Berger and Alesi would start the 1997 season with Benetton for their second year at the team, but Berger missed three races mid-season and compatriot Alexander Wurz deputized from the Canadian Grand Prix. The car was more competitive than its predecessor, with Alesi and Berger scoring a pole position each, and Berger dominating an emotional German GP weekend on his return and after his father's death. Wurz scored a podium in only his third race at the British GP, earning himself a drive for the following year.
Minichamps produced their Benetton B197 in diecast metal. As usual, it is well done in proportions and the livery and logos are of a good standard. The helmet looks nice, particularly Wurz's more complex design. I do seem to have an issue on every model I get with cracked decals just in front of the sidepods, and I've had like 6 of these models. Wurz's model comes based on the British GP with a limited run of 2,222 pcs. Score: 7/10
This Tameo model is based on the Monaco GP and comes with wet tyres. Whilst the Minichamps looks a little bulky, this model has much more refined and detailed shape. In many ways, I like the shape of the car, I quite like the simple livery, but I find the logos (on the real car) just too oversized and makes the whole thing too cluttered, it's hard to find a space where there isn't a logo from the side view. Anyway, Tameo represents the real thing very well indeed. Score: 9/10
Lewis Hamilton repeated last year's victory and wrapped up 2019 with a perfect weekend. He started on pole, his first since Germany, and ran away when the lights went out.
Leclerc ran in second for much of the first part of the race, but not for the first time this year, the race pace was not there for the Ferrari and he was being chased home by Bottas who had started at the back of the grid following two power unit changes. Ferrari were also fined for a fuel discrepancy.
The main intrigue for the race was the battle for 6th place in the Drivers' Championship where Sainz and Gasly were coming into the race tied on points. Gasly was taken out by Stroll and broke his front wing on Perez'sRacing Point at the first corner, and from there, he was never in contention, but if Sainz did not score, Gasly would seal the position on count back. Sainz was on a slightly compromised strategy, having made it into Q3, so McLaren gambled with a late pitstop onto the softs which dropped Sainz back to 14th. With some great moves, including a great lunge on Hulkenberg on the last lap for 10th and the one point he needed to finish in 6th. That's a great achievement, capping off an impressive season for Sainz and the McLaren team, with Norris having a strong race too, after an impressive qualifying. His end of race team-radio was also moving as he transitioned from laughing to crying.
Sergio Perez is in form at the end of this season and starting from 11th, earned a best of the rest finish with a brilliant late move on Norris. With stability this year in preparation for next year, we hope the Racing Point team will once again punch above their weight next year.
A lot of teams struggled to match their speed from last year, Alfa, Haas and Williams in particular really struggled to get their tyres working.
Being the last race of the season and unusually all the seats for the following year confirmed, it's time to say farewell to Hulkenberg and Kubica. It's a shame that Kubica had such a scruffy final race, tangling with his team-mate and with Giovinazzi. But it's been amazing that he even had a drive, considering the accident that he has had, and the work he's put in to get the drive is nothing short of inspirational. Sadly, the car was not easy to drive and slow, and he struggled more than Russell and looked second rate all season. Nico had a relatively good weekend, he's not been shown up by any of his previous team-mates, but against Ricciardo, he's not been as strong. Renault have had such a poor year by their own standards and Nico has been somewhat anonymous this year after such a strong couple of seasons for them. He deserves another drive, but then again he's been at it for nearly a decade.
Let's talk about Ferrari. You'd think that by the end of the season, every team is well on rhythm and performing flawlessly at near enough their best. Both drivers had minor offs during practice, symptomatic of their error strewn season. Then Leclerc didn't get his final lap in qualifying in a misjudgement of when to send the cars out. Then there was the fuel discrepancy. Then there was the stacked pitstop when there was no need and it was botched. Their car was phenomenal on the straights, but so poor in the tight twisty section, and their race pace and tyre management was a bit off. Leclerc was the one who managed it better, finishing some 20 seconds before his team-mate. It all kinds of sums up Ferrari's year really. We know Ferrari can build a competitive car, they will surely learn from the decisions on the car philosophy from this year and come up with a beast for next year. But if you look at race management, race strategy, getting their drivers to perform at their best with minimal mistakes, Ferrari seemed to have gotten worse, not better this year. So if they want to be in with a shout of the Championship next year, they've got to sort all this out, because Mercedes and Hamilton will be looking for records next year, and Red Bull and Verstappen will be in contention too. 2020 is looking like a tasty prospect, but we need Ferrari at their best, because it will bring out the best in everyone and hopefully great viewing for us.
