FB's Big Fat Review of the Year 2015

FB

Not my cup of cake
Valued Member
Wow, what a season. Lots of overtakes, really close racing, multiple race winners, both championships not decided until the last corner of the last race. Well, that's what we were all hoping for but instead we got a re-run of 1992 with the best British driver on the grid in the best car, by a long, long way, wiping the floor with everyone else.

In fairness, we did have some stonking races. Sochi and Austin stand out in my memory but this is, perhaps, because some of the other races were so dreadful and made me question why I watch F1. I suppose I watch for those races that do get the pulse racing and if we had the same thing as Russia and the USA every race weekend then we would be asking for more. We even had the return of the "Win Finger", even though many thought he couldn't win a race in anything other than a dominate Red Bull.

There were some amusing moments, the return of McLaren Honda made me laugh any way and the pouting from Nico Rosberg on the podium in Austin was priceless. Jenson's radio message were priceless and even Fernando seemed to develop a bit of the blitz spirit by the end of the season. Both drivers really deserve better and I hope McLaren and Honda sort themselves out a bit for 2016, although not too much.

There was also the fun and games at Red Bull as they shot themselves in the foot by pissing Renault off and trying desperately to secure another motor only to fail miserably and then go back, cap in hand, to Renault with some plan to re-brand the Renault motor as a Tag-Heuer stealing one of McLaren's few remaining sponsors in the process.

Everyone got excited about have Max Verstappen on the grid, at only 17 years of age. The arrival of this youngster, who did pretty well, resulted in the FIA raising the minimum age for a Super Licence to 18 so talent and ability has nothing to do with getting a licence, which I suppose explains how Max Chilton managed two season in F1. Max in the Toro Rosso unfortunately overshadowed Carlos Sainz jnr's arrival in F1 who, compared to the senior Red Bull drivers, both looked like great prospects. Red Bull showed us what their chassis was capable of in Austin so I suppose you can understand why they were so unhappy with Renault but having taken 4 World Titles with the French engine supplier they did look a bit ungrateful.

On other amusing issues, remember back at the beginning of the season when the fully qualified lawyer who runs the Sauber team managed to give contracts to four drivers for 2015 and then seemed surprised when the two who didn't get a seat decided to sue the team? Guido van der Garde eventually got a pay out from the team, not sure what happened to Slasher Sutil, I presume he drowned his sorrows with Vodka and Capri Sun cocktails. Monisha Kaltenborn again showed he astute legal mind later in the season when Sauber and Force India reported FOM to the EU Commission for not giving them a suitable share of the F1 money pot, despite having signed the contract earlier in the year. You do have to question the logic of biting the hand that feeds you but they have so we wait to see what occurs. With Force India likely to be re-branded as Aston Martin for 2016 you can see why VJ Malaya didn't care to much about naffing off Bernie.

Also at the back, Manor made it to the first race of the season albeit with last years car and a V6 Ferrari engine from 1981. Imagine that? They would have blown the grid away with one of the turbo beasts from the 80's even with their rent-a-drivers strapped in to the cockpit. I did enjoy the spat between Manor and McLaren on Twitter and hope they will be happy together at the end garages in 2016.

Lotus struggled through the season with various financial woes, even with Pastor's petro dollars to keep them going. What is it about the arrival of Jackie Stewart wearing an F1 sponsors logo on his shirt collar and then the company going down the bog? I seem to recall him being an "ambassador" for RBS shortly before the financial crash and then he turns up with Genii badges all over his shirt. It will be fascinating to see how the takeover by Renault pans out with them claiming it is a three year project. What money on us seeing Flav and Fernando reunited at Enstone in 2017? BTW, did you know Charles Pic is suing Lotus for insufficient track time in 2014? I would have thought he should have been happy just to have been a pit pass as I wouldn't let him driver an F1 car if I ran a team.

Moving closer to the front of the grid, weren't Williams shit disappointing? This should have been the season where they could at least challenge at the front of the grid but all the momentum built up in 2014 seemed to just slip away. For a "champion in waiting" Valterie Bottas looked like a man running in his final season and only seemed to get excited every time he got close to Kimi Raikkonen. As for Felipe Massa, well, when you have drivers like Sainz and Verstappen coming through, as well as all the hard chargers from GP2 hanging around like a bad smell I think it's time Felipe to hang up his helmet but you know he won't.

Force India drivers provided two exciting moments in 2015, neither of which had anything to do with the FI cars. Firstly, Nico Hulkenberg won Le Man in a Porsche, although he was helped out by Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber. Many news networks appeared to miss this fact but such is the media world. It's a bit like Mark Webber winning the WEC title, well Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard did as well but you would have need to go to paragraph eight of the reports to discover this fact. The other exciting thing from Force India was the crowd reaction to Sergio Perez as F1 returned to Mexico at the de-clawed Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. We saw lots of footage of the heroes of days gone by fighting their way over the bumps and through the Peraltada corner. In today's Health and Safety F1 we had the cars driving slowly between the grandstands so the drivers could wave at the crowds rather than make any efforts to race one another.

Right, the last two teams. Vettel left Red Bull and cried. He then won a race for Ferrari and cried. His baiting of Nico Rosberg at the driver interviews were priceless and Nico managed to confirm the impression Germans have no sense of humour, a myth Sebastien has been trying to put to be for years. Anyway, he was the only non-Mercedes driver to win a race in 2015 so kudos to him. Some on here even thought those races quite exciting - a world gone mad. Kimi was his usual mono-syllabic self and still the F1 fans love him. Never fathomed this myself and his driving in 2015 hardly justified him being retained at a top team for 2016 but Ferrari thought otherwise and I'm sure Kimi will be happy to bank the cheque.

Meanwhile, in the Silver Arrows, Lewis Hamilton showed us what a class act he is until he had won the title and then stated moaning about the team changing the car. Nico Rosberg was simple not on the same planet until the end of the season, even losing his qualifying mojo over Lewis and ending with "cap gate" in Austin which at least showed us he cared about losing but a being a little more gracious wouldn't go amiss now would it Nico? You may be able to speak 732 different languages but it appears the F1 fans don't like you a great deal if the podium receptions you received are to be taken as a measure.

Now, on to my biggest grip about F1 in 2015. For the first time (to my knowledge) we had the reigning World Champion competing but not carrying the No. 1 on his car. I really do believe some traditions in motor racing should transcend marketing demands and Lewis should have taken the number. Here's a thought, Nico made you look a bit like him in the last three race of the years Lewis, if you want to have a real killer psychological blow for 2016 park your car with the Number 1 on it next to his in the garage and watch his little face drop.

Not the worst season I have ever seen, after all I was watching F1 during the Schumacher era, but definitely not a classic. Here's hoping 2016 will see a bit more of a fight at the front, if not between teams at least between the team mates in the dominant team. Toto Wolf has suggested relations between Lewis and Nico are not at their best, well no shit Sherlock. If we do end up with Mercs leading the way I hope the team will be a bit more open to letting the drivers choose their own strategies. That said, if the Hamilton side of the garage are allowed to change things and then cock everything up I shan't be hanging around here to much as all the conspiracies get thrown about.

So those are my thoughts, you are more than welcome to agree or disagree. Here's looking forward to 2016.
 
The Russian GP was probably the best race of the year (and I missed it). McLaren's radio transcript was just hilarious;

McLaren - "Okay Fernando, we are racing Massa behind to the end."
Alonso - "I love your sense of humour!"

McLaren - "JB that is P9. Great job on a circuit we didn't think would suit us!"
Button - "It didn't! (laughs) But we did a good job there. Quite fun with Fernando as well."
 
More interesting to read than the season was to watch...nice job FB

AMEN!!!!!

As far as Max V is concerned,IMO his performance proves that the current F1 cars are far too easy to drive. For that not to be the case, you would have to assume that he has talent exceeding that of Fangio, Moss, Clark and virtually every other driver to ever compete in F1. I really do not think that that is the case.
 
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Great job FB ... 2016 wasn't as boring as some seasons ... I think I was sleep walking through some of the Ferrari Schumacher years ... but clearly the only team that made ground on the Merc's was Ferrari ... and with the recent legal pallava regarding the engineer who was "photocoping paper and copying data files under cover of darkness" things he shouldn't have for his soon to be ... oh crap ... offer rescinded ... once upon a time new employer ... who knows if this was aided and abetted in any way ...

Here's hoping for a little more competitive 2017 ...
 
'Making History', while technically true of all events, is a poor title since Hamilton had actually matches or beaten zero records in 2015.

For the avoidance of doubt, Ayrton Senna has never been a Formula One record holder in terms of Championships or wins.

'Mercedes-AMG Petronas: Making History' would be a much more fitting and accurate title.
 
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