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Joined January 2014
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Co-host/producer of the Superlicense F1 Podcast
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This weekend's Australian Grand Prix was a rude awakening for reigning constructors' champions Mercedes. Despite a questionable pit strategy that left race leader Lewis…
This year's Australian Grand Prix answered some questions but raised even more for Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull. The Australian was mostly a spectator…
A disastrous qualifying session for Daniel Ricciardo has left him classified in P10 for tomorrow's race. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel will share the…
Lewis Hamilton threw down the gauntlet during Free Practice 2 at Albert Park setting a fastest lap of 1:23.620. It smashed his own lap…
You can sum up the atmosphere of Formula One's opening race of the season with one word: optimism. With 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg…
To cleanse the palette after last week's look at the underachievers from Formula One season 2016, it's time to unveil the three drivers who…
With the season run and won, there's little news remaining for us to sink our teeth into, apart from speculating about who will fill…
Lewis Hamilton's antics during the season finale at Abu Dhabi have attracted the ire of his team and polarised popular opinion. Despite threats from…
With just a few days remaining until the 2016 champion is crowned, there are still Lewis Hamilton hopefuls praying for a miraculous come-from-behind victory…
Change is in the air for Formula One. Fans are steeling themselves for the crowning of a new world-champion, and sport's new commercial rights…
During an interview last week to promote his book and fan the flames of rumours that he might be returning to Formula One, former…
Mexico is one country where holding a Formula One event is still a novelty. Only one driver from the country has ever won an…
Despite an embarrassing race weekend in the United States, Max Verstappen left Austin with yet another Driver Of The Day award, his third in…
Last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix was punctuated by several drivers despondently calling for their peers to respect the blue flags that are shown when…
It took literally months for pen to touch paper before Sahara Force India secured the services of Sergio Perez. But no sooner had the…
A replay of Fernando Alonso's opening lap in the Malaysia Grand Prix went viral this week. Starting from the back he weaved around the…
What's in your pocket right now? Maybe some keys, a smartphone, wallet, perhaps some gum... I daren't dream what else. If you really fish…
It's been a month to forget for Lewis Hamilton and if he isn't careful, 2016 might become a year to forget. The reigning World…
Taken at face value the decision to drop Daniil Kvyat and promoting Max Verstappen in the senior Red Bull team was a masterstroke, with…
A record crowd flocked to Spa-Francorchamps hoping to see Max Verstappen claim his second career victory on the weekend. Their hopes were dashed when…
When the drivers who did two stops (Verstappen and Raikkonen) jump the two drivers ahead because they were three stopping, there can be no doubt that the wrong strategy call was made. If you want to argue that Vettel should have won then go right ahead, if you consider though that Ricciardo was ahead of Verstappen and therefore deserved the optimal race strategy and was then not given it, he’s perfectly entitled to feel aggrieved.
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins
Some people are rejecting my claim that British was the first time Verstappen “beat” Ricciardo, of-course I’m not saying it’s the first time he has finished ahead of him on the track, I’m referring to the fact that he looked like he was in a completely different class. You can say that he “beat” him in Canada, however the fact that they were battling for position in the latter stages of the race only goes to show how closely matched they were.
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins
You raise a lot of issues and I’d truly love to engage you on every single one, but let me start with this.
Presumably you also believe in your heart that Kimi Raikkonen was faster than both Ricciardo and Vettel in Spain?
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins
I’ve found in the decades that I’ve been watching F1 that a lot of what you think about the sport, and particularly the drivers, depends on your point of view. You can say I’m making excuses, I would say that the facts are not all damning against Ricciardo. I agree though that things at Red Bull will get far more spicy when the honeymoon is over and they are truly competing for wins regularly.
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins
It takes more than just skill to be a complete race driver, that’s exactly my point. Verstappen had scrappy race races last year because he acted petulantly and didn’t keep his cool. Verstappen will continue to develop and grow, i have no doubt he’ll be a formidable driver in the coming years, but if I had to bet every dollar I have on which driver would be next to win i’d be backing Daniel.
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins
If Hamilton had out qualified Rosberg five times to one everyone would say that he was utterly dominating his teammate, but that’s not the case at Red Bull. Add the fact that Daniel should have had two wins to Verstappen’s none and you’d have to be a lunatic to think the momentum was with him.
I love Max, I think he’s a superstar of the future and want to see him do outstanding things, I simply disagree that he is the team’s best chance of winning more races this year.
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins
The article is in defence of Ricciardo, why would I say positive things about Verstappen? Seems consistent to me, but I appreciate your feedback.
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins
Verstappen showed moments of brilliance at Toro Rosso balanced with complete and utter immaturity. Similarly this year you could point to his performance in Barcelona as a guy who kept his head cool, while also pointing to Monaco as a time when he looked completely at sea, and we just don’t see that from Ricciardo. Does that clarify things for you?
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins
That’s true, but Max hit the wall during both qualifying and the race and that doesn’t have much to do with the engine.
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins
We’ve always lost very good drivers at the expense of the one’s who are better or have deeper pockets. This year’s grid is the best representation of the best talent available that we’ve had for a long, long time – so I’m far from pessimistic about the future of F1’s young drivers.
Formula One's next generation is slipping through our fingers
You have the subeditors to thank for the Master Chief reference :p
Red Bull appear unwilling to play 'Halo 2'
Nah, I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect that the team should know what it can and can’t say. That’s part of why I was so surprised that they were penalised, because they have been so adamant throughout the season that they won’t tell the drivers anything they think is risky.
You could argue that they were testing the regulations, crossing the line so that they knew exactly where it was, or that it was a calculated risk (i.e. Rosberg might have lost even more than 10 seconds if they hadn’t told him to shift past his gear problem).
Formula One should be simple, stupid
I knew Mercedes were in trouble when they were relying on the message being to avoid a terminal problem. There are other permitted messages that were far more relevant.
It’s also pretty stupid that they are permitted to say one thing to help a driver avoid a problem, but not another thing to help them avoid the exact same issue, it’s total garbage.
It also goes completely against the spirit of introducing these rules; that the drivers shouldn’t be coached. Helping a driver go slower than normal, but not so slow that they tumble backwards through the field is pretty different to helping them find an extra half of a tenth by braking later at certain corners or whatever.
It’s even different to the situation Hamilton found himself in at the European Grand Prix, because in that case he’d put the car into a low performance mode and couldn’t get himself out. That was a problem he created himself, Rosberg didn’t cause his 7th gear to not work, it just happened. The team telling him to shift past it actually doesn’t help him that much, he is still missing one of this top gears and at a disadvantage against drivers who do.
Formula One should be simple, stupid
Are you seriously suggesting everyone else is on the same level of performance as Mercedes?
Dissecting Lewis and Nico's Austrian feud
What do you really think though?
You’re right that Stoffel is the primary candidate for McLaren, be surprised if Massa doesn’t go knocking on Ron’s door still.
Felipe Massa considers life after Williams
Can’t say I agree that Rosberg intended for a collision, just to squeeze Hamilton off the track on the exit.
I just feel that a penalty for an incident like this needs to be reserved for cases were the move was reckless or purposeful and I don’t think you can make that claim. The fact that we’re even talking about how Hamilton has put the same move on Rosberg multiple times suggests it was perfectly acceptable, this wasn’t Maldonado ramming Gutierrez or anything.
Dissecting Lewis and Nico's Austrian feud
Well, the team have said he had a brake-by-wire issue for the final few laps which left with some braking but with a very different feeling in the pedal, it also explains why he smashed over the curb for no reason.
And I agree that he ran Hamilton wide on purpose, just as Hamilton has done to him many times. It could have been a misjudgement or a brake issue, but it wasn’t executed as well as it probably should have been.
Penalty worthy though? Considering it was an incident between teammates that saw Hamilton take the victory… that’s an absolute joke.
Dissecting Lewis and Nico's Austrian feud
Wolff has threatened that he’ll bench one or both of them if we see these kinds of issues repeat. I think it’s unlikely, the main reason Hamilton was able to catch Rosberg so easily is that he was on the vastly more durable tyre at the end of the race and Rosberg was managing a brake issue. Most races when they are on level footing we hearing moaning about how you can’t get close enough to overtake, that’s most likely what’ll happen for the majority of this season.
Dissecting Lewis and Nico's Austrian feud
Yeah absolutely, and when the front runners trip over (as they have many times already this season) Williams haven’t been there to capitalise. Mixed results are never a bad thing… well, not usually anyway.
Force India could leapfrog Williams if poor form continues
Rosberg said after the race that another change he made earlier in the race meant that it was simpler for him to determine what to do to reverse the problem when it arose, but yes – it sure seems like Rosberg is putting in the effort to learn all of this stuff while Hamilton has been pretty vocal, be it about changes to tyres, qualifying, team orders, very much “Dun make no difference to me”.
Hamilton's dilemma proves F1 should dump radio ban
This is quite drastic 🙂 If anything i’d rather see the radio opened up so drivers could abuse each other during the race
Hamilton's dilemma proves F1 should dump radio ban
I don’t disagree, but my overall view is that the radio ban should be scrapped and this weekend only confirmed my view.
Hamilton's dilemma proves F1 should dump radio ban
Let’s just see where he finishes the year, don’t forget Hulkenberg was ahead of him in Monaco…
It's time to re-evaluate Sergio Perez
I’m really not sure where you are going with this “unequal engines” argument. Are you suggesting Max deliberately crashed? That he didn’t want to even try? I frankly don’t believe that for one second.
Ricciardo still Red Bull's best chance of claiming race wins