With driver changes galore, could the newbies impress their new bosses? Star of the Race: Nathaniel Powers
Nathaniel Powers showed some of his talent last week, but the reigning champion had it all on display this weekend. A fantastic qualifying led to a very strong race, he looked comfortable holding of Ruiz and was never going to match the sheer pace of Hoskins. Overtake of the Race: Hiroto Nakumaya on Felix Beyer (1:13) A race of few overtakes, Lesic on Campos the only other one that sticks out. This move, however, took some balls and to do it on your first GP on your team mate takes balls of steel. An outstanding pass round the outside on the first lap from the Japanese driver. Fantastic. Franklin: Hoskins 3 Ruiz 0 Before the season began, two podiums and an unfortunate retirement from solid points for Ruiz would have looked very good, as the car looked to be the third best. Three races in and Ruiz is already 38 points behind his team mate. Another comfortable performance from the Brit, Hoskins delivered pole, fastest lap and victory, and would have secured a Grand Chelem but for a long running Davenport. Team 23: Mattson 1 Wagner 2 Mattson must be looking forward to the end of the season already, another bad race for the Frenchman. A collision on the first lap compunded his qualifying problems and a risky fuel strategy before the race meant that he was never going to regain the places. Wagner kept his nose clean, but it's a sign of the times that his race wasn't terrible yet he still finished behind the Ingram of Campos. Liverpool: Simon 0 Beckenbauer 3 Perhaps in an attempt to simply get points on the board, Simon was uncharacteristically slow this weekend. 7th in qualifying turned into 6th in the race, and even that was due to his team mate's retirement. Beckenbauer once again had the beating of the pre-season favourite and a gearbox difficulty denied him his place on the podium. Lucas: Davenport 3 Phipps/Abott 0 Quick to discard Jonas Phipps, I wouldn't be surprised to see Lucas Wilson see Abott on his way out already! While his team mate fought for big points, Abott beat only the newbies and the stricken Mattson. Davenport delivered a classic Lucas race, long one-stopper, which briefly gave them the lead, before slipping back. Beating a Liverpool has to be an achievement though, and Wilson will be very happy with 10 points. Rossi: Giodano 2 Domenicalli 1 The in-demand Giodano did another good job in Bahrain, but the circuit's lack of overtaking opportunities meant his clear pace couldn't be fully exploited, if he had made the move on Boston, I fancy Giodano could have fought for fifth. As it happens, it was only ninth, but he beat Domenicalli soundly once again, and is reasserting his dominance on the team. Peugeot: Ellington 1 Abott 1 Lesic 0 Fazio 1 It seemed bizarre that after only two races, Peugeot already had a brand new driver pairing. As it happened, neither of them could do anything to stop the slide, Fazio could have scored some minor points but a fuel error stopped him early on, Lesic never seemed to get going despite a good pass early on, and finished over 30 seconds behind the points. Westwood: Kinnumen 2 Boston 1 Kinnumen outqualified Boston, and for my money drove a better race too. Westwood again tried an ambitious three-stopper, but the circuit didn't lend itself to overtaking and Kinnumen was stuck. Boston drove well to take home some points, but Kinnumen drove better this weekend, and Westwood currently have a very fast driver on their hands. Fun: Dwyer 3 Agostino 1 Last week it was Agostino, this week it was Dwyer as Fun once again came within seconds of a podium. Both cars moved up during the race, and that will please their boss, but Dwyer responded to last week's exceptional performance from Agostino with a very good drive his own today. Downton: Powers 2 Thunder 1 Having started the season strongly, Thunder fell by the wayside, as Powers shone through today. A mistake in qualifying meant Thunder was always playing catch up, and a couple of point may have been possible but for a suspension failure. Even if he had scored some unlikely points, Powers would still be fully deserving of this week's point. Ingram: Campos 0 Milkovich 3 This is turning into a bit of a one-sided battle. Campos managed to find some form and outqualify his Russian team mate this week, but a poor start meant he never got near points, whereas Milkovich impressed again. The rookie made up for qualifying with a typically quick start and at one point it looked like he could have challenged a bit higher up. But I'm sure Ingram will be happy with another point. Force Australia: Alaniz/Nakumaya 1 Beyer 2 Despite Nakumaya's audacious opening lap pass, Beyer was the fastest driver this weekend. I was almost tempted to give it to the Japanese for the move alone, but half a second in quali, and a comfortable win in the race made it hard to ignore the young Dutchman. Warrior: Harding/Osterhagen 2 Kubat 1 Following the sad news regarding James Harding, Warrior had to field two rookies in a new car. Kubat seemed to struggle without his experience team mate, and was running behind him when he retired. Osterhagen drove well, and beat both Force Australias to boot. Star of the Race: Beckenbauer 1, Agostino 1, Powers 1 Overtake of the race:
1 Comment
Nic
7/5/2014 12:03:29 pm
Nice one :)
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