We were a bit slower than usual today, thanks to Spanish technical problems…
The Spanish Grand Prix was a straight fight between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel after Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen tangled at the first corner and Valtteri Bottas disappeared in a cloud of steam… The two fought a fantastic strategic battle with Mercedes winning the day after Ferrari’s tried an overly aggressive strategy. Red Bull looked like there had been an improvement in qualifying but in the race Daniel Ricciardo was nearly a minute behind in the race, but as others had fallen by the wayside, he took third ahead of the two Force India drivers. Nico Hulkenberg, local hero Carlos Sainz and the Sauber of Pascal Wehrlein, which took eighth after some brilliant driving and a great strategy. The German was even able to overcome a five second time penalty for being a little too enthusiastic when entering the pits. The remaining points went to Danii Kvyat and Romain Grosjean, while McLaren and Williams failed to score. McLaren is now the only team not to have a point this year.
– We look at Alonso’s adventures at Indy
– We talk to Carlos Sainz Jr
– We talk to IndyCar boss Mark Miles
– We remember Joe Leonard and Sir John Whitmore
– We look back at Ballot
– DT looks at the changes in F1
– JS enjoys Spain and an F1-branded plane
– The Hack on the revival of Brabham and DRS
– Plus we have the fabulous photography of Peter Nygaard
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joeblogsf1 
right, since the proper news from Joe are delayed for technical reasons, let’s make some ourselves. How do they do it? I think approximately like this – starting with – ” some sources in paddock/reports in some media – suggest ” that – current financial agreement will be scrapped at the end of this year – Liberty will take no profit but to get teams agree will pay double prize money as per current rates with Ferrari getting most and Sauber the least. Thus nobody will sue anybody. Then they will pay the same again but in opposite order with Sauber getting most and Ferrari the least to level out the field. That’s that. As for driver market Hamilton retires, Vettel goes to Merc, Alonso returns to Ferrari with Ricciardo joining, Sainz goes to RedBull, Werhlein goes to Williams with Raikkonen becoming the coach of Stroll. Massa joins McLaren, Engine rules are made to combination of free choice of ice and hybrid to limited 2500 bhp. B.C.Emeritus buys Force India with Hyundai as pu supplier, Audi, Lamborghini, Škoda and Seat all supplying pus to 7 new teams that are supported by American, Middle East, Far East and few African conglomerates. Pre-quali is re-intorduced to have only 26 cars on the grid. Calendar is extended to 30 races with likes of Morocco, South Africa, Argentina etc joining. To reduce teams costs Championship is quartered by regional divisions ie Europe, America, Asia, Africa with free choice to race at 25 events of teams choice. That is achieved by Liberty paying promoters to host the races. More to follow. Watch this space
Well, the Spanish Grand Prix was a complete blast. Vettel (Ferrari) beat Hamilton (MB) off the line, but Verstappen (Red Bull) and Raikonnen (Ferrari) tangled eliminating both. Vettel and Hamilton fought tooth and nail, with Hamilton prevailing with a good strategy call. Hamilton, Vettel, and Dan Ricciardo (Red Bull) lapped the entire field. Bottas’ MB blew its motor and he was out. Fernando Alonso brought the McLaren home in 15th. Damned good race and the best I’ve been to Canada in 2014!
Sorry, should have said 12th for Alonso.
And The Ferrari PR department finally came good with the Kimi -Thomas photo opportunity.
But what a race. Please can Pirelli bring the wrong tyres to more races.
No it was FOM that did it
Nice feel good moment, how hard was that? Kimi probably enjoyed it also. Nice to see FOM actually REACT to the clientle and demonstrate a little humanity instead of shaking them upside down to see if any coins were left in their pockets.
These guys just get the fact you actually have to invest to make MORE money long term.
They have some savvy folks in their marketing / p.r depts. The crying child supporter transcends F1 and is applicable to any sport therefore potential is there for the all important freebie of “going viral” (who would have thought going viral was a good thing? somehow it still doesn’t sound right)
JO, This quote is from on one F1 site (reporting F1 matters) which/who are/is actually a very good fan of yours as declared recently.
“The TV director zoomed in on the little fellow a couple of times, and it was clear that the youngster was distraught. Clearly the show of unbridled emotion did not escape FERRARI who managed to find the kid and his parent’s in among the crowd whereupon they whisked them to the circuit de Catalunya paddock where the kid was met-up with his hero Raikkonen”.
It was FOM not Ferrari.
Chase Carry of LM:> “FERRARI fan gesture unlikely under previous owners”. “We get all this press about the little boy who got pulled down, and they (FERRARI) did it on their own, having a sense a freedom they wouldn’t have had a tear ago” he said. “I didn’t tell them to find that little boy, there are people who did it on their own, thought it would be a special moment, and it was”.
It was a FOM initiative
You’re wasting your energy on chopping the hair now Mate, without FOM no chance to get the young Raikkonen fan, crying or laughing into ANY pit. dot
blab blab blab.
FI CEO GAREY:> “Liberty not behind FERRARI fan gesture”.
Salvuberg, if you are going to post comments on a blog, try at least to get the name right Jo is not Joe.
Excuses for that JOE, my bad, next time I promise to be more careful.
Joe, The GP+ subscribers’ area still has the Russian GP report, not the Spanish GP one!
No, that is your computer cache. You must reopen the browser and your machine will then see what is really there.
You are so patient, repeating the same thing over and over and over. People, when you have a problem, why don’t you just go to the GP+ website FAQ page?
Excellent features this month and the photography is stunning as always. Thanks to all the three of you for the excellent job as always.
Joe, did you see in the world TV feed the distraught young Ferrari fan who ultimately was granted an audience with Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari paddock? Well played to whoever made that happen. Hard to imagine that Arrivabene made that call – seems more like something from the brains of the new Liberty Media overlords.
Of course, if we find out they made the tot sign a 20 page non-disclosure agreement before entering the inner sanctum the goodwill might be short-lived…
It was FOM
“Young formula 1 fan gets to meet his favorite driver after crying because he crashed. R/VIDEOS”.
The international media is planning to cry on telly, in the hope that Ferrari will pay some attention…
Well done getting the magazine out.
I am pleased to see that Pascal Werlhein is earning himself some good press.
Another terrific edition of GP+ and congratulations on ten years of publication. I have been a subscriber for most of that time and remain happy to shell out what really is a trivial amount of the folding stuff once a year for a very timely and wide ranging magazine on motor racing.
May I also doff my cap to The Hack. His headline in this edition encapsulates my feelings exactly. (I’m being cryptic in order to encourage those with short arms and long pockets to do themselves a favour and subscribe!) Indisputably, the Hack knows what he’s talking about.
Finally, I wonder if the normally excellent Mr T had consumed a bad paella before tapping out his rather acerbic opening shot – “Doubtless the experts will tell us again that we had another boring race this afternoon…”. It can’t be that he was taking aim at those who participate in JOESBLOGF1. This community is almost universally populated by people who thoroughly understand their F1. And who no doubt well and truly savoured the tight strategic fight between the two front runners both in Spain and, two weeks previously, in Russia. I have certainly relished several battles of that nature over the years. I enjoyed the first one at which I was present (and got wet!) – the International Trophy at Silverstone on May 12 1962, and another one (with the same protagonists), the 1965 British Grand Prix. Yes, we certainly don’t need frequent and sometimes effortless overtaking to provide great racing. Which brings me back to the second topic on which the Hack ruminated…
Any thoughts on the uncharitable and rude line of questioning by a certain podcast host I USED to subscribe to? (Just for Joe, of course)
Watch out for the new podcast!
New podcast sounds exciting Joe. Can you tell us what, when and where yet?
Coming soon…
I’ll be patient!
Joe, As I understand teams must now display numbers and names of drivers. Numbers seem okay, except for Force India. Now I saw a very tiny name on the car for Vettel but that is so small you can only see that when in close up in the pits. Also no names found on Red Bulls and Force India’s.
I think the yellow camera is still the thing to look at to distinguish the team mates but maybe it would be better to add some extra yellow on wings or mirrors or something.
For next year without the fins it would become a lot harder to put the numbers and names somewhere.
I also like the display on Indycars, where you can also see position and pit stop times
Force India was fined for not having big enough names and numbers
Why were RedBull and Ferrari not fined as well, I could not spot the driver names on their cars?
Because I guess they did enough
don’t You know Racers by helmets ? all this is funny – name is too big, number is too small . . .
p.s. lots of crying kids in Monaco then, LOL for FOM(sounds strange, but we have to get used – they have the right attitude, Thank You Liberty)
p.p.s. as for GP+ thanks to ALL A Team!
Congratulations Joe and the whole team. 10 years of GP+ is an impressive milestone and the longevity is a testimony to the quality
Finally caught up.
Before decrying t shirt gun health and safety let us pause to remember the tragic demise of Mrs Ned Flanders.
And I still can’t se how lewis lost 2 seconds on the first lap to vettel. All the incidents were behind them.