F1 – Italian GP: THE POINT

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In Monza, we experienced another weekend well run by Mercedes in each single session. In spite of the Medium tires, they proved to have an edge on others. At Ferrari, they had to use the Supersoft and Soft tires to try to keep up with them. The men at the Silver Arrows can take the liberty to adopt every strategy, managing to dominate, with Lewis Hamilton in free practice and qualifying, and Nico Rosberg in the race. It was complicit the mistake done by the English driver at the start, Nico did not manage to reopen the world championship with the win at the Italian Gran Prix. It will be a great struggle, even psychological, between the two drivers. Compared to his teammate, Hamilton suffers more when he loses the competition. The commissioners will have a central role because without any penalties, now the two drivers would have been at the same place in the standings. Some incoherent choices, like those we have already had in this season, could compromise the season.

Without any doubts, the true winner of this grand prix is the Monza audience that participated in a masterly manner. Few other circuits can give such a scenography as we experienced under the podium to greet and celebrate the third place of Sebastian Vettel.

A Ferrari back on the podium that gave its maximum optimizing its potential. In circuits like this one, it can rebuild the second place in the world championship at the detriment of a Red Bull that pays for its power-unit. An excellent start that of the Ferrari drivers, even thanks to a Lewis’ mistake. We must to remain realistic, because the gap with Mercedes is great if we consider the difference in the tire compounds.

Now we will go to Singapore, and Maranello will have to pay attention to Homer’s men. It was spectacular the overtake accomplished by Ricciardo who proves to be a race animal, clean, always professional and sharp. In a fast circuit where the power unit makes the difference, we saw Williams again, even if Force India does not want to give it up.

F1 | Belgian GP – THE POINT

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Nico Rosberg wins the Belgian Grand Prix in the demanding track of Spa-Francorchamps, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton, speeding from the last row along with Fernando Alonso.

A recovering weekend for Ferrari whose start during the free practice had been under its level. They managed to invert the direction in view of qualifying gaining the whole second row. Unfortunately, all their work has been frustrated at the first turn. Both the drivers had made a good start, differently from Vesrtappen. The impetuosity of the Red Bull Dutch driver caused a contact between the Ferrari drivers with an action at the limit of regulation with the complicity of Sebastian Vettel who closed the bend too early, frustrating the result.

Inexplicably, Max Verstapen is never punished by commissioners, as it happens, instead, to his competitors. Rosberg has suffered a penalty for much less. I do not refer just to the first turn, but to the many direction changes during the challenge with Kimi Raikkonen and to his action with some other drivers. Beyond his outstanding qualities, it seems to me that he complains too much.

Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull have achieved the second place easily. This way, they extend their distance from Ferrari on the standings. An unexpected result, especially if we look at the competitiveness in T2 where aerodynamics has a central role. The real surprise at Spa was Force India that with the fourth and the fifth places of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez surpasses Ferrari in the standings (two points) and grabs the fourth place.

Fortune favors the braves. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamolton, speeding from the last row, have exploited every single occasion, from the virtual safety-car to the red flag, and at the end of the first lap they were already in fourteenth and fifteenth positions. Their pace in the final especially that of the Spaniard who cannot count on a car like Mercedes proves how he is still “hungry”. He exploited all his experience in F1 to bring McLaren ahead of Toro Rosso in the standings.

In seven days, we are all in Monza for the Italian Grand Prix. It is also the last seasonal event in the Old Continent. If in Belgium they touched 340/355 km/h, I cannot image what will happen at the end of the straight track.

F1 | German GP – THE POINT

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Once again, Ferrari ended a Grand Prix 30” away from the first place, behind a Red Bull that placed both its drivers on the podium only behind Hamilton, the dominant figure. A Red Bull that managed to make a great recovery in the first part of the season, whereas the men at Maranello do not succeed. Unfortunately, the problems at Ferrari have been the same since the championship start.

In Germany, Ferrari proved to be the third power in the World Championship. We hope that Binotto’s reorganization gives good results. After the amazing pole position that he gained on Saturday, Nico Rosberg’s race was toned-down, and he was also picked on by Commissioners. I do not agree with this penalization. On the contrary, I would have agreed with a penalty for Verstappen, maker of a too aggressive start, who overtook Ricciardo by crossing the white strip with his car. The Mercedes staff did not help the German driver, stopping him 3”. In these three break weeks, Nico has to find again the mind of the first four events.

A sad time even for Williams, whose fourth place is jeopardized by Force India recovery. The same situation for Toro Rosso that will have to safeguard itself from McLaren. We can expect an interesting second season launched by two important events: Spa-Francorchamps and Monza.

In Germany, the hymn of Mameli played thanks to Antonio Fuoco who won Race 1 in GP3. It was a positive weekend even for GP2 with Ghiotto’s second place and the fourth one of Marciello. The blue patrol of the ACI Team Italy continues to give us important results and not betrays the expectations.

F1 | Hungarian GP – THE POINT

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We watched a Hungarian GP animated by strategy. A race built at the start with Hamilton immediately overtaking the pole man Nico Rosberg who did not manage to trouble his team-mate, in spite of a certain aggressiveness.

The negative aspect came from the Sports Commissioners who “ruined” the weekend with some unclear decisions. In Q1, the 107% rule was not satisfied, and then they validated the pole position of Rosberg who made a fabulous lap with the yellow flags.  I am a fan of his, but in my opinion, the rule went missed.  Some drivers were penalized too heavily for surpassing the white flag, meanwhile Verstappen was not even rebuked. With a too strong-arm tactics, once again he kept Kimi Raikkonen behind. If they had abided by the regulation to the letter, they would have penalized the Dutch driver.

Once again, we saw the excessive power of Mercedes that ended the race with a 27”advantage on Riccardo and Vettel. They handled the race with a great calm. Vettel and Raikkonen ended the GP behind Ricciardo and Verstappen respectively, even if the Finnish driver was maker of a great recovery, after his mistake in qualifying that had taken him up the 14th place. He handled his SuperSoft tires very well, achieving his best seasonal race. After Silversone, Ferrari is back on his standard, even if it is not enough for opposing the Silver Arrows, neither a Red Bull that is in a strong growth, just a point away from Maranello in the Constructors’ standings.

In Germany, we hope to see a more aggressive Ferrari able to stretch out on Red Bull.

F1 | Silverstone GP – THE POINT

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The British weekend in Silverstone offered us a fascinating and animated grand prix influenced by the weather conditions. We saw numerous duels and mistakes made by different drivers. Once again, Charlie Whiting decided to start the race behind the safety-car. Honestly, in my opinion it seems an exasperated decision. I could understand if we were in a preliminary championship where there are boys who have to cut their teeth, but this Formula 1 overdoes safety.

Unfortunately, the standings is still under decision because of the team radio transmission received by Nico Rosberg. After informing his engineers about the problem at the gearshift, the team gave him some suggestions to resolve the problem. In my opinion, his situation is different from Hamilton’s one because the latter has asked the procedure to solve the problem in an explicit way. So I do not agree with a potential penalization against the driver. We must be careful to avoid damaging Formula 1 with unreasonable rules. If we have radio, using them should be ok, especially in such a highly evolved Formula 1.

As we anticipated in recent days, we had a Red Bull at its best that managed to trouble the Mercedes with an extraordinary Verstappen, protagonist in one of the most beautiful 2016 overtakings against Rosberg. Max is proving all his qualities and could be an extra unknown for the Ferrari that shown its problems in Great Britain.Apart from the power-unit, its frame and aerodynamic problems are clear. Next events (Hungary and Germany) could be favorable to Maranello, but honestly, I see an up-and-up Red Bull. The fifth and ninth place are not enough, they made some mistakes.

It is to be applauded the feedback of the British audience because the circuit was sold-out. Great Britain is becoming the real motorsport homeland. After some difficult years and many improvement in the circuit structure, fans were back to see the F1 show and were rewarded with Lewis Hamilton’s win, who deserves a 10 in his scorecard for the weekend.

* After the race, commissioners gave a 10” penalty to Nico Rosberg who is now in third position. P2 for Max Verstappen.

F1 | Austrian GP – THE POINT

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A fascinating grand prix with coups de théâtre up to the last lap. Rosberg managed to lead, from the sixth place, and tasted the win. At the last lap, he arrived a little bit late because of the fact that he had little oxygen in term of tires. Anyway, I found Hamilton’s maneuver quite aggressive. As we are writing, there is an ongoing investigation and I hope that no penalty will arrive. These are race accidents and normality in a race like this one.

If they want a penalty, they should distribute it equally between both Mercedes standard-bearers, giving the victory to a great Verstappen who, once again, gave us some amazing overtaking, setting himself in third, settling in third place and finishing the race in second place thanks to the contact that saw both Mercedes drivers as protagonists.

Still out of shape Ferrari that has definitely hazarded too much in trying to nullifying its stratospheric gap with Mercedes by keeping Vettel on track too long. This way, the German driver saw his rear tire exploding at the 27th lap. Nothing in particular came from a not very aggressive Raikkonen. In the Final, he failed to annoy Verstappen in trouble with his tires that had already covered 55 laps.

At Mercedes, Toto Wolff will struggle to calm everyone down. The relationship between Nico and Lewis is at a historical low. We can expect a boiling July with 4 grand prix in just 5 weekends.

On one side, it is good to come back on track immediately, even if there is no time to calm everyone down. A very different state of mind at McLaren, Haas and Manor that gain important points. Very good Jenson Button that managed to optimize his tires and his car, bringing them to the finish line in sixth.ahead of Grosjean and Sainz.  Manor gains his first world point thanks to Pascal Wehrlein outdoing  Sauber.

* At the end of the race, Nico Rosberg had a 10″ penalization that earn  that enarn him the fourth place at the finish line.

F1 | European GP, Baku – THE POINT

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Critics and insiders have prized the circuit in Baku and its first Grand Prix. Surely, compared to what we watched in GP2 with the double win, pole-position, and fastest lap accomplished by an excellent Antonio Giovinazzi, we would have expected a more animated race. Contrary to predictions, all the drivers have been very capable because Baku has proved to be a demanding and atypical track, considering its length of six km and the very high speed reached (more than 375 km/h at the end of the long straight).

An impeccable Nico Rosberg signs the pole position and the win, managing to keep far away his competitors. Red Bull payed its technical choice betting everything on qualifying and went missing. Well Ferrari that after sacrificing Saturday’s free practice, made its best in race with the excellent second place of Sebastian Vettel. Another amazing race for Sergio Perez that completed the podium, in spite of an economically troubled Force India, he exploited at his best both his Mercedes engine and the shell, blacking Nico Hulkenberg out. The German car company has placed six cars in the first ten positions.

Weekend out of shape, instead, for Lewis Hamilton. Protagonist of numerous mistakes in qualifying that have also jeopardized the result in race. He did not match up with his prize list, but brought home important points for the Championship.

As I have stressed in the first part, I must congratulate Antonio Giovinazzi for his two wins in GP2. In race 2 he was protagonist of an exemplar recover, performing an extraordinary overtaking in the final that worth him the second success in the weekend. Surely, he is ready for Formula 1.

I want just to invite you next Saturday at the Circuit of Imola for the Minardi Day, a sport day devoted to all aficionados and fans. In this day, we will have the chance to watch a lot of Formula 1 cars on track and more than 50 cars from the World Championship thanks to the exhibition “From Minardi to Toro Rosso” that retraces over 30 years of passion. Everyone is invited.

F1 | Canadian GP – THE POINT

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Surely, Sebastian Vettel’s start is one of the few positive signals in this grand prix, along with Max Verstappen’s good defense against Nico Rosberg, and the high-level struggle between Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari man, going chastely at 1.16. Once again, the World Champion was not perfect at the start and was off guard,  but he definitely reopens the world championship with this win.

Strengthened the second place, the Ferrari pit tried the utmost with a risky strategy. In my view, it was the only move to do in that moment to try to tear the win off to a Mercedes still superior as lap-times prove. Only in the final, Vettel, thanks to the few fuel on board, managed to reach the times of Hamilton and Rosberg, the maker of the fastest lap of the race. Unfortunately, then Nico found on his path a great Verstappen that forced him to a mistake in the final. Anyway, very good the German driver that optimized his Ferrari, as his vantage of 59″ (definitely too much) on Kimi Raikkonen, that ends in sixth, demonstrates. Is it perhaps time to look around?

Williams handled very well the race with Bottas in third place, taking full advantage of other’s mistakes. In a week, we will arrive in Baku, a new and extremely fast track with little space for mistakes.

F1 | Monaco GP – The POINT "Strike Hamilton. Ferrari even behind Force India"

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This Monaco GP could had been more animated considering the weather conditions, anyway, offered us some mistakes, on track and at pits, with overtakings and fights. Excellent Lewis Hamilton who brought home the first seasonal win, nibbling away important points at Nico Rosberg, also helped by the mistake made by Red Bull at the pits during Daniel Ricciardo’s pit-stop.

Within Milton Keynes’s team, they will have to review something because it is not the first time that they have fallen into this kind of situations, even if they are strongly proving to be the second powerful team of the world championship at the expense of Ferrari. The Australian strengthens his position in overall standings and makes this season enlivened. What a pity Max Verstappen’s mistake, very nervous during the whole weekend.

Certainly, it was disappointing the performance of Ferrari that greets the principality with only a fourth place behind of Force India. Definitely too little. We had already realized that something was going wrong due to the state of mind and to declarations made by the German driver. His displeasure is clear, and he begins to feel these placings too tight. The boy starts to paw the ground. His declarations about his team are changing.

Beginner’s mistake for Kimi Raikkonen that had never been efficient for all the weekend, probably he was not backed by his car. Surely, the gap with his teammate is substantial. A “zero” that costs important points also to Ferrari.

Very positive, instead, the performance of McLaren-Honda that marks the fifth position with Fernando Alonso and the points zone with Jenson Button. Sometimes, the Spaniard has also tried to cause problems for Vettel. They begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

                                                                     

 

F1 | Spanish GP – THE POINT

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A Spain Grand Prix that since first meters gave us an unpredictable emotion with the contact between Hamilton and Rosberg that put the both Mercedes offside. We can split the guilt almost in equal parts (51% to Lewis, and 49% to Rosberg) although it was absolutely to be avoid, considering their supremacy in qualifying.

The Management of Mercedes will be able to overcome this moment of tension as it already did in the past, also because they have no competitors on track. The contact increased the show on track with an amazing struggle between Red Bull and Ferrari played on strategy.

The different strategy used by Verstappen and Ricciardo is the proof that the commercial aspect was favored, anyway, the amazing victory of Max will remain in the annals. He drove magnificently without mistakes despite a determined and combative Kimi Raikkonen. The very young Dutch driver wasn’t overwhelmed by the events, despite a demanding week. Red Bull proved to be strongly growing. The tire puncture at the end of the race prevented Ricciardo from trying the final attack against Vettel.

Ferrari that had arrived here with the aim of winning, failed. It didn’t succeed in exploiting a golden opportunity despite a Kimi’s and Vettel’s podium. The Finnish grasps the second place in the world championship behind Rosberg who leads the standings, but in Maranello there is a lot of work. We had the first signals in Sochi.

Noteworthy is the sixth place of Carlos Sainz who was able to overcome a difficult moment. I wish him a bit more luck, he is a fast driver with his head on his shoulders

Let’s see what will happen in Monte Carlo.

                                                                                                                

F1 | Russian GP – THE POINT “Rosberg tsar of Russia”

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It is the fourth success for Nico Rosberg and Mercedes that once again has proved all its overwhelming power making Hamilton recover after the suffered problems in Q3. Nico Rosberg is surely in great shape and optimized the astonishing lap he did in qualifying. He concedes nothing to his competitors, the fastest lap signed in the penultimate lap demonstrate that up to that moment he had been the leader of the race.

In this early season, the Luck turned its back to Lewis Hamilton who, anyway, proves to be a strong driver who never gives up, supported by a superior Mercedes. This new demonstration of excessive power is disheartening to its chasers, firstly to Ferrari that is facing a difficult time.

In Russia, it had the chance to defend itself just with Kimi Raikkonen. With qualifying mistakes and those made at the start after the safety car, the Finnish driver did not prove to be a world champion. In qualifying, Sebastian Vettel had grabbed the front row revoked by a penalty for a gearbox change, he was also protagonist of a good start, unfortunately thwarted by a Kvyat under pressure. The Russian driver is affected by the results of Ricciardo and by the rumors about Verstappen to be promoted in Red Bull next year.

This weekend, Red Bull has certainly disappointed also in strategy, deciding to mount medium tires.

In fortnight, we will get to Spain and, as usual, all the teams will make important changes decided after first GP races. Even the forces in the field are emerging with a Ferrari in front of a growing Williams who finished the trip with two cars in the points, as well as McLaren-Honda with Fernando Alonso in sixth and Button in tenth.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

F1 | Chinese GP – THE POINT by Gian Carlo Minardi

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The critical point was the start. The mistakes done by Ferrari affected the results, and the numerous accidents and the safety-car enlivened the race. We watched amazing overtakings made by Ricciardo, Vettel, Kvyat, Massa who defended the sixth place, and Hamilton forced to start from the last row.

As we anticipated, the tire choice influences the strategies letting us to experience a race more vivid than those of last season, even if the supremacy of Mercedes remains. Nico Rosberg scored his third seasonal success in a row, leaving Sebastian Vettel with a gap of 37″. I don’t endorse the attack toward the Russian Red Bull driver made by the Ferrari man, because he is not guilty of the contact at the start. Rosberg managed the race very well, increasing his advantage in the overall standings, even if the season is very long with more eighteen scheduled events. This one may be his year. In spite of complications in qualifying and some damages in the bottom of his car, Lewis Hamilton recovered to the seventh place with a jerk, ending his race ahead of the two Toro Rosso cars. A sign of great strength from the team, because he could have fought for the podium, even if they have some reliability problems.

Red Bull is growing. They have an excellent frame and an extremely competitive car, but they aren’t supported at the best by the power-unit yet. Ricciardo was decidedly unfortunate: the punctured wheel early in the race deprived him of the podium in favor of his team-mate.

Williams fell again into his negative trend of early season, backed up by a car that can fight with Red Bull for the third and fourth place in the World Constructors’ Championship. At the end, Bottas was victim of the two young bulls, Verstappen and Sainz.

In fifteen days we’ll arrive in Russia, a circuit that is featureless compared to Shanghai. The choice of the tires could make it lively.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

F1 | Gp Bahrain – THE POINT

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We watched an interesting and animated Grand Prix. It was rich in overtaking thanks to the strategies and choices made by the teams. From this point of view, Williams has been catastrophic. Once again, the race was marked by unreliability at Ferrari that forced Vettel to park his SF16-H during the parade lap. The race was also marked by a new mistake done by Hamilton at the start that has frustrated his amazing pole position. Second victory for Nico Rosberg who achieves five consecutive wins (three of which in 2015) and sixteen seals in his career. This perfect scoring in the World Drivers’ Championship launches him powerfully into the World Championship.

Ferrari consoles itself with the second place of Kimi Raikkonen, but has to look over its shoulder because of Red Bull: Ricciardo is now third in the drivers’ standings, ahead Raikkonen and Vettel (in sixth with 15 points). We experienced the excessive power of Mercedes one more time. Despite their mistakes, also strategic ones, Hamilton ended in third after having tried to mount the Medium tires and after his contact with Bottas at the start.

Next days, Grosjean’s fifth place with his Haas will make discuss. Considering the substantial resources invested for making the frames, Williams, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, and Force India will hardly swallow this new format launched by the American group, which is going to redraft the definition of Constructor. If you exclude the nose and few other components, it is a Ferrari clone. They are rather assemblers. It has been undertaken a dangerous road.

I must congratulate Vandoorne entirely. At his debut, he brought to McLaren the first seasonal points, making a real wonder. Recalled from Japan and catapulted into the car without any tests, he gained the top-10 without doing any mistakes. Given the results of his prize list, there was no doubt about his quality as a sprinter. It’s a pity that teams aren’t obligated to let racing these young drivers on Friday morning, letting them the chance to show off and not just to hope lucky circumstances for putting themselves to the test.

Before concluding, I’d like to highlight what left me puzzled. We always talk about more security, and Halo, the device for the driver’s head protection, made its debut during Barcelona testing days. In Bahrain, the Commissioners didn’t reprimand cars loosing pieces on the track. In our Italian Championship weekends, Commissioners oblige drivers to pit to repair their car. Here no one has said anything.

In fifteen days, everyone in China.