BLOGMAS DAY 5: READY, STEADY, LECLERC

Day 5 of Blogmas and I am yet to give up!

With the news that Kimi Raikkonen would be replaced at Ferrari from next season by young Monegasque; Charles Leclerc, I started thinking. Again.

My initial reaction was not a good one. Career suicide, comes to mind. At only 21 years of age, with only one years of Formula One experience under his belt, I believed this was not a good move for the Ferrari prodigy.

Born on 16th October 1997, Charles has been a racing superstar from an early age. A good friend of the late Jules Bianchi, Leclerc won his first karting championship in his first year of competitive kart racing. In 2010, he went onto win the prestigious "Junior Monaco Kart Cup," just like many Formula One drivers before him. The future was looking bright.

2014 and the rising superstar got his first taste of single seaters, by racing in Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Championship, in which he eventually finished as runner up. Since then he has participated in series such as Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, FIA Formula 3 European Championship and the world renowned race; Macau GP.

In 2016, Leclerc made his official GP3 debut with ART. After claiming three victories that season, he took the title in the final round in Abu Dhabi. The first title in his single seater career.

2017 arrived and the Monegasque moved onto Formula 2. A season which outlined Leclerc as the real deal. For example, round one, Bahrain, Sprint race. An unusual decision by his then team; Prema Racing, to pit Leclerc mid race. Something which is almost unheard of in a sprint race. Ultimately, dropping him down to 14th. No other cars were to pit and with that Leclerc had work to do. However, this didn't stop the then 19 year old and with fresher tyres he overtook the field, taking the chequered flag in 1st. A stand out performance. One we are yet to forget.

And then, there's his move to Formula 1. Confirmed in December 2017, Leclerc would race against Swede; Marcus Ericsson.

In recent years Sauber have been no where. Very little points had been scored and the team's drivers making very little impact on the championship standings. Until Charles Leclerc came along, that is. With frequent Q3 appearances and point finishes, Sauber were starting to bounce back. A sixth place finish in Azerbaijan, Leclerc's best of the season, started to turn people's heads and the rumours began. Could this kid really drive for Ferrari next season? You betch ya!

I, myself, am a big advocate when it comes to experience in Formula One. Look at Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll, for example. A jump straight from Formula 3 to Formula 1, isn't ideal. Drivers need the experience. Formula Two should be mandatory. You have to work hard to achieve your dreams, not everything is handed to one on a silver platter. Something is special about Verstappen though. Stroll; not so much. Both, I believe, could have found a trip to Formula 2 to be very handy indeed. But it is how it is.

Right now you're telling me that Leclerc did Formula 2. I know. But, in this case, an extra year in a midfield team such as Haas would most likely make the youngster's skills even more pristine.

But, you know what? The second half of the season changed my mind. Leclerc doesn't need that extra year near the bottom. He overtook a Red Bull in a Sauber at Abu Dhabi. If anything, this has taught me that experience isn't everything, if you have the talent. Being thrown in at the deep end will make Leclerc. Having 4x World Champion; Sebastian Vettel has is teammate will make Leclerc. Ferrari will most definitely be the making of Leclerc. 2019 Formula One World Champion at 22 years old? Watch this space!

BLOGMAS DAY 4: VERSTAPPEN VS OCON

Here we are again. Day 4 out of 23. And, today's post, I think, is pretty intriguing.

Let's travel back in time. Only slightly. To Sunday 11th November 2018. This was the day of the penultimate race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix. A race that was full of action, surprise and the "odd" controversy, eventually won by Brit and 2018 World Champion; Lewis Hamilton, was one of the most entertaining and gripping races of the season. It was also where Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Racing Point Force India's Esteban Ocon resumed their Formula 3 rivalry. A clash between the two on lap 43 became the main talking point of the race. But, who was to blame for the incident? And, was Verstappen's behavior post race acceptable?

Lap 42 ends and lap 43 begins. Verstappen, who is leading, laps back marker Ocon on the start/finish straight. Both cars go into the Senna Esses almost side by side. Ocon makes a lunge to try and unlap himself but catches Verstappen in the process, sending them both into a spin. Hamilton then arrives on the scene, snatching the lead from the Red Bull driver. The rest is history.

Ultimately, Esteban Ocon was penalised for this incident. Unsurprisingly. But after reading tweets and other blog posts after the incident, I can't help but notice that many people are disregarding the fact that a lapped driver has every right to lunge in and unlap himself. What Ocon did was not wrong. It was how he executed the move in which got him stuck in hot, hot water.

I'm quite curious really. The start/finish straight has Drag Reduction System (DRS) and then the straight immediately after the Senna Esses also has DRS. Why did Ocon choose to make his move in the place that he did? The risk of a collision there is high, especially when it's unlapping yourself from the leader. Common sense would tell you wait and in that moment the Frenchman was lacking in it. Being quoted as "my team told me to do it."

I think, if the situation didn't involve a backmarker and the race leader, it would have been looked at in different light and classed as a racing incident. As Senna himself once said; "If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver." A quote that defines racing for me. And, in defense of Ocon, whether you have been lapped or not, you are still racing. So, I understand why he tried that move. It just baffles me as to why he didn't wait. At the end of the day, drivers should have respect and courtesy for one another. Something that didn't seem to exist here. Possibly due to their Formula 3 days.

As for Verstappen, could he have given Ocon room to pass? That's a difficult one. The Senna Esses are tight and overtaking can be limited; not to even mention a possible blind spot.

I think, in normal circumstances, this would have been classed as a racing incident. But, because it included the race leader and a backmarker, something had to be done. It's similar to how a backmarker gets penalised for ignoring blue flags. In this case, all the factors were pointing towards Ocon as the guilty party.

But what about Verstappen's behaviour post race? Was there any need to physically "attack" Ocon?

I get Verstappen's frustration. He could have won. But he didn't. That's life.

I'm conflicted here though. Verstappen should not have lashed out like he did. A quiet word in private? Yes. A shove? No. It just doesn't look good. All the drivers are there for the same reason after all. However, can you blame Verstappen for lashing out when Ocon stands there smirking over the incident?

Overall, point is, Ocon WAS to blame for the clash, in some regards and Verstappen shouldn't have reacted how he did.

BLOGMAS DAY 3: WE BELIEVE IN YOU

On the third day of blogmas, Bron gave to me; a blog post on Red Bull and Honda.

Did you sing that? You better had.

Continuing on the subject of era's in motorsport, here is a new one that's about to begin. Red Bull and Honda. That's one partnership I'd never thought I'd see. However, here we are.

What should we make of this partnership? Should we be optimistic or concerned? Read ahead for my thoughts.

Red Bull Racing. Founded in 2005 by, well, Red Bull; they took part in their first Formula One race at that year's Australian Grand Prix with both cars driven by Scotsman; David Coulthard and Austrian; Christian Klein. Fast forward 18 years later and RBR have since won 4 championships, (most notably during the years the team had Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber driving for them), and numerous second and third places. They are a "party" team and one that is hard to dislike.

And then there's Honda. They have been apart of Formula One since 1964, on and off. Most recently returning in 2015 with McLaren, a partnership that was described as a "disaster."

Before their return to Formula One in 2015, Honda are most recognised for the work with McLaren between 1988 and 1992. The Japanese engine supplier gave the British team a total of 44 wins from 80 starts making their re-entry into the sport in 2015 an exciting and optimistic one. However, as mentioned before, this was not the case. Not even close.

Over the course of the 2015 season, the Honda powered engine proved to be very unreliable and under powered, providing the McLaren team with numerous DNF's and engine failures throughout the season. Thanks to this, McLaren now hold the record of the highest grid penalty given to a team. A whopping 105 grid positions at that years Belgian Grand Prix. Legend has it, both drivers started from Cologne in Germany.

2016 was better but not great and 2017 was on par with 2016. Things looked bad for Honda. So bad, in fact, McLaren claimed they were "lost." It was after this that it became apparent McLaren and Honda would not revive their "glory days" from the 80's and both went their separate ways.

For 2018, Honda stayed in Formula One. This season, however, they partnered with Red Bull's junior team; Toro Rosso. I must admit, I wasn't expecting much but alas, Honda proved me wrong. It was almost like they were starting to come back to life. The engine seemed to have the reliability that it had lacked in previous years and with a 4th place finished for Toro Rosso driver; Pierre Gasly, in that same year, things were obviously looking up for the engine supplier.

And, with that, after numerous power failures with Renault, the parent team; Red Bull, decided to take the leap and on 19th June 2018, it was announced that the two would partner for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Making many people, such as myself, think "whatttttt?!?"

However, I understand Red Bull's logic. Honda are obviously not as bad as they seemed with McLaren. And to see McLaren still having problems suggests that it was their car more than anything.

The whole Red Bull team seem to be extremely optimistic by this move, especially as they've had the opportunity to be involved with the engine processes after the supplier joined forces with Toro Rosso earlier this year. "Good progress is being made and that's encouraging for us." That's what Red Bull Team Principle; Christian Horner stated. Honda need that encouragement. I honestly believe working with a team like Red Bull will be the break Honda needs. If Red Bull didn't think enough progress had been made during the 2018 season, then they wouldn't have taken this chance.

It's a chance worth taking. Amazing things may be about to happen.