Sebastian Vettel has just secured his third consecutive win of the season in Singapore. However, Fernando Alonso has also secured his third consecutive 2nd place finish, but even that may not be enough to reduce the 60 point championship lead that Vettel holds.
In comparison to 2012, Ferrari started the season with a better understanding of their car and with noticeable improvements compared to the relatively uncompetitive car in 2012. At the first race of the season in Australia the team walked away a 2nd place from Alonso and a 4th place from Massa, showing their developed understanding of the car and to send a big message out to their rivals, confirming that they intended to be title contenders this season.
The next Grand Prix in Malaysia brought mixed fortunes for the two Ferrari drivers. After a retirement from Alonso and a 5th place finish from Massa it meant that they left the event with only 10 points. At this stage, with Mercedes having problems with their tyres and McLaren being extremely uncompetitive, it looked as though Ferrari would be Red Bull's main rivals.
Similarly to 2012, there was speculation regarding whether or not Massa's contract would be extended and the pressure started to build for the Brazilian especially around the Monaco Grand Prix after he crashed into the barriers both during practise and the actual race. He reacted with a 8th place finish in the next race at Canada though and after 13 races he is sitting with 87 points, 36 points better off than last season at the same point. However, this still wasn't enough to secure his race seat for 2014, with the former World Champion Kimi Raikkonen taking his place from next season. Massa had announced first that he would not be continuing his drive with Ferrari and his replacement was announced soon afterwards which was good on Ferrari's part as then they could focus on the rest of this season and not be amid speculation about who would be partnering Alonso.
During the Singapore GP there was speculation that McLaren wanted to secure Alonso for a seat in 2014, yet this rumour was quickly laid to rest when Alonso committed himself to seeing out the rest of his Ferrari contract. So with driver line-ups secured and confirmed, Ferrari can now look to trying to overhaul the 60 point lead Vettel has in the driver's championship.
Massa is definitely out of the title race this season, and whilst Fernando will continue to push, it looks to be a near impossible task. Although he is better off this season in terms of points, with 187 compared to 169 at the same time last season, the difference between himself and Vettel is much greater. Last season Alonso was leading the Driver's Championship after the same amount of races by 4 points from Vettel and even then it wasn't enough to deny Vettel his third consecutive title. Looking at this, it further suggests that maybe, just maybe the title has already been decided this season.
Whilst it is still mathematically possible, Ferrari will have to continue to develop and fight for the title. In terms of the Constructor's Championship, Ferrari are the closest rivals to leaders Red Bull. Ferrari are also better off than last season with 274 points compared to the 220 of last season. However, this is still 103 points behind Red Bull. We've seen over the past few races that the Red Bull cars seem to have technical problems yet still manage to finish races, especially in the case of Vettel. Mark Webber has been suffering with a less reliable Red Bull, but if Alonso has any chance of the title it kind of needs to be Vettel who suffers from reliability issues, which let's be honest, doesn't seem likely.
It is still clear that the Ferrari doesn't have the performance to be challenging for the front row during qualifying and this is the main area in which the team need to improve. Alonso has often proved through his blistering starts and over-takes that he is capable of outperforming the car on race day and is able to somehow drag it onto the podium. Alonso's performance, like last season, may be concealing how uncompetitive the car really is. It is certainly a huge improvement from last seasons car, yet it still has a long way to go until it can be considered on par with the Red Bull.
If they do not manage to win either championship this year, it will be vital that they secure second place in the Constructor's Championship as this will put them in a better position for next season. They haven't had a bad season so far, but with only a few races left of a season that ends in 9 weeks, the championships are looking further and further out of their reach.
Showing posts with label Red Bull. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red Bull. Show all posts
Friday, 27 September 2013
Monday, 16 September 2013
F1 Team Review 2013: Red Bull
It is a case of so far, so good for Red Bull this season. They are currently leading both of the championships by a considerable margin and getting ready to go into the final fly-away races to claim their fourth successive Constructor's and Driver's title.
At the beginning of the season, it was just naturally assumed that Red Bull would be right up there and the team to beat this season. With all the focus on Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes, Red Bull were just able to get on with their business and start yet another season with number 1 and 2 on their cars.
Everything appeared to be well in the Red Bull camp, like a well oiled machine. When they arrived at Malaysia for the second race of the season they had left Melbourne with a 3rd for Vettel and a 6th for Webber. The team were tested after the 'Multi-21' incident during the Malaysian Grand Prix, which saw Vettel ignore team orders and overtake Webber to win the race. The brilliant 1-2 achieved by the team was overlooked by the event and it confirmed the fragile relationship between the two drivers.
However, the team and drivers moved on from the incident and once again we have experienced why the team have dominated the championships over the past three seasons. The car was once again very competitive, and after 12 races, Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel have won 6 of them. In addition, Webber and Vettel combined have achieved a further 7 podiums, excluding the race wins. As a result this has left Red Bull in first place in the Constructor's Championship with 352 points. This is 92 points better than after the same 12 races last season and their nearest contender Ferrari trails by a massive 104 points.
Both drivers also have more points than at the same point last season. Vettel currently has 222 points as opposed to 140 after 12 races last season and Mark Webber is ten points better off than last season with 130 points so far. This leaves Sebastian Vettel leading the Driver's Championship and the favourite to go on and claim his fourth successive title. Webber is clearly out of the championship battle, sitting in 5th place 92 points off the lead, but he is still scoring a decent amount of points even though he is yet to win a race this season.
I still strongly believe that Vettel had secured his fourth title in Hungary, with 8 races remaining, but whilst it is still mathematically possible, Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen will be pushing Vettel hard. The problem is trying to reduce Sebastian's points lead, which he appears to be extending after every race. Currently Vettel leads the championship from Alonso who is 53 points adrift. There is a huge task ahead to try and reduce and eliminate the lead, as even if Vettel didn't race for the next two, he would still lead the championship.
Another problem with trying to reduce Vettel's lead is that we are now heading into the fly-away races, which are strong circuits for Vettel and Red Bull. Last season, Vettel went on to win the next four races in Singapore, Japan, Korea and India. Then he scored two more podiums with a 3rd and 2nd in Abu Dhabi and USA and finalised his campaign with a 6th place after seemingly being out on the first lap after incidents.
Retirements are one way of reducing Vettel's lead, but the problem here is that the Red Bull is generally a reliable car. Each driver has only had one retirement each so far this season and even when it seems like Red Bull have a problem, they always manage to finish the race. Just look back to Italy, when Red Bull claimed they had a whole host of problems, yet they still managed to win the race by over 5 seconds.
Red Bull have also shown that they are not a team to rest on their laurels. They are consistently bringing upgrades to their car and have a seemingly continuous development rate on the car. Even if they are small upgrades, they pay extreme attention to detail and this means that they are always improving, making beating them much harder.
When Vettel qualifies on pole, he is an extremely difficult man to beat. He often goes on to dominate the race like in Italy and in other races this season. This is a combination of a great racing driver, but also the way Red Bull set up their car. They program it to run at the front and aim to build a gap so they are not in DRS range and then manage the race from there. They often give master classes on how to win races, with Italy being a prime example.
Even when Vettel doesn't qualify on pole, if he starts on the front row you can put money on the fact that he is likely to lead the race after the first lap. This is shown by the fact that he has only been on pole 4 times this season, but has won 6 of the races.
Red Bull are typically renowned for winning races that require high down-force and are not usually known for having the highest top speed. However this season, especially at the lower down-force tracks, we've seen that Red Bull have significantly improved in this area. In Monza especially they have a much higher top speed and this just illustrates how hard the team work in order to develop and improve the car. This improvement in speed means that they are now much closer to Mercedes in terms of qualifying pace and this now helps them to win more races.
The dominance of Red Bull is becoming the norm in the formula one world, and instead of being praised for their hard work and effort, I feel as though they are being criticised for running away with races and creating 'boring' races. Admittedly there were parts of this theory I subscribed to before, but now I'm starting to believe that it should be up to other teams to take the fight to Red Bull. Yes, Red Bull may have a bigger budget but I still don't think it is impossible to win a championship if you are another team. Red Bull shouldn't be criticised for what they are doing, they are simply illustrating the team-work and cutting edge knowledge to be currently, the pinnacle of the sport. This should be encouraged amongst the other teams and the blame should not fall with a team who, at the end of the day, are just doing their job. Admittedly, very well.
Red Bull may be on their way to their fourth successive titles, and with their strongest part of the season coming up in the fly-away races, is there any team or driver that could challenge and reduce the championship leads they have?
At the beginning of the season, it was just naturally assumed that Red Bull would be right up there and the team to beat this season. With all the focus on Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes, Red Bull were just able to get on with their business and start yet another season with number 1 and 2 on their cars.
Everything appeared to be well in the Red Bull camp, like a well oiled machine. When they arrived at Malaysia for the second race of the season they had left Melbourne with a 3rd for Vettel and a 6th for Webber. The team were tested after the 'Multi-21' incident during the Malaysian Grand Prix, which saw Vettel ignore team orders and overtake Webber to win the race. The brilliant 1-2 achieved by the team was overlooked by the event and it confirmed the fragile relationship between the two drivers.
However, the team and drivers moved on from the incident and once again we have experienced why the team have dominated the championships over the past three seasons. The car was once again very competitive, and after 12 races, Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel have won 6 of them. In addition, Webber and Vettel combined have achieved a further 7 podiums, excluding the race wins. As a result this has left Red Bull in first place in the Constructor's Championship with 352 points. This is 92 points better than after the same 12 races last season and their nearest contender Ferrari trails by a massive 104 points.
Both drivers also have more points than at the same point last season. Vettel currently has 222 points as opposed to 140 after 12 races last season and Mark Webber is ten points better off than last season with 130 points so far. This leaves Sebastian Vettel leading the Driver's Championship and the favourite to go on and claim his fourth successive title. Webber is clearly out of the championship battle, sitting in 5th place 92 points off the lead, but he is still scoring a decent amount of points even though he is yet to win a race this season.
I still strongly believe that Vettel had secured his fourth title in Hungary, with 8 races remaining, but whilst it is still mathematically possible, Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen will be pushing Vettel hard. The problem is trying to reduce Sebastian's points lead, which he appears to be extending after every race. Currently Vettel leads the championship from Alonso who is 53 points adrift. There is a huge task ahead to try and reduce and eliminate the lead, as even if Vettel didn't race for the next two, he would still lead the championship.
Another problem with trying to reduce Vettel's lead is that we are now heading into the fly-away races, which are strong circuits for Vettel and Red Bull. Last season, Vettel went on to win the next four races in Singapore, Japan, Korea and India. Then he scored two more podiums with a 3rd and 2nd in Abu Dhabi and USA and finalised his campaign with a 6th place after seemingly being out on the first lap after incidents.
Retirements are one way of reducing Vettel's lead, but the problem here is that the Red Bull is generally a reliable car. Each driver has only had one retirement each so far this season and even when it seems like Red Bull have a problem, they always manage to finish the race. Just look back to Italy, when Red Bull claimed they had a whole host of problems, yet they still managed to win the race by over 5 seconds.
Red Bull have also shown that they are not a team to rest on their laurels. They are consistently bringing upgrades to their car and have a seemingly continuous development rate on the car. Even if they are small upgrades, they pay extreme attention to detail and this means that they are always improving, making beating them much harder.
When Vettel qualifies on pole, he is an extremely difficult man to beat. He often goes on to dominate the race like in Italy and in other races this season. This is a combination of a great racing driver, but also the way Red Bull set up their car. They program it to run at the front and aim to build a gap so they are not in DRS range and then manage the race from there. They often give master classes on how to win races, with Italy being a prime example.
Even when Vettel doesn't qualify on pole, if he starts on the front row you can put money on the fact that he is likely to lead the race after the first lap. This is shown by the fact that he has only been on pole 4 times this season, but has won 6 of the races.
Red Bull are typically renowned for winning races that require high down-force and are not usually known for having the highest top speed. However this season, especially at the lower down-force tracks, we've seen that Red Bull have significantly improved in this area. In Monza especially they have a much higher top speed and this just illustrates how hard the team work in order to develop and improve the car. This improvement in speed means that they are now much closer to Mercedes in terms of qualifying pace and this now helps them to win more races.
The dominance of Red Bull is becoming the norm in the formula one world, and instead of being praised for their hard work and effort, I feel as though they are being criticised for running away with races and creating 'boring' races. Admittedly there were parts of this theory I subscribed to before, but now I'm starting to believe that it should be up to other teams to take the fight to Red Bull. Yes, Red Bull may have a bigger budget but I still don't think it is impossible to win a championship if you are another team. Red Bull shouldn't be criticised for what they are doing, they are simply illustrating the team-work and cutting edge knowledge to be currently, the pinnacle of the sport. This should be encouraged amongst the other teams and the blame should not fall with a team who, at the end of the day, are just doing their job. Admittedly, very well.
Red Bull may be on their way to their fourth successive titles, and with their strongest part of the season coming up in the fly-away races, is there any team or driver that could challenge and reduce the championship leads they have?
Focus on F1: A return to red and an angry McLaren fan
With 7 races left of the 2013 season, there are still many changes and confirmations regarding driver line-ups to be made.
Red Bull have now officially confirmed that the young Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo will be replacing Mark Webber and this now means that Red Bull have finished their business regarding drivers and can now focus on the championship as well as their development of next season's car. This takes a lot of focus off them as there is no longer speculation as to who will be driving alongside Sebastian Vettel and now we can focus on looking forward to seeing Ricciardo stepping up.
Another team which has recently confirmed their 2014 driver line-up is Ferrari. The confirmation of Ricciardo eliminated the chances of Raikkonen joining Red Bull and from there the rumours started to spread that Raikkonen was going to be re-joining the team he left in 2009. At the time it was just speculation, but the strongest indication that Raikkonen would be re-joining Ferrari was last week was when current Ferrari driver Massa confirmed that he would no longer be racing for the team from 2014. Although Raikkonen was then favourite to take the Ferrari seat, after an impressive display at the recent Italian GP, Hulkenberg was another contender. However, as soon as the next day, it was confirmed that Raikkonen would be partnering Fernando Alonso from the 2014 season.
Since the announcement last week, there have been mixed opinions on the effect Kimi Raikkonen's arrival will have on the team and Alonso. Some suggest that this is the strongest partnership on the grid, some think it will make Alonso raise his game and others think it will have a negative effect on Alonso as he will lose his status as 'number one driver' within Ferrari.
Admittedly, I think the partnership could be an amazing choice from Ferrari. For one thing you have two incredibly quick drivers, who are both capable of qualifying and racing well. Also, you also have two extremely consistent drivers, essential for if Ferrari want to challenge for the Constructor's Championship, with both drivers regularly scoring points and rarely being involved in on track incidents.
The competitiveness of both drivers could either end up being a negative or positive for the team. I think next season Ferrari will need to be on top of their drivers and will need to be able to manage them effectively in order for the partnership to work. They definitely do not want to be in the same situation as Red Bull in Malaysia this season and I'm sure that they will work hard to keep both drivers happy.
However the one thing that is casting a massive doubt over the team for next season has nothing to do with the drivers. There are huge regulation changes for the 2014 season, including the use of completely new engines. It may be that a particular supplier produces a better engine and this could see dominance from the teams which use that engine, and this may or may not include Ferrari.
To get the most out of their exciting new driver line-up Ferrari will need to build a very competitive car. This season Alonso has shown his disappointment and the need for the team to develop the car, and it would be even worse next season if both drivers are still complaining of an uncompetitive car. If Ferrari have a competitive car from the start of the season, I can see them being strong title contenders for both the Driver's and Constructor's championships. Overall I can see the return of Kimi being a very good bit of business for Ferrari and this confirms their 2014 driver line-up.
One team which has been put under extreme pressure this season is McLaren. They have not been able to score a podium finish this season let alone a win and it has been extremely disappointing for fans and the formula one world to see.
To add to the pressure of not having a competitive car, there are now more distractions surrounding the team, with them not confirming that Jenson Button will be driving for them next season. At the Italian GP it emerged that Button has yet to be confirmed by the team for next season. In my own opinion, at some point during that weekend McLaren should have dealt with the issue, either confirming that Button would be staying or leaving. This is just another unnecessary distraction when they should be focusing on doing a better job than they are already.
For me, I cannot see why they would want to replace Jenson Button for 2014. It isn't his fault that McLaren have produced a rubbish and uncompetitive car this season and he has given them their best finish of 5th this season too. It would be harsh and unfair to replace him and I think he deserves a chance to drive for them next season for the effort he has put in. He has also won more points than his team-mate this season and although this may be because Perez is still in his first season at McLaren, Jenson I believe still gets the best out of the car. He is often criticised for complaining about the car, but who wouldn't be if they had gone from winning races to battling for 8th or 9th place in the space of a season? I'm sure that even the best drivers such as Vettel, Alonso or Hamilton would struggle to get that car on the podium.
Perez is almost certain to stay, as he could potentially bring a lot of money to the team. With Vodafone likely to abandon McLaren at the end of the season, it is rumoured the Mexican telecommunications company Telmex will be the replacement, thus cementing Perez' seat at McLaren.
The problem with McLaren is that because of their terrible form this season, sponsors are less likely to want to be on their car and this has really frustrated me because I believe that if they had actually made a good car then bigger sponsors would have come forward and they wouldn't have to rely on their Mexican driver to help bring money to the team.
There has been speculation that Nico Hulkenberg would replace Jenson Button, which I would not be in favour of. As a strong supporter of Button, I just can't understand why he would be replaced. Fair enough if the car had been strong and he was complaining and not winning races but this is far from the truth. I think McLaren are forgetting that he is a World Champion, a master in changing conditions and an unbelievable racing driver. Just think back to Canada 2011.
Maybe I am still bitter about the incident between Hulkenberg and Hamilton in Brazil last season, but I still do not rate Hulkenberg as a McLaren driver. Perhaps his move to Sauber was not the best decision he has ever made. At the time, it looked as though he had made a sideways move but even worse, now it has looked to be a backwards move. I still think he should have stayed at Force India, as they gave him the chance to revive his career and I think he would have been more impressive with Force India as opposed to Sauber this season.
So what if this is Jenson Button's last season at McLaren? I really hope it isn't.
Red Bull have now officially confirmed that the young Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo will be replacing Mark Webber and this now means that Red Bull have finished their business regarding drivers and can now focus on the championship as well as their development of next season's car. This takes a lot of focus off them as there is no longer speculation as to who will be driving alongside Sebastian Vettel and now we can focus on looking forward to seeing Ricciardo stepping up.
Another team which has recently confirmed their 2014 driver line-up is Ferrari. The confirmation of Ricciardo eliminated the chances of Raikkonen joining Red Bull and from there the rumours started to spread that Raikkonen was going to be re-joining the team he left in 2009. At the time it was just speculation, but the strongest indication that Raikkonen would be re-joining Ferrari was last week was when current Ferrari driver Massa confirmed that he would no longer be racing for the team from 2014. Although Raikkonen was then favourite to take the Ferrari seat, after an impressive display at the recent Italian GP, Hulkenberg was another contender. However, as soon as the next day, it was confirmed that Raikkonen would be partnering Fernando Alonso from the 2014 season.
Since the announcement last week, there have been mixed opinions on the effect Kimi Raikkonen's arrival will have on the team and Alonso. Some suggest that this is the strongest partnership on the grid, some think it will make Alonso raise his game and others think it will have a negative effect on Alonso as he will lose his status as 'number one driver' within Ferrari.
Admittedly, I think the partnership could be an amazing choice from Ferrari. For one thing you have two incredibly quick drivers, who are both capable of qualifying and racing well. Also, you also have two extremely consistent drivers, essential for if Ferrari want to challenge for the Constructor's Championship, with both drivers regularly scoring points and rarely being involved in on track incidents.
The competitiveness of both drivers could either end up being a negative or positive for the team. I think next season Ferrari will need to be on top of their drivers and will need to be able to manage them effectively in order for the partnership to work. They definitely do not want to be in the same situation as Red Bull in Malaysia this season and I'm sure that they will work hard to keep both drivers happy.
However the one thing that is casting a massive doubt over the team for next season has nothing to do with the drivers. There are huge regulation changes for the 2014 season, including the use of completely new engines. It may be that a particular supplier produces a better engine and this could see dominance from the teams which use that engine, and this may or may not include Ferrari.
To get the most out of their exciting new driver line-up Ferrari will need to build a very competitive car. This season Alonso has shown his disappointment and the need for the team to develop the car, and it would be even worse next season if both drivers are still complaining of an uncompetitive car. If Ferrari have a competitive car from the start of the season, I can see them being strong title contenders for both the Driver's and Constructor's championships. Overall I can see the return of Kimi being a very good bit of business for Ferrari and this confirms their 2014 driver line-up.
One team which has been put under extreme pressure this season is McLaren. They have not been able to score a podium finish this season let alone a win and it has been extremely disappointing for fans and the formula one world to see.
To add to the pressure of not having a competitive car, there are now more distractions surrounding the team, with them not confirming that Jenson Button will be driving for them next season. At the Italian GP it emerged that Button has yet to be confirmed by the team for next season. In my own opinion, at some point during that weekend McLaren should have dealt with the issue, either confirming that Button would be staying or leaving. This is just another unnecessary distraction when they should be focusing on doing a better job than they are already.
For me, I cannot see why they would want to replace Jenson Button for 2014. It isn't his fault that McLaren have produced a rubbish and uncompetitive car this season and he has given them their best finish of 5th this season too. It would be harsh and unfair to replace him and I think he deserves a chance to drive for them next season for the effort he has put in. He has also won more points than his team-mate this season and although this may be because Perez is still in his first season at McLaren, Jenson I believe still gets the best out of the car. He is often criticised for complaining about the car, but who wouldn't be if they had gone from winning races to battling for 8th or 9th place in the space of a season? I'm sure that even the best drivers such as Vettel, Alonso or Hamilton would struggle to get that car on the podium.
Perez is almost certain to stay, as he could potentially bring a lot of money to the team. With Vodafone likely to abandon McLaren at the end of the season, it is rumoured the Mexican telecommunications company Telmex will be the replacement, thus cementing Perez' seat at McLaren.
The problem with McLaren is that because of their terrible form this season, sponsors are less likely to want to be on their car and this has really frustrated me because I believe that if they had actually made a good car then bigger sponsors would have come forward and they wouldn't have to rely on their Mexican driver to help bring money to the team.
There has been speculation that Nico Hulkenberg would replace Jenson Button, which I would not be in favour of. As a strong supporter of Button, I just can't understand why he would be replaced. Fair enough if the car had been strong and he was complaining and not winning races but this is far from the truth. I think McLaren are forgetting that he is a World Champion, a master in changing conditions and an unbelievable racing driver. Just think back to Canada 2011.
Maybe I am still bitter about the incident between Hulkenberg and Hamilton in Brazil last season, but I still do not rate Hulkenberg as a McLaren driver. Perhaps his move to Sauber was not the best decision he has ever made. At the time, it looked as though he had made a sideways move but even worse, now it has looked to be a backwards move. I still think he should have stayed at Force India, as they gave him the chance to revive his career and I think he would have been more impressive with Force India as opposed to Sauber this season.
So what if this is Jenson Button's last season at McLaren? I really hope it isn't.
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Italian GP 2013: Race Reaction
As the German National Anthem is played out from Monza, it is a great day for Red Bull fans. Sebastian Vettel has just won his 6th race of the season and Mark Webber has achieved his first and last podium finish at the Italian GP in his F1 career. Today pundits and commentators confirm the feeling I've had for the past couple of races, that Vettel has pretty much won his fourth World Driver's Championship, with a staggering lead of 53 points.
After a poor qualifying session yesterday from Hamilton and Raikkonen, it left Alonso to challenge Vettel for victory. Not that it panned out that way at all. Alonso got a brilliant start from 5th on the grid and was quickly up to 2nd within the first few laps and drove a well measured race to hold off Webber in the closing stages and maintain his record of finishing within the podium places with Ferrari at the Italian grand prix. Looking back on the race, perhaps Ferrari should have pitted Alonso after Vettel made his first stop, but I don't think Alonso would have closed the gap to Vettel anyway, because after Vettel had got rid of the damaged tyres from locking up on the first corner of the first lap, he was able to manage the gap to Alonso and by a considerable margin. After both Vettel and Alonso had pitted, the gap from Sebastian to Fernando was 10.010 seconds, which was only reduced to 5.4 seconds by the end of the race.
By Mercedes recent form, Hamilton had a pretty tough race today. After qualifying in 12th place it was always going to be a struggle, especially because you are more likely to be involved in first corner incidents in the middle of the pack. Fortunately, Hamilton avoided any incidents and as he was on the hard tyre as opposed to the medium at the start of the race in the early stages he was one to watch out for alongside Raikkonen. However, the race was effectively ruined for both drivers when they were both forced in a two pit stop strategy because Hamilton suffered from a slow puncture on lap 12 and Raikkonen suffered front wing damage on the first lap after running into the back of the McLaren of Sergio Perez.
To add to Hamilton's woes, he suffered him radio problems throughout the race, making communication extremely difficult and almost impossible. At the end of the race he even is said that it was like 'driving blind', but even after the problems he had a brilliant ending to the race, managing to take 9th, with 8th or even 7th in sight before he went wide on the penultimate lap.
We lost Di Resta on the first lap of the 53 lap race, after he locked his own wheels and drove into the unsuspecting Romain Grosjean, which was the first time in his career that he has retired on the first lap of a race. However, I'm sure that he can bounce back from this in Singapore, and hopefully we will get back to seeing the Di Resta running in the top 10.
After a surprising qualifying result of 3rd on the grid, Hulkenberg was expected to go backwards during the race in his Sauber. Indeed he did drop back, but not by the margains expected. He drove a clean and mature race and was rewarded with 5th place, making him in many people's eyes the driver of the day. One thing to consider though is if Raikkonen and Hamilton had qualified higher up the grid, would they have beaten the young German? The Sauber seems to really like this track, shown both this season and last season when Perez drove from 12th to finish 2nd when he was racing for the team.
This weekend we've seen some new camera angles on the tv coverage and one which I have been particularly enjoying is the thermal imaging camera mounted onto Di Resta's car. Unfortunately because of his retirement we were not able to see it in full action across the entire race, but from what I've seen from qualifying and practise, it is a really interesting angle to see.
I've also loved the camera view which looks down onto the pit box, and I noticed this at the Red Bull garage during the race. I just love the angle and it's amazing to see how quickly the car arrives and departs and how all the mechanics appear to work symmetrically together. Not necessarily a new camera angle, but one which I've loved to see this weekend.
With new engines coming in for the 2014 season, I've also been making the most of listening to the sound of the engines. After hearing a prototype for the new V6 engines, I am going to appreciate the sound of the V8's before they disappear, as there is a significant difference between the two.
Personally, the driver of the day for me was Sebastian Vettel. He had a perfect weekend; qualified on pole, won the race and extended his race lead. He was able to look after a damaged tyre whilst leading the race and maintaining a gap and he drove a race without incident even when Red Bull had 'enough problems.'
Looking forward to the Singapore GP in two weeks time, I am looking forward to seeing how Hamilton will respond to a disappointing weekend, what McLaren can achieve in terms of improvement and whether or not Vettel can continue to dominate this track as he has done over the past few seasons.
After a poor qualifying session yesterday from Hamilton and Raikkonen, it left Alonso to challenge Vettel for victory. Not that it panned out that way at all. Alonso got a brilliant start from 5th on the grid and was quickly up to 2nd within the first few laps and drove a well measured race to hold off Webber in the closing stages and maintain his record of finishing within the podium places with Ferrari at the Italian grand prix. Looking back on the race, perhaps Ferrari should have pitted Alonso after Vettel made his first stop, but I don't think Alonso would have closed the gap to Vettel anyway, because after Vettel had got rid of the damaged tyres from locking up on the first corner of the first lap, he was able to manage the gap to Alonso and by a considerable margin. After both Vettel and Alonso had pitted, the gap from Sebastian to Fernando was 10.010 seconds, which was only reduced to 5.4 seconds by the end of the race.
By Mercedes recent form, Hamilton had a pretty tough race today. After qualifying in 12th place it was always going to be a struggle, especially because you are more likely to be involved in first corner incidents in the middle of the pack. Fortunately, Hamilton avoided any incidents and as he was on the hard tyre as opposed to the medium at the start of the race in the early stages he was one to watch out for alongside Raikkonen. However, the race was effectively ruined for both drivers when they were both forced in a two pit stop strategy because Hamilton suffered from a slow puncture on lap 12 and Raikkonen suffered front wing damage on the first lap after running into the back of the McLaren of Sergio Perez.
To add to Hamilton's woes, he suffered him radio problems throughout the race, making communication extremely difficult and almost impossible. At the end of the race he even is said that it was like 'driving blind', but even after the problems he had a brilliant ending to the race, managing to take 9th, with 8th or even 7th in sight before he went wide on the penultimate lap.
We lost Di Resta on the first lap of the 53 lap race, after he locked his own wheels and drove into the unsuspecting Romain Grosjean, which was the first time in his career that he has retired on the first lap of a race. However, I'm sure that he can bounce back from this in Singapore, and hopefully we will get back to seeing the Di Resta running in the top 10.
After a surprising qualifying result of 3rd on the grid, Hulkenberg was expected to go backwards during the race in his Sauber. Indeed he did drop back, but not by the margains expected. He drove a clean and mature race and was rewarded with 5th place, making him in many people's eyes the driver of the day. One thing to consider though is if Raikkonen and Hamilton had qualified higher up the grid, would they have beaten the young German? The Sauber seems to really like this track, shown both this season and last season when Perez drove from 12th to finish 2nd when he was racing for the team.
This weekend we've seen some new camera angles on the tv coverage and one which I have been particularly enjoying is the thermal imaging camera mounted onto Di Resta's car. Unfortunately because of his retirement we were not able to see it in full action across the entire race, but from what I've seen from qualifying and practise, it is a really interesting angle to see.
I've also loved the camera view which looks down onto the pit box, and I noticed this at the Red Bull garage during the race. I just love the angle and it's amazing to see how quickly the car arrives and departs and how all the mechanics appear to work symmetrically together. Not necessarily a new camera angle, but one which I've loved to see this weekend.
With new engines coming in for the 2014 season, I've also been making the most of listening to the sound of the engines. After hearing a prototype for the new V6 engines, I am going to appreciate the sound of the V8's before they disappear, as there is a significant difference between the two.
Personally, the driver of the day for me was Sebastian Vettel. He had a perfect weekend; qualified on pole, won the race and extended his race lead. He was able to look after a damaged tyre whilst leading the race and maintaining a gap and he drove a race without incident even when Red Bull had 'enough problems.'
Looking forward to the Singapore GP in two weeks time, I am looking forward to seeing how Hamilton will respond to a disappointing weekend, what McLaren can achieve in terms of improvement and whether or not Vettel can continue to dominate this track as he has done over the past few seasons.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
F1 Team Review 2013: Mercedes
It's fair to say that Mercedes have been less than impressive since their return to F1 in 2010. Their history to say the least is complicated, yet they built a team which saw Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher take the two racing seats from 2010 to 2012.
However, this season has proved different, with pole positions and race wins as well as a new driver in the form of Lewis Hamilton.
Between the 2010 and 2011 seasons the team finished without a single pole position or win, and a number of retirements due to technical problems. Things seemed to have improved in 2012, with Rosberg taking pole at the Chinese GP and subsequently winning the race as well. Although some expected for this form to continue into the 2012 season, Mercedes suffered from multiple technical issues and retirements which lead them to finish 5th in the Constructor's Championship with 142 points.
With the arrival of Lewis Hamilton for the 2013 season and the departure of Michael Schumacher, the team was expected to deliver a competitive car. There was a lot of pressure on the team to perform and questions as to why Hamilton had decided to join them.
Mercedes are now enjoying what is their best season in the sport since returning in 2010. So far after 11 races they have achieved 3 wins and 8 pole positions, a radical improvement from 2012. They still have areas to improve in order to be able to convert each pole into a race win, but the races they have won, they've done rather dominantly.
Mercedes have suffered with a number of tyre problems throughout the season, suffering from blow-outs at the British GP with Lewis Hamilton and extreme degradation in races which have seen them slide down the order. However, they arguably have the fastest car in qualifying trim, which is illustrated by the amount of pole positions which they have achieved so far.
At recent races we have also seen an improvement with the Mercedes' tyre degradation, whether this be because they understand how to manage the tyres more effectively or because the change in the Pirelli tyres have suited them.
They have worked extremely hard over the winter to develop a competitive car and this is shown by the fact that they stand 2nd in the Constructor's Championship and are Red Bull's nearest rival with 235 points. The two drivers have been extremely consistent as well, with Hamilton finishing in the points in 10 of the 11 races with 1 win and 4 podium finishes. Nico Rosberg also has finished in the points in 8 of the 11 races, but also has 2 race wins included. The big question now surrounding Mercedes is can they continue to develop their car which will be able to challenge Red Bull for the titles? With big regulation changes coming in 2014, it is natural to think that the team will be dedicating more time and effort towards their 2014 car, but all the great teams are able to balance their developments between the two cars. If Mercedes can continue a decent rate of development for their 2013 car, I believe they have a good chance of securing 2nd in the constructors championship and may even be able to chase Red Bull down even to the last race in Brazil.
When Lewis Hamilton joined the team at the beginning of the season, many people doubted that he would be able to win races with the team because of how uncompetitive their 2012 car was. Admittedly, I didn't think that considering the form of the team since 2010, that Rosberg let alone Hamilton would be winning races this season. Its astonishing how far the team have come in this season and they've proved a lot of people wrong. It is almost as though Hamilton knew the car would be competitive when he joined.
For these reasons, so far this season Mercedes have been the team of the season for me. In order to call this season a real success I believe they should still be trying to challenge for the titles as much as possible and I think even if they don't win these, if they get a few more race wins this season, they can call 2013 a real success.
However, this season has proved different, with pole positions and race wins as well as a new driver in the form of Lewis Hamilton.
Between the 2010 and 2011 seasons the team finished without a single pole position or win, and a number of retirements due to technical problems. Things seemed to have improved in 2012, with Rosberg taking pole at the Chinese GP and subsequently winning the race as well. Although some expected for this form to continue into the 2012 season, Mercedes suffered from multiple technical issues and retirements which lead them to finish 5th in the Constructor's Championship with 142 points.
With the arrival of Lewis Hamilton for the 2013 season and the departure of Michael Schumacher, the team was expected to deliver a competitive car. There was a lot of pressure on the team to perform and questions as to why Hamilton had decided to join them.
Mercedes are now enjoying what is their best season in the sport since returning in 2010. So far after 11 races they have achieved 3 wins and 8 pole positions, a radical improvement from 2012. They still have areas to improve in order to be able to convert each pole into a race win, but the races they have won, they've done rather dominantly.
Mercedes have suffered with a number of tyre problems throughout the season, suffering from blow-outs at the British GP with Lewis Hamilton and extreme degradation in races which have seen them slide down the order. However, they arguably have the fastest car in qualifying trim, which is illustrated by the amount of pole positions which they have achieved so far.
At recent races we have also seen an improvement with the Mercedes' tyre degradation, whether this be because they understand how to manage the tyres more effectively or because the change in the Pirelli tyres have suited them.
They have worked extremely hard over the winter to develop a competitive car and this is shown by the fact that they stand 2nd in the Constructor's Championship and are Red Bull's nearest rival with 235 points. The two drivers have been extremely consistent as well, with Hamilton finishing in the points in 10 of the 11 races with 1 win and 4 podium finishes. Nico Rosberg also has finished in the points in 8 of the 11 races, but also has 2 race wins included. The big question now surrounding Mercedes is can they continue to develop their car which will be able to challenge Red Bull for the titles? With big regulation changes coming in 2014, it is natural to think that the team will be dedicating more time and effort towards their 2014 car, but all the great teams are able to balance their developments between the two cars. If Mercedes can continue a decent rate of development for their 2013 car, I believe they have a good chance of securing 2nd in the constructors championship and may even be able to chase Red Bull down even to the last race in Brazil.
When Lewis Hamilton joined the team at the beginning of the season, many people doubted that he would be able to win races with the team because of how uncompetitive their 2012 car was. Admittedly, I didn't think that considering the form of the team since 2010, that Rosberg let alone Hamilton would be winning races this season. Its astonishing how far the team have come in this season and they've proved a lot of people wrong. It is almost as though Hamilton knew the car would be competitive when he joined.
For these reasons, so far this season Mercedes have been the team of the season for me. In order to call this season a real success I believe they should still be trying to challenge for the titles as much as possible and I think even if they don't win these, if they get a few more race wins this season, they can call 2013 a real success.
Sunday, 25 August 2013
Belgium GP 2013: Race Reaction
After the F1 summer break, both fans and teams were looking forward to starting the second half of the season and to close in on the title races. What better place to start the nine remaining races than in Belgium.
Lewis Hamilton had taken a surprise pole, which with 2 minutes remaining looked as though belonged to Di Resta after a wet qualifying brought surprises and shocks. Suddenly though, the track seemed to have dried considerably and this meant that Hamilton was able to take his fourth pole in a row.
All 22 drivers lined up on the grid and completed the formation lap without any problems with a dry track and a mixture of soft and hard tyres chosen for the drivers. 44 laps later the race was won, and although it wasn't a classic race at Spa and didn't provide as much action as we were expecting, it was still a fairly interesting race with a few incidents to provide discussion points.
Sebastian Vettel yet again proved to the world this afternoon how and why he is a triple world champion. Although he is not best known for his overtaking and sometimes comes under criticism regarding it, he vitally overtook Hamilton on the first lap of the race and then dominantly controlled and eventually won the race. Once Vettel had the lead, it didn't really look like it would change from there. Essentially the race was won in the first lap, because Vettel is so good at building and managing a gap, as well as making sure he isn't within the DRS range. As a result of his victory, he has also extended his championship lead, and with only 8 races left of the season, it is going to be difficult for his rivals to close this gap.
After a disappointing season and revealing that they don't expect to win races this season, McLaren had a solid race today. Button had a good qualifying session yesterday relative to where McLaren currently are, starting 6th on the grid. Button got an even better start, and by the middle of the first lap was in 3rd position. Although realistically we knew he would not finish in that position, he drove a decent race to finish 6th, beating the Lotus of Romain Grosjean and the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, which indicates some improvement from the team. I'm really looking forward to seeing what package they bring to the Italian GP in two weeks time.
Compared to Button, Perez had a rather eventful race. After a good start, where he made up places, he tried an overtake on Grosjean on lap 8, which resulted in a drive through penalty. The stewards believed he had forced Grosjean off the road once the move was complete and this rather ruined his race because it meant that he was out of the points. He managed to get back into 10th place, but that was then claimed by Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages of the grand prix.
There were three retirements in total today, all for different reasons. The first of these was for Caterham driver Charles Pic, after a leak forced him to retire. Secondly Kimi Raikkonen, who is known for his consistency, retired after his brakes failed on lap 26. Even on the grid we saw his brakes smoking and throughout the first few laps we saw brake dust coming from the front of his car so it wasn't a surprise to see that eventually they failed.
The final retirement of the afternoon was for Force India driver Paul Di Resta. He retired after suffering extreme damage to the rear of his car after Pastor Maldonado drove into the back of him. Maldonado was able to go to the pits and continue his race, but for Paul it was his afternoon over. This meant that with Button scoring more points that Sutil, McLaren had grabbed 5th in the constructors championship.
For me, the driver of the day was Fernando Alonso. After a bad qualifying session, by his standards and starting in 9th, he made an incredible start and found himself in fourth place in the first lap. He continued to have a good race in which he stayed out of trouble and maximised the performance of the Ferrari and picked up another podium position in 2nd. Ferrari have seemed to make some considerable progress through the summer break and this has shown here at Spa.
One thing I love about watching the races live on TV are that they show you the top three drivers as they prepare to go onto the podium. Today we saw how Hamilton and Vettel interacted after the race and it was rather entertaining to see them soak David Coulthard with champagne on the podium during the post race interview.
Looking forward to Italy, I think we will continue to witness the pace of the Red Bull, the strength of the Mercedes in qualifying and hopefully some more improvements from McLaren. Although today wasn't the most spectacular of races, Vettel has shown that is is moving ever closer to a fourth successive world championship.
Lewis Hamilton had taken a surprise pole, which with 2 minutes remaining looked as though belonged to Di Resta after a wet qualifying brought surprises and shocks. Suddenly though, the track seemed to have dried considerably and this meant that Hamilton was able to take his fourth pole in a row.
All 22 drivers lined up on the grid and completed the formation lap without any problems with a dry track and a mixture of soft and hard tyres chosen for the drivers. 44 laps later the race was won, and although it wasn't a classic race at Spa and didn't provide as much action as we were expecting, it was still a fairly interesting race with a few incidents to provide discussion points.
Sebastian Vettel yet again proved to the world this afternoon how and why he is a triple world champion. Although he is not best known for his overtaking and sometimes comes under criticism regarding it, he vitally overtook Hamilton on the first lap of the race and then dominantly controlled and eventually won the race. Once Vettel had the lead, it didn't really look like it would change from there. Essentially the race was won in the first lap, because Vettel is so good at building and managing a gap, as well as making sure he isn't within the DRS range. As a result of his victory, he has also extended his championship lead, and with only 8 races left of the season, it is going to be difficult for his rivals to close this gap.
After a disappointing season and revealing that they don't expect to win races this season, McLaren had a solid race today. Button had a good qualifying session yesterday relative to where McLaren currently are, starting 6th on the grid. Button got an even better start, and by the middle of the first lap was in 3rd position. Although realistically we knew he would not finish in that position, he drove a decent race to finish 6th, beating the Lotus of Romain Grosjean and the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, which indicates some improvement from the team. I'm really looking forward to seeing what package they bring to the Italian GP in two weeks time.
Compared to Button, Perez had a rather eventful race. After a good start, where he made up places, he tried an overtake on Grosjean on lap 8, which resulted in a drive through penalty. The stewards believed he had forced Grosjean off the road once the move was complete and this rather ruined his race because it meant that he was out of the points. He managed to get back into 10th place, but that was then claimed by Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages of the grand prix.
There were three retirements in total today, all for different reasons. The first of these was for Caterham driver Charles Pic, after a leak forced him to retire. Secondly Kimi Raikkonen, who is known for his consistency, retired after his brakes failed on lap 26. Even on the grid we saw his brakes smoking and throughout the first few laps we saw brake dust coming from the front of his car so it wasn't a surprise to see that eventually they failed.
The final retirement of the afternoon was for Force India driver Paul Di Resta. He retired after suffering extreme damage to the rear of his car after Pastor Maldonado drove into the back of him. Maldonado was able to go to the pits and continue his race, but for Paul it was his afternoon over. This meant that with Button scoring more points that Sutil, McLaren had grabbed 5th in the constructors championship.
For me, the driver of the day was Fernando Alonso. After a bad qualifying session, by his standards and starting in 9th, he made an incredible start and found himself in fourth place in the first lap. He continued to have a good race in which he stayed out of trouble and maximised the performance of the Ferrari and picked up another podium position in 2nd. Ferrari have seemed to make some considerable progress through the summer break and this has shown here at Spa.
One thing I love about watching the races live on TV are that they show you the top three drivers as they prepare to go onto the podium. Today we saw how Hamilton and Vettel interacted after the race and it was rather entertaining to see them soak David Coulthard with champagne on the podium during the post race interview.
Looking forward to Italy, I think we will continue to witness the pace of the Red Bull, the strength of the Mercedes in qualifying and hopefully some more improvements from McLaren. Although today wasn't the most spectacular of races, Vettel has shown that is is moving ever closer to a fourth successive world championship.
Friday, 23 August 2013
Belgium GP 2013: FP1 & FP2
This weekend, the world of Formula One visits one of the most iconic and oldest tracks in its history. Although it has been changed since motor racing first visited the circuit in 1925, the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is still a favourite racing circuit for both drivers and fans.
I particularly love the high speed, flowing corners of the track and it is one of my favourite tracks to watch to watch Formula One drivers attack each corner and fly down the straights. Although I've never personally been to the track, it is one which I would love to visit in the future, especially to see Eau Rouge in its full glory.
Whilst I am watching coverage of the F1 weekend, I do not usually write posts relating to them specifically. Most of my previous posts have focused on drivers or rumours or the overall performance of a team so this weekend I thought that it was time to try something different. I've decided to write posts both regarding Free Practice 1 & 2, which took place today (Friday) and I will be writing another post on Sunday afternoon giving my race reaction. What better place than the Belgium GP to start my posts regarding a race weekend?!
I decided to watch the Sky Sports F1 coverage of Free Practice 1 and 2 and found immediately that there was a lot of focus on Mark Webber's replacement. As of yet Red Bull have not announced who has inherited the race seat and so even after the F1 summer break, this topic is still being constantly brought up. With no new developments in the story aside from a few rumours that Daniel Ricciardo has already signed the contract, it seems as though Sky have gone far enough with the story now. Granted, FP1 this morning was damp so there was not a lot of action on the track to discuss, but I think there should be less focus on this now. Apart from this and the annoying advertisement breaks throughout the programme, I enjoyed FP1 this morning.
It was good to see the cars back on the track for the 90 minute session albeit with the intermediate tyres on in the damp conditions. Damp conditions unsurprisingly caught some drivers out, as they explored the limits of the race track and we saw a lot of lock ups and run offs at the bus stop chicane, from Raikkonen to Bottas to Gutierrez to Vettel.
Alongside these excursions, teams were also testing new development parts for their cars. Most notably, Lotus and Sauber were testing their own versions of the 'double drs' system, which when operated dumps drag and can gain up to 3 tenths of a second per lap. Lotus had already trialled this system last season, but it has yet to feature in any of the races, either last season or during this one.
Red Bull had also made changes to their nose cone on the car, as it is slightly flatter than previous versions of the part and Ferrari had also made changes to their brake ducts alongside Lotus. Ferrari had also been running two rear wings, one with lower downforce on Massa's car and one with higher downforce on Alonso's car.
With around 45 minutes to go, Mark Webber was the first to put slick tyres onto his Red Bull, which was interesting to see as each driver had a dilemma. In some parts the track was dry and therefore needed the slick tyres, however around the pit lane the track was still clearly too damp for the slick tyres. In the dry section of the track, sector 2, Webber set a time of 50.8 seconds with 40 minutes to go, which was 4 seconds off Jenson Button's 46.6 he set in the same sector during qualifying in 2012 which gave him his first pole position for McLaren.
At 24 minutes to go, Alonso and Perez were swapping the quickest times at the top of the board, after most runners had also put on a set of slick tyres. Compared to a 2:00.500 set by Button at the beginning of the session, Perez' 1:55.518 illustrated that the track was drying out and drivers were finding their confidence.
However, with around 19 minutes left of the session, the rain started to fall again and so it was hard for drivers to get in any quicker times. At the end of the session the top ten looked like this:
1. Alonso 1:55.198
2. Di Resta +0.026
3. Sutil +0.175
2. Di Resta +0.026
3. Sutil +0.175
4. Perez
5. Rosberg
6. Vettel
7. Gutierrez
8. Hulkenberg
9. Ricciardo
10. Bottas
With the damp conditions and limited running during FP1 it is impossible to know if this data is representative of what the cars are actually capable of. It will depend on the weather during qualifying and the race, and at this early part of the weekend I wouldn't look too much into the times.
FP2 gave us totally different weather conditions. Instead of a damp track and the threat of rain, it was sunny and dry at the circuit and this meant that the teams and drivers were able to complete more running. This weekend the tyres available are the hard and medium compounds, and we saw both of these being run during the session.
There was a busy start to the session, with most cars getting out on track to make up for the limited running in the first session and with this we also saw some more development parts on the cars.
McLaren were running a new rear wing n plate on their car, Mercedes had a new rear wing and Lotus had taken off their 'double drs' system, which they ran earlier in FP1.
With 30 minutes gone of the session, Webber had set the fastest time of 1:49.390, considerably faster than in FP1. Red Bull were looking competitive during the session, and finished with Vettel topping the session with a 1:49.331 and Mark Webber close behind. The only downside of the session as far as they were concerned was that Vettel suffered from a right rear puncture near the end of the session, which signalled the end of his session.
Caterham driver Van Der Garde suffered from a setback at the end of the session after crashing into the barriers after turn 14 after losing the rear of the car which brought out yellow flags and the end of his session.
The top ten at the end of FP2 were:
1. Vettel
2. Webber
3. Grosjean
4. Massa
5. Vergne
6. Raikkonen
7. Alonso
8. Perez
9. Rosberg
10. Di Resta
With the Friday sessions now over, the drivers have one session left tomorrow before qualifying. As usual the Red Bulls seem competitive, in both racing and qualifying pace. Lewis Hamilton has had a few set up issues and has not been entirely happy within the car, but it would be foolish to write him off for pole position just yet. He always seems to get it right for Saturday.
I still think it is too early to see the improvements that Ferrari and McLaren have been trying to make and we will get a better idea of that tomorrow perhaps after FP3. My prediction however as it stands now is that it will be Red Bull and Mercedes going head to head for pole position.
Predictions:
Pole: Hamilton
Pole: Hamilton
Win: Hamilton
Thursday, 22 August 2013
F1 Team Review 2013: McLaren
At the beginning of the 2013 F1 season, we were all expecting to see the big teams fighting it out for both the World Driver's Championship and the World Constructor's Championship. These teams included reigning champions Red Bull and previous constructor champions Ferrari and McLaren, the two oldest outfits in the Formula One world.
However, with 10 races now gone and with nine remaining there have been some unexpected teams in the title hunt as well as teams under performing, which as surprised spectators and reporters alike. With Lotus winning the first race of the season and consistently performing well, it has left them fourth in the championship, only 11 points behind Ferrari.
Ferrari have had a similar season to one in which they had last. They've picked up race wins and podiums, had a less competitive car than some of their rivals, yet still find themselves third in the championship. Considering the fact that Felipe Massa has experienced some trouble in the last few races, to see them still third in the standings illustrates the impact the Spaniard Alonso has on the team.
Ferrari have had a similar season to one in which they had last. They've picked up race wins and podiums, had a less competitive car than some of their rivals, yet still find themselves third in the championship. Considering the fact that Felipe Massa has experienced some trouble in the last few races, to see them still third in the standings illustrates the impact the Spaniard Alonso has on the team.
One team which even by their standards has fallen way below expectation is McLaren. Since Lewis Hamilton's departure from the Woking based team they have failed to pick up a podium finish, let alone a race win. Admittedly, this may not be because Hamilton has left the team, it has more to do with the fact that they have not produced a competitive car this season.
As a McLaren fan myself, it is very difficult to criticise the performance of the team because obviously I want them to be winning races and challenging for the titles. However, it has been hard being a McLaren fan because we've witnessed them challenging for fifth place in the standings whereas this time last year they were challenging Red Bull and Ferrari for 2nd or 1st. So far this season, with 10 races done and dusted McLaren have scored 57 points, which is 6th in the standings. Compare this with last season, McLaren had already scored 55 points after the first two races of the season, and after ten races their total stood at 189 points.
It was claimed that McLaren had over-performed last season, but I do not believe this for one moment. How can a team which has won WCC's and WDC's in the past think that a 3rd place finish for the 2012 season is an over achievement? McLaren arguably had one of the fastest cars last season yet still suffered with technical and reliability problems so I don't believe they could claim to have 'over-achieved.' They were expected to be challenging and I don't believe this to be the right attitude for the team to have. Yes, it's true they don't have a competitive enough car this year and they took a big risk in changing the way the suspension works and other aspects of the car, but they have the resources and experience which should have allowed them to close the gap quicker than they have done. In some races they are over 1 second off the pace of the front-runners and this is a massive amount of time to be losing.
McLaren's best finish this season has been 5th place, and this isn't something us fans should be excited about. The rocket red race victory shirts should be on, and we should be celebrating perhaps Sergio Perez' first race win or Jenson Button's overtaking at a particular race, which brings him the race win.
The optimism and positivity seems to have gone from the outfit as well, as I've recently heard that they do not think they can win a race this season. Is this realistic? Perhaps, but it is still important to have some belief and as a fan it is disheartening to hear this. I really hope that this is just a dip in performance this season and McLaren are able to get back to winning ways in 2014 because it doesn't seem right to see them outside the podium positions. It's hard to watch races that the team have previously been successful at, such as in Hungary and with the Belgium GP this weekend, it will be tough again to potentially see a different team win a race that Jenson Button and McLaren brilliantly won last year.
This season for McLaren can hardly be called a success, but securing at least 5th in the constructor's will be vital for the team, considering the millions of pounds difference you receive between each place. The championships may be over for McLaren now, but I still believe they should be working towards at least one win this season, even if it is just for all the loyal fans who have stuck by them this season.
As a McLaren fan myself, it is very difficult to criticise the performance of the team because obviously I want them to be winning races and challenging for the titles. However, it has been hard being a McLaren fan because we've witnessed them challenging for fifth place in the standings whereas this time last year they were challenging Red Bull and Ferrari for 2nd or 1st. So far this season, with 10 races done and dusted McLaren have scored 57 points, which is 6th in the standings. Compare this with last season, McLaren had already scored 55 points after the first two races of the season, and after ten races their total stood at 189 points.
It was claimed that McLaren had over-performed last season, but I do not believe this for one moment. How can a team which has won WCC's and WDC's in the past think that a 3rd place finish for the 2012 season is an over achievement? McLaren arguably had one of the fastest cars last season yet still suffered with technical and reliability problems so I don't believe they could claim to have 'over-achieved.' They were expected to be challenging and I don't believe this to be the right attitude for the team to have. Yes, it's true they don't have a competitive enough car this year and they took a big risk in changing the way the suspension works and other aspects of the car, but they have the resources and experience which should have allowed them to close the gap quicker than they have done. In some races they are over 1 second off the pace of the front-runners and this is a massive amount of time to be losing.
McLaren's best finish this season has been 5th place, and this isn't something us fans should be excited about. The rocket red race victory shirts should be on, and we should be celebrating perhaps Sergio Perez' first race win or Jenson Button's overtaking at a particular race, which brings him the race win.
The optimism and positivity seems to have gone from the outfit as well, as I've recently heard that they do not think they can win a race this season. Is this realistic? Perhaps, but it is still important to have some belief and as a fan it is disheartening to hear this. I really hope that this is just a dip in performance this season and McLaren are able to get back to winning ways in 2014 because it doesn't seem right to see them outside the podium positions. It's hard to watch races that the team have previously been successful at, such as in Hungary and with the Belgium GP this weekend, it will be tough again to potentially see a different team win a race that Jenson Button and McLaren brilliantly won last year.
This season for McLaren can hardly be called a success, but securing at least 5th in the constructor's will be vital for the team, considering the millions of pounds difference you receive between each place. The championships may be over for McLaren now, but I still believe they should be working towards at least one win this season, even if it is just for all the loyal fans who have stuck by them this season.
Monday, 12 August 2013
The F1 Title Battle
Aside from all the rumours flying around in the world of Formula One, there is still the small matter of the World Driver's Championship. We are over the half way point of the season, and it is usually at this time where we can determine how well each team has performed.
However, instead the main focus will be on the title battle and the chances of each contender ultimately winning the WDC at the end of the season in Brazil.
Currently there are four drivers which stand out in terms of being in contention for the title as they have amassed the most amount of points and there is a fair gap in points between the 4th and 5th placed drivers, illustrating a clear group which have stood out from the rest. These four drivers are reigning triple World Champion Sebastian Vettel, former double World Champion Fernando Alonso and former champions Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. Each driver represents a different team, consisting of Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes and this illustrates how competitive this season is becoming and how close each car is to each other in terms of performance.
Leading the standings with 172 points from 10 races is Vettel. With his worst result this season being a retirement in the British GP from a technical problem, and an impressive record of four wins and three additional podium finishes so far, it is clear to see why he is at the top of the standings. Aside from the retirement, his worst results have been fourth place at the Chinese and Spanish Grand Prix.
Leading the standings with 172 points from 10 races is Vettel. With his worst result this season being a retirement in the British GP from a technical problem, and an impressive record of four wins and three additional podium finishes so far, it is clear to see why he is at the top of the standings. Aside from the retirement, his worst results have been fourth place at the Chinese and Spanish Grand Prix.
A further 38 points behind in the championship is the Finn Kimi Raikkonen. After scoring points in 19 out of the 20 races last season, Kimi has contiuned his consistent form in 2013. So far he has finished and scored points in every race and alongside his win in Australia, his consistency has been rewarded with 2nd place in the standings. Not only is Raikkonen consistent, but he is also consistently good, with 5 2nd place finishes this season.
A single point behind Raikkonen is the Spaniard Fernando Alonso, driving for Ferrari. Like Vettel, Alonso has only had one non point scoring race this season, but what has stopped him from being higher in the standings is the lack of race wins and podiums. From the nine races Alonso has had 5 non podium finishes, which illustrates that the Ferrari is not as competitive as the other cars surrounding it. Alonso takes the most out of the car at each race, which is evident when you look at Alonso's performance against his team mate Massa.
Finally, 48 points adrift from the top of the standings, but still in with a chance, is Lewis Hamilton driving in his first season for Mercedes. Like Vettel and Alonso, Hamilton has also had one non points finish and has only so far managed to pick up a single win. However, this season's Mercedes is a huge improvement from the one we saw last season and after seemingly putting their tyre trouble behind them they are now starting to pull in some good results with Hamilton. With Hamilton so far this season it has quite consistent like Raikkonen, but instead of consistent 2nd place finishes, they have been consistent 3rd, 4th or 5th place finishes.
Sebastian Vettel now has over a race win between himself and his closest rival. This means that as it stands, even if Vettel wasn't to finish the Belgium GP and Raikkonen was to win, he would still be leading the WDC, by 13 points. Even if Raikkonen then went on to win the next GP as well, Vettel would only need to finish 4th to keep them on the same amount of points. A 3rd place would mean that he would still be leading the championship. However, with a fairly reliable and extremely quick race car, if Vettel can just keep doing what he has already done this season, a fourth successive championship is surely inevitable. The Red Bull has the pace to win races, which also massively improves his chances. Some believe that he has already done enough to secure another championship, in terms of securing enough early points and only needing to remain consistent for the rest of the season.
Although Vettel has won the previous three championships, the 2012 season was not as dominent as the previous. The title went down to the final race, which was something he has not experienced in 2011. This illustrates that it is getting harder and more competitive to win the WDC, although many were not shocked when he won it last season.
Another factor which plays into Vettel's hands is the fact that he has three close contenders. Although this may not seem as though it is an advantage, in the coming races we will see Hamilton, Raikkonen and Alonso all taking points off each other, which will allow Vettel to further extend his lead.
With only 9 races left of the 2013 season, it is now that we usually see the bigger teams pull away from the smaller because of their budgets and rates of development. Some teams will now also put more focus into their 2014 car, especially because of the new regulations coming in. However, I still expect to see these four compete for the title, with it hopefully going down to the last race in Brazil. I still also hope McLaren can spring a surprise, although their title hopes went nearly as quickly as the season started. Will Raikkonen be able to continue his consistent form? Will Hamilton win more races during his first season with Mercedes? Will Vettel suffer with any problems with the car? And will Alonso have a more competitive car for the remainder of the season?
Only time will tell, and with the Belgium GP under two weeks away, it's nearly time to start the speculation again.
Sebastian Vettel: 172
Kimi Raikkonen: 134 (-38)
Fernando Alonso: 133 (-39)
Lewis Hamilton: 124 (-48)
Sunday, 4 August 2013
The F1 Rumour Mill: Mark Webber's Replacement
When Mark Webber announced that he would be leaving the world of Formula One and his racing seat at the triple world champions Red Bull Racing, it sent the media into overdrive. Since then, everybody has wondered who will replace the Aussie and at the time this blog was published, it had still not been confirmed.
At first Red Bull confirmed that the two drivers in the running for the vacant seat were former world champion Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo: a driver in Red Bull's sister team Toro Rosso, which is designed to allow young talent showcase their skills in order to determine whether or not they have the potential to graduate into the Red Bull team. This is commonly known as the Red Bull Young Driver's Program and it is one which Ricciardo has been part of for both the 2012 and currently the 2013 season.
The idea is once the drivers have proved themselves they are promoted into the Red Bull racing team, which then allows them to race arguably one of the best, if not the best racing car on the grid. However, this scheme has not been the most successful, with Sebastian Vettel being the only graduate that has progressed to the main team and so Red Bull are keen to show that their program works.
We saw at the end of the 2011 season that Torro Rosso are relentless in their driver selections. They firmly believe that if a driver has not graduated within two seasons of racing with them that it is then time to bring in new drivers, which then aim for the same target as the previous drivers. This is exactly what happened to Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari and so the pressure is on the two current drivers Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne to perform. With this being their second season within the team, you get the feeling that this is their chance to perform and show that they have the ability.
Mark Webber's announcement has now added even more pressure to the two drivers, especially Ricciardo, as not only the media, but fans and those involved at Red Bull are watching the drivers much more closely. The pressure is certainly huge, but Ricciardo has proved that he can perform, regularly qualifying in the top 10 in recent GP's, such as in Britain and Hungary.
We saw at the end of the 2011 season that Torro Rosso are relentless in their driver selections. They firmly believe that if a driver has not graduated within two seasons of racing with them that it is then time to bring in new drivers, which then aim for the same target as the previous drivers. This is exactly what happened to Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari and so the pressure is on the two current drivers Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne to perform. With this being their second season within the team, you get the feeling that this is their chance to perform and show that they have the ability.
Mark Webber's announcement has now added even more pressure to the two drivers, especially Ricciardo, as not only the media, but fans and those involved at Red Bull are watching the drivers much more closely. The pressure is certainly huge, but Ricciardo has proved that he can perform, regularly qualifying in the top 10 in recent GP's, such as in Britain and Hungary.
Unfortunately because of the current pace of the Torro Rosso he and his team mate tend to go backwards during the race, but he regularly finishes races and is hardly ever involved in on track incidents and accidents. It is clear to see that the young man behind the wheel has the potential and you can see why Red Bull are considering him for the vacant seat.
In comparison, Kimi Raikkonen, with 20 GP wins under his belt and with experience of 187 races, is the other candidate for the Red Bull seat.
Since his return to the sport in 2012 he has impressed many pundits and Formula One enthusiasts as he has not appeared to have lost any of his race craft during his time away spent rallying. He is notoriously known for his speed on track and his lack of words off track, and the fact that he just gets on with the job in hand is perhaps one reason why Red Bull are considering him for the seat.
A win in Melbourne at the beginning of the current season and consistently impressive race results means that he is currently in the title hunt, and Sebastian Vettel's closest contender.
Raikkonen has also provided the first win for his team Lotus in many years and so clearly they will not want him to leave and the possibility of finding a replacement must daunt them. Would a move to Red Bull really be good for Raikkonen?
In comparison, Kimi Raikkonen, with 20 GP wins under his belt and with experience of 187 races, is the other candidate for the Red Bull seat.
Since his return to the sport in 2012 he has impressed many pundits and Formula One enthusiasts as he has not appeared to have lost any of his race craft during his time away spent rallying. He is notoriously known for his speed on track and his lack of words off track, and the fact that he just gets on with the job in hand is perhaps one reason why Red Bull are considering him for the seat.
A win in Melbourne at the beginning of the current season and consistently impressive race results means that he is currently in the title hunt, and Sebastian Vettel's closest contender.
Raikkonen has also provided the first win for his team Lotus in many years and so clearly they will not want him to leave and the possibility of finding a replacement must daunt them. Would a move to Red Bull really be good for Raikkonen?
Red Bull will also need to acknowledge that Vettel needs to be considered. Vettel himself has said that he will get a say in who partners him from next year and therefore he will have a big influence on the situation. During the time that Vettel and Webber have been team mates it is clear to see that they are not the best of friends, which is not expected. The infamous event at the Malaysian GP this season involving 'Multi 21' illustrated how strained their working relationship is. Obviously both drivers have mutual respect for each other, but the team will not want to have these situations arise again with the new team mate.
This poses the question of can two world champions operate within the same team realistically? If so, Red Bull will need to successfully manage the two drivers in order for it to work and possibly will need to let the two drivers race each other.
Both drivers in question can bring different things to the team, Raikkonen with experience and Riccairdo with young talent and the willingness to learn, amongst other factors. If Red Bull are looking for a long term solution and a chance to prove that their Young Driver's scheme works, it is the perfect opportunity to give Daniel Ricciardo his chance in the spotlight.
One thing is for certain though, it is bound to be another summer full of speculation and rumours, and not only regarding Red Bull but the other teams around them as well.
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