F1 Review

The season is finally over! The season that started 9 months ago in Australia, finally came to a climax in Abu Dhabi. 

For Hamilton this season is being called his second coming, for Rosberg it is simply coming second.

The race

Hamilton made an electric start, beating Rosberg into turn 1, and from that point on, the Championship was barely a doubt.

Unfortunately, though we were deprived of a true battle, as reliability issues struck Rosberg's car, with the ERS system failing, causing him to lose power, and drop through the field, although he manfully continued to the finish.

Elsewhere in the race, the Williams confirmed their great season with 2nd and 3rd, Massa pushing Hamilton hard towards the end, and Bottas recovering from a terrible start, where he lost 5 places. Fortunately for Bottas, his competitors were stuck in traffic after the first stop, so he was able to recover.

Ricciardo and Vettel had to start from the pit lane, but came through to finish 4th and 8th, Red Bull utilising the strategy of starting on the harder tyre, enabling them to do a long first stint.

Jenson Button finished 5th in what could be his last race in Formula 1, it would be great shame, were it to be the case, as Button has had a consistent season, especially towards the end, and has ended up outscoring Magnussen by over 70 points, however, whilst there is an undoubted gulf in class between Magnussen and Button, there is also a gap in age and more significantly salary. McLaren are due to release who is driving for them next year on 1st December.

Force India finished with a flourish, Hulkenburg finishing 6th and Perez 7th. Fernando Alonso's final outing at Ferrari, went the way of much of this season, fizzling out to 9th place, with Raikkonen just behind in 10th.

At the back, there were retirements for Kvyat after a great qualifying performance, Maldonado, who's car set on fire and Kobayashi had to retire as the car had strange vibrations.

The Season

A season of twists and turns, with much of the focus on Mercedes, even from the end of last season. 

Bernie Ecclestone will have been pleased his double points, ensured a closer championship, even if the finale was in the end rather routine for Lewis Hamilton, with Rosberg's engine problems.

Review of the Season

Mercedes - 1st (2nd) The dominant car, throughout the season.
1 - Lewis Hamilton - The odd mistake e.g. Brazil, and 3 retirements, meant that this was no easy title for Lewis, despite having the best car. Hamilton was clearly superior to Rosberg, taking 11 wins to Rosberg's 5, and passing Rosberg on several occasions.
2- Nico Rosberg - Solid and consistent but in wheel to wheel racing against Hamilton, certainly came off 2nd best. His qualifying performances were superior to Hamilton, even if you allow for reliability issues. Rosberg fought valiantly, but came off second best.

Red Bull - 2nd (1st) Considering where they were at the start of the year, with barely any testing done, and disqualified from Australia, 2nd place was a thoroughly impressive performance, expect them to be more competitive next year.
5- Sebastian Vettel - A season of frustration and being out performed by his team mate. The technical changes implemented this season, especially around the diffuser had their biggest affect on him, and coupled with a struggling Renault power unit, Vettel lacked confidence in the car, and failed to win a race for the first time since his debut season in F1 in 2007.
3- Daniel Ricciardo - His breakthrough season, a big step up in to the Red Bull, but one he proved adept to handle. He was the only driver outside of Mercedes to win a grand prix, and the fact he ended up winning 3, showed what a great season he had. The amount of overtaking manoeuvres alone, made Ricciardo one of, if not the, drivers of the season. 

Williams - 3rd (9th) A giant leap for Williams powered by Mercedes and a great car design, Williams were able to compete at the front end again.
4 - Valteri Bottas - Showed his speed and consistency, he is still yet to win a race, but if he continues his progress, it shouldn't be too far away.
7 - Felipe Massa - Massa struggled with retirements through bad luck and crashes in the first half of the season, but improved markedly especially towards the end, and looks at home at Williams, aided by the presence of former engineer Rob Smedley.

Ferrari - 4th (3rd) Ferrari never looked like competing for wins, they struggled with the car all season, and their season was more about polemics and politics, than poles and podiums. Stefano Domenicalli and Luca Di Montezemelo both left during the season.
6 - Fernando Alonso - Somehow Alonso manages to squeeze every ounce of performance out of even the most difficult cars. He was as consistent as ever, but with out the car to compete.
12 - Kimi Raikkonen - Raikkonen's move to Ferrari seemed inspired, but it turned out only to be insipid. Raikkonen was thoroughly outperformed by Alonso, and seemed largely disinterested, although that is just Kimi.

McLaren - 5th (5th) A small step forward, but they were unable to utilise the Mercedes power unit.
8 - Jenson Button - Button started on a high with a podium in Australia (although he never tasted the champagne), he overcame a difficult patch in Bahrain, China and Spain, and finished by showing his speed has not diminished by finishing in the top 5 in 4 of the last 5 races.
11 - Kevin Magnussen - The Dane had a fantastic F1 debut in Melbourne, picking up 2nd place, but the rest of the season proved a steep learning curve, with Magnussen forgoing a handful of points due to penalties in and at the end of races.

Force India - 6th (6th) Force India proved a credible challenge to McLaren, but were hurt by a lack of points in the season run-in.
9 - Nico Hulkenburg - Hulkenburg was consistently in the hunt for big points and finished 5th 4 times, but his season fizzled out somewhat towards the end, still his consistency brought in considerable points for the team.
10 - Sergio Perez - As in previous seasons, moments of brilliance, but generally overshadowed by his team mate. His 3rd in Bahrain was a notable highlight, but he was unable to provide the points Force India needed to overhaul McLaren. 

Toro Rosso - 7th (8th) They may have moved up a place this year, but they actually scored less points.
13 - Jean-Eric Vergne - It's hard not to feel sorry for Vergne, especially if he ends up losing his seat. When compared against Danil Kvyat, he has 22 points compared to Kvyat's 8, and yet Kvyat has secured the coveted Red Bull seat. Vergne had 5 retirements in the first 8 races, mostly due to reliability issues. Vergne provided some memorable moments at the end of the season, including holding off Magnussen in Russia, his pass on Grosjean and holding off Ricciardo in Abu Dhabi, he deserves his place in F1.
15 - Danil Kvyat - A good start to the season earned Kvyat points in 3 out of his first 4 races and a drive at Red Bull next season, but since then other than some good qualifying performances, his race pace has declined.

Lotus - 8th (4th) Lotus endured a fall from grace in 2014, not completely unsurprising as financial issues struck last year, compromising the 2014 car development.
14 - Romain Grosjean - He went from challenging for podiums and wins, to struggling in the midfield. He secured key points for the team and has had less crashes this year.
16 - Pastor Maldonado - It seems incredible to think that Maldonado is a race winner, other than a hard fought 9th place in USA, he looked very much like the pay driver, that he is.

Marussia - 9th (10th) It should have been a great year for Marussia, scoring their first ever F1 point, but the season ends, with Bianchi recovering in hospital and the team disbanded, a sad end to a team that fought so hard.
17 - Jules Bianchi - It will be very sad if we never see Bianchi in an F1 car again, but even sadder if he is unable to recover fully. He drove brilliantly this year, especially in Monaco, it is hard to overstate how good a drive that truly was.
21 - Max Chilton - Chilton lost his record of finishing every race he started and was outperformed by Bianchi. It is unlikely he will be seen in F1 again, unless he can find some more money.

Sauber - 10th (7th) A sorry season for Sauber, with a high of 11th, in 2013 they recorded 57 points, in 2014 they rarely got close to 1.
18 - Adrian Sutil - He out drove Esteban Gutierrez, which is worth about as much as beating an old Granny in a mobility scooter away from the lights.
20 - Esteban Gutierrez - He is not completely untalented, but if he didn't pay to drive he almost certainly wouldn't be in F1

Caterham - 11th (11th) Very little to say for Caterham, overshadowed by Marussia, and financial difficulties, remains to be seen if they will compete in 2015.
22 - Kamui Kobayashi - Was once nicknamed Kobaybashi, but couldn't get near enough to anyone to get close to hitting them this season! His highest placing was 13th.
19 - Marcus Ericsson - A season high of 11th in Monaco, but very few other glimpses of pace. He will drive for Sauber next year.

So the F1 season is over, one of the best seasons for many years with some cracking racing, let's hope next year provides more of the same.

The Weekend that was - 8-9th November

Premier League

Although, it is only November the Premiership title seems to have an inevitability about it. Chelsea winning once again and Man City slipping up against QPR. Man City were in fact, fortunate to get a point, and their form is a real concern for Manuel Pellegrini.

Chelsea seem peerless at present, and considering they have played all the top sides (Southampton excluded) they are looking runaway favourites for the title. They don't face a team from last year's top 6 until January, when they play Tottenham at the start of the month and Man City at the end.

Southampton continued their great form, beating Leicester 2-0, thanks to a Shane Long brace, it means they have only dropped 5 points in 10 games, amassing 25 over those 10 games. They have a plethora of attacking options, with Long, Pelle and Mane all able to play up front, as well as the injured Jay Rodriguez to come back.

Arsenal lost to Swansea, which puts Swansea ahead of them, and Newcastle continued their incredible revival in form, moving them into 8th, level on points with Man Utd, showing just how quickly form can turn around.

Burnley recorded their first win against a depleted Hull. It means it is very tight around the relegation zone, with the 3 promoted sides and Crystal Palace all within 2 points of each other.

Autumn Internationals

Wales failed to beat Australia again, the margin in the last 5 games totalling just 14 points

It was a mixed weekend for the Northern Hemisphere teams, Ireland and Scotland securing wins against South Africa and Argentina. England and Wales were narrowly defeated by New Zealand and Australia.

There is no such thing as a friendly game in Rugby, and these are anything but, they are especially important in the context of next years world cup.

England had the perfect start to their game against New Zealand, when Jonny May showed his blistering pace rounding both Conrad Smith and Israel Dagg to score. However, the All-Blacks are masters at turning the smallest possession into the maximum points, and at the first opportunity they hit back, with Aaron Cruden touching the ball against the minutest part of the line and then the All-Blacks accelerated out of sight.

The Autumn internationals are the perfect appetiser to next years World Cup.

Formula 1

Nico Rosberg had an almost faultless weekend and was able to beat Lewis Hamilton

Nico Rosberg beat Hamilton to pole position again, making it 10 to 7 in pole positions to Rosberg, and giving Rosberg the trophy, albeit the pole position trophy.

Rosberg had a very strong weekend, and was able to hold off Hamilton, and it was Hamilton who cracked under pressure, trying to overtake in the pit stops, Hamilton pushed too hard and nearly lost the car. Hamilton is a pure racer and continued to push, and was able to catch Rosberg, but Rosberg had enough to hold him off.

There were strong performances for Massa, Hulkenburg, Button and Raikkonen. Massa incurred a 5 second, but still had the pace to round out the podium. Button showed his race strength, recording a highly credible 4th place, showing how valuable he is to McLaren, although it remains to be seen if he will be there next year.

Button's race pace is noticeably superior to Magnusson's, however so is his wage, and with Alonso likely to join McLaren, Button may be forced out.

In many ways it was the perfect result in Brazil, especially if you are Bernie Ecclestone, as it sets up the Championship perfectly, if Rosberg wins and Hamilton is second, Hamilton wins the championship, but if Rosberg wins and Hamilton finishes lower than second, Rosberg wins,

It's been a long season, but Abu Dhabi should be a thrilling climax.

Monday news - post weekend blues

Review of the weekend that was

Formula 1 - Japanese Grand Prix

Jules Bianchi - a member of the Ferrari young drivers programme

Unfortunately, the biggest news at the weekend, was the serious crash involving Marussia driver Jules Bianchi.

Bianchi is in intensive care, after having brain surgery, following a horrific crash at the Japanese circuit. Bianchi collided with a recovery vehicle, that was recovering Adrian Sutil's car from a crash on the previous lap. 

The race

The results of the Grand Prix are secondary after such an incident, however they are still significant in the course of the season.

Hamilton won the race with a great pass, around the outside of Nico Rosberg into turn 1, in the small window in the race where DRS was enabled.

Jenson Button confirmed his wet weather prowess, finishing a highly credible 5th, just missing out on the podium to the Red Bulls.

Big Transfer News

Button's performance was commendable, not just for the gamble to move on to intermediates and the difficult conditions, but also because of the intense speculation surrounding his future, as Vettel confirmed he is leaving Red Bull. He is almost certainly heading to Ferrari to replace Fernando Alonso, who is rumoured to be heading to McLaren to replace either Button or Magnussen, but rumours are that Button is the most likely to be replaced, despite consistently outperforming Magnussen.

Button's 5th was also key as it helped McLaren cut the gap in the constructors to Force India, by 5 points, so the gap is now only 1 point.

Rugby Union

Bath continued their great early season form, with a 21-11 win against Saracens, to move into 2nd place in the Aviva Premiership. After beating Leicester 45-0, 2 weeks ago, the win against Saracens highlights Bath's potential.

Bath's centres Eastmond and Joseph both scored tries and outlined their England credentials.

Burgess

The form of Eastmond and Joseph and at international level, Twelvetrees, Tuilagi and Burrell, all adds to the intrigue around the signing of Sam Burgess from Rugby League.

Burgess is joining Bath, after having won the NRL grand final with Sydney Rabbitohs at the weekend, in which he won the Clive Churchill medal (for best player in the final) after playing on despite a fractured cheekbone, in the very first action in the game.

Cycling

One of the final classics of the season, the Tour of Lombardy (also known as the race of the falling leaves) was run at the weekend.

Irishman, Dan Martin own the race for Garmin-Sharp, with a late attack, to collect his second 'monument' after Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2013.

Highlights of the finale at Lombardy are here

I'll hopeful cover a few other sports stories this week as well.