Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/9082633/Luca-Double-points-finish-too-artificial
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Luca: Double-points finish too artificial
Luca di Montezemolo admits Ferrari are unimpressed with the decision to award double points for the final race of the season...
The drivers, teams and cars of 2013 | 2013 F1 season review
All of F1 Fanatic's information pages for the drivers, teams and cars of 2013 have been revised and updated, and you can find them all here. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/s-t9RnkhZzU/
Hill: Ferrari's 'special status' good for F1
Former World Champion Damon Hill believes the extra power that Ferrari carry in Formula One is "fair enough" due to their longevity...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/9063412/Hill-Ferrari-s-special-status-good-for-F1
Monday, December 30, 2013
More expectation on Ricciardo - Vettel
Sebastian Vettel says there is likely to be more expectation on Daniel Ricciardo coming to Red Bull than when he joined the team
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/redbull/motorsport/story/138581.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Vettel takes over at the top
As Sebastian Vettel put down his winner’s trophy after holding it up in celebration on the Korean Grand Prix podium, Fernando Alonso tapped him on the back and reached out to shake his hand. It was a symbolic reflection of the championship lead being handed from one to the other.
After three consecutive victories for Vettel and Red Bull, the last two of which have been utterly dominant, it does not look as though Alonso is going to be getting it back.
Alonso will push to the end, of course, and he made all the right noises after the race, talking about Ferrari “moving in the right direction” and only needing “a little step to compete with Red Bull”.
“Four beautiful races to come with good possibilities for us to fight for the championship,” he said, adding: “Now we need to score seven points more than Sebastian. That will be extremely tough but we believe we can do it.”
Sebastian Vettel won the Korean GP by finishing ahead of team-mate Mark Webber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (left). Photo: Reuters
Indeed, a couple of hours after the race, Alonso was quoting samurai warrior-philosophy again on his Twitter account, just as he had in Japan a week before.
"I've never been able to win from start to finish,” he wrote. “I only learned not to be left behind in any situation."
Fighting against the seemingly inevitable is his only option. The facts are that the Ferrari has been slower than the Red Bull in terms of outright pace all year, and there is no reason to suspect anything different in the final four races of the season.
Vettel’s victory in Korea was utterly crushing in the manner of so many of his 11 wins in his dominant 2011 season. The Red Bull has moved on to another level since Singapore and Vettel, as he always does in that position, has gone with it.
Up and down the pit lane, people are questioning how Red Bull have done it, and a lot of attention has fallen on the team’s new ‘double DRS’ system.
This takes an idea introduced in different form by Mercedes at the start the season and, typically of Red Bull’s design genius Adrian Newey, applies it in a more elegant and effective way.
It means that when the DRS overtaking aid is activated – and its use is free in practice and qualifying – the car benefits from a greater drag reduction, and therefore more straight-line speed than its rivals.
Vettel has been at pains to emphasise that this does not help Red Bull in the race, when they can only use the DRS in a specified zone when overtaking other cars. But that’s not the whole story.
The greater drag reduction in qualifying means that the team can run the car with more downforce than they would otherwise be able to – because the ‘double DRS’ means they do not suffer the normal straight-line speed deficit of doing so.
That means the car’s overall lap time is quicker, whether in race or qualifying. So although the Red Bull drivers can’t use the ‘double DRS’ as a lap-time aid in the actual grands prix, they are still benefiting from having it on the car.
And they are not at risk on straights in the race because the extra overall pace, from the greater downforce, means they are far enough ahead of their rivals for them not to be able to challenge them, let alone overtake them. As long as they qualify at the front, anyway.
It’s not all down to the ‘double DRS’, though. McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe said in Korea: “They appear to have made a good step on their car. I doubt that is all down to that system. I doubt if a lot of it is down to that system, actually. You’ll probably find it’s just general development.”
BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson will go into more details on this in his column on Monday. Whatever the reasons for it, though, Red Bull’s rediscovered dominant form means Alonso is in trouble.
While Red Bull have been adding great chunks of performance to their car, Ferrari have been fiddling around with rear-wing design, a relatively small factor in overall car performance.
They have admitted they are struggling with inconsistency between the results they are getting in testing new parts in their wind tunnel and their performance on the track, so it is hard to see how they will close the gap on a Red Bull team still working flat out on their own updates.
The Ferrari has proved adaptable and consistent, delivering strong performances at every race since a major upgrade after the first four grands prix of the year.
But the only time Alonso has had definitively the quickest car is when it has been raining. It is in the wet that he took one of his three wins, and both his poles.
But he cannot realistically expect it to rain in the next three races in Delhi, Abu Dhabi and Austin, Texas. And after that only Brazil remains. So Alonso is effectively hoping for Vettel to hit problems, as he more or less admitted himself on Sunday.
How he must be ruing the bad breaks of those first-corner retirements in Belgium and Japan – even if they did effectively only cancel out Vettel’s two alternator failures in Valencia and Monza.
If anyone had reason on Sunday to regret what might have been, though, it was Lewis Hamilton, who has driven fantastically well all season only to be let down by his McLaren team in one way or another.
Hamilton, his title hopes over, wasted no time in pointing out after the race in Korea that the broken anti-roll bar that dropped him from fourth to 10th was the second suspension failure in as many races, and a broken gearbox robbed him of victory at the previous race in Singapore.
Operational problems in the early races of the season also cost him a big chunk of points.
Hamilton wears his heart on his sleeve, and in one off-the-cuff remark to Finnish television after the race, he revealed a great deal about why he has decided to move to Mercedes next year.
“It’s a day to forget,” Hamilton said. “A year to forget as well. I’m looking forward to a fresh start next year.”
In other words, I’ve had enough of four years of not being good enough, for various reasons, and I might as well try my luck elsewhere.
There was another post-race comment from Hamilton, too, that said an awful lot. “I hope Fernando keeps pushing,” he said.
Hamilton did not reply when asked directly whether that meant he wanted Alonso to win the title. But you can be sure that remark is a reflection of Hamilton’s belief that he is better than Vettel, that only Alonso is his equal.
Whether that is a correct interpretation of the standing of the three best drivers in the world, it will take more than this season to tell.
In the meantime, if Alonso and Ferrari are not to be mistaken in their belief that they still have a chance, “keeping pushing” is exactly what they must do. Like never before.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/10/as_sebastian_vettel_put_down.html
Alonso linked with McLaren return
McLaren Principal Martin Whitmarsh traveled to Madrid earlier this week to thrash out a deal with Fernando Alonso, according to the British press...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/9056538/Alonso-linked-with-McLaren-return
Cool, canny Alonso seems to have all the answers
The remarkable story of Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's incredible season continued at the German Grand Prix as the Spaniard became the first man to win three races in 2012 and moved into an imposing lead in the world championship.
Those three victories have all been very different, but equally impressive. And each has demonstrated specific aspects of the formidable army of Alonso's talents.
In Malaysia in the second race of the season, at a time when the Ferrari was not competitive in the dry, he grabbed the opportunity provided by rain to take a most unexpected first win.
In Valencia last month, it was Alonso's opportunism and clinical overtaking abilities that were to the fore.
Other drivers may wonder how to stop Alonso's relentless drive to a third title. Photo: Getty
And in Germany on Sunday his victory was founded on his relentlessness, canniness and virtual imperviousness to pressure.
Ferrari, lest we forget, started the season with a car that was the best part of a second and a half off the pace. Their progress since then has been hugely impressive.
But vastly improved though the car is, it was not, as Alonso himself, his team boss Stefano Domenicali and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel all pointed out after the race on Sunday, the fastest car in Germany.
Vettel's Red Bull - which finished second but was demoted to fifth for passing Jenson Button by going off the track - and the McLaren appeared to have a slight pace advantage over the Ferrari, given their ability to stay within a second of it for lap after lap.
But Alonso cleverly managed his race so he was always just out of reach of them when it mattered.
He pushed hard in the first sector every lap so he was always far enough ahead at the start of the DRS overtaking zone to ensure his pursuers were not quite close enough to try to pass him into the Turn 6 hairpin.
After that, he could afford to back off through the middle sector of the lap, taking the stress out of his tyres, before doing it all over again the next time around.
Managing the delicate Pirelli tyres in this way also meant he could push that bit harder in the laps immediately preceding his two pit stops and ensure he kept his lead through them.
Equally, he showed the presence of mind to realise when Lewis Hamilton unlapped himself on Vettel shortly before the second stops that if he could, unlike the Red Bull driver, keep Hamilton behind, it would give him a crucial advantage at the stop.
It was not quite "67 qualifying laps", as Domenicali described it after the race, but it was certainly a masterful demonstration of control and intelligence.
And there was no arguing with another of the Italian's post-race verdicts. "(Alonso) is at the peak of his personal performance, no doubt about it," Domenicali said.
It was the 30th victory of Alonso's career, and he is now only one behind Nigel Mansell in the all-time winners' list. The way he is driving, he will surely move ahead of the Englishman into fourth place behind Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna before the end of the year.
At the halfway point of the season, Alonso now looks down on his pursuers in the championship from the lofty vantage point of a 34-point advantage.
That is not, as Red Bull team principal Christian Horner correctly pointed out in Germany, "insurmountable" with 10 races still to go and 250 points up for grabs. But catching him when he is driving as well as this will take some doing.
Alonso is clearly enjoying the situation, and is taking opportunities to rub his rivals' noses in it a little.
He is not the only driver to have been wound up by the index-finger salute Vettel employed every time he took one of his 11 wins and 15 pole positions on the way to the title last year.
So it was amusing to see Alonso do the same thing after he had beaten the German to pole position at Vettel's home race on Saturday.
The exchange between Alonso, Button and Vettel as they climbed out of their cars immediately after the race was also illuminating.
After standing on his Ferrari's nose to milk the applause, Alonso turned to Button and said: "You couldn't beat me?" He then pointed to Vettel and said: "He couldn't either."
All part of the game, but a little reminder to both men of what a formidable job Alonso is doing this season.
The race underlined how close the performance is between the top three teams this year.
Red Bull had a shaky start to the season by their standards - although to nowhere near the extent of Ferrari - but have had on balance the fastest car in the dry since the Bahrain Grand Prix back in April.
And while McLaren have had a shaky couple of races in Valencia and Silverstone, they showed potential race-winning pace in Germany following the introduction of a major upgrade.
Despite a car damaged when he suffered an early puncture on debris left from a first-corner shunt ironically involving Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa, Hamilton was able to run with the leaders before his retirement with gearbox damage.
And Button impressively fought his way up to second place from sixth on the grid, closing a five-second gap on Alonso and Vettel once he was into third place.
This has not been Button's greatest season, as he would be the first to admit.
Germany was the first race at which he has outqualified Hamilton in 2012 and even that may well have been down to the different tyre strategies they ran in qualifying.
Nevertheless, he remains a world-class grand prix driver and Germany proved the folly of those who had written him off after his recent struggles.
And despite Alonso's lead in the championship, the season is finely poised.
Germany was a low-key race for Mark Webber, who was unhappy with his car on the harder of the two tyres but remains second in the championship. And Red Bull's two drivers clearly have the equipment to make life difficult for Alonso.
The McLaren drivers are determined to make something of their season still and Lotus are quick enough to cause the three big teams some serious concern.
Mercedes, meanwhile, have a bit of work to do to turn around their tendency to qualify reasonably well and then go backwards in the race.
"It's going to be a great, great season," said McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh on Sunday. "It already has been a great season."
And the next instalment is already less than seven days away in Hungary next weekend.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/07/cool_canny_alonso_looks_diffic.html
Sunday, December 29, 2013
McLaren drivers out of title race
 Is it now a three-way battle for the title? |
“Focus and concentration will be of paramount importance and there is none stronger in this regard than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.”The Guardian’s Oliver Owen thinks that it is Mark Webber’s title to lose now, and that this may be the Australian’s last realistic chance of winning the title.
“He has driven beautifully. Monaco and Silverstone spring to mind. He has been an uncompromising racer, not giving Vettel or Lewis Hamilton an inch in Turkey and Singapore respectively. Most importantly, he has largely avoided the bouts of brain fade that can wreck a season – his on-track hooning in Melbourne when racing Hamilton being the only exception. But there is a feeling that for Webber it is now or never, that a chance of a tilt at the title may never come again. He is certainly driving as if that is the case and that has been his strength.”According to The Mirror’s Byron Young, both McLaren drivers are now out of the title hunt after their fourth and fifth place finishes in Suzuka.
“McLaren's title hopes died yesterday in a weekend from Hell at Suzuka. Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and fifth in a Japanese Grand Prix they had to win to have the remotest chance of keeping their title bid alive."The Sun’s Michael Spearman was of the same opinion, saying “Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button's title hopes were in tatters after a shocker in Japan.”
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/mclaren_drivers_out_of_title_r_1.php
Lopez looks to quit US F1
The manager of the only driver currently under contract with US F1, Jose Maria Lopez, is working to extricate his client from the team
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/teamus/motorsport/story/10002.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Vettel takes over at the top
As Sebastian Vettel put down his winner’s trophy after holding it up in celebration on the Korean Grand Prix podium, Fernando Alonso tapped him on the back and reached out to shake his hand. It was a symbolic reflection of the championship lead being handed from one to the other.
After three consecutive victories for Vettel and Red Bull, the last two of which have been utterly dominant, it does not look as though Alonso is going to be getting it back.
Alonso will push to the end, of course, and he made all the right noises after the race, talking about Ferrari “moving in the right direction” and only needing “a little step to compete with Red Bull”.
“Four beautiful races to come with good possibilities for us to fight for the championship,” he said, adding: “Now we need to score seven points more than Sebastian. That will be extremely tough but we believe we can do it.”
Sebastian Vettel won the Korean GP by finishing ahead of team-mate Mark Webber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (left). Photo: Reuters
Indeed, a couple of hours after the race, Alonso was quoting samurai warrior-philosophy again on his Twitter account, just as he had in Japan a week before.
"I've never been able to win from start to finish,” he wrote. “I only learned not to be left behind in any situation."
Fighting against the seemingly inevitable is his only option. The facts are that the Ferrari has been slower than the Red Bull in terms of outright pace all year, and there is no reason to suspect anything different in the final four races of the season.
Vettel’s victory in Korea was utterly crushing in the manner of so many of his 11 wins in his dominant 2011 season. The Red Bull has moved on to another level since Singapore and Vettel, as he always does in that position, has gone with it.
Up and down the pit lane, people are questioning how Red Bull have done it, and a lot of attention has fallen on the team’s new ‘double DRS’ system.
This takes an idea introduced in different form by Mercedes at the start the season and, typically of Red Bull’s design genius Adrian Newey, applies it in a more elegant and effective way.
It means that when the DRS overtaking aid is activated – and its use is free in practice and qualifying – the car benefits from a greater drag reduction, and therefore more straight-line speed than its rivals.
Vettel has been at pains to emphasise that this does not help Red Bull in the race, when they can only use the DRS in a specified zone when overtaking other cars. But that’s not the whole story.
The greater drag reduction in qualifying means that the team can run the car with more downforce than they would otherwise be able to – because the ‘double DRS’ means they do not suffer the normal straight-line speed deficit of doing so.
That means the car’s overall lap time is quicker, whether in race or qualifying. So although the Red Bull drivers can’t use the ‘double DRS’ as a lap-time aid in the actual grands prix, they are still benefiting from having it on the car.
And they are not at risk on straights in the race because the extra overall pace, from the greater downforce, means they are far enough ahead of their rivals for them not to be able to challenge them, let alone overtake them. As long as they qualify at the front, anyway.
It’s not all down to the ‘double DRS’, though. McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe said in Korea: “They appear to have made a good step on their car. I doubt that is all down to that system. I doubt if a lot of it is down to that system, actually. You’ll probably find it’s just general development.”
BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson will go into more details on this in his column on Monday. Whatever the reasons for it, though, Red Bull’s rediscovered dominant form means Alonso is in trouble.
While Red Bull have been adding great chunks of performance to their car, Ferrari have been fiddling around with rear-wing design, a relatively small factor in overall car performance.
They have admitted they are struggling with inconsistency between the results they are getting in testing new parts in their wind tunnel and their performance on the track, so it is hard to see how they will close the gap on a Red Bull team still working flat out on their own updates.
The Ferrari has proved adaptable and consistent, delivering strong performances at every race since a major upgrade after the first four grands prix of the year.
But the only time Alonso has had definitively the quickest car is when it has been raining. It is in the wet that he took one of his three wins, and both his poles.
But he cannot realistically expect it to rain in the next three races in Delhi, Abu Dhabi and Austin, Texas. And after that only Brazil remains. So Alonso is effectively hoping for Vettel to hit problems, as he more or less admitted himself on Sunday.
How he must be ruing the bad breaks of those first-corner retirements in Belgium and Japan – even if they did effectively only cancel out Vettel’s two alternator failures in Valencia and Monza.
If anyone had reason on Sunday to regret what might have been, though, it was Lewis Hamilton, who has driven fantastically well all season only to be let down by his McLaren team in one way or another.
Hamilton, his title hopes over, wasted no time in pointing out after the race in Korea that the broken anti-roll bar that dropped him from fourth to 10th was the second suspension failure in as many races, and a broken gearbox robbed him of victory at the previous race in Singapore.
Operational problems in the early races of the season also cost him a big chunk of points.
Hamilton wears his heart on his sleeve, and in one off-the-cuff remark to Finnish television after the race, he revealed a great deal about why he has decided to move to Mercedes next year.
“It’s a day to forget,” Hamilton said. “A year to forget as well. I’m looking forward to a fresh start next year.”
In other words, I’ve had enough of four years of not being good enough, for various reasons, and I might as well try my luck elsewhere.
There was another post-race comment from Hamilton, too, that said an awful lot. “I hope Fernando keeps pushing,” he said.
Hamilton did not reply when asked directly whether that meant he wanted Alonso to win the title. But you can be sure that remark is a reflection of Hamilton’s belief that he is better than Vettel, that only Alonso is his equal.
Whether that is a correct interpretation of the standing of the three best drivers in the world, it will take more than this season to tell.
In the meantime, if Alonso and Ferrari are not to be mistaken in their belief that they still have a chance, “keeping pushing” is exactly what they must do. Like never before.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/10/as_sebastian_vettel_put_down.html
Would Vettel or Alonso be more deserving champion?
On the surface, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso seem very different. Alonso is all dark, brooding intensity; charismatic but distant.
Vettel is much sunnier - chatty, long answers, always ready with a joke and, as the Abu Dhabi podium ceremony proved, a salty English phrase.
Underneath, though, they share more than might at first be apparent. Both are highly intelligent, intensely dedicated to their profession, and totally ruthless in their own way.
Equally, although Alonso’s wit may be less obvious than Vettel’s, it is highly developed, bone dry, effective, and often used to tactical ends.
Sebastian Vettel (right) leads Fernando Alonso in the Championship going into the penultimate race of the season. Photo: Reuters
And they are both, of course, utterly fantastic racing drivers.
These two all-time greats head into the final two races of a marathon and topsy-turvey 2012 Formula 1 season separated by a tiny margin. Ten points is the same as a fifth place - or the margin between finishing first and third.
Vettel, on account of being ahead and having comfortably the faster car, is favourite. But within F1 there is a feeling that Alonso would be the more deserving champion, so well has he performed in a car that is not the best.
But is that a fair and accurate point of view? Let's look at their seasons, and you can make your own judgement.
THE GOOD
Vettel
It seems strange now, in the wake of Red Bull's recent pulverising form, but at the start of this season the world champions were struggling.
The car always had very good race pace - it was right up with the quickest from Melbourne on - but qualifying was a different matter.
In China, Vettel did not make it into the top 10 shoot-out in qualifying; in Monaco he did – just - but then did not run because he didn’t feel he had the pace to make it worthwhile.
In both races, though, he was competitive, taking a fifth place in China and fourth in Monaco, where he nearly won.
That was the story of the first two-thirds of Vettel’s season. He kept plugging away, delivering the points and keeping himself in contention in the championship.
He took only one win – in Bahrain, from pole – and he should have had another in Valencia, when he was as dominant as he ever was in 2011 only to retire with alternator failure.
Then, when Red Bull finally hit the sweet spot with their car, he delivered four consecutive wins (one of them inherited following Lewis Hamilton’s retirement in Singapore), the last three from the front row of the grid, including two pole positions.
And in Abu Dhabi there was an impressive comeback drive to third after being demoted to the back of the grid, albeit with the help of a significant dose of luck.
Alonso
It is hard to think of a race in which, assuming he got around the first corner, Alonso has not been on world-class form.
In Australia, when Ferrari were really struggling with their car at the start of the season, he fought up from 12th on the grid to finish fifth (including getting up to eighth on the first lap).
His three victories have been among the best all year –in the wet in Malaysia from ninth on the grid; in Valencia from 11th, including some stunning, clinical and brave overtaking manoeuvres; and a superbly controlled defensive drive in Germany, holding off the faster cars of Vettel and Jenson Button for the entire race, by going flat out only where he needed to, lap after lap after lap.
Then, to pick out some other highlights, there was beating the Red Bulls to pole in the wet at both Silverstone and Hockenheim; his rise from 10th on the grid to third in Monza, including a courageous pass on Vettel a couple of laps after being forced on to the grass at nearly 200mph; and splitting the Red Bulls to finish second in India.
THE BAD
Vettel
Impressive Vettel has been this year, flawless he has not.
In Malaysia, he cost himself a fourth place by sweeping too early across the front of Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT while lapping it. There was a hint of frustration and a sense of entitlement about the move – as there was in his post-race comments in which he called Karthikeyan an “idiot”.
In Spain, he was penalised for ignoring yellow caution flags.
In Hockenheim he overtook Jenson Button’s McLaren off the circuit, earning himself a demotion from second to fifth place, despite the drivers being warned only a month or so before that they could not benefit by going off the track.
In Monza, he earned a drive-through penalty for pushing Alonso on to the grass at nearly 200mph, in presumed retaliation for a similar move the Spaniard had pulled on Vettel in the same place the previous year. Again, this was despite the drivers being warned that they had to leave room for a rival who had any part of his car alongside any part of theirs.
In qualifying in Japan, he got away with blocking Alonso at the chicane, despite Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne being penalised for doing the same thing to Williams’s Bruno Senna earlier in the session.
And in India he appeared to break guidelines about having all four wheels off the track at one of the chicanes on his only top-10 qualifying lap, but kept his time because the only available footage was from outside the car, and showed only the front wheels. So the FIA had to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Alonso
Er… Has Alonso made any errors at all this year?
Well, he did cost himself a couple of points in China when he ran off the road attempting to pass Williams’s Pastor Maldonado around the outside of Turn Seven – a move that Vettel did pull off against Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen.
He spun in a downpour in second qualifying at Silverstone, just before the session was red-flagged because it was too dangerous.
And some argue that, defending a championship lead, he should not have put himself in the position he did at the start in Japan, where his rear wheel was tagged by Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus on the run to the first corner, putting Alonso out of the race.
The claim is that Alonso had everything to lose and that, while he did nothing wrong, trying to intimidate Raikkonen into backing off, and squeezing him twice, was too big a risk.
The opposing view of that incident is that Raikkonen, who was behind Alonso, had a better view of the situation and should have realised he wasn’t going anywhere from where he was and backed off.
THE MISFORTUNE
Vettel has lost points from two alternator failures, one in Valencia when he was leading and one in Italy when he was running sixth. And third became fourth in Canada when a planned one-stop strategy had to he aborted. That’s 36 points lost.
Alonso was taken out twice at the start – once definitely not his fault (Belgium, when Romain Grosjean’s flying Lotus narrowly missed his head); and once arguably not (Japan).
He lost a possible win in Monaco because Ferrari didn’t realise that if they left him out a bit longer before his pit stop he could have overtaken leader Mark Webber and second-placed Nico Rosberg as well as third-placed Lewis Hamilton.
He should have finished second in Canada and probably won in Silverstone - rather than being fifth and second - but for errant tyre strategies, and he would have been on the front row and finished at least second in Monza had his rear anti-roll bar not failed in qualifying.
That’s 60-odd points lost.
A POST SCRIPT
While we’re analysing Vettel and Alonso, spare a thought for Lewis Hamilton.
The McLaren driver finally lost any mathematical chance of the title after his retirement from the lead in Abu Dhabi. He is 90 points behind Vettel.
Hamilton has said that he has driven at his absolute best this season, and it’s hard to disagree – he has not made a single mistake worth the name.
But his year has been a story of operational and technical failures by his team.
At least three wins have been lost (Spain, Singapore and Abu Dhabi), as well as a series of other big points finishes, as detailed by BBC Radio 5 live commentator James Allen in his blog.
Without that misfortune, Hamilton would be right up with Vettel and Alonso, if not ahead of them.
So, if you’re thinking about ‘deserving’ world champions, if such a thing exists, spare a thought for him too.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/11/benson.html
Mercedes gain Red Bull engineering expertise
Mercedes have announced two key engineering appointments for the 2014 season and both of them will join the team from rivals Red Bull.
Mark Ellis will become Mercedes' performance director in June of next year, while Giles Wood will take up the position of chief engineer, simulation and development
Mark Ellis will become Mercedes' performance director in June of next year, while Giles Wood will take up the position of chief engineer, simulation and development
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/12/15352.html
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Massa gifted engine as Ferrari farewell
Felipe Massa was back at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters over the weekend to share in the team's Christmas celebrations and to bid them a final farewell ahead of his move to Williams for 2014. And he came away with a rather special present - the V8 engine from the Ferrari F2008 which so nearly took him to the 2008 world championship
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/12/15348.html
F1 dream lives on for Lopez
A disappointed Jose Maria Lopez has not ruled out mounting a new Formula One foray in the future
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/teamus/motorsport/story/11489.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Red Bull spending has 'distorted' F1
McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has hit out at Red Bull, who have "distorted the sport" when it comes to spending money...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/9047738/Red-Bull-spending-has-distorted-F1
F1: Vettel hopes '14 rules don't split pack
Sebastian Vettel hopes that Formula 1's new regulations for 2014 do not spread the field out compared to recent years
No rest for Ferrari
The 2013 F1 season may be over but Ferrari won't be relaxing just yet, using the team before Christmas to focus on next season...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/9041436/No-rest-for-Ferrari
Friday, December 27, 2013
Perez completes Force India's 2014 driver line-up
Sergio Perez will partner Nico Hulkenberg at Force India in 2014, it was announced on Thursday, replacing the team's 2013 line-up of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil.
Perez joins the Silverstone-based squad from McLaren after spending just one season alongside Jenson Button before being replaced by Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen
Perez joins the Silverstone-based squad from McLaren after spending just one season alongside Jenson Button before being replaced by Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/12/15344.html
Double points rule 'absurd' - Vettel
Sebastian Vettel has labelled the new double points rule at the final race of the season "absurd", according to Sport Bild
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/139125.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Exclusive Q&A with Adrian Sutil: Podiums the target with Sauber
Having spent his entire Formula One career to date with the Silverstone-based Force India and Spyker teams, Adrian Sutil will get to experience life inside another outfit in 2014 having made an off-season switch to Sauber.
We caught up with the 30-year-old German to discuss the move, his hopes for next season and why visiting the Swiss team's factory will be significantly more convenient for him
We caught up with the 30-year-old German to discuss the move, his hopes for next season and why visiting the Swiss team's factory will be significantly more convenient for him
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2013/12/15350.html
Thursday, December 26, 2013
F1: Williams thrilled with Mercedes
Mercedes has exceeded Williams's expectations in the early stages of their relationship, according to deputy team principal Claire Williams
Vettel ready to adapt in 2014
Sebastian Vettel says he is ready to adapt to the new 2014 regulations in order to chase his fifth consecutive drivers' championship
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/redbull/motorsport/story/138909.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
FR3.5: Magnussen 'had to beat' Vandoorne
Formula Renault 3.5 champion Kevin Magnussen says that he knew he had to beat fellow McLaren Formula 1 junior Stoffel Vandoorne in the series in 2013
Double points rule 'absurd' - Vettel
Sebastian Vettel has labelled the new double points rule at the final race of the season "absurd", according to Sport Bild
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/139125.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Time running out for Campos, Stefan and US F1
Stefan GP has made one final plea to be accepted into the world championship, after it emerged that merger talks with US F1 had fallen through
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/9871.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Lopez rules out F1 in 2010
Jose Maria 'Pechito' Lopez will not take part in Formula One this year after his manager revealed that he had not been able to land a reserve driver role at HRT
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/teamus/motorsport/story/10165.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
F1® stars join forces for second Zoom photographic charity auction
Formula One racing will unite in February for the Zoom auction of photographs taken by the sport's drivers and team principals in aid of the UK's Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (GOSHCC). Along with the images, the Zoom auction includes cameras provided by leading manufacturer Nikon which have been signed by some of the biggest F1 names.
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/12/15354.html
US F1 and Stefan GP reportedly in merger talks
US F1 and Stefan GP are rumoured to be in merger talks to ensure a thirteenth team is present at the first race of the season in Bahrain
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/9681.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
F1: Analysis: Gutierrez deserves chance
The bare statistics of Esteban Gutierrez's rookie season are unimpressive. One points finish, for seventh in the Japanese Grand Prix, compared to team-mate Nico Hulkenberg's points haul of 51 is clearly not good enough
Bernie Ecclestone - No plans to put the brakes on
 |
The way I feel at the moment, why stop? I do it because I enjoy it. And yesterday is gone. I don't care what happened yesterday. What else would I do? People retire to die. I don't get any individual pleasure because we don't win races or titles in this job. I'm like most business people. You look back at the end of the year and you see what you've achieved by working out how much money the company has made. That's it.
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/bernie_ecclestone_no_plans_to.php
Monday, December 23, 2013
Pirelli boss unhappy with Red Bull criticism
Pirelli's motorsport boss Paul Hembery has told Autosport that his company was upset by criticism levelled at it by Red Bull during the last season
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/140201.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Coulthard slams 'irresponsible' approach to new teams
David Coulthard has added his voice to those expressing concern about the presence of three new Formula One team on the grid this season
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/10465.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Gutierrez to stay at Sauber as Sirotkin gets test drive | 2014 F1 drivers and teams
Esteban Gutierrez will remain at Sauber for a second season in 2014, the team has confirmed, with Sergey Sirotkin taking a test role. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/hHK-lbBv--s/
F1: Sauber confirms Gutierrez for 2014
Esteban Gutierrez will remain with Sauber for a second season in 2014, the team has announced.
'Good fight' a sweet farewell for Webber
Mark Webber said he was pleased to be able to mark his final race fighting at the front as he finished second in the Brazilian Grand Prix
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/brazil/motorsport/story/137465.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Magic numbers - a statistical look at the 2013 season
Formula One racing enjoyed another record-breaking year in 2013, thanks in no small part to the extraordinary exploits of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing, who clinched their fourth successive championship double.
As the year draws to a close, we look back over some of the amazing facts and figures that helped make it such a fascinating season
As the year draws to a close, we look back over some of the amazing facts and figures that helped make it such a fascinating season
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2013/12/15356.html
'Good fight' a sweet farewell for Webber
Mark Webber said he was pleased to be able to mark his final race fighting at the front as he finished second in the Brazilian Grand Prix
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/brazil/motorsport/story/137465.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
'Good fight' a sweet farewell for Webber
Mark Webber said he was pleased to be able to mark his final race fighting at the front as he finished second in the Brazilian Grand Prix
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/brazil/motorsport/story/137465.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Hill: Ferrari's 'special status' good for F1
Former World Champion Damon Hill believes the extra power that Ferrari carry in Formula One is "fair enough" due to their longevity...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/9063412/Hill-Ferrari-s-special-status-good-for-F1
US F1 auction raises $1.4m
The auction of the US F1's assets has raised $1.4 million for its creditors
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/20603.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Doctors use Formula One pit crews as safety model
American Medical News reports hospitals in at least a dozen countries are learning how to translate the split-second timing and near-perfect synchronisation of Formula One pit crews to the high-risk handoffs of patients from surgery to recovery and intensive care.
"In Formula One, they have checklists, databases, and they have well-defined processes for doing things, and we don't really have any of those things in health care."
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/doctors_use_formula_one_pit_cr.php
Webber tops wet final practice
Mark Webber set the fastest time in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/brazil/motorsport/story/137121.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Friday, December 20, 2013
Christian Horner Q&A: What we've achieved is remarkable
Red Bull's season could rightly be categorized as magnificent even before the team rounded off the year with yet another one-two in Brazil.
After the race team principal Christian Horner spoke about the action in Sao Paulo, Mark Webber's departure from F1 and Red Bull's record-breaking season in general
After the race team principal Christian Horner spoke about the action in Sao Paulo, Mark Webber's departure from F1 and Red Bull's record-breaking season in general
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2013/11/15311.html
Alonso optimistic of Ferrari's chances
After failing to win the Constructors' Championship in the last five years, Ferrari "need to deliver" in 2014, according to Fernando Alonso...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/9044863/Alonso-optimistic-of-Ferrari-s-chances
New pole position trophy up for grabs in 2014
Qualifying will take on an even greater importance in 2014 thanks to the introduction of a new trophy that will be awarded to the driver who scores the most pole positions during the season.
In the event of a tie, the trophy will be awarded to the driver who holds the greatest number of second places. If there is still a tie, the greatest number of third places will be taken into account and so on until a winner emerges
In the event of a tie, the trophy will be awarded to the driver who holds the greatest number of second places. If there is still a tie, the greatest number of third places will be taken into account and so on until a winner emerges
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/12/15345.html
Thursday, December 19, 2013
GP3: Lynn to Carlin GP3 team with Red Bull
Macau Grand Prix winner Alex Lynn will race as a Red Bull Junior in the 2014 GP3 Series with Carlin
ERC: Kubica to make ERC return
Robert Kubica will contest the 2014 European Rally Championship season-opener in Austria as a warm-up for his World Rally Championship campaign with M-Sport.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Exclusive - Sebastian Vettel's 2013 Season Review
On Friday evening, Sebastian Vettel will collect his 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship trophy. At just 26, it will be the fourth time Vettel has picked up the prize, after he dominated the latter part of the season.
Of course, winning an F1 title is never 'easy'. That's something the German explains, as he reflects on another year of record-breaking achievements, and looks forward to the huge challenges posed by 2014
Of course, winning an F1 title is never 'easy'. That's something the German explains, as he reflects on another year of record-breaking achievements, and looks forward to the huge challenges posed by 2014
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2013/12/15330.html
Exclusive Q&A with Adrian Sutil: Podiums the target with Sauber
Having spent his entire Formula One career to date with the Silverstone-based Force India and Spyker teams, Adrian Sutil will get to experience life inside another outfit in 2014 having made an off-season switch to Sauber.
We caught up with the 30-year-old German to discuss the move, his hopes for next season and why visiting the Swiss team's factory will be significantly more convenient for him
We caught up with the 30-year-old German to discuss the move, his hopes for next season and why visiting the Swiss team's factory will be significantly more convenient for him
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2013/12/15350.html
Video - FIA Prize-Giving Gala 2013 highlights
For the fourth successive year, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was the toast of the annual FIA Prize-Giving Gala. Vettel was handed the coveted 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship trophy by FIA President Jean Todt at this year's event, which was held on Friday evening in Paris, France.
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner, meanwhile, was presented with the 2013 constructors' trophy, while Ferrari's Fernando Alonso
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner, meanwhile, was presented with the 2013 constructors' trophy, while Ferrari's Fernando Alonso
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/12/15333.html
Vettel crowned by the FIA in Paris
Sebastian Vettel was officially presented with his world championship trophy at the FIA prize-giving gala in Paris on Friday night
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/redbull/motorsport/story/138877.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Coming home - Exclusive Q&A with Nico Hulkenberg
Among F1 racing's brightest rising stars, Nico Hulkenberg's destination for next season has been one of the biggest talking points of the 2014 driver market. Last week the talk ended, with Hulkenberg heading back to Force India after a year's sojourn at Sauber.
But having been courted by the likes of Ferrari and Lotus, what does the German really think of the latest, and somewhat unexpected twist in his career path
But having been courted by the likes of Ferrari and Lotus, what does the German really think of the latest, and somewhat unexpected twist in his career path
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2013/12/15338.html
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Smooth Button masters F1's greatest test
At the circuit widely regarded as the greatest test of a racing driver in the world, Jenson Button took a victory in the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday that was probably the most dominant this season.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second to Button after an impressive performance of his own, had an even bigger margin of superiority in Valencia but he was unable to make it count because his car failed.
Button had no such trouble. He stamped his authority on the weekend from the start of qualifying and never looked back, as all hell broke loose behind his McLaren.
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The frightening first-corner pile-up helped him in that it took out a potential threat in world championship leader Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. The Spaniard was up to third place from fifth on the grid before being assaulted by the flying Lotus of Romain Grosjean, who had collided with the other McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.
But before the race Alonso had entertained no prospect of battling for victory, and while he would almost certainly have finished on the podium, there is no reason to believe he would have troubled Button.
The Englishman also comfortably saw off in the opening laps the challenge of Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen, hotly tipped before the weekend.
Raikkonen was left to battle entertainingly with rivals including Vettel and Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher, on whom the Finn pulled an astoundingly brave pass into the 180mph swerves of Eau Rouge which was almost a carbon copy of Red Bull driver Mark Webber's move on Alonso last year.
Button, meanwhile, was serene out front, never looking under the remotest threat.
For Button, this was a far cry from the struggles he has encountered in what has not overall been one of his better seasons.
A strong start included a dominant victory in the opening race in Australia and second place in China.
But after that he tailed off badly, struggling with this year's big Formula 1 quandary - getting the temperamental Pirelli tyres into the right operating window.
The 32-year-old had a sequence of weak races and even at other times has generally been firmly in Hamilton's shade.
Those struggles were ultimately solved by some head-scratching on set-up at McLaren, but they were undoubtedly influenced by Button's smooth, unflustered driving style.
Button's weakness - one of which he is well aware - is that he struggles when the car is not to his liking. Unlike Alonso and Hamilton, he finds it difficult to adapt his style to different circumstances.
The flip side of that is that when he gets the car's balance right, he is close to unbeatable. It is a similar situation to that of two former McLaren drivers - Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
Senna, like Hamilton, was usually faster, but when Prost, whose style was similar to Button's, got his car in the sweet spot he was matchless.
"I obviously have a style where it's quite difficult to find a car that works for me in qualifying," Button said on Saturday, "but when it does we can get pole position."
Perhaps an elegant style that does not upset the car or over-work the tyres was exactly what was needed through the demanding corners of Spa's challenging middle sector.
That was McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe's view, certainly.
"It could well be," Lowe said, "because it's made up of these longer flowing corners rather than the short, stop-start ones. So that may well be something he can work with well, just tucking it all up and smooth lines."
Was this the secret to Button's performance in qualifying, when he was a remarkable 0.8 seconds quicker than team-mate Lewis Hamilton?
In a well-publicised series of tweets after qualifying, Hamilton blamed this on the team's collective decision - with which he agreed when it was made - to run his car on a set-up with higher downforce.
This is a perfectly valid decision at Spa -it was a route that Raikkonen also took - and in pure lap time the two differing approaches should balance themselves out. But for them to do so, the driver with the higher downforce set-up has to make up in the middle sector the time he has lost on the straights.
As the McLaren telemetry of which Hamilton so unwisely tweeted a picture on race morning proved, however, that was not the case. Hamilton was not fast enough through sector two - indeed his time through there on his final qualifying lap was 0.3secs slower than his best in the session.
Hamilton tweeted a photo of the McLaren telemetry, prompting a rebuke from his team.
That was the real reason why he was slower than Button in Spa qualifying - not the fact he was down on straight-line speed, which was always going to be the case once he went with the set-up he did.
It's worth pointing out in this context that Hamilton was also significantly slower than Button in final practice - a fact that led him to take the gamble on the different set-up.
How Hamilton would have fared in the race will never be known, because of the accident with Grosjean.
It was a scary moment - Grosjean's flying Lotus narrowly missed Alonso's head - and the incident underlined once again why F1 bosses are so keen to introduce some kind of more effective driver head protection in the future.
From the point of view of a disinterested observer, the only plus point of the accident, which also took out the two impressive Saubers, was that it has narrowed Alonso's lead in the championship. Vettel is now within a race victory of the Spaniard.
Despite this, to his immense credit, Alonso was a picture of measured calm after the race.
Invited to criticise Grosjean, he refused. Although, being the wise owl he is, he not only had at his fingertips the statistics of Grosjean's first-lap crashes this season, but slipped them into his answer.
"I am not angry [at Grosjean]," he said. "No-one did this on purpose, they were fighting, two aggressive drivers on the start, Lewis and Romain and this time it was us in the wrong place at the wrong time and we were hit.
"It's true also that in 12 races, Romain had seven crashes at the start, so..."
It was, Alonso pointed out, a good opportunity for governing body the FIA to make a point about driving standards this season, which Williams's Pastor Maldonado has also seemed to be waging a campaign to lower.
It was an opportunity the stewards did not decline.
Grosjean will now watch next weekend's Italian Grand Prix from the sidelines after being given a one-race suspension, the first time a driver has been banned since Michael Schumacher in 1994. Maldonado has a 10-place grid penalty for jumping the start and causing his own, independent, accident.
Earlier this year, triple world champion Jackie Stewart, who is an advisor to Lotus, offered to sit down with Grosjean and give him some advice about the way he approached his races.
Stewart is famous not only for his campaign for safety in F1 but also for his impeccable driving standards during his career. He has helped many drivers in his time, but Grosjean turned him down.
On Sunday evening, I was contacted by an old friend, the two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 and former IndyCar champion Gil de Ferran, who was involved in F1 a few years ago as a senior figure in the Honda team.
That coaching, De Ferran said, "seems like a great idea".
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/smooth_button_masters_f1_great.html
Vote for the best driver of the 2013 F1 season | 2013 F1 season review
The F1 Fanatic Driver Rankings are complete and now it's time for you to vote for your best driver of 2013. Plus your 2013 Driver of the Weekend winners. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/ethy4Hk0aYA/
Montezemolo understands Alonso’s frustration | 2013 F1 season
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo says he understands Fernando Alonso's frustration following his driver's critical comments about his car earlier this year. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/4NkOzhm50nw/
Monday, December 16, 2013
Chandhok closing on Campos seat
There is increasing speculation that Indian GP2 driver Karun Chandhok will be named as a Campos driver ahead of the weekend
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/hrtf1/motorsport/story/9610.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Williams strengthen aero team
Williams have announced a strengthened aerodynamics line-up as the team gear up for the 2014 season. Dave Wheater will join from Lotus to become head of aerodynamic performance, reporting to existing head of aerodynamics Jason Somerville. Also supporting Somerville will be Shaun Whitehead, previously of Red Bull Racing, who joins as head of aerodynamic process
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/12/15336.html
Alonso optimistic of Ferrari's chances
After failing to win the Constructors' Championship in the last five years, Ferrari "need to deliver" in 2014, according to Fernando Alonso...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/9044863/Alonso-optimistic-of-Ferrari-s-chances
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Who said what after qualifying for the Brazilian GP
Read what the drivers and teams had to say after qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/brazil/motorsport/story/137087.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
LIGHTS: Harvey to Indy Lights with Schmidt
Jack Harvey has joined the multiple championship-winning Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for the 2014 Indy Lights season
Journalists shocked at Korea award
 Scarecrows adorn the entrance to a barren Korean International Circuit |
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/12/journalists_shocked_at_korea_a.php
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