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.

Dennis The Menace Takes Over McLaren

Having stepped down in 2009 after an illustrious career at the helm of McLaren as team principle, Ron Dennis has played a shadow role behind the scenes, and as breaking news hits; he has staged what the BBC are calling an "international coup" to become the new chief executive officer.

Where'd the smiles go?

It's no secret that him and current team principle Martin Whitmarsh haven't always gotten along, and with the 2013 season delivering a battering to Whitmarsh's reputation, many foresaw this coming.

Where did it all go wrong?

Personally, I quite like Whitmarsh. I think the man around him are quite worthless, and the men with any talent have already got up and left. He also had a terrible car package to deal with and a less than co-operative driver line up in lacklustre Jenson Button and disastrous Sergio Perez.

I'm not one to point fingers, but was it not Ron Dennis who let Adrian Newey go to Red Bull? If I had a hen laying golden eggs I'd be making sure it was comfortable and content.

"Yes Martin there's the **** I give."

It's unclear whether or not Whitmarsh's job is on the line, although popular opinion seems to agree. Something had to change but I would have started with the drivers first, although maybe a good shake-up at the top is exactly what's needed.

Double Trouble

As we know by now, one of the more shocking regulation changes for 2014 was to offer double points to the top 10 finishers of the very last Grand Prix of the year.

The idea is that the motivation will increase competition, and make the championship fight extend longer, unlike the snoozefest's of 2011 and 2013 (yawn). 

There are conflicting beliefs within the paddock that the points system is here to stay, Ferrari's Luca Di Montezemolo says that it's only a temporary folly whereas Lotus and Eric Boullier are certain it's a permanent arrangement. 

It's only one more desperate attempt to make Formula 1 look interesting, when in actual fact it's making the sport look like an absolute joke. Imagine making tries in rugby worth double in the last ten minutes of a match, it's complete crazy.

Eddie Irvine was spot on when he said the sport is completely lost.What gripes me the most is that Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA have basically said that Abu Dhabi, and the Yas Marina circuit is worth more than Silverstone, Monza, Monte Carlo and Spa. Why should emphasis be placed on a below par circuit that has existed for all of 5 minutes, above REAL circuits?

Oh wow, you light up, cause that's what the fans want...

One thing is always for sure; leave it to Red Bell and Sebastian Vettel to shy away from the fact that this only helps them. 

I'm not saying they had any involvement with the decision making, that would be stupid-thinking. What I am saying is that Vettel coming out and calling it "absurd," and Christian Horner criticising the FIA is rather cheap considering they are the only ones who truly benefit.

Red Bull perform far better in the second half in a season. Asia is practically Vettel's playground, you know he's just going to pull maximum points every time. And with 3 wins in 5 races at Yas Marina, it's safe to say it's a Vettel track. What if Red Bull scrape by the whole season, get lucky (because we know it happens) at Abu Dhabi and steal it away undeservedly?! It says to the teams just give it your 100% at the last race of the season, it's worth the real points.


This is all assuming the order remains the same with the new engines however, maybe the change is so big that double points might actually prove to be a great thing in the sport. Right now, it makes it look weak.

It seems to me like this is a quick fix to a really terminal problem with Formula 1. Along with the introduction of the Vettel Trophy (trophy for most pole positions), these are just really bad decisions. If the FIA wants to emulate the success of other motor racing series', introduce interesting scenarios like reversed grids, or ballasts like in the BTCC, not something that belittles 18 races of hard work.

Quick 2014 Update

Hey guys, hope you all had a good holiday season and a happy new year.

Just posting a quick message here to let you know that I am in the process of exams at university, but those will be over soon and I will be setting aside a certain amount of time every week to write here, and on the Let's Talk F1 website.

I've missed writing but education comes first and to be quite honest, university has been so brilliant and there was a million and one different things exciting than Formula 1 this year.

What To Expect

Hopefully later this week I'll do an extremely belated 2013 award post. Shouldn't be too difficult to detail...

A quick look at the newbies of F1. Well, so far there is only two but I'm sure they're both worth a look at!

So far I am in charge of reviewing McLaren's, Caterham's and Force India's car launches for Let's Talk F1. Although expect them to be on the 'lite' side of things. Teams have just gone all out on brand new power train's and engine packages, I'm sure having expensive unveiling's is the last thing on their minds. I will be covering all the teams on here so make sure you check both sites regularly.

Let's Talk F1 will have a brand new look soon enough and with it a new team and a new agenda to bringing you the best in personal opinion and latest news in Formula 1. If you haven't already, make sure you add the page to your favourites and follow us on Twitter.

I'd like to evaluate the current financial state of Lotus, and why I would pick Pastor Maldonado over Nico Hulkenberg any day of the week.

I hope to be more active in 2014, I am also hoping for a more exiting F1 season too, I've always been really heavy into my rallying and motorbikes, and even the 6 hour races of the WEC were more enjoyable than the majority of the F1 races last year. 2014 has a lot to live up too!

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: 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.  

Preview: German Grand Prix 2013

Is there a grander and more gruesome track in Europe other than the Nurburgring? No... And therefore, it's the most difficult track in the world. And the Formula 1 drivers are only allowed to do the easy part of the track because no one would let real racing drivers (and Sebastian Vettel) loose on the Nordschleife!

I'm not even gutted that we don't have this circuit every year because the Hockenheimring is just as fantastic, but there is a sense of magic around this particular track.

Pirelli will not only be bringing the Medium and Soft compounds this weekend, they are also bringing restructured kevlar rear tyres after incredible failures at last week's British Grand Prix. At some point, Paul Hembery is going to have to admit that when driver safety comes into question, he's actually going to research how to build a half decent tyre.



Despite being a technically demanding 16 turn track, both tyre and brake wear is low. Downforce is often at it's highest, but the new tyres seem to be coping okay.

I am very well aware brand new tyres are going to disadvantage Lotus and play straight into Red Bull's hands, but I don't want something like Massa's 09 injury occurring to any driver. I defy any man or woman to think differently.

Not only are we back in Germany, I also got treated to the sight of Michael Schumacher this weekend! I miss him lots but his old Mercedes team are doing quite well in terms of getting their tyre management during the race under control. Lewis Hamilton's incident was in the fate of God, no one was going to stop him at Silverstone. If he isn't a good shout for pole, he's a race winning contender.

One way of fixing the tyre issue.

As is his team mate, Nico Rosberg. I don't want to jump on any bandwagons, but he is fairly close to becoming full circle. If he could just involve himself in a championship fight, we may see a real hero. Interesting fact, he wants to complete his 'home hat trick.' This is the three Grand Prix's where he has some sort of base. Monaco is where he grew up and lives, Silverstone is a few miles from Mercedes's base so he wants to win the German Grand Prix as he himself is a Native (minus the whole not living there thing).

Vettel can be considered favourite for most races, but never Germany. He normally flops at his home Grand Prix or in last year's case, gets himself demoted following illegal manoeuvre's. But just like in Canada, ducks can be broken. You would be foolish to count him out. 

Just like compatriot Adrian Sutil, I've never been too fond of the man and I'm still not, but the racing driver surely has given me some food for thought. In the wake be being shown up by Force India team mate Paul di Resta, Sutil has stepped up and has produced some wonderful results. I wouldn't count out di Resta too soon though, I think a podium is looming.

Fernando Alonso's main objective this weekend will be too finish ahead of Vettel. Even though it is not my favourite way of fighting a championship, it's the best way to play Vettel at his own game. With Kimi Raikkonen still trying to find some competitive race pace, and the fact Germany doesn't sit well for Kimi, this is Alonso's chance to pull away and gain at the same time.

It's a race that will separate the men from the boy's, let's just pray fate stays the hell away and let the professionals do what they do best: RACE.