Formula 1 2018 pre-season

F1 is back! Melbourne gets the season underway this Sunday.

Two four-time champions go head to head for a chance to become only the third player in history to claim 5 championships.

Sebastian Vettel in the red Ferrari resumes hostilities with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, after an acrimonious last season.

But before action gets underway, here's a roundup of the changes brought into place this season.

Halo - the cockpit protection device introduced this season is designed to further improve driver safety in the event of an accident, and in particular to deflect debris away from the head.

The core design has strict rules, however teams have the scope to modify the surface, so it will be interesting to see what aerodynamics teams can work out around this. Watch this space for more.

Trick suspension disallowed - This system had been introduced to allow cars better grip on the surface, but was being increasingly used by teams to modify the car height.

To know more, watch this https://youtu.be/yDVmIXV4WEw

T wings and shark fins banned - Another aspect where teams used their imagination widely in the last season. Williams employed a double T-wing, while the likes of Force India, Renault and McLaren took things further, experimenting with multiple planes.

Tyre changes - Pirelli has introduced 2 new tires for this season - pink hypersoft and orange superhard,making the total available compound tyres to seven, from last year's five.

Keep watching this space.

Hat-trick and hat-trick for Hamilton in Canada

Formula 1 moved across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada on the second weekend of June, where Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve hosted the seventh Grand Prix of the season.

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) with 2 race wins this season, sought to move close to Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) who sat at the top of the table with a 25-point advantage with 3 race wins.

The Canadian Grand Prix has always been a happy hunting ground for Hamilton, having won 5 races in the past years, including the last 2 years. 

But even by those standards, this was a dream Sunday for the British driver. He went on to win his third consecutive one, thus completing a hat-trick in cricketing parlance.  

The sport of F1 has a very different definition for hat-trick though, which includes pole position, race win and fastest lap. Hamilton managed to secure this hat-trick as well.

Our guest writer and F1 expert Kavish Anand puts it succinctly, "While Hamilton's comeback drive at Monaco was about supreme race management and tyre strategy, Vettel's drive at Montreal was about sheer courage and determination. Who goes all in on the last 3 laps to get 2 more points and risk it all?

Vettel did just that when he overtook the 2 fast Force India's of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez . While the move on Perez was routine, the move on Ocon was probably the move of the race (barringr the Flying Dutchman eccentric start). This move showed how brave a driver Vettel was. 


As he himself pointed out later, the move involved significant risk and boy did those pay off. Had he got 1 more lap, maybe just maybe he would have taken the podium all by his sheer will"

The overtakes have to be seen to be believed. The video shows the overtakes (Lap 66, Ocon) and (Lap 69, Perez). 



To admire the genius better, watch the last maneuver once more.



Kavish says, "Hamilton and the sliver arrows may have landed a blow to Ferrari (that's what Hamilton said) but make no mistake; the prancing horses are going nowhere and going nowhere is the man on whom the blow landed the most severely : Sebastian Vettel."

As a result of his heroics in the end, Vettel hangs on to his lead at the top of the table, but precariously. He is just 12 points abreast of Hamilton, who is set to ensure this goes down to the wire. 

At Azerbaijan (the next Grand Prix) which promises to be a fast-paced cracker, Vettel would come back harder than ever. With all his experience, Lewis knows it. Or has he got a bit carried away with this emotional win (at Montreal). The sight of him having having Ayrton Senna helmet was an emotional moment.

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts, we are in  for some pulsating action! Keep watching this space.

Hamilton outsmarts Vettel in Barcelona GP

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, on Sunday, saw a fascinating match up between Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. This was the fifth Grand Prix of the season, with Vettel having won 2 races and Hamilton 1.

Hamilton and Vettel, winners of seven of the last nine drivers' titles, provided a cliffhanger of a contest today. A contest which had it all. Dangerous contact between the cars, multiple overtaking attempts and smart tyre strategy.

If there were any doubts as to who the favorites for this year's driver's title were, those were answered today as the duo gave enough indication that this season would be a direct head-to-head for the crown.

In the end, it was Hamilton and his team Mercedes’ strategy that saw them through, ably supported by the other Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas.

Both drivers made 2 pit-stops during the 66-lapped race. It was the choice of tyres that made pretty much all the difference.

While Vettel went for Soft, Soft and Medium respectively, Hamilton chose Soft, Medium and Soft, in that order. 

A Soft tire provides speed, and faster turning on corners, while sacrificing durability. A Medium tire on the other hand, is more durable, with a lesser speed. I shall take up tyres in detail in another blog spot.

Hamilton had started the race on pole position, with Vettel on second. After the race began, Vettel soon pulled ahead of Hamilton and started increasing the gap from Hamilton on second, whose Mercedes teammate Bottas was behind on third. 

After coming out of his first pit stop, where he chose Soft tyres, Vettel joined at second position behind Bottas, and realized that he has got to make the best use of this part of the race, where he is on Soft, while Hamilton is on Medium. He made multiple attempts to overtake Bottas in Laps 23 and 24, and was thwarted effectively by Bottas, thus helping Hamilton gain a precious couple of seconds in number 3 position.

Vettel finally overtook Bottas in Lap 25, and soon enough Bottas allowed Hamilton to overtake, showing brilliant teamwork. Vettel meanwhile pushed to extend his lead. 

Lap 37, Hamilton pits, switches to soft tyres, and joins the track 24 seconds behind Vettel. Lap 38, Vettel pits, and he joins back very close to Hamilton, and the two cars come very close to each other, but Vettel pulls ahead, Hamilton isn't too happy and is heard telling on the team radio that he was alongside Vettel and was forced to push wide.

But the advantage is with Hamilton with his soft tyres. Meanwhile, Bottas' engine goes bad in Lap 40, and he is out of the race.

Hamilton keeps striving desperately to overtake, and finally succeeds in doing so in Lap 44, with an amazing maneuver. Vettel now keeps hoping that Hamilton wouldn't be able to take his soft tyres to the end of the race, and would be forced to stop.

Hamilton doesn't, and manages his engine superbly well, keeps extending his lead, and in the last 6 laps, it seems that Vettel has accepted the result. 

Hamilton eventually wins by 3.5 seconds, and closes Vettel's lead at the top of the drivers' championship to 6 points. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a fascinating season on our hands!