Calm Montmelo or how to make the tyres slightly thinner 🏎🚦🇪🇸

It is time to speak about Montmelo, my dear friends. Many people think that race in Barcelona is usually one of the most boring ones as it is hard to overtake here. Many drivers on the contrary think that it is one of the best circuits to check if the car's good enough as it has all the types of turns and straights. Anyways, Formula 1 is never boring, am I right?

1. One-two for Mercedes from the first line: predictable or not?

Valtteri loses the start - this is the first thing I wrote down in the race notes. Well, he lost the start but the car was so unbelievably good, softs and mediums worked just great and Seb possibly made a tactical mistake, so both Lewis and Valtteri could finish where they started. Moreover, not only Valtteri overcame Seb during his first pit-stop but Seb made the podium impossible for himself after changing from medium to the medium.

2. Crash-boy Roman

The start of the race is usually the trickiest thing in all the races but this time it was unusually tricky as Roman lost the car after Kevin's move and hit Pierre and Nico, so both became the victims of this misfortune. All three drivers were immediately out whilst others were to follow the safety car. Both Brandon and Sergey pitted under the SC but without any specific changes to their strategy as they had to pit secondly later anyways.

3. DNF time

The race wasn't specifically epic in terms of crashes and fights but it was epic in terms of how many cars were out for some reason. Unfortunately one of leaders Kimi became a victim of an engine fail twice this weekend, so he couldn't end the race. Another one who had great moments against Fernando in the beginning of the race, Esteban became a victim of right rear problem which cost him a few places on the grid firstly but also an engine problem later which made him to retire. Stoffel penalized with five seconds after the wrong move in the beginning also couldn't see the chequered flag. The last one to suffer DNF was Brendon as he stopped one lap before the finish without an obvious reason. It was added to his misfortune whilst FP3 where he crashed the car completely and couldn't even take part in quali.

4. Podium with killed wing

The one who had a tiny crash but managed not only to finish the race but to finish it on the podium was Max who pushed so much that hit his front wing and lost a part of it. He commented on the podium later that it didn't look nice but it was drivable anyways.

Max wasn't the only youngster impressed public in this race. Charles not only managed to bring points to the team, to show amazing performance in quali entering Q2 but also push and compete against Fernando and others on track. That was really amazing.

5. Spain is orangy-yellow

Fernando as the real homie not only brought the Spanish flag to take it out on the cooling lap but also showed his respect towards another Spaniard Carlos who did the same. Talking about surprises, another great one was both Haases in Q3 and for me, of course, the starting line of the grid for Mercedes.

Unfortunately there were negative moments as Lance ended up in a wall in all pre-race sessions including quali. Dani, Roman and Checo also ended up crashed each once during FP1 and FP2 whilst Kubica made his come back to F1 and managed to safely finish his FP.

Talking about tactics, it was all pretty obvious: supersofts didn't show any speed difference comparing to softs so almost the whole grid except few drivers decided to start the race on yellow tyres to later change onto the white ones. By the way, Pirelli made the tyres thinner as Mercedes asked to do it as asphalt in Barcelona was changed recently to the new one. The time records were beaten faster than you can imagine as the new track coverage in May made it possible. Rain didn't come to Montmelo, so the race was pretty calm. Probably that is all that I should have mention in the racing blog.

Thanks for reading and until Monaco!

The team comes first... Is it? 🥇❤️🏎

It's never too late to jump on track under the safety car, innit? Hellooo, I missed you so much! My racing blogs are back so am I. Here's my first post in a while on the best race in the season I believe but who knows? Enjoy!

1. Crucial puncture for Valtteri and unexpected win for Lewis

Am I happy? Well, it is hard to say. As you might know I am a huge Mercedes fan and I wasn't quite into first three races this season so I didn't see all Lewis' losses. This race gave me hope from the very beginning firstly because I knew it is a motor track, secondly because I knew it is a crazy track. The whole race was a mess and when the last safety car stayed on track after absolutely unexpected crush for Roman (which I am honestly sad about since he had tough times in quali with his gearbox) and Valtteri managed to pit not only changing the tyres to ultrasofts but also coming in front of Seb you can imagine how happy I was. Later on everything happened in a perfect way - Seb blocked his front rears and lost 3 places not to Valtteri only but to Lewis and Kimi so we expected a one-two for Mercedes. But lady luck decided in other way. Some kind of debris and the puncture. This. Was. Crucial.

Lewis was lost during the interview and right after that he went to Valtteri to say that he had the amazing race. So the champ was late to the podium. The team comes first.

2. Red Bulls on fire

The team comes first but probably not for everyone. Red Bull lost huge points and possible podium because of how stupid their pilots was. I am sure you have seen the crush in details already. It was an amazing fight where one overtook another for a few times in this race.  In my opinion (I might be totally wrong) the blame is 50% on each. Dani saw that Max changes his way constantly and he should have understand that he would keep doing this not to let him in front so why speeding so much? Max also knew that Dani would fight so he should have left the space just in case Dani is irresponsible for a moment. What happened - happened. Both drivers went to Milton Keynes to apologize for the team. Smart decision from Christian.

3. Safety car leads the race

Apart from two main dramas in this race (I mean Valtteri puncture and Red Bull clash) we also had a few collisions called safety car. The start of the race was predictable. I mean - it is Baku, the most epic track of the season. The first ones to prove it were Kimi and Esteban. French ended in the wall whilst Finn on the podium. This is amazing how Kimi managed not only bring the damaged car to the pits, come back under the safety car but to climb on top and even beat Seb. Amazing job. Alonso was as good as Kimi in bringing car to the pits after becoming a part of a sandwich alongside Sergey (unfortunately retired) and Carlos but not so good in climbing on top.

4. Not to mention

Not to mention the driver of the day - Charles who brought his first career points to Zauber and was just great. He was congratulated by his mate Pierre who also had a great start making it to P7 in the first laps after having a little accident with Marcus. Marcus finished P13 and was the last one not to retire as Nico joined the company from mentioned above. Also not to mention Checo who got his second podium in Baku after overtaking Seb in the very end and Carlos showing a nice drive after overtaking both Red Bulls in the beginning.

5. What have you expected?

Overall after quite a calm qualifying with Seb on pole I expected anything but what happened. Before the start I knew just one thing - as Kimi was so fast but didn't make it to the pole after his mistake in Q3 Lewis need to win the start but he didn't. The times were lower than last year because of the season and all the teams struggled to find the temperature window. Winds and dust caused many mistakes, we saw a few wall-crushes in FPs and almost a clash between Pierre and Brendon in Q1 when the last one struggled a puncture. The weekend was interesting enough to write more but I'll stop.

Baku is always great and it is still a big dream of mine to write this blog from Azerbaijan GP paddock which I am sure I will do one day! Thank you for your attention and stay with me. Until Spain in two weeks :)

Ferrari sandwich as a miracle for Lewis 🏎🌟🏁

What a weekend of a night race in eye catching Singapore. Three safety cars, eight retirements, wets, inters, slicks, tyre strategies, rain as a miracle for Lewis and Ferrari sandwich for Max. Let's get right into this!

1. Miracle for Lewis 

To say that this wasn't the best weekend for Mercedes means to say nothing. It was terrible. No pace, no chances for the win, nothing really from the leading team and everyone knew this from the very beginning. The team struggled from Friday till the end of Saturday. 

Quali made it not easy for both Lewis and Valtteri as well putting them into P5 and P6 which meant difficult start behind Ferraris and Red Bulls. They were hoping for the rain to mix all the rival's advantage and give the chance to be smarter and quicker and it happened.

But let me take a minute for Lewis' race start. Which was more than amazing. He has chosen the very safe way which helped him not just to overtake everyone at the very beginning but not to become a victim of what happened in front. As team radio claimed he had to bring car home in one piece. As a result - 60th career win, one more podium with a bottle of champagne for British superstar (who is going vegan by the way).

2. Ferrari sandwich 

What happened in front? Well, since it's been a few days from the race we have all the cards opened. Now we clearly know that the one to blame in this crush was Seb. In Ferrari's press release he claimed: "I had an average start and then I moved slightly to the left trying to defend my position from Max. Then I got bumped on one side as Kimi’s car hit me. I’m not sure what happened." As it is clear Seb thinks that nothing has changed for Max and Kimi after their retirements as they are not fighting for anything in the championship right now.

Perfect! So Seb has mistaken and the only person who suffered the most from this  stupid mistake was just himself. Round of applause for Mr. Sebastian Vettel who has beaten the track record in Q3 claiming his pole. 1:39:491 - this is how fast you can go on Marina Bay City Curcuit.

Rain made it quite difficult to beat the times further but it made different tyre strategies possible. The grid has divided into two sides: the ones who started the race on wets and the ones who started it on inters. Probably inters won as Lewis, Dani, Valtteri and those three (I mean Seb, Kimi and Max) in front used them and the other part had to pit and change into them later under safety cars. Slicks were in action after approximately 24 laps so Kevin was the first one to go for ultrasofts as he was fighting with everyone (especially Felipe) wheel to wheel. Carlos, by the way, was the only one to go for supersofts.

3. What podium is it for Daniel?

Wait a minute! I am trying to count as there were too many this season. Dani showed truly unbeatable pace on Friday leading both FPs, he was also good on Saturday but was beaten mostly by his teammate. After well done quali for both Red Bull cars starting the race P2 and P3 everyone thought that Max could finally make it to the podium. Max who had too many DNFs this season while Dani had too many podiums.

But once again. Max became a victim. Not a victim of engine or technical problems as he used to but a victim of that Ferrari sandwich made by Seb mostly. If you don't believe me - just look at this picture and you'll get it.

Although FIA has decided that it was a racing accident and no further action is about to happen here.

4. Retirement competition

Did you see all those jokes about full house DNF in Singapore? I mean Max, Daniil and Fernando. All three of top-DNF drivers this year were out in one single race almost at the very beginning.

Not only Max, Kimi and Seb but Fernando had also retired after that crush-start. Fernando tried to manage driving with his damaged car but couldn't and had to box in the very beginning. 

And, yes, Daniil ended up in a wall. Not super surprising but since his teammate Carlos finished the race P4 with his best career result ever Toro Rosso probably had some chances in Singapore. So Daniil should have been smarter in his pathway after overtaking Kevin but he wasn't.

The last and third safety car in this session was provoked by Marcus being turned in a very thick place after hitting the wall. Not to mention how much Lewis was unhappy with the last SC as he gained a lot of advantage and had to lose it all and fight again at restart. 

Two more DNFs happened in case of some technical and mechanical problems so both Renault and Haas had to lose an opportunity for some really good points as Nico and Kevin had to retire at the very end.

5. Turning point of the championship

Lewis said after the race that the rain was that miracle he needed so much and as soon as it started raining he knew he would win. At the same time Seb who was extremely happy on Saturday gaining probably an unexpected pole was quite sceptic of his own DNF. 

Lewis who was supposed to leave Singapore being the second left it with 28 points above his rival. And Valtteri who by the way risked his life as he couldn't drink in the race blame on the broken bottle is closer to Seb now but farther from his teammate. Ferrari who has not that many tracks left to their advantage  in this championship suffered from double DNF for the first time in its history and probably lost the Constructors cup and maybe even the championship to Mercedes.

6. Contract time 

Mostly important to mention that this weekend not only became the turning point of the championship battle but the turning point for the future as well. Mercedes confirmed Valtteri signing for 2018 as well as Force India confirmed Checo. 

McLaren finally divorced with Honda who goes to Toro Rosso now as well as Sainz "divorced" with Red Bull future going to Renault alongside Nico for 2018. Although his future is still up to Dr. Marco. Now it became clear that Jolyon is probably leaving F1 after an amazing race this weekend which makes the fact just sadder.

We are still not sure about what might happen to Sauber next year as well as Toro Rosso. But it's the question of few races now I must confirm. 

On this point I should close this controversial post and start waiting for Malaysia and more news coming. Stay tuned!

Lewis leading the championship on the Ferrari land 🏎❤️🇮🇹

Sorry to disappoint a huge Tifosi crowd but Mercedes not only got a one-two at Monza but made it to the top of the championship with Lewis putting Seb down with three points now.

What an amazing race, first of all. I honestly thought that Monza might be boring in case there was not much to do for the teams who had less power than Mercedes and even less to do for those who could not compete with Ferrari as well. But after quali I definitely changed my mind - if you haven't seen it, then go and watch because that was the thing that made this race so unpredictable and interesting at the same time. Not to mention all the grid penalties, a ton of them. They truly messed up the starting grid. 

1. Epic wet quali

Note: this part of the blog was pre-written on Saturday while the feelings were fresher.

 Okay. Just let me breathe normally cause the quali was E-P-I-C. Let's start with the fact that four hours instead of just one were worth seeing Lewis beating all-time record and getting his 69th pole. It was also worth seeing AMAZING Lance and Esteban, and of course Max who unfortunately couldn't start where he finished. Well, have you ever expected a grid like this? I mean, yes, in Monza.

The whole Saturday wasn't that well for everyone as long as we only had 16 minutes in FP3 and the quali was stopped after less than five minutes when Roman crushed after HUGE aquaplaning. It was dangerous to go on track - it was true but fans and TV and everything demanded quali to take place at the right time. Sadly for Roman who started the race P20 as he didn't make it to 107% and also got a few more positions on the grid because of the penalty.

After the track was cleaned of debris we had 2,5 hours of expectation before the action would be back. And guess what? Since Q1 was restarted from 13:31 everyone was switching from wets to inters and back to wets during the whole quali and that was interesting. Who expected both Williams to be in Q3 and be so fast? Who expected Red Bull to almost claim the pole or even one-two in Q3. I mean WHO EXPECTED LANCE P4 AND ESTEBAN P5? Here I really feel sorry for Max and Dani not to start from their positions but SO HAPPY for youngsters to start P2 and P3, especially Lance to be the youngest ever on the front row! 

By the way, sorry those who love red cars but Ferrari sucked at Q3 and there's no explanation why both drivers couldn't manage their cars, tyres and speed. I mean even McLaren with all their problems made it to Q3 with one car (Stoffel) claiming that Fernando could knock his teammate out but did not. 

2. Lewis dominating on Ferrari land

Alright. Lewis? Again? Yes! Record breaking, fast, confident and now leading the championship Lewis Hamilton made it at Monza! In front of huge Tifosi crowd with all those red flags everywhere. 

He has not only beaten Michael Schumacher's (yes, Ferrari pilot) all-time pole record but claimed a great victory leading almost the whole race and making a great start as well while everyone else was struggling (his teammate Valtteri even lost a few positions at the very beginning). And now he is leading in the championship before seven most diverse races of the year. Champ? I hope so.

3. Almost retired Max and brilliant Daniel 

As I already mentioned we got lots of grid penalties that time. Can you imagine that eight of twenty drivers were thrown to the back of the grid while Lewis was the only one to start the race from where he was qualified. So, both Red Bulls became victims of those penalties and both started from the back. But guess who finished almost on the podium? Yes, it was Dani and we kind of got used to such go-throughs from Australian. Driver of the day (from P16 to P4) with those amazing overtakes.

Being that happy for Daniel I remember the moment when my heart almost stopped. It happened when Max got a puncture after their contact with Felipe and had to pit and start his race from the very back again. Thanks God he did not retire and even finished P10 after two pit-stops and driving the car with Renault engine. 

Max was quite not a gentleman in that race as he squeezed Kevin out of the track fighting for the 10th closer to the end and crushed into Roman at the very beginning of the race damaging both Haas and his own front wings.

4. Youngsters under pressure 

My excitement had no borders on Saturday as Esteban and Lance claimed those amazing results in rainy quali and got P3 and P2 on the starting grid. Align all this excitement I already knew how much pressure they both would have. Especially Lance starting from the first row next to Lewis. 

Unfortunately they both couldn't manage the faster cars behind and both lost their positions finishing P6 and P7. Lance even was attacked by his own teammate on the last lap but Felipe stopped at the right time as there was a chance to be overtaken by Checo who was right behind them all. 

5. Karma in progress

Another fight "on the edge" happened in the very middle of the grid while Jolyon had to cut the chicane and gained a place in front of Fernando who was so unhappy with that fact on his team radio that he kept saying that the penalty was ridiculous and only after hearing that Jolyon had retired he was satisfied saying "karma". 

Although, Fernando himself had to retire on strategic purpose as well as Sauber's Marcus did. Among those who had retired as well was Fernando's teammate Stoffel who had "no power" (normal Alonso quote).

Then we saw Lewis and Valtteri standing next to Seb in front of huge Tifosi crowd. Here Lewis said a volcanic thing that "Mersedes' power is better that Ferrari's" and that was so true but so risky. At the same time Seb explained that something didn't work in the car the biggest part of the race so he wasn't pushing too hard. I can go on remembering those things for ages but let's just sum it all up here.

What did we see this weekend? Breathtaking classic Monza race (no safety car for 6th time in a row here), unpredictable rainy quali, LOTS of grid penalties and a totally messed up starting line, huge speed over 250 km/h, some ordinary problems like Sainz' engine and Magnussen's broken suspension on Friday. Interesting weather conditions. Not proven Force India's team orders (in case of no need) aaaaand total Mercedes' domination on Ferrari land.

That is all from Monza. Just seven more races left and Singapore's next, Have a great week and don't miss a thing!

Lewis joining the "winning 200th GP club" while Max competing in number of retirements 🏆💪🏻😵

Cheers to all Formula 1 fans as the holiday break is finally over and we are warming up before the very end of the season in Spa. Spa is amazing. Spa is unbelievable. Spa is everything Formula 1 needs: fast corners, speed straights, areas with critical G force level, engine power, aerodynamics and downforce - all in one. People say this track is where engine matters the most but its not just about what's inside the car but about its chassis as well. So the weekend promised Mercedes to be in front of everyone else in case they are much better in power this season but unpredictability is still what we love in this sport.

From the very first free practice wasn’t that clear who gonna dominate here in Spa that time so Mercedes had to push harder not to loose "their" track to Ferraris. And what was the most surprising that it wasn’t Seb who was "flying" the whole weekend but Kimi who has just signed the new contract with Scuderia and was able to focus on JUST driving now (not that he didn’t before).

As Seb lost all the FPs to his teammate he was still able to make it to the front row of the starting grid because of Kimi's mistake (as it was clearly claimed). Seb admitted that he probably wouldn’t be able to start the race from P2 if Kimi compiled his best lap in Q3. 

So Seb not only lost his first part of the weekend to Kimi but also the race to his principal rival - Lewis being too active at the restart and not able to attack after pushing too close before Eau Rouge. Well, Seb still has 7 points before Monza next week but it doesn’t seem too promising for him.

1. Lewis dominating in his 200th Grand Prix

Weekend at Spa was very special for Lewis in many terms. First of all, his 200th F1 career Grand Prix and his 200th race start on Sunday. Secondly, his 68th pole which means he has equaled Michael Schumacher. Thirdly, new Spa track record - 1.42.553 sec.  And the last but not the least being able to join the "winning 200th GP club" alongside Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Good job and just 7 points left to start climbing over in the championship again.

2. Valtteri losing the podium in his championship fight

While Lewis was definitely shining the whole weekend being voted the driver of the day, his teammate Valtteri wasn’t doing that well from the very first FP finishing P5 and loosing two positions in the race because of the fatal mistake he made just after restart letting not just Kimi in front but Daniel to finish on the podium as well.

Although Valtteri admitted that he still IS in the champions fight as long as eight more races are left in this season. Promising for his fans but barely real as long as the team claimed the possibility of team strategy in the end of the championship.

3. Max losing his patience next to Fernando

Not only Mercedes and Ferarri have divided into two parts when one teammate is happier than the other. Red Bull suffered as well since Max' car had to be retired in the very beginning of the race in front of 80 thousand fans from his homwland wearing orange. 

Sadly it became the 6th retirement for Max this season and as he claimed he is now competing against Fernando (who probably declined finishing the race pointing on "engine problems" that were not found) in terms of retirements. The bad luck continues as long as Max is sure that not too many races like this left for him to quit the team.

4. Force India's on fire

The sensational highlight of the weekend was definitely the double crush between two Force Indias both times provoked by one and only Checo Perez. Firstly he decided to overtake Esteban squeezing the frenchman into the wall and secondly he didn’t let him to attack before Eau Rouge so both of them might be retired after the possible crush (thanks, God, it didn’t happen). Fortunately the biggest damage for Esteban was his broken front wing changed under safety car. At the same time Checo suffered from the puncture of the right rear and ended up retiring from P17. 

Team management finally commented on the situation making it clear that it was the last time the team let both drivers to race. Now they are about to listen to the team orders and if not - there might be further actions. It is probably what we have waited for so long from Force India.

4. Daniel a.k.a the king of restarts

The safety car provoked by the actions of two "pink panthers" pissed off Lewis being caught between SC and Seb (who still had the chance to work on his tyres behind Lewis). Lewis was so unhappy with the ACTUAL safety car on track in case it was too slow for him. 

After the race Mercedes' boss Totto Wolff commented on this incident as a lucky one to help to change the damaged tyres on Lewis' car and win the race. The same SC gave the chance to Daniel a.k.a the king of restarts to give his best to finish on the podium for the 6th time this season. Incredible result from Australian.

5. Best of others

Alongside this huge fight in the front there also were some interesting breakthroughs from the middle of the grid. Not to mention Felipe who had quite an unfortunate weekend crushing his car way too much on Friday, failing the quali and getting the 5-place penalty for speeding under yellow flags on Saturday but still finishing P8 from P16 on Sunday. 

Kind of the same it was for Roman struggling with the brakes (from P11 to P7) and for Daniil having some technical problems, plus, being penalized (5 positions on the grid) blame on Toro Rosso (from P19 to P12). Really good job for Renault with Nico finishing P6 and Jolyon being still good after getting the 5-place penalty as well. And, of course, Stoffel: 60-place pen on the grid but still finishing P14 in front of some others (I mean driving on Honda engine). 

Misfortune caught not only retired Max and Fernando (with no power as usually) but also Pascal who had to retire after a few laps and Kevin whose Haas had really good pace this weekend but the team couldn’t manage tyre situation and had to extra pit under the safety car in the wrong time.

This whole weekend was quite interesting in terms of diversity of what happened: red flags after Massa's crush on Friday, raining session with two drivers to try it on the track (Danny and Fernando), inters in the beginning of Saturday, track record beaten multiple times again, best race lap from Seb -1.46.577 sec., special helmets from Max (orange one) and Felipe, lots of gearbox penalties (Marcus, Pascal, Jolyon, Daniil, Stoffel), speeding under yellow flags penalties (Felipe and Kimi) and one "tyre" penalty (10.000$ for not giving back Lance's tyres after 40 minutes of FP), contract extensions (Kimi, Seb until 2020 and Stoffel) and looooots of different tyre strategies.

Bad times for Williams, huge improvement for Renault, kind of a promising end of the season for McLaren - that's what we saw. Lots of contracts for the next year to be signed, interesting fight for the title between Seb and Lewis, records to be beaten and hearts to be on fire - that's what awaits us in less than a week at Monza. Stay tuned!

P.S.: Just wanna let you know how much I missed writing those race blogs :)

"A man of his word" defeated by two Ferraris: Lewis is 14 points behind in the championship 🏎🚨🏁

Oh, hi! Have you noticed that mathematically we reached the middle of the season one race ago in Silverstone? But let's be honest - psychologically it happened just a few moments ago at Hungaroring. Congratulations to all Ferrari fans, by the way! That was an impressive one-two for red cars in Budapest. It is hard to accept but Ferraris were definetely way better on this track and even the special engine mode Lewis used to overtake Kimi didn’t help.

What I noticed first the qualifying was quite different from what we used to see lately. Mercedes was struggling a lot the whole weekend what I cannot say about Ferraris. Baricello's track record (not beaten for many years) was beaten multiple times firstly by Ferraris. Both Seb and Kimi had enourmos pace so Kimi was blaming himself after the race for the mistake in quali which cost him a lot. 

1. An ideal team player

As I said - congratulations to all Ferrari fans. If you know me you also know that I'm not a fan of those red cars even more than I am not a fan of Seb. I've been asked multiple times why. I couldn’t explain earlier but here at Hungaroring I came up with a concrete answer. I don’t like Seb as a Ferrari driver not for who he is or for how he behaves but mostly for the fact he COULD NOT be on top of the championship without team's help. Here I don’t mean the car, engineering, settings or whatever - here I mean team tactics, politics, strategy, priorities. Call it the way you like to. I am pretty sure there's some "rules" that do not let Kimi to fight against Seb (as it fortunately let Valtteri in Mercedes). 

Hungarian GP was a bright example of what I called "rules" here. Kimi was for sure faster than Seb and had no steer problems from the beginning which German was struggling a lot. He couldn’t even attack curbs and was slower in that case. Kimi asked the team multiple times if they can give him a chance to fight for more as long as he had better pace, younger tyres and a few more advantages. But no reaction came on the radio in that case so he had to stay behind Seb to protect him from what Mercedes could do using his steer weakness. We have no official information on Ferarri's contracts before the summer break. But what I personally think is that we can be sure now that Seb IS SO HAPPY with his current teammate that he will do literally anything to make Ferrari keep Kimi for as long as it is possible. 

2. A man of his word

Another happy man this weekend was Valtteri who unexpectedly (in my opinion) got his podium back at the last turn of the race. Lewis starting P4 had the better pace from the very beginning of the race so we all expected him to attack Valtteri to fight for the win. The main issue was huge radio struggles Mercedes had in the middle of the race so they just couldn’t manage the actions of their drivers. Lewis asked the team to let him in front or to let him attack Valterri right when I (as a Mercedes fan) expected him to do. Being honest, I was pretty impressed with team's decision to ask Valtteri to put Lewis in front BUT if the champion couldn’t overtake Kimi in like 10 laps of special engine mode Lewis had to give the position back. 

Knowing Lewis I could expect him to escape the last action and finish on the podium just in case. So I was super shocked but really happy when Lewis gave the position back at the very last turn making it clear that Max could not do anything to beat any of  Mercedes. Lewis accepted that it was hard for him but he is "a man of his word" and a team player. After the race Totto Wolff would say that it definitely WAS one of the hardest team decisions and they all hope it won't cost them the championship title. Anyways, huge respect to Mercedes and their team values which made all of us so proud.

3. Max hitting the relationship with Daniel

The other man who showed an incredible race and made it even more interesting was one and only Max Verstappen. Max was the one who made a huge start at Hungaroring and jumped from P5 to P3 immediately. Later on his teammate Daniel decided to fight for the position. Blocked left front made it all. Max hit Daniel and the honey-badger was out while Max got ten seconds penalty (unfair in my and Christian Horner's opinion) which for sure deprived him podium chances. 

Going back to a few latest GPs I'll remind you that we already had some huge team argues like between Esteban and Checo in Force India or Daniil and Carlos in Toro Rosso leading to race collisions and some serious consequences. Thinking of all those "team battles" personally I was really happy to see Red Bull drivers' friendship or bromance (if I can say). After Max and Daniel's collision - I was so not happy with the words Dani used to describe the situation as blame on "immaturity and youth". Daniel definitely wasn’t nice to Max' actions. I hoped that the situation won't go further so it didn’t. Max claimed his appologies - Daniel accepted. For me that was the worst highlight of the weekend which hopefully will not ever happen again.

4. Failure in action

Hungaroring is famous for it's slow and consistent corners which make pilots to be very physical and cars very sensitive. In spite of some strong expectations we saw a few good overtakes but we also we saw some unfortunate retirements. I have mentioned Daniel's already but the most painful for me was the one for Roman. Mechanics' mistake was fatal and cost them not only retirement but also 5000$ fee for driving an unsafe car. Really sorry for Haas. 

If you are close to F1 (which I am sure you are if you are reading this) you know about the breaking news happened on Saturday right before the quali. Felipe got really sick after both Friday sessions but doctors said he is still able to drive on Saturday so FP3 was taken by him also. Sadly Felipe felt really sick right after the session and former F1 driver and show presenter Paul Di Resta had to take place in the cockpit of the car he never drove before (I mean he drove cars 3,5 years ago, not in era of turbo engines). Incredibly he did really well in quali finishing P19 (not falling of 107% and not even P20)  and he was doing pretty well in the race too but the team decided to retire probably because they just wanted to save the car or change some of the elements without any penalties.

5. Happy birthday, Fernando

The last but not the least I probably should mention the special birthday gift which Fernando made for himself. Both McLaren drivers have finished in points. Sorry, you didn't know? Well, Fernando made it to the FASTEST RACE LAP at Hungaroring - 1.20.182. IT IS so impressive considering the fact that he drove McLaren Honda (you probably remember their engine problems) beating everyone and finishing P6 the next day after his birthday. 

Fernando made it even more interesting fighting with another spaniard Carlos pushing to the limit. Anyways, nice finish for both McLarens (even though Stoffel could probably do better). And what about the upcoming holidays - F1 made an interesting idea to picture Fernando next to the sea shore in his racing suit posing on a deckchair next to the real Fernando doing the same. 

6. Quali and other surprises

What's more Q3 was definetely quite surprising for me as long as we haven't seen any Force Indias or Williams there (since Williams updated their car it just became worse I must say) but we saw both McLarens and even one Toro Rosso of Carlos. By the way, Daniil got one more penalty point and three positions on the grid for blocking Lance which I just don’t feel like commenting. Blame on his team for sure. 

Nico keeps showing amazing results since Renault updated the car. The same wasn’t that common for McLaren and especially Stoffel who also did great in quali. Unfortunately Nico got the five-positions-gearbox-penalty so it wasn’t his best race comparing to what he could really do. His teammate Jolyon also received the new bottom but managed to crush twice on Friday which puts him under pressure even more remembering all the rumors and the fact that Kubica is driving Renault tests probably right now. Anyways, Jolyon wasn’t the one to provoke multiple red flags on Friday. It was Antonio Giovinazzi who managed to crush Kevin's car (depriving him two FP sessions) and also Pascal (no comments).

At the end of this thing I just wanna put the amazing media fight between Nico and Marcus. No words - just go and look!

When F1 returns from summer break I am sure we'll know a looooot about contracts and team movements. Stay tuned to my blog. By the way, FOUR weeks without F1 can only mean one thing - historical GPs in action :)

Onboard nightmare: FIA confirms "halo" for 2018 🏎💔✋🏻

Hello there. Are you a person who loves changes or you'd better stay more conservative? If it's new it's not necessarily bad - I used to say being quite conservative in many cases. Not in this one. 

On July, 19th FIA confirmed we are going to have Halo protection system for the championship 2018. Here's the part of the statement: "Following the unanimous agreement of the Strategy Group, in July 2016, to introduce additional frontal protection for Formula One and the repeated support from the drivers, the FIA confirms the introduction of the Halo for 2018. With the support of the teams, certain features of its design will be further enhanced."

Well, I really do think it looks ugly and I am not the only one. I really do think that most of the people somehow connected to F1 are 100% supporting opened cockpits and this "old" way of racing. But if everyone's against than who decides? Why the decision comes despite the total disapproval? Too many rhetorical questions in my mind. Let me shortly go through the options, its pros and cons and leave you to think about for a while (as long as we all have nothing to do but to accept).

Options:

I've been surthing through the internet after I read those terrific news in my twitter and found an interesting poll on motorsport.com. The options there were: accept Halo, accept shield, leave everything as it is, go back to aeroscreen, make cockpits closed and look for other options. So I tried to analyze  shortly what do I personally think of every option. 

For me aeroscreen and shield are quite alike as long as they have the same purpose in different form. Their pros and cons are also a lot alike: making it difficult to see through (blame on glares), getting easily dirty in bad weather conditions, probably some kind of aerodynamics thing (not an expert in this) and so on. Since I haven't been watching F1 for a long time I don't really know a lot about aeroscreen. But I do know about the shield since it has been tested in Silverstone last week and Seb defined it as inconvenient. It is not what I'd like to see but looks 100% better than Halo - that's for sure.

Closed cockpits WILL BE definitely a disaster as long as we know Formula 1 as a championship with opened wheels and opened cockpits. It might just ruin the whole spirit of this amazing sport. Looking for other options is still leading us to cockpit changes which I do feel are not going to be easy acceptable for a long time. Leaving everything as it is is probably THE BEST way which is not happening after that statement.

Talking about Halo, here I will try to give you some pros and obvious cons. 

Pros:

The only real pro which I personally see is the protection from big debris or strong impacts during the accident. That is true. I am not such a big expert but probably it doesn't influence aerodynamics as much as other tested protection systems do so doesn't make worst changes. I cannot come up with more pros but probably they exist.

Cons:

It is ugly. Onboard view is going to be kind of a nightmare. It does not protect from small debris. It has nothing to do with the wind and the downhill power on pilot (especially corners) which is good and bad at the same time. Probably it makes it way more difficult to see through. It also makes it more difficult to exit the car in some particular situations (accidents). 

Well, I can go on for ages. Unfortunately it is the fact now and we can only hope that F1 teams have the power to change the situation (since there we no accidents LATELY which showed that we need this kind of a system). 

The only point to add is the Lewis's words from 2016 he addressed to Halo possibility: "I hope that's not what they bring out, I really do. But if it is, ultimately it's the drivers' protection so we should have a choice individually - I should be able to decide whether to put that on my car. It wouldn't be something I'd choose. I like it the way it is now - when I get in the car I know there's a certain risk. Safety is a very important issue for sure, but there are risks that we take and you have to decide how much of a risk you are going to take. I'd rather drive without it and risk it." Thanks, Lewis!

I am confused, I am embarrassed and I am frustrated. I am also sure you feel the same right now but I'd love to let me know what you think on Halo in any of my social media or e-mail. This blogpost is not a statement but more of a discussion I wrote being emotionally punched by FIA. Thanks for reading though!

What a race! Cosmic Baku in action 🎢🍾🏁

I've been thinking quite a lot before publishing this particular blogpost and here are a few reasons why. First of all I used to consider myself as a Mercedes fan. At least in previous posts. But I was so freaking happy to see that same podium on Sunday - so shame on me. Secondly I changed my mind in several ways during that Baku weekend starting from what I think about the "race" in general and finishing with picking my "to go" pilot for future. Aaaaand thirdly, yes, too much happened that weekend. So let me be sequential.

1. Podium

Hello, you, Formula 1 fans, have you been expecting that same podium before the race? Of course you have not. Honestly that has been surprising especially taking into consideration the fact that ABSOLUTELY UNEXPECTED stuff happened to both championship leaders Seb and Lewis. Probably we all have been waiting the battle of those two (which we ACTUALLY saw) maybe pushed by Red Bulls. 

Speaking about Red Bulls personally I expected them to BE in front especially after FP results on Friday but Max was mine "to go", definitely it wasn't Daniel who I expected to win so far.

2. Losers, winners and "underdogs"

That race in Baku actually divided the whole grid into three: losers, winners and "underdogs". Let me explain. It is obvious that F1 world was waiting for Ferrari and Mercedes to fight for the podium before all that crazy stuff happened. If not Seb versus Lewis, then there were options with Kimi and Valterri in action. 

The most unexpected thing in my opinion was Lewis extra pit-stop with team not fixing his headrest and Seb behaving just INADEQUATE clashing into Lewis twice (firstly accidentally and then definitely on purpose) and getting his 10 seconds stop and go punishment. Those I should call "losers" in this race. Unfortunately there were a few more of "losers" here in Baku: Max and his engine problems, Daniil and Jolyon with their early retirements, Felipe with mechanical issues, Kimi and Checo with unfortunate collisions. Did I forget anyone?

By winners here I want to mention those who unexpectedly brought some points to their teams. And the greatest of them was definitely Lance. We can only imagine how much did it mean for him to stand on the podium after a thought start of the season and all the criticism he got. I love saying this but yes I am happy for him gaining some real confidence. Except the podium rookie I should call "winners" those guys Kevin and Pascal finishing in top-10 and bringing points to their teams.

And the last but not the least are those who I personally called "underdogs". OK, they were not real underdogs from the very beginning. But who expected Daniel to win from 10th on the grid and 17th after early pit-stop and Valterri to finish the second after the crush with Kimi and being one lap down? I just wouldn't believe if you said you were.

3. Hamilton versus Vettel

Here we go. This topic has touched nearly everyone. Even those who were not that much into Formula 1 yet. The incident itself was quite normal (if we talking about race, men, speed, emotions). Don't get me wrong but that what could happened with EVERY pilot.

Yes, Lewis probably braked too quick so Seb clashed into him. Was that an accident? I suppose YES. What happened next? Seb went too emotional and hit Lewis. Did he do this on purpose? I am sure that YES. Was that all just emotions? Absolutely YES. He got his penalty and lost the leadership in the race, potential podium, some points. Was the penalty enough? I have no idea, it's all up to jury. Should he said he was at least sorry for unnecessary action? I suppose YES. But he didn't. Why? We'd better ask him. 

From aside it all looked like a completely stupid mistake which Seb did following his emotions and payed for it. Too much or not enough? I think there's no unbiased answer. We'd all love to hear his apologies but probably we won't. 

4. Team tactics

A few races ago (after Monaco) motorsport world was all about that incident happened in Ferrari. We all talked about if there was a team strategy or if there wasn't, if it was needed or if not. But after Azerbaijan I marked one team who definitely needs this "team strategy" thing. Hello, Force India, I'm talking about you.

Do you remember those things happened two weeks ago in Canada? When Esteban asked team to put him in front of Checo to try to overtake Dan and reach the podium. Do you remember what happened next? Checo asked team to let them "race" and Seb overtook them both. Boom! 

Here we are in Baku. What happened to Force Indias here? Yes, they collided. Why? I suppose that Esteban remembering the situation in Montreal (and their sincere talk with Checo after, of course) decided not to wait for team permission and just pushed. Fortunately he survived the race and Checo left. All I can say: KARMA. 

Overall it makes me think of the fact that this team needs to do something. I don't necessarily talk of picking "first" and "second" pilot but the fact that they need strategy considering the pace of each pilot, their tires condition and also opponents in front and behind is obvious. Just because we don't want to see both really good drivers crushing into their teammates every single time and ending the race when they decide to fight with other team for points, podium, whatever. 

5. Epic race

Yes, that was absolutely an epic race. Can you still remember how many crushes, overtakes, yellow flags, safety cars were there? I cannot. The only thing that really matters that all of this gave so much emotions to every person who had seen this. I hope this race not only gave you something to think about but also inspired you to love this sport a lot more.

The fact that it all just couldn't be planned makes me think that this race is the one you should rewatch when you want to see something worthy. Here you could see nearly everything even the "photo finish" from amazing Valterri which made me soooo happy. Famous "shoey" from Australian boy (poor Lance drinking from Daniel's shoe on his very first podium ever). Happiness, frustration, anger, hesitation, luck - EVERYTHING.

To sum it up I want to say that Baku race was so far the best I saw (I haven't seen so many - so even more lucky I am) and it gave me not only chills but the decision who I want to root for after Lewis retirement. And here I picked Esteban Ocon, just because he IS a really good driver. 

Equaling the king: what does it really means to get closer to Ayrton Senna 🇧🇷👑

It has been said so many words so I will be probably too late. But I am here not to talk about well-known facts. I am here to speak about emotions.

23 years ago on the May, 1st. Can you remember this day? Cause I just cannot. I was barely born that time. But I still know the story.

I remember myself falling in love with Formula 1. It happened not quite long ago. I also remember myself watching the documentary with an unknown for me title "Senna" which made me cry for literally 2 hours. Am I mad? No. I am just sincere. If I was born a few decades earlier I am sure the racer I would be rooting for would be Ayrton Senna. Amazing, beautiful, breathtaking, mysterios and quick. Really really quick. 

If you ever ask me who my favorite Formula 1 driver is I will probably ask you if you mean the one alive. Cause I now I have two options.

One more crazy weekend of mine went in Montreal. I mean I wasn’t there physically but my soul was. That Saturday I was sitting in a restaurant with a couple of my friends watching quali on my mobile phone. I literally cried out when Lewis (yes, my favorite racer alive) has beaten the lap record in Canada twice in a row and has finally taken his 65th pole position EQUALING Ayrton Senna. I probably frightened the whole place but that was unbelievable. You know the later story. Ayrton's family made a special gift to Lewis: race-worn helmet of a legend. Replica, yes. He wasn’t racing in it but still he worn it.

By the way, have you seen the record from the press conference while Michael Schumacher equaled Ayrton? He. Was. Crying. That is how you probably feel when you become so close to the legend.

What means even more is that Lewis has always been following Ayrton saying that Brazilial driver was main true inspiration for him. We can only imagine how much that really means to Ham. 

The thing is that probably no one will ever be greater than Senna, equaling him and even beating his records. Of course, there some of the greatest names in Formula 1 as Michael Schumacher, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso. But Senna will always stand out. Not just because he died on the track and not because he was the last one to sacrifice his life to make motorsport safer but because he was very very uncommonly special. He was just not from this world. And we will always adore him for that.

Perfect podium: Mercedes double and a little bit of Red Bull in Canada 🖤🏁

Mondays after the racing weekend are always a little bit sad as long as we have to wait for 11 (am I right?) days until the next racing weekend. But for me not this one. As a super happy Mercedes fan after a comfortable double win I just wanna tell my emotions on the whole race.

First of all, I should mention that there were too absolutely different sides of this race: first one is really calm and steady but still very happy for Lewis and Valterri and maybe Dan (not counting all the pressure) the second one is pretty frustrating and nervous for the rest of the grid. 

I won't talk too much about Lewis and Valterri as long as you will probably tell me to shut up about Mercedes team buuuuuut. The only thing I really want to mention is that from Friday to Sunday Mercedes struggled a lot with the tires temperature and the lap result shown by Lewis TWICE in quali means so much for everyone in love with F1 and the main reason is that the record hadn't been beaten since 2004. Can you imagine? 13 years, that's I think is more than a lot. The fact that this lap made a 65th Lewis' pole possible for him is even more meaningful. Equaling the record of one and only, amazing Ayrton Senna was just beautiful for Lewis. All the supporters just couldn't be happier. And I cannot mention that this double on the podium brought Mercedes back on the 1st place in team competition.

However, it wasn’t that good for the whole grid. Sainz who struggled a lot during Friday training session made a thing Felipe Massa should be so sad about. Hitting Roman Carlos just lost control and still at enormous speed hit Felipe who just was quite unlucky to be on that place at that very moment. Massa without understanding anything at all left young and rich (why should I mention this?) Lance the only Williams pilot in his first home race. Here I should say that EVERYONE, I'll repeat EVERYONE expected Lance to hit the Champions wall on his first lap and be out almost after 1 minute after he started. But NO WAY! This is what we all should be proud of. Lance not even finished the race but gained his first points this season being the 9th under the black and white flag.

Next thing that made me and probably some other neutral to Red Bull team people literally CRY. Max with his great great start was the second but had some kind of engine problems and was out of the race from the SECOND place. Thanks to Dan finishing on the podium and doing his shoeye thing though.

The whole Red Bull family except Dan was quite unlucky this weekend as long as FIA decided to punish Toro Rosso pilot Daniil twice in a row firstly making him go through the pit-lane and lately deciding on giving 10 extra seconds to his pit-stop which made him loose all positions gained. Unfortunately something bad happened to his wheel while pitting so he just couldn’t continue the race in case he already was too laps behind everyone. After the race Daniil would say in Russian: "FIA thinks we are fucking taxi drivers". Well, we cannot argue that the blame is on the jury that time. 

Unlike Toro Rosso united around injustice, Force India on the contrary has been divided into two. Before describing the whole situation I must say that personally for me Esteban IS the driver of the day since this was his first race ever on this track in real life and he WAS able to take the podium. I am just sure. Lap 50 (or something). The grid was like: HAM, BOT, RIC, PER, OCO, RAI, VET. Ocon's radio was on. Esteban asked for the chance to overtake Ricciardo switching with his partner Checo. Esteban's pace on newer tires was definitely better that Checo's. Both were in DRS-zone from their opponents. Checo's radio on with him saying: "I also want to try to overtake Dan, can you just give us the chance to race?" OKAAAAAY. How the hell he was going to overtake Dan first of all? And why he didn’t agree to switch with Ocon to give him a chance and not to give a chance to Seb to overtake both of them? The team offered this option. The most unfair thing is that they didn’t MAKE Scheco to give a chance to Esteban. That's the deal. I just couldn’t believe such decisions. I mean the lack of team's decisions.

And the last but not the least significant thing is Ferrari drivers losing so many points in this race. Some things about that are still very confusing. Not chanching the wing during the pace car is just first of them. Voting Seb the racer of the weekend? Okay, yes, he started the second, lost to Max, hell knows why pitted twice, went to the end of the grid and made it to the 4th place mostly because Checo was just mad. Do you really think he was the best? Personally I don’t. Nothing to say about Kimi really that time. The saddest moment is again his position where he HAD to let Seb in front and got some really bad problems after.

Well done, I hope you all liked the race as much as I did. It gave us a lot to think about and was really diverse in tactics and some other moments. See you soon, Formula 1 lovers. Azerbaijan, the land of mystery is coming.