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.

Fernando Flies To Victory At The Chinese Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso and Ferrari made up for a poor performance in Malaysia by storming to victory three weeks later in China. The race made up for a boring and ruined race caused by Sebastian Vettel and his ignorance, but it was by no means the best so far.

Positions 1-3 were filled by the three greatest starters on the grid today, Lewis Hamilton (on pole) followed by Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso. In my eyes, Alonso is the best out of the three, and his ascension to the front of the pack was aided by Raikkonen not having a very cool getaway. Thankfully his start wasn't entirely compromised, although he got jumped by Alonso's team mate Felipe Massa. I thought Raikkonen had an okay race, he was completely screwed over by Sergio Perez who is starting to become a pain in the ass. The damage caused wasn't enough to slow him down, some even thought it made him quicker, but he was never going to challenge Fernando on this particular day. He maybe could have done if he hadn't messed about far too much at the start by not overtaking Hamilton when he easily could have. Raikkonen isn't stupid, he'll overtake where he thinks the guy behind him can't get it back, but if he wants to impose himself, he needs to start upping his overtaking game.

So what happened the pole-sitter? To me, he didn't put a foot wrong, the Brit just lacked overall race pace. When both the Ferrari's overtook him in the one corner at the same time, I stood up and applauded, it was simply superb. You expect that from Fernando but it's great to see the Felipe of old. In the end though, some thought he was in danger of losing his podium finish to the most childish driver, but in reality Vettel never had a shot. All four of the pro-Vettel fans will be thinking "but he was chasing him down with 3 seconds a lap like a true champion." Really? Does a true champion make that many mistakes in the heat of battle? No, they don't, thus proving Vettel is nothing but an average at best puppet in a superior car.

Red Bull really have got a lot to answer for at the minute. Cheating at Malaysia (in my eyes), failing to punish the puppet-boy, making a fuel howler (granted there are some decent excuses) and now not being able to secure all four wheels to the car?! Mark Webber deserves better than this, especially considering he'll have a grid penalty next race for spinning Jean-Eric Vergne in the sister team Toro Rosso.

They [Red Bull] weren't the only team with woes, Force India's mechanical disasters continued after Adrian Sutil's car caught fire following a shunt by Esteban Gutierrez. Funniest bit was that mechanics were in no rush to put it out, some even applied more oxygen to the flames! To be fair, serves him right for 1) being a d**k about Raikkonen in qualifying again, and 2) for simply being Adrian Sutil. His team mate and one of my favourite drivers Paul di Resta repeated his P8 finish in Australia, being very consistent with the weak machinery he's been given.

Mexico won't be too proud of either of their drivers after this race. Joining Perez in the dunce corner will be Gutierrez who repeated many of Michael Schumacher's shunts last year when he ploughed straight into the back of Sutil. I don't know what was going through his mind, but it was nothing to do with sense. He's been an extreme disappointment for me so far, and I see no signs of immediate improvement. Mark my words, he will be replaced by the time this season is over. I don't know who for, but Sauber will have to do something soon, because they cannot function on Nico Hulkenberg's points alone. Gutierrez will learn fast, now that he also has a grid penalty for the next race. He'll probably have to start P22.

I feel Daniel Ricciardo deserves a mention, what a great drive. I always think that when these boys excel in qualifying, they mess it all up in the race through nerves. But he held it all together to provide a great result.

The standalone hero of the day has to come from flawless Fernando. What a drive! He done all the work from the pit stops today, managing his tyres to perfection. He's coming into a stretch of GP's where he's quite strong, so he has set himself up nicely for a massive points haul, which will do his championship challenge no harm. The greatest driver on the grid today showed his class and maturity through sheer pace and skill during the race. More of it please Fernando!

Final Race Results (BBC):

1. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - 1:36:26.945

2. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus - 1:36:37.113

3. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes - 1:36:39.267

4. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - 1:36:39.470

5. Jenson Button - McLaren -1:37:02.230

6. Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 1:37:07.772

7. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso - 1:37:09.636

8. Paul di Resta - Force India - 1:37:18.029

9. Romain Grosjean - Lotus - 1:37:20.368

10. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber - 1:37:23.543

11. Sergio Perez - McLaren - 1:37:30.805

12. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso - 1:37:39.549

13. Valtteri Bottas - Williams - 1:38:00.806

14. Pastor Maldonado - Williams - 1:38:02.398

15. Jules Bianchi - Marussia - 1:41.537 lapped

16. Charles Pic - Caterham - 1:41.997 lapped

17. Max Chilton - Marussia - 1:41.978 lapped

18. Giedo van der Garde - Caterham - lapped

19. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes - retired, 21 laps

20. Mark Webber - Red Bull - retired, 15 laps

21. Adrian Sutil - Force India - retired, 5 laps

22. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber - retired, 4 laps

2013 Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying

I have to say, after watching Sebastian Vettel leave the competition behind in both the free practice sessions on Friday, I was not looking forward to the beginning of the 2013 Formula 1 season. Then in FP3, the heavens opened and Romain Grosjean came out on top, so there's hope yet... So long as every GP gets rained out...

In my opinion, the season is over as soon as China if this Red Bull streak continues, 2011 was a horrible year for Formula 1 and this season looks to follow suit if his dominance continues. Expect my blog to continue but there will be no enthusiasm if he does, and if you are for some season a brain dead Vettel fan beware, I will not hold back on anything. Also, for every race that the BBC does not have live, I am forced to watch Sky, my hands are unfortunately tied and there will be Brundle-bashing.

Before the session got underway, there was quite a lot of focus on F1's rookie drivers. This year features the most inexperienced grid ever for an F1 season. The focus was placed primarily on Valtteri Bottas who has the strongest car out of the five newbies. He is also the only rookie not to come from GP2, his lack of combat racing may hinder him.



Q1 - The start of Q1 was delayed by a total of 30 minutes. This is due to the lack of drainage around Albert Park. Throughout the year these are just normal roads and therefore lack the high quality drainage systems that come with race tracks.

Eventually the session got underway and it wasn't long before the first incident occurred, Giedo van der Garde lost control of his Caterham and collided in a tyre wall, as a result his front wing got trapped beneath the car, extremely dangerous in these conditions. Martin Brundle criticised him for not coming in straight away, but he failed to see the brand new front wing in front of the car! Idiot... It wasn't long before similar incidents occurred, Felipe Massa was lucky to get away with only front wing damage, his Ferrari could have lost a wheel or two. Lewis Hamilton continued his run of poor performance in his new Mercedes after he beached the car in a dangerous position. He was able to reverse out and continue on but after his rear wing collided in the impact, he came in to have it changed.

As if this wasn't enough drama, Sergio Perez, Mark Webber, Esteban Gutierrez and Pastor Maldonado all lost control of their cars resulting in running of the track and in some cases spinning. Paul di Resta suffered a similar fate not too long after.

Towards the end of the session Charles Pic also made contact with the wall meaning both Caterham drivers lost their front wings but the biggest incident came not too long after his first. Gutierrez was unable to avoid the wall this time and lost his front wing but also had to stop the car. Yellow flags were deployed meaning nobody could set any faster times.

Nico Rosberg was on top at the start of the session and after Vettel, Grosjean and others set faster times, Rosberg found his way back to the top. In the end though six of the slowest drivers had to depart and the big name to miss out was Pastor Maldonado after his team left a tyre switch too late. Williams were supposed to struggle but his inexperienced team mate Bottas managed to do just fine out-qualifying him. The usual suspects both Marussia and Caterham dropped out as is expected, the other casualty was Gutierrez who was unable to set a fast time.



Q2 - Q2 was delayed by a further 40 minutes following an increase of rain, talk already started circulating about qualifying being postponed and surely enough after plenty of speculation and debate, qualifying was cancelled. The question was do we call the grid the way it already stood as the starting grid, or will we continue tomorrow morning?

The FIA announced Q2 and Q3 will take place at 11:00 tomorrow morning meaning any support race will be cancelled. Conditions are set to improve but there is no guarantee.



My Thoughts - As I said before, I take this as a victory for F1 fans, the opening race of the season won't be dominated by the puppet boy because of the rain. Granted it's a nuisance but at least we can expect some kind of drama tomorrow.

Many commentators and Ferrari test driver Pedro de la Rosa criticised the track paint for the lack of grip. In a tweet he stated "black paint over white road markings is causing problems for drivers. Very slippery." It just wasn't pleasant driving conditions for anybody, during Massa and Gutierrez's incidents you could see the water just piling into the cockpit.

It would have been nice to continue on today in order to have a mixed grid for the race but it was getting too dark. If conditions are dry tomorrow I expect a Red Bull front row lock out followed by Grosjean, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso in some kind of order. A wet qualifying followed by a dry race is my idea of a perfect race weekend, but a wet race could also throw us up some excitement, as usually Button and Alonso excel in wet conditions, but Vettel looks quick in the rain which is something I've never seen before. Hamilton and Mercedes isn't working out as I predicted but it is still early days yet.

He needs to get it sorted if he is to salvage anything from this season. But like any point I've made, it's early days yet.

F138 / VJM06 / C32

I have a triple threat package for you today! In the past couple of days we've had releases in Italy, Switzerland and Silverstone! 

F138

Runners up to both the drivers and constructors championship last year, all eyes were in Maranello to see if the F138 was the car that can deliver Fernando Alonso his 3rd title.



Immediately the first thing I noticed was the amount of black on the bottom of the car! If you read my live coverage of the E21 launch you'll see how much I commented on the addition of the red and how much I disliked it. It now appears that Lotus stole Ferrari's red, and Ferrari stole Lotus's black! Only I really like the black on the Ferrari, it's the biggest addition of colour to the traditional red since the white on the wings which they have also kept.

Even though teams should be planning for the huge design process of 2014, Ferrari must focus on this seasons testing due to the embarrassing performance last year . Even though Fernando managed to squeeze every drop of performance to salvage a miracle second place finish, the team will be looking to hit the ground running considering the teams around them and their ambitions; McLaren will surely back Button in the early stages, Lotus are looking for a top three finish with Kimi in contention for the championship and somebody needs to catch the Bull, Alonso looks to be the closest to do it.

The suspension is the same as last year providing the smooth drive that Fernando craves. Most of the changes have occurred at the rear of the car. 

Fernando will not be the only one benefiting from the F138's changes. A revived Felipe Massa will be hoping that this is the car that shows his team that he can drive as well as Alonso on his best day. Was he the best man for the seat? That's honestly your opinion. For me, I would have had someone different, but 2012 was the season where I seen Massa for who he is, a fighter. I just want to see more of it.

The F138 is the second car released without the exposure of the stepped nose. The vanity panel reminds us of the shape we know and love. Ferrari definitely had one of the ugliest boxers nose last year so this is certainly an extremely positive feature. It's a really beautiful looking car and I dare say the best looking yet.

VJM06

If Force India don't have the common decency to announce a second driver, then I don't have the time nor want to write up a decent report. It's still orange, green and white. It's got a vanity panel. Love Paul di Resta. Get it sorted guys.








C32 

So far from all of the launches, this is by and far the most developed car both in terms of livery and technical aspects.

The side pods have been completely re-imagined. Chief designer Matt Morris stated that the side pods have been made smaller and narrower following findings after they examined the wreckage of Sergio Perez's 2011 Sauber at Monaco where he had a devastating crash during qualifying.

Following a more than impressive campaign that saw four podiums and a young driver head to one of the top four teams, Sauber have gone on a development rampage, creating a brand new braking system, making the chassis lighter and of course designing an all new colour scheme. Not the most important aspect of a car, but I'm a guy who is particularly fond of the livery's as you may have already gathered! It is a very beautiful scheme, hard to pull off with a grey-ish colour but it really looks the part here!

Sauber have also followed suit by adding a vanity panel, or a cover for the stepped nose and they desperately needed it. I maintain that Sauber had the worst stepped nose last season, it was like two 90 degree angles. Absolutely horrible! This means Lotus are still (at the time of this blog) the only team to keep the ugly stepped nose, a design that is supposed to add more aero performance. My issue is, if the other teams are adding these vanity panels, then surely there's no performance to lose?! Get the bloody thing off [James] Allison!

With an all new driver line up in GP2 ace Esteban Gutierrez and future racing superstar Nico Hulkenberg, first ever female F1 boss Monisha Kaltenborn will be praying that the extreme design changes will raise the bar first set by their 2012 season.

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.