F1 Moments 2015 – Top 10

With 3 months to go for the 2016 season opener, Australian Grand Prix, we take a look at the top iconic moments in the 2015 F1 season, which were hard to ignore and were widely discussed because they were funny, tragic or dramatic.

1. Alonso’s mysterious crash in Barcelona

Before the season opening Australian F1 GP, Alonso’s McLaren hit the wall at Turn Three at around 135kmh on the final day of the first Barcelona test, which rendered him unconscious and admitted in the hospital for three days. As a result, Alonso could not race in the season opener.  McLaren F1 suggested that ‘a gush of powerful wind’ was responsible for this crash which later Alonso rebuffed by saying: “Even a hurricane would not move the car at that speed.” Since F1’s governing body, the FIA, didn’t release the findings from the investigation into the crash, it was fuelled that something was amiss about the crash. Will we ever know why the crash happened? Certainly not.

2. Vettel’s surprise win in Malaysia

Mercedes reaped maximum points from the season opening Australian Grand Prix, where they completed a perfect 1-2. Their victory was so dominant and one sided that the driver finishing third i.e. Sebastian Vettel was half a minute behind the two cars. In the post race interview with top 3 drivers, Nico Rosberg poked fun at his fellow countryman to be more competitive in the next race. It is often said “don’t say what you’ll regret” and this statement is something an F1 driver must never forget. Before the Malaysian GP, many commentators feared that lack of competition to Mercedes would lead to the sport being boring and one-sided. Their fears were put to bed when Ferrari executed a perfect two-stop strategy for Vettel , which resulted in a tearful and an emotional victory for the German. His surprise victory got praises from Hamilton and many leading news tabloids.

3. Mercedes’ horrible decision making

Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole position for the time in his career in Monaco. At the race weekend, Mercedes announced Hamilton’s contract extension until the end of 2018 season. As one would expect, Hamilton had a great start and led the race for most part of it until a late safety car came into play. On lap 64, Verstappen on fresh rubber ran into the back of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, which prompted a virtual safety car and then a safety car. Hamilton was about 26 seconds ahead of Rosberg at the time of accident. Mercedes decided to call Hamilton into the pits.

However, they made a miscalculation as a result of which Hamilton emerged in 3 position behind Rosberg and Vettel under the safety car. Hamilton was unable to pass Vettel and Rosberg on his fresher tyres in the dying stages. Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory because of a horrible blunder by the Mercedes Team. The pole which he called “incredibly special” turned into a sour embarrassment, acrimony and disgruntled disappointment. In the aftermath of the race, Paddy Lowe and Toto Wolff personally apologized to him for this fiasco. However, Hamilton handled this issue very well like a true sportsman by saying “We win together, we lose together.”

4.       Jules Bianchi’s emotional tribute

Jules Bianchi finally passed away nine months after sustaining serious head injuries during the Japanese Grand Prix in the 2014 season. He collided with a recovery vehicle in wet conditions at the Suzuka track. The promising young driver suffered a diffuse axonal injury and had been in a coma ever since. An exceptional talent, Bianchi, who raced for Marussia (now Manor), was a member of Ferrari’s young driver programme and was expected to become their next star, the man who could replace Kimi Raikkonen in the future.
Bianchi was the first driver to lose his life during a grand prix race weekend since the death of Ayrton Senna in May 1994 at San Marino. The F1  community paid an emotional tribute to the 25 year old by retiring car number 17 as a mark of respect to the promising young star. The Formula One drivers paid their tributes by forming a puddle around their 20 helmets on the tarmac 15 minutes before the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix. The sport has rarely been as saddened as it was on that day.

1. The error prone Williams team

The internet had its share of fun because of the Williams team. One such instance occurred in the Belgium Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas started the race in 3 position and ended up finishing 9 because of the tyre blunder by Williams pit team. Amid confusion at his first pit-stop, Bottas was sent back out on track with one Medium and three Soft tyres, resulting in a drive-through penalty.

The other hilarious yet dangerous instance occurred with the other driver of the team. Felipe Massa nearly ran over Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene while leaving pit lane in the Austrian Grand Prix practice session. Massa had to slam his brakes to avoid any major incident. Arrivabene and Massa laughed off the incident after the session was over.

6. Lewis Hamilton- The triple world champion

Lewis Hamilton became the second British driver to become a triple world champion after winning an exciting and a thrilling race at the US Grand Prix.  As a result, Hamilton became the first British driver to defend the world championship and also equal his childhood idol, Ayrton Senna’s record of three F1 world titles.

In a thriller, he kept the pressure on Rosberg and forced him into making a mistake on lap 48 and won the race in emphatic fashion. “This is the greatest moment of my life,” Hamilton told his team in the emotional moments after he crossed the line. Hamilton won the 2015 championship, having already won in 2008 and 2014. It was difficult for him to find words for his achievement. Hamilton was moved to tears.

1. Rosberg’s redemption

   

After a horrendous mistake at the Austin GP, which handed the Drivers’ Championship to his fierce rival Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg ended the 2015 season in fine form winning the remaining three races of the year after qualifying on pole in each race. He wrapped the season finale race in Abu Dhabi in a fine and dominant fashion and ended up denying Hamilton the record number of victories in a single season. Rosberg in his final podium interview of the 2015 season told  “I’m excited about how the end of the season went and next year — it can come any moment, it could start tomorrow if it were up to me, no problem. I don’t need any holidays.”

1. The happening Singapore Grand Prix

This was the first grand prix of the season which Mercedes could not dominate at all and were not on the podium. Mercedes had difficulties in the qualifying with proper tyre temperatures and started the race in the 3 row. Vettel went onto win the race where Lewis Hamilton retired for the first time in the season.

But the actual drama came in the 37 lap of the race when Vettel spotted a man taking a casual stroll on the track. He shouted in disbelief to his team about the situation. Safety car was deployed immediately. Thankfully, the man didn’t remain on the track for long and leapt the barriers to go to the other side and finally was escorted by the police officials. Also later in the closing stages of race, Max Verstappen defied team orders to let Carlos Sainz pass through which raised some eyebrows in the Toro Rosso garage.

9. McLaren drivers enjoying themselves

After a miserable season with McLaren F1, both the drivers decided to have some fun after a terrible qualifying session where both were eliminated in Q1 at the Interlagos track. After his car broke down in Q1, Alonso observed the proceedings soaking the sun on a chair by the track and posing for the cameras. Soon the images went viral on the social media with #PlacesAlonsoWouldRatherBe trending on Twitter as the image of the sunbathing Spaniard was cropped into numerous different scenes.

Having already posed for the cameras while sunbathing , Alonso then joined Button on the podium after their nightmarish qualifying session. Button told Sky Sports: “We have just been on the podium it has been a little while for both of us. I’m not sure if we will get in trouble for that but it was fun – the most fun I’ve had all weekend.” Perhaps, the most memorable moment of 2015 came at the expense of two Formula One legends having a very bad season.

10. Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez on podium

The 2015 season was fairly dominated by the Mercedes and the Ferrari teams. For a driver from any other team to be on the podium was a difficult task.

Romain Grosjean ended up taking the final podium place when Vettel’s rear tyre exploded on the penultimate lap of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Whereas the Mexican boy, Sergio Perez rode on his luck to end up 3 in a race full of twists and turns in Sochi, Russia. In the middle stages of the race, Perez was somewhat shielded by Daniel Ricciardo from Kimi Raikkonen’ Ferrari and Valtteri Bottas’ Williams, who were faster than him. In the penultimate lap of the race, he was passed by both Bottas and Raikkonen who later collided with each other in the final lap to hand the third place to the young Mexican.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ChOdJjytnA