This is a plea for my liver .. has anyone got a spare ??

Okay, not the most exciting race I've ever got up at some ungodly hour for, especially one I spent the previous night watching England being beaten by Wales, for. I was particularly bleary of eye and in fact I missed the only interesting bit, the first 200 yards of the race, as I managed to sleep through the alarm.

Musshed get up ... the race will be amazing.. mush get....up ....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

So yeah, I missed Hamilton motor past Nico when the lights went out. Much the same as I slept through the first 40 minutes of qualifying. Don't get me wrong I really love Suzuka it's one of the world's great tracks and the fans are up there with their Italian and British brethren. But it starts at six in the morning and there was a lot of Rugby on Saturday night and a bottle of Port might have been opened.

Well done Wales by the way, you beat the English fair and square, I can't really complain. But don't expect me to wake up early the next morning and have a ready supply of bon mots for you. I'm getting too old for all of this I'm afraid.

Errrre yeah good point, motor racing.

From what I remember .. I missed the start, Hamilton over took Nico and some people banged into each other. Okay .. And I joined the race as Nico went into the pits in third or possibly fourth.  Then I think some other people went into the pits and Nico was second and Vettel was third.

I might have drifted off for a bit, then Alonso was making everyone in the entire world aware that he thought the Honda engine was a pile of dung and just about good enough for a GP2 car, which seems about right, if a little tactless at Hondas home circuit, maybe.

Then the race was over and Hamilton had got the same number of wins as Senna (41, one less than Vettel stat fans) which seemed to make him quite happy.

Then I watched Big Ron turn up on Sky to play down Alonso getting all angry about the rubbish Honda engine and the media's ongoing attempts to crucify McLaren for getting things very wrong.

I got up to go and walk the dog at that point. Watching red faced loon's texting in to "Crofty" to stick the knife into McLaren was too much, a company makes a mistake and some of the more unhinged members of society seem to feel like it was some sort of personal insult to the fans or something. The only thing more baffling is the FIA website. I really urge you to go and see just how appalling it is, just try and find the current drivers championship standings  .. I defy you to do it in less than 20 minutes.

Ho and indeed hum. Yay, Lewis won, anyone think Hamilton isn't going to win the title now? Thought not! Sure there are five races to go, but barring some sort of season ending injury he's pretty much home and dry now, Nico hasn't got his game face on at all.  He didn't get pole though, Nico managed that before Kvyat smeared his car down the road in the dying minutes of qualifying.  Hamilton was going faster (I think as I say I was kind of bleary eyed for that too). But it meant nothing as Lewis just steamed past when the lights went out and then he drove round really quickly and won. Easy peasy.

Nico was second, again, because he's a number two driver.

Vettel was third because he has the next best thing to a factory Merc engine.

Kimi was forth because even he can get the next best thing to a Merc engine past the best customer Merc engine.

Bottas was fifth with the best customer Merc engine.

Hulkenberg managed to avoid hitting Massa this time and made a much better start than his team mate, he was sixth.

Grosjean was seventh and has announced he's off to new boys Hass F1 (Ferrari number 2 factory squad) next year. Because he knows that if Lotus are quite prepared to give Maldonado a new contract then winning isn't what they're racing for anymore.

Maldonado eighth blahdy blah blah. Imagine what a good driver could do with that lotus!

Ninth for Verstappen who could be amazing in a well funded  Merc engined car, I imagine when Redbull do finally throw their toys out of the pram and flounce off because no one want to give spoilt attention seeking children an engine next year. There is going to be more than an unseemly fight by the big boys for Verstappen's signature. There's going to be a blood bath. Maybe that's why Big Ron was all smiles despite Alonso, maybe he's already got the kid signed and Honda are ready to unveil an almighty engine any minute now.

Yeah Sainz was tenth and he isn't Verstappen, he's the guy Verstappen doesn't get out of the way for.

Oh Hamilton got the fastest lap and Stevens got beaten by Rossi again, so he was last. Imagine (once again) you are Will Stevens and you have been beating your rubbish team mate for 6 month, then an upstart Yank gets parachuted in with a massive pay-check and whip yer ass two races running. That's got to hurt, hasn't it?

Two weeks to Sotchi, a race I am really looking forward too ... (no, no I'm not)

Love and hugs.

Julian.

Nope, sorry, I fell asleep pretty early on

Okay, it's been a very long drunken weekend for this little lad and so I fell asleep at about the 10 lap mark. Woke up briefly when Nico started to catch Lewis, then didn't so the eyes grew heavy again and I think I saw the McLaren boys heading for yet another early bath ....

Which is all a shame really, the track and the fans deserve a better race in Canada. Further back there was some actual racing, but I think there were a lot of drivers managing fuel and brakes and tyres. All rather dull really .. ho hum.

Okay so Lewis won and pretty much deserved it, he got pole on Saturday with ease again. In the race the Ferrari attack never materialised and Williams knows its place behind their engine supplier. Nico had a pop but Lewis could answer it and never let the gap close to much more than a second. Fuel and brake managing and not coming in for any unnecessary pit stops this time, not the most exciting victory but a very important one for #teamLewis.

Rosberg Second and the team gave the impression he was allowed to race Lewis for much of it. But whenever he got close to the back of his team mate, suddenly his brakes started to wear out and he had to drop back. So he wasn't really racing anyone. Kimi sort of made him work, well he made Nico sweat when the lights went out at the start. Other than that, the day was a case of play follow the leader and make sure it's another Merc 1-2. Job done.

Bottas was third for Williams's first podium of the year. I think this was more due to the fact Kimi had a problem with a power spike and spin rather than a faster car. Williams claim the engine upgrade all the Merc teams got and some new aero tweaks have moved them ahead of the Ferrari boys. Certainly the car looked to have a bit more straight line cajoners but was it faster than Ferrari? I'm not convinced. Ferrari seems to have a few pit wall issues that are robbing them of better results. Vettel showed the car is fast, so I think Bottas was lucky rather than some sort of corner being turned by Williams.

Kimi was fourth and should really have been on the podium. But the car glitched as he was coming out of the hairpin onto the long back straight, that caused him to spin and gave Bottas enough time to get in and change his tyres ahead of the red car. Kimi used to be a driver you looked forward to watching, when the blood was up he was lighting far for lap after lap. And yes he did get the fastest lap of the race, But one again he was managing the brakes and fuel and never got the train going. I think it was telling that Arrivabene was standing at the back of the grid with Vettel as the cars were pushed onto the grid. Vettel was a long way back and the chance of a podium slim whilst Kimi was in third and was eyeing up a podium result. I think it demonstrates who Ferrari are pinning their future hopes on, we could be looking at Kimi's last year in red overalls.

Vettel was fifth and that isn't too shabby is it. He was a naughty boy in practice on Friday, overtaking when the red flag was being waved for Hamilton's accident. So he was starting a long way back in the race. He kept it sensible, passed people cleanly and hauled it back to the top five, as I say, not too shabby.  The Italian love affair continues.

Massa was another that had problems in qualifying and started a lowly 15th, again his drive back to sixth shows the car has made some improvements. Maybe not quite on a par with Ferrari then but certainly enough to keep Ferrari looking over their shoulder now.

Maldonado was seventh and didn't hit anyone surprisingly.

Hulkenberg showed what a Merc engine can do for you in eighth.

Kvyat was a creditable ninth with the underpowered Renault.

And tenth was Grosjean who demonstrated that it isn't just the young lads that can drive like a complete idiot. Carving up Stevens in the Manor Marussia, a car that is hopelessly slow, was just stupid. And to then get on the radio and shout "he hit me, he hit me", was pathetic. I thought he grown out of being a total tool, but apparently not.

And because he got nailed by Grosjean, Stevens was this weeks last place Johnny

Okay, it's late, time for bed. Le Mans next week. Join me here for all the fun.

Blank blank blank ..... red wine

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah .................. nope, I'm struggling to think of anything interesting to write about that. How would you describe it then ..

Perfunctory.

Workman like.

Ordinary

Routine, perhaps ?

No it was just dull. Oh it was and you know it was deep down inside. Hamilton went out, dominated all weekend and Nico tried his hardest to look he had some bones. Vettel fumbled around for some talent and Kimi reminded us all how good he used to be.

I don’t want to bang on about it here, but the WEC race at Silverstone .. No wait, the entire weekends racing at Silverstone last week was some of the most amazing racing I’ve seen in years. F1 has lost the point of racing, its blank, sterile ... its androgyny write large. Desperately wanting to be interesting, it needs your attentions but it is too coy to flirt with you or show you the goods behind the velvet curtain. It wants to lead you on this interesting adventure and tell daring tales, stand in the moon lit forest glade, howling at the moon as the burning embers spark and scatter into the dark abyss.  

But we’re just left bored and unsatisfied, the old men that run this sport stand around and argue about the number of cylinders the engines will have in two years time. Whilst we the dwindling band of (mostly) older men, fail week after week to show our children, the future fans of F1, why Formula 1 is interesting. My son isn’t interested in the number of elements on Hamilton’s from wing or the amount of fuel Vettel has used this lap. He’s upstairs playing Minecraft and making youtube video.

F1 isn’t talking to that generation. It’s not connecting with the fans of the future because it’s too concerned with not giving anyone else an advantage and making sure they’ve got enough money to pay for the air freight to Do Darr land and empty grandstands next week.

Maybe I'm just getting old! I’ll watch it next time; I always watch it next time. Like red wine and pork scratching I keep coming back even though I shouldn't.

Okay...

Hamilton won, made it look easy yet again.  If you didn’t have him for the win, you’re missing the point of the game!

Kimi was second and looked like the Kimi of old, the one we used to rely on for fastest laps and daring do.  And to a large extent the shot of the Ferrari garage as they watched the start and Kimi’s over take of Nico was the old Ferrari I used to love too. That garage has got some fire and passion now; they’re hunting for win’s not points anymore. They’ve got a car and two drivers they can believe in and they’re hungry for the good old days. Mercedes have got a real fight on their hands.

Nico was third, and after getting a bit of kicking yet again on Saturday, he came out fighting on Sunday. Not enough to actually win or anything but at least he didn't whinge about it this time. I think he still believes he’s in this championship fight and all credit to him for not giving up, but he’s in a race the first loser now.  

Bottas was fourth and everyone at Williams clapped themselves on the back for that. But hang on, Vettel didn’t look like he was going to pass Bottas at the end there. No that Ferrari looked a bit ordinary when it was stuck behind that Williams, Vettel made a few half hearted moves but move out of desperation than expectation. Maybe .. Just maybe if Williams actually believed in themselves they could be ahead of Ferrari at the start of the race and then finish on the podium with Mercedes. Now wouldn’t that be a thing!

Vettel was fifth because he made too many mistakes and couldn’t pass anyone in the pits and make it stick. Nico seemed to pass him with ease and he seemed to make mistakes with ease. An off day you may think ... I think his unnatural luck deserted him for a change.

Ricciardo was sixth and blew his engine up spectacularly on the finish line. I think that’s his third or four engines for the year ... though he may possible have a spare recon unit knocking around the back of the garage. I'm not sure what happens when they use up their fourth engine, if the grid penalty is applied each race or just for the first race they use that fifth engine.  Well we won’t have long to wait until we have an answer at least.

Grosjean, was in a Lotus

Perez was apparently in the race

Kvyat .... this

 

Is that a moustache he’s trying to grow !!

And tenth Massa. Look, see that’s how good the Williams is, he started form the pit lane and still ended up tenth ahead of some good cars and the McLarens ... come on Frank, let the boys have at it !!

Blah blah blah , the bottle is empty now booooooo. No WAIT ... I HAVE SOME PORT ... ooooh i’d forgotted about that. Happy days !!!!!!!!

Kimi was fastest, hurrah. I love Kimi, he’s ace. Miserable and Finish or Danish or something , but ace yeah defiantly ace.

Oh and a Manor Marussiam was last  .. can you guess which one ? .. Good because that’s the point of this game, well done., you’re improving.  Oh yeah, it was Merhi again.  He’s got interesting hair, he’s one of those new kids that thinks spiky hair jell all over the place makes him somehow more interesting to look at. I know, what an idiot. Hoh ho. Yeah last, three laps down. Spiky hair pffft.

T shirt sellers out number the runners in Australia!

Right then, you remember that rule I had last year about the number of cars finishing and not counting them if there weren’t enough to make a top ten. Yeah, how we never needed to use it because all the cars turned out to be pretty much bullet proof, well I actually had to dust off the rule book and find what I’d actually written last year after four laps of the race.

I was prepared for the fact Caterham weren’t there. That was fine, they were a mess and I never liked them anyway. And I was ok with Manor racing turning up and not actually fulfilling the “Racing” part of their name, I had kind of expected them to at least practice a bit not just sit and watch the whole thing from the stands.

But I had sort of kidded myself that McLaren had been fooling us all and would roll up with a car that could actually move quite fast and be a credit to the name “racing car”. Not limp around half heartedly like a Lib Dem candidate apologising for getting in the way and making a nuisance himself.  Then to add insult to injury Magnusson’s engine blew up spectacularly on the way to the starting line! Not even racing! Not even giving it some beans off the line, or seeing how fast it could go. No, trundle, trundle POP!

Alonso must have been sitting at home, glass of Rioja in one hand and his McLaren contract in the other. Staring dumbfound from the TV to his contract, searching desperately for the get out clause.

Alonso after reading his contract earlier today

 I don’t know if you can get secondary concussion by association, but if I was the FIA doctor I’d want to check over Jenson who calmly sat and told Martin Brundle that the car was going to be winning races by the end of the year.

Not getting much further was Kvyat. The newly promoted Redbull Russian managed to lunch his gearbox whilst on his way to the formation grid. Horner turned up all self righteous indignation and blowing his “It’s all Renaults fault” trumpet as loudly and as single not drone as ever. Apparently vibrations form the engine at destroyed the internal mechanics of the gearbox, written rude notes on the toilet wall about Horner’s wife and stolen the tuck money from matrons locked desk. They were very naughty and he wasn’t happy, not at all. 

 Renault just shrugged and walked off.

Also failing to start (gosh this is a long list) was Bottas, who somehow managed to compress a vertebrae in qualifying when he ran off the road at the last corner. I know these cars have very little actual suspension, but the bounce of the curb didn't look all that harsh and yet Bottas failed the mandatory “get out of the pretend fiery car ASAP” test that the FIA like to use when drivers have injured themselves. So he was told he wasn’t allowed to take part in the race and had to watch from the garage whilst sitting on one of the garden chairs the mechanics are made to sit on. There is a certain amount of speculation that Suze Wolf might get to drive the car if Bottas is still injured for the next race. But I'm pretty sure she doesn’t currently have a super licence at the moment.

Someone else short of a super license this weekend was Guido Van De Garde. He of Caterham fame, he was under the mistaken impression he had a race seat for 2015 with Sauber. The clue he didn’t, might have presented itself when he didn’t do any winter testing and wasn’t invited to join in the team photo at Christmas. 

He rocked up in Australia with a court order and a massive chip on his shoulder. The team and driver trooped down to the court house on Thursday and the judge said, “Well, it says here he paid for the testing job in 2014 and a race seat in 2015 ... so he should be in the car”. The team mumbled something about not having a seat that would fit him. The judge gave them a VERY hard stare and said, “I know he’s a bit rubbish and irritating, but he paid for the drive and if he doesn’t get it I will take all of your equipment and cars and we’ll go though all your contracts with a fine tooth comb ... case dismissed”.

The team trooped back to the race circuit and went to see the FIA and said, “yeah errrrr, right. Err Does Guido have a super licence and if not don’t give him one, cos we’re not paying for it”.

Guido turned up to the circuit followed by the world media in a feeding frenzy, he waved his FIA pass at the machine and assumed a nonchalant air of someone who’s got right on his side a court order to prove it. There was a beep, Guido strode forward and was almost cut in two as the gate failed to open, he frantically waved his pass at the machine which continued to beep at him and resolutely fail to open the nonchalant air dissolved into petulant shouting at bouncers and desperate pleading to those with working passes to let him in and the media frenzy went into over drive.

Eventually, Perez came out with a spare Force India pass and the show moved to the Sauber garage. There 

Guido was grudgingly given a seat fitting and told he didn't have a super licence so it was all a moot point anyway.  There was much hurrumphing from all concerned, the media followed everyone around and the Sauber cars sat in the pits for the first practice session.

Eventually Bernie was roused by the hubbub to come down and sort things out. He quite rightly pointed out to Guido that Sauber were two inches from bankruptcy and simply didn’t have the money to either give him his money back or give the other two drivers their money back and give him a race seat. What happened next is anyone guess, they all went into Bernie’s VIP trailer and thrashed something out. I like to think Bernie dipped in to his lose change draw and paid off the various parties and told them to stop airing their dirty laundry in public and sort these things out before the first race of the season. What probably happen was Bernie looked annoyed until Guido walked away from the circuit and wasn’t seen for the rest of the weekend and Sauber got on with the job of racing.

Back in the normal (rich) end of the F1 world, Mercedes carried on as normal with Lewis and Nico trading fastest laps in practice. Redbull complained that Renault engine was junk, Ferrari continued to look surprised that the car was going well, and Williams punched above its weight.

The qualifying for pole was a two horse Merc race. Nico had topped all the time sheet in practice, but Lewis took the last of his gold chains off in Q2 and was about five minutes faster than everyone else for the rest of the day.  He was so far ahead with his first run in Q3 that he could have got out of the car with 10 minutes to go and put his feet up. Nico simply had no answer, but Lewis still went out again and was even faster. The lad will be on song then, maybe all those winsome pictures of Rocco and sunset beaches did the job after all.

Right then, so yes, the race. Well once we’d lost Magnussen and Kvyat, along with the two Manor boys who were still sitting in the stands. As the lights went out for the start of the race, we had the glorious sound of 15 F1 cars starting the 2015 season for 200 yards. Roughly the length of the track from the start line to the first corner, where Vettel bumped across the inside curb, bounced sideways into Kimi, who ran onto the grass on the outside of the corner before cutting back to nudge Verstappen into Maldonardo who spun into the wall and wiped out the left side of his car.  For once I can’t even be rude about Pastor; he was the innocent victim of a racing incident for a change, not its instigator, which has to be a first!

So we were down to 13 cars. This was going to be a dull race then.

We had a handful of safety car laps to clear up Pastor and then I kind of lost interest as it was early and there wasn’t much racing on offer.

Button and Perez traded a bit of carbon fibre, errrr Ricciardo got stuck behind Kimi I think and  ... look I wasn’t really concentrating ok. 11 cars following the two Merc miles ahead is pretty dull. Not even Merc were letting the boys have at it. Nasr in the Tesco Value Sauber was doing alright, that was a bit interesting. And I suppose well done to Jenson on doing the longest run the car has yet seen.

But no, not really a classic race.

Okay so the result then.

Hamilton just looked awesome all weekend and especially against his team mate. I thought Nico would carry over his practice times to qualifying or the race and make an actual race of it. But no, he was well beaten on Saturday afternoon and I suspect Lewis didn’t break a sweat all Sunday. Just to underline how far ahead of everyone he was, Lewis was trading fastest laps with himself for most of the second half of the race. It confirms the Merc are a country miler ahead of everyone else and Lewis is odds on favourite for the title now.  This year might just test my love for F1 if it’s like this every weekend.

Nico was second and then had to suffer the indignity of being asked what it was like to be the second best driver of the day by Arnie Schwarzenegger grinning like an idiot on the podium interview. It’s going to be a question he gets used to answering this year I suspect.  

Blow me down with a feather Vettel was third in a Ferrari, who had money on that?? Not me I can tell you. Ok so they looked alright in testing and stuff, but you know, I thought that was all bluff? Not actual race pace.  He nerfed into Kimi at the first corner and didn’t look back from there. Post race Nico said he hoped Ferrari could develop the car nice and quick to give them a bit of competition, which is the same as saying “We’ll give you a five lap head start if you like?”.  This year is going to be about Williams and Ferrari coughing on Mercs dust. Still Vettel did all right, he didn't have to overtake anyone, it was all done in the pits, something he’s good at.

Massa was fourth and another one I didn’t see all afternoon.

Fifth was interesting. Nasr might just have demonstrated that the new Ferrari engine is actually pretty good and he, Nast, might be rather handy. Ericsson in the sister car was only eighth and never really looked like taking the fight to anyone. Nasr spent a lot of the race with some serious talent behind him, he wasn’t fazed, didn’t get all unnecessary and picked up desperately needed points for Sauber. In short it was exactly what was required of him after all the distractions of the “Who has a contract to drive the car this weekend” farce, let’s see if he can repeat that.

Ricciardo was sixth and it looks like Redbull have a lot of work to do this year. They need to stop pointing at Renault and telling everyone it’s their fault, it’s getting boring now. They need to sit down and work out why they have a problem and be honest that Newey has designed yet another no compromise car which doesn’t look that easy to set up. They’ll be back up the sharp friend eventually, but not on any power circuits.

Hulkenberg was seventh with a careful steady drive. The Force India boys had only had four days testing up to this point and whilst the car has a Merc engine and so should be reliable, the rest of the car was still a bit of an unknown. So to go out and come back with a solid points finish is again exactly what was required of him. Like Sauber, Force India are just moments from the bankrupt courts and need all the help they can get, they had to scrap around under the filing cabinets to find the change to pay for this year’s car to be finished. Points this early in the season are a God send, because McLaren might one day get their act together, Williams and Redbull only had a single car in the race so Force India had to come away with something here. Sauber got two cars home in the points and Nasr made it look effortless, if you had to put money on which of these two drivers would be in the top ten again, right now I’d have my money on the Sauber, Force India are still on the back foot and in trouble.

Ericsson and his enormous cheque book were eighth. Not very exciting and he benefited from others misfortune really. I don’t expect him to trouble the top ten much more this season.

Sainz was the only Torro Rosso to make it home in the battle of the rookies. He seemed pretty good , didn’t make too many mistakes and kept his nose clean.

Perez was tenth and made hard work of that.

And finally in eleventh and last man running was Button. In a car that looked slow and heavy and twitchy and just awful. Jenson assuring Brundle that the car was a winning is just laughable. I could be wrong of course, season veterans of this game will attest to that. But that car is just utter rubbish right now.

What were Honda been doing all last year? I mean they have half a dozen other race programs around the world, why didn't they stick the engine and KERS systems into a mule and test the thing to get it all working BEFORE they embarrassed Big Ron and the boys and girls or McLaren?

The word is, the Japanese KERS system they began developing when they pull out of F1 in 2009 was pretty capable and could have been the basis of an integrated 2015 system. But they binned it and jerry rigged an old Merc system that McLaren had developed in house years ago. Its just not good enough and no amount of money is going to save them here.

And as for Alonso, I really don’t he’s going to come back. Why would he? The car is 50/50 on making the formation grid and Alonso is a better driver than that.

  

So there you go.

Mercedes was the big winner of the weekend, the paying public and McLaren the big losers

Dull ... that is all

Dull dull dull dull dull  .. no really that was dull in an absolutely and totally “this is the very definition of the word dull” dull race.

I watched a bit of the practice session and established that;

• A.  The track looks like a big car park for most of the circuit
• B.  There was hardly any grandstands or vantage points for the spectators so it looked like an empty car park for most of the race/practice.
• C.  It’s a dull track.

You are not here to enjoy yourself comrade !!!

So I didn’t see qualifying and Hamilton still got pole.

I watch the race and that is two hours of my life I’ll never get back. The only highlight was Rosberg locking up his brakes into turn 1 and robbing us of any actual racing. Then, rather than watch him drive back through the field in an exciting “I have the best car of the grid hear me roar” type entertainment, we watched cars follow each other around for the afore mentioned two hours.

If you watched it too and didn’t fall asleep, congratulations, It wasn’t even interesting in a “will his tyres last?” because everyone else was running out of Go juice and couldn’t race anyway.

Turn three looked just about alright, but I won’t be counting down the days till the next Russian GP, I can assure you that.

Hamilton won at a canter and only had to avoid Nico running out of talent to extent his lead in the championship. To be fair he looked like he had this place nailed form the moment FP1 started. It’s exactly the sort of track he thrives on and he didn't fail to deliver. The win pretty much sealed the constructors’ championship for Mercedes with three races to go and you have to say they fully deserved it. Redbull pushed them at times but really it was Mercs to lose really.

Nico’s second was more a demonstration of just how good the 2014 F1 Mercedes car is than his skill, he didn’t break a sweat coming from the back of the field to the podium, the car just looked awesome. Shame we didn’t see any of it on the TV, it was the only thing of interest if you had the timing and scoring app going.

Bottas was third, he almost got pole apparently, He followed Hamilton for most of the race and tried to pretend he was racing for second with Nico at the end. All he did was confirm the Williams is fast in a straight line.

Button was forth and might have got a podium with a bit more luck. He’s another driver trying to demonstrate at the end of the year how much better he should have been at the start of the year. The feeling is he might have done enough too.

Magnussen was fifth with another plucky run, I think he’s done enough to justify another year with McLaren, he’s had a few duff races but in the main he’s been feisty and gone out there to get points.

Alonso is dying the slow death of a thousand rumours. This week, he’s going to buy half of the Lotus team with a fat wad of Spanish sponsors money and be a team manager come driver. Because that always works out for the best, doesn’t it Mr Prost. I think driver and team are just counting down the days till they can walk away from each other now.

Ricciardo was seventh on a day when Renault’s lack of straight line speed was shown up in all its glory. Being stuck behind Vettel for half the race didn’t help either.  

Vettel working out his notice, was eighth

Kimi was ninth on the way to picking up his pay cheque

And Perez was tenth was a petrol tank dangerously close to empty I suspect. He was getting calls to save petrol from about the half way point. Which always makes for exciting wheel to wheel action doesn’t it.

Okay so Ericsson was last as Max and the Marussia boys didn't look like they really wanted to be there this weekend, a perfectly understandable attitude given the situation I thought.

And Bottas got the fastest lap on the last hurrah for him.

Okay, well not the most exciting of races, but after the distress of Suzuka, it was probably what the sport needed. There were no dramas, no worrying moments and all the drivers that started walked away at the end.  We have a three week break now as the team’s head off to America, let’s hope we have some good news from Japan and Alonso finally tells us where he is going next year.