Brought to you by TJ13 Courtroom Reporter & Crime Analyst: Adam Macdonald (@adamac39)

[For those who are new to the page; TJ13 attempts to remove certain aspects of the race to give a fairer reflection of the race result.]

It’s always a shame when the most exciting day of a Formula One weekend is the Saturday qualifying session, but this was one such weekend.  The charge through the field from Rosberg was a sad reminder of just how dominant the Mercedes powertrain and chassis package really is. If anything, it will act as kick to the others to show how far they still must improve!

The dominant outfit this year

3 weeks of rest now seems appropriate in order to wash away the disappointment of a new race, which had promised so much.  Once again, Nico Rosberg messed up in a wheel to wheel situation where he could have clawed back some of the disadvantage. Now outside the 13 point window that would mean the title is still in his hands, Austin must see a change of form. When the champagne stops flowing celebrating the Constructors’ title, he must reevaluate what he does.  Why he panicked into the second turn of a 53 lap race is beyond me.

So what really happened?

Felipe Massa: The decision to put the Brazilian onto hard tyres for the start of the race looks extremely strange now.  It was even more strange to see Massa boxing, seemingly gambling on there being a safety car appearing.  Massa is moved forward to 6^th place.

Max Chilton: The Briton was forced to retire with an issue towards the right rear of the car after an emotional weekend for the team.  In Austin, he will have a teammate to work with which may at least help the team as they gather data for the off-season development.  Having run in last, he is reinstated there.

Kamui Kobayashi: Another unfortunate retirement which ultimately did not affect the running of the rest of the race.  Having been running in 20^th place at the time, he is reinstated back there.  Ericsson is finally starting to show some fight against his more experienced counterpart, so Austin will be an interesting test.

The Frenchman’s car lay dormant on his side of the garage

The Verdict
This leaves the revised results table looking like this:

Below, the revised World Drivers’ Championship:

*Those with 0 points will not be ordered

What they would have said

Had the predicted safety car arrived on cue the race would have been an entirely different matter. The lack of it, though it had been given odds of 1/4, made for a highly processional race.  The sympathetic tone David Coulthard took towards Ben Edwards as he tried to spice up the action spoke volumes.

With Williams missing Felipe Massa at the front the plaudits once again rested at the door of Valtteri Bottas.  3^rd place in the WCC seems all but decided which, in my opinion, rests the blame of the Ferrari failings firmly at the door of Kimi Raikkonen.  Had he been up to scratch or even slightly close to Alonso’s level of performance, he would justify the outrageous spending on his salary.

With Red Bull spending just $6 million next year on driver salaries, it begs the question of what is the point in spending copious amounts of money on drivers when they may not perform?  I would even go out on a limb to say Nico Hulkenberg would have done a far better job in a prancing horse than Kimi has.  Unless he improves, 2015 will surely be his final year in the sport.

Quote of the Day

Some bloke once wrote a book about something a long time ago. His name was Bill Shakespeare and the book was Much Ado About Nothing.

It said, “I wish my horse had the speed of your tongue.”

Of course, back in Shakespeare’s day, there was no Formula One (or even cars for that matter) so a horse was the closest thing to such speed. The tongue nowadays is aided by social media in what is said and how it spreads in just seconds.

I wish Formula One cars travelled as quickly as incorrect information did about the sport.  A weekend of misinformation leads to a lot of confused fans.