A Crazier Malaysia

Sepang is without a doubt my favourite racetrack that sounds like a wok falling down a flight of stairs. However in the grand scheme of F1 circuits it comes somewhere in the middle. I'm a bit of a Tilke-loather (as I'm sure you'll find out in the future) and I find some of his Asian incarnations extremely tiresome. Expect some extremely disgruntled reports from myself in October.

Anywho, after a scintillating Australian offering we move straight on to the Malaysian Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur. Anniversary fans will be pleased to learn this is the 15th Grand Prix in Malaysia, which has become synonymous with the second race of the season.

This is the first time we'll see Pirelli's new hard compound tyre, which has been painted orange this year instead of grey. This upsets me somewhat, as I'm mildly colour blind, and red and orange are two colours that blend together for me. However, Pirelli never put the Super Soft tyres on at the same race as the Hard tyre, so I don't think there'll be any confusion there.

On Friday Red Bull's Mark Webber was the fastest in session one, as he tried to put behind him the disappointment of Australia, where he had a woeful start. Australian victor Kimi Raikkonen topped the timing sessions in P2, however, indicating the Lotus' cracking performance in Melbourne was no false dawn.

Saturday morning arrived and the old status quo was reinstated with Vettel at the top in Practice 3, closely followed by Hamilton. Later on in Q1 though, the Red Bulls really struggled. They switched to the medium tyres late and languished 13th and 15th towards the end, with Vettel just scraping through in 15th. We lost both Marussias and Caterhams as you might expect. The 'Fall guys' were Half of Williams and Toro Rosso.

Webber left it very late to make it safely into Q2

Cars Eliminated after Q1
17 -Bottas
18 - Vergne
19 - Bianchi
20 - Pic
21 - Chilton
22 - van der Garde

Q2 brought with it a sprinkling of rain half-way through that later intesnsified. Most drivers got in a fast time, but Force India's Paul di Resta had two offs at the double-apex turns 7 & 8, spinning the car 480 degrees the second time.

Paul's Spin-and-a-half indicated it was too wet for Medium tyres

Cars Eliminated after Q2
11 - Grosjean
12 - Hulkenberg
13 - Ricciardo
14 - Gutierrez
15 - di Resta
16 - Maldonado

The rain only got worse in the 10-minute break and by the time Q3 arrived it was wet enough for intermediate tyres. All the usual suspects were in the hunt for Pole position, but as the cars went round in a train of 10, it was clear the car at the back, Vettel, was gaining an advantage, as his contemporaries were clearing the track of water ahead of him.

The final top 10
1 - Vettel
2 - Massa
3 - Alonso
4 - Hamilton
5 - Webber
6 - Rosberg
7 - Button
8 - Sutil
9 - Perez
10 - Raikkonen

Raikkonen did qualify 7th, but appeared to block Nico Rosberg in the final session, so took a 3-place grid drop to 10th, shifting Button, Sutil and Perez up a place. Felipe Massa out-qualified Alonso for the 4th time in a row, maintaining his apparent resurgence. All the top 10 drivers set their times on Inters. If the race had started dry, everyone could have picked whatever tyres they wanted, but more dampness on Sunday made Intermediate tyres the only option.

The sodden tarmac caught out many drivers on their installation laps, with Ricciardo damaging the underside of his car. At the start everyone got away cleanly, nobody made a particularly significant start, but Webber didn't make his customary free-fall through the pack either. At turn 2 Alonso gave a gentle kiss to the rear of Sebastian Vettel (Ooh Matron)'s car which was big enough to damage one of the pylons that hold the front wing. Incredibly, 'Nando limped round with the front wing dangling off and maintained second place until lap 2, where his Prancing horse lived up to its name and consumed the crippled wing, leaving him rudderless to avoid the gravel. Alonso was out.

As Stefano Domenicali put it, this 'kiss' was enough...

...to cause this damage...

... and this crash.

Vettel and Massa were the first of the leaders to switch from Intermediate tyres, on Lap 5. However, the track was still far too damp in sector 1 and the Red Bull was snaking all over the place. Several drivers pitted on lap 8, including leaders Webber and Hamilton, at what appeared to be the optimal time. Hamilton must have been feeling a touch of home-sickness, as he pulled into the McLaren pit box instead of Mercedes who were a few meters further down the lane.

That was not the only drama in the first round of stops. Ricciardo was unsafely released into the path of Charles Pic's Caterham and both broke their front wings. Being a few feet away from your pit box though, means a speedy change, and both drivers continued. Even more chaos occured. Force India opted to queue their drivers, but Sutil had an extremely tricky-to-fit rear left tyre, leaving di Resta stuck behind him for about twenty seconds. It was quite a turn around from the great pace in Albert Park.

On lap 14 Pastor Maldonado kept up his 100% success rate of 'incidents into the gravel' in 2013, breaking half of his front wing in the process. Raikkonen chased Perez relentlessly for four laps, finally getting the better of him on lap 16. Webber came in for Hard tyres on lap 20 after only 12 laps on them. This was a contrast to his team mate Vettel who managed to make his less-durable Medium tyres last longer.

Force India's day went from terrible to downright apocalyptic, when Sutil came in for a set of hard tyres. The left-front tyre would not seat on the rim properly and the German was sat in the pits for at least five minutes. Unorthodox techniques such as bashing the rims with hammers were employed, and he eventually got going again, but the team opted to retire both cars when they realised that two more stops for each would be just as troublesome.

A disgruntled di Resta had to retire his VJM06 due to wheel nut problems.

Vettel edged ever closer to his team mate. The disgruntled German did not sugar coat his intentions:

"Mark is too slow, get him out of the way."

But the team wanted to keep Webber ahead for the time being, because he had got his timing right earlier. Vettel was all over him from lap 25 until 31, when Mark went into the pits for more hard tyres. Seb swapped his rubbers two laps later but emerged not only behind Webber, but also Hamilton. This was not what he wanted to see. Webber passed Button who was yet to make his third stop, but at the end of the lap when Jenson came in, his front right wheel was not secured properly and this was only noticed half-way down the pitlane. The chubby mechanics legged it down the pitlane to fit the tyre and release him, but he was well down the order when they did.

A superb scrap emerged between both Red Bulls and Mercedes, with Webber leading Vettel, Hamilton and Rosberg. There was barely a second between each car, but even when they did break that 1-second barrier, DRS was not enough to overtake. This battle went to the pits, Hamilton coming in on Lap 42 for a set of scrubbed option tyres. On lap 44, Webber emerged from the pits side-by-side with Vettel. Mark had the inside line and kept the position, despite relentless pressure from the young German behind.

Webber leads his team mate, and the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Rosberg.

"Careful, Seb, Careful" - Guillaume 'Rocky' Rocquelin, Vettel's Race engineer.

Team orders were made legal for the start of the 2011 season, and Red Bull wanted Webber in front of Vettel due to the strategies the drivers had chosen. Vettel pitted early for dry tyres on lap 5 and was behind, which the team felt should happen later in the race. On lap 45, however, Sebastian's racer instinct got the better of him and he passed Webber at turn 4 on the outside.

Clearly, Mark, nor the rest of the team were expecting that and the Aussie made his feelings abundantly clear, showing his middle finger on the straight between turns 8 and 9 at 180mph. 

It's barely visible, but if you see the replay in moving image, you can definitely see hand movement.

A parallel emerged, as for four laps in a row, Hamilton and Rosberg squabbled over 3rd and 4th, with the German overtaking along the back straight, before being overwhelmed again on the pit straight by Lewis.

"That's enough now Nico, I want to bring the cars home safely like this." - Ross Brawn, Mercedes' team principal.

Clearly Red Bull and Mercedes were dominant here and able to choose the positions in which their drivers finished, but behind a hard-charging Massa was on the move. On Lap 49 he relegated Sergio Perez to 8th, and then clinched 6th from Raikkonen on the final corner. Meanwhile, fellow South American Maldonado was having a troublesome time, and retired with KERS problems. Ricciardo retired with an exhaust problem just like in Australia, and Button joined him on the sidelines thanks to the tricky pit stop earlier which left him well out of the points.

Massa was still on the move, and moved up to 5th place at the expense of Grosjean with three laps to go. Sergio Perez' slightly down-beat debut season for McLaren continued. Nico Hulkenberg shifted the Mexican down to 9th, giving a good idea of how badly Sergio's tyres had grained. He had to stop again. The last-lap stop didn't relegate him any further, but compared to perhaps the fastest car on the grid last year, this is not what the Woking team are capable of, nor do they want to continue it.

The race concluded after 56 laps with Vettel just over 4 seconds ahead of his team mate. It's the first Red Bull 1-2 since Korea last year and re affirms them as the dominant form, after the slightly lower-key showing in Melbourne. In the cool-down room after the race emotions were anything but; Mark ignored Sebastian before remarking that there was a team order. On the podium, Webber made it public that he thinks Sebastian gets "protection" from the team. I will be writing a follow-up to this about my thoughts on team orders.

This is probably the strangest Grand Prix I've ever witnessed.

Lap Leaders
Vettel (1-5)
Webber (6-33)
Button (34-35)
Webber (36-46)
Vettel (46-56)

Finishing Positions
1. S Vettel, Red Bull
2. M Webber, Red Bull
3. L Hamilton, Mercedes
4. N Rosberg, Mercedes
5. F Massa, Ferrari
6. R Grosjean, Lotus
7. K Raikkonen. Lotus
8. N Hulkenberg, Sauber
9. S Perez, McLaren
10. JE Vergne, Toro Rosso
11. V Bottas, Williams
12. E Gutierrez, Sauber
13. J Bianchi, Marussia
14. C Pic, Caterham
15. G van der Garde, Caterham
16. M Chilton, Marussia

Out/Unclassified
J Button, McLaren (Retired)
D Riccardio, Toro Rosso (Exhaust)
P Maldonado, Williams (KERS Failure)
A Sutil, Force India (Wheel Nut)
P di Resta, Force India (Wheel Nut)
F Alonso, Ferrari (Crash Damage)

Aus the Great and 'Shower'ful

Excuse the pun of a title, but the schizophrenic weather in Melbourne made it very difficult to predict anything at this weekend. Rainstorms, Rookies and racing were not lacking, but it did eventually clear up on Sunday for a fantastic Grand Prix.

Maldonado was not happy with his new FW35. After limited running in it during Pre-season Testing (due to releasing late, for the second Barcelona test) he described it as "Undriveable" and only managed to qualify 17th, with his teammate Bottas faring marginally better, getting into Sunday's Q2 but still only in 16th.

"In the wet we were slow, in the dry as well." said Pastor. The Venezuelan was the only driver to retire without a technical problem, spinning into the gravel at turn 1 on lap 25.

Qualifying was postponed on Saturday after a colossal downpour just after Q1. The bottom six drivers were eliminated but the adverse conditions became extremely overwhelming. The excess water coupled with the diminishing light levels were deemed too hazardous, and the FIA decided to put Q2 off until Sunday morning, at 12am UK time.

Esteban Gutierrez would have been better off with a Kayak
than his C32 on Saturday.

During the short 20-minutes session several drivers had off-track excursions, including Lewis Hamilton who dented the rear wing of his new Mercedes after a spin at turn 2. His McLaren replacement Perez also got in spin, and there were offs for Webber, Maldonado, Gutierrez, Massa and van der Garde, the latter three of which broke their front wings.


On Sunday morning the drivers were out once again. It was still wet. Intermediates replaced the wet tyres of Saturday afternoon, but it was still soggy enough to cause troubles. On his McLaren debut, Perez looked to impress. However, he gambled onto the super-soft slicks too early and ended up just 15th. His team mate fared not much better, and lined up 10th. There seemed to be no real change up front, with Vettel and Webber locking out the front row.

Sunday afternoon brought with it much excitement as the field lined up for the start. However, the pack was a car down before the race began. Nico Hulkenberg had a fuel system problem, and the team opted to retire his car for safety reasons. Everyone else was fine, and as the five red lights illuminated and blinked out, I literally gave out a little squeal of excitement.

The Season's first start.

At the start, Massa and Alonso made cracking starts, both overcoming the sluggish Mark Webber and then getting the better of Hamilton. Raikkonen also made a good start, jumping up to 5th, then overpowering Hamilton as well. Several drivers made early stops from severely scrubbed super softs. Alliteration aside, the options dropped off extremely quickly, and drivers including Button and Webber pitted while the lap counter was still in single figures. Massa and Alonso both had a quick share of leading the race, and when the latter pitted with Raikkonen on Lap 10, Hamilton emerged at the front.

Meanwhile, Adrian Sutil had been storming along in his VJM06 and threatened the leaders. Qualifying outside the top ten, as it did last year, means free choice of which tyres on which to start. Adrian started on the Prime tyres and by lap 15, had overtaken both Mercedes cars. He held on to the lead until he pitted, and was followed by Vettel. They both exited into traffic but the younger German got the better of the slightly older one.

Adrian Sutil's return to F1 was highly impressive, even leading for 6 laps.

Maldonado brought out the only yellow flag of the race. He dipped a wheel into the grass before turn one, and subsequently spun into the gravel. His beached Williams was far enough away not to warrant the Safety Car, a rarity in Australia which has seen Berndt Maylander lead the field in four races since 2008. Rosberg retired two laps later on Lap 27 with a suspected electrical problem. 

Maldonado's beached Williams at Turn 1

Former team mates Hamilton and Alonso fought tooth and nail for a few laps in the middle of the race, with the Mercedes driver under extreme pressure from the Ferrari. Hamilton managed to keep him at bay, but not without destroying his front right tyre in a colossal lock-up, which he subsequently pitted to change.

Hamilton's plight continued later on, with Massa and Vettel passing him on tyres that were only 8 laps old - it appeared the Mercedes was being rather tough on its tyres. Ricciardo became the third retirement, unfortunately retiring from his home event with exhaust troubles.

Raikkonen passed Sutil for the lead on lap 43, and at the same time, di Resta in the other Force India also lost a position, to Webber. Sutil who had been on two sets of Medium tyres pitted for Super Softs, but they grained badly and ultimately surrendered 5th and 6th to Hamilton and Webber. The race concluded with Kimi Raikkonen winning from Alonso by 13 seconds, and continues the excellent pace of Lotus from the end of last season.

Six World Championships between them.

Lap Leaders
Vettel (1-7)
Massa (8)
Alonso (9)
Hamilton (10-14)
Rosberg (15)
Sutil (16-21)
Raikkonen (22-30)
Hamilton (31)
Alonso (32-40)
Sutil (41-43)
Raikkonen (43-58)

Finishing Positions
1. K Raikkonen, Lotus
2. F Alonso, Ferrari
3. S Vettel, Red Bull
4.F Massa, Ferrari
5. L Hamilton, Mercedes
6. M Webber, Red Bull
7. A Sutil, Force India
8. P di Resta, Force India
9. J Button, McLaren
10. R Grosjean, Lotus
11. S Perez, McLaren
12. JE Vergne, Toro Rosso
13. E Gutierrez, Sauber
14. V Bottas, Williams
15. J Bianchi, Marussia
16. C Pic, Caterham
17. M Chilton, Marussia
18. G van der Garde, Caterham

Out/Unclassified
D Ricciardo, Toro Rosso (Exhaust)
N Rosberg, Mercedes (Electronics)
P Maldonado, Williams (Spun off)
N Hulkenberg, Sauber (Fuel System)

My 2013 Formula One Season Preview

Unpredictability was the order of the year in 2012 and I doubt 2013 will be too different. We saw 7 different drivers take a win in the first 7 races, including two brand-new winners in Rosberg and Maldonado. We saw old heroes return to the podium, with Raikkonen's fantastic comeback season, and Schumacher got the only podium of his Mercedes career. Midfield teams all had their share of glory, with Sauber, Force India and Williams all proving they can battle with the big boys, even if just for a little while. I can't promise I'll know exactly what will happen this year, and I will get most if not all of these wrong, but from being extremely anal and boring in the last 4 seasons, watching form and consistency, I think I have a good understanding of how the teams and drivers shape up.

There are a lot of things that I would love to see in the new season and some that I think are inevitable. So without further deliberation; for the record and "I-told-you-so" bragging rights, here they are.

More wins for Kimi
The Iceman returned last year with podiums and a win in the United Arab Emirates. Possibly my favourite driver, he reinforced his status as the coolest man in the sport by telling his engineer to "Leave [him] alone, I know what I'm doing" on the way to victory, and famously told David Coulthard that winning felt like "Not much".  Some may call arrogance, but he always has been one to let his driving do the talking. Despite a tough pre-season test in Jerez, the Lotus E21 (which for my money is the most beautiful car of the lot) looks on form and I think/hope Kimi can provide more wins in the new season.

Hulkenberg on the podium
Pole position in Brazil 2010, dropped for 2011, steady points in 2012. Nico has gradually worked his way into a very decent seat, securing a drive with the ever-improving Sauber for this year. Some would argue that it's a step, not backwards, nor forwards, but sideways in terms of performance from midfield battlers Force India. But the Swiss outfit do look to be pulling away from the orange cars, and Nico may have jumped ship at just the right time. He proved he can race with the very best at the last race of 2012 in Brazil, leading for several laps. He pitted and ultimately buggered up Lewis Hamilton's race by careening into the Brit's front left wheel and forcing him out, so ironing out any signs of inexperience may be his biggest challenge this season.

Especially now, considering his new-found team leader status. With two full seasons for Williams and Force India under his overalls, he's been under the shadow of the Elder Statesman Rubens Barrichello, and nippy Scot Paul di Resta. Despite his responosibility of nurturing Esteban Gutierrez as a consistent team mate, I feel that 'the Hulk' could really punch (Hulk Smash!) above his weight, even taking the bottom step of the podium if he plays his cards right. Definitely one for the future.

Grosjean calming down 
The only driver to have had a race ban in ages; Grosjean endangered lives and his career with a huge crash in Belgium. His incredible qualifying speed was confirmed, and he was able to convert that speed to podiums in Bahrain, Canada, and Hungary. He scored points in 7 other races too, but his love of carbon fibre shards seemed a little excessive, crashing into people on the first lap no fewer than 7 times. He and Maldonado seemed to be the failsafe if anyone were to crash out of a race, but perhaps we are a little too quick to judge. Grosjean is quick, but careless. He is not, however, dangerous, and that has helped him maintain his seat for 2013. You can bet that he's skating on thin ice with Eric Boullier and co. and any more slip ups could cost him his place in the team to Bruno Senna or Jerone d'Ambrosio, much like it did in Italy last year.

Button at his best
Jenson doesn't think that having a smooth driving style will pay much of a dividend in 2013 but I disagree. I think being the undisputed team leader (He and Hamilton shared a 'driver equality' mantra since 2010) will be a positive thing, and with the hot shot Mexican Perez nudging for his first race victory, Jenson's best driving will come out. Looking back through the years, it's difficult to find ANY instances of Jenson crashing from an unforced error, or tangling with other drivers (unless you count hitting Karthikeyan in Malaysia '12 because he thought he was lapping him, and not seeing Hamilton in Canada '11) and as anyone will tell you - consistency is the key.

First point(s) for Caterham
For the past 2 seasons we've been saying "One of the new teams HAS to score this year" but the 'has' could not be more crucial in this sense. Other minnows like Force India (now much bigger) and Super Aguri were able to score points in their second seasons. Sure, they may have followed on from formerly-successful teams (Jordan, Arrows) but the shake up in team logistics was well adapted to by both, and for either Caterham or Marussia to take four years to score is quite ridiculous. However, I think this will be the year.

Predicting the future
It's going to be so unbelievably close this year; everyone seems strong. These are what I think the standings. I'll only do a few drivers, because that's much harder to predict than the Constructors.

Drivers' World Championship
Button - JB's smoothness could see him return to the very top again.
Webber - Christian Horner insists that he's not on his way out, and Mark has been a title challenger before.
Vettel - Vettel has broken pretty much every record, his only goal now - aim for Schumacher's 7 titles.
Raikkonen - Kimi and Lotus look strong again this year, can Lotus take the fight to the bigguns?
Hamilton - Pushing Mercedes forward, Hamilton could do a sterling job this year, but not the title

Constructors' World Championship
Red Bull - Several wins for both drivers
McLaren - Button winning regularly, Perez supporting
Lotus - Raikkonen scoring most weeks, help from Grosjean
Ferrari - Steady points for both drivers
Sauber - Low-end points finishes bolstered by podiums
Mercedes - Podiums here and there
Force India - average, midfield running
Williams - Two pay drivers in the right place at the right time
Caterham - the odd point here and there, closing the gap to the midfield
Toro Rosso - Falling backwards
Marussia - Still developing; may score first point(s)

There you have it. I can't promise you  that any of this right; in fact it's more likely to be all completely incorrect. All I can promise you is intensely close racing and unpredictability.
See you all in Melbourne!

Sutil completes the grid - 2013 Teams and Drivers

So after a painstakingly long wait, the grid for the 2013 Formula One season has finally come together. There are plenty of familiar faces as well as some you might not know about. Returnee or rookie, everyone will be pushing from the first day of testing to prove they're worth their seat. This is a list of the teams, drivers and cars taking part this year.


RED BULL - RENAULT
Team Principal - Christian Horner
Technical Director - Adrian Newey
Chassis - RB9
2012 Position - World Champions

(1) Sebastian Vettel - Seb battled with Fernando Alonso last year but triumphed at the last race at Brazil to come out on top, in the process becoming the youngest ever Triple World Champion. His seat was never in doubt and he will be aiming to rub shoulders with Alain Prost as a Quadruple World Champion by the end of 2013. Can he fend off his rivals for a fourth consecutive year?

(2) Mark Webber - For the past two years people have been saying "This is Mark's last chance to win the title" but the Aussie proved he still has what it takes, with wins last year in Monaco and the UK. He may be F1's elder statesman but 2013 will be business as usual for Webber, as he aims to keep his young team mate in sight while proving things really do get better with age.


FERRARI
Team Principal - Stefano Domencali
Technical Director - Pat Fry
Chassis - F138
2012 Position - 2nd

(3) Fernando Alonso - The super-quick, ever-present Spaniard refuses to leave he front of the grid alone. He hassled Vettel all year in 2012 and brought Ferrari's challenger up to speed after early-season mediocrity. Coming so close in 2012 and 2010, 'Nando wants nothing more than to pick up his elusive third title, he needs no reminding that it's been 7 years since he picked up the 2006 trophy. But with the Tifosi loving him at levels comparable with Michael Schumacher, he's sure to have all the support he needs to have the best possible chance this year.

(4) Felipé Massa - Some people say Massa has never recovered from his crash in Hungary 2009 after being lacklustre in 2010 and 2011. But last season brought with it a change of fortunes for the Ferrari number 2, with consistent points and a couple of podiums, the second being in his home country of Brazil. Felipe is only 31 and in no way ready to retire. With that in mind, the momentum gained from the end of last season is crucial in keeping him at the Team from Maranello, considering all the talk about Sergio Perez taking his place. He didn't eventually, but the rumour must have scared him into getting his act together.


VODAFONE MCLAREN - MERCEDES
Team Principal - Martin Whitmarsh
Technical Director - Tim Goss
Chassis - MP4-28
2012 Position - 3rd

(5) Jenson Button - Mr. Smooth had a decent season last year, bookending the season with wins in Australia and Brazil, as well as an incredibly impressive domination of Belgium in the middle too. He got a taste of being team leader to experienced Lewis Hamilton last season, but this year his job is different - nurturing the fantastic Mexican Sergio Perez into a household name. Jenson's undeniable speed and fluidity will obviously serve him well in 2013 and if McLaren iron out last year's creases, there's no reason he can't challenge at the front once again.

(6) Sergio Perez -  'Checo the tyre whisperer' impressed from his very first race with a unique ability to manage his tyres. He and Kobayashi have propelled Sauber forward, towards front-running teams. Sergio nearly clinched a win in Malaysia last year, hunting down Fernando Alonso and sliding off the damp track just a few laps before the end to lose crucial ground. He finished only 2 seconds behind the Spaniard and declared himself as a serious rising talent with second place, a feat he repeated in Italy also scoring a podium in Canada. In his first season with a world-beating team and experienced team mate, he hopes to become Button's protege and add to McLaren's list of young drivers who would go on to become champion, such as Raikkonen and Hamilton.


LOTUS - RENAULT
Team Principal: Eric Boullier
Technical Director: James Allison
Chassis: E21
2012 Position - 4th

(7) Kimi Raikkonen - The Iceman's return in 2012 was perhaps the most popular driver signing of the year. The 2007 World Champion wasted absolutely no time getting back up to speed, challenging for victory in Bahrain which eventually went to Vettel. He scored 7 podiums and only failed to finish in the points once in China, where his tyres famously "Fell off the cliff".

(8) Romain Grosjean - The Frenchman's second debut in F1 came courtesy of the same team as in 2009, which was then known as Renault. Carrying the stigma of "fast but inconsistent" (much like contact-happy Maldonado) he must calm down and focus on harnessing his abilities next to Kimi Raikkonen. He managed three podiums, with an impressive second in Canada, but, lest we forget his monumental accident in Belgium. He took out Hamilton, Alonso and Perez as well as himself, and earned himself an unenviable record, of being the first banned entrant in 7 years (Since BAR Honda were banned from the 2005 Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix) when he was not allowed to race in Italy. Jerome d'Ambrosio took his place.


MERCEDES
Team Principal: Ross Brawn
Technical Director: Bob Bell
Chassis: W04
2012 Position: 5th

(9) Lewis Hamilton - His move to Mercedes (ending his 13-year partnership with McLaren) was perhaps the most controversial contract change of the season. Hamilton has won a race in every season of his career so far and looks to add to that list this season. However, he is all too aware that Mercedes, at least based on last year's pace, are not in the position to challenge for race wins on a regular basis. Hamilton's 'undisputed' team leader status at Mercedes is very much reminiscent of Schumacher moving to Ferrari in 1996, trying to bring a once-glorious team back to the very front of the field.

(10) Nico Rosberg - joining his old Formula Three teammate this year, Nico's aim will surely be to double his race win tally after his flawless exhibition in Shanghai last year. After being taken under the most illustrious driver in the sport's history ever, Michael Schumacher, Nico must keep up with his more aggressive team mate to drive the team forward, as is their aim.


SAUBER - FERRARI
Team Principal: Monisha Kaltenborn
Chassis: C32
2012 Position: 6th

(11) Nico Hulkenberg - The Hulk had a very strong season for Force India last year. He finished in 11th place, picking up a fourth place in Belgium, and two fifths in Europe and Brazil, the latter of which he fought for the lead until a collision with Lewis Hamilton. The 2009 GP2 champion will be a team leader for the first time in 2013 and will be eager to get his first podium in the sport for the ever-improving Sauber outfit.

(12) Esteban Gutierrez - The second young Mexican to join the sport in 2 years for Sauber brings with him a solid history in junior formulae, winning the 2008 Formula BMW Europe Championship, the 2012 GP3 series, and 3rd place in last year's GP2 series. His former ART teammate in GP2, Vallteri Bottas is also a rookie this season.

FORCE INDIA - MERCEDES
Team Principal: Vijay Mallaya
Technical Director: Andrew Green
Chassis: VJM06

(14) Paul di Resta
In his third season with the team, Paul will be hoping to break into the top ten and possibly score a podium finish, scoring a best-ever finish last year with fourth in Singapore. Paul's consistency has left him a strong midfield runner, and he'll be keen to push further this year. "The man that used to beat Vettel" (seriously, 2006 Formula 3 Euroseries) hasn't had many chances to show his true potential, which I'm sure he will deliver this year.

(15) Adrian Sutil - This efficient German had a year out, being replaced last year by Nico Hulkenberg in 2012. The final seat in the F1 paddock was going to either Adrian, or Jules Bianchi, but Force India chose experience over youth, much to Sutil's delight. The roles are reversed from the 2011 season, with di Resta leading him, and adjusting to this new status quo may take a few races for him.


WILLIAMS - RENAULT
Team Principal: Sir Frank Williams & Patrick Head
Technical Director: Mike Coughlan
Chassis: FW33
2012 Position: 8th

(16) Pastor Maldonado - Unfortunately dubbed 'Crashtor' by some, the Venezuelan had an incredibly mixed season last year. He began with a crash in Australia but brilliantly won the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Fernando Alonso a month later. The win was the first since the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix for Williams. However, in stark contrast, his lowest point came after a crash with Lewis Hamilton in Valencia after going off-track, ending the Brit's race. He scored a few more points at the end of the season, but simply must become more consistent to establish himself as a quality driver.

(17) Valtteri Bottas - the 'New new new Flying Finn' took part in 15 of last year's practice sessions and was immensely quick, moreso than both Maldonado and Senna (who were the race drivers at the time) and hence replaced the Brazilian for 2013. He won 2011's GP3 season before singing as full-time test driver for Williams and came third in the 2008 and 2009 seasons of Formula 3 Euro Series.


TORO ROSSO - FERRARI
Team Principal: Franz Tost
Techinical Director: James Key
Chassis: STR8
2012 Position: 9th

(18) Jean-Eric Vergne - 'JEV' impresed hugely at the Abu Dhabi Young Drivers' test in 2011 and was snapped up for the start of last season. He had a decent season last year, scoring four 8th place finishes. Toro Rosso tend to flush their systems through every couple of years, so both driver will be feeling the pressure to move up the field and into regular points-scoring positions this season.

(19) Daniel Ricciardo - Daniel Ricciardo is one of the impressive drivers in Red Bull's young driver programme, and HRT borrowed him for 11 races in 2011. He finally got his designated Red Bull-owned seat with Toro Rosso, scoring a few points finishes, including 9th at his home race in Australia. He's recently been quoted as saying that his pace last year wasn't good enough, so expect to see him pushing the Williams and Force India cars for points.


CATERHAM - RENAULT
Team Principal: Cyril Abiteboul
Chief Technical Officer: Mike Gascoyne
Chassis: CT03
2012 Position: 10th

(20) Charles Pic - Pic raced for 'New team' rival Marussia in 2012, and is the only driver of the new teams to keep a race seat for 2013. He score a best race finish of 12th place in the season-ending race in Brazil behind former-Caterham driver Vitaly Petrov.

(21) Giedo van der Garde - van der Garde has come through all the usual junior formulae to reach Formula One: Formula Renault; Three; Renault 3.5; GP2 Asia and GP2 Main series. Now, he steps up to the plate and along with his teammate Pic, he hopes to score Caterham's first ever points.


MARUSSIA - COSWORTH
Team Principal: John Booth
Technical Director: Nikolai Fomenko
Chassis: MR02
2012 Position: 11th

(22) Jules Bianchi - The young Frenchman has tested for Ferrari and Force India, with a regular weekend seat for the Indian outfit. Luiz Razia was due to take this seat, but Marussia terminated the contract after Sutil was chosen over Bianchi at Force India. On his road to F1, he won Formula 3 Euro Series in 2009, came third in GP2 in 2010 and 2011, and came second in last year's Formula Renault 3.5 series. The young Frenchman personally impresses me a lot and I would love to see him score a point for Marussia.

(23) Max Chilton - brother of Touring Car star Tom Chilton, Max will make his deubt in Australia. He's taken the regular route through Karting, Formula Three, and GP2, where he stayed for three years, coming fourth in the championship in 2012.

2013 Season gets off the mark

The Enstone-based Lotus team are the first to unveil their new car for the 2013 season. The event was covered live on their YouTube channel at 7:15pm GMT, on Monday January 28 through Sky Sports News. It sees continuity of the iconic black and gold livery they have sported since 2011, harking back to Lotus' John Player Special branded cars from the 70s and 80s. The former Renault team still hold their rear wing sponsor in Total Oil. This was the only part of the livery in the past two seasons which seemed not to fit in, being red. However, front wing elements, the airbox and sidepods now join the rear wing in their rouge appeal, giving the car a fresh new look. See for yourself:

2013








Contrast that with the livery from the past two seasons:

2012

2011

The team have opted not to use the new optional 'Vanity panel', an FIA-approved largely aesthetic addition to the nose section, that would make the cars look more like the R31 (Bottom above) rather than the later incarnations with the universally abhorred "Step/Platypus nose".

Lotus have retained their race drivers in 2007 Drivers' champion Kimi Raikkonen; winner of last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and Romain Grosjean; the speedy but crash-happy Frenchman who you can bet is on his very last chance. Junior Series champion Davide Valsecchi has been appointed as Third driver. He took four wins on the way to conquering GP2 last year with the DAMS team. Jerome d'Ambrosio who raced in Italy for the suspended Romain Grosjean remains part of the Lotus team in a reserve driver role.

Team Principal Eric Boullier is aiming for a solid third in the constructors' championship. When you consider they beat the technically, financially and resourcefully superior Mercedes well and truly into midfield mediocrity last season, it doesn't sound like they've got their heads too far into the clouds.

Granted, the top three have established a status quo in the past few seasons. Ferrari and McLaren have become synonymous with longevity and prestige, and Red Bull's fizzy drink-derived billions look set to cement the Austrian outfit in well and truly at the sharp end of the grid. But Boullier believes that they can learn from last year's steps in the wrong direction.

"On the team front, last year we lost a little bit of ground during the summer, but we know where and we know why it happened. We learned from our mistake and we will not do the same strategy with next year's car development.

At the same time, we performed well at the end of this season, and found some of our performance back, so it was a good fight until the end. It was good to see Enstone was capable of delivering as much as the bigger teams."

The team principal assessing his team's extremely impressive 2012 campaign.

The next car to be launched will be on January 31 (Happily coinciding with my Birthday) when McLaren unveil their MP4-28 challenger in Woking.

Everybody HRTs...sometimes

Spanish minnows HRT (formerly Hispania Racing Team) have folded after failing to find a buyer. Hispania have been trying to find a buyer for some time now, but the cutoff point to secure entry for the 2013 season was Novermber 30. They failed to deliver their entry fee in time, and thus, will not be part of that season.

The cash-strapped outfit have always been marginal with their budget, but a fourth season has proved to be a step too far. Entering the sport in 2010 with two other new teams, they hold an unenviable record of never scoring a point in their short tenure. That distinction is shared also by Caterham and Marussia, the other newbies, but the former; backed by Malaysian govornment and business supremo Tony Fernandes have made reasonable strides towards their first elusive point in F1, as too, have Marussia.

Other minor teams have come and gone, some more succesful, some similarly fated, and in terms of their length of stay it looks like HRT have ranked somewhere in the middle. A story that still breaks my heart to this day is that of Minardi. The tiny Italian outfit roamed the F1 circus for 21 years before being bought by Red Bull. They rather sportingly continued the Italian Tradition, dubbing them 'Toro Rosso' but before those days money was always a problem. At the other end of the spectrum is Mastercard Lola. They failed to qualify for the 1997 Australian GP and then quit, comparatively making HRT look ever-present.

HRT ran almost entirely without sponsorship for the duration of their stay in Formula One. Their first challenger, the 'F110' was dark grey, with white lines along the contours of the chassis; however they changed the white to a more Spanish red colour after their home event. In the vain of Jordan F1's final season, the team opted to run with their' drivers' first names on the side of the car in their inaugural season. This generally made the livery appear more cluttered, but distracted audiences from the lack of funding. Their only major sponsor was Brazilian bank 'Cruzeiro do Sol'.

In 2011 they hired a Holywood designer - Daniel Simon, to add a new image to the car. Unfortunately, motifs of  "Cool Spot" and "This could be you" were not enough to tempt any more sponsors, and the livery remained relatively unchanged all season. Their final car was mainly white with gold and red streaks and was proabably the most handsome of the three, but no better performances came from it.

The team were never really competitive and fell outside of the 107% rule X times. Both Karthikeyan and Liuzzi did this at the 2011 Australian Grand prix. They repeated this again in Monaco that year but were allowed to take part given that their practice times were 'fast' enough. The first race of the year proved troublesome again in 2012 and they had to sit out the Aussie race again. Karthikeyan was too slow in Spain but allowed to take part. The last time they did this was Korea 2012. Their best position was an ironically lucky 13th place in the incidedent-packed 2011 Canadian GP, thanks to Tonio Liuzzi.

HRT DRIVERS

2010
Karun Chandhok
Bruno Senna
Christian Klien
Sakon Yamamoto

2011
Narain Karthikeyan
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Daniel Ricciardo

2012
Pedro de la Rosa
Narain Karthikeyan

It's unfortunate that you're leaving F1, Hispania. You were fun to have, but often lapped, out and a mobile chicane. Perhaps it was just your time. Fare thee well, Spanish Minnows!

Brazil in the Wet sees Victorious Vet'

The 2012 Formula One season has been one of the most amazing in the sport's history, and today it concluded in a typically unpredictable fashion. Going in to the title decider at Brazil, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel led Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by 13 points. There were many possible permutations, but fourth place for the German would guarantee the World Title. Qualifying was as hectic as usual, with the McLarens looking like the cars to beat. The Silver cars did not disappoint, with the team's 62nd front-row lockout, a new record for the sport. Hamilton fronted the field with team mate Button right beside him. Felipe Massa made a great effort on Saturday and plonked his Ferrari fifth, just behind Vettel. Alonso didn't help his chances by qualifying only 8th, however a gearbox penalty for Maldonado boosted him to 7th.

On Sunday there was much speculation about the weather. The teams' radars seemed to predict a dry race, but the skies bulged with moisture. The menacing grey clouds had a real sense of foreboding, and they tore open minutes before the start. It wasn't the drenching we had sometimes been accustomed to at the Autodromo José Carlos Pace, (2003, 2008) but the tricky conditions would leave tacticians with a lot of number-crunching to do later in the race. For the twentieth and final time, the cars prepared for the start. As the drivers skated over the now-greasy tarmac, the eyes of the sporting world leaned forwards in their armchairs. Finally, after some thrilling racing, it would come down to the next 90 minutes. At the start Hamilton was fastest to drop his clutch, and maintained his lead with Button behind. However, Vettel got a woeful start and dropped to 7th by the third corner. Alonso managed to climb to fifth by that time, but in those circumstances Vettel would still be victorious.

Going into the undulating turn 4, Vettel got a whack from Brazilian favourite Bruno Senna, damaging the Red Bull and crumpling The Williams' suspension. The carnage didn't end there, as Bruno's car didn't lose momentum, and clattered into the back of Sergio Perez. Vettel dropped to 22nd, while both South Americans were eliminated. Continental compatriot Maldonado also retired off-camera, on lap 2. Vettel didn't have to stop following the incident, but had it ALL to do. There was no safety car and so the rest of the field ran their races as normal.

Alonso pulled a cracking move on his team mate and Mark Webber to get up to fourth place at the start of the second lap, but Alonso fourth and Vettel 21st was STILL not enough for the title. Fernando knew this and chased down an impressive Nico Hulkenberg in third. He got the German on lap 3, but his triumph was short-lived. He made a mistake at turn 1, a place where everyone seemed to be going off, and had the work to do all again in fourth. Romain Grosjean had a heavy crash on lap 5. He careered into the wall just before Juncáo, the final turn of the lap after touching the slippery white lines on the edge of the corner. The McLarens still headed the field, and on lap 7, Button got the better of his outgoing colleague. For the next ten or so laps Jenson was harassed by The Force India, and Hulkenberg soon found himself in uncharted territory - he was promoted to second when Hamilton pitted for Intermediate tyres, and then blitzed past Button to take the lead at the start of Lap 19. It was the first time Force India had led a race since Belgium 2009, and the first time for Nico since starting this race 2 years ago on Pole for Williams.

And there the German remained. The safety car was deployed on lap 23 due to a lot of debris on the track, caused by Nico Rosberg having a puncture, the Toro Rossos making slight contact, and the first lap melee. The racing didn't resume until lap 30 due to the shortness of an Interlagos lap, and Hulkenberg backed the pack up cleverly so that no one could steal a march on him. The cars hurtled towards the first corner once more and he and the McLarens maintained the order up front, but behind the two Red Bulls and Kobayashi went three abreast into the first turn. Webber's squirming car went wide after getting its tyres wet, and Kamui inched past Vettel to take sixth. It seemed the old Kobayashi was back after a more tame season than we had been used to.

Kobayashi, not content with interfering with one title contender's agenda, went on to overtake Fernando Alonso for fifth, although he was re-passed within a lap. Two great rivals of the past, Raikkonen and Schumacher had a very close battle at, you guessed it, turn 1, with the Finn overcoming the outgoing German. It was the last race for a number of drivers in their respective cars: Hamilton for McLaren, Perez for Sauber, Hulkenberg for Force India, Pic for Caterham, and the last race ever for Michael Schumacher. It also might turn out to be HRT's last race, as the beleaguered Spanish outfit must find a new buyer before the end of November.

Less-experienced Hulkenberg made a mistake on lap 49 to hand Hamilton the lead. Like Grosjean he touched the white lines, but magnificently drifted his Force India to stop from spinning. This left him sandwiched between the two McLarens, but Nico wasn't going to take it lying down. By lap 55 he had got to withing touching distance, but the pair were in traffic. With Glock and Kovalainen ahead, Hulkenberg had to take avoiding action, but he was also inside of Hamilton's car. His precarious position was worsened by being on the damp section of the track, and he pirouetted a full 180 degrees, tagging the front of Lewis' car in the process. That left Hamilton's car in tatters, and was a very disappointing end to his McLaren career (for now). Nico gathered himself and maintained second but it didn't last long - race control determined he was at fault for the incident, and he received a drive-through penalty.

Button kept his head and drove calmly at the front. He had a huge lead, because he chose NOT to put on intermediate tyres when the conditions changed. Many thought it was an afternoon downpour, but Jenson sensed a passing shower, and stayed with dry tyres. Massa and Alonso were some 20 seconds back as they opted for intermediate tyres, and unable to challenge for the win. So, with Alonso third and Vettel seventh, at that point it was Vettel who would easily win the title. Ferrari wasted no time in deputising Massa and predictably he moved over for Maranello's favourite son. Second to seventh is a gap of only 12 points though, and Fernando would need a slip up from Sebastian to have a chance of winning the title.

Seb did not oblige. In fact, he gained a place, at Michael Schumacher's expense. The legendary 7-time champion let what many would call his 'reincarnation' sweep by and up to sixth. As things stood, Vettel would win with a 3-point margin. The battle for 10th in the constructors' championship was at its climax, and Vitaly Petrov got by Caterham-bound Charles Pic for 12th. This put Caterham in the crucial 10th place. Though neither team had scored a point, this was the highest either team had finished thus far. Paul di Resta binned his Force India into the wall just a few hundred meters from the finish line on lap 70 (of 71) and brought out the safety car. This promoted Petrov to 11th, and Pic 12th, to give Caterham 10th in the constructors'. But more importantly, it pretty much froze the cars in their positions.

Button trundled over the line at a sluggish 50mph, with Alonso behind. Then Massa, Webber, Hulkenberg... and the 2012 World Champion Sebastian Vettel! The 3-point margin stayed, and Sebastian made history again. Not only did he join the triple-world champion club, but he was the youngest EVER to do it, at just 24 years of age. He also joined the super-exclusive 3 consecutive championships club, Along with the man who finished behind him, Michael Schumacher, and Juan Manuel Fangio. Almost nothing could beat this day for Vettel. He was last on the first lap, but did more than what was required to succeed. And lest we forget the efforts of Fernando Alonso. He dragged his 'dog' of a Ferrari (As described by Eddie Jordan) through the season, producing four wins, and 278 points. The look on his face in Parc Fermé was almost enough to break your heart. He leered at Vettel reveling in his brilliance, being hoisted by teammates and friends, and engulfed by journalists, and the look in his eye dreamed that he wished it was him. But it just wasn't to be.

Lap Leaders:
Hamilton (1-7)
Button (8-18)
Hulkenberg (19-48)
Hamilton (49-54)
Button (55-71)

Finishing Positions
1. J Button, McLaren
2. F Alonso, Ferrari
3. F Massa, Ferrari
4. M Webber, Red Bull
5. N Hulkenberg, Force India
6. S Vettel, Red Bull
7. M Schumacher, Mercedes
8. J Vergne, Toro Rosso
9. K Kobayashi, Sauber
10. K Raikkonen, Lotus
11. V Petrov, Caterham
12. C Pic, Marussia
13. D Ricciardo, Toro Rosso
14. H Kovalainen
15. N Rosberg, Mercedes
16. T Glock, Marussia
17.P de la Rosa, HRT
18. N Karthikeyan, HRT



Out/Unclassified
P di Resta, Force India (Crash)
L Hamilton, McLaren (Collision damage)
R Grosjean, Lotus (Crash)
P Maldonado, Williams (Damage)
B Senna, Williams (Collision damage)
S Perez, Sauber (Collision damage)