Breaking News - Menstrual Maldonado in at Lotus

For an extended version of this article, click here.

It appears Lotus have signed Maldonado for a three year deal after talks with Nico Hulkenberg broke down.

source: http://pitlanetalk.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/pastor-maldonado-signs-for-lotus-for-2014/

I had called this on Twitter a while back, and now that it's happened I wish I was wrong. Hulkenberg despite his commitment issues is far more deserving based on this year alone for a drive. I know Lotus have struggled for cash  this year but signing Maldonado to me seems desperate.

One thing's for sure, and not one person on this planet will argue with me:

He's no bloody Kimi Raikkonen.

Various Bits & Bobs (2)

Concorde Agreement

After months of back and forth between teams, Bernie and TV chiefs all agreed to improve safety, a new finance structure and the agreement from all parties over a new penalty system.

The deal runs from now until 2020 so we can safely say our beloved sport is good to go, go, go for another while.

Let's just hope by then someone puts an end to Red Bull. Not literally...




22 Races in 2014? Nathan Says:

Piss off. 22 Grand Prix weekends? No absolutely not what a disaster of an idea. I love Formula 1, it is a huge part of my life, whenever it isn't on I do feel a little emptiness and boredom, but 22 races is a dangerous amount of Grand Prix weekends.

The world's economy is still recovering, some more slowly than others. Take this factor and put it with rising costs in Formula 1, we will see that the smaller teams especially will find it increasingly hard to compete in Formula 1. One guy has said to me (sarcastically of course) that Formula 1 couldn't live without Caterham or Marussia. He was a dick to be quite frank but what about Toro Rosso? Then Force India and we all know Sauber and Williams are struggling for cash. Imagine a season without Williams on the grid?

The current stranglehold that Vettel and Red Bull have over Formula 1 is disturbing, people who don't follow the sport have started to ask me 'isn't it boring with one guy winning all the races?' Hell yes it is, why would you want more races where Vettel can run away with it again? Less races, less chances of this happening.

I know you can't structure a calendar just to stop one team and one driver, but don't add races where it's going to hinder the situation.

There are too many events in far out countries, and not enough fans attending them. Bahrain, Korea, Abu Dhabi and especially India have very disappointing turn outs. Cut them along with the New Jersey track, Mexico and maybe Malaysia (like it but I think it has run its course) and we have an okay number of races. Glad to see Austria back though.

What's great though is that Christian Horner is against it, and we all know that him, Newey and the Newey driving the car will stamp their feet until they get their way.

F1 2013 Video Game

I've had all the Codemaster F1 games since the first one for the Wii and every year I've noticed vast improvements over the last. This years installment has been the best so far.

The AI are so aggressive and smart, it is unreal. In my first race, Bottas hounded me for P8 which was incredible. And in every event in either qualifying or the race I have had an incident with one or the other McLaren, with Perez bringing out red flags after a violent crash.

It's only a video game and I'm talking about it like it was an actual race. The addition of classic F1 cars is absoutely fantastic, each car has their own individual traits and characteristics. Tyre wear is the exact same in the game as in real life, either look after them or prepare to lose positions fast.

I strongly recommend buying this game, must have for any fans.

Korean Grand Prix

Lots of people have problems with this circuit, it's one I don't mind watching. Of course it is an Asian track, therefore Vettel had it won before he jumped on a plane but unfortunately the key focal points were negatives.

The marshals were unresponsive to a fire from Mark Webber's car, resulting in the chassis being destroyed. They had to build a brand new car in a few days for FP1 in Japan. They should do what Abu Dhabi done in 2009, bring in British marshal's to train the locals properly.

The other talking point was the low turnout and possible exclusion from next year. Whilst I like the track, I won't care if it's not featured next year, but it is a shame when fairly decent tracks are omitted for disaster tracks like Singapore and this stupid New Jersey track.

Various Bits & Bobs (1)

Hi guys, back at long last, it's been a while right? Instead of just getting ripped in to the latest news and stuff, I'm gonna just do a quick brief of little bits of news, everything from short Grand Prix summaries to the new Formula 1 game. I hope you enjoy!

Rush

The highly anticipated Formula 1 movie directed by Ron Howard was a massively speculated motion picture among us F1 fans, but how excited were the general public? Well out of all my friends who aren't to keen on the sport, not one person has said anything bad about it. 

My experience of the movie was absolutely epic. I loved every single second of the movie and honestly couldn't wait to watch it again. The noise was incredible, the cinema I saw it in captured the noise of the engines wonderfully, and the near fatal Lauda crash was enough to make any man tremble. 

There were a few moments that I would have considered 'silly' for example, a certain moment with James Hunt and a reporter, let's be honest if that had happened, we would have heard about it.

It may be too late to see it if you already haven't, but I would seriously consider pre-ordering the DVD. I know I have, blu-ray steel book edition.

Italian Grand Prix & Sebastian Vettel's Dominance

My pre Monza build up was essentially me gloating about how much I love the track and the aura surrounding the event.

So imagine my disappointment when Newey managed to dull the best event on the calendar. Setting the dominance aside for one second, it's getting annoying whenever Vettel has the race won on the Friday or Saturday. How people can justify him having any level of talent is still beyond me but it's come to the point where I just don't care anymore.

I've put Vettel fans in the same category as cyclists, annoying unwanted abusers. If you have any complaints to make about that statement, please keep it to yourself because nobody cares.

The most annoying aspect of that weekend was Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's qualifying. I'm gonna touch on this a little more in the next few days, but it's just not good enough. I can only assume they're focusing on 2014 but their Saturday performance is killing them, and it slowly got worse.

Singapore Grand Prix

From the absolute greatest Grand Prix on the calendar to the worst abomination since they let Louis Walsh judge talent. Yes for some reason Bernie Ecclestone thought it would b a great idea to run around a track where no overtaking is permitted and its greatest attraction is a few lights above a track.

What's worse is I never realised how many of you like it!! What's up with that? Where are all the real F1 fans who love real tracks like Silverstone and Spa?!?! It just weirds me out how so many people actually enjoy this track.

Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion (except for the aforementioned Vettel fans and Cyclists), my opinion was that the race was boring and Vettel had this won before he left Italy.

Kimi In, Massa Out

In the sheer space of an hour one long term driver has left Ferrari while a former champion comes home.

Felipe Massa announced tonight on Twitter that he would be leaving at the end of the year, and thanked his team and family for supporting him through 8 turbulent years.

Just Massa packs away his office supplies, the last man to win a world championship at Ferrari has came home, beating people like Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta for the seat.

The BBC has announced that Kimi Raikkonen has signed a one year deal with the option for 2015. As I mentioned previously the ideal scenario for Kimi would have been Massa as a team mate, but the prospect for a Kimi Raikkonen-Fernando Alonso line up is indeed mouth watering from the outside.

Inside our wonderful world of Formula 1 though, it creates a certain fear in the mind. Who gets the number 1 spot? I can't remember a time when Ferrari even thought of an equal driver policy. It's either on or the other and if Luca di Montezemolo & Stefano Domenicali had any sense they would give Raikkonen the role of number 1 driver.

He'll be a fresh albeit returning face, but he'll create a whirlwind of excitement for the Tifosi and the Ferrari team in Italy. At the end of the day, Alonso has nil championships at Ferrari, Kimi has 1. Fernando may have two overall but any bets should be with Kimi.

It would be hard not to be sad for Massa. I've never been a huge fan of him but I've always respected him. But I guess when your time comes you'll know about it. Here is is farewell message on Instagram: 

"From 2014 i will no longer be driving for Ferrari. I would like to thank the team for all the victories and incredible moments experienced together. Thank you also to my wife and all of my family, to my fans and all my Sponsors. From each one of you I have always received a great support! Right now I want to push as hard as possible with Ferrari for the remaining 7 races. For next year, I want to find a team that can give me a competitive car to win many more races and challenge for the Championship which remains my greatest objective! Thank you all. Felipe"

The person who will probably miss him more than Fernando Alonso is poor Rob Smedly. They were like brothers and can you honestly imagine Rob talking any nonsense from Kimi over the radio?

The bottom line is, Kimi still has championship potential in him. The key factor in all of this is James Allison. He is the most important factor for 2014. The fact him and Kimi are back together again can only mean positive things. 

I am honestly so excited for next season that I do not give a damn about this season. Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel should be very, very worried. That's only if the Alonso-Raikkonen situation is managed very carefully.

Kimi Raikkonen: Where To Put His Signature?

Following a public telling off on his birthday, harsh comments made over the radio after a dreadful qualifying session and intense media speculation about an impending 'gap year' it looks as if Fernando Alonso is heading for the exit on his Ferrari career.

Usually, it's Felipe Massa driving to keep his seat but this year the tables have been switched. Of course Massa isn't safe either, and there is the possibility of both long term men leaving the team, opening an unprecedented two driver vacancy search. And of course there is one man on everyone's mind for at least one roll.

Kimi Raikkonen may or may not have lost the Red Bull drive, he may have turned it down or Red Bull may be looking for a long term deal with Daniel Ricciardo. I'm not so glad Kimi missed out on this opportunity. Raikkonen's problems stem from bad Saturday performances in the Lotus, so if the chance comes when you can drive the best Saturday car on the grid, would you not take it? 

As I said, it may have been out of Raikkonen's hands. The one thing I don't buy is this term; 'longevity.' It doesn't matter if you want to look to book a long term option, offer a longer contract then. It's easy to secure new drivers, we're always complaining about the vast number of young talent coming through. Plus (for example), if you could have Raikkonen for two years and then someone like Jules Bianchi for the future, surely that would be better than hiring Bianchi outright.

It's not that I'm annoyed at Ricciardo getting the Red Bull seat, at the end of the day that's what Toro Rosso is there for. It would just have been better for Kimi to have a better qualifying car which would knock Vettel off that smug perch of his.

I think for the sole reason of the Saturday, Kimi should definitely make the move to Ferrari. I know it's not exactly a pole sitter but it's better than fighting to get in to Q3.

Fernando Alonso hasn't exactly had the most successful time at Ferrari. Yes he's won races but that's not enough when you're driving for the most successful team in F1 history. You need to win World Championship's. Kimi Raikkonen was the last man to win a World Championship at Ferrari. Vise versa, Alonso was the last man to win a World Championship at Enstone, makes sense to return them both back to whence they came.

I know everyone keeps going on about the relaxed atmosphere at Enstone and how beneficial it is for Kimi but look what it has done for him, they let James Allison go, resulting in a Grand Prix winning car slipping down the grid. That's even more reason for Kimi to return home, he'll be reunited with James Allison for the all important 2014 regulation changing season.

Whether he's partnered with Massa, Alonso or even Nico Hulkenberg, The Iceman needs to think about how long he has left in the sport. As much as it pains me to say, he is getting on a bit. Maybe Lotus's plans go beyond Kimi's limit in the sport. 

The only scenario I wouldn't like to see is an Alonso-Raikkonen pairing. That cannot and won't work.  It would be too volatile and would only aid Adrian Newey's dominance.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Kimi sign on for a couple more years at Lotus, but it would disappoint me to see him make the same mistake twice. But Kimi Raikkonen is no ordinary driver, he knows what is best for him, and the teams are tripping over each other to sign him. He holds the key to winning the title again. Let's hope he unlocks the red door.

My Love With Monza

Driving a Ferrari at Monza must be the closest a man can come to being divine.

Despite being a British fan, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is not the first race weekend I look at on the calendar. My eyes go straight to September to find out what weekend Monza is happening over. I've been like this ever since I can remember. 

The 1998 Grand Prix is the earliest one I can remember, mostly because for some reason it was taped on an old VHS, and I had re-watched it so many times over the years. It was such an epic race, and of course a Ferrari 1-2 led by the God himself Michael Schumacher, followed by Eddie Irvine.

Monza currently caps off the European stretch of races, a fitting send off often because the memory of Monza tides me over for the following poor Asian races. One of the appeals of the circuit is the fast nature of the layout. It is the fastest circuit with the cars reaching their top possible speed at Monza. Teams often fit one of their brand new engines after Spa for Monza purely because of the demand put on them.

The history behind Monza is simply stunning. The old circuit ran through the forest, with the greatest attraction being the Pista di Alta Velocità banking which was one of the fastest corners in all of motor racing. Eventually the track had to be slowed down which led to a configuration and introduction of more chicanes. I would love to have seen a race on the old layout!

Excluding 1980 for construction work, Monza has hosted every Italian Grand Prix. A feat only beaten by Monaco.

My love for the circuit is also a little bit juvenile. The first F1 game I bought for the PS3 was F1 2010 and you started off as one of the bottom three teams and as one might imagine, I wasn't exactly competitive in the green Team Lotus. Somehow, miraculously I put the car on P2 on the grid. I don't know how but it happened. I got to the first chicane behind Lewis Hamilton and just as he was leaving it, he spun... I finished up P1... To this day I do not have a clue... But ever since then I just called myself the Master of Monza.

As a big lover of racing video games, Autodromo Nazionale Monza features in near enough all of them. Gran Turismo 5 is a particular talking point, it just looks like so much fun, I honestly cannot imagine what the real thing is like.

Even though it would seem like I've never had a bad thought about the track, I am realistic about how predictability race day is. Front row is always key here. Once you have secured P1 and P2 into the first chicane, that's it. And as we all know once Sebastian Vettel is first into the first corner, it''s all over because of the car. It's a formula that ruins many race weekends for me, but with Monza I always watch it through regardless.

In 2013, the pressure is on for many. One of the most intimidating factors of Monza is the Tifosi. Ferrari's army of hardcore and ruthless supporters can either make or break a driver's weekend. If a driver has had any previous connection to Ferrari, the fans will rally some support behind them. If not, you are considered the anti-Christ. Lewis Hamilton get boo'd last year when he won, simply for being a McLaren driver.

Obviously, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are under both tremendous support but deathly pressure. But driving a Ferrari at Monza must be the closest a man can come to being divine. You will hear the fans if neither are on the front row. Kimi Raikkonen must get his season back on track after his first DNF at Spa since his comeback. A new wheelbase might not save him, when has a wheelbase ever been the key to winning races. That being said I have no clue but I'm not hopeful.

Hamilton is probably favourite for pole, hopefully the Mercedes tyre issue is sorted because tyre wear is high. Italian pride may not exist in Pirelli this season, hopefully confidence will be restored after.

Regardless of events or the outcome, Monza will definitely throw up a huge level of excitement. This year's Formula 1 season has been extremely lacklustre. Most excitement has happened from a few blown tyres and a deserved retirement for Vettel at Silverstone. Australia was the best so far, and that was way back in March. Time for Monza to show us what it's made of. 

2013: Belgian Grand Prix: Qualifying

The Formula 1 season comes back with a bang this weekend at one of the most historical tracks of all time. Sebastian Vettel looks extremely quick this weekend so far but he'll have some competition from the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton too.

Q1 - After a relatively dry weekend, Q1 gets off to a wet start with all cars starting out on the green wall intermediate tyres.

The biggest shock this weekend was the fact that both the Marussia's and Caterham's van Der Garde made it through to Q2! Fantastic job from both especially the Caterham team who put their man on slicks. This meant both Toro Rosso driver's had to bow out, not very good for Daniel Ricciardo considering the media circus around him. If you can't handle the media now, you are not suited for Red Bull.

Another point to talk about was the incident with Force India's Paul di Resta, near the end of the session he went off track at the bus stop chicane and re-joined the track in front of another car. It may occur a penalty afterwards.

OUT - MAL, VER, RIC, BOT, GUT, PIC

Q2 - If Q1 was full of excitement for you, Q2 was the complete opposite. Not much drama occurring until the very end of the session.

Despite taking up their predicted bottom three places, the back markers secure their best grid starts of their career so far.

OUT - HUL, SUT, PER, VDG, BIA, CHI

Q3 - Eddie Jordan thought Raikkonen was going to snatch pole position, which made me very very happy!

The rain started to occur in Sector 3 straight away when 9 of the 10 cars lined up to get out. First it started out as spits, the the heavens opened and all cars headed in for inters. Force India kept di Resta in but as the rest pulled in to change their tyres, Paul headed straight out for the optimum track conditions.

For most of the session it looked as though he had pulled off a master play, but once the other guys got their tyres warmed up it all fell in place, first Nico Rosberg got it, then Mark Webber, then Vettel but the man on pole for the 4th time in a row will be Lewis Hamilton. I am sick of hearing him say he is so surprised, you're not fooling anyone we know you are quick and so do you... Just knock it off Lewis!

Only Spa could throw up such a drama filled GP weekend, and it's only Saturday. Anybody thinking Spa should come off the calendar needs their head looked at.

I'm very glad Force India listened to Paul, they wanted to send him out with the rest but Paul suggested inters and it worked well for him. And it's all on him, he deserves 100% of the glory.

You can bet tomorrow will be the best race of the season so far.

RESULTS:
1. Hamilton 2:01.012s
2. Vettel
3. Webber
4. Rosberg
5. di Resta
6. Button
7. Grosjean
8. Raikkonen
9. Alonso
10. Massa
11. Hulkenberg
12. Sutil
13. Perez
14. van der Garde
15. Bianchi
16. Chilton
17. Maldonado
18. Vergne
19. Ricciardo
20. Bottas
21. Gutierrez
22. Pic

7 Most Impressive Drivers So Far: Daniel Ricciardo

When I set out to write this thing, I had intended not to post two drivers from the same team but I really had no other choice because as much as I prefer Jean-Eric Vergne, I still really like Daniel Ricciardo.

As previously mentioned when I covered Vergne at the start of the week, I have been impressed with both Toro Rosso driver's this season. With Mark Webber opting to leave Formula 1 at the end of the year, after titan names like Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso Red Bull have been considering their sister team for younger talent.

As time goes on and as Spa looms upon us, the odds tell us that Red Bull will announce their new driver for next season at the weekend, but this is still speculation and not my opinion. German and Finnish newspapers seemed to have gotten mixed up in their media circus as one said Kimi was going nowhere and the other said he's signed the Red Bull contract. Today his manager has said he will not be joining Red Bull.

The way Alonso is getting on, it looks as though he wants out of Ferrari, but I honestly can't see Sebastian Vettel liking that too much, he'll probably run and cry to Helmut Marko if Alonso steps anywhere near a Red Bull building. 

That only leaves two people and considering the hype has always surrounded Ricciardo and not Vergne, despite the Frenchman being more successful, it looks as if Ricciardo is stepping up in the world for 2014.

So hypothetically, what can Ricciardo bring to Red Bull that Mark Webber lacked?

Fantastic qualifying. He has made it into Q3 four times this season and has scored well in two of the races where he started quite high up on the grid. If he hopes to better Vettel he'll need to do this on a consistent basis.

There's not that much difference between Webber and Ricciardo. Both Australian's are great fun, they both have fantastic personalities and smiles, the fans love them and they are both dedicated drivers. I just worry that Ricciardo will be bred as another number 2. 

It could be a totally different story when he gets there. He could turn up to race one next year and take the whole world by storm. Two years separate him and Vettel, so if there's anything Vettel can do, Ricciardo should be able to do it just as well in a Newey designed car.

Let's just hope Red Bull learnt the meanings of the words 'biased' and 'equality' before next season.

7 Most Impressive Drivers So Far: Kimi Raikkonen

You knew he had to feature on the list at some point! Nobody had a better start to the season than Kimi Raikkonen when he proved strategy is key to winning a race when he stormed the Australian GP.

Nobody could have predicted that, least of all me, so he certainly had his name down for a title chase.Ten races in and he is the closest man to the greatest pretender of them all, Sebastian Vettel. Despite only winning one race so far, Kimi currently sits in second place after five P2 finishes.

However even for a die hard fan like me, Raikkonen's performances have been disappointing, particularly the Monaco to Silverstone run. 





Granted, Sergio Perez hitting him helped nobody's cause, but Kimi should not have been in that position in the first place. Qualifying pace has eluded Raikkonen all last season and has lingered back this year but in Monaco he should have been on the ball more.

Canada was probably one of the worst Kimi performances I have seen. Getting lapped by the race leaders was heart breaking to watch, it looked as though he just didn't want to be there. Silverstone was a better race, he probably didn't want to push so hard on the tyres given the situation.

Raikkonen should definitely have won a few of the races where he came second. China, Bahrain, Germany are all GP's he should have won. Passing up way too many chances to pass, and getting stuck behind Mercedes cars especially are reasons why Kimi isn't sitting top.

So you might be wondering "why Kimi is even on this list", "why are you bashing your favourite driver?"

He's on this list because of his determination and attitude to improve.Despite only winning a 1/4 of the GP's that Vettel has this season, he's only 38 points adrift of the championship. That's simply incredible. Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg both sit below Raikkonen with multiple wins.

Raikkonen definitely holds the crown of consistency king, setting the most points finishes record shows that by far. He's doing the best with what he's got, and that's quite a bit considering the very small budget and back room staff issues Lotus currently have (losing James Allison).

The only reason of why I'm hard on Kimi is because I'm not one of these people totally mesmerised by their favourite. All eight of the Vettel fans world wide can't see that the car is doing all the work (IN MY OPINION) but I can see that Raikkonen has flaws. But I can also see him working on them, which makes for a complete racing legend.

Kimi will go down in history as one of the greats, and you read it here first, Kimi Raikkonen will be 2013 Driver's World Champion.

7 Most Impressive Drivers So Far: Valtteri Bottas

My personal favourite rookie this year has done quite a lot to show he deserves his spot at the Williams team over that money grabbing monkey Bruno Senna. Bottas was one of the highly anticipated arrivals this year after his impressive FP1 performances last year, often outperforming many drivers with full time drivers.

Despite not scoring any points, he has certainly lived up to the hype. It was highly disappointing to see him not only retire for the first time in Hungary, but also to see Pastor Maldonado to win Williams first and so far only single point. With the pace of the FW35 being highly disturbing, no one could have predicted what would happen in the wet.

During a wet qualifying session in Canada, The Flying Finn managed to put his car on the second row of the grid, P3. It certainly shocked us all but as great as the lap was, the end result was the complete opposite finishing away down in P14. 

What sets Bottas apart from the other four rookies this year is where he came from. The other rookies all came from GP2 (Jules Bianchi has raced in the series but came from Formula Renault 3.5). I'm not the biggest fan of the GP2 series, I think it breeds a different kind of driver in a negative way. Bottas is the best of the rest after finishing P11 in Malaysia, and until Maldonado scored the single point he was beating him. I'm not saying GP2 is a bad series, but it hasn't really produced a champion since Lewis Hamilton and it doesn't look as though it'll produce another one any time soon. 

Concern is expressed over where he'll be next year. Formula 1 really needs this guy, he is by all definitions a well rounded driver. He never has tyre problems, he manages his race strategy really well and he has a great arsenal of overtaking moves. In a series that is become more and more crowded with pay drivers and over hyped youngsters, Bottas is the breath of fresh air this sport needs. Give him a quicker car and it will pay dividends.

Though his score tally or lack of TV coverage may not be impressive, I think he's one to watch for the future, and I always get excited when he's racing.

7 Most Impressive Drivers So Far: Jules Bianchi

I suspect this guy will be on a lot of people's lists at the half way point for a number of reasons, mostly because of his performance in terms of the back runners. The young Frenchman currently holds the highest place finish for the bottom two teams, which at the end of the season could help Marussia financially  although as we've seen with Caterham for the past three seasons, they've done very little with it. 

His pace and qualifying performances have all been superb for his position at the back. For a guy who missed out on the Force India seat, you can tell he feels truly blessed to be in the position he's in. To say Force India are kicking themselves would be wrong and untrue, but they certainly have to ask "what if?"

His P13 finish in Malaysia certainly took most my surprise, most of all Marussia's nearest competition over at Caterham. Marussia's MR02 is the first Marussia car to feature KERS, and it certainly does seem to have levelled out the playing field. If progress is to be measured against his team mates, Bianchi is beating Chilton comfortable, however Chiilton has accomplished a feat that only Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton have achieved so far this season, finishing every single race and lap. With only two DNF's to his name, Bianchi doesn't have that much to improve on.

Force India will definitely be keeping an eye on their former test driver especially if Paul di Resta is to leave for pastures new, but they may find they have bigger names chasing the young star. As a member of the Ferrari Driver's Academy, Stefano Domenicali has been monitoring his progress ever since his testing days. It's maybe about time Ferrari had some young blood around the paddock, five years without title success is not the Ferrari way.

Good things can only come from Jules Bianchi's involvement in Formula 1. The sport can genuinely benefit from such a talented individual. It just goes to show, when given two cars of the same build and capabilities, a real racing driver is capable of more than a pay driver.

7 Most Impressive Drivers So Far: Nico Rosberg

As if squaring up against Michael Schumacher wasn't enough and then beating him, Nico Rosberg now had a younger threat to compete against at Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton was coming.

I had originally considered the hype around Mercedes in 2013 to be a damp squib and predicted it would all implode in their face, but I have never been more wrong! This year's car has amazing one lap pace which can be seen by seven pole positions. This has all came at the price of high tyre degradation and earlier on in the season resulted in both drivers losing key points positions.

So when Nico Rosberg bagged his third successive pole position in the 6th round of the season in Monaco, most were expecting him to hold up the rest of the grid and force someone to take decisive overtaking measures. The truth could not have been further as Rosberg stormed to a massive win, where even Sebastian Vettel gave up on chasing him down.

Rosberg may not have scored as many points as Hamilton so far this season, but whenever all the media attention was on Hamilton, whenever all the talk was about Lewis, Nico Rosberg had continued to put in great race performances. At the end of the day, Nico Rosberg won the first race for this new Mercedes team last season, and he has won two more this season, while Lewis has only won the latest Grand Prix.

One of the key reasons I've put Nico on this (sort of) list of impressive drivers is that his performances are near enough on par with Hamilton's despite the varying levels of support within the Mercedes team. I'm not saying there's any bias but look at it this way; when Nico Rosberg qualified on pole three times in a row and won two Grand Prix's, Niki Lauda was nowhere to be seen or heard from. Whenever Lewis Hamilton won in Hungary, Lauda couldn't praise him quick enough. It's obviously not a huge factor yet, but it would be nice for him to acknowledge the German.

While there has been a lot of renovating been done on the Mercedes team, Nico Rosberg along with Ross Brawn have been constant factors and much like his father, he's destined to lift that driver's trophy eventually.

7 Most Impressive Drivers So Far: Paul di Resta

Despite numerous and unforgivable mistakes from his team, Paul di Resta has shown grit and determination to bring positives out of entirely negative situations. 

Overall the Scot is a real hardened racing driver, something lacking in today's modern times. He pushes the car hard when he's given the opportunity and when the current formula is all about tyre management, he is considered one of the best when it comes to looking after the rubber.

His stand out performance has to have been Bahrain where he came incredibly close to securing a maiden podium, only to be ousted by Lotus's Romain Grosjean in a thrilling scrap. It just goes to show, the pace is there and the ability is constantly on show. But the one element letting him down and possibly the biggest component is the support of his team.

I'm not talking about lack of support like the kind Mark Webber and Felipe Massa have, I'm talking more along the lines for fortune and decent management. Di Resta has been let down massively by the team.

In Monaco, the team opted to stay out on inters after Paul had put in some front running lap times, a decision which cost di Resta to bow out in Q1 as low down as P17, somewhere were no driver wants to be. di Resta blamed it on poor decision making and called for the procedures to be cleaned up in order to prevent such mistakes from happening again. How did the Scot respond? By pulling major overtaking manoeuvres in places where no man thought possible.It was every other lap where he was taking someone on the outside of turn 1 which eventually lead him to secure P9 and 2 points for himself. Imagine what he could have done if his team had been on the ball.

You would then expect a team to go out and improve qualifying performance, but oh no. Someone clearly let monkey loose in the Force India garage after the team decided to alter a gearbox setting in Paul's car in the Canadian GP. This meant he missed optimum track performance and once again he missed the Q2 cut. The angry driver described the latest blunder as "unacceptable" and publicly blasted his team.

Rightly so, it's not on to make these mistakes back to back when you're racing in the pinnacle of motorsport, idiots who make these decisions need to be sat down and educated on what their blunders are doing to the team. Nevertheless, di Resta soldiered on to finish in 7th place, a master drive from a master-class driver.

Bizarrely, Paul was disqualified from qualifying at the British GP despite qualifying 9th. It was found that the Force India car was 1.5kg lighter than it should have been. It still remains a mystery whether Paul had some disastrous dinner the night before, resulting in him dropping a load of weight in the toilet, or if the team had made a blunder. Once again, he came back and finished in the points.

Qualifying still haunts di Resta and it is a real shame considering the potential of the car at the start of the season. Hopefully when he comes back he finds some magic and starts scoring big numbers.

On the bigger picture, he seems needs to be getting noticed. Already on the Ferrari and Red Bull shortlists, opportunities could also present themselves at Lotus and McLaren too. Paul has been very very good to Force India and this year they haven't really treated him the way he deserves. It's time he got into a race winning car soon and I believe his time is coming soon.

7 Most Impressive Drivers So Far: Jean-Eric Vergne

When Mark Webber announced he was leaving Formula 1 at the end of the year, speculation immediately turned to the sister Red Bull team Toro Rosso and their young talents.

Despite scoring more points than Daniel Ricciardo this season, Jean-Eric Vergne has failed to finish four races this season while Ricciardo has only retired from two, one being Monaco where he was shafted majorly. It is because of this and Ricciardo's supreme qualifying results that has saw Jean-Eric Vergne being overlooked for the Red Bull seat.

Rumours in the world of F1 have suggested that heavyweights such as Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso have pushed JEV off the short-list entirely, and looks to be staying with Toro Rosso next season.

To me it's a huge shame that the Red Bull hierarchy (Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Helmut Marko and The Godfather, Dietrich Mateschitz) have chosen to review Ricciardo's progress rather than JEV's.

Regular readers will be aware that I like Ricciardo and have nothing other than positive things to say about the young man. That being said 10 out of 10 times I would pick Jean-Eric Vergne for the simple season of him scoring more points. I think over the course of a season, JEV has the energy and the will to provide over an entire season. This was always Mark Webber's problem, he would do well in parts but under perform in others.

While he may not have been a superstar in 2013, Vergne has definitely continued to deliver time and time again and even though he looks to have lost out, he still remains committed to his own personal cause.  

Hunt vs Lauda: The Genius

For your consideration, James Hunt.

As little as I know about James Hunt, I know an equal amount about Niki Lauda. Based on my own observations on both drivers, two words come to mind when comparing Niki Lauda to Hunt: polar opposite. When attempting to describe Niki Lauda on his own: genius.

Clash of the titans somehow doesn't even begin to sum up just how big these men really were for Formula 1. The Ron Howard movie 'Rush' is well anticipated among both the Formula 1 community and non motorsport fans. Top class director as well as two top class actors (Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl) well guarantee that the sport well benefit hugely from letting the public gaze into one of the most intensely fought battles. 

Fast, Consistent and Well Prepared.

Unlike Hunt, Niki Lauda was already a proven world champion. Considered to be the best in the era, his Ferrari was considered untouchable. Such character was reinforced from being such a popular world champion in 1975. Ferrari team principle Daniele Audetto summed him up as an intelligent being in that he was "fast and consistent" which came from being well prepared for every race and every presentable scenario. 

In every meaning of the word, Niki Lauda was described as a complete driver. Audetto noted that for every Grand Prix, Lauda would stay late, well after every driver and managers went home in order to make sure the mechanics were doing their jobs properly. He is described as "a perfectionist."

Being the complete opposite of Hunt didn't stop on track. While Hunt was a playa and a good looking fellow, Lauda was quiet and wasn't gifted in the looks department. James Hunt often called him 'Rat' to his face because that's what he looked like, but this was well humoured and part of the relationship between the two. 

Lauda's wife Marlene meant a lot to him. This showed a side to Formula 1 and Niki Lauda that I had never seen or known before. Despite the fact they have been divorced for some time, she had always been a major part of his life. 

Ferrari in the 70s was not a democracy. One man ruled with an iron fist. It was the man who had his name on the side of the car.

You don't even need to know about Formula 1 to know how ruthless Enzo Ferrari really was. He just was not a nice man. Brilliant man, absolute marvel but not nice. He only wanted his team to win, and therefore only ever favoured winners. Lauda was one of the few who Enzo called 'his favourite.' Lauda was able to block out the weight of the ego from the boss and transferred that energy into a winning Formula. That in itself sounds like a miracle from the outside looking in.

Of course, you can't talk about Niki Lauda and not mention the tradgey of what occurred at the Nurburgring. Despite being the fastest man during that point of the season, Lauda attempted to get the German GP cancelled through safety concerns. It was not be and the race was given the go ahead.

Against the track conditions, Lauda swapped wets for slicks and just before Bergwerk, Lauda lost control and hit the barriers and burst into flames. In the ensuing 400 degree Celsius madness another car collided with him. Moments later many drivers stopped to get him out but damage had been done. Severe burns to his face and head plus toxic gas inhalation meant Niki Lauda was left hanging on for his life.

Fortunately God had spared Niki, his willpower exceeded the norm and he made a remarkable recovery, albeit with permanent scarring, a missing ear and lung injuries. If the man didn't have respect at the time, he sure as hell got it after. A sensational human being had been to hell and back, and he still just wanted to race.

Two races later, Lauda demanded to race at Monza. Ferrari didn't want to rush him back, but there was nothing stopping him. Lauda found his rehabilitation in the form of driving his Ferrari at the home of Ferrari, where he was granted a hero's welcome. 

Despite the Hollywood story, Lauda failed to beat Hunt to the title after retiring from the final race of the season due to his own personal safety concerns.

Niki Lauda is the living embodiment of a fighter. He refused to stay down and because of it, he went on to becoming the best there was for his generation.

His 1976 campaign was unsuccessful, but the following season saw him crowned champion again. After a brief retirement spell, he joined McLaren to go on to become champion again in 1984. Two years later would see his final goodbyes.

His presence in modern day Formula 1 is bigger than ever. in 2012 it was announced he would become the non-executive Chairman of Mercedes AMG F1 team, and was involved in focal negotiations to bring Lewis Hamilton to the team.