Indian GP 2013: Race Reaction

It had been coming for some time. Prior to today, Sebastian Vettel had won 5 races in a row and was looking for his 10th victory of the season. More importantly, he was aiming to secure his fourth successive championship, and Red Bull were also looking to secure their fourth consecutive Constructor's title. To do this, Vettel would only have to finish 5th or higher if Alonso won the race, but it turns out Vettel planned to do it in style.
  After qualifying on pole on Saturday, Vettel's main threat was believed to be team-mate Mark Webber. Webber had qualified in 4th, but on the medium tyres and these were the tyres to be on in the race because of the low degradation. Vettel had qualified on the soft tyres, meaning that he would be making an early stop and then working his way back through the field.
  When the lights went out and the race started, Vettel maintained his record of being the only person to see the first corner of the Indian GP first, no other driver has ever lead the Indian GP going into the first corner. There were also excellent starts from Lewis Hamilton, with aside from some wheel spin could have seriously challenged Vettel for the lead at beginning of the race. However, the excitement of the thought of Webber challenging for the win today was affected when the driver made contact firstly with Raikkonen and then with Alonso during the first few corners. In addition to this, any doubts that Vettel wouldn't secure his championship were reduced when because of the contact between Webber and Alonso, Alonso was forced to pit for a new nose cone. After this the Spaniard had a rather quiet afternoon, eventually finishing in 11th place, but pulling a spectacular move on Gutierrez during lap 22, but he never looked to challenge the top 10.
  Another driver that suffered from early problems was Jenson Button. He suffered a puncture to his medium tyres in the early part of the race and so this massively affected his strategy for the entire race, as he had to put on the soft tyre for a short amount of time before going back to the mediums. This resulted in a disappointing 14th place, especially when you compare the result to that of Perez. The Mexican had a supreme drive today, battling from 9th to finish in 5th, equalling McLaren's best finish of the season. Considering this, I think that if Button didn't have the problems from the first lap, McLaren could have left India today with a decent haul of points.
  Although he may be driving a multiple championship car, Mark Webber has had more than his fair share of reliability problems in his Red Bull. Today we saw yet another problem which forced him to retire around lap 40, because of an alternator problem. Any hope of breaking down Vettel's 12 second lead at that time was destroyed, and it left a very nervous Red Bull pit wall. For the remainder of the race the team carefully managed Seb's car, ensuring that they were able to nurse it home. Luckily with the advantage that Vettel had, they made it look very easy indeed. When Vettel saw the chequered flag 29 seconds before his nearest competitor Nico Rosberg, it confirmed that both Red Bull and Vettel had won their fourth consecutive Constructor's and Driver's titles, and that mathematically the season was over. All the hard work and the dominance finally paid off and it was lovely for fans to see the raw emotion from Vettel in the room post race before the podium. For the fans at home we could see what it meant to the young 26 year old, as his success was slowly sinking in. Whether or not you like the driver, support the team or the dominance that he has brought, you cannot help acknowledge that he is now considered one of the greats of the sport and an ambassador and role model for younger fans watching and trying to get involved with the sport. You do not become a multiple champion by accident, but it is important to remember that without the hard work from the entire team alongside the people we see on our tv screens such as Vettel, Horner and Newey, none of these championships would have been possible.
  The driver of the day for me was Romain Grosjean. After a mistake in qualifying yesterday leaving him starting 17th on the grid, it was interesting to see where he ended up. If this time last year you told someone within the F1 world that this driver would make up 14 places and finish on the podium, you wouldn't believe them. He is a completely different driver from the one we saw last season, especially in Belgium and now we are really beginning to appreciate his speed and talent. He stayed out of trouble today and has left me wondering what he could have done if he had qualified within the top 10 like his team-mate did.
  With the world of Formula One not returning to India next season, what better way to say goodbye to the track than to watch newly crowned four times world champion Sebastian Vettel perform donuts and bow to his car after winning supremely his 10th win of the season.

F1 Team Review 2013: Ferrari

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.