Sky Sports F1 Tribute to Jules Bianchi

More Bianchi for you guys! :)

Off the Grid: Extended Jules Bianchi Conversation

This was really emotional to watch. I want all of you F1 fans to watch this at least once.

RIP Jules Bianchi | His Career & Driver's Thoughts (video)

Jules Bianchi with his former teammate Max Chilton on the left.

Marussia: Bianchi’s situation ‘remains challenging’

The Marussia team have released an update on the medical condition of driver Jules Bianchi, who suffered a severe head injury in a serious accident at the recent Japanese Grand Prix.

Bianchi remains critical but stable in the Mie General Medical Center in Yokkaichi, and the following statement was issued at the request of his family and in conjunction with the hospital:

“The past nine days have been extremely difficult for Jules and his family. As a consequence of the accident at Suzuka, a number of medical challenges have needed to be overcome and the situation remains challenging due to the diffuse axonal traumatic brain injury Jules has sustained. 

“Jules remains in a critical but stable condition in the Intensive Care Unit of Mie General Medical Center in Yokkaichi. The Bianchi family continue to be comforted by the thoughts and prayers of Jules’ many fans and the motor sport community. In particular, the many demonstrations of support and affection during the course of the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi were of enormous comfort to Jules’ parents and the relatives and friends also present at the hospital.

“The family will provide further medical updates when appropriate.”

Bianchi went off in wet conditions late in the Suzuka race and collided with a recovery vehicle that was removing the damaged Sauber of Adrian Sutil, who had crashed out a lap earlier.

(source: f1.com)

Bianchi fastest for Ferrari as Silverstone test ends

Jules Bianchi made the most of his late call-up from Ferrari to set the pace on the second and final day of Formula One’s in-season test at Silverstone.

The Frenchman, drafted in to replace Kimi Raikkonen - who sustained bruising in a crash during Sunday’s race in Great Britain - hit the front in the final hour as he worked down to a 1m 35.262s.

That was enough to put him a quarter of a second clear of midday pacesetter Daniil Kvyat, who managed 1m 35.544s in the Toro Rosso STR9.

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, fastest in the early stages of the day, was three tenths of a second further down the road. The Dane was the busiest man of the day, racking up 91 laps in total - two more than Bianchi - in a programme split between aero and tyre evaluations.

Sauber’s test and reserve driver Giedo van der Garde leapt up into fourth in the closing stages of the day, little over one second behind Bianchi. He brought proceedings to an early close however when he hit the barriers at Copse, triggering red flags that then flew for the final 15 minutes of the day.

"It was a pretty hard crash," he reflected. "All the lights went on so I had to go to the medical centre. They checked everything and I am fine.

"I came out of the corner I had a little snap and I caught it, but then suddenly it went the other way and I lost it completely. It's a pity because we were going quite well today."

Van der Garde added that Sauber had tried "a different programme" in the afternoon as a result of the possible ban on Front-and-Rear Interconnected Suspension (FRIC) systems.

His late surge demoted Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to fifth, with the Silverstone race winner posting a best time of 1m 36.680s.

"It wasn't an easy day today; we had great weather but unfortunately had some problems at the start of the day which meant we lost some track time," said Hamilton, who was also delayed by an engine change. "It could have been a lot worse as it could have been raining or we could have even done no laps, but some of the things we've tried in the car feel really positive."

The Briton was followed by Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, Marussia’s Max Chilton and Force India’s test and reserve driver Daniel Juncadella, who was competing in only his fourth F1 session.

Red Bull’s four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was, like Hamilton, delayed by an engine change. He ended a day dedicated to development work for Pirelli in ninth, ahead of Charles Pic - who spent part of his day trialling the Italian manufacturer's new 18-inch prototype tyres with Lotus.

Caterham's Julian Leal rounded out the order, having lost almost six hours of running time with a CU-H issue - which also prevented the team from running Rio Haryanto as originally planned.

"With the time delay we didn't have a chance to really work on set-up options, but I was quite quickly comfortable with the balance of the car and the way the power came in," said Leal, who is now eligible to apply for an FIA Super Licence after completing more than 300 kilometres in total.

"All day I was on relatively high fuel and if we'd had a chance to do a performance run on the softs I'd have ended up with a quicker time, but overall I'm still pleased with how it went. Obviously today wasn't about times, it was about mileage, learning how to work with the team and start to understand how to maximise the performance of a 2014 F1 car, and I feel like I've made a good step with all of those."

Unofficial Wednesday times from Silverstone
1. Jules Bianchi, Ferrari, 1m 35.262s, 89 laps
2. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m 35.544s, 55 laps
3. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 35.593s, 91 laps
4. Giedo van der Garde, Sauber, 1m 36.327s, 84 laps
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 36.680s, 47 laps
6. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 37.193s, 40 laps
7. Max Chilton, Marussia, 1m 37.359s, 77 laps
8. Daniel Juncadella, Force India, 1m 37.449s, 52 laps
9. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1m 39.410s, 76 laps
10. Charles Pic, Lotus, 1m 41.906s, 39 laps
11. Julian Leal, Caterham, 1m 42.635s, 51 laps

(source: f1.com)

Bianchi to replace Raikkonen at Silverstone test

Ferrari have confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen will miss this week’s test at Silverstone to aid his recovery from the bruising he sustained in a high-speed crash on lap one of Sunday’s race in Great Britain.

The 34-year-old will be replaced at the test by Marussia driver Jules Bianchi, a Ferrari Driver Academy member since 2010.

Raikkonen brought out the red flags in the early stages of Sunday’s race after losing control of his car on the Wellington Straight and striking the barriers with an impact measured at 47G. 

The Finn was pictured limping away from his badly damaged F14 T following the accident, but Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci has said that he sustained no serious injuries: “The most important news right now is that Kimi is alright, even though the impact with the barriers was a heavy one. 

"He has some bruising and will now be resting to be in shape for the next race.”

Raikkonen’s accident compounded a miserable weekend for the 2007 world champion in which he was also eliminated from qualifying in Q1.

(source: f1.com)

Chilton handed Austria grid penalty for Bianchi clash

Max Chilton will drop three places on the grid for the Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Osterreich 2014 in two weeks' time after being penalised for his lap one crash with Marussia team mate Jules Bianchi.

The pair headed into Turn 3 side by side, but as they exited the right hander Chilton lost the rear of his car and ended up sliding into Bianchi, who was pitched into a heavy crash with the wall on the exit of Turn 4 as a result.

Bianchi retired on the spot, with Chilton limping to a halt one turn later to complete a double-retirement for the team, who only two weeks ago in Monaco scored their maiden F1 points.

It was the first DNF of Chilton's Formula One career. The Briton had recorded 25 straight finishes prior to Canada.

(source: f1.com)

FIA press conference schedule - Monaco

Amongst the drivers who will take part in the official FIA press conference in Monaco on Wednesday will be last year’s victor, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, plus Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who won in the Principality back in 2005. 

Meanwhile on Thursday, Ferrari’s recently-installed team principal Marco Mattiacci will make his first press conference appearance as he joins other senior personnel in answering questions from the press. The line-ups in full... 

Wednesday, May 21, 1500 hours local time (1400 GMT)
Jules Bianchi (Marussia), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Romain Grosjean (Lotus), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

Thursday, May 22, 1600 hours local time (1500 GMT)
Eric Boullier (McLaren), Federico Gastaldi (Lotus), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Marco Mattiacci (Ferrari), Claire Williams (Williams), Toto Wolff (Mercedes)

The qualifying and post-race press conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

(source: f1.com)

AYRTON SENNA WEEK: Senna-Ratzenberger memorial event

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were amongst a host of F1 drivers past and present who attended a memorial service at Imola in Italy on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger.

In an emotional ceremony at Tamburello corner attended by thousands of fans and members of Senna's family, the Ferrari duo were joined by Marussia’s Jules Bianchi and a number of former F1 drivers in paying their respects to the two racers who lost their lives over the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix weekend.

“The only positive thing to come out of the weekend that took Ayrton and Roland Ratzenberger away from us was that, from then on, safety in Formula One improved significantly,” said Alonso. “In fact, we can say that inside our cars there is something of the legacy of Senna and Raztzenberger, because after that terrible 1994, nothing was ever the same again.”

Raikkonen echoed his team mate’s thoughts: “Senna was very important for Formula One, as a driver and a person and his death led to a rapid acceleration in the process of increasing the level of safety in our sport. 

“That has avoided other tragedies from occurring. Unfortunately however, one cannot change the past, neither for Ayrton nor for Roland Ratzenberger. The only thing we can do is remember this champion, whose exploits defined the history of Formula One for a long time.”

(source: f1.com)

Comparing the 2014 teammates: Marussia

In the previous "comparing the teammates"-post I promised to compare the Marussia drivers Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi.

Previously I have written about the teammates of Ferrari, Lotus, Red Bull, Force India, Mercedes, Sauber and Williams.

If you haven't read them then just click on the links below:

http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2013/11/comparing-2014-teammates-scuderia.html
http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2013/12/comparing-2014-teammates-red-bull-racing.html
http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2013/12/comparing-2014-teammates-lotus.html
http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2013/12/comparing-2014-teammates-force-india.html
http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2014/02/comparing-2014-teammates-mercedes.html?spref=fb
http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2014/02/comparing-2014-teammates-sauber.html?spref=fb
http://www.f14life.blogspot.fi/2014/02/comparing-2014-teammates-williams.html

This time I have two drivers who have both driven just one full season. It was last year of course and they were driving for Marussia as they do this year as well.

This might be very boring or interesting because people usually just focus on what happens in the front.

This time I'm going to do this a bit differently. I will list each GP from 2013 and tell you guys the results etc. between the two drivers.

Australian GP - First weekend of the season and first weekend ever for these guys! In the qualifying Jules Bianchi got 19th place on the grid and Max Chilton was one position behind him in 20th. 
In the race Bianchi was 15th one lap behind the winner Räikkönen. Even though the car was bad he managed to lap his teammate! Chilton came 2 laps behind a cross the finish line in 17th place. 18 cars finished the race.

Malaysian GP - This weekend Bianchi was again 19th in the qualifying. It seems that if you are the best of the worst you are always 19th. Heikki Kovalainen was always 19th as well when he drove for Caterham. Chilton was 21st.
In the race Bianchi was 13th which was even better than the previous race! Again he was 1 lap behind the winner who this time was Sebastian Vettel thanks to the "MULTI21" fiasco. Max Chilton was again two laps behind and was the last to finish the race in 16th place.

Chinese GP - In China the qualifying went so that Bianchi was 19th and Chilton 20th. They got to start the race from 18th and 19th because Webber had to start from the back because of a disqualification.
The race was pretty ok for the team when the drivers finished in 15th and 16th. Chilton was the last one of them of course but this time he was only 1 lap behind the race winner! Nice work Max!

Bahrain GP - This time Bianchi qualified in 20th but got to start from 19th because of Gutierrez penalty. The next day he finished in 19th just like he started. Chilton on the otherhand was last in qualifying but got to start from 21st because of Gutierrez penalty. On Sunday Chilton was 20th.

Spanish GP - On Saturday Bianchi 20th and Chilton 21st. On Sunday they were 18th and 19th mainly because Grosjean and Vergne retired the race. How sad is that? You just follow the pack and hope for somebody to retire.

Monaco GP - In qualifying Bianchi had problems and didn't set a lap time. That was the first time Chilton got to start in front of his teammate. Chilton was 20th even though Massa also was without a time.
On Sunday Bianchi had troubles with his brakes and had to retire for the first time. Chilton was 14th! the best result yet for him!

Canadian GP - 20th and 21st were the positions of Bianchi and Chilton on Saturday but they got to start the race from 19th and 20th because of Romain Grosjean's penalty. He colided three times in Monaco and got a 10 grids sport penalty for the Canadian GP.
In the race Bianchi was 17th 2 laps behind the winner Vettel and Chilton was 19th 3 laps behind.

British GP - Bianchi was 20th and Chilton was the last on Saturday. Di Resta was dropped from 5th to 22th which made both of them rice one spot. Van Der Garde was also dropped to 21st which helped Chilton again with one spot.
On Sunday Bianchi was 16th and Chilton was 17th. This time they both finished on the same lap as the winner! This might have to do with the safety car though..Grosjean lost a front wing as usual but this time on the last lap so it helped the back markers a little.

German GP - Bianchi was 20th on Saturday and his teammate Chilton took the last spot on the grid. Charles Pic  changed his gearbox after the qualifying which gave Chilton a position in 21st place and Bianchi in 19th.
In the race Bianchi had an engine failure but Chilton continued to finish like he had done in every single race! This time he was in 19th place one lap behind the race winner.

Hungarian GP - Qualifying on Saturday and the Marussias were in the last two spots. Guess who was last (HINT: CHILTON)?
On Sunday they were 16th and 17th (Bianchi and then Chilton) mainly because Bottas, Gutierrez and Sutil had to retire. Otherwise they would have been last. Not a good weekend for Marussia.

Belgian GP - But wait! what's this? Both of the Marussias got in to P2 on Saturday! they qualified 15th and 16th with Bianchi in front of Chilton. They had drivers behind them such as Maldonado, Vergne, Ricciardo, Bottas, Gutierrez and then Pic in last place.
In the race they dropped to 18th and 19th and would have been even far away but Räikkönen and di Resta retired from higher up.

Italian GP - This the Marussias were last in qualifying with Bianchi in 21st and Chilton in 22nd. The next day they got 2 spots higher up just because di Resta and Vergne retired the race.

Singapore GP - Again they took the last two spots in the same order as always on Saturday. The next day they overtook Pic and got two spots higher up because Grosjean and Ricciardo retired the race. And what else? Chilton passed Bianchi and was in front of him for the first time in a race were they both had finished. Nice work Max!

Korean GP - BIanchi and Chilton were 21st and 22nd in qualifying at first. Later Bianchi got a penalty for impending di Resta and had to start from 22nd place.
In the race Bianchi overtook Chilton of course and they finished in 16th and 17th. They were the last ones to finish the race.

Japanese GP - Chilton was 19th in the qualifying. Bianchi and Pic had 10-place grid penalties after accumulating three stewards' reprimands.
In the race Bianchi had an accident on the first lap and retired. Max Chilton was 19th, the last one to finish.

Indian GP - Now on Saturday Jules Bianchi was 19th and Max Chilton was last again. No pelaties this time to help them out.
On Sunday Chilton got pass Bianchi and was 17th in front of his teammate. The second time he won his teammate.

Abu Dhabi GP - On Saturday Bianchi qualified 20th and Chilton was last. Bianchi got a 5 grid penalty for a gearbox change and started behind Chilton. Kimi Räikkönen was also disqualified because the Lotus failed the floor deflection test. This helped the to drivers again.
On Sunday Kimi retired right after the start and Bianchi overtook Chilton. They finished the race on the last two spots. (check out my pictures from Abu Dhabi that I took ;) )

United States GP - Bianchi was 20th and Chilton was last in qualifying. They started the race in 19th and 21st because Pic and Gutierrez were penalized. The ending results for them were Bianchi in 18th and Chilton in 21st.

Brazilian GP - The last weekend of the season and the Marussias qualified 21st and 22nd in the usual order.
Pic, Grosjean and Bottas retired from the race on Sunday which gave the Marussias an advantage. They finished in 17th and 19th place in the usual order.

So it is clear that Jules Bianchi is a much better driver than Max Chilton. He could in fact be the next Alonso for all we know!

Max Chilton on the other hand finished all of his races of his first season! I don't think anyone has done that before. He has actually never retired from a Formula One race. That's really something even though he lost to Bianchi very clearly.

In the final championship standings they were in 19th and 23rd place. Chilton being the last of them as you probably guessed.

That was it for today and tomorrow I shall compare the McLaren drivers.

The best/worst of 2013

I sat down at my computer and in a second I came up with an idea. THE BEST/WORST OF 2013!

So what was best/worst for me? (and of course I am talking about Formula One).
I'll make a list of the best and worst things and you may comment on them if you like.

Remember that these are just my personal opinions so don't take them too seriously if they are different from yours.

The best team was obviously Red Bull. I mean they were unbeatable! But if we think about the time before Pirelli changed the tyres because of Red Bull's demands then the team wouldn't be the same. The best team before the tyres changed was probably Mercedes. They were excellent in qualifying and even won 3 races (Rosberg 2 and Hamilton 1).

The worst team was probably Caterham. They were always better than Marussia but after Kovalainen and Petrov left it all changed. Was it because of the drivers or something else? Or was Bianchi just that good with his Marussia that it made Caterham look bad? It was like Caterham was driving in 2013 with the 2012 car. Everybody else had gotten better but they were the same.

Best rookie was Jules Bianchi or Valtteri Bottas. No doubt about it! They were both phenomenal but if I would have to choose one of them I would say Bottas. He was clearly better than his more experienced teammate Pastor Maldonado and even got a P3 in qualifying. Maybe if Bianchi would have had a more experienced teammate it would have been easier to compare his skills. It didn't look very hard to be better than Max Chilton.

Worst rookie was probably Esteban Gutierrez. I made this decision because Nico Hülkenberg mopped the floor with him and got 8 times more points than he got. Not 8 points but 8 TIMES MORE! Jules Bianchi was also much better than Max Chilton but it wasn't as clear.

Biggest surprise was when Kimi Räikkönen won the first race in Australia starting the race from 7th place. He said that it was the easiest victory of his career. Some papers and magazines even wrote that this will be the season of Lotus. Yeah right.. When Kimi won the first race in 2007 some said that Kimi would win all the races but it was far from the truth. He had to fight with Alonso and Hamilton until the end.

Biggest disappointment was probably Heikki Kovalainen's race pace. He was very fast in the practice sessions but then in the race drivers were overtaking him easily. Some might say that the car had problems but even Kimi got podiums with a broken car. It reminded me of Luca Badoer driving for Ferrari in 2009. He had been a test driver for too long so they signed Giancarlo Fisichella to drive for them instead. He was also a disappointment but much better than Badoer.

Most boring race was probably... I can't think of anything else than the fact that Sebastian Vettel won so many races. I guess one of the races he won was the most boring. Can't tell you which one though.

The best feeling in 2013 was probably when Kimi signed with Ferrari and Ricciardo with Red Bull. That's gonna be interesting! Alonso vs. Räikkönen and Vettel vs. Ricciardo!

The worst feeling was when Michael Schumacher had his accident. I hope that he'll get well soon. It can't be over for him yet! The F1 world needs him. Right? He is such a big part of this sport!

GET WELL SOON!

Autosport: Top-drivers skip tyre test

Sebastian Vettel and new Ferrari team-mates Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen will sit out Formula 1's forthcoming Pirelli tyre test in Bahrain.
Ferrari confirmed instead that F1 development driver Pedro de la Rosa will share driving duties over the three days with Ferrari Driver Academy member - and Marussia race driver - Jules Bianchi.
While three of this year's championship top five will therefore not take part, Mercedes is expected to attend with both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
The test was officially sanctioned by the FIA on Monday following a request from Pirelli last month.
Lotus, Sauber, Williams, Marussia and Caterham all said they would not attend.
McLaren and Force India were slated to join the three-day run, but have subsequently confirmed they too will not attend.
Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and Toro Rosso are therefore the only teams to have taken up Pirelli's test offer.
While F1's tyre supplier will define the daily schedule and data management throughout the test, Ferrari said using de la Rosa would allow it to evaluate the effectiveness of the ongoing simulator work started by the Spaniard this year.
It added that Bianchi's day three drive stemmed from its focus on young driver development and was an opportunity for him to "demonstrate the progress he has made this year in F1."
Red Bull has not yet announced who will drive its car in the test, but AUTOSPORT understands Vettel with not attend.
Toro Rosso is also yet to reveal its plans.

(source: autosport.com)