Star of the race
In 2012 Fernando Alonso put together one of the most near perfect title campaigns in recent memory in a Ferrari that was decidedly second best. Sometimes even third best. The only thing that took the gloss off that year was that he failed to win the title but oh how he battled to the very end.
A few years on and with Ferrari having consistently failed to build the great Spaniard a car capable of winning the title Alonso moved to McLaren, a team which has fallen from such great heights but with Honda was surely going to reach the summit sooner rather than later...
This season was always going to be a struggle for the McLaren Honda combo, but did anyone expect them to fail to deliver so, well to quote Alonso, so embarrassingly? In a way it's been written in the recent history of the sport. McLaren have been plagued consistently by in-consistence. They've not been a dominant package for nearly 20 years, their race day management has often been middling, their pit stops not to envy and their cars have been very much hit and miss and when they've hit they've often then missed.
It's not an enviable track record. But the romance of McLaren Honda, looking back on their four years of domination from 1988 to 1991, driven by the late great Ayrton Senna, the childhood hero of most of the today's grid, oh to be the driver to recreate that glory. Alonso took that chance, to resurrect this fallen team and place it back at the top, to reach that summit and be victorious once more.
How easy it is to shatter dreams. McLaren have been nowhere, Alonso isn't wrong to say it's embarrassing, Honda have come into the sport woefully under prepared and the chassis although better, wouldn't compete with the best, at least not yet. And there, there is the uncertainty that surrounds McLaren Honda.
It could all get better next year, but Honda are so far behind it's surely going to take longer than that. And it's not just Honda, the team are demotivated, they haven't had a title sponsor for years now and don't appear near signing one leaving a budget shortfall for 2016. How long before they fall even further? But this is McLaren and Honda, of course they'll succeed...
They have the ingredients for winning, but how long will it take? With Jenson Button already contemplating retirement over another year of pain how long was it going to take Alonso to ponder on the same thing? The rumours surfaced in Japan that perhaps both drivers, despite contracts, would take early retirement. After all, Button and Alonso are both former champions, they're not in the early years of their careers anymore, they're here to win not battle for 14th with little light on the horizon.
Team Chairman Ron Dennis believes that both his drivers will be at the team next season, but they're going to have to improve a lot to keep Alonso in particular much longer. The fact Dennis has said he will speak to his driver about his radio comments which included saying his engine was like one from GP2 while the Honda top brass were in attendance is likely to cause a rift with a driver as volatile as Alonso can be.
His eyes are wondering, he's thinking of other things, perhaps a go at Le Mans. Is his will to gain his much longed for third title still as strong as it comes up to 10 years since he last won the biggest prize in motor sport? How much longer can he watch on as his main rivals Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton keep on racking up the wins? He must be thinking it should be him.
Alonso isn't blameless, he's created a reputation as being difficult and not the best of team players, he's made several decisions which have left him in an uncompetitive environment. But he still gives his all.
In Japan, Alonso battled hard keeping behind cars and drivers he should be beating with ease for as long as he could. That he finished 11th despite his frustrations boiling over, that he keeps on giving his most shows that he hasn't given up and he will win again, whether that's in Formula 1 though remains to be seen. But in my mind, after everything this year has thrown at him, that he hasn't just thrown in the towel and still pushes as hard as he does makes him my star of the race.
The Winner
So was the atrocious last race in Singapore just a blip in Mercedes otherwise dominant 2015 campaign? Yes, yes it was. Lewis Hamilton was back on top form this weekend. He lost out on pole position to his team mate Nico Rosberg after a huge crash for Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull lost Lewis his second run at the top slot.
It didn't matter though as he executed the start perfectly. Drawing alongside Rosberg, Lewis had the inside line for turn one, Rosberg tried to hang on around the outside but Hamilton hung him out to dry, leaving him no room and taking the racing line, Rosberg ran out of road and dropped to fourth behind Vettel's Ferrari and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.
Lewis was away and clear, Mercedes were back in a big way. He was dominant throughout, setting a fastest lap a clear second quicker than anyone else. Eventually he won by over 18 seconds to extend his title lead to 48 points.
Rosberg still holds second place in the championship but more and more he looks like a man who knows the game is up, perhaps for as long as he remains Lewis' team mate at Mercedes. Rosberg is a capable driver but as I've said before, it's like Webber with Vettel at Red Bull. Once beaten, always beaten. His words are meaningless, the fight he keeps talking about is simply not there. Not this year.
He put on a good battle today though, passing Bottas into the final chicane and getting ahead of Vettel in the second round of pit stops to take the runner up spot. Vettel's heroics of last weekend weren't to be repeated as he took third. Kimi Raikkonen took fourth after undercutting Bottas, the Williams driver taking fifth.
The battles
Behind the top five there were plenty of other midfield scraps that caused interest, most with a McLaren heading a line of cars waiting to pass involving Red Bulls and Saubers with the Toro Rosso's playing a part before they got ahead for good. Max Verstappen running his car to the edge as always came from 17th on the grid to finish ninth, one place ahead of his team mate Carlos Sainz. It was another good drive from Max despite a grid penalty for causing a blockage during Q2 when his car failed.
Nico Hulkenberg could have been star of the race after charging up from 13th to finish sixth. He had an impressive first lap to be eighth before jumping the two Lotus cars during the first pit stops. Both Lotus' were in good shape with Romain Grosjean once again leading the charge while Pastor Maldonado had a solid outing as they came home seventh and eighth respectively.
The Red Bull's had a torrid time with Daniil Kvyat starting from the back after his qualifying crash, he made some progress but after various problems could only finish 13th. Daniel Ricciardo was 15th after a clash at the start with the Williams of Felipe Massa left both with a puncture on the opening lap. This incident also helped push Sergio Perez in the Force India out wide too to leave him just 12th.
Alexander Rossi beat Will Stevens again in the Manor Marussia battle at the back. A spin from Stevens proved decisive, but at least in race mode Rossi looks like he has a lot of potential while Stevens hopes of remaining on the grid next year have taken a dive.
Things of note
Red Bull are still struggling to find an engine for 2016. With their partnership with Renault almost certainly done and Mercedes having rejected a deal it looks like their only option is with Ferrari. However, Ferrari are not keen on supplying Red Bull with the latest specification of engine, they would prefer to supply a year old one, something Red Bull find unacceptable as they look to challenge for the title once again.
And that's the thing that put Mercedes off supplying them. Despite suffering their worst season since 2008, Red Bull still have one of the best chassis around, it's only their power unit that's holding them back. What Mercedes and now Ferrari are worried about is if they supply them with a power unit, they'll beat them with their own product. It's understandable why both are worried about the consequences of supplying Red Bull, but you hope for the good of the sport this is something that is resolved quickly otherwise we could find four cars missing from the grid next year.
Let's not even get started on Lotus, although I feel compelled too. With administration looming if they don't meet a court order on Monday (28th September) then it could possibly be six cars down next season. Renault are still in talks to buy the team and it is to be hoped the deal is completed as soon as possible.
It's readily known that these power units are complicated pieces of kit, so it seems odd that engine deals are still going on so late in the day when the design process for 2016 must be well on the way. To just slot a different engine in is not the work of a moment. Maybe a very long moment. But with Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Lotus as well as potentially Manor all changing their power units next season I expect testing to be fairly fraught for all.
Romain Grosjean is expected to be announced as the lead driver the new Haas F1 team, which joins the grid next season. With links to Ferrari, Grosjean is hoping to use this seat as a way of getting into the Ferrari team should Kimi Raikkonen retire as expected in 2016.
The title chase
Vettel lies 59 points behind Hamilton with five races to go. Yes Rosberg is a bit closer but if Vettel somehow gets on a charge Mercedes will only put their full support behind Lewis, including Rosberg.
Hamilton is control, unless he loses control, then I should think he's already clearing a space in his trophy cabinet.
Result:
1. Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Rosberg - Mercedes
3. Vettel - Ferrari
4. Raikkonen - Ferrari
5. Bottas - Williams
6. Hulkenberg - Force India
7. Grosjean - Lotus
8. Maldonado - Lotus
9. Verstappen - Toro Rosso
10. Sainz - Toro Rosso
11. Alonso - McLaren
12. Perez - Force India
13. Kvyat - Red Bull
14. Ericsson - Sauber
15. Ricciardo - Red Bull
16. Button - McLaren
17. Massa - Williams
18. Rossi - Marussia
19. Stevens - Marussia
20. Nasr - Sauber
all photos taken from autosport.com
Star of the race
Sebastian Vettel was brilliant, from a fantastic pole position where he lapped half a second quicker than anyone else to a brilliant race performance where he controlled from the front to take his third win of the year for Ferrari and the 42nd of his career.
In the run up to this modern classic under the lights, all the talk in Singapore was of Lewis Hamilton matching Ayrton Senna's career statistics of 41 wins from 161 starts. But Mercedes were nowhere all weekend, not just behind the Ferrari's but behind the Red Bull's too. Hamilton eventually retired to remain on 40 wins, but it was Vettel, nine career starts behind Lewis who actually overtook Senna's 41 wins to line up third in the all time list behind just Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost.
Someone who has the potential to create his own incredible statistics is a young 17 year old driving for Toro Rosso called Max Verstappen. The hype surrounding this kid has been immense all year. It's thoroughly justified although it does obscure the fact that his equally talented but ever so much older team mate Carlos Sainz (a positively ancient 20 years old) is driving just as well in his rookie campaign.
It's Verstappen with the headlines though and on the strength of this performance it is totally deserved. Aggression, on the edge, sublime passing moves, incredible speed mixed up with a bit of selfishness that characterises many of the greats of the past, his first Singapore Grand Prix was brilliant.
He was hooked up around this tight street circuit immediately. It is one of the toughest races of the year often going up to the race time limit of two hours, 61 laps of constant direction change trapped between unforgiving concrete walls under intense heat and humidity that would sap the energy of any high performance athlete.
It all came so naturally to Verstappen, he put his car up against the walls, skimming the paint work, always pushing. He qualified just eighth but possibly could have been mixing it with the struggling Mercedes cars. Off the start there was nothing, everyone luckily avoided him and by the time he got going after he was pushed into the pit lane he was a lap down.
A safety car on lap 12 caused by Felipe Massa's Williams and Nico Hulkenberg's Force India colliding as Massa came out of the pit lane enabled him to unlap himself. Hulkenberg got a 3 place grid penalty for Japan although a bit undeserved. From then on it was charging all the way. A second safety car was scrambled after a lunatic man crossed the track and decided to stroll down as cars sped past at nearly a couple of hundred miles an hour. He was later arrested.
This helped Verstappen more, but it was the way he scythed through the field and how he managed his super soft tyres on his last stint that was so impressive. His move on Romain Grosjean's Lotus was great to watch and enabled him to hunt down Sergio Perez's Force India, but he couldn't pass the Mexican and finished eighth. He was the most lively entertaining driver on the track. Perhaps sometimes he's too on the limit, there are definitely some rough edges that need to be smoothed down but it was a great performance nevertheless.
In ninth came his team mate Carlos Sainz who also suffered trouble when his car lapsed into neutral at the second safety car restart losing him a lot of places. His recovery was just as good in its own way, but by then he was following Verstappen. His team actually asked Verstappen to move out of the way to allow Sainz through to attack Perez, something the Dutchman refused to do. In the end his team boss backed his decision. When all the world is praising your team mate and backing him up when he defies team orders, it can't be easy on Sainz who has been the unluckier driver this year but has often shown equal speed.
But there's something about Verstappen, it may seem to be adding enormous pressure to the shoulders of someone so young when talking of him not taking long to get to 41 wins as well, but he's shown already this season, he can handle it.
The winner
So up at the front Vettel did lead. His scarlet Ferrari looked beautifully on the limit under the lights, there isn't one person on the grid who has taken on the challenge of this track as well as the four time world champion. Winning three on the bounce from 2011, he even led last seasons race at one point in a year full of strife. It was no surprise to see him in the mix again this time round.
But the dominance was what was so surprising. The fact he led so well and so easily was startling. No one expected Mercedes to be so humbled this year but they were nowhere. It was Vettel's former team mate at Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo who led the charge behind.
I think it could have been a closer race without the safety car periods, both coming at a pit stop time that may have skewed the result slightly. It's by no means certain but Red Bull had some serious race pace and were looking after the tyres better than anyone. As the first stint drew to a close, Ricciardo was closing Vettel down.
The Ferrari driver had streaked off into the distance in the first couple of laps. Actually that's a bit of a Vettel trademark, usually before he backs off and controls the race. This time though, it looked like he may have taken too much out of his tyres, Ricciardo was catching but then came the Massa Hulkenberg incident and the stint was cut short as everyone dived for fresh rubber.
This time Vettel was cannier, taking it easy and backing Ricciardo and his Ferrari team mate Raikkonen up. It even began to make Hamilton, sitting two seconds back in fourth, believe he could have a chance at the victory as he had taken the opposite strategy to the front runners and taken on soft tyres leaving the final stint to the super softs where techically he would have a pace advantage.
In reality Ferrari and Red Bull had too much for the silver cars this weekend. After he'd trundled around for several laps Vettel bolted and opened up a gap as easy as you like. Ricciardo responded but he couldn't keep up. It was good race from the Aussie, but he probably didn't quite have the speed to properly challenge. Kimi couldn't match his team mate but still claimed his second podium of the season with third. Meanwhile Sebastian had this race in his grasp and he wasn't about to let it go.
It would have been interesting to see how the race might have played out without the safety cars but I think Vettel had the Red Bull covered to take a fine win that gives him just a glimmer of hope in the title chase.
The battles
The Singapore circuit has always been a bit difficult to pass on and in truth this race was a bit processional, but there was plenty going on with the safety cars and for some reason there were also a lot of pit stop problems for the teams with wheel guns jamming and several cars appeared to have electrical problems when their cars went into neutral.
Still there were a number of trains built up in the early stages with Nico Rosberg holding up several cars and Fernando Alonso doing the same a bit further down.
As mentioned the Toro Rosso drivers provided plenty of entertainment as did the Sauber's and the Lotus'. McLaren's Jenson Button hit Pastor Maldonado as they battled after the safety car restart, something which Button firmly pinned on the Venezuelan.
The race was shaping up nicely after the first safety car as Vettel held up the pack. It was a shame Hamilton's car developed a loss of power as it would have been interesting to see what happened as he lay fourth. He dropped down the field quickly and retired for the first time this year.
In a way it was fortunate for Lewis that his Mercedes team were off the pace this weekend as it meant Nico Rosberg only claimed fourth to get just 12 points back in the championship. Valtteri Bottas plugged away for Williams to take fifth as his team mate Massa retired due to electrical problems. Daniil Kvyat in the second Red Bull had qualified fourth but lost out in a big way during the pit stops to finish a disappointing sixth. Perez held off the hard charging Toro Rosso's while Felipe Nasr picked up the final point for Sauber.
Things of note
So, well, Mercedes have been dominating the entire year, sometimes a second quicker than the opposition then they turn up in Singapore and qualify over 1.5 seconds off Vettel's pole position time. What happened? Well I'm not sure, and neither I think are the team. The drivers reported no problems with the car, it seems they simply didn't have the pace.
There are theories that the controversial tyre pressures that were so talked about at Monza might have played their part. It's also true that this is not a power track so they couldn't use their number one weapon. But their chassis is brilliant too and they were great around Monaco, so they should have been good around here too.
Ferrari have put a whole bunch of new parts on their car, while Red Bull's power deficit wasn't going to hurt them so much here and as Ricciardo has said, they've been improving the car a lot since Hungary. It seems while those teams were having a very good weekend Mercedes were just having a very off weekend. It'll be very interesting to see what occurs next weekend in Japan where if Mercedes are beaten again, then intrigue will increase on just what is going on. For now, this weekend can just be put down to a blip.
In the driver market it looks certain that Romain Grosjean is off to new team Haas for 2016. It has a lot of links with Ferrari and they should be well prepared so maybe it will be a good move for the future. As Lotus look increasingly like they'll be bought by Renault it also means he'll avoid having to drive one of their power units next year!
Jenson Button is making a lot of off the cuff comments about McLaren and his situation there, towing the party line in an interview with Sky before joking that he'll tell the truth once off air. He also made a few funny radio calls to the team that seemed to be saying I don't really care any more. He retired from the race after various struggles but still was in the points before his incident with Maldonado and then eventual gearbox related retirement. I don't think we'll see Jenson in Formula 1 next year and I think it's his choice too.
Alonso also retired his McLaren after running in the points but in the end it was another dismal weekend for the team who are also now facing a budget deficit for 2016. This was one of the richest teams in the sport a few years ago, always at least challenging for wins, it's a despressing sight for all concerned to see just how far they have fallen in such a short space of time. Honda show no signs of improvement, it's going to be a hard road back to the top from here.
Red Bull look set for Ferrari engines, but after challenging Ferrari for the win in Singapore with a poor engine will the Scuderia go the way of Mercedes and think why should we supply them with our power units when they could then beat us with our own equipment. I think common sense will prevail and Red Bull will get their engines. Rumours of an eventual link up with the VW/Audi group continue to grow too.
One final note, American Alexander Rossi made his debut with Marussia this weekend replacing Roberto Merhi. He did a good job, although he qualified last I don't think his lap was representative and he proved it by out racing Will Stevens who has been driving all year.
The title chase
Hamilton may have retired but he is still 41 points ahead of Rosberg and was ahead of him when his problem struck. Rosberg isn't the problem, however Vettel has got the gap down to 49 points, under two race wins worth of points.
If somehow Ferrari can carry this form into the next few races then from out of nowhere we have a title fight on our hands. It's a big if though, don't be surprised to see Hamilton back on the top step in Japan next Sunday.
Result
1. Vettel - Ferrari
2. Ricciardo - Red Bull
3. Raikkonen - Ferrari
4. Rosberg - Mercedes
5. Bottas - Williams
6. Kvyat - Red Bull
7. Perez - Force India
8. Verstappen - Toro Rosso
9. Sainz - Toro Rosso
10. Nasr - Sauber
11. Ericsson - Sauber
12. Maldonado - Lotus
13. Grosjean - Lotus
14. Rossi - Marussia
15. Stevens - Marussia
R. Button - McLaren - gearbox
R. Alonso - McLaren - gearbox
R. Hamilton - Mercedes - Power unit
R. Massa - Williams - power unit
R. Hulkenberg - Force India - collision
all photos taken from autosport.com
Star of the race and winner
Lewis Hamilton climbed on to the top step of the podium, winner of the Italian Grand Prix. This podium stretches out above the crowd, often described as the best one of the year for the drivers with thousands of people immediately making their way on to the track to celebrate with the top three, waving their flags, chanting your name, or more likely the Ferrari driver they hope has made it there.
The tifosi may not have got the winner they hoped for but they still had Sebastian Vettel finishing second and former prancing horse hero Felipe Massa on the steps beside Hamilton. These two looked very happy, but what must Lewis have been thinking?
Pole position, fastest lap, leading every lap and winner yet his victory was in doubt. Mercedes were reported to the stewards for a tyre pressure infringement. There's a bit to this story, so pay attention. During the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, there were two tyre blow outs, one for Nico Rosberg's Mercedes during practice and the other for Sebastian Vettel while in third position two laps from the end.
Vettel was understandably annoyed and demanded answers. Pirelli have long been criticised for anything they do with the tyres as you can rarely please everyone, or even anyone in Formula 1. In reality, something that is difficult to comprehend by most teams, Pirelli do exactly as they are told. The tyres are like they are because that is what the FIA have asked them to do.
Anyway, after the blow outs, a lot of muttered comments were suddenly a lot louder, that the tyres were unsafe and something must be done. Pirelli have given directions about how the tyres should be used, guidelines which haven't always been adhered too. However, despite doing a thorough analysis of the Belgian failures which determined that cuts to the tyre and not how they are constructed were to blame, Pirelli advised putting the tyre pressures up by 1psi after various discussions.
This was to be checked before the race and any team found to be in contravention of this would be reprimanded in some way. Well a few laps from the end of the race and with the win all but secured, Hamilton was radioed by his team and told not to ask questions, but to turn the engine up and go for it.
This was because they suspected they could be in for some sort of time penalty at best, disqualification at worst. As Hamilton stood on the podium, his win was under threat. It was the most serious challenge to his superiority all weekend and made for a tense ending that the race had failed to provide.
The stewards were deliberating why Hamilton's left rear tyre was 0.3psi below the pressure Pirelli had said. His team mate Rosberg's left rear was 1.1psi below. Firstly this rule amendment was brought in for safety but to run under is also a performance advantage here.
Finally, hours after the podium ceremony had finished, Hamilton was declared the winner after the circumstances were explained. When the tyres were fitted to the cars before they left the pit lane the pressures were correct. When they were checked on the grid after being allowed to cool because the tyre blankets were not connected, the pressures had dropped. There was no suggestion Mercedes had done this deliberately.
It'll be interesting to see the fall out of this because any other engineer asked about it said it should probably be a disqualification. The procedure for checking tyre pressures is already being looked at for future events.
It would have made for a terrible end of the weekend for Mercedes, especially with Rosberg retiring from third place with an engine failure. As for Lewis though, he was invincible, leading from the start and never troubled. A champions performance.
The battles
Jenson Button had some memorable scraps as he vaulted from 15th on the grid up to ninth after the first corner. This power circuit was never going to suit McLaren Honda but he at least put up a fight as he slipped down the field to finish just 14th. He's beginning to look increasingly fed up with the progress the team are making, especially with Honda who claimed their engine was more powerful than also struggling Renault.
As the French manufacturers cars streamed by the Japanese one's it was tempting to wonder if Honda might have become a bit delusional. I'll not be surprised to see Button leave rather than be pushed. His team mate Alonso had no hope for the race before it started, justifiably so as he retired six laps from the finish.
There were some good scraps in the pack as after engine penalties had left the Red Bull's and the Toro Rosso's at the back of the grid, they made their way through. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat made in to the points, eighth and tenth respectively, Ricciardo grabbing his place with a last lap move on Marcus Ericsson's Sauber who it is fair to say was a bit annoyed about it. But it was Max Verstappen who made the move of the day on Ericsson's team mate Felipe Nasr into the first chicane with a fine move and exceptional precision on the brakes to come around the outside into turn one. Think about it, at nearly 220mph to 53mph in the blink of an eye, riding the edge of adhesion, but making sure to do later than the person you want to overtake. Great move.
A word on Ericsson though, who despite losing a place on the last lap still finished ninth for his third consecutive points finish. He's really beginning to show his talent now after looking like he might only be there because of the money he brought, but he's finally showing the form he had in the lower formulae.
Kimi Raikkonen provided some entertainment but perhaps not the sort he wanted to. After qualifying a best of the year second, Kimi claims a clutch problem caught him out and he dropped to the back of the field. He raced hard to finish fifth, but a podium is what he wanted. A shame for Kimi as he looked the match of his team mate Vettel who was second after a quiet run to second, apart from when Rosberg was catching him before the Mercedes drivers engine failure.
The Force India's of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth and seventh while Massa held off Valtteri Bottas in the other Williams to claim the final podium spot. Massa claimed he was getting too old for this but he looks to finally on the form he was in back in 2009 before his accident as he continues to outshine highly regarded Bottas.
Things of note
The grid for 2016 looks to be nearly set. All the seats at Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Williams, Toro Rosso and Sauber are now confirmed as the same driver line up. Nico Hulkenberg has signed up for two more years at Force India as the top teams continue to ignore him.
I wrote earlier in the year that Perez's performances in the other Force India had begun to put Hulkenberg in the shade and this continues despite a mid season up turn after his win for Porsche in Le Mans. Perez had a go in a top team but he only lasted a year, if Hulkenberg really wants a go in a top team when a seat does become available then he has to start thrashing Perez, sadly I think he's missed the boat, but at least with another two years to try and impress he's not given up on the dream yet.
It'll also be interesting to see if McLaren keep Button as they seem to want to or if Button is just going to walk away. They also have Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne on their books, both looking for a drive next year. I think we could see both of them in lower grid teams to learn their trade.
After the podium high in Belgium, Romain Grosjean was bumped out of the race on the first lap while Pastor Maldonado broke the floor of his car as he was forced off the road during the opening corners. Lotus are meant to be being bought by Renault to turn them in to a works team, but original rumours had this being completed by now, so something is holding up the deal. Whatever it is they need it to happen soon for financial security as they are literally only just managing to turn up.
Finally, according to autosport Red Bull are understood to have exercised an option to get out of their Renault contract so they can have Mercedes engines for 2016. This might speed up the purchase of Lotus for Renault and it would also give us the mouth watering prospect of a proper title fight with Red Bull. However, would Mercedes want to give a top team the very real chance of beating them? For the good of Formula 1 and for competition, I hope so.
The title battle
Hamilton is now 53 points ahead of Rosberg and 74 ahead of Vettel. Is it game over? Some might say has there ever been a game to play this season? Well anything can happen, and there is still 175 points to race for. Rosberg has been outclassed all year, but this engine failure is likely to deprive him of much hope. Can he fight back, of course he can but the problem is he's had to fight back all year, but has rarely been able to. I think it's a nail in the coffin for his title hopes. Vettel just doesn't have the car to compete consistently.
In reality this is a demonstration run for Hamilton, it's that rare time in a drivers life, when they have the luxury of driving the best car while driving near the peak of their powers. When that happens it's hard for anyone else to get a look in, it seems to me newly blonde Hamilton is going to have a lot more fun in the coming races.
Result
1. Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Vettel - Ferrari
3. Massa - Williams
4. Bottas - Williams
5. Raikkonen - Ferrari
6. Perez - Force India
7. Hulkenberg - Force India
8. Ricciardo - Red Bull
9. Ericsson - Sauber
10. Kvyat - Red Bull
11. Sainz - Toro Rosso
12. Verstappen - Toro Rosso
13. Nasr - Sauber
14. Button - McLaren
15. Stevens - Marussia
16. Mehri - Marussia
R. Rosberg - Mercedes - engine
R. Alonso - McLaren - electrical
R. Grosjean - Lotus - collision
R. Maldonado - Lotus - collision
all photos taken from autosport.com
It didn't matter though as he executed the start perfectly. Drawing alongside Rosberg, Lewis had the inside line for turn one, Rosberg tried to hang on around the outside but Hamilton hung him out to dry, leaving him no room and taking the racing line, Rosberg ran out of road and dropped to fourth behind Vettel's Ferrari and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.
Behind the top five there were plenty of other midfield scraps that caused interest, most with a McLaren heading a line of cars waiting to pass involving Red Bulls and Saubers with the Toro Rosso's playing a part before they got ahead for good. Max Verstappen running his car to the edge as always came from 17th on the grid to finish ninth, one place ahead of his team mate Carlos Sainz. It was another good drive from Max despite a grid penalty for causing a blockage during Q2 when his car failed.
