I'm afraid I was not unhappy to see Lewis's car go up in flames - and his comments to the media afterwards illustrated why I have so little time for him.

I was delighted to see Jenson have a good qualifying and race as I'm pretty sure that's the last time, after 15 years of supporting him through thick (and mainly!) thin, that I'll see him race in F1. Shame the VSC conspired against him and helped Fernando though.

Honda only ran the new engine (in Fernando's car) in FP1, but he finished over 1 second ahead of Jenson (who had a trouble free session) - there is rarely more than a couple of tenths between the two drivers, so great cause for optimism I feel.

Honda will not run the new engine in Jenson's car in next weekend at Suzuka though as they don't want to incur penalties in their home race. Fernando will (I believe) run the new engine.

A few more photo's......

This is going to end badly for Sebastian and Nico:
GP2 by Whyone, on Flickr

Lewis looking a tad hacked off:
GP1 by Whyone, on Flickr

Kimi:
KR1 by Whyone, on Flickr

Prize for the coolest parade car goes to Jenson in the comically small Honda S600 (or is it an S800?)
JB1 by Whyone, on Flickr

 

Laughin' that S600 looks like a toy car, noddys car!


Great photos Ian!

 

Of the 4 cars its the one that I would kill to have in my garage.

 

This is worth a watch, Alonso's first lap in Malaysia. 22nd to 10th.

http://www.formula1....lap-sepang.html

 

The final nail in Silverstone's coffin?

Two potential bidders for Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Pix, have walked away from talks, raising fears for the future of the Northamptonshire racetrack.Both Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and entrepreneur Laurence Tomlinson, who owns the Ginetta car company, have given up on securing deals which could inject much-needed funding into Silverstone’s owner, the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC).

Silverstone bidders reverse out of talks about buying the racetrack

 

One of the most exciting drives from Max today (once it eventually got going).
Are we seeing the start of something Sennaesque here ? He's certainly tearing up the rulebook (and not just the FIA one).

Unfortunately I think that was Lewises last chance. Abu Dhabi is likely to be a dry and predictable.

 

Fantastic drive from young Verstappen. Real cajones and Hamilton's natural successor.

It will probably end with Rosberg as champion by less than the difference between first and second in one race. I haven't checked but I suspect if you discard races where one of the Mercedes drivers DNF it would be a different outcome. I could be wrong but that's how it feels to me.

 

Max was epic today, just what F1 needs!

 

Hamilton would have walked it without the reliability problems, and his superiority over Rosberg yesterday was very evident.

Rosberg was quicker than Hamilton on 2 laps.

Verstappen couldn't get near to Hamilton, either. A look at the lap chart reveals only 10 occasions where Verstappen lapped more quickly, with 5 of those being the final 5 laps.

I though Sky were overstating things comparing his drive to Senna's in the Toleman (the Toleman was not a great car, and the Red Bull most certainly is a very, very good one). However, his superiority over the highly rated Ricciardo was quite something.

 

Formula 1 is IF backwards ;-)

Vestappen had fresher tyres at the end as well, but it was still pretty impressive the way he was finding grip in different places. He drove right round the outside of Rosberg; you have to wonder why if there was more grip on the outside the other drivers didn't simply do the same. The move to more aerodynamics next year could well hand domination back to Red Bull; is anyone going to be able to beat him?