Introducing: The VJM07 & C33

Testing has finally begun on the all new Formula 1 cars, and we're starting to see loads more wacky designs, and a few technical problems with most teams (to be explained in a full test review). 

Force India were actually the first team to release a picture of a 2014 Formula 1 car, although to the dismay of many experts, they hid their nose out of sight. Crude move. Sauber don't believe in a day of rest and released their car on the 26th of January.

I am reviewing both of these cars and two more (Red Bull's RB10 & Williams' FW36) together because 1) I'm not very good with the specs of cars and 2) they carry some similar design features. Some cars I feel deserve to be ridiculed on their own (as you'll find in my Toro Rosso review).

VJM07

This image was the very first 2014 car. I have to say this is one of my favourite livery's. For the past few seasons, the Force India's looked very similar and I suppose that's to be expected naming a team after a country, but the black really suits the car.

I like the effort they went to to change it up, I think it's a little disrespectful to the paradigm shift when teams like Red Bull, Mercedes, Lotus do very little to their livery's whenever such a big rule change is enforced.

Nico Hulkenberg returns after being snubbed for the Lotus position (rightfully so) and he is joined by McLaren reject Sergio Perez. Prior to this season I would have considered myself a Force India supporter, given that they used to be Irish-owned. But I was a bigger Paul di Resta fan, and I don't think his situation was handled very well.

Regardless, Hulkenberg and Perez are two very talented and possible world champions should the ever get the chance. Hopefully with a big engine shakeup they might get the opportunity they've both been waiting for.

After finally seeing the nose, it was no surprise that they tried hiding it. The VJM07 has a lovely colour but it is really disgusting to look at. Ultimately, this could prove to be a big advantage but right now I want to rip my eyes out. And it only gets worse from here.

C33

Sauber took a bold step for a team in financial difficulty in having a launch outside of Jerez, albeit a low key online deal like Lotus. Adrian Sutil leaves Silverstone for the first time in his career and joins the returning Esteban Gutierrez who managed to finish his season without killing anyone.

 As I mentioned before, I know little about the specs of a car just by looking at it, but what I simply love seeing are the various colours of an F1 car, and as I found last years Sauber boring, I find it a little hard to swallow that they couldn't manage to change the awfully dull grey.

Talking about things that's hard to swallow (crude penis joke <insert apology here>) the nose resembles that of the McLaren. I do like the little dashes of red and white, and the Sauber logo is a nice touch.

Sauber have picked two drivers that were the best of a bad situation really. If this was the chance to make the leap forward, signing a driver like di Resta or Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne would have been a better choice. I know Sutil has been round the circuit a few times, but I feel as though they could have done more. 

Time

These two teams have been in the sport for quite some time now with limited success, Sauber may have lost momentum when BMW quit the sport but now that everyone is even, they really are racing in no-excuse-situations now. It's time to make the leap forward, and getting on those podiums are the way to do it. 

Looks aren't everything, but these cars certainly aren't stunners.

The Story So Far... Part Two

Last time out, I covered the progress of the majority of the rookie drivers in the Marussia and Caterham teams, along with Valtteri Bottas and his experienced team mate Pastor Maldonado in the Williams.

The midfield last season was extremely tight with Sauber making an immense leap forward in terms of pace and podium finishes. Force India showed us how far they have come and Toro Rosso put their young talent on display with just the one driver breaking through. All these teams (excluding Toro Rosso) have swapped about drivers but no driver change was as big when it was announced Lewis Hamilton would take over from Michael Schumacher who was forced into retirement by the move. 

Toro Rosso
The Red Bull feeder team has always been known for hiring rookies to promote to the bigger team, but in recent years they have failed to find any talent worth of replacing Mark Webber.

Last year, Daniel Ricciardo was heavily promoted as the more talented driver but he was consistently beaten by Jean-Eric Vergne's driving ability. This year the team has made a much improved leap forward, the same can be said for both drivers.

Eventually, Toro Rosso will ditch these two boys, I reckon they won't have bother finding work in Formula 1.

Daniel Ricciardo
His season didn't get off to the best start with the first two races, but his qualifying magic was duly present in China this year when he qualified 7th and finished 7th. Usually when a team achieves that kind of result on Saturday, it turns out to be a nightmare on Sunday, so he done a great job holding it all up.

With more people noticing JEV's talents, the pressure has been lifted off Daniel, which can only be a good thing.

He needs to focus on trying to beat his team mate. When a seat eventually becomes vacant at Red Bull, this is how he will be judged, and at the minute, the ball is in JEV's court.

Jean-Eric Vergne
I have always thought JEV (great nickname) has been a great driver. Considering he's only 3 points off last season's total already speaks for itself.

His qualifying performances have improved quite dramatically, and his scoring points more consistently is achievable because of a great car.

He is the ideal candidate to succeed Mark Webber because he has no ego and a great fan base. Should he keep this up, championship opportunities will be plentiful.

Force India
Me and this team did not get off to the best start this year. The fact they waited until the last minute to announce their second driver was extremely disrespectful.

When Adrian Sutil was unveiled, an opportunity had been missed in the form of Jules Biachi. His raw pace should have been shown in this car, not a lacklustre Marussia.

Monaco was a high point for the team with both drivers proving overtaking is possible.

Adrian Sutil
Instead of a world championship, Sutil has something more unique to his name, an ASBO. I'm not a fan of Sutil or second chances. The fact he got one annoys me when there were better options.

It's hard to argue though that this driver decision didn't work. So far he has proved he can still compete with the best that the midfield has to offer, and staying out of the spotlight has not hurt his reputation.

It's hard to say what's in store for him. The fact he has only ever driven for Force India (and their two previous outfit names) has to say something about what other teams think of him. His aim for the season should be to stay out of Paul's way.

Paul di Resta
2013 was a great start for the Scot, but then someone in his team said "let's f--k everything up." Seriously though the amount of mistakes made by his garage is ridiculous.

Then people criticise Paul for hitting out at them?! He has every right to be outraged. di Resta is going places in the world, but he is being let done by his own team. Engineers being paid thousands and then not being able to count and do their job?!

Despite all this, Paul has scored points in every round bar Malaysia. The battle is equal between him and Sutil so far, but as the season progresses so will Paul. In addition, the team will need to clean up their act pronto.

Sauber
The Swiss team undoubtedly managed to steal raw talent from Force India by recruiting Nico Hulkenberg. Granted the start to their season got off to an awful start for many reasons, Nico managed to fight back before falling into another slump.

I predicted this before the start of the season. Sauber tend to have issues when carrying over momentum from one season to another. After reaching podium heights last year, they have only managed to score 5 points so far. 

The biggest mistake was not letting go of Sergio Perez, but rather Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese driver had huge talent but suffered at the hands of poor set up. They miss him greatly and instead, they hired what can only be described as a disaster.

Esteban Gutierrez 
The aforementioned disaster comes in the form of this furry (look at his eyebrows) little Mexican.

Like Perez before him, Sauber brought him in as the Mexican government funds the young driver, making him an extreme pay driver.

Let me assure you, NOTHING has payed off. He has proven to be an absolute danger to everyone around him. If he's not crashing into barriers he's crashing into title contenders such as Kimi Raikkonen.


He seems to have no awareness and once he's in the car, he acts like a newborn puppy, almost scared of his surroundings. Not to mention he's not even come close to scoring any points.

My hope is that he will be replaced soon. I can think of a number of better candidates, particularly Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen. His only purpose is bound to be his cash flow. Theey're probably keeping him around in order to gain enough money for next year, whenever Krazy Kob comes back (hopefully).

Nico Hulkenberg
The words; 'future world champion' come to mind, although that's based on his previous performances, this year it has not been great, that can be put down to the team though but not all the bucks can be passed.

He has been incredibly quiet this year, mostly scrapping from the back, very little opportunity to showcase true talent. He slumped after a double points finished but looked to be on the mend before he struck out in Canada. 

The move from Force India has not prospered for him at all and I feel bad for him. The only thing keeping Nico in the game is his dreadful team mate.

Just wait for Brazil though whenever Sebastian Vettel is trying to keep up with him around Interlagos!

Mercedes
The decision not to retain Michael Schumacher last year was painful. Love him or hate him, not hearing the name is absolutely crap.

Michael's departure was only the beginning of a board revolution. Followed out the door shortly by Norbert Haug, big names like Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda and reportedly, Paddy Lowe all joined to create an all star package of money, personality and brains. Team principle Ross Brawn has supposedly been cut out of the picture. His departure is still not for certain.

Despite the heavy hitters added to the background, the biggest talent on the grid joined (Fernando Alonso is all tied up at Ferrari) in the form of Lewis Hamilton.

I'm not one bit ashamed to admit I said that Mercedes were going to buckle under the weight of their own ambition this year and to be fair, the first two races they did.

Then the string of pole positions came. I was proven wrong, they had one lap speed. But race pace? Dreadful. 

Nobody could have predicted that they would be involved in the biggest scandal so far this year, but I'll have more on tyre gate soon.

Lewis Hamilton
The move away from McLaren must have hurt Lewis at a personal level. But there is no doubt it was a lucky one. He moved from disaster into an environment where he can be Lewis.

He's still looking for this first Mercedes win, but his pole positions were quite frequent. It's just the cars awful ability to look after the tyres. The situation really came home in Barcelona when he snapped back saying [to his engineer] "I can't go any slower."

Considering the majority of the rest of the season is filled with permanent race tracks (harder on tyre wear) he will struggle to find that first win. Rest assure, it will happen.

The best thing about Lewis this season is his new dog, Roscoe. SO ADORABLE (I'm a dog lover).

Nico Rosberg
I am very, very glad Nico got the first win for the all new Mercedes this year. There was too much hype and attention over Lewis. Autosport at a four page article nearly every week about him and it got sickening.

Nico managed to achieve three consecutive pole positions and the (supposed) biggest win of the year at Monaco, thirty years after his father. 

The season has been great to him so far. His tyre management is significantly better than Lewis's, although a lot off the field.

Backing both drivers never worked for Mercedes in the past, but it's not possible to back Nico over Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, that was never going to happen. Solace should be found in what he has achieved so far. Moving to another team around Mercedes where he is the number one focus would definitely benefit his career.

Remember, McLaren will be joining forces with Honda again and even though I am sceptical, it could bring back wonderful feelings to the team. I don't think they will want to keep Jenson Button or Perez around any longer. 

Nico Rosberg could easily find his Nirvana at McLaren.

Team Battles Occurring Early On & Remembering Ayrton Senna

Starting off, I'd like to apologise for my lack of activity. Poor connectivity to Twitter and the internet have all resulted in an F1 blackout, plus whenever Vettel flukes a win, nobody wants to write anything. Starting today I will be posting a blog everyday. Keep up to date on Twitter @Houston60. Also over on Let's Talk F1 I'll be continuing my 'Where Are They Now?' series.

When team mates clash, the whole world suddenly stops in disbelief. "Did he just do that?" Sometimes the blame is evident, sometimes it is not. Everyone even if they were not born during the era saw the most famous crash between team mates when it was depicted in the movie Senna, whenever Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost came together at Suzuka 1989. The most famous one of my era definitely has to be Turkey 2010 whenever Sebastian Vettel saw fit to drive like a maniac into Mark Webber, and then had the audacity to blame it on Webber. Not wanting to get into that argument now but my point is they don't happen often. 

This is why it is a shock that we've seen three already this season! Is this a theme we're going to see? Will Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado play up to their old habits and take out their Finnish team mates? Will the new dangerous drivers in Esteban Gutierrez and Giedo van der Garde create grey hairs on their bosses heads? I'm gonna take a look at the team mate clashes we've had so far this season.

Malaysia - Vettel proving that he is without a shadow of a doubt, an utter bell end.

Even though they didn't physically come together, the fallout from the puppet boy's ignorance and disregard for his team and our sport proved that the fake three time world champion is nothing more than a boy in a man's world. Vettel ignored orders from his bosses to steal the win from Webber who had turned his whole car down to minimum power to save rubber and fuel. 

Given the pair's rocky history, many Formula 1 commentators (me included) predicted that the incident was the straw that broke Webber's back, and as a result foresee that Webber will find fields anew next season. Even if it's a step down, it would still be better than being oppressed by every single Red Bull employee.

China - Feel the Force... On each other?

It seems that Adrian Sutil doesn't release his inner hulk on just his rivals. he also saves a bit for his own team mate. During the opening laps Paul di Resta was battling to get up the field but was eventually pushed wide by his team mate. Contact did occur but nothing serious to damage anyone's race. Racing incident or not, it all came back to Sutil after he endured a massive shunt from the most dangerous man in 2013, Esteban Gutierrez.



Bahrain - How can it get any worse?


If it's not an absolutely dismal qualifying performance, it's poor race pace, but on this particular day it was both and worse. McLaren have always had a "no team orders policy," one which we all thoroughly enjoy. But I guess Jenson Button only enjoys it when it's going his way. For the first time this season, Sergio Perez showed his class and produced a near classy drive. That was until he got too greedy and suddenly wanted a bite out of Button's car. The Brit was quick to get on the radio and complain, but that was the only speedy aspect of his race. it was only a little push, these things happen all of the time, and to tell your boss to tell your team mate to slow down is very Vettel-ish, and therefore frowned upon. Jenson needs to grow up quick and realise that it's a team effort in order to turn their season around. Checo's performance in this race was just what they needed. Combine that with Jenson's master-class and some big updates at Barcelona, and you've got yourself a tidier package. 

Three consecutive races with three consecutive team mate incidents is a heart stopping scenario, especially for the team bosses. Like me, they (and the rest) will be hoping they don't see any repeats. But can that be guaranteed? 

We all know Perez has A LOT on the line, and Webber WILL be looking for revenge. 2013 could throw up just about anything at the minute, but inter team collisions is something nobody wants.

Gone But Never Forgotten

RIP Ayrton Senna.

On the 13th of May 1994, not only did Formula 1 lose its leading light, the world lost a wonderful human being.

I never got the chance to watch Ayrton drive, I only have to watch archive footage to know that he was something special.

There was more to the man than just motor racing. He was a hero, a saint to his people in Brazil. Never letting the glam and glitter of Formula 1 divert him from his true cause, helping people especially children out of poverty.

The world sorely needs more Ayrton Senna's in it. Throughout his life he emphasised that family is key to a happy and healthy life. As much as a phenomenon that he was on track, I'll chose to celebrate Ayrton Senna's life through his actions as a person during his time on Earth.

Gone, but never, ever forgotten.

2013 Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying

"I wondered why Helmut Marko was running about with a hoover... "

First live qualifying session live on the BBC, and I have to say they done a great job. Granted they dwelled on the obvious team orders a lot, but that's to be expected after what the puppet (Sebastian Vettel) said yesterday. 

Before I start my report just a quick note; the yellow walled tyre makes its debut this weekend and the early signs were not great. Teams reported that they fell off the cliff immediately, Sergio Perez spun off twice and Jenson Button locked up so hard he punctured the tyre, adding to McLaren's woes.

Q1 - Five minutes into the session, and not one car made its way out. It wasn't until nine minutes that Jules Bianchi decided to set the first pace, and what a lap. Not only did he beat both Caterhams and his team mate by large margins, he posted a quicker first lap than both the Toro Rosso's! This young man has pace and is certainly making the most of his second chance. One of the more annoying points today was the shout out from thug-life himself Adrian Sutil, who tried to land Kimi Raikkonen in bother AGAIN, saying the Finn was impeding him. Nothing was said about it, and my opinion of Sutil has dropped again.

Valtteri Bottas waited far too long to go out, if he doesn't give himself a chance, he'll never have a good shot at points. Esteban Gutierrez is not helping Sauber's decision to chose him over a particular crazy Asian driver. He's been nothing but a disappointment and needs to start finding his pace. I'd love the designers of Caterham to answer this question: Why oh why do you have them STUPID things below the mirrors?! They hare clearly no benefit if everybody around you are seconds ahead!!!! Get it sorted soon!

OUT - BOT, GUT, BIA, CHI, PIC, VDG

Q2 - This session provided further issues for the Red Bull team. Mark Webber had to stop his car after he had ran out of fuel on track. The worry was they wouldn't have enough to provide a sample to the FIA and the decision was in limbo for some time. Eventually news broke that the team were unable to provide the sample, therefore Mark will be starting at the back of the grid. Funny that it happened to Mark and not the puppet. I wondered why Helmut Marko was running about with a hoover... 

One driver worth mentioning was a guy who I have slated as being slow compared to his team mate, but my first slice of humble pie is about to be eaten; take a bow Daniel Ricciardo! When Button was told about the remaining top 10, his reaction was exactly similar to mine: "Ricciardo, WOW!"

OUT - DIR, PER, SUT, WEB, MAL, JEV

Q3 - My second slice of humble pie goes back to the start of the season. I was a firm believer in Mercedes being an absolute flop. As of yet, I haven't said anything but I must admit I have been wrong.

Nobody left for around seven minutes, but Kimi was the first and he set a time that no one else was able to beat. Pure joy right? Nope, the moment I finally admitted defeat, Lewis Hamilton has real pace. His first pole for Mercedes, a feat achieved a year ago by his team mate. Well done Lewis and well done the team. I still reckon he'll get the win tomorrow, but a huge Finnish part of me wants Raikkonen to get him at turn 1. The three best starters tomorrow all start in P1/2 & 3. Hamilton, Raikkonen and Alonso are the three greatest drivers in the paddock today, and tomorrow will be epic considering Webber starting at the back. It only takes one safety car for him to bunch up.

FINAL STANDINGS (AUTOSPORT):

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

Preview: 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

UPDATE 10/04/13: The track preview would not load so I inserted a new one.

After the icy conditions on the top of the podium after round one in Australia, Kimi Raikkonen leads the driver's championship ahead of Fernando Alonso and world champion Sebastian Vettel. After the dominance of the Red Bulls in free practice and qualifying, we were shocked to see Vettel being caught by Felipe Massa of all people. The Sepang circuit hopefully will work out to be as exciting as last year, maybe even more so.

Track profile courtesy of Viva F1

The circuit is of Herman Tilke design and unlike his other anti-great-racing tracks, Sepang is surprisingly a great watch even with his signature run off areas. The wide track runs for 3.4 miles and features 15 great turns with a signature double hairpin double straight. The rules this year state each track must have two DRS zones where feasible, but for some reasons the organisers and FIA couldn't find a place to set a second one. I can see 5 places for another one but whatever.

This track debuts the orange walled hard compound tyres which will partner the option medium tyre. This will come as a relief especially to Jenson Button in his struggling McLaren who's tyres fell off after lap 4. Downforce levels are quite high along with high tyre wear, but the demand on brakes is not that hard so tyre management may play a background role this time around.

One of the worst features about the circuit is that the race takes place during monsoon season. This means I could almost guarantee you a wet race but I was wrong last week!

Last year, Fernando Alonso shocked us all in his supposedly off pace Ferrari by winning in the wet however what no one could have predicted was Sergio Perez getting his first F1 podium, from a position where he could have won hadn't he went off track. 

Preview

McLaren won't be praying for a wet race, they'll be praying for no one to show up, that's the only chance they'll get for a strong race, and even then I reckon some of the GP2 machines could challenge them.

Red Bull became the complete package last week as they showed they can finally challenge in the race, and with long straights there's a very good chance for a trademark Vettel run away, although if the right person is chasing him i.e. Kimi or Fernando, he'll not get it as easy as he used to. 

For me, last week showed none of the midfield teams made any real leaps forward, bar Force India who showed that both Adrian Sutil (to my disdain, he had a great race) and Paul di Resta can challenge the points pack. The other surprise came from Mercedes who I thought would not do as well, Nico Rosberg's retirement was bad luck nothing to do with performance. Expect effort from all these drivers.

Qualifying

A Red Bull lockout two sessions in a row? Probably, and in the wet I can't see it being any different. If Raikkonen can win from P7 though, anything can be achieved from all the guys.

The Race

If it throws up a wet one (which I hope) it'll be hard to imagine what is possible. Because of McLaren's shambles of a car, Button is out of the wet game, leaving Alonso the only expert. That being said Vettel seems to have pretty good running pace so he won't have it all his own way.

After a very quiet first round, Romain Grosjean will hope to remain incident free and will be searching for more points. Nico Hulkenberg will have his first race here after he failed to make the Aussie grid, playing catchup is never a good season starter but if any man can pull it off, it's him.

Nobody ever wants a wet race, but I think we need to see an early on in order to get an idea of how these cars perform in the race under wet conditions.

Kimi Triumphs Down Under

Kimi Raikkonen stormed to his 20th career win and the 1st of the 2013 season after a moderately quiet Australian Grand Prix.

The story once again revolved around tyre management and race strategy as Raikkonen completed a two-stop race while managing the wear on his Pirelli's very accurately. Consistency was the key to his form last year, and it looks as though he's immediately found his form. Last year he scored some very reasonable points after starting in 17th following a qualifying blunder, this year he capitalised on P7 after a signature Kimi start allowed him to slot into 4th after a couple of turns. 

Pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel reminded us of how dangerous Newey's RB9 can be be setting off quite far early on, but a surprise chaser emerged from the pack, Felipe Massa managed to turn down a 2s lead to actually leading the Grand Prix at a point. He was followed by Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso the whole way who eventually managed 2nd behind Kimi and in front of Vettel in 3rd.

Vettel ultimately couldn't keep up with the pace of Raikkonen and Alonso, but his downfall came from the biggest surprise for another driver. Returning Force India driver and resident thug Adrian Sutil managed to hold the 3-time world champion up for a number of laps before he had to make his stop. Force India's form from last season has evidently continued as he was race leader for a while, a similar incident happened in Brazil with Nico Hulkenberg, who now driving for Sauber didn't get to start the race due to a fuel pump failure.  

As I predicted earlier, Mercedes had a disappointing day, despite Lewis Hamilton's 5th place. Although 10 points is a hell of a good haul, he dropped from P3 on the grid, and team mate Nico Rosberg had to retire from the race. I did say Mercedes have been highly over hyped already this season, and it doesn't look as if it'll improve soon. The greatest low from the weekend falls to McLaren who only managed to collect 2 points following Jenson Buttons 9th place finish. 

Their [McLaren] mishap in building an entirely new car has backfired massively on them. Sergio Perez had attempted to complete his feat of recovering a poor qualifying position into a podium, but no such luck today as Checo made a very shaky start to his McLaren debut. His lack of pace was so astonishing that eventually he just let people overtake him, he obviously has no confidence in the car. The feeling is reciprocated with his team mate. Button had to come in on lap 4 to change his already badly worn tyres. The Woking team needs to get it together right now if they are to recover anything, or they will finish behind Lotus and maybe Mercedes.

Albert Park is not well known for it's overtakes and there was no change in story today, but Raikkonen completed an outside overtake on Hamilton in the opening laps that was just sublime. 

Unlike his result in Abu Dhabi last year, Kimi did not just inherit the race, he worked hard for it, yet he described the win as "easy." He is showing massive confidence already and 67% of season opening winners go on to win the championship. The odds are in his favour and my money is fully on Raikkonen at this point. However, it will not be an easy ride.



Final Standings (©Autosport)

 1.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault         1h30m03.225s
 2.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari                  + 12.451s
 3.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault         + 22.346s
 4.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                  + 33.577s
 5.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes                 + 45.561s
 6.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault         + 46.800s
 7.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes   + 1m05.068s
 8.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes   + 1m08.449s
 9.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes       + 1m21.630s
10.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault          + 1m22.759s
11.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes       + 1m23.367s
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     + 1m23.857s
13.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari             + 1 lap
14.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault           + 1 lap
15.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth          + 1 lap
16.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault         +  2 laps
17.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth        +  2 laps
18.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault         +  2 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1m29.274s

Not classified/retirements:

Driver            Team                On lap
Daniel Ricciardo  Toro Rosso-Ferrari  40
Nico Rosberg      Mercedes            26
Pastor Maldonado  Williams-Renault    25
Nico Hulkenberg   Sauber-Ferrari      1

World Championship standings, round 1:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Raikkonen      25        1.  Ferrari                    30
 2.  Alonso         18        2.  Lotus-Renault              26
 3.  Vettel         15        3.  Red Bull-Renault           23
 4.  Massa          12        4.  Mercedes                   10
 5.  Hamilton       10        5.  Force India-Mercedes       10
 6.  Webber          8        6.  McLaren-Mercedes            2
 7.  Sutil           6       
 8.  Di Resta        4       
 9.  Button          2       
10.  Grosjean        1

McLaren MP4-28 + Various News

Lotus may have started off the car launches with the E21, but Woking based team McLaren hold the honour of starting off six consecutive days of car launches, a truly wonderful time for Formula 1 fans! I covered the launch live this morning and published a full report on Let's Talk F1. To see the new MP4-28 take a read by clicking here.



2014 Comeback For HRT (sort of)?

As the FIA published the 2013 season entries last November, Spanish outfit HRT were not included due to their financial instability and insecure future, thus only 11 teams will be appearing on the grid this season. 





However, an American/Canadian company called Scorpion have been attempting a buyout bid in order to salvage an entry onto the grid. Bernie Ecclestone even gave a nod to the bid but the FIA ruled out any possibility this year as the deadline is long gone, stating they will not accept any specialist circumstances. 

They shouldn't worry about pushing hard to get a 2013 slot because the regulations are more or less the same, meaning they would still be hopelessly uncompetitive. The best thing to do would be to develop a monster of a machine for the 2014 seismic shift in performance. They might even catch up with the rest of the pack!


Nurburgring Gastgeber 2013 Großen Preis (Nurburgring To Host 2013 Grand Prix).

Finally we have been guaranteed a German Grand Prix and will be returning to the wonderful Nurburgring!






Bernie Ecclestone has cast doubt over both the event and venue after the group who owns the circuit failed to raise the funds necessary. This means that we will most certainly have 19 races next season with the European venue still to be decided. Hopefully if anybody had any sense they'd be straight back to Hockenheim for both German tracks. That would be the definition of epic.

Time is Slowly Running Out

This is a message to Force India, Caterham and Marussia. It is time to get your finger out of your arses and get us a full driver line up. I'm sick to the death speculating, my #HireHeikki campaign has been working flat out (like 2 tweets every month, whatever), testing starts very soon and it's ridiculous how we don't know who's driving. I can't remember it every being this late!


The closest rumour I've heard yet is that Luiz Razia (pictured) has been linked to the Marussia seat but these are unconfirmed rumours and to be honest, I'd take Vitaly Petrov or dare I say it, Bruno Senna before another rookie. 

Force India launch their car tomorrow, I would like to think they would have the common courtesy for us the fans and Paul di Resta to name a second driver. I even think I'd take back Adrian Sutil at this late stage. 

Both Caterham and Marussia launch on the morning of the Jerez test on the 5th of February so at the end of the day, they have no choice but to name drivers soon.

This is however great for Max Chilton, Paul di Resta and Charles Pic as their team mates will be nothing more than a second thought, meaning the team will focus on them first.

Lotus Don't Know What They're Doing!

Post on Grosjean retaining his drive, Max Chilton becoming the 4th Brit on the grid, Kobayashi's premature departure and a possible convict on the grid?!

"Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing." - Kimi Raikkonen over the radio before winning the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Lotus today published a statement saying Romain Grosjean has been resigned for next season. This photo will prove otherwise:

As you can see, it is noneother than myself driving along side the Kimster next season. Nonetheless, I'll write the blog just as if Goujon (it's funny because he's french) was for driving.

Grosjean to stay at Lotus.

It's the wrong decision. No point of sugar coating it. Aside from all the early race incidents and the attempt on Fernando Alonso's life, Goujon is not a great driver. In fact he's average at best capable of one good over take a season. Of course when you're number 2 and let's be clear, he is a DEFINITE number 2 to Kimi Raikkonen, you're going to look just awful. Lotus have not only taken on a heavy damage bill for next season, but they've over looked so many better suited drivers. I've said it before, but Heikki Kovalainen deserved a step up. After carrying his team for three years he deserves to be set in some powerful machinery. Two Finn's would have been terrific as there is no doubt, they know how to win World Championships. 

However it is not the worst thing in the world. They could have resigned Bruno Senna (reserve driver in 2011). Goujon may improve. And I do believe he's a very good provider of feedback for R&D so his intuition can provide Kimi with some top notch resources. Hopefully that is all Romain will be, a resource. Lotus know how to run a team, and they know as well as I do that Kimi is the undisputed number 1 driver. So long as Goujon knows his place, everything will run smoothly.  

Fourth Brit Chilton.

21 year old Max Chilton has made the step up from reserve driver to a full time seat at Marussia following the departure of Charles Pic to Caterham. He is also British which makes me a very, very happy fan and I'll be supporting him throughout! Usually from all the back markers I supported Caterham just for the funsies, but now I have a genuine reason to support Marussia.

I do have one issue. The guy has never won a championship, and between Formula Three and GP2 he's only bagged three races. I know there's no chance of winning the title in a Marussia, but I have to question his speed and determination if this is all he can muster. 

He could either be a world champion like Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button. Or he may be more of a Paul di Resta character who only wants to win races.

Krazy Kob Krashes out of 2013 season.

Yep sadly Kamikaze Kobayashi will not be on our screens next season in a competitive car due to a lack of funding. He seems confident of a 2014 drive but despite fans setting up a donation site in order to provide funding, it wasn't enough. As previously stated in my debut blog, a seat in Formula 1 is mostly decided on by who can flash the most green. Kamui just didn't have the backing for it.

It's not hard to see why. His Sauber partner Sergio Perez stole the spotlight with an absolute wonder season. This was enough to secure a seat at McLaren, but this was also aided by backing from Mexico. Yep, like Maldonado and Valenzuela, the actual country of Mexico funds Perez through Telmex. Why does this matter to Kobayashi? Well unfortunately for him, Sauber's reserve driver, Esteban Gutierrez is funded by the exact same company effectively filling Kobayashi's seat as Perez was replaced by Nico Hulkenberg who also had a storm of a season. 

I am quite proud of Kamui because he is not settling for anything less than a Sauber. And I believe he may have actually left at a good time. Sauber tend to have one good season followed by a mirage of bad seasons. However this may change under the control of Monisha Kaltenborn.

The grid has lost a great talent for next season, I can't see it being the same without him. But there may be a spot open for him midway through the season where he could just slot right in. It's about keeping his fitness to a maximum and more importantly keeping his health in check.

Thug Life.

Despite what he says, there is no guarantee he will actually be back. It's looking more and more likely and with certain tragedies like Grosjean staying and Kobayashi leaving I think the F1 gods still would like to punish me by putting Sutil back on the grid. If he were to re-join Force India however, this could benefit our Paul as he was a far better drive than Sutil in 2011.

Force India needs somebody different than Sutil. If they are set on getting experience then they need too reward either Kovalinen or Glock with a more powerful racing car. Or to continue from where The Hulk left off, get a speed demon like Kobayashi in the chair.

The grid is definitely taking shape for next season. I look forward to hear more team announcements and gauging my opinions on them.