Many people think December is the time for the Formula 1 circus to take a breather and reflect on the year just gone. Of course that’s not true and all the teams are working feverishly to get their 2012 cars ready for the start of testing in just over a month’s time.
Any design decisions that needed to be made will have been, there's no turning back now, their designs are pretty much set, the course they're on now in the winter months could well define their seasons.
Lots of teams have been making positive noises about the state they’re in, but to be honest they always do that and there is seldom a radical change in the pecking order, it takes time and evolution to get to the top.
One thing that should be noted is that with the blown diffusers banned for 2012, one of Red Bull’s major advantages has been curtailed. In fact their design was based around it, whereas many of the other teams bolted it on at the beginning of last year and never really perfected it. However, I don’t expect them to tumble down the order, as well as Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, Red Bull have said they can improve too. Whatever happens, I think it’s going to be looking a lot closer.
Late season driver announcements
December is usually the time for the drivers to recharge their batteries for the New Year, Mark Webber does this by organizing an adventure in Tazmania, Lewis Hamilton has apparently been recording some R&B tracks, although not for public consumption.
Fellow F1 musician, or DJ Jaime Alguersuari was relatively secure about his future having spoken to Red Bull’s Helmut Marko about Toro Rosso’s plans for 2012. In perhaps the most shocking driver news of the year, Toro Rosso decided to change up entirely, signing Daniel Ricciardo who seemed likely to join them all year.
That wasn’t the surprise, signing fellow Red Bull young driver Jean-Eric Vergne was. With just three Friday practice sessions and a young driver test behind him, he was given the chance, forcing both Sebastien Buemi and Alguersuari out on to the F1 kerb, with little hope of a decent seat.
I was pretty shocked at one of my favourite drivers of the year getting the boot. Alguersuari has been a revelation this year, he was brought in at just 19 years old in 2009 and has taken time, but he was climbing the metaphorical mountain well this year. It was definitely a upward surge and one I think should have kept him in Toro Rosso, at least it wouldn’t have given one of the new signings a bench mark to aim against.
In fairness team principal Franz Tost justified it by saying Toro Rosso was a junior team designed to bring on new talent which is fine, but I would argue don’t throw the talent away just as it’s bearing fruit worth picking. Anyway, there’s still a number of options for Alguersuari, becoming a full time DJ is one, the other is a seat at Spanish team HRT or perhaps Williams, and maybe even Caterham (formally Lotus) as despite being signed up, Jarno Trulli could be moved aside. I for one would like to see Alguersuari still on the grid.
But there were many teams who’d left their driver decisions up in the air. With contracts not secured tensions were high, but there have been some other notable changes. Force India eventually announced the retention of Paul di Resta and also promoted Nico Hulkenberg in place of Adrian Sutil.
Pastor Maldonado was also confirmed for a second season, although I think there’s plenty of better talent to be filling that seat, not least Sutil and Alguersuari but sometimes the dollars you bring counts a lot more. However with one seat remaining at Williams, there’s a chance for them both, but Rubens Barrichello is still looking to continue his epic career.
The Iceman cometh
Which brings us to the not insignificant news that Lotus (formally Renault) have signed Romain Grosjean. He had seven pretty poor races at Renault in 2009 but has come back stronger and now ready for his F1 opportunity.
Vitaly Petrov has been left without a drive, his Ruble’s no longer welcome after slating the team before the final race in Brazil. They’ve got an adequate replacement though. Yes, 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen is back.
Kimi is almost certain not to bring back an eloquent speaking voice, but he is sure to be electric on the track. Accused of lacking motivation towards the end of his last stint in Formula 1, he still was producing some outstanding drives, and I can’t wait to see him out there again.
Comparing him to Michael Schumacher’s comeback is a pointless waste of time too. He’s been out of the sport for less time and is ten years younger, I’m not saying he’ll be on the pace straight away but I don’t see him struggling as much as Schumacher has at times. Here’s hoping Lotus can produce a car worthy of him.
They are the major events from December, but behind the scenes the teams will be under pressure to get it right for 2012. The top team’s drivers remain unchanged, but there are many reasons why they’ll all be feeling the pressure for the year to come. All the ingredients are there for a great year ahead and with a month having already passed since the last race, I can’t wait for the lights to go out once again.
No comments:
Post a Comment