Sunday 22 September 2013

Vettel continues to dominate in Singapore


Sebastian Vettel completely dominated under the lights in the Singapore Grand Prix. On Saturday he’d taken pole position, not even feeling the need for a second run in Q3 as despite Nico Rosberg getting close, his first time was good enough.

In the race he made a decent start, but Rosberg made an even better one, going inside into turn 1. There could have been a race, oh it came so close to being a race, at least for the first stint. But alas, Rosberg ran wide and Vettel swooped back into the lead and then obliterated the opposition.

He was 1.9 clear at the end of the first lap, four seconds clear after two laps. It was done, dusted, over. Vettel was in a class of his own. Not even a mid-race safety car could spoil his day. As many of his rivals pitted under the full course yellow, Vettel, Rosberg, Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton stayed out. Only Vettel could make this work. When the three behind pitted again they went back into the back, their pace insufficient to have pulled a gap.

Vettel monstered the Marina Bay circuit, two seconds a lap quicker than anyone else. It was a monumental performance, no one else could touch him. His engineer told him to get a gap, often they’re telling him to slow down, but when Vettel is let off the leash his speed is explosive. He came in for his final pit stop way ahead of Fernando Alonso who was making his tyres last from the safety car period.

As Webber, Rosberg and Hamilton fought back through the field, Vettel ran serenely at the front, tied up the loose ends, dotted the I’s and crossed the t’s, he was untouchable. It was one of the most impressive performances this year. Shame on those who keep on booing him on the podium too; it would be nice to have closer competition but it’s not his or the teams fault they keep on winning. He’s a good guy, with a strong desire to win, and a performance like today should be celebrated.

Yes, it would have been nice to have a race for victory, but the actual win was a demonstration of someone who maximised everything and was in a class of his own. If there were still any doubts about who will be crowned 2013 world champion, I think they’ve flown away in to the night sky.

Action in the pack

Behind Vettel there was a quite the action filled race going on especially towards the end. In the opening laps it was all about tracking the progress of Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified only 13th while suffering from a bad back. Despite this he made decent progress at the start and made a number of passes to move himself up the order.

It was when he came up to Jenson Button’s McLaren that progress slowed. But it was during the safety car period that it all kicked off. Daniel Ricciardo had qualified ninth but had dropped through the field at the start. He crashed on lap 25 blocking the track into turn 18. The front four stayed out while the likes of Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Sergio Perez, the Sauber pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez with Paul di Resta sandwiched between them, all stayed out.

When Webber and the Mercedes duo pitted they emerged behind this rabble and began to charge followed by a three stopping Felipe Massa. Webber had jumped Rosberg in the stops but the silver cars were soon on his tail, and they began to charge back up the back.

It looked like Button might have a chance to take McLaren’s first podium of the year, but with ten laps to go his tyres were crying, Kimi in the Lotus, always kind to its tyres made a fantastic move around the outside of Button to claim the final podium. It was a timely move because Webber and co were bearing down on them by up to three seconds a lap. However, once Kimi was ahead of the McLaren, the podium was his as his times improved greatly to keep the Red Bull at bay.

Alonso finished second after a great start that launched him from seventh to third, with the safety car interlude and the differing strategies, second was easily his. But he had no challenge for Vettel and without the safety car he’d have almost certainly been behind the Mercedes cars too. So the thoughts that Ferrari would suffer on a return to high down force tracks proved right. It’s again the genius of Alonso that has been relied upon to give them a respectable result and for the Spaniard after four years of trying, that simply isn't good enough anymore.

Kimi followed behind with a great little drive, while the Mercs of Rosberg and Hamilton followed behind in fourth and fifth, Rosberg probably should have had a podium though, but it’s not working for Mercedes at the moment. Hamilton has not had a good last couple of weekends, Rosberg is beginning to reassert himself, which is actually nice to see that he hasn't been crushed by what was actually a fantastic run of form by Hamilton.

Massa cruised up to sixth while Button and Perez dropped due to their dying tyres to seventh and eighth. It looked like it could have been a great race for McLaren at one point but again they flattered to deceive.

The Sauber’s looked good today, running pretty strongly during the race, with Esteban Gutierrez performing well this weekend particularly in qualifying where he made Q3. Hulkenberg though took the points for ninth, just unable to snatch a few more places from the struggling McLaren’s. Behind Adrian Sutil took the final point as Force India disappointed once again.

A bad day for…

Webber had charged comfortably into podium contention. He was never likely to catch Kimi, but he was certainly giving it a go when with just a few laps remaining his engineers came on the radio to tell him to slow and shift gears early. Heat was rising in the engine; a water leak terminated his progress on the very final lap while still just about in the points.

It got worse for Webber on what had been a drama filled day already. On the slowing down lap Alonso stopped to pick him up. By walking onto the track before all cars had returned to parc ferme he and Alonso for causing a dangerous situation were reprimanded. As it was his third reprimand he will suffer a ten place grid penalty in Korea.

di Resta was showing great form despite Force India once again under performing. With a bad qualifying of just 17th place, he was charging into points contention when he lost it and ploughed into the barriers with just a few laps remaining. Not the sort of result you want when you’re looking to move up the grid. Especially when Hulkenberg is performing so well right now, it’s also unlikely we’re going to see Force India being able to challenge without a bit of luck for the rest of the year, so this was an opportunity missed.

Perhaps the most disappointed man should be Romain Grosjean in the Lotus. He’d qualified a superb third, but had then dropped back at the start to fifth. Still he was in a good position as the race progressed. Only an air leak from in the engine pneumatic system prevented him from going on to record a podium his Lotus team thought was a certainty.

His reaction on the radio was heart breaking for him. He’s managed to combine his pace with consistency in the last few races but for various reasons the results just haven’t come. Not yet anyway. Still, he’s going in the right direction to show that he can lead this team next year.

The race stewards

The stewards again just messed up this weekend with some of their decisions. The reprimand to Webber and Alonso seemed overly harsh in what was just a nice sporting thing to do, even if Hamilton said he did nearly hit the Ferrari when it had stopped. Webber should not have activated a grid penalty on such an incident.

Particularly bad and a decision that seems unfathomable is when they told Hulkenberg to give a place back to Perez when the McLaren driver had not even owned said place. It was bizarre. The two were fighting up behind the a Williams when Perez dived down the inside of the Sauber running deep into turn seven. Hulkenberg then ran over the kerb to avoid contact. He had not slipped behind the McLaren in this manoeuvre nor had he gained an advantage by running slightly off the track. By doing what he did he avoided an accident thereby saving both their races.

It was a particularly poor decision, it would be nice to have some consistency. An incident earlier in the race when Hamilton had to give a place back to Massa was fine because it was clear cut, Hamilton had cut a corner which resulted in him gaining a place. Therefore it’s obvious to give the place back.
Just because Hulkenberg ran wide off the track and maintained his place isn’t gaining an advantage unless you count avoiding an accident as something to be penalised, strange.

Onwards but the fight is over

It was kind of like reverting to type this race. Vettel won, Alonso ground out a podium, Kimi charged from a poor quali to a podium. Only the Mercedes didn’t quite achieve their pole position. It was a good race, but the hope of a title challenge is over.


This time last year Vettel won in Singapore then recorded a further three race victories in a row. The way Red Bull look right now he could well win the last six races of the season. As impressive as that would be, let’s hope for the odd challenge before the year is out to create some fireworks.



Final Result:

1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull
2. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari
3. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus
4. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
5. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
6. Felipe Massa - Ferrari
7. Jenson Button - McLaren
8. Sergio Perez - McLaren
9. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber
10. Adrian Sutil - Force India
11. Pastor Maldonado - Williams
12. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber
13. Valtteri Bottas - Williams
14. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso
15. Mark Webber - Red Bull - Engine
16. Giedo van der Garde - Caterham
17. Max Chilton - Marussia
18. Jules Bianchi - Marussia
19. Charles Pic - Caterham
20. Paul di Resta - Force India - Accident
R. Romain Grosjean - Lotus - Pneumatics
R. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso - Accident

all photo's from autosport.com

Friday 20 September 2013

Ferrari vs McLaren: The Greatest Rivalry


The Ron Howard directed movie ‘Rush’ about the 1976 Formula 1 season depicts the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda driving for McLaren and Ferrari respectively. It’s a great film, the on track action is exhilarating, and the performances great, particularly that by Daniel Brühl who plays Lauda.

But this isn’t a review of the film, great though it is and well worth seeing, this is about looking at a few more of those McLaren Ferrari rivalries, because in many ways they have come to define the sport. How appropriate that a Hollywood Formula 1 film should feature the two biggest names of the sport. These two teams have been competing now for 50 years; theirs is one of the most enduring conflicts in Formula 1 history and always gives that extra edge when they’re competing for the top prize.

1974 was when they first duelled properly for the title. Clay Regazzoni missing out for the Scuderia by three points as Emerson Fittipaldi took the Woking teams first drivers title and their first constructors crown too.

Niki Lauda hit back for Ferrari the following year trouncing Fittipaldi, then came the famous ’76 season in which Hunt and Lauda emerged as motor racing greats and firmly established the McLaren and Ferrari rivalry in the veins of the sport. Lauda’s come back from almost being burnt alive has to go down as the most incredible piece of heroism the Formula 1 world has ever seen. While Hunt's drive in Japan to secure third and the title in the final race was mesmeric too.

There then followed a period where the teams never really competed on an equal footing despite some brief scuffles such as Ferrari’s Michele Alboreto offering a vague sort of challenge to McLaren’s Alain Prost in 1985 . However, here in chronological order are some of the best McLaren and Ferrari scraps.

1990


This started out as an Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost/McLaren vs McLaren war, but when Prost left to join Ferrari, the battle was joined between the two teams once again. Much has been written about the intense rivalry between these two greats. Needless to say it was never going to end well. Resentment and bitterness had been boiling away for well over a year by the time we reached the start of the 1990 season. 

All season long they battled, Senna starting off the best, but Prost steadily catching him until they reached the penultimate race in Japan. We all know what happened, as Senna deliberately crashed into Prost at well over 120mph to secure a title that looked like it was slipping away. 

1990 was a political/conspiratorial drama that was fuelled by a years worth of personal feuding that played itself out on the track in the most thrilling and ultimately dangerous way.

1998 – 2000

After years in the doldrums Michael Schumacher had lifted Ferrari once again to become title challengers. They were surely about to overcome Williams and finally take the title for the first time since 1979. They didn't figure on Adrian Newey leaving Williams and moving to McLaren to work more of his aero magic.


McLaren were dominant in 1998 and Mika Hakkinen had come of age. This was a friendlier and more respectful rivalry between the Finn and Schumacher, but it had its intensity too. Ferrari fought back after a poor start and Schumacher managed to take the title to the last race of the season in Japan. 

He stalled and a charge back was thwarted by a puncture, Hakkinen dominated the race and took McLaren back to the front for the first time since Senna won in 1991. Ferrari meanwhile were still waiting.

In ’99 Schumacher broke his leg and I think Hakkinen and McLaren believed they had it won. That season turned into less of a McLaren vs Ferrari battle and more into a Hakkinen vs himself battle. The lack of Schumacher seemed to dull him, and he had to fight hard to not let Ferrari’s number 2 Eddie Irvine snatch the title away. Another last race battle kept Hakkinen as Champion.


Finally it all came right again for the Scuderia. Schumacher dominated the early stages of 2000 for the Scarlet team, but a mid-season slump allowed Mika back in, and he was leading the title chase with three rounds to go. Schuey struck back though, and at the penultimate race, again in Japan, he could wrap up the title. 

What followed was a performance by two drivers who were just on a completely different level than the rest of the field. They tore away, and it was only a spit of rain that turned it in Schumacher’s favour to end 21 years of hurt for Ferrari; a tremendous way to win.

2003

Schumacher had now gone onto dominate the next couple of years, but a new Finnish superstar Kimi Raikkonen had arrived on the scene and was showing just how good he could be. Despite taking only one win to Schumacher's six he took the then five time champion to the last race in Japan. 

Kimi went full tilt at his first chance of glory while it looked as if Schumacher crumbled; eventually though second wasn't enough and Schumacher managed to just about scrape a point to secure his sixth crown.

2007


Kimi was now at Ferrari but this season was more about McLaren vs McLaren again, as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton went head to head. It was a messy season with the spy-gate affair going off and Alonso falling out with the team, it was a drama you couldn’t take your eyes off. So inward was their battle they forgot about Raikkonen who stole the championship from them by one point at the final race in Brazil. McLaren and Ferrari took a clean sweep of victories that year.

2008


This was an equally dramatic season as the one before, but it came down to Lewis Hamilton for McLaren vs Felipe Massa for Ferrari. They both had their share of glory and of woes, but this season between the two teams was a friendly battle, but no less intense. 

In fact 2008 was perhaps the most dramatic finale to a Formula 1 season ever. Massa had won his home race in Brazil superbly and with Hamilton lying sixth as they’d entered the last lap, he’d also won the championship. But the rain was falling, Toyota driver Timo Glock had stayed out on dry tyres, and Lewis was catching catching catching. On the last corner of the last lap Lewis passed him for fifth and so won the crown in the most amazing way. 

The Lost Years

Since then we haven’t had a good McLaren vs Ferrari battle. We should have done, in 2010 Lewis was involved in the title fight to the last race with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber as well as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso but he never had a chance. In 2012 too Lewis should have been a challenger, but his team sadly let him down, an Alonso/Ferrari against Hamilton/McLaren would have been spectacular as some of their all too brief on-track battles have since demonstrated.

But sometimes other teams come to the fore, Red Bull being the latest, but soon McLaren and Ferrari will recommence battle and the oldest rivalry in the sport will be fighting for the grand prize once again.


Wednesday 18 September 2013

The Singapore Forecast


The Singapore Grand Prix is one of the most spectacular looking races of the year; it is the only full night race on the calendar, the track lit up to create a bright strip of tarmac that weaves it’s way around the Marina Bay. It’s a beautiful sight as the cars thrash their way round within millimetres of the walls flashing past the contrasting old and new architecture of the city. It’s a perfect place for these machines, and Singapore is now firmly established as one of the centre pieces of the year.

The weather forecast for the race is rather grim. It’s usually quite warm out there, at the moment temperatures are due to be around 31C but there’s always a threat of rain despite no actual wet race so far in its five year history. Friday and Saturday are due to have some stormy times while Sunday is meant to just be cloudy.

It’ll be interesting to see what the conditions are under the lights if there is some H2O spillage, there’s often been a worry about the glare from the lights on a wet track but we’ve not had the opportunity to see just how bad it might be.

There are two DRS zones which will aid overtaking, while Pirelli have brought with them the medium and super-soft compounds. That’s two stages difference, so I imagine we’ll see quite a big difference in performance between the tyres which will certainly provide some intrigue with the strategy in a race which can last nearly two hours.

Pit lane time is high so they’ll want to minimise the stops, with perhaps getting rid of the super-softs early and depending on the mediums degradation go with a one or two stop. Alternatively drivers outside the top 10 might leave the super-softs till late in the race for a last gasp charge. With the heat and humidity as well, the drivers are certainly going to be working hard on Sunday night.

As is usual with most street circuits the down force levels are set to maximum here. The last two high down force tracks have been won by Mercedes. After rather timid showings at the low down force tracks in Belgium and Italy, I think Mercedes will once again pose a considerable threat for victory. Both drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have gone well at Singapore before, even if overall the results don’t look overly convincing.

If you’re looking for the most likely challengers to the Red Bull steamroller then Mercedes are it. I can certainly see the Mercs getting pole position with either driver, although Lewis does seem to have the edge at the moment.

I’ll be very interested to see how Ferrari do now we go back to higher/medium down force tracks. They performed well in the past two races but was that merely down to them having a decent low down force package? For Fernando Alonso’s sake I hope not. He’s become frustrated with the team despite his public out pouring’s of affection. I think we’ll see a great drive from Alonso, as is often usual, but even more so now that Kimi Raikkonen has been announced as his team mate for next year. He’ll want to show them just how special a talent he is to a team who aren’t so in love with him any more.

Look out for Felipe Massa too. The pressure is off now in terms of his survival at Ferrari and I believe we could well be in for a few highlight performances from him over the next few races. He still wants to race on and what better way than perhaps grabbing a win. He was dominating this race in 2008 before a pit stop incident, he can do that again, he’s still capable.

Since the summer break Lotus have gone off the boil, a little, well a lot like last year when their performance dipped and they seemed to struggle to even make the podium at times. This time Kimi hasn’t even managed a point. Admittedly due to abnormal issues but still… Kimi had great race pace as usual in Italy, and I’m sure Lotus will grind out a few more decent results before the Finn leaves. However with their qualifying still suspect I can’t see Lotus genuinely challenging for a win unless they are on the first two rows. With a wet qualifying in prospect perhaps we’ll see Lotus have a chance to throw a surprise as can be applied to every other team.

Of course let’s not delude ourselves completely that this is going to be a tight tough race between the title contenders. At the moment there aren’t any real challengers at all to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel (with the exception perhaps of a distant red car). Yes, we shouldn’t forget our three time world champion. He’s won in Singapore for the last two years; in fact last year sparked a four race winning streak.

And this year there’s only been a gap of two whole races where he hasn’t won. Actually in general Vettel’s won every other race, and here we were thinking it was a close season when in reality almost under the radar Vettel’s been dominating.

Now he’s won two consecutive races people have come to realise that there might not be a real chance for anyone to come back at him now. Of course Vettel could retire this weekend and Alonso win which would bring the gap down to just over a race win of points. It would then look very much like game on again; but that’s living in an unreality bubble like when you thought Alonso was never going to lose his 48 point lead over Vettel last year… Stranger things have happened, but no, Vettel and most importantly Red Bull, are too good to let this go. He’ll be up there this weekend, he might not win, equally he could win, but overall he’ll be quietly dominating.

I’d still like people to keep a watch out for Esteban Gutierrez; he’s been very quick the last two races, and at some point he’ll put it together at the right time so people will notice. His Sauber team mate Nico Hulkenberg is the main driver in the shop window now. With Kimi going to Ferrari next year, there’s a tasty seat at Lotus which should fit perfectly for Nico. The only thing is, I’m not sure Sauber are capable of delivering again this weekend.

Force India will continue to suffer to the detriment of Paul di Resta. He’s missing from the list of drivers who could potentially move up. It’s not been a good last few races for the Scot.

Toro Rosso are the form midfield team. They really are about the sixth best out there at the moment and 
are definite points contenders at every race. Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne are pushing each other, and they’re both equally capable of getting a decent result. I think this could be a good weekend for them both. Toro Rosso should at least be targeting McLaren this weekend.

My final forecast for the race will be that Jules Bianchi will once again beat Max Chilton. I think that’s a fairly safe one.


So I thoroughly expect this race to be a lot closer than the preceding two, especially between the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers. With the prospect of a rain affected weekend and the likelihood of there being more than one safety car period, the Singapore race is set to once again light up the Formula 1 season.


all photo's taken from autosport.com

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Kimi Raikkonen to take on Alonso at Ferrari


Kimi Raikkonen is about to be announced as Felipe Massa’s replacement at Ferrari and will join Fernando Alonso in probably the strongest driver line up in Formula 1. He will sign a one year contract for 2014 with an option for 2015 according to the BBC.

Kimi would have preferred to remain with Lotus, the team is pretty much set up around him, but assurances on budget and technical personnel have been slow in coming. Lotus boss Eric Boullier says he’s hoping these assurances can be provided next week but it’s all come too late.

Ferrari already has everything in place including the recently acquired James Allison, former technical director at Lotus. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to step away from Lotus yet, but in the new era of Formula 1 next year, resources are going to matter, and not many teams have more money than Ferrari.

Kimi won’t care that he’s partnering Alonso, but I’m pretty sure Alonso will feel just a little bit peeved that a driver with the status of Kimi, and the last Ferrari champion no less, is being parachuted into the team.

Looking at Kimi and Fernando’s results against Felipe, it is easy to think that Ferrari believe they are getting 
a driver who will be a decent and more consistent back up. But let’s not delude ourselves here. Felipe was a different driver when he partnered Kimi. Just as Kimi seemed to lose a bit of motivation after he won the title despite some still very strong performances.

No, Alonso knows that Kimi is a threat and we know how he deals with threats in his own team. Usually by throwing his toys out of the pram if things don’t go his way; he already appears frustrated with his team in recent times as the success they are meant to have has failed to come.

Although he does seem to handle things better now perhaps the rumour of Alonso returning to Lotus (formally Renault where he won his two titles) isn’t so bizarre after all. The Spaniard works best when everything is focused around him and even if he has the beating of the Finn, he'll be aware some of the focus will be taken away from him. For Kimi’s part he works best when he can just turn up and drive. He won’t be able to be as casual at Ferrari as he has been at Lotus.


An Alonso/Kimi line up then? It’s not something Alonso will like but he’ll put on a brave face. And can you imagine Kimi’s response if he’s told to move over? Kimi isn't a political animal, he'll just want to get on with it and know he has the same opportunities. If he gets beaten, so be it. Alonso won't operate like that, and if he gets beaten regularly, he'll get frustated. Ferrari are a two car team again, there’s potential fireworks from at least one side of the garage. 

all photo's from autosport.com

Massa to leave Ferrari with head held high


Felipe Massa tonight announced that he is to leave Ferrari at the end of the 2013 season after eight years racing for the Scuderia to be replaced by Kimi Raikkonen. He should leave with his head held high, because despite recent years of comparative un-competitiveness, his career at was a remarkable one which almost saw him claim the world championship.

Massa came into Formula 1 as a wild driver. First at Sauber in 2002, he had great speed but too often wasted it or over drove the car. He was test driver at Ferrari in 2003 before heading back to the Sauber race seat for two more years of steadily improving performances.

In 2006 he partnered Michael Schumacher, out qualifying and out racing him on a few occasions, before Kimi Raikkonen joined the team a year later. Everyone thought Massa would get blown away by the Finn, that he’d just be a support driver.

Not a bit of it. Massa is an emotional driver and he needed someone to help him. His combination with his race engineer Rob Smedley is one of the most endearing pairings in Formula 1. Smedley helped provide Massa with a stability and almost psychological guidance that focused him on the job and didn’t let him get down when things didn’t go his way.

But races fell to him, in 2007 he scored three wins, but he wasn’t quite ready for a full on title attack as Kimi grabbed the glory. In 2008 he drove even better, outperforming a misfiring Kimi to become the lead Ferrari driver. Yes there were still bad moments, but he recovered from them and kept coming back. At times, when he lead away from pole, you'd be forgiven for thinking the race was won. He won the final race and was on the verge of history.

He was literally one corner from taking the title in Brazil, but suffered heart break as Lewis Hamilton grabbed the place he needed on the final lap to take it away from him. The memories of two lost victories through no fault of his own will surely haunt him.

But his composure and dignity as he took to the podium showed what a great sportsman he was, surely his time would come? But for some drivers you only get one shot. In my opinion that shouldn’t have been the case for Massa. He was still on an upward curve and despite Ferrari producing a poor car for 2009, Massa showed class and should have won the Chinese Grand Prix if it hadn’t been for a mechanical problem.

A loose spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn car in Hungary hit Massa in the head fracturing his skull, and I’m afraid to say he just hasn’t been the same driver since. I have no doubt that despite the phenomenon that is Fernando Alonso, Massa would have been able to give him a much better run for his money than has been the case.

It’s not just that though, there have been occasional flashes of his speed, but nothing as consistent as he was becoming. The ‘Fernando is faster than you’ team order in Germany when Massa gave up the win cemented him as the number two, and he’s suffered for it.

It’s ironic that Kimi, the driver he ended up beating is to replace him. However, this need not be the end for Felipe in Formula 1. I think that take him out of the pressure cooker environment of Ferrari and place him in a smaller team could allow him to thrive once again.

Sadly though, the decision to end their association is the right one. If anything he should have gone last year, perhaps then he might have secured a stronger drive than he might now get. But that doesn’t mean his career at Ferrari isn’t something to be massively proud of.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Sunday 8 September 2013

Time to call him champion? Vettel wins in Italy


Round 12 of the Formula 1 World championship was held at the fastest track of them all; Monza, Italy. It had to be the race where Sebastian Vettel’s title rivals finally pushed the Red Bull driver down the order and took a sizeable chunk out of his points lead. At the very least, it had to be a race he didn’t win. Perhaps the forecast of rain could help mix it up too.

In the end rain stayed away, Vettel took pole position and ran away into the distance for a relatively easy win, despite a few tyre issues early on and late race worries about his gearbox (which might be a concern for Singapore as it still has to last that race). Vettel now holds a 53 point advantage over his nearest challenger Fernando Alonso with only 175 points up for grabs. Unless a disastrous streak of form afflicts the German, this is surely the championship over.

Away from the line Vettel squeezed his team mate and fellow front row starter Mark Webber and as the Ferrari’s began to swarm around them into the first corner he locked up hurting his right front tyre. This hardly hurt him at all. Felipe Massa had out qualified Alonso and made a fantastic start from fourth to second but could not hold onto the Red Bull.

As is almost always the case when he’s leading, Vettel pushed to open up a gap and void the DRS zones, and from then on he wasn’t in any real trouble. He kept the pace up, set the odd fastest lap, and more than anything controlled the race to the finish. It is at a stage now where if Vettel gets in the lead on the opening lap you’re almost resigned to him being guaranteed the win.

And so it proved, he reeled off the laps with the television camera’s barely noticing him, and surprisingly took his first back to back wins of the season. Next race is in Singapore where he started a roll of four wins on the bounce last year that set him on his way to the 2012 title. It’ll have to be the complete opposite if this championship is going to stay alive any longer.

Title challengers

It’s wrong to call them title challengers anymore, especially in the cases of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. Lewis did not have a good weekend. He failed to get out of Q2 after running wide at the final turn Parabolica, then at the same corner he was rudely blocked by his former friend Adrian Sutil which ensured his pole streak was ended and he lined up 12th.

He certainly had great speed on the medium tyre, but first he started off on the hard compound on which he made limited early progress, but was looking to go longer than his medium shod rivals. Unfortunately for Lewis, a slow puncture forced him on to a two stop strategy, so despite tremendous pace and some lovely moves he still could only end up ninth with just two points for his efforts.

Admittedly he ran shorter stints than most on his tyres but yet again one of Vettel’s rivals didn’t have it all come together despite looking to have the pace to challenge and now finds himself over three race wins of points behind, which is still a better position than Kimi

The perennial story of Kimi’s season is one of qualifying off the pace but racing with the speed to challenge for victory if only he’d started further up. Another championship challenger to fall in Q2, he started in 11th and made a charging start, right into the back of Sergio Perez’s McLaren forcing the Finn to pit for a new nose at the end of the first lap.

From there he set regular fastest laps, but couldn’t quite manage to force himself back into the points, finishing only 11th. Another wasted weekend, his second with no gift of points, and now we can confirm definitively that he and Lewis are no longer championship rivals.

Vettel need fear no one but he still at least needs to offer a glance over at Alonso. Despite his calm outward appearance in media interviews, the lack of success or a car that consistently challenges really looks to be getting to the Spaniard.

In qualifying when Ferrari’s slip streaming team tactics failed to deliver the desired effect, Alonso was radioed to sarcastically say in Italian ‘geniuses’ although Italian journalists have interpreted it as a more scornful ‘idiots’. Something that is sure not to go down too well with the teams hierarchy.

But then what can they do? On race day Alonso demonstrated once more just how much Ferrari need him. A superbly executed move on Webber into the second chicane, as he held on round the outside to then claim the inside line was a joy and he soon made his way past Massa to line up second.

They tried to run longer than Vettel at the first stops although it just left him further back, but despite this it was still second place at the finish. Whatever he did today there wasn’t much hope, and it was enough for him to manage to hold off a fighting Webber to the line.

I’m sure we’ll hear more about the radio traffic Alonso directed towards his team but it increasingly looks like his mind is returning to destructive ways that occasionally affected his time at Renault and certainly did so at McLaren. I hope he can hold it all together as if Ferrari can continue in this form at the higher down force tracks that are coming he is the last hope in keeping this title race alive.

A stand out performance and other noteworthy drives

Nico Hulkenberg’s position in Formula 1 is remarkably under threat. He is highly rated but as top line seats look to be locked up and Sauber try to keep themselves in business he could well find himself without a drive next year.

Hopefully this is an unlikely scenario as this weekend he was superb. He qualified an amazing third and managed to not fall away in the race. He kept pace with the front runners and was actually only 10 seconds behind the race winner at the end as he secured a fine fifth.

Perhaps this is the start of a rise in performance from the Sauber team and this can only be a good thing as Hulkenberg looks to secure a drive higher up the grid. Ferrari is the most likely destination if they don’t retain Massa, although Kimi is still rumoured for the Italian job. Whatever happens, in a world where pay drivers are increasing again, there still needs to be room for driver talent to shine more than money and Hulkenberg certainly has that to offer.

Mark Webber and Felipe Massa had decent drives today. Webber got his first podium at Monza, perhaps he should have had second but he didn’t quite have the straight line speed to get himself back ahead of Alonso who had earlier damaged the Aussie’s front wing which won’t have helped his cause.

Massa ran strongly in the early stages, only losing out to Webber in the pit stops. A strong fourth not far behind his team mate is about as good a job application as he’ll be able to manage with the equipment at his disposal.

Mercedes didn’t have the best of weekends, what with Lewis’ struggles Nico Rosberg’s quiet run to sixth place is a little bit of consolation. He qualified in sixth, he raced there and he finished there. He didn’t much look like going forward, nor did he look like he’d go backwards. It was a fairly solitary drive.

Daniel Ricciardo looked to justify his promotion to Red Bull for next year with a strong drive from seventh to seventh. As his team mate Jean-Eric Vergne’s engine decided to die, Ricciardo held off attacks from both McLaren’s and Romain Grosjean’s Lotus which followed him home in eighth.

Jenson Button clung onto the final point and later admitted the gearing just wasn’t long enough in top gear for them to threaten to pass. He held off Kimi, but his team mate Perez dropped out of the points to finish up 12th. Not quite the 50th anniversary they'd have liked for a team of their standard.

The other Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez set some quick laps and climbed up the field to 13th from 16th, if only he could put an entire weekends performance together then he could end up with a point.

Force India continue to struggle in the second half of the season, Adrian Sutil was nowhere while Paul di Resta left his braking too late on the opening lap to clatter into the back of Grosjean, but only take himself out of the race. Not happy days at the Silverstone based team.

Leaving Europe to the Far East

As I mentioned earlier Singapore was the trigger to fire Vettel towards his 
third world crown, could it be his downfall this time? Doubtful, Vettel is too good of a driver in too good of a car to let this go now. Alonso may play at keeping it alive but it’s going to take a miracle to come back from this now.

I have no problem with a driver consistently winning the title, it would just be nice if the other teams and drivers would perhaps raise their game enough to make it a closer contest. As it is, we can only sit and marvel at just what a great job Vettel and Red Bull are and have been doing.

Anyway the night race at Singapore is only two weeks away. Perhaps best not to look at is a part of the championship, but as a title in its own right now. Who can win the Singapore title? It’ll be down to who’s got it on the day.

Final Result

1. Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull
2. Fernando Alonso – Ferrari
3. Mark Webber – Red Bull
4. Felipe Massa – Ferrari
5. Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber
6. Nico Rosberg – Mercedes
7. Daniel Ricciardo – Toro Rosso
8. Romain Grosjean – Lotus
9. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
10. Jenson Button – McLaren
11. Kimi Raikkonen – Lotus
12. Sergio Perez – McLaren
13. Esteban Gutierrez – Sauber
14. Pastor Maldonado – Williams
15. Valtteri Bottas – Williams
16. Adrian Sutil – Force India
17. Charles Pic – Caterham
18. Giedo van der Garde – Caterham
19. Jules Bianchi – Marussia
20. Max Chilton – Marussia
R. Jean-Eric Vergne – Toro Rosso – Transmission
R. Paul di Resta – Force India - Accident

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Wednesday 4 September 2013

The Italian Forecast


The last European race of the year has already arrived, and it’s always a fantastic time to return to the home of Ferrari and the fastest track in Formula 1. It's also the shortest race of the year with the race often taking 80 minutes or less over it's 53 laps.

As the season got underway again two weeks ago in Belgium there was hope that the championship battle was about to be reignited as the combined forces of Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus battled to push Red Bull down the order.

That hope was quickly put down by the sheer ease with which Sebastian Vettel won at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the two tracks Red Bull had spoken about as an Achilles’ heel. The other was Monza, so on that evidence are we to fear that Vettel is about to crush any remaining optimism?

There is hope of an interesting race this weekend that could upset the odds. There are two DRS zones again, with the Red Bull notorious for not quite having the top speeds, they’ll be even more vulnerable to attack. The tyre compounds being brought to the track are the medium and hard which should present minimal problems in terms of overt degradation, but that may well be irrelevant. The weather is for a sunny Friday, a cloudy Saturday and then a storm looks to be brewing for the main event. Could we have our first wet race of the year?

It would be nice to get the wet weather skills out, it always creates an exciting spectacle with so many drivers with great feel in the rain it would be the most open race of the year, and perhaps the most likely chance of a McLaren victory; both Jenson Button and Sergio Perez have shown their prowess in slippery conditions and what a result that would be on the teams 50th anniversary.

That’s one possibility for defeating the Red Bulls. The other is that Monza is very different to Spa. Italy may be a low down force track like Belgium but Monza it is all about the long straights and mostly slow corners whereas Belgium is full of fast corners which bring out the best in the Red Bulls aerodynamics.

Ferrari looked stronger in a low down force set up and without the fast corners, any advantage the Red Bulls have shouldn’t show up as much. Mercedes too will be looking to put there pace in a straight line to good use. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised to see two silver and two red cars make up the first two rows this weekend.

I don’t think Red Bull won’t be competitive but I do see their rivals’ managing to string out the belief this title is still up for grabs for just a few races longer. Vettel will no doubt be a podium contender by the end of the day though, it’s just how this seasons going. Having said rain could mix it up, let’s not forget Vettel’s first victory came at Monza in the pouring rain when he just drove away from the opposition in his Toro Rosso. If Red Bull do struggle for speed in the dry then rain could be just what they need.

So let’s make a few other quick predictions for the weekend ahead:

Lewis Hamilton to take pole position; that’s an easy one I think, five in a row isn’t unlikely at the moment, but Nico Rosberg is surely due to remind everyone that he can be just as fast too.

Fernando Alonso, come what may, will be fighting for victory this weekend. I expect him to qualify higher up and he makes things happen and will be determined to drag it out just a bit longer. However, once the season moves back to medium and higher down force tracks we’ll see if there improvement is sustained for real.

Kimi Raikkonen’s potential title tilt will come to an end this weekend. It already looks highly unlikely after his Belgian retirement but I don’t see Lotus managing to grind out a victory at a track where Mercedes and Ferrari should come to the fore. They are bringing a longer wheelbase car which they hope will help, but it’s doubtful that’ll be enough. They will be encouraged though that their lead driver looks set to stay.

Daniel Ricciardo will put the performance of his year in. He’s finally been confirmed as the next Australian to partner Vettel at Red Bull for 2014. The pressure is off for now, he can still fly a little under the radar for the rest of the season; it’s time now to show everyone just why they hired him. Hopefully he won’t do what Perez did last year when he was confirmed at McLaren and not score for the rest of the year.

Force India to sadly fall further back. Spa was meant to be their track, but after a great opportunistic qualifying they fell back in the race and didn’t look competitive. If the Toro Rosso’s hadn’t qualified out of position they wouldn’t have scored any points.

Look out for Esteban Gutierrez as well. The final result in Belgium didn’t show it, but he showed a great turn of speed and looks to be improving.

Final prediction is I believe this could be the most open race of the year. Red Bull is always competitive, Mercedes and Ferrari should be up there, Lotus could always throw up a surprise and if it rains, then it could just be magic for someone else. We need a good race, just to keep us fooled that this championship isn’t sewn up already.



all photo's taken from autosport.com