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.

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.

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.

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

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

Preview: 2013 Australia Grand Prix

There is no better track to open a Formula One season than that in Melbourne. Albert Park or Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit is a 16 corner street circuit which traditionally since 1996 (bar two seasons) has been the calendar opener. There is a unique focus on this weekend because we don't know how the teams are going to preform. Yes from testing we have an idea, but there are some things that teams hide from us. After the lights go out, we'll have a clearer picture.

Track profile courtesy of Caterham Racing

Track Characteristics
Melbourne is a high downforce track which is also very demanding on the brakes. Pirelli have decided to open their campaign by providing the teams with supersoft and medium compounded tyres, the first time supersofts have been used at this circuit. Let's hope they hold out during the high speed corners. Grip levels will improve as the race goes on and with the average track temperature being 25°C, rain is highly unlikely. Going by testing figures, commentators expect a 2 or 3 stop race. The double DRS zones (which are now mandatory for each circuit) are on the pit straight and the straight between turns 2 & 3.

Jenson Button was the most recent winner, a circuit he tends to favour and succeed in. The story couldn't be more different for national hero Mark Webber who always seems to find nothing but disappointment at his home GP, however the odds are often reversed come Silverstone for the pair. An Australian driver has never won here.

Preview
A number of the teams will certainly feel uncomfortable following a rain ridden testing campaign in Barcelona. Lotus lost their impressive Jerez pace and a day without Kimi Raikkonen following his illness, they join a number of teams who will have very empty data logs. Due to no dramatic technical changes for this year, the cars performance's are expected to remain the same, so expect strong charges from the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso but most importantly, the McLaren of Jenson Button. No doubt though, all eyes will be on Lewis Hamilton in his new Mercedes.

The surprise form of the midfield teams like Sauber and Williams looks unlikely to make a re-insurgence, though do not rule it out. Challenges from the Force India of Paul di Resta would also be a welcome feature, and expect home boy Daniel Ricciardo to try and impress his crowd.

Qualifying
Always ridiculously hard to predict, I would always refuse to but since I've started this blog I feel obliged to. As quick as Sergio Perez was last year, I can't imagine him getting his first pole position in Formula 1, the same goes for team mate Button's chances. Pole position is most likely going to come from Vettel, Alonso or Raikkonen. I also think the people on the bandwagon are going to be highly disappointed after they see Mercedes's qualifying performance.

The Race
Expect a frantic 290m sprint to turn 1 as all drivers attempt to establish their roles within their respective teams and the grid's pecking order. However I genuinely think the drivers who will come out on top will be those who were in the title hunt at the tail end of last season. Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso will take 3rd, 2nd and 1st respectively whenever the race Down Under comes to a close.

After Sunday there are going to be a lot of satisfied F1 fans as this weekend ends the draught we so desperately hate. The last season of the current engines will not see a mighty unpredictable turn of events like last year, but round 1 will certainly give us the opening we know it can provide. 

Editors Note
Every weekend I will be providing qualifying and race reviews but due to my future Marshall and work commitments on a Saturday and Sunday and the BBC selling all my rights, I'll not be able to provide live coverage on Twitter or immediate reviews. To amend this, I plan to watch every highlight session with a note book on hand to jot down even the tiniest of details. Remember to keep it here for everything Formula 1, and follow me on Twitter @Houston60. 

Barcelona: Day Four

It's hard to think that in three weeks time we get the 2013 season started in Melbourne. It's been a long winter testing, and Formula 1's first of three visits (two tests and the Spanish Grand Prix) to Barcelona for testing concludes having provided us with some terrific lap times. Unfortunately, most of the day was dominated by rain.

Final Standings

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1m23.282s
2. Jenson Button (McLaren) – 1m23.633s
3. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) – 1m24.071s
4. Jules Bianchi (Force India) – 1m25.732s
5. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) – 1m26.239s
6. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) – 1m27.429s
7. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) – 1m27.563s
8. Mark Webber (Red Bull) – 1m27.616s
9. Max Chilton (Marussia) – 1m29.902s
10. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) – 1m34.800s
11. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) – no time
12. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) – no time

Red flag waving was common practice today as the rain made the track wet and slippery. It wouldn't be right to read too much into today's session, but at least we had a small indication of how the 2013 models handle in the wet. All quick laps were done in the morning with Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton setting the quickest, 0.3s off former McLaren team mate Jenson Button. Jean-Eric Vergne seems to have gotten Toro Rosso's great testing form back on track as he said he had "another productive day, even with the rain."

Williams had no time set due to practising pit-stops and other pit protocols.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez and Jean-Eric Vergne all ended up in the gravel after sliding off which incurred red flags. Romain Grosjean finished Lotus's poor Barcelona form off with a resounding 10th place finish. Hopefully by the time of the second test here, the Enstone team will have everything looked and and fixed as they really need to hit the ground running down under.

RB9

It's hard to think of any other launch that could have had more eyes upon it than Red Bull's unveiling of the 2013 car from the genius that is Adrian Newey.

Easily the most secretive and most 'touchiest' team about the details of the RB9, team principal Christian Horner made sure he gave nothing away, keeping the environment of which the launch took place in near utter darkness, sparing just the purple lighting of new sponsor Infiniti which now makes the team Infiniti Red Bull Racing. Camera's were also banned from the room preventing any details getting leaked. 

It would be wishful thinking to ask for anything else, the mind that is Adrian Newey has delivered them the double for three years on the trot, it's no surprise that Horner used the most expensive cover in history in the shape of drivers Mark Webber and triple world champion Sebastian Vettel at the RB9's rear.

In contrast to every launch so far, Red Bull did not do a live launch online for fans in order to keep the utmost secrecy possible. Instead, Red Bull delivered something a little more personal in the form of an exclusive video on YouTube. RB9 Rhythm Of The Factory shows how some components of an F1 car are created and then pieced together. In the end it shows a promo shot of the RB9.

First thing I noticed was the continuity of the stepped nose, but since that's one of the only technical aspects I can see, I'll come back to it. There's no hiding that in the past I've been highly critical of Red Bull and in particular Sebastian Vettel. But this isn't a bad looking car, the colours are brilliantly bright and the purple tint is a fantastic addition. Infiniti has replaced Red Bull on the sidepods of the car, and is also a feature on the rear wing.

Chief designer Adrian Newey called the car an "evolution" stating that 2013 will be difficult, giving that there are no real regulation changes. Youngest ever triple world champion Sebastian Vettel echoed Newey's words, stating that "it will be a tough challenge." No doubt Sebastian, you'll find a late surge at the almost purpose built Red Bull circuits in Asia. If there was ever a case to exclude India, Singapore and Korea, it's most certainly the fact they seem to gift Red Bull 1-2's or close to.

The stepped nose rears its ugly appearance on the second car this season, suspiciously on another Renault powered car. McLaren/Force India (Mercedes powered cars) and Ferrari/Sauber (Ferrari powered cars) all opted for the optional vanity panel which allows teams to cover up the monstrous indiscretions. However the Renault machines of Lotus and Red Bull have kept the look of the 2012 models. In my Lotus E21 review I was highly critical of them choosing the boxers nose but If Adrian Newey has kept it, then it has actually given me hope about the E21 being competitive.

Red Bull will be putting every last belief they can into the RB9 in order to bring about a fourth consecutive double. One can't help but wonder if the RB9 will be the last laugh for the Milton Keynes based team or in my opinion, the last fluke. As I've mentioned countless times before, 2014 will provide a huge shake up of the pecking order. Red Bull have had their day in the sun, making the 2011 season boring and blinding everybody by saying Vettel had a stormer in Abu Dhabi last season (two safety cars and several retirements do not count as a sensational drive). They could find themselves in a rather different midfield positions in 2014, something even Adrian Newey may not be able to prevent. I can only hope.

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 E21

It's the day I have been waiting for since Brazil had ended! It's the time of year when teams start unveiling their brand new machinery for the season ahead. Lotus F1 opened the honour for us, live on YouTube and Sky Sports News. 

I provided live coverage on Twitter and now I'm going to review the Lotus E21. The 'E' stands for Enstone which is where the team is based, and the number is the amount of years the team and their previous incarnations have lived there. I watched the launch live on YouTube and the photos used are all screen shots from my laptop. The fact that teams are now unleashing their new beasts to the public is great and I loved seeing Kimi again, however it's not all highs as I'm about to explain. Here's my review of the Lotus E21 through live pictures.

The screen to the live feed on YouTube. The music was SO annoying!

The ceremony was supposed to be outside in a marquee, however due to heavy winds the event was moved in doors. It took the team only 90 minutes to do so. Well done to them!

Gerard Lopez, chairman of Lotus Formula 1 Team. He was discussing the success of last year and the ambitions for the upcoming season, including challenging both championships and placing 3rd overall.

Eric Boullier, Lotus F1 Team Principle. When discussing Kimi, he noted how he proved the doubters wrong, stating his motivation was nothing but well driven all season. When questioned about Romain Grosjean, he noted how great his qualifying results were but he also mentioned that he "raced well." Now correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the team principle sits at the side of the track and views both drivers performances live. Did he miss all of Grosjean's mishaps?! Particularly the one that nearly killed Fernando Alonso?! There were better drivers Eric, but making sure Romain knows he is without doubt a number 2 driver like Massa and Webber before him is a well thought through move.

James Allison, Lotus F1  Technical Director. More from him later.

Romain Grosjean. 3 podiums in 2012 including a second place in Canada.

Kimi Raikkonen 2007 Drivers World Champion. 7 podiums in 2012 including winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Notice the new Alpine Star race suit and the extra red.

Both drivers taking the cover off the brand new E21. For being the worlds fastest drivers, they took their time taking it off!

The first glimpse of the E21. Right after last season ended, Lotus announced a sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola owned energy drink Burn. The logo also appears on the drivers suits.

Continuing the iconic black and gold colours, we see the first hint of red on the side pod, but my worst fear had come true, the stepped nose is still there. More on that later.

The first full picture of the Lotus E21. What first struck me is the addition of the colour red. For me this is straying too far from the classic livery. 

A great angle. Notice Kimi's name above the drivers cockpit. Kimi is displayed on both sides, as is the number 7 (Grosjean is therefore number 8 as displayed on his cap).

Another shot of the rear.

Lotus were very coy in letting the camera men view the car, notice there are no shots of the diffuser . Hiding something are we team? Back to the stepped nose; Allison stated that the team had chosen to keep the stepped nose as the cosmetic cover they had trialled weighed several grams.  He noted until they find a material that won't affect the cars performance, they will run the stepped nose all season. I find this extremely disappointing, I was looking forward to seeing the return of our beautiful shaped cars but if it's not beneficial to run a cover, then most teams will follow suit. McLaren didn't have a stepped nose last year and their car was by far the best looking in terms of chassis. If I was Bernie or Jean Todt, I'd force both Sauber and Caterham to cover their cars. They were by far the most extreme and disgusting looking. 

A close up of Kimi's name on the side, I think it is a terrific touch, really impressed.

Kimi made a series of very important comments tonight. When asked about why he stayed, he simply replied "because of a contract." From the outside this sounds like he had no choice. However at the end he went on to say he was happy overall. Lopez made a very good comment early on when he stated Kimi was not "relaxed", rather he was in his perfect environment, and I believe this is why he's happy and proved every doubter wrong. You know who you are and I simply say: "ha." 

E21

Overall I'm not really impressed. When I think about Lotus, I think about Senna making his bones, Graham Hill winning the World Championship, 7 constructors championships and all in a black and gold livery. There is far too much red and I suspect it has something to do with Burn being named as a major sponsor. It doesn't affect the performance of the car but because it's my favourite team, I have a fancy for the body work.

As for the technical side of proceedings, I'm not one for spotting it from afar whenever it's not written on paper for me to make sense of. I've been told they are running double DRS this season after last seasons failed development.

Kimi Raikkonen in the 2013 attire.

I was quite negative about the event after it. The amount of red had me feeling blue and then I wanted to step through the TV to cover up the stepped nose but the aspect that ruined my night was the coverage. I hate Rupert Murdoch, he is a fascist and neo-Nazi in disguise. Murdoch owns Sky, bought all F1 rights off BBC meaning I can't watch all races live. You can probably tell, I do not like Sky. Essentially Sky F1 consists of Georgie Thompson wearing literally NOTHING, Ted Kavitz being the team's bitch and Martin Brundle taking centre stage, often leading the programmed to be called "The Martin Brundle Show." Damon Hill also dropped in my estimations with his association with the show. Simply put, I hate Sky.

Romain Grosjean in the 2013 attire,

Now you know why I hate sky, I'll tell you why tonight was a huge disappointment. The arrogance and ignorance of the presenter tonight was appalling. In true Sky spirit, he was rude enough to take the spotlight away from Lotus to ask everyone (INCLUDING MY KIMI) about Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. Who does he think he is? How dare he actually be that despicable and try to cover a big issue because it's the only live time they'll get with a team. His ethics were horrible but what can you expect from a man employed by some of the worst men and women in history. Criminals in suits.

E21

I hope the rest of the launches go down better than this one, you can find the dates here for the rest of the launches.

E21

Don't forget, I am also a writer for Let's Talk F1 who are providing reviews similar to this one for every car launch. On the 31st of January I will be reviewing the McLaren MP4-28, so be sure to keep up to date with the site throughout the season as our talented group bring you awesome articles through a passion for the sport like none other. You can follow us @LetsTalkF1 on Twitter.