Singapore GP – THE POINT… BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI

As usual, Mercedes ruled the roost, dominating also the fourteenth Formula 1 Grand Prix of the season, which took place under floodlights in the circuit of Singapore. The leaders of this season ran the race in their own way, winning with Hamilton a race and a weekend dominated almost from beginning to end.

Well done also for Red Bull and Ferrari with Fernando Alonso, that closed his race at the foot of the podium with a handful of tenths, having driven perversely for the entire weekend and completing an excellent race. On a city track with Super Soft tyres, Ferrari managed to stay in the wake of top teams. Unfortunately, the race has been penalized from safety car’s entrance, which remained on track for too long. Raikkonen (eighth at the finish line) suffered a delay of 1’ from the first position and more than 45’’ from the team-mate. For Maranello, this was the first weekend of the new generation, among many tensions, especially relative to Fernando Alonso’s decisions.

Amazing race also for Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel that completed the podium in Singapore. Seeing in action the RB10, it’s clear that they have built a very good car once again.

Reliability is confirmed as the only Achilles’ heel of the German dreadnought. This time it was up to Nico Rosberg to attend the celebrations of his team-mate, who takes the lead in the world ranking with the seventh success. Now, misfortunes are pretty much matched. With three points of difference (241 for Hamilton against 238 for Rosberg) and five races in the calendar (Japan, Russia, USA, Brazil and Abu Dhabi), World Championship for Mercedes starts now.

The news of this weekend were the really tight advantages, with 9 cars in a little more than 5’’, although seeing the dominance of Mercedes in Qualifying, one could wonder that something didn’t work for them.

As already announced in the last weeks, there are great movements. We will see what will happen in the next days.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Italian GP – THE POINT… BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI

We have experienced a lively Grand Prix, with too many mistakes and the first seasonal retirement for Fernando Alonso, after so many races. It’s certainly not been a good weekend for the colours of Maranello, both in terms of performances and reliability. In fact, Ferrari says goodbye to the home race with a disappointing ninth place and only two points in world ranking for Kimi Raikkonen. The attention at Ferrari’s has been drawn by the statements of both Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo: “In March I told the shareholders and especially the people at Ferrari, who I’m very close to, that I would be available for another three years”, and Fiat-Chrysler CEO, Sergio Marchionne: “No one is indispensable, but the change of Presidency is not on the agenda”. Are these words that may herald a future in “Red” and a stock exchange appearance?

With regards to the race, we saw a determined Hamilton, who has taken his revenge on his teammate, winning the race after a certainly not brilliant start, taking advantage of two Nico’s mistakes and gaining the sixth place of the season and the tenth for Mercedes. Now, the gap with Rosberg is 22 lengths (216 points against 238 of the team-mate). Mercedes is, instead, increasingly alone at the top with a “spoil” of 454 points, compared with the 272 of Red Bull, which says goodbye to Monza with the fifth and sixth place.

Fantastic comeback-race for Daniel Ricciardo, that closes once again before his teammate. After an imperfect start, he managed to put together an amazing comeback, taking up to the fifth position and overtaking on the final also the teammate, who tried to defend himself. No doubt about it. The Australian is now a certainty for the team, which can definitely count on a pilot of the first band. At RB’s, they are certainly covered by a probable Vettel’s change of team, considering Kvyat’s good performance (mistake aside) with Toro Rosso. Forced to burst forth from the bottom of the group, he got closer to the score zone.

Astonishing comeback also for the Finnish of Williams, Bottas, who promptly recovered a disappointing start, finishing just off the podium and immediately behind Felipe Massa. The confirmation of its pilots by the British team is the first sign of stability. Consequently, I also expect the confirmation of Hamilton, at least for 2015.

At this point, the only missing piece is at Honda’s. The court of Sebastian Vettel continues and he asked a few more days to make his assessments. Considering how his season is running, he should change his scenery, in order to find new challenges and incentives. At worst, Honda-McLaren could think of doing another year together with Button, confirming concurrently the present pair.

They are now outlining the forces in the game, with two Mercedes, two Williams and two Red Bull. Mercedes’ Power-Unit raised McLaren in these conditions and market rumours seem to have restored vitality to the ex 2009 World Champion.

Belgian GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

An amazing Formula 1 Grand Prix is filed, with its important and historic circuit, Spa-Francorchamps; after the devastating domain marked Mercedes in qualifying, it re-opened the games with the third success of Ricciardo, before Rosberg and Bottas.

It will be a Grand Prix that will have developments in the motor-homes, where important moves are expected. The contact in the second lap between Rosberg and Hamilton will get talked about in the next few days, although I don’t think that it was voluntary. Certainly, that are contacts which should not take place in the second lap. Nico tried to brake. Moreover, let’s not forget that Mercedes has always said to leave free to fight its pilots. With regards to Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo has not only achieved the third success of the season, but he has leaved behind the teammate of more than 50″, demonstrating that he has reached the necessary maturity to lead a team. The same RB has taken important steps, in spite of the engine’s handicap, proving to rely on good aerodynamics.

It was a lively race, in which all the teams had to change their strategies during the race, with duels, small contacts and strong actions to the limit, which are part of the sport nevertheless. Finally, we saw a beautiful race of Kimi Raikkonen, who fought as a champion needs to do, while regret still remain for what happened to Fernando Alonso and his penalty that costs him a possible fifth place.

As mentioned before, we expect incandescent hours. What we have seen today on the track may represent an important watershed in view of the upcoming season. Various hierarchies are consolidating within the teams: in Williams, the Finnish Bottas consolidates his leadership with the new podium, also proving to be an important player considering the market. He handled his car very well, with interesting overtakings. At McLaren’s, the young Magnussen still had his car before Jenson Button, who’s in his falling phase. Not for nothing, Honda is on the hunt for a top driver. At Red Bull’s, Ricciardo scored another stunning hit against the four-time world champion, while in Mercedes we heard strong releases of Toto Wolff and Lauda about Rosberg-Hamilton’s contact.

Hungarian Gp – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

The eleventh GP of the season has been enlivened since Qualifying, where human mistakes, see Magnussen, strategy mistakes, see Ferrari with Kimi, and reliability mistakes, see Hamilton’s Mercedes and rain in Q3, livened up the last five minutes of test. In a few moments, a succession of fast laps confirmed a sensational Mercedes, which set with Rosberg a time of 1’22″715 – nearly close to the time that the F1 scored a year ago – before a wild Vettel, a reconfirmed Bottas, a Ricciardo that in the last lap overtook a tenacious Alonso, who could not do better than a 5th place, even though improving  his time lap after lap with a 1’23″909.

The race was spectacular, thanks to the dramatic turn of events. Over all, the weather variability: rain thoroughly soaked the track and forced all teams starting with the Intermediate Rain. Secondly, the two safety cars, which intervened following accidents. Finally, the strategies used by teams: at Mercedes’, there were choices of different strategies for the two pilots; at Ferrari’s, an aggressive and risky strategy; at William’s, incomprehensible choices. There was a perfect choice at Red Bull’s, for Ricciardo’s car. With great sense of timing, Daniel used the pit wall’s recall, entering immediately the pits, as soon as the first safety car get out the track, taking advantage of the fact that the first ahead four cars had already passed through the pits’ entrance.

Great Fernando, a phenomenon that has been able to fight and complete 30 laps with Soft tyres in the final stint, achieving an outstanding result for the team and proving, once again, that he is the number one.

We saw also some nervousness mistakes by various actors; we mention a few. Vettel first; only the good luck allowed him to cross the finish line, even though he touched the wall on the pit’s straight. Mercedes’ pit wall, that, in my opinion, made strategies mistakes and, anyway, delayed too much Rosberg’s last pit stop. Williams, that inexplicably used medium tyres on both cars, compromising its drivers’ performances – nevertheless, everyone knew that there was more than one second per lap of performance difference between Soft and Medium tyre.

However, this F1 Championship is always showing a thrilling aspect, with amazing overtakings, races driven until the last lap and growing performances, that make us forget all the critics on this Championship circulated at the beginning of the year.

Now, everybody on vacation for three weeks, with the aim of recovering energies and renew ideas, to deal with the last eight GP, with the hope that the players of this amazing Championship will offer an even more spectacular final.

German GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

After Silverstone the show has moved to Germany in Hockenheim, with a race full of continuous overtakings and duels, in which the stewards have finally realized that for the sake of the show they need to take more risks, leaving more freedom to the players. In fact, we’re talking about race contacts, which are the trademark of this sport.

Despite an embarrassing supremacy of Mercedes, with Rosberg who has pretty much “gone for a walk”, we’ve seen great duels with Hamilton who conquered a podium starting from the twentieth position, with breathtaking overtakings, exciting the German public. The battle between Alonso and Ricciardo was also very exciting, with an amazing overtaking of the Australian driver on McLaren. In other words, a Grand Prix that took a revenge on all the negative comments of the beginning of the season.

The Achilles’ heel of Mercedes – reliability – adds a little extra spice to this World Championship, that remains an internal matter between its two pilots. Certainly Nico, with both pole-position and victory, has distanced his n.1 rival on the race field. He is consolidating his leadership within a team that is preparing not only to the title, but also to open a new cycle. The renewal of the contract is a significant fact and, under those circumstances, probably Hamilton will have to find a new team for 2015. Besides, Bottas – podium after podium – is undermining Alonso’s fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship and he is being much courted, considering that his manager is Toto Wolff. Therefore, little by little the games are taking shape.

The forces in play among Constructors are also being defined: Red Bull is growing, with Vettel able to stand in front of Ricciardo; Williams took the third place at the expense of Ferrari, that can count on a great champion as Fernando Alonso and on Kimi Raikkonen not at his best shape. We must not forget that Force India has overtaken McLaren and might even annoy whoever is standing before.

That being the case, we absolutely need to reserve our armchair and remote control, because in seven days drivers will be back on track, in Budapest, a circuit that is closer to a go-kart track for its layout. I have the impression that we will see many race contacts here too.

Besides the drivers’ market, there are interesting movements also regarding teams: it seems that Lotus has found a buyer and a new engine. So, we will have a really hot summer break.

British GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

We started the weekend with the wrong strategies at Ferrari’s and Williams’, but then the ninth round of the Formula 1 World Championship turned out to be the best race of the season so far, with plenty of duels and with Bottas – uncontrollable from the very first steps –that conquered the second podium of the season and of his career.

It has been a high-voltage race, with two World Champions, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, ready to perform duels of other times. With the initial ingenuity (resulting in a 5’’ penalty at the pit-stop), Alonso compromised one or two positions for the final results. Perhaps he could have stayed with Button and Ricciardo. The errors on Saturday and Sunday are a sign of the strong tension at Ferrari. Silverstone has been characterized also by the incident of Kimi Raikkonen – that has irreparably compromised the Sunday of Felipe Massa – and by the consequent stop of more than 40 minutes, that however represents a great achievement for safety. It was estimated that the violent impact caused a deceleration of 40G… Fortunately the Finnish driver got away only with a few bruises.

At Mercedes’, the bad luck struck this time Nico Rosberg, thus denying him the satisfaction of putting his signature on the fourth race of the season, in favor of his team-mate that, with this success, is only 4 points far from the top of the ranking. Reliability confirms to be the only Achilles’ heel of the W05, although the technical advantage is so high that the fights remain always “within the family”.

As we announced, with the hard tyres McLaren is reborn, especially with Jenson Button who gives his team an important fourth place. The English driver, on his home track, was able to give something more, proving to be at ease with these compounds.

With any specific technical problem, the two Toro Rosso confirm to be top-ten cars and also at Silverstone Kvyat and Vergne enter in the score-zone with the ninth and tenth place.

Austrian GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

Formula 1 is back to Europe and Austria. A praise must be done to the organizers of this race that have managed to bring a large audience to the circuit. We have experienced a fantastic weekend, with a front row marked by Williams and Mercedes in a slight difficulty. This underlines how easy it is to switch, in this F1, from leaders to chasers. A Mercedes that still has capitalized all its advantage with a new double and an important success for Nico Rosberg. The points of advantage on Hamilton begin to be significant, surely annoying Lewis.

I believe, however, that the error in qualifying is not to be attributed to the pilot, as they strive to affirm at Mercedes, but mainly to a brake problem, as can be seen in some slow-motions. Perhaps the braking system is one of those aspects that this year has been most underestimated, even with regard to “weight-car” issues. Many teams, in different ways and measures, have accused several issues on the brakes.

The ranking sees two Mercedes, two Williams and, above all, seven cars in the top ten with the Mercedes power-unit. Great race of Fernando Alonso, who brings Ferrari to the fifth place: he has showed once again what he’s made of.  He’s the one making the difference, keeping the team anchored to third place in the Constructors’ Championship.

The Austrian weekend underlined again the problem at Renault’s. In my opinion, rumours about possible new partnerships will start again soon, as RB cannot continue on this path, despite the declarations on the renewal of contracts. The championship of Vettel is almost compromised and he was forced to raise the white flag to avoid ruining another power-unit, having already used four of them.

The last two races have affirmed the growth of Williams that with the podium of today has taken another step forward, leaving McLaren behind and getting closer to Force India. They’ve become a rival and, keeping this pace, might even try to annoy Maranello.

Good race for Sergio Perez, who is blurring the rising star of Hulkenberg: he carried out a great race, conditioned by an excellent race management. The Mexican driver is able to create a good connection with the tyres, thus being able to carry out interesting strategies.

In fifteen days we’ll arrive in England, at Silverstone, a track representing the history of this sport.

Canadian GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

It’s a Formula 1 that never ceases to amaze and surprise us, with several cars packed into a few tenths. Very little is needed to destabilize it and thus the supremacy Mercedes was abruptly interrupted (after six consecutive wins), with the first victory of Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull.

Within a few laps we had a significant turnaround, with the second seasonal retirement of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg giving way to Ricciardo, achieving a second place important, however, in the view of World Championship. Mercedes is still on top, but this “stop” keeps the Championship alive, with Red Bull and Renault strongly growing, unlike Ferrari that cannot keep the pace of the leaders, proving to be actually the fourth team. With the renewal of the contract to Adrian Newey, Red Bull has destabilized the Circus. They managed to convince the coach that everyone would like to have. Sebastian Vettel has sought to demonstrate that he is still the #1 within the team, but he had to settle – so to speak – for the third step of the podium. Fernando Alonso has proven to be still the number 1 within Ferrari, while Kimi Raikkonen is still experiencing a particularly difficult time.

Very good performance for Force India and Williams. Unfortunately in the last lap Felipe Massa made a terrible mistake that has frustrated not only his race, but a good result for his team and especially for Perez and Force India. He wanted to overdo it, pushed by the adrenaline of the excellent moment.

Now we go back to Europe, with few certainties and many unknowns!


Monaco GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

The sixth Grand Prix of Formula 1 is over, with another double scored by Mercedes. However, the real leitmotif of the weekend has been the debacle of the Renault engines, which have experienced several breaks. On this specific side, Red Bull is unable to free itself from next season’s contract for the supply of engines: this could open new scenarios, both regarding technicians and pilots. Adrian Newey might opt for a sabbatical year, waiting to return to the Circus in 2016 with other colours. This rumor could also lead other constructors, interested in providing their Power-Unit to strong technical partners, to change their “return-to-F1” plans – BMW in first place.

By the way, congratulations to Nico Rosberg, who repeated the success of last season, proving to have something more than Hamilton on this track; the team-mate finished in second place, allowing Mercedes to score the fifth double out of six races. Leaving aside controversies, with this victory Nico proved that he deserved the pole-position, being the only one driver to break the wall of 1’16’’.

As we said, it was a race characterized by many retirements, with only four cars at full speed (Rosberg, Hamilton, Riccardo and Alonso). A praise must go to Marussia, which – despite the difficulties – achieved with Bianchi the ninth place and two World Championship points. Two points that will be vital for the continuation of this adventure: as a former Team Principal of a small team, I know very well the significance of such a result.

Very good job for Red Bull too, a team constantly growing. Daniel Ricciardo scored his second consecutive podium and is the only driver to keep up the morale at Renault’s, with a great pace. Despite a Power-Unit with 80-90 hp less, he was able to fight on an even footing with a Mercedes.

A small praise goes to Ferrari, once again bringing both cars to the finish line. The result of Fernando Alonso highlights once more the problems at Ferrari’s. Too bad for Kimi Raikkonen: after a weekend troubled by physical problems, he was the author of a great start and of a good performance, messed-up only by race contacts. Unfortunately, in a track like Monte Carlo you have to put them into account.

Spanish GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

Five out of five: Mercedes continues its solo ride, thanks to the poker played by Lewis Hamilton who finished first, before (for half a second) Nico Rosberg, fierce until the last corner.

The Spanish Grand Prix underlined once again the great strength of the W05 and the gap on the lap of more than 1’’ between Mercedes and Red Bull and of 1’’50’/1’’80’ between Mercedes and Ferrari, with two teams, Williams and Lotus (the last scoring the first points just in Spain) which can be considered as outsiders in the second bracket.

Free practice, qualifying and race: Mercedes’ superiority is so high that they give the impression of “playing” with rivals, as we have seen with the strategies during the race. It won’t certainly be an easy mission to recover such a gap, as we are talking of a distance of 49’’ between the Mercedes and the first of the opponents, i.e. Ricciardo’s Red Bull.

This weekend we saw the result of the great work done in the last three weeks by Red Bull, Lotus and Williams, something that cannot be said for Ferrari, with Alonso first among non-dubbed pilots and Raikkonen opening the dancing between drivers outdistanced of 1 gap and the McLarens, still out of the score-zone.

Mercedes’ superiority makes me go back to the 80s and early 90s, when McLaren won as much as 15 races out of 16 starts, behind which other teams placed in pairs, just as happened in Spain with two Mercedes, two Red Bulls, a Williams, two Ferraris, a Lotus, a Force India and a two McLarens.

The race was animated by the recovery of Rosberg, who finished just over half a second from the teammate, and by the various overtakings performed by Sebastian Vettel, also helped by the strategies, who closed at the foot of the podium, after a fifteenth position on the starting grid.

China GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

Mercedes supremacy has been reasserted, but the factor making this Formula 1 more and more exciting is what’s going among the other drivers and cars. At present, it’s not possible to make any previsions: after each GP, it’s much likely to be proved wrong rather than to be confirmed.

The first two places are reserved for Hamilton and Rosberg, but the game is open for the third step of the podium and for second and third places in Constructors’ Championship. At this moment, Mercedes – unless a debacle – is unbeatable: watching their camera-car is simply amazing.

The result of Ferrari imposes a reflection: no doubt, they really have the top driver. Alonso was the protagonist of a fantastic race, finished with the first podium of the season for Maranello’s Team. From the 44th passage, he drove 12 laps with a gap on only 4 tenth of a second, keeping a qualification pace. He’s the one who can really make the difference, obtaining last weekend a result that otherwise would have been very difficult. Maranello’s car has made significant improvements regarding consumption, and we start appreciating the results of the intense work with Shell. As already said at the beginning of the World Championship, fuel will be a permanent key issue this year. The merit of this podium goes to Alonso and Stefano Domenicali, who had the strength to step aside in a difficult situation.

China GP enlightened strong hierarchies within teams. Hamilton conquered the third consecutive victory, even though Rosberg is still leading the World Championship. Regarding Ferrari, I’ve never considered the chance that Fernando could suffer in the “internal” battle with Raikkonen – no offence for the Finn; the same is not true for Red Bull, where Sebastian Vettel is experiencing some troubles in the competition with the teammate. Ricciardo has proved to have a better control over Pirelli tyres and Renault power-unit. We also start observing a nervous attitude of Vettel, who did not take well the communication from the team. Force India is keeping the third place in Constructors’ Championship, with Hulkenberg closing in 6th position after the two Red Bull, restoring his internal leadership with Perez. Once again we watched a good performance of Toro Rosso’s Russian pilot, who is taking the reins of Faenza’s team.

Bad luck for Felipe Massa and Williams with that rear wheel problems during his first pit stop, throwing away all the work done on Saturday and in the first laps of the race. He could certainly have engaged a battle with “Hulk”, causing maybe some problems to Vettel too. At Williams, they have to do a careful reflection to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

In three weeks Formula 1 is coming to Europe: three weeks in which everything can happen. We’ll see which teams will achieve the best results regarding further developments and improvements of the cars. We’ll arrive in Spain with Red Bull-Force India-Ferrari comprised within 5 points only.

Bahrain GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

As I said in the last days, in the usual GP-Preview Analysis, there’s no point to cry wolf at this moment of the season, facing such an important technical change. We need to give time to this Formula 1 to grow from a technical perspective. In just one week we have shifted from a Formula-Boredom to a Formula-Show, with overtakings and duels.

Formula 1 is amazing because it involves a lot of elements: technique, sporting regulations and pilots. It’s hard to give judgements since the track, from one weekend to the following, can prove wrong everyone, particularly this year. Let’s just think to the situation during Bahrain tests: I expect forward changes in China, not to mention what might happen in Spain in one month. Today we have seen that the problem is certainly not the noise of the V6 Turbo: the main issues are cars’ competitiveness and the duels that pilots can perform during the race. We assisted to great fights, overtakings, strategies and crushes; safety-car, also, added something more to the last 8 laps.

No doubt, we have a Mercedes supremacy, both as a team and as power-unit: in the last laps, W05 realized an advantage of 24’’ on the third car at finishing. Rosberg and Hamilton are great champions, who will entertain us again and again. I had the impression that in the last laps they mainly wanted to play and please the public with a great show (also, to be spotted by cameras) given the unconvincing points where Nico tried the final attack on his teammate. Behind them, all the others, more or less close. In this moment the fight is for the third step of the podium. The final ranking sees two Mercedes, Force India, Red Bull, Force India, Red Bull, two Williams and two Ferrari. Which means: five Mercedes engines, two Renault and two Ferrari, with Ricciardo and Vettel between Perez and Hulkenberg, and Alonso and Raikkonen closing the Top 10. A praise goes to Aldo Costa: this success should make us think about the fact that Italian technologies and technicians are too often underestimated. We always think English are on a higher level, but the Made in Italy is still very successful. Costa is the head of a group that certainly follows him, since he certainly doesn’t design the car by himself. This gives food for thought to other teams, too.

Red Bull proves to be a car with a great chassis, only lacking those 40 hp that Horner would like to obtain from the Renault power-unit. Ricciardo performed an amazing race: despite an underserved 10-place grid penalty in qualifications – related to Malaysia, where he also was handed a stop&go of 10’’, not for his faults – he finished the race before his teammate. In one month they have been able to turn upside down a very difficult situation. Very good race for Sergio Perez and Force India. With Hulkenberg, in the previous GPs they proved to have a great car, which today stands in the second place of the World Championship, gaining approval and respect. The Mexican has come forward with great authority, showing he’s part of the games. With this podium he released himself from the negative echoes of last season, proving us that McLaren decisions were rushed. He fully deserved to be on the podium.

Let’s go to Ferrari. At present, they’re the fifth force of the Championship. I think the performance is rescued only by its two World Champions, Alonso and Raikkonen. Otherwise, I think they would have stayed out of the Top 10. The problem is not only the power-unit: competitiveness is lacking in several areas, as underlined by tyre skitting and pilots’ camera-car. I believe it’s important not to make up excuses or to accuse only one sector. They need to reflect with a cold mind, working at 360 degrees in all areas. Now it’s time for tests, before China GP. Excluding W05 of Nico and Lewis, all the others are close: therefore also Ferrari can compete for the third step of the podium and for the second place in World Championship.

Malaysia GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

Second race of the season, second seal marked by Mercedes. After Rosberg, this was Hamilton’s turn to climb up the podium, getting on the top step. The result speaks for itself: a neat supremacy in all possible conditions. From free practice to the race, from dry to wet road. They are doing very well in scoring as many points as they can, in oder to manage them in a World Championship perspective. Seven Mercedes engines in the first ten positions: this is an outstanding achievement.

Ferrari’s performance slightly improved, with a gap of 35’’ from the winner, though 10’’ slower than Red Bull: Maranello has still a lot of work to do. Bad luck for Kimi: without the collision with Magnussen, he could have scored important points for the World Championship chart. Once again, Fernando was capable to get the maximum out of his Ferrari, performing very similar laps in all conditions: but F14-T is still in need of an important evolution, in order to step on the podium or fight for the first place.

Red Bull shows to be the car with the best chassis: this is particularly clear in corners, even though suffering the problems related to the Renault power-unit. They are certainly on the right path, but the gap with Mercedes – whose hidden resources are remarkable – is still wide. For the French motorist, it won’t be easy to solve his problems, but Red Bull could be advantaged on those tracks where the engine is less important. If we look back at pre-seasonal tests, they have achieved considerable improvements both in terms of performance and reliability, even though they now have to figure out what happened on Ricciardo’s car. Once more, all the misfortunes are hitting Red Bull-2.

Nico Hulkenberg proves himself to be a top team driver, even though Force India is showing a very good performance,  trying to achieve the fifth place in the World Championship: that’s an excellent result, obtained driving very well and with one less pit-stop. As it already happened in the last season, they have a car which is very “gentle” with Pirelli tyres: this is a further technical solution and a strength point. Good result also for Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso’s rookie, who scored one point. At present, it’s not simple to be in the first ten places with seven Mercedes engines at finish, considering that Kvyat’s engine is a Renault too.

In Malaysia, the new penalty of 5’’ has come into play: it was imposed by FIA representatives on Kevin Magnussen, after the collision with Kimi Raikkonen. I personally find this sanction too heavy, since in my opinion it was a normal race collision. This could become a problem as we proceed with the World Championship’s races, because it represents a too subjective decision. Today FIA representatives have decided it was an action to be penalized, but what will happen with another “board of judges”? I observed with great attention the execution of pit-stops with penalties and I noted that McLaren mechanics did very well and quickly. His previous pit-stops had been around 24’’7’-25’’5’, whereas, when the penalty was assigned, Kevin left the pit-lane in 30’’. This penalty has concealed the true value on this track of MP4-29, which did not experience a positive grand prix. Nonetheless, the two drivers have been able to bring home points.

We need to underline the weird team indications of Williams. I don’t believe Bottas had the strength to create problems to Button: I don’t see the point of creating tensions in the team at the second weekend of races. I can foresee a polemic debate coming up, even though Massa took the right decision, choosing to keep its place and not to be overtaken by his team-mate.

In seven days it will be time for Bahrain and we’ll see what happens, though we’ll hardy see a change of the situation already in place.