My point though I will say with Ocon is that he isn’t a young driver fresh out of F2. This is his third full season in F1, his fourth if you include his near half a season back in 2016. He is somebody who many people touted as the next big thing and bemoaned his absence when he lost his seat in 2019. Yet, to me, he has proved nothing to show this shine he has about him and this season he has routinely been put in his place and is basically at the level I feel he has always been at. And when you have drivers such as Perez and Hulkenberg sitting on the sidelines, I think it’s just a travesty.

In regards to Albon, yes. Again, agree. I do hope I’m wrong. But I think he gets a lot of free passes based on his likeability too, when you look at Gasly, who at the time I was one of those people who agreed he should’ve been dumped. But look at him, he has flourished. I was on the page that Kvyat should’ve gotten the gig at Red Bull, not Albon, as I think Dan had a very underrated 2019 and proved he was somewhat decent in that Red Bull when he was in the team. I firmly believe it was harsh he got dumped so quickly, which in hindsight is stupid to say because of course that lead to the enigma that is Verstappen so it was the right call, but Kvyat has always been a tad underrated in my eyes and I think he would’ve done RB much better service than Albon. Put Alex back in AT next year and make him work for it just like Pierre has. And if that is in another direction than Red Bull, so be it. It’s worked for Carlos, and he’s about to become a Ferrari driver. Red Bull is a cruel cruel team and is very harsh on their drivers. Look at the likes of someone like Jean-Eric Vergne. A supreme talent who was on par, if not slightly better than Danny Ric at TR. He got scrapped and has flourished in Formula E.

Anyways, I’m totally rambling, the point is I agree with your comments but wanted to clarify my point on Ocon! Always appreciate your comments!

Five talking points from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Appreciate your words as always Nelson! Have to say we were on similar wavelengths in our articles this race with Ocon! You were a tad kinder on him though I feel haha.

Keep up the great work

Major takeaways from the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix

I really appreciate him finally getting some long overdue credit and respect throughout this entire season and recent happenings to him. It’s good to see

Five talking points from the Turkish Grand Prix

Good point. I still was somehow enthralled by the last half, wondering if there would have to be some late pit stops from the front runners, and then with the threat of rain I was thinking something could happen. But you’re right, it wasn’t as exciting as the first half

Five talking points from the Turkish Grand Prix

I’ve actually been a Stroll fan far before I ever moved here funnily enough. He gets barely any attention here. A headline here on a major sports website after his poll said “Canadian F1 driver Lance Stroll secures maiden Pole Position”. Could you imagine a headline referring to Daniel Ricciardo as “Australian Dan Ricciardo” in Australia?

I’m never going to claim the guy is the best in the field. Far from it. And I doubt he will ever come close to even challenging for a championship. He is a driver that has a couple of wins in him at best and could have a fairly long mid-tier career. I just feel he needs more credit than he gets and is far more than simply that rich kid who had his dad buy a team. The guy scored a podium and a front row in a Williams when they were on the way down. There is talent there, he just needs to mature to have it be more consistent.

My main point with Lewis is that he has always had a top 2 car. Always. Your points with Senna and Schumacher are spot on. I’m no Alonso fan in the slightest, but even he had to work through the rigors of Minardi, a mid-tier Renault in 2003 & 2004 and 2008 & 2009 and somehow get the worst Ferrari in decades to win races and very nearly the championship in 2012. All the true greats have that to carry with them. Until Lewis can show that he is capable of doing exactly that in a car that isn’t fighting for wins, then perhaps I’ll jump more on the GOAT train.

Five talking points from the Turkish Grand Prix

A large portion of the Twitter conversation I was involved in was centred around people seemingly believing Senna and Schumacher never had bad cars. I’ve been trying to get my head around their thought process since.

And I don’t agree that Stroll has been outdriven that comprehensively. The first half of the season he had the measure of Perez a large portion of the time and it’s also been proven that he had an issue with the car which caused his tyre problems in the race. For sure I agree Perez is the far better driver, I just feel he is closer than people say.

Five talking points from the Turkish Grand Prix

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