The controversy continues

The controversy continues, then; no, not the off track saga of Nigel Stepney and the pants that lack, but the in-mag rantings, railings, accolades and hailings of our very own Brades and his veritable grades.

This week we have two offerings, thanks to technical issues that prevented me from publishing before (the monkey on the bike stopped pedalling) so there's more to enjoy or not, whichever way you may be inclined.

And I do know that a number of our readers will be inclined, thanks to over indulgence on the grog.

So, with no further ado (and no review to cloud the issue - that will come later) lets see how much Brades angers the population this week......




Great Britain

Drivers


Kimi Raikkonen – A+
Back to back wins for the Finn has given him and the Ferrari team some much needed confidence going into the second half of the season. His drive at Silverstone was something the old Kimi we know would do, by cranking the fast lap times out when he needed to, he got himself the lead after the second stop and never looked back.

Fernando Alonso – A+
Although he did not win the race, Fernando did a similar drive to Kimi but was only second due to being in an inferior car. He got the lead by short fueling and then put in fast lap times, but was not able to stretch the gap to Kimi enough to give him the win, but none the less it was a great drive

Lewis Hamilton – C
For the first time this year Lewis looked like a rookie. Maybe it was the pressure of the home race, or maybe it was the immense pressure of Kimi behind him, but either way Lewis cracked big time. His setup was not good enough to win the race and he was locking wheels all over the place. In the end he finished a mile down on his team mate.

Robert Kubica – A
Since his return to racing, Kubica has been in the form of his life. He has managed to out qualify and out race his more experienced team mate both times and this time he was race even better. Although he was never in the picture for a podium, he managed to drive a good race and then hold on for 12 laps so that Massa could not pass him. This was a fantastic effort from the pole.

Felipe Massa – C
Massa is a very lucky man to be sitting in fifth position after his rookie like stall on the grid. Ferrari said it was nothing to do with the car at all, so one can assume it was Felipe himself stalling the car. He managed to slice through the rest of the field, but when you have a car that can lap everyone but 5 cars you should be expected to slice through them.

Nick Heidfeld – B+
Nick will be happy to finish in the points once again, but will be disappointed at his qualifying performance leading into the race. He for the first time in a while qualified in ninth position which looked a bad sign for the start of the race. However he managed to make up some positions on the track and in the pit stops, getting back to his more customary top six spot.

Heikki Kovalainen – B+
This was another confidence boosting weekend for Heikki as he once again beat his team mate to show the form and speed that everyone saw two years ago in GP2. His qualifying performance was down on the previous week, but he managed to rectify that by taking Ralf Schumacher on the start and set about leading his team mate. He did make a small mistake at one point as Fisi went past him quite easily, but he made up for that by retaking his team mate through pit stops.

Giancarlo Fisichella – B
Silverstone saw a solid drive from Fisichella this weekend as he managed to come home in another points paying position, but he was once again outdone by his young rookie team mate. One would think Fisichella will need to improve in the second half of the season if he wants to remain in a Renault next season.

Rubens Barrichello – B+
After starting in 14th position on the grid, one would be excused for thinking Honda would not go forward in this race, however Rubens decided to ignore that and took the Honda on the brink of another point at this weekends race. He managed to stay in front of his team mate and then get the better of David Coulthard in the Red Bull; however he missed the points by one position.

Jenson Button – B-
If Jenson had managed to qualify higher up the grid he would have received a much more favourable grade. That being said he still did a decent race considering the back problems that forced him out of Practice two on Friday. He battled on and once past the early problems of Super Aguri’s and Toro Rosso’s, he managed to claw his way onto the back of his team mate, but was unable to beat him.

David Coulthard – C+
Not the result DC was looking for at his home race, especially after Red Bull had just announced that he was staying on next year to help develop the car into a winner. He did the best job he could in qualifying ending up just behind expert team mate Mark Webber, but was clearly out performed in the race by his team mate and then the Honda’s.

Nico Rosberg – B-
After the weekend started so promising for the Williams team, it all went horribly wrong on the Saturday afternoon. Nico developed a problem and was forced to start from a lowly 17th position on the grid, something he is not accustomed to. In the race he was moving along strongly early on and got the better of his team mate, but they couldn’t progress any further and stayed well down in the midfield.

Alex Wurz – C-
Not another great weekend for Alex as he struggles to keep himself in line for the same seat next year. For once he made the top 16 of qualifying and made an improvement up to 13th on the grid, but he was in the wars on Sunday as he tripped over the front of a Toro Rosso while Alonso was trying to get by. You’d expect this move from the Toro Rosso but in fact it was more the fault of an over eager Wurz who shouldn’t have dived down the inside like that. For his sake I hope he can improve real soon.

Takuma Sato – C-
This was yet another disappointing weekend for Sato as he struggled to keep up with his rivals in the midfield. Taku was so slow in qualifying that he was actually out qualified by one of the Spykers, and during the race he showed no real speed other than to beat home the Spyker of Albers.

Christijan Albers – C
An improved effort from Albers this weekend was needed and that’s what he delivered as he managed to finish the race without destroying the teams’ fuel rig. However as we now know this effort did not save his skin because his money at Spyker has run out and he has been released from the team. At least he can say he went out on a high.

Vitantonio Liuzzi – C
Well at least this weekend Liuzzi made it past the first corner before retiring, however he will not be pleased that he had another technical problem retire his car. His race was running along very well but he was still behind team mate Speed who is not rated as highly. Frankly Liuzzi will have to pull the lead out at the end of this season or he will not be in F1 for STR.

Jarno Trulli – C+
After yet another top ten qualifying performance Jarno managed to retire. It seems to be a bit of a pattern lately, but at least this was not a driver related retirement like the last one. He will be disappointed with his race as he was always behind his team mate in qualifying and the race and he also was passed by Webber off the line. Hopefully the European GP at Toyota’s base will provide a better result for him.

Anthony Davidson – C-
Davidson was another drive to have a shocker at his home race, just like the other three British drivers. In qualifying he made a rookie mistake right at the end of Q3 and dropped his car into the dirt meaning everyone who was on a fast lap had their laps ruined. Then on race day he had problems in the car and was forced to retire due to the car being dangerous to drive. Hopefully he gets a better result at the ring.

Scott Speed – B
I am actually beginning to like the driving of Scott Speed as he has started to prove that maybe he does actually belong in F1. So he doesn’t have the standout talent of Hamilton but as he proved last weekend he can qualify ahead of a very much rated team mate in Liuzzi. Not only this but he can now out race him. Hopefully he keeps a spot on the grid next year, but it is not looking likely at the moment.

Ralf Schumacher – A-
The return of Ralf has begun and it is coming like a bullet out of a gun. Since the US GP Ralf has shown the F1 world that he is not an overpaid hack of a drive. He is still overpaid but he is not a hack. This weekend he managed to put the Toyota in an impressive sixth on the grid before he was overtaken at the start by the two fast starting Renaults. It was also a shame to see his race come to an end through retirement but I’m sure at his home GP Ralf will be in the top six again.

Adrian Sutil – B
Sutil was the man to out qualify the Super Aguri of Sato and also smack his team mate to oblivion. He was leading Albers comfortably in the race too, before his Ferrari engine exploded on him. This does not look that good for Ferrari and its engine supply, but this might also be to do with the Spyker’s cooling. I look forward to seeing Sutil at his home race and to see what kind of a drive he can do.

Mark Webber – B-
The luck streak of Mark Webber once again continued on the weekend as his car again died of a transmission problem. One day he will get to drive a car that has absolutely no reliability problems, but unfortunately that will probably be a Honda S2000 road car. His qualifying performance was good once again but he was disappointed not to hit the top ten. His race was good as he overtook Trulli at the start and almost got past Ralf before he settled into a groove that lasted just 9 laps.


Teams

Ferrari – A
The Ferrari is quite clearly the class car of the field at the moment but how long that will last, no one quite knows. They won’t be too happy that Massa stuffed up what should have been a clear and dominant one-two finish, but they will be happy enough that he climbed back to at least fifth position.

McLaren – A-
The strategists at McLaren worked over time and deserve every cent of their pay for this GP as they helped get Alonso a much needed win over Hamilton. The decision to send Hamilton on the low fuel on qualifying worked like a charm as it held Raikkonen back for Alonso to hold onto with his heavier fuel. They then short fuelled Alonso to get a big gap over Raikkonen; however the McLaren was just not fast enough to do it.

BMW – B+
The performance of BMW is starting to get a lot more sporadic throughout the GP weekend. We were used to them being in the top six all weekend but now they are almost sand bagging in practice before managing to qualify decently and then come home in the accustomed positions on the Sunday. It was also pleasing to see both cars finish again as they seem to be getting on top of their retirement issues.

Renault – B
Not much of a step forward for Renault here as they once again showed that they are the fourth best car in Formula One at the moment. Both drivers managed to keep the car on the track at the important times and bring home a small amount of points that could be crucial at the end of the year.

Honda – B
The strategists at Honda also deserve their pay as they put both cars in the potential for points this weekend. Unfortunately their car was not as fast as the Renault’s but they still managed to show up the Toyota for Reliability and the Red Bull for speed. Well done Honda, you are slowly on the way back.

Red Bull – C-
Yet again I have graded Red Bull low because of another mechanical failure in one of their cars. They also did not have the pace to keep up with the Hondas and Toyotas, so they must improve their game by the time they get to the ring.

Williams – D+
After two weeks of promising efforts Williams took a step backwards this weekend as both cars struggled for pace as they finished at the wrong end of the field. Rosberg also suffered a problem in qualifying which set the team back a long way. Hopefully they also improve by the ring for Nico’s home race, but it is looking doubtful

Super Aguri – D
After starting the year off on a high, Super Aguri is starting to slip behind everyone but Spyker. This is quite disappointing as they are the romantic team of Formula One that everyone wants to see succeed. They will need to get their act together as well as getting their drivers in the right frame of mind if they are to challenge for points again.

Spyker – C-
An improved effort for Spyker compared to the French GP as they managed to get one car home and one car in front of an Aguri on the grid. However they will be disappointed that the engine of Sutil exploded so early on in the race. Lets hope they continue to improve so that there is no certain team to come last each race.

Toro Rosso – C
The Toro Rosso carried some decent speed in this race after both Liuzzi and Speed managed to qualify in the top 16. However once again one of the cars did not finish to a technical problem giving the team an unwanted start to finish ratio. I am quite certain that Speed would have finished in a good position had it not been for a driving mistake of Wurz, so that would at least give them some consolation.

Toyota – D-
A woeful end to the British GP for Toyota after it started off so well. Both cars managed to show speed in practice and in qualifying as they both made the top ten for once. However they both struggled off the line at the start and then retired in the race when they should have easily got points ahead of the Renault’s.


Europe

Drivers

Fernando Alonso – A+
Although Alonso did not lead many laps and did not qualify where he should have, he did enough this weekend to show that he is a class driver. After looking down and out on Massa he chipped away until Massa was in reach and then with a superior car in wet conditions he tore past Massa with a great manoeuvre.

Felipe Massa – A
Felipe really should have come away from the European GP with a win, but he could not do enough to hold off Alonso on the closing laps to win. Massa drove well early on to gain a lead but then he took the foot off the gas, losing seconds that turned out to be critical. Overall a good drive, but should have done better.

Mark Webber – A
As Mark himself put it, about bloody time! Finally Mark has some luck in his career as he managed to grab just his second F1 career podium in his new team Red Bull Racing. He was lucky because after the start the BMW’s tangled each other in front of him and then Kimi dropped out while ahead. However it’s not about where you are on lap 2, it’s where you are on the final lap that counts. He drove a solid race to hold onto his podium.

Alex Wurz – A
Yet again we saw a great solid drive from Alex after he qualified as well as his team mate. Finally he is showing what he is capable of against his younger team mate. He was unlucky not to get third off of Webber at the last turn, but he has had more recent luck than Webber.

David Coulthard – A-
DC did enough in the race to warrant his grade. He came from a tough grid slot all the way to fifth through shear determination and luck. He should have been higher on the grid but his team mucked up preventing him from completing his fast lap.

Nick Heidfeld – D
Nick is probably the luckiest man of the group from this race as he was astonishingly still on the track at the end in a points paying position. Not only did he take out his team mate in the second corner and prevent them from Challenging for a win or podium, he also took out Ralf Schumacher and got away with it.

Robert Kubica – B
Kubica was unlucky on the weekend as he was taken out in the second corner by his team mate and struggled to do anything after coming from the back. He did manage to gain something out of the weekend but not much and that was him out qualifying Nick at home.

Heikki Kovalainen – B
He did well to out qualify his more experienced team mate once again but will be disappointed that his team threw him a curve ball with a late fuel dash and change to wets. Had he not done this he would have come sixth or even fifth but he didn’t.

Lewis Hamilton – B+
There is a first time for everything and Lewis found that out the hard way at the European GP. This was the first time Lewis has gone scoreless in a race and he will be very disappointed to concede ten points to Alonso. He did well to keep his engine running while parked in the gravel trap and get out of there, but his or the team’s decision to put him onto dries was too early by two laps and that cost him any chance of a decent finish. His driving was superb though.

Giancarlo Fisichella – C+
Fisi was completely out qualified by his young team mate this weekend has done himself absolutely no favours of keeping his job next year. He was not very competitive and could not even get in front of his team mate even when Heikki went to wets early. Very poor from Fisi and he will look for a better result at the next race.

Rubens Barichello – C-
You’d be forgiven on the weekend for thinking that Rubens had retired from the race because he was virtually unspotted. Never did he look a serious threat to anyone in front of him nor did he look like doing anything out of the ordinary.

Anthony Davidson – C+
Similar story to Barichello but Davidson deserves a bit more for a good qualifying performance and being able to find reverse in the car when he was touching the gravel trap.

Jarno Trulli – C
Jarno struggled with tyre and balance issues in the car on race day and never looked the same as the driver who took eighth on the grid. He fell so far backwards that he was the last driver to cross the line.

Kimi Raikkonen – A-
Kimi was doing a great job of catching Massa and Alonso before his car once again died on him. This isn’t a new story for Raikkonen so he probably didn’t get as upset as someone else might. However he does get a black mark on his name for his poor entry to pit lane or non entry as the case may be. This cost him a bit as he ended up pitting at the time Alonso and Massa were passing him.

Ralf Schumacher – B
Ralf was doing a great job at his home GP after qualifying well. Unfortunately for him Heidfeld decided that he wanted the spotlight on himself, which he well and truly got after he took Ralf off. Understandably Ralf wanted to say something as Heidfeld drove past again but he was restrained pretty quickly.

Takuma Sato – C
Not the best of weekends for a popular driver as he did not far well in the ever changing conditions. Not only was this but he was out qualified for once by Davidson which has been a rare occasion of late.

Markus Winkelhock – B
His pace all weekend was a long way down on that of Sutil and that will discourage the Spyker team, but a big congratulations to them and Winkelhock for leading the race after making a smart move at the start.

Rest of the Drivers – D+
Since the five other drivers only lasted two laps I thought it wasn’t appropriate to do anything but give them this grade for not being smart and taking caution in the wet circumstances, especially after one or two went off.


Teams

McLaren – B-
Once again McLaren did not have the best car on the weekend but they got luck thanks to some poor driving and bad luck on Ferrari’s behalf. They also chose a poor strategy for Lewis that cost him points and the team points which could be super critical in the end.

Ferrari – C-
Yet another DNF for the normally bulletproof reliable Ferrari. One wonders whether this is due to the driver or whether because of their second in the championship the year before that they pushed too hard on the development envelope like Red Bull. No one will really know but its not good since McLaren is yet to have a reliability DNF.

Red Bull – A+
The best ever result for Red Bull as it took home only its second podium. Both drivers gave it everything and the team gave them fast cars that were reliable. Well done to Red Bull and hopefully there is more to come.

Williams – B-
Unusually both drivers missed out on the top ten in qualifying and this looked like it would put them in for a long hard race. But as we know the weather turns everything on its head and Williams did well to bring Wurz home in fourth without any problems.

BMW – B
BMW were at their brilliant best in qualifying setting up a good showdown for the race, but after the drivers hit each other in turn two it ended what looked like being a good race for them. From then on both drivers struggled with broken body work and it cost the team dear in keeping points on its rivals.

Renault – D
Woeful, absolutely woeful is the only way to describe Renaults practice form. They got lucky in that Kovalainen made the top ten and qualified well but other than that they had absolutely no pace what so ever. Disappointing for a two times world champion who are struggling to come to terms with Bridgestone.

Honda – C
Not much to say for Honda except that they still lacked any qualifying and race pace, something that everyone thought they had got on top of. There’s always next race.

Toyota – C+
I am not particularly sure what went wrong with Jarno but for some reason his Toyota lacked the pace that it had during qualifying which was very surprising. Ralf’s form and driving was very good and they can be proud that they have made a step forward compared to rivals Renault and Honda.

Super Aguri – C
An improvement from the Aguri’s this weekend as they both managed to avoid the drop zone. They also managed to avoid the carnage early on before Taku had a hydraulics problem forcing him out of the race. This is not bad for a team that can clearly not develop as fast as some of its rivals.

Spyker – C-
Spyker managed to lead a Grand Prix for the first time and I’m sure they were celebrating for a while. It didn’t last very long but that is something they have to contend with when being a perennial back marker. They also have to fix the engine problems that they are having reoccur.

Toro Rosso – D
Let the fighting begin. That’s what is going to happen as Scott Speed looks to be on his way out of a seat at Toro Rosso after an alleged altercation. Frankly I am surprised by this a bit as it is clearly Liuzzi who is the worst of the two drivers at STR. We can witness this after a stupid accident that almost put him under the wheel of a tractor. The Safety Car was already out and Liuzzi had almost hit him. They deserve a low grade for the fighting and that’s about it.


Written by 3 on Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:44:10