Bburago continue to produce their low-budget models/toys, a strange blend of detail and the ability to play with it without hurting yourself or your child eating any bits off it. Adding to the Ferrari cars, comes the Mercedes and the Red Bull versions. As much as I critique models on this blog, I'm glad there's a variety of detail, and more importantly budget. It's not like Bburago have the monopoly to make models of these cars, so I'm all for that.
2019 Mercedes W11
Bburago BU38036-BOT
First up, we have the Mercedes. Ignoring that the front wing is drooping down at the front edge, they've done a great job in capturing the essence of the W11 shape, from the rounded nose tip, the cape, the high front suspension, the bargeboards and sidepod opening, a great halo and rear wing. There are dimples all over it, on the rear wing endplates, bargeboards, and floor owing to some of the detail on the real cars.
The nose horns have been trimmed and the mirrors point in a slightly random upward position. On this particular model, the engine cover doesn't seem to be on properly, but that's just this particular Bottas model rather than a common issue, as you can see on the Hamilton version below, it fits much better.
I like what they've done with the rear end. They play to their strengths, in that the detailed areas are in dark carbon, so you can't really see the detail on the real car as it's zooming by on your screens, but the general shape is excellently done on the bargeboards and the floor.
Bburago BU38036-HAM
What impresses me most is the livery, I really like it and it elevates the whole model for me. Thinking back to the mid-90s when I was buying budget Onyx models, with their decals peeling off, the comparatively simple liveries applied wonkily, these liveries have a precision about them that impresses me. My slight nit-pick is that they could have painted the inside of the airbox black.
Score: 6/10
2019 Red Bull RB15
Bburago BU38139-VERS
The Red Bulls have tended to start the year with relatively simple and uncomplicated aerodynamics, but compare that to the end of the season, it's usually very highly developed. And that trend is true in its performance, in general, they are more competitive at the end of the year, sneaking a few victories along the way, and 2019 was no exception. And so this model looks a lot more basic than the Ferrari and Mercedes models. Couple that with the dark matte finish, this looks the most toy-like of the three.
Bburago BU38050
That's not to say that the car doesn't share some of the things I like about the Ferrari and Mercedes. The car has a good front wing, its unique nose, the little S duct outlet at the top of the monocoque, the boomerang on the bargeboards, and a nice rear end. Again the decals look great, nicely detailed, accurate, well applied.
Williams were looking to bounce back after a a poor year at the back of the grid. The Martini sponsorship had elapsed and a new livery for the season saw the car blend a bright blue and white, whilst Rokit phones became their title sponsor. Out was Stroll and Sirotkin, the 'pay drivers' and in comes the impressive Mercedes junior driver George Russell and Robert Kubica, nearly 10 years after his horrific rally accident. Expectations that Paddy Lowe, fresh from Mercedes, could lead the technical team to improve the car. Sadly the opposite happened. The car was late and it was terribly slow, confining it to the rear of the grid. The whole saga and season was rather embarrassing for the proud team, truth be told, but they do garner a lot of support from well-wishers in and out of the paddock.
George Russell dominated in all the comparisons compared to his teammate, except for one stat which matters, which was points scored. Russell was unfortunate to not score that point in Germany after the disqualifications of the Alfa Romeos, but it was great to have some good news in a rather depressing season. It wasn't the fairy tale year we'd all hoped for in Kubica, but it is no less a triumphant story of super-human endeavour that got him back into F1 and (more or less) on the pace after the injuries he'd sustained. He didn't ask for sympathy, instead he more than earned the respect of everyone.
In 2020, the Williams family took the somewhat inevitable decision of selling their team to a group of investors, Dorilton Capital, with the family bowing out of the sport shortly after. But the team did sign the new concorde agreement and the Williams name will remain for the foreseeable future on a stable financial foundation. The FW43 was more competitive and I wish nothing but the best for their future.
Minichamps 417190088
Onto the model and we only have a Minichamps offering of this car, and no special versions that I know of yet. Again, the model makers have done a fine job in reproducing the car in 1/43 scale. You can see the Mercedes influence, the cape under the nose, the barge-board area, the shape of the sidepods and the raised front suspension.
I do like the cardboard inlay that you get with the Williams cars, with the black silhouette of the real car behind. The livery looks great for me, but the carbon grey does make it look a bit plasticy. That's not to say they've picked the wrong colour, it's just the matte finish looks more like a toy than a model. I think they could have done a better job on Kubica's helmet livery.
Overall, a nice model from Minichamps. A nice blend of a great shape, a nice livery and finish, nice detailing on the rims and the bargeboards and the rear of the car.
Hey, I just wanted to say that even though this blog has not had an update in 2 months, I do still intend to put up more posts soon.
In the meantime, I've been keeping an eye on some of the latest model releases and I've updated my 2019 page with a thumbnail of each of the 2019 models which you can view here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/2019-f1-articles.html
There's a few new models that I am yet to review, so look out for them to come in the next few weeks.
On the GP4 front, I continue to chip away at my modelling. I've taken a little break from 1994 cars and decided to work on a different era car. It's taking a bit longer than expected, but I've also been busier than usual. I'm not far off completing it and I will share some shots of my latest work soon.
In the meantime, I was excited to hear of a couple of 1990s cars being announced for the 2020 version of Codemaster's F1 series. They are adding some of Schumacher's classic cars, and I can't wait to see them as the previews looks super accurate - perhaps I will use them as inspiration to update GP4 versions in the same way I did with the 1995Ferrari412T2. These are the 1991Jordan191, the 1994BenettonB194 and the 1995 Benetton B195.
The first thing that I noticed about the model is how much more vibrant the colours are compared to the Spark model. In terms of the shape of the model, there's very little to choose between the two model makers.
Minichamps 417190011
Minichamps 417190018
The other very minor difference is the placement of transition of colours from the inside to the outside of the rear wing endplates, and I do prefer the Minichamps attention to detail there. Having said that, there is more detail on the floor on the Spark model.
With not much to choose between the two, the score for both models is the same. Score: 8/10
Special Editions:
Minichamps 447190011
Just 150pcs were made for the German model shop of the Bahrain GP version of the car, which I think looks great in the pink box.
Minichamps have released a US GP version of the same model, commemorating when Lewis drove into a painted spot at the end of the GP reserved for the 2019World Champion. This means the car is facing the other way in the box.
Minichamps 417191844
Having bought both models, I thought it would be a good opportunity to compare both cars in a bit more detail, both cars being diecast.
From the front of the car, there's not really any noticeable change, other than the front wing endplates which you can't quite tell from this angle. There is a change to the winglets in around the bargeboard area, but we'll consider that later.
Moving to the back of the car, and I know it's been three years now, but I still love the wider rear tyres. Mercedes have very high rear suspension mounts as they do on the front, with the driveshaft covered in a wing shaped cover reminiscent of the WilliamsFW16. It's great to see even at this scale, the detail that goes into the rear brake ducts and all the tiny wings they squeeze in there. In terms of the two models, I can't really find any differences to spot.
Another area of highly intricate details is the bargeboard region in front of the sidepods. Reduced in size that they're able to develop, hasn't stopped the complexity, with teams managing to get their boomerang wings in. The main difference is on top of the sidepod, with the winglet not connected to the vertical outboard vane, although all the vertical vanes have changed slightly. The new version cleverly incorporates the mirrors, which are vented, hence the increased black region. It's still great to see the winglet on the halo get such good definition, and the different number of gills on the side of the cockpit which is race specific.
The final comparison is from a kind of T-Cam position. I like how the model has the saw-tooth shaped visors in front of the cockpit, and the models feature an accurate steering wheel shape with nice stickers on. As noted above, the US GP car makes an attempt at the vented mirrors.
After all the issues with lack of money in 2018 when the team were still Force India, it was clear that the 2019 challenger would not be doing its usual punching above their weight. But the team steadily improved as the season went on, and after the summer break Perez finished in the points at all bar the Singapore GP where his car retired with an oil leak, with many of them from lowly starting positions.
Stroll struggled all season to get out of Q1, but had a few highlights, such as finishing in the points in Canada. His best finish was at the chaotic German GP, where he was so far behind, he was able to pit at the right time and propel himself to the front of the grid and in with a shot at the podium. In the end, he finished a credible fourth.
The team did well to secure a seventh placed finish in the Constructors' Championship, not far behind Toro Rosso and Renault, but comfortably ahead of Alfa Romeo. Considering their issues at the end of last year, that's a positive improvement, and I suspect they will be looking to be in the mix at the front of the midfield in 2020.
Spark released their version of the Racing Point based on the Chinese GP. The car has a lot more blue in deference to SportPesa, and the livery just looks a bit too messy for me. I'm really not keen on the darker pink on the inside of the rear wing endplates.
Spark S6086
Spark S6085
Anyway, back on track and onto the model itself and it's a solid model again from Spark. Proportionally everything looks good, the detail looks strong as always, and from the side, it looks fantastic to me.
Force India/Racing Point have run a unique nose for a number of years now, and the continue to have those two slotted channels nicely integrated into their front wing supports. There's nice detail on the livery on the front wing. The bargeboards have a number of slots along the top, nicely modelled here and the winglet arrangements at the front of the sidepods is also accurate and nicely modelled.
After testing, they introduced large slots on along the edge of the floor and you can just about see that on the model from this angle. If i was really nitpicky I think they left a bit too much pink along the top of the engine cover, and the blue on the rear wing endplates to wrap around the side a little more.
Again, if I was being picky, the airbox needs a little more carbon colour around the front, if you see it from the front, there's only a very tiny circle of pink visible.
All in all, I'm pretty impressed with this offering from Spark. I think if perhaps Minichamps did this model (I've not checked if they will yet) I think they might offer a better finish on the paint and decals, but in terms of the shape, I think it's a top quality model. Score: 8/10
Ferrari's second half of the year began brightly as Leclerc took two emotional victories in a row, at tracks that suited their high power and low drag concept. Vettel also won the Singapore GP after more strategy criticism. Leclerc repaid Ferrari's faith in him and was firmly established as a future star, if he isn't that already, and he's been rewarded with a big fat new lengthy contract. After Vettel's appalling mistake in Italy, he has shown signs that he's not done with the sport yet and could figure in the 2020 title fight.
In recent years Bburago have released some budget F1 cars, and whilst the first couple of attempts were quite bad, they are starting to produce some reasonably passable models in the last couple of years, though they do cost a little more now.
Bburago BU36815V
One of the problems before was simply bad proportions, but the Ferrari cars seem to have more effort put towards them than other teams. For me, there's no complaints about proportions here. The question about Bburago models is whether they are toys or whether they are models. I'd say most of their cars were clearly toys first, that's why there was a lot less detail and the parts were very bulky.
Bburago BU36815L
Now it seems that they are being presented more as budget models with a suggested age of 14+ for owners. For a budget model, it's really not bad.
Bburago BU36814L
Bburago BU36814V
They also released a version with the driver inside, these being based on the Australian GP. Personally I can't see any difference in the models other than the driver figure.
Dr. Helmut Marko predicted that Red Bull would win 3 races in 2019 in their first year partnership with Honda, and that is exactly what they achieved, though he would argue they could have won more. Max won brilliantly in Austria, and then in a rain soaked chaotic race in Germany, and a brilliant head-to-head victory against Hamilton in Brazil, somewhat payback for losing out on victory in Hungary where Hamilton passed him on fresher tyres near the end of the race. Verstappen had a few off races, colliding with Raikkonen twice in Belgium. In Italy he started from the back and knocked his front wing, and eventually finished 8th, and he was punted off in Japan by Leclerc. Verstappen truly established himself as a credible title challenger if his car was competitive throughout the year, something they hope will be the case in 2020.
New team-mate Albon drove the second half of the year, and had a slightly easier task of a more developed RB15 than Gasly had. He seemed to do a lot of come-back drives, showing potential and good overtaking. It remains to be seen if he can get closer to Max in 2020, but he was unlucky to be punted off a podium finish in Brazil by a rare mistake from Hamilton.
Minichamps released their version of the early season car with Max and Pierre in respectively.
Minichamps 410190033
Personally, I think the matte paintwork on the Minichamps model is spot on, I don't think the Spark model is quite as good. The only other bigger difference between this and the Spark model is the size of the airbox above the driver's head, the Minichamps one being much larger and for me more accurate.
Minichamps 410190010
A great effort from Minichamps in my opinion, these newer models are fantastic. Score: 8/10
Verstappen Collection Models
Whilst Spark have been releasing a number of special versions, the Max Verstappen shop have released two versions already, one based on the Australian GP, which is the same as the standard model, albeit with different tyres, and they have done a pre-season shakedown livery which sold out almost instantly.
Minichamps 4131999333 Max Verstappen Collection No. 40
Minichamps 413190133 Max Verstappen Collection No. 42
Minichamps 413190933 Max Verstappen Collection No. 44
Minichamps 413191133 Max Verstappen Collection No.45
2019 is now over, and Hulkenberg is a former F1 driver after a pretty anonymous year, but that was probably more down to Renault's dip in form compared to the previous year when Nico was a constant best of the rest. Ricciardo showed more highlights, becoming more confident in wheel to wheel battles, but he still doesn't look as comfortable on the brakes as his Red Bull days.
The team were disqualified from the Japanese GP for their automatic brake balance management system.
The team finished in fifth place, with their best finish at the Italian GP when Ricciardo lead Hulkenberg to a 4 - 5 finish. The disappointing season lead to a change in the leadership of the design team.
Minichamps have released a limited edition run of Ricciardo's car from the Bahrain GP.
Minichamps 447190003
I think this is a brilliant little model, I prefer it to the Spark model. I think the Spark model if you inspect its separate elements looks nice, but when you bring it altogether, just ever so slightly looks disjointed. I think the airbox on the Minichamps model looks slightly bulkier which I think is more accurate to the car.
I think the car looked particularly good on the dark track under the floodlights, and I think this is a lovely model. Score: 8/10
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.
Apologies I have not been posting much of late, I have been quite busy with life, but hoping the new year will bring some more content.
I almost think that Brazilian GP was a fitting way to end this season, one that started off with so much hype but ended up so drab and dull, to finish with a Grand Prix which you didn't know who was going to win, lots mistakes, midfield teams on the podium, wheel-to-wheel racing and team-mate crashes. There's not really been an exciting Abu Dhabi GP that I can remember, even though I actually quite enjoy driving the track.
Max Verstappen took a brilliant victory, as many said it was redemption from last year's mishap, whilst Hamilton made the rarest of mistakes in wheel-to-wheel battle with Albon, kudos from the champion to hold his hands up immediately after. But Gasly on the podium, and Sainz joining the podium after Hamilton's penalty after starting from the back of the grid were mighty achievements. Although it didn't mean anything in the end, that drag race between Gasly and Hamilton to the line was great viewing.
Vettel has been strong the last few races, we have to acknowledge it hasn't been the Leclerc show that it was at points this season. Both drivers have been incredibly close, which is a good thing for the team, and a good thing going into next year when, we all hope, there will actually be a three team battle for the championship. Vettel got the team-leader and favourable decisions early in the year, and both will be looking to be the 'favoured' driver in those 50-50 decisions next year when it might mean something. Firstly, Leclerc's move on Vettel was brilliant! A late lunge, but decisive, got his car firmly alongside into the corner entry and it was just a sweet move - perhaps Sainz's move on Perez being the slightly better and riskier one. Vettel would have been surprised by that, and would not have wanted to let that decide who was going to finish ahead. He got a good run out of turns 1, 2 and 3, and had a good slipstream and was going to get back ahead of Charles - the pass was inevitable.
What happened on that straight was all posturing. Leclerc only gave Vettel one car's width and no more - fair and hard, that's what we want. Vettel was a bit on the grass, but he made it through with his momentum. But then, something akin to Turkey 2010, Vettel moves to the middle of the track. He was ahead, but he had not cleared the car behind. He wanted to assert his authority by pushing his opponent into a compromised line into turn 4. I get their motivations, I get the subtleties of what the drivers were saying to each other. But I've said this in a previous post, I don't like how Vettel moves across, Leclerc had every right to keep going in a straight line. I think everyone understands that. But Leclerc did it to Norris on lap 1, he kind of did it to Bottas in Hungary, whilst Perez got a drive-through penalty for hitting Sirotkin in the 2018 Singapore GP. I get the posturing side, but I don't like it personally.
But back in 2010, Red Bull firmly stood by Vettel, their up and coming superstar, who at that time was behind Webber who was the more credible title challenger. This season, Ferrari have been more outwardly critical of Leclerc and his mistakes and when he has not followed team-orders, whereas again, they have been more defensive of Vettel on his obvious errors this season. Battle lines will be drawn now by the team, but it remains to be seen if either driver will do their own thing anyway, both have evidence that they are not easily contained. This is a fascinating inter-team battle that we can enjoy, hopefully for a while to come. I've been very critical of Vettel, but he's still a deserving multiple World Champion, and is still an incredibly good driver. We knew Leclerc would give him a hard time this season, but Vettel hasn't been blown away as some predicted, neither has he switched off as he did in 2014.
Stars
This was a great fight between Verstappen and Hamilton, with Vettel having an outside chance on an alternative strategy before the safety cars ended his challenge. But you felt that Max was always on top of the situation, even when he was behind, and even nearly being wiped out by a Williams unsafe pit release, you were confident he was going to find his way back to the front. He passed Leclerc and Hamilton in straight succession, great race craft there, and his second pass on Hamilton around the outside of turn 1 was sublime. The Red Bull has been mighty in recent races, and Max delivered pole position, and arguably had a marginally better race car, and he delivered a drive of a champion.
Albon was a little behind the pace in qualifying, but he was also having a good race and in the running for his first podium position. It's somewhat ironic that the favoured Red Bull driver to take the second seat in that team next year is the only one without a podium finish this season. He's deserved it, but now he needs to start getting closer to Max's performance. A solid showing from Alex this weekend. He also put in a great pass on Vettel. I don't buy the 'he left the space on the inside' on that corner, it's rare for an overtake to happen there, and Alex took a normal line into that corner. It was for Hamilton to make a decisive move, which he didn't, so for me, there's no fault on Alex's part there, perhaps if he had seen Hamilton make the lunge he could have given a bit more room, but again I would not fault Alex here.
Gasly got a podium, and he deserves it after some of the performances he's been putting in at Toro Rosso this year. He was the best of the rest comfortably, in qualifying and the race, and on a day when five of the top six cars ran into various issues, which is so so rare, he was there to pick up the plaudits. Now Toro Rosso have an outside chance to snatch fifth place from Renault in the Constructors' Championship at Abu Dhabi. That would be mighty for the small Italian team - and a great humiliation for Renault if that were to happen.
Carlos Sainz, for me, has been great this season, and for the performance he put in to rise up the field, yes the safety car played into that, but he made the most of all of it and ended up on the podium, although he was present at the presentation. You've got to wonder how does it take longer to get the classification get confirmed than it does to actually run a race is somewhat beyond me, but the stewards were busy boys to be fair. Anyway, McLaren end their drought of podiums and continue their ascendancy by confirming their 4th placed finish in the Constructors' Championship, but poor old Norris struggled on his hard tyres that hampered his progress. And on a day when two of the podium finishers were midfield runners, Hulkenberg (who hasn't had a podium finish in F1) finished well outside the points.
George Russell finished in 12th position, 1.6 seconds away from the points. It's hard to judge his performance when compared to Kubica who hasn't really been that close to the Brit, and in a car that's not the easiest to drive and not quick at all. Williams could have done better than release Kubica into Verstappen, who not only had to avoid the blue and white car, but braked so hard he nearly went into anti-stall.
Despite a clash with Magnussen and a penalty as a consequence, I have to say Daniel Ricciardo put in a good performance. The Haas were so slow at some points particularly after a safety car, where they were bunching up the field and cars were driving clean around the outside of the train behind. Anyway, you could forgive Ricciardo going for the lunge when Magnussen gave him little room, but Ricciardo doesn't have the confidence or braking ability the Red Bull used to have. But a great recovery, some fantastic late race passes means he redeems himself for me and was rewarded with an excellent 6th - where did Hulkenberg finish again?!
Finally, a nod to the Alfa team who got a great double points finish after a solid weekend.
Need to improve
Where was Bottas again? There's Hamilton harrying for race victory, whilst Bottas is just an also ran and he retired triggering the safety car that made the race so much fun.
Stroll was a unlucky to be caught out by debris from the Ferrari's but as Perez has excelled in recent races, Stroll is just invisible and a fair few steps behind. He is still good at starts, but if his father wasn't running the team, I'd rather see Hulkenberg return than give Stroll another year to be honest.
Haas could have got some points in this race, had their strategy and ability to manage their tyres were not ruined by the safety cars. Magnussen just couldn't hold off Kvyat on the final dash to the flag. We do hope that they will progress next year, as they are battling with Williams on race days, when their car is quick enough for Q3 and points.
We just hope for better in Kubica's final race with the struggling Williams team.
I love Team Radio
This was a rollercoster of emotions on team-radio highlights from this race, from Gasly's release of joy, to Norris bemoaning his bad day, to the gut renching way in which Albon tried to come to terms with what could have been. What makes sport great is the people, and when there's emotions bursting out from their passion and hard work, it's what makes F1 so enthralling and memorable to watch at times.
Valterri Bottas took pole position and won the race, putting in a great performance, but this race will be remembered as the race where Lewis Hamilton sealed his sixth Championship. Hamilton was nowhere in qualifying, ending up in fifth place, but his race was impressive. Making a good start, he passed Vettel's car in the Esses, that shouldn't be possible as Vettel struggled to switch his tyres on. But even still, he could have waited till the hairpin or the long straight, but ever the showman and racer, he decided to line his car up and overtake him around the outside. He then proceeded to make the slower one stop strategy work, even defying team orders as he knew his tyres wear (1 billion times better than AWS Insight's awful guess work graphics). When Bottas came to overtake, he made him work for it, it was for victory after all. So for me, arguably, Hamilton drove a better race, but he had already lost on Saturday's performance, whilst Bottas did incredibly well to get pole position, breaking Ferrari's streak, and did everything he needed to do to win fairly comfortably.
Verstappen had a normal race for him, after a run of not so straight forward races, being ready to pounce for victory should Bottas race come undone. He chased down Hamilton but it wasn't quite enough for us to see the wheel-to-wheel battle for second place - Hamilton managing his tyres and his pace to perfection. Albon would have been much closer in qualifying had he not exceeded track limits on his final run, but he bogged down at the start and was squeezed in turn 1 and yet again was left to fight his way back through the field. He's becoming very good at it, but it's becoming all too common a story. He could do with a normal weekend where he's on the right strategy and mixing it with the other top two teams, rather than picking his way through the midfield again.
Ferrari were nowhere on the first stint, more dramatic in Vettel's case as he was passed by Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris and Ricciardo in short succession. Leclerc ended up over 50 seconds behind Bottas at the end of the race. We thought they had understood their car and put upgrades on to make it work at all kinds of tracks, but it was the same story as earlier in the year when we expected more from them but they ended up being so far behind. Vettel's suspension failure raises some eyebrows as he hadn't really gone off, and he didn't have much contact - yes it was a bumpy track, but the suspension shouldn't fail like that and it could have been worse and spewed him into a barrier at an awkward angle.
The battle between Ricciardo and Norris (and Sainz to a degree) was brilliant, as both cars were on form at the head of the midfield, and both racing to be best of the rest. If Norris had another lap, he probably would have finished ahead of Ricciardo, but both of them had good weekends, with Sainz being caught out with Albon at the start.
For a second race in a row, Kvyat earned himself a penalty on the last lap and which has bumped him out of the points again, and the 'torpedo' nickname is quickly returning.
Sergio Perez was for me the other standout of the midfield, dragging his Racing Point into the points again, producing some great overtakes along the way after starting from the pitlane.
A quick nod to Raikkonen, last year's winner, who put in the kind of performance he was doing week in week out at the beginning of the season, but the car has clearly fallen behind the other midfield teams.
As much as Ferrari's suspension failure shouldn't have happened, (and the crack found in Verstappen's wing), but Magnussen's brakes failing is another big no-no in car failures you should never have.
We've had a great second half of the year, building up anticipation for the next year, but, we've been here before and certainly for 2019, it was an anti-climax as Mercedes won 8 races on the trot, setting records for 1-2s in a row. 2020 isn't a right off now that the 2021 rules have been confirmed, but you have to think there will be some teams who will give up on 2020 pretty quickly, particularly the less funded teams. Even the bigger teams will be looking to make the most of the resources whilst they have them.
The 2019 Mexican Grand Prix was won by Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in an unlikely win, but with Bottas finishing in third place, Hamilton hasn't quite sealed the Championship yet. The race itself was not too bad, building to an exciting finish, which was a bit of a damp squib, an anti-climax.
The drama started in qualifying, where Bottas crashed on the outside of the final corner. Verstappen, who was already fastest at the time, did not slow down past the wreckage and was awarded a three place grid drop for the race. Had he been able to start from pole position, he probably would have been set to seal a hat-trick of wins at the Mexican race. Verstappen got a good start, but Hamilton was unwilling to yield and threw his car around the outside of turn 1, with Verstappen ahead at the turn. Both cars nearly lost it, with Hamilton nearly taking out Vettel with his slide. Thankfully no contact was made, but it forced Hamilton and Verstappen off wide and dropped places. No fault with Verstappen there, and Hamilton could well have just settled for fourth. It meant that Verstappen, with a quick car, had to fight back and attempted and made a cheeky move in the hairpin in the stadium section on Bottas. Bottas, clearly shocked by the Red Bull, clipped Max's rear tyre, resulting in a puncture. Unfortunately for Max, the tyre stayed together for the length of the pit straight as he defended his position, only for the tyre to fail at the first chicane. From there, Verstappen did well to fight his way back through, even banging wheels with Kevin Magnussen on the way - and sneakily overtaking him off track, but shh nobody saw that. Incredibly, he did 65 laps on that hard tyre. That's been the kind of luck Verstappen's had the second half of this season. Driver of the first half of the year, he's just been plagued with bad luck, and it shows that Albon, who is still getting to grips with the car to be fair, has outscored him since they have been paired together. Red Bull should have more points and trophies to their name since the summer break.
Albon had a reasonable weekend, wasn't particularly on the pace in qualifying, benefited from the turn 1/2/3 situation and was running comfortably third early on. In an attempt to undercut the Ferrari's on a two stop strategy (which turned out to be the wrong strategy), the team pitted him early, but into traffic, where any advantage to be gained was instantly lost. From there, he just had to bring the car home.
It was a weekend that saw a number of pitstop mistakes, the biggest victim being Lando Norris whose wheel was not secured as he left his pitbox - having to stop at the end of the pitlane and his mechanics wheeling the McLaren back. He dropped to last and ended up retiring. It ruined Sainz's race as well as he was forced to stay out on hard tyres that simply did not work on the car. After successfully picking his way through the first few corners, he was on for another best of the rest finish, but it was not to be.
To that end, Perez had the honour of finishing best of the rest, with a solid race weekend and being cheered all the way by his home crowd. You can't ask for any more from him and the team.
Back to the front of the grid, Ferrari started one-two and it would be interesting whether they would orchestrate their start as they did in Russia (successful and unsuccessfully at the same time). Vettel moved over into the slipstream straight away, but it crowded Hamilton off the track. I'm really not a fan of doing that at the start of the race, weaving recklessly from one lane to another, you don't see it in Indycar where they have spotters for that kind of thing to stop having huge accidents. Has Vettel not learned from Singapore 2017 where he took his team-mate and Verstappen out? Perhaps Ferrari could have orchestrated it better and planned for Leclerc to move in front of Vettel and give him a tow to turn 1, but after Russia, would you ask Charles to do that? Anyway, for me, that swerve was not on for me.
Another botched pitstop meant that Leclerc lost too much time to be in the mix at the end. Vettel was left out for ages, presuming Hamilton's tyres would degrade, but they didn't and Vettel did not get anywhere near the back of Hamilton's victorious Mercedes. Whilst Ferrari have been on pole for the last five races, Mercedes have won the last three races on the trot. A large part of that has to come down to their strategy decisions. Why did they pit Leclerc first on a two-stop strategy. I know he gets first choice, but he was under no threat from Albon who was trying the undercut and was caught in traffic. If anything, they should have pitted Vettel to block Albon off, but perhaps they feared Vettel would undercut Charles if they had remained on the two-stop strategy. Anyway, one stop was the right way to go and they tried to leave Vettel out as long as they could to try and give him the most advantage for the second stint, but again that failed too.
Mercedes did well to repair Botta's car without taking any penalties, incredible really. Bottas ran a good race to finish on the podium, thanks largely down to Verstappen's horrid race luck, Albon's rubbish strategy and Leclerc's botched pitstop.
Hamilton was balked at the start which meant he was fourth into the first corner, only for his ambitious move on Verstappen into turn 1. He was lucky to not lost out too much ground after rejoining after turn 3, and the team masterfully put him on the optimal strategy. His car was damaged, which would have not helped his tyre management, but he did really well to maintain the pace and the tyre life to not even let Vettel anywhere near the back of his car at the end of the race.
Ricciardo's strategy propelled him up the grid, doing a mega 51 lap stint on the hard tyres. His ambitious lunge on Perez could have been better managed, the Renault clearly not as good on the brakes as the Red Bull he had previously. Hulkenberg was going a solid job behind too, but with the tyres well off the cliff at the end, he was punted into the wall by Kvyat.
I've moaned about this before, but the tyres have got to change to allow for better racing. I understand you want drivers to manage their tyres to get them to perform at the optimum, but the fact they overheat so easily behind another car is just stopping them from racing. It's really good that we're getting variations on strategy, and that we usually get to see degradation being a factor in some races, but there's still room for improvement.
The podium was cool, I really loved how Hamilton was raised with his car, but Hamilton is the right showman for that kind of thing, I can't really see it being quite as cool if it was say Bottas. Nevertheless, I'm a fan that it represents the team and the car as well as the driver as the victors. Selfie Stig guy on the podium on the other hand was ridiculously cringe worthy, taking the spotlight off the drivers, but the highlight of the weekend for me was Vettel's shoving him gently out the way in a disgusted way, TV gold!
The other highlight for me was the battle of the Williams drivers, brilliant battling out on track, firm but fair.
The Monaco GP will be most remembered for the weekend that paid tribute to three-time World ChampionNiki Lauda after his passing away. Many cars carried a fitting tribute, with Haas running a red strip on their shark fin.
The Monaco GP itself never really puts on an entertaining race, and there wasn't much racing to talk about at that stage of the season. Both cars finished, with Grosjean finishing in 10th place for a single point, which are hard to come by for the team in 2019.
Minichamps 417190608
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I believe there are a couple of Monaco GP versions of the 2019 grid due to be released by model makers, so I suspect there will be more to feature soon. On this Minichamps model, I can't see much difference in terms of the shape to make it track specific and it's interesting that these cars are not limited edition with a set number of models made.
Because there's barely any difference from the base model, I'm not going to score it here, but you can read my review here.
Sauber were rebranded as Alfa Romeo, still can't get used to that, and were building on their momentum from last season when Charles Leclerc in particular scored strong results. New drivers in the form of former Ferrari champion Kimi Raikkonen as the experienced hand and benchmark for his teammate, Ferrari young driver, Antonio Giovinazzi. Though this was not the Italian's debut, it was his first full season as a full time driver for the team. Raikkonen was a consistent points scorer, nothing spectacular but he was always in the mix near the top of the midfield. But a run of poor races in the second half of the year has seen the team slide towards the rear of the midfield. Giovinazzi took a while to get going, made a few howlers, including binning the car on the last lap in Belgium. But he bounced back with a good points finish at the Italian Grand Prix and has been a match for Raikkonen for much of the second half of the season.
Both Spark and Minichamps released their cars within a week of each other, though Minichamps have only released Raikkonen's car, but we'll review and compare both in this post.
Spark S6073
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As we've come to expect from both model manufacturers now, the quality is high, particularly as Minichamps have made this model from resin. Comparing both models, they both look very similar from front to back, the shapes looking on point with its dimensions and also squeezing in some of the intricate detail. The bargeboard areas are as complicated as they have ever been in F1, and both manufacturers have done a good job in recreating the detail on this Alfa. One thing I have noticed on the Spark cars is that the endplates are a little smaller than the Minichamps, and the rear wing a little bit smaller. I wouldn't have really noticed unless I'd put them side by side, but the Minichamps version does seem better proportioned from this angle. In terms of the paint and decals, there's not too much difference, owing to the simplicity of the Alfa livery.
Spark
Minichamps
As noted above, from this angle it's a little clearer that the Minichamps front wing is a little larger, or rather, the Spark version is a bit too small. Both have good detail on the nose and it's unique double inlets. Again the Minichamps suspension and vanes are a little fuller in size than the Spark, and again I think I prefer the Minichamps scaling. Nice detail on both sets of aerials and on the halo - masking the helmets that have Kimi's traditionally more complicated patterns. The sidepod opening and general shape of the sidepods are almost identical on these models, and Alfa continue with the segregated airbox arrangement we first saw on a Mercedes back in 2010. Again, both are well recreated. The t-wing on the Spark is tiny, and probably reflects the flimsiness of the real thing - if you ever see a real life onboard, these things are dancing around, it's a wonder they make any positive difference like that. With the fewer vanes on the rear wing endplates, it's nice that Minichamps have modelled real holes, whilst Spark's are just molded nicely, but is one solid structure.
Spark
Minichamps
I do prefer the Minichamps tyres generally as well, but that's a very minor thing. It's good to see the detail of the lights on the rear wing endplates on both models. Overall, I think I do prefer the Minichamps model, but again, I wouldn't be particularly disappointed with the Spark model.
Spark score: 7/10 Minichamps score: 8/10
Special Editions
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Minichamps have also done a limited edition of the Bahrain GP car.
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Spark S6083
And the lovely Valentines day shakedown livery is produced by Spark and Minichamps
Spark S6097
Spark S6098
Spark have released an Italian GP version of the Alfa, which features an Italian flag stripe along the top of the engine cover and rear wing end plates. Giovinazzi's car also comes with a pitboard wishing Juan Manuel Correa a speedy recovery after breaking his legs in the crash where Antoine Hubert was lost.
