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Source: Skysports F1

France | Austria | England

Back to back races, five in six weeks for the first time this season.

The season is getting busy and I have been pretty occupied myself. But never the less, there’s always something interesting to talk about.

Circuit de Paul Ricard | Le Castellet

Source: Mercedes AMG-F1

• This is not one of my favourite tracks as I have said before. But as I watched Free Practise and Qualifying, I must say that my opinion had changed to some extent. Not only is this track very technical but it actually gave us a decent race, when I presumed that it would be a dull affair.
• Mercedes looked very strong on this track. The upgrades were working perfectly and they were able to stretch their advantage very well.
• Valteri Bottas. The most unluckiest man on the grid to say the least. The number of times he has a lost a race from a winning position is incredible. I don’t understand why it happens and neither does he. Very unfortunate given his brilliant performances throughout the season. Sixth position in the championship does not justify what this man has done so far.

Red Bull Ring | Austria

• Fantastic track. High speed, free flowing corners. Very fun to drive like Austin. But much shorter.
• Surprising to see the Red Bulls win at home, not because they don’t have a good car. But who would have thought that both Mercs would retire. More on Mercedes later in the article.
• Midfield battles growing stronger every day. Romain Grosjean finally gets some points on the board and it’s pretty fair to say that Haas really did Red Bull to the limit on this track. Fantastic showing from them, but their season performances really need to stabilize instead of going from high to low. They have the package, the drivers, the team. It’s all about bringing it all together on Race Day.

Silverstone | England

Source: F1

• Really interesting race, very technical track and extremely hard on the tires.
• Seb had a great race, won fair and square. More thoughts on their performance below.
• Was it just me, or did Silverstone look really different today that in previous years? Something about the grass or the landscaping made the track look very dirty this time around. Never the less, once Vettel went into the lead, I thought he would just push his advantage, but the two safety cars helped make things very interesting towards the end of the race. With different strategies at play, the more fresher tires won in the end.

Honest Thoughts

• As a Mercedes fan, I must say that I am frustrated. Not because the team aren’t trying hard enough, simply because Saturday and Sunday performances don’t seem to be in sync this year. We have the fastest car on Saturday, simply because our package in open air and open track is the best by far. But once it comes to the race, the car almost becomes too clinical. Following cars, getting energy into the tires and maintaining the pace throughout is seemingly impossible. What’s even more frustrating? That all the tracks we used to dominate, we pretty much screwed up this year.
• Mercedes domination of the Hybrid Era is pretty much over. Both Ferrari and Red Bull have closed the gap considerably. With three wins each, can’t really tell who’s going to end up with the constructor’s championship.
• As a Mercedes fan, I tend to overlook Ferrari for the old Italian Cliché of fast car and slow minds. But I am going to be very honest and say that, the Ferrari package this year is almost on par with Mercedes and on some tracks, it’s a lot better than before. It’s for all to see, with Ferrari winning on Mercedes dominated tracks.
• For a long time, Mercedes had the most powerful engine on the grid, but Silverstone really showcased the performance of the prancing horse with all Ferrari engines performing extremely well on track. Renault on the other hand simple lack straight line speed to compete with the rest.
• There are no bottom teams anymore. The midfield last year was Force India and Renault and Williams, with McLaren Sauber and Toro Rosso clearly at the bottom in terms of overall package and performance. This year, there really isn’t any bottom team as such. The midfield has become really competitive with Force India, Haas, Renault, McLaren and Toro Rosso fighting for the best of the rest spot. And with Charles Leclerc’s performances, Sauber are scoring ridiculous number of points this season.
• I guess the only team that you consider at the bottom would be Williams but it’s unfortunate that they find themselves there. Such a legendary team producing a car that can’t even compete in the midfield is really sad to see. They made a huge mistake not signing a veteran driver, having two rookies means that the development of the car stalls because neither can provide the correct sort of guidance the engineers need. Robert Kubica should have been given the role in my opinion. As a reserve driver, he can’t exert much of an influence on the development of the car.

Two exciting races coming up and I can’t wait.

The articles from now on are going to be lot more brief and more about my take on what I find intriguing. It could be the drivers, the team or the track itself. There were days that I didn’t want to open up my laptop and type another damn article, not because I didn’t want to, but simply because I sort of lost of my way in terms of what I wanted The Automotive Anecdotes to be. A place where I can share my thoughts freely and provide a different take on a common interest that I share with many people throughout the world. By no means do I want to become a Motorsports writer.

As a Mechanical Engineering Student and Chief Engineer of a racing team, there’s hardly enough time for me to watch races and then to write full reports on it was getting really exhausting after a point.

Hope I don’t disappoint you guys. Still going to be writing articles. But from now on, it’s going to be when I feel like or when inspiration strikes, not because I am compelled to write every Race Weekend.

Till then, hope you enjoy the rest of the season.