Formula One 2014: Circuit de Catalunya

So Vettel starts in 15th because his gearbox blew up and Vergne in 21st because he left the pits with a loose wheel.  Maldonado could barely complete 2 laps in Qualifying before crashing.

It’s all very entertaining if you’re a Mercedes fan and this appears to be their year.  They have the only reliable power plant (ok, Ferrari is reliable but it’s also slow).

On offer are the Hards and Mediums because Circuit de Catalunya is notoriously abrasive.  It will be 66 laps and unlike other years there has been no testing there this season.  At that it may be a two stop race for the leaders.

Caterham has booted their technical director but honestly, who cares?  There may be the first woman driver since 1976 next year.  Renault is considering cutting off the deadbeat teams which, considering its power plants are unreliable and slow, may or may not be such a good idea.

This is Ayrton Senna Memorial weekend-

Other stories about Formula One-

Formula One Interactive Track

Oh, you want to hear about Bernie-

Formula One holds its breath as Bernie Ecclestone’s bribery trial begins

Paul Weaver, The Guardian

Wednesday 23 April 2014 13.34 EDT

The judge Ecclestone will be up against does not take any prisoners; or rather, he does. Peter Noll convicted the former German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, a central figure in the Munich hearing, and sent him down for eight-and-a-half years in 2012. In his concluding statement, Noll said: “In this process we assume the driving force was Mr Ecclestone.”

Last month the same prosecutors, who have spent two years preparing for the Ecclestone case, brought down Uli Hoeness, then president of the European football champions Bayern Munich. Hoeness was jailed for three-and-a-half years for tax evasion.

If all this was not enough to seriously daunt Ecclestone – who will be 84 in October – Noll has also been handed what could be a loaded gun. In February Ecclestone – who denies any wrongdoing – won a civil case brought by the German media company Constantin Medien.



But although F1’s chief executive won that time, the comments by Mr Justice Newey were immensely damaging. He said it was “impossible” to regard him as a “reliable or truthful witness”.

Bernie Ecclestone launches defence against bribery charges

Philip Oltermann, The Guardian

Thursday 24 April 2014 08.44 EDT

The 256-page indictment against Ecclestone, formulated after a two-year investigation, accuses him of bribing a German banker with the intention of cementing his powerful position at the top of the motorsport.

The banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, was notionally the chief risk assessment officer for the Formula One shareholder Bayern Landesbank at the time. But, the indictment alleges, payments totalling $44m (£26m) and the promise of future employment in Formula One swayed Gribkowsky to act against his employers’ interests, easing the sale of Bayern LB’s share to a company that had guaranteed to keep Ecclestone in charge as chief executive.



Far from being an easily manipulated pawn, Ecclestone painted a picture of Gribkowsky as a power-hungry man who dreamed of becoming “Mr Formula One” and owning his own race team.

In one meeting, Ecclestone said, the German had made himself comfortable in the chief executive chair and smoked a cigar throughout, causing Flavio Briatore, then a senior figure in Formula One who had recently quit smoking, to storm out halfway through the meeting.

The indictment acknowledged that Gribkowsky had made “insinuations” about Ecclestone being ultimately in charge of Bambino, but seemed to dismiss the possibility of blackmail as Ecclestone had “no concrete evidence to hand”.

Ecclestone’s defence is that he had been forced to act even though he felt he had done nothing wrong in his affairs with Bambino, because the risk involved of a reputable banker like Gribkowsky contacting the UK tax authorities was “hard to calculate” and could have led to a fine of “more than £2bn”.

“Some people have asked me how it is possible that someone like Bernie Ecclestone can be put under pressure”, said his statement. “I say: Yes, it’s possible, if you know exactly where to apply the right pressure, and Gribkowksy got the right spot for me and Bambino”

Starting Grid

Grid Driver Team Q-Time Q-Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.232 16
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:25.400 19
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:26.285 16
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:26.632 17
5 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:26.960 18
6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:27.104 18
7 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:27.140 16
8 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.335 18
9 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:27.402 16
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:27.685 13
11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:28.002 16
12 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:28.039 12
13 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.280 12
14 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.389 10
15 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:27.052 11
16 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.563 9
17 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1:29.586 6
18 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1:30.177 6
19 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1:30.312 8
20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:30.375 6
21 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:28.194 6
22 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault No time 2

Driver Standings

Rank Driver Team Points
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 79
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 75
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 41
4 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 36
5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 33
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 24
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 24
8 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 23
9 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 20
10 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 18
11 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 12
12 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 11
13 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 4
14 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 4

Constructor Standings

Rank Team Points
1 Mercedes 154
2 Red Bull Racing-Renault 57
3 Force India-Mercedes 54
4 Ferrari 52
5 McLaren-Mercedes 43
6 Williams-Mercedes 36
7 STR-Renault 8

31 comments

Skip to comment form

  1. Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Bottas

    Ricciard

    Grosjean

    Raikkonen

    Alonso

    Massa

    Hulkenberg

    Perez

  2. Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Bottas

    Ricciard

    Grosjean

    Raikkonen

    Alonso

    Massa

    Hulkenberg

    Perez

  3. Rosberg

    Hamilton

    Bottas

    Ricciard

    Grosjean

    Raikkonen

    Alonso

    Massa

    Vettel

    Hulkenberg

  4. Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Ricciardo

    Bottas

    Raikkonen

    Alonso

    Grosjean

    Massa

    Vettel

    Hulkenberg

  5. Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Ricciardo

    Bottas

    Raikkonen

    Alonso

    Grosjean

    Vettle

    Hulkenberg

    Perez

  6. Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Ricciardo

    Bottas

    Raikkonen

    Alonso

    Vettel

    Magnussen

    Massa

    Grosjean

  7. Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Ricciardo

    Alonso

    Vettel

    Bottas

    Raikkonen

    Grosjean

    Hulkenberg

    Perez

  8. Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Ricciardo

    Bottas

    Raikkonen

    Vettel

    Alonso

    Grosjean

    Perez

    Hulkenberg

  9. Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Ricciado

    Bottas

    Vettel

    Raikkonen

    Alonso

    Grosjean

    Perez

    Hulkenberg

  10. Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Ricciardo

    Vettel

    Bottas

    Alonso

    Raikkonen

    Grosjean

    Perez

    Hulkenberg

Comments have been disabled.