F1 - Monza review

The Bullet Review

It was a good week for:-

• Lewis Hamilton - Anything less than a win for Lewis, would have been a disaster for his World Championship hopes.

• Daniel Ricciardo - As good as Hamilton's recovery drive was, Ricciardo's was arguably better, after only qualifying 9th, he dropped to 12th at the start. Red Bull worked a very nice split strategy, giving Vettel the undercut, but knowing his tires would be marginal by the end, and leaving Ricciardo out later, meaning he had fresher tires, but would have to work through the field. 

          Ricciardo has shown that in this regard, he is top class, passing former World                   Champions Raikkonen, Button and Vettel. He also passed Magnussen and Perez. However, it was not just the fact that he passed these 5 drivers, but the way he passed them, with some exceptional pure racing manoeuvres.

• Felipe Massa - Massa has endured a tough, whilst Bottas has been on the podium 4 times, Massa's best this season was 4th. He managed to get a podium at Monza, and repaid Williams' faith in retaining him for next season.

It was a bad week for:-

• Nico Rosberg - He was clearly second best to Lewis this weekend, although a problem in practice, did compromise his qualifying. During the race, two errors gave away what should have been a comfortable win. It was strange to see Rosberg, who is usually so composed, make the same mistake twice, however he still has a firm grip on the Championship, with a 22 point lead.

• Fernando Alonso - Until his retirement at Monza, Alonso had completed the most laps of any driver this season. But being forced to retire from Ferrari's home grand prix was a bitter pill to swallow. It was unlikely, that Alonso would have done any better than 7th, but considering the cars performance issues, reliability issues are the last thing Ferrari would have wanted.

• Max Chilton - Max is often lauded for his consistency in getting the car to the finish, which I think is a British way of compensating for the fact Jules Bianchi is a much quicker team-mate. However at Monza, Max made a rookie error, out braking himself at the second chicane, and going over the sausage kerb and into the barrier. Marussia had a poor weekend altogether, with Bianchi being beaten by Kobayashi for 17th.

• Kevin Magnussen - Magnussen undoubtedly has the raw talent, however he has been unable to adapt to the F1 rules about defending his position. His move on Alonso at Spa was clumsy and he forced Bottas over the kerbs at the first chicane at Monza. The 5 second penalty he incurred, meant he dropped from 7th to 10th and lost McLaren 3 valuable points, especially as they now lead Force India by just 1 point in the Constructors championship.

Singapore will suit very different teams to Monza, whilst Mercedes will still be the de facto top 2, Williams will be pushed hard by the Red Bulls for the final podium spot.