Vergne casualty of Red Bull program

Jean-Eric Vergne will not be driving for Toro Rosso next season. In a tweet posted yesterday he said 'Despite a good season & 22 pts, I'll not drive anymore for Toro Rosso in 2015. Thanks for those years. Let's go for another big challenge.'

It's a great shame for Vergne and for the sport. Another talented driver is potentially on the scrap heap at only 24 years old, his Formula 1 career just three seasons. Let's look at his stint in F1.

He partnered Red Bull star Daniel Ricciardo over two years at Toro Rosso in 2012 and 2013. The total points were only 30-29 in Ricciardo's favour. Ok, Vergne was blown away in qualifying 30-9 but he always moved forward in races and generally gave a good showing of himself.

I'd say he was only slightly shaded by a man who has battered four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel this season at the senior Red Bull team. This is not a driver who should be consigned to the ex-F1 driver brigade just as Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi were before him. These are drivers who deserve to be on the grid ahead of many others who are securing seats through money.

It is yet another example of Formula 1's inadequate payment structure that these drivers are not on the grid whereas some drivers, perhaps ones who, ok may have had a dud car but were comprehensively out performed by their team mate and yet are now at Sauber. Vergne at least deserved a midfield drive if not better.

What Toro Rosso are doing is bringing in a driver who has one years worth of car racing behind him in Max Verstappen. Yes he may be the next big thing, but who to judge him against? Carlos Sainz Jnr if he is to be confirmed? He'll be a rookie too. Vergne would have been an excellent comparison to judge Verstappen against, instead they'll have two rookies who could well take some time to sort out their new 2015 car. 

Daniil Kvyat was excellent as a rookie this year, we know this because he showed well against Vergne and actually out-qualified him over the year. So we know he has the raw pace. However, we also know he still has a bit to learn in the races as his 14 point deficit shows. Especially when the ban on helping the driver through the radio came in, we saw Kvyat start making mistakes while Vergne produced some epic drives in the latter portion of the season.

Kvyat deserves his shot at Red Bull alongside Ricciardo, he has amazing potential, but I think another year at Toro Rosso might have been even more beneficial perhaps promoting Vergne, as you know he's already a close match to Ricciardo. The Red Bull young driver program is a brutal one though and if you don't perform highly at all times then you're out, but Vergne deserved better. I hope he's back on the grid soon.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Talking points from Russia: Driver market, safety and awkwardness

The inaugural Russian Grand Prix was won by Lewis Hamilton who did as he pleased on his way to the chequered flag. It was a fairly uneventful race, but the weekend in Russia had several notable talking points. A full race report and title discussion can be found here.

Interestingly talk about if Formula 1 should even be in Russia had long since quietened down, but then the conflict in Ukraine hasn't been amongst the headlines recently so I guess out of sight out of mind. The FIA has never dealt with political situations anyway, only if safety was threatened would they intervene. 

There was a lot of chatter about potential safety cars being used for the race for any incident where it wasn’t an easy retrieval but in the end the race didn’t need one. Or rather it did need one to clear some debris or something because Pirelli went conservative which meant the race was in need of a random element.

Perhaps if they’d brought the super-soft tyre rather than the medium the degradation might have been more and we’d have had the two stopper race most were predicting, but it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference as  I’m not sure the track offered much in the way of passing opportunities, not even the DRS seemed effective although turn three looked awesomely long and super fast with cars able to go side by side in the opening laps.

In the end the cameras seemed more interested in picking out Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival half way through the race and watching him sit in the grandstands looking impassive and then getting cosy with Bernie Ecclestone. Then off he went to the drivers cool down room before the podium which was unorthodox and proceeded to ask them how much weight they lost during a race. Nico Rosberg stood up for the drivers and answered as Hamilton and Bottas hid in the corner.  It was a desperately awkward moment to watch.

As was just before the start when drivers gathered at the front of the grid for a respectful one minute silence for Bianchi and for the national anthem. I hope this doesn’t become a common theme in regard to the national anthem, the drivers want to be getting in the zone at this point not parading themselves for an anthem they likely don't know. 

As for the minute silence it seemed a rather gloomy thing to do, much better were the stickers on cars and helmets which the drivers have chosen to show their respect and support to Bianchi, certainly it's better than these orchestrated moments which were just uncomfortable.

The driver market

Another talking point continues to be Vettel and Alonso’s destinations for 2015. Vettel is 99.9% certain to be at Ferrari but the termination of Alonso’s contract is still to be officially confirmed and if he isn’t at Ferrari his most likely destination is to McLaren-Honda surely? Perhaps this race when McLaren comfortably out performed Ferrari will make him hurry up and sign. But another rumour is he might go back to team Enstone, or Lotus, where he won his titles when they were called Renault.

Apparently he’d bring a lot of backing to the team and with them having the Mercedes engine package next year they are bound to jump right back up the grid. They really seemed to be about to engage in a title fight before this year, but they have now lost a lot of talented designers and engineers to other teams because of money worries.

I think as Alonso seeks his third title, he’s got a fair few options but none too enticing. The worst option would be if he were to take a sabbatical, I truly hope he doesn’t, it would somehow mean less to see a driver win a title without him on the grid even if he isn’t in a competitive car.

Whatever he does, and he keeps saying he knows what he’s doing, I’m sure it’s taking longer to announce because he’s trying to put clauses in a contract so he’ll be available for Mercedes in 2016 should a seat become free. Perhaps the real shocker this year will be he is announced as a Silver Arrows driver for 2015, he is smiling rather wide through his increasingly straggly beard after all. Whatever the situation is I’m sure the likes of Button, Grosjean, Raikkonen and Magnussen would just wish it would happen soon so they can get their futures sorted out.

Potential Safety Changes

So three weeks off before three races in four weekends starting in the USA. After the initial investigation into Bianchi’s crash led by the FIA's race director Charlie Whiting they held a press conference on Friday detailing Bianchi's accident and responding to issues people had with how the incident was dealt with (here) and potential changes for the future as a result of this. 

I've already mentioned the safety car but America may see the testing of new yellow flag speed limits to combat drivers not responding to slowing down. Other new things likely to come in are skirts surrounding tractors to prevent cars going underneath but that’ll have to wait until 2015. The sport hasn’t overreacted and is taking the time to analyse and absorb what happened before rushing decisions. 

They are again going to look into canopies but their implementation would likely be along way off and some drivers, notably Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel have voiced concerns about losing what Formula 1 is, open wheel and open cockpit racing. There are also still issues as to whether they improve safety overall. However, the FIA are doing something and that’s good to see. #ForzaJules

all photos taken from autosport.com

Kvyat the big winner as Vettel leaves Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel is to leave Red Bull at the end of the year with Daniil Kvyat to take his place in the current World Champion team. Red Bull all but confirmed Vettel is off to Ferrari, most likely in place of Fernando Alonso whose relationship with the Scuderia has fallen apart, while Alonso is likely to end up with McLaren.

A shocking announcement to wake up to as qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix got underway. Nico Rosberg took pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton to set up another enticeing battle in the championship fight but all talk was for the driver movements affecting 2015.

Vettel's decision to leave comes as a complete surprise. Not so much that he's leaving Red Bull but how soon it is to happen. Although not confirmed by Ferrari it is almost certain that's where he's off to, but why?

Well Red Bull haven't been as good this year, Technical director Adrian Newey is going to step back, he's been taking a beating from Daniel Ricciardo and perhaps he wants to prove to the doubters that he can win in another team as many still seem to think he only won because he was in the best car. It's sound reasoning therefore that he would want to take up a new challenge and get Ferrari back to the top.

Although if Alonso can't win with them and they're in a worse state than ever it seems a curious decision. It's no secret Vettel has struggled to adapt to these new cars this year, I'd have thought stick with what you know and see how Ferrari get on next year, meanwhile do your best to get one over on Ricciardo.

But what if Ricciardo continued to beat him next year? Vettel's market value would diminish and potentially he could be left with fewer options about where to go. There's so many permutations to this it could be assessed forever. In the end it's probably a wise decision as Ferrari will of course one day get it right again, but how soon? And as one F1 journalist tweeted today, if Vettel struggles with them will they be left reflecting on how Alonso would be doing, or worse how Ricciardo would have done?

One thing we know for sure is that Alonso can drive round a bad car, but Vettel seems to need things more suited to him, it's going to be fascinating to see how this pans out. There's so much more to this situation as well, what of Kimi Raikkonen? Will he stay after such a miserable season. Vettel and Kimi are two drivers who have openly admitted they've struggled to adapt to these new turbo cars, is this what Ferrari want to lead them? Meanwhile this looks like it certainly means Alonso is on his way.

With all the management changes going on at Ferrari and the relationship between driver and team on the critical list at least since last year when Alonso criticised the team, it was inevitable that he would leave but I think most people thought it would come next year.

After the catastropic 2007 campaign he had with McLaren no one would have thought he'd end up back there but negotiations are on-going and it'll no longer be a surprise to see him end up back there. Ron Dennis wants the best drivers, and like at Ferrari there's been a lot of restructuring in the management and in the technical departments, so perhaps both team and Alonso are putting the past behind them to look to a brighter future.

More importantly though Honda want a big name driver, McLaren's new engine partner for 2015. They have long since targeted Alonso and I think whether Ron liked it or not, they were going to get their way as they aim to re-start their latest stint in F1 in a positive fashion. Honda will spend what they need to secure wins and like Ferrari it is inevitable that they will get it right again one day. But how soon?

Alonso is desperate for a third title and after five years of trying at Ferrari, they've not been able to make it work. We know he has a reputation for sometimes putting teams on edge, but for so long they seemed very much in love, how can this relationship have fallen apart so dramatically? Maybe he was demanding too much, maybe the new management at Ferrari had had enough of him looking for other options or were tired of everyone believing Alonso was carrying the team (which to be fair, he has been). Whatever it is, it's not a harmonious departure.

On that note how long can Alonso suffer another team in flux? It'll take a while for Honda and McLaren to get it right, perhaps he might take a year out, perhaps we're about to get another bombshell regarding a drive at Mercedes. Who knows? Alonso seems quite relaxed and happy and says he knows, so thats who. 

If Alonso is to go to McLaren I would think it'll be at the expense of Jenson Button. I think after the investment they've put into Kevin Magnussen who is at the start of his career they'll decide to stick with the Dane. But Button would raise his game considerably up against Alonso, like he did with Hamilton so it could be argued they should stick with him and give Magnussen a year out?

Unfortunately for Jenson that scenario is unlikely and it looks like it could be his last year in Formula 1 because as a former world champion do you really want to race for say Force India? Probably not. It would be a sad way to end, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Arguably it could be said that Vettel and Alonso are swapping their current seats for potentially worse seats, at least in the current situation, so you have to say that Kvyat's move from Toro Rosso to Red Bull is the really big winner in the driver moves.

What an opportunity for the young Russian driver after only one year in the junior team to be promoted to the four time champions. He has to believe Renault are going to make a huge improvement on the power unit and Red Bull will still have a car which will have been predominantly overseen by Adrian Newey despite him stepping back, at least for 2015.

He has been mostly hugely impressive this year and you could say looked better against his team mate Jean-Eric Vergne than even Ricciardo did last year, especially when you consider it's his rookie campaign. It could be quite a close battle at Red Bull next year and I don't think you can say their driver line up looks less despite the loss of a four time champion because quite simply Ricciardo has been brilliant and is a star in his own right while Kvyat looks a worthy addition for the reasons I've just given. Potentially if you look at the comparisons between drivers at Red Bull and Toro Rosso, then he could be in line to be the first Russian world champion in Formula 1. You got to say that it is not an unlikely scenario.

Vergne is rightly annoyed too that he was looked over. But it was never going to be him moving to Red Bull when Max Verstappen was announced for Toro Rosso. He's matched the 2015 Red Bull line-up, he deserves a seat but like Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari before him, the Red Bull young driver program is ruthless.

It's also been rumoured Nico Hulkenberg might be off to sports cars which would be a great shame as he has deserved a seat in a top team for years but it seems he will be continued to be overlooked and admittedly he hasn't been quite as on it this year, perhaps for this reason. Force India say he is under contract for 2015.

A roller coaster of a Saturday morning and so many different scenarios, reasons and arguments that can be presented for all this situations. It's fascinating and there's probably a few more shocks to come in this crazy world of F1.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Three degrees of rookie success

There are three rookies in this season’s Formula 1 and each of them have so far had varying degrees of success. It’s a tough world at the top of motor sport. You can be a hero one race and a nobody the next race.

You can pull off a fantastic move which delights the fans, a few laps later you can outrage the fans as you push that little too far and take out a title contender. Ask Romain Grosjean about that.

Of the three that we’ve got this year I’m quite sad to say that Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson just doesn’t seem to have got a handle on the sport at all this year. He didn’t win the GP2 title but he was a race winner and it seems a shame that his first year in the sport could also be his last.

The Caterham is a no hoper, he was never going to set the world alight but he’s not shone against his team mate Kamui Kobayashi all year and couldn’t even beat Andre Lotterer who stepped into the car in Belgium and was almost immediately quicker. A man who hadn’t stepped into an F1 car since 2002.

He has the backing so maybe he’ll get another chance but although he hasn’t disgraced himself he hasn’t impressed anybody either. Of course with a hard luck story there is also someone else who has set the world alight.

Maybe it’s just me but I was expecting an awful lot from Kevin Magnussen. I wrote earlier in the year, admittedly a bit facetiously that he could well be the next Lewis Hamilton. Well there was a certain amount of truth in that, he was part of the McLaren young driver program, impressed in the junior formulae, was brought into the race team alongside a world champion and scored a podium on his debut in Australia.

It looked like he was about to set the world alight. But the McLaren is nowhere near as good as the one Lewis had. He also hasn’t had even half the testing miles Lewis prepared with. So the comparison was basically completely unfair, Kevin had a lot of learning to do.

It’s been a bit of an up and down season for Magnussen. Over the following races from his debut he was sometimes barely worthy of a mention. He was out-qualified and out raced a lot by Jenson Button, a driver who everyone knows on his day is unbeatable, but also that those days are few and far between at the moment.

The star which shone with such promise in March looked to be gradually fading, so much so that it has been rumoured that McLaren could replace him for 2015 along with Jenson Button. In truth it’s unlikely either of them will go as the driver market is fairly locked off this year, well so it seems.

But it would have been extremely unfair on Magnussen who has been more than competent and done well on a number of occasions through the year. He also had been used to winning in the junior formulae and was certainly not used to having to race mid pack. It was obviously a steep learning curve. But it’s in the most recent races he’s really reminded people of his presence out on the track, and in my opinion for all good reasons.

Ok, it was rude when he ran Fernando Alonso onto the grass in Belgium at 200mph but his defensive driving was hugely impressive during that Grand Prix. He out drove his team mate fairly comprehensively, only to suffer a penalty which dropped him out the points.

He suffered a similar fate when an incident which definitely shouldn’t have been penalised against Valtteri Bottas at the first chicane in Italy dropped him from seventh to tenth. It was a case of the stewards having an over reaction to a driver who might be being too aggressive, maybe it was to teach him a lesson. He does move the car a lot when defending which can be dangerous, but it’s also exciting.

Formula 1 needs drivers who excite and Magnussen is definitely one. After a fast start but then a slow middle he’s beginning to show the potential he looked like he had and that’s going to be great for the sport.

However the man who just seemed to be on it straight away and hasn’t been off it since is Russia's Daniil Kvyat driving for Toro Rosso. There were many who wondered why Red Bull had promoted him in front of some other juniors on their young driver program such as Antonio Felix da Costa or Carlos Sainz Jnr but lets remember he is the 2013 GP3 champion and has a lot of car racing experience behind him as well as having been a successful karter.

As soon as he came into Formula 1 he has been by far the most impressive. Just look at the Italian Grand prix as the perfect example. The team had to give him a 6th engine, breaking the maximum of five rule over a season at Monza thereby incurring a 10 place grid penalty. This season if you don't take all your penalty, for instance if you qualify 15th you're only dropping back seven places, then you are obliged to complete the penalty at the next race. God help the Caterham's and Marussia's!

Kvyat knew this and despite the circuit not exactly being a Toro Rosso friendly track as the Renault unit is significantly down on power compared to Mercedes he still managed to only just miss out on getting into the top 10. From 11th therefore he dropped to 21st. What followed is probably one of the drives of his season so far, he fought hard, unfortunately barely witnessed by the TV camera's to challenge Kimi Raikkonen for a point by the end.

In a Toro Rosso on a power track that is highly impressive. Unfortunately his brakes failed just as it looked he might sneak a point a few laps from home, but he still dragged it home in 11th and the save he made when his brakes did go was amazing. If only Formula 1 allowed you to stick a few videos up without hunting you down I'd show you.

Kvyat has also seen off Jean-Eric Vergne, the man who mostly matched the out standing driver of the year so far during their time at Toro Rosso, Daniel Ricciardo. It's not just perception though, it's borne out by results too. Even though Vergne leads Kvyat in qualifying 7-6 and in points by 11 - 8, it's not quite a true reflection. 

One thing that should be noted is that Kvyat is a rookie so these current results would be pretty impressive anyway, Vergne is still well rated. But actually if you disregard his Monza engine penalty then Kvyat would be leading Vergne 7-6, couple that with often getting into the top 10 and his qualifying speed shouldn't be too much in doubt. Vergne also may have got the better results with two eighth place finishes, but he has scored in just four races compared to Kvyat's five including his first two races. When both cars have finished it is Kvyat who has more often than not been ahead.

If Vergne could match Ricciardo, and Ricciardo can beat Vettel, then Kvyat must be awesome. Of course it is far too early to make judgements like that and circumstances change but Red Bull have to be commended for finding some truly exceptional talent. Kvyat made his debut at just 19 years old. Now only 20 he looks like he's being set up as team leader for next year for the precocious talent of Max Verstappen. Red Bull's newest kid is being promoted to Toro Rosso at just 17 years old after only one years worth of car experience since he left karting.

Compared to Verstappen, Kvyat is positively a veteran with several years of car racing experience behind him as well as his current year in Formula 1, not to mention he's actually allowed to drive on public roads. Have no doubt Verstappen will be a formidable rookie if he's prepared enough, but Kvyat has impressed greatly this year with only one minor misdemeanour when he tried to go round the outside of Sergio Perez but then spun rather clumsily in Germany.

That doesn't take anything away though, he has been impressive and continues to cement a growing reputation of someone who's going to be around the grid for quite some time. With this years inaugural Russian Grand Prix it couldn't come at a better time. It'll be interesting to see how his progress has been received in Russia and how much of a crowd they get at the Sochi circuit, built around the winter Olympics venue. One thing is sure though, he's been by far the most consistently impressive rookie of 2014 so far.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Sebastian Vettel fighting back

“When he [Vettel] will have a car like the others, if he wins, he will have a great recognition and be one of the legends in F1… When one day he has a car like the others and he is fourth, fifth, seventh, these four titles will be bad news for him because people will take these four titles in a worse manner than they are doing now.”

There’s a German leading the championship in the best car in 2014. It’s not Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull though. However, the Red Bull team have mostly been the second best out there and have taken two victories so far this year, but neither was scored by their four time champion. Two facts which make the above quote from Fernando Alonso at the tail end of last year stand out just a little bit more.

At the time of Vettel’s victorious years many in the F1 world wondered whether it was just the car catapulting him to win after win. Could it be that he was merely a good driver piloting an exceptional car? I wondered during winter testing when it became apparent that Red Bull would be facing an uphill battle if Vettel would struggle when confronted with a car which wasn’t an immediate front runner.

In brief I speculated that with the banning of blown diffusers, something Vettel had exceptional technique with and a major advantage of the Red Bull if he’d full back in the pack. Further to that the conservatism with which Pirelli approached this season because of the huge torque coming from the new for 2014 hybrid turbo power units, and the fact that I think they were fed up with their tyres being blamed for everything took another advantage of Vettel’s away. He was brilliant at getting the best out of those more brittle tyres, better than anyone else.

Two major elements had been taken away along with a whole chunk of downforce and one major addition of a power unit where the throttle pedal is extremely sensitive, unlike in the blown diffuser era where you practically stepped on it and let the aero sort you out, it would stick in the corner, now it won’t. It doesn't help that his Renault power unit is the worst in the field as much as 90bhp down on th Mercedes.

I thought back in February that if Vettel were to struggle it would be an ideal opportunity for his new team mate Daniel Ricciardo, promoted from Toro Rosso, to take advantage. But Vettel is a four time world champion, so I dismissed this as a possibility but highly unlikely. As has become quite clear during this season, never dismiss Ricciardo for the young Australian is a brilliant talent.

He leads Vettel in qualifying by 6-5 which should actually be 7-4 as Ricciardo suffered a 10 place grid penalty in Bahrain which put him behind his team mate. In the races he is even further ahead. When both cars have finished Ricciardo has beaten Vettel 6-1.

Ricciardo has scored five podiums of which two were wins and this is not including the second place he was disqualified from in his home race. Vettel has managed to get on the podium just twice this year and each time it was the bottom step. For all the world to see these statistics provide a compelling case, when he’s finished it’s been mostly fourths and fifths, kind of what Alonso said might be the case if Vettel were to sit in a car which wasn’t the best, you know that’s what the Spaniard was implying.

First of all that shouldn’t take anything away from Vettel’s achievements of the previous four years, it was a different era of Formula 1, one in which he exploited the potential of the machinery available to him to the full. In that era, with that technology he was unsurpassed. This is a very different Formula 1, one in which he hasn’t yet got used to. 

Alonso is a brilliant driver, probably the best all-rounder in the business, he can adapt to anything that comes his way, to me that makes a great driver. His current team mate Kimi Raikkonen was meant to challenge him but Alonso has wiped the floor with him, I don’t think that means Kimi is suddenly a bad driver. He has been brilliant these past few years, but something about this new era doesn’t sit well with him a bit like Vettel.

Vettel is sensitive to change, he needs a car where the back end will stick, something that the cars are not capable of doing to the extent they have been in the recent past. Vettel has not been able to change his style and feel comfortable in the car whereas Ricciardo has jumped in straight from Toro Rosso which didn’t have as advanced blown diffuser technology and straight away adapted to this new Formula. He is a team mate who is eager for success, something Vettel has not had to put up with for a while as probably since 2011 Mark Webber was demotivated a lot of the time after losing his one shot at the title.

This doesn’t mean he won’t learn how to deal with these cars or that success has somehow dulled his driving when he’s got to fight harder for it. If anything his frustrated radio messages this year show just how much more he wants, just how annoyed he is at being beaten. This car and this team mate is the toughest time he's ever had in Formula 1, even though he denies this. Ricciardo has been constantly shading him in qualifying. Just when you think Vettel might have the beating of the Aussie, Ricciardo pulls a lap out of the bag. In the races Ricciardo is feisty, attacking, amazingly consistent, including the Mercedes drivers, he has probably been the most impressive driver of the season so far.

Vettel is up against a star of the future, just like Alonso was when Lewis Hamilton got his chance at McLaren when the Spaniard was beaten. This is plainly not some journeyman driver who has turned up at Red Bull, he’s been through the same young driver program Vettel himself went through, there is little doubt that Vettel is up against a future world champion.

Having said that, there are signs that Vettel is turning a corner, especially since FRIC suspension was banned, he looked strong in Germany and out-qualified Ricciardo in Hungary. But even before then, he hasn’t been quite as trounced by Ricciardo as it might seem; it could be argued that both Ricciardo’s wins could have been Vettel’s. Delays in traffic meant he exited behind Ricciardo after pit stops in Canada when he was running in front for most of the race. It could well have been him who took advantage of the struggling Mercedes.

In Hungary he was in third when the safety car came out as he was passing the pit lane, just behind Ricciardo was one of the first into the pits which put him into the lead at the restart. Circumstance has not gone his way nor has reliability, it’s like they’ve given him Webber’s car.

So yes, Vettel has been out performed this year, he hasn’t made the best of the equipment at his disposal, so he’s certainly not out-performing the car like a great can. However, he has out-performed the car in previous years (Red Bull never had an advantage like Mercedes have this year), he is improving in this era and he is beginning to match an exceptional young driver.

Might you have expected more from a four time champion? Yes, quite probably, but this car doesn’t suit him, but it’s coming to him and I will not be surprised to see him match and beat Ricciardo more often after the summer break. He won’t dominate him like Webber, he may not even beat him overall this year, but he’ll match him. He is a very intelligent driver, very mechanical minded and he won’t leave a piece of telemetry unturned until he’s worked out how to succeed once again.

It’s not all lost for Vettel, he’s only just turned 27, he is still learning himself and sometimes it does you good to experience losing. But he won’t want it to last for long. He has achieved great success, but is he a great yet? Greatness is too often bandied around, greatness is earned, it’s about how you achieve success, how you exploit it when the opportunity arises and how you get it back when times are tough. Vettel is going through those hard times, but as the season continues and turns into 2015 I won’t be surprised to see him standing atop the podium once again. He’s turning a corner, adjusting, and it may take until next year, but it’s coming to him, and he’ll make sure it does.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Silverstone 50: The Best British Grand Prix

It’s that time of year, Wimbledon is into its second week, a major Football tournament is going on, Tour de France is about to start, so it must mean the British Grand Prix is on its way. It has such a great atmosphere come rain or shine, or actually usually bits of sun and very windy! The crowd is enthusiastic and friendly, the racing is usually pretty decent, the Grandstands and general admission mostly give a good view of the track and the weather always gives it that air of unpredictability.

I’ve been lucky enough to attend several Grand Prix at Silverstone since 1995, many of them have been exceptional races, so as this year it is a celebration of Silverstone’s 50^th Grand Prix I’m going to give my five best races that I’ve attended. Just so you know I’m not deliberately leaving races out which should be regarded as classics so here’s the years I’ve attended; 1995, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2003, 04, 07, 10, 11, 12.

There’s a few good races I’ve left out, but here’s my five that were the best to me at least.

2004

It wasn’t the best race in the world, but it was a decent one. As a Schumacher fan back then I enjoyed it immensely, mainly because it was an uncontroversial win and he just drove the car hard all the way to the flag despite some intense Kimi Raikkonen pressure.

Schumacher started fourth on a full tank of fuel. Back then you qualified with your race fuel load, his had been more than anyone’s. At the start he circulated in fourth just behind the pole sitting Kimi, Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. As one by one they came into the pits, Schuey was released and put the hammer down. You could see just how hard he was pushing. He exited the pits in the lead. But it wasn’t the end, a late safety car put Kimi back onto him, and he harried Schuey to the flag.

It was a year Schumacher won pretty much everything, he was in the middle of a seven race winning streak, I’d have felt a bit cheated if he hadn’t managed Silverstone too!

2010

‘Not bad for a number 2 driver’. Yes, I thought about whether to put this or 2012 in, but I preferred this one. Mark Webber had suffered in qualifying after having his newer front wing taken off his car and given to his team mate Sebastian Vettel.

At the start Webber charged ahead of Vettel forcing him wide. Lewis Hamilton made minor contact with Vettel giving the German a puncture. He fell to the back of the field and was only three seconds ahead of Webber on the road before a safety car allowed him to catch the back of the pack.

What followed was a fantastic charge through the pack to end up seventh, with some particularly forceful moves going on. At the front Webber held off Hamilton by just over a second as they fought to the flag. But it was the way Webber battled against the suggested favouritism that Red Bull showed Vettel. It was a stirring drive full of Aussie Grit and a satisfying riposte to the events of the previous day.

1995

We were at the height of the Schumacher and Damon Hill rivalry here. Hill lead away from pole position while Schumacher fell to third behind Jean Alesi. Hill tore away from Alesi but was on a two stop strategy. While everyone came into the pits, Schumacher marched on until half distance and took the lead when Hill made his second stop. Hill quickly caught Schumacher and attacked him for several laps, the tension was immense. It ended when Hill dived for a gap that was always going to close taking them both off.

Behind, the Benetton and Williams battle continued as David Coulthard fought with Johnny Herbert, a penalty dropped Coulthard out of contention, and it was a popular first win for Herbert at his home Grand Prix.

Right in front of me though was a spectacular accident between Mark Blundell and Rubens Barrichello on the last lap as they battled for fifth, which ended the race in a lively fashion.

1998

Rain, lots of rain. It’s always fantastic to see Formula 1 cars in the wet even if the weather conditions don’t exactly make it the most comfortable viewing conditions. Sitting on the top of the hill by Club corner, we had a spectacular view as the drivers strove to keep the cars on the track, their hands dancing on the steering wheel.

Mika Hakkinen lead at the start, but spun off allowing Schumacher to take the lead. He edged away but was handed a stop go penalty for overtaking under yellows. He attacked to pull out a gap, but Ferrari were smart and pulled Schumacher in to the pits to serve his penalty on the last lap. He crossed the line to win before taking his penalty. It was in the rules and this crazy win was allowed.

But what really makes this special is the ability of these drivers controlling 800bhp cars in pouring rain. It was incredible.

2003

Rubens Barrichello won a dramatic race which had so many drivers out of position due to an early safety car as a mad catholic priest ran out on to the track. The two Toyota’s of Olivier Panis and Christiano da Matta lead for a long time as the big guns tried to fight back through the field.

It was Rubens day though, his passing was incisive and fast and he rose to the front of the field brilliantly to lead from Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya. Schumacher had got back up to fourth but it was his Ferrari team mate who stole the day with a fantastic performance.

There was action all the way down the field, not a single driver was left to race on his own as the entire grid put on a show to remember.

all photo's taken from autosport.com apart from 1995 GP taken from grandprix247.com

Will Fernando Alonso ever win another title?

Fernando Alonso is arguably the best driver currently racing in Formula 1. He’s a two time world champion who has proved his worth in the best cars and most certainly in many poorer cars as he drags them to wins and podiums they shouldn’t be achieving. He’s come so close to adding another title but missed out so often but with Ferrari continuing to squander the talents of their lead driver and the Spaniard certainly in the latter stages of his career will he get another opportunity to secure the third title he so desperately craves? 

Since he won his last world championship all the way back in 2006 for Renault, he has fought for a further three, all of which he perhaps should have won in 2007, 2010 and 2012. Two of which, and one in particular when he was driving a car which just didn’t deserve to be competing at the front, let alone nearly winning the world championship.

After winning for Renault he joined McLaren which was a tumultuous season and which quickly meant an exit back to Renault to have two relatively uncompetitive years where he scored just two wins and failed to win in 2009. But everyone knew he was still fighting as hard as he could mostly, especially when a sniff of a decent result came along.

Ferrari likes to have the best driver available and so rescued him for what would surely become one of the most successful partnerships in the sport. It hasn’t been. Admittedly it should have accrued him at least another two titles but that was more down to the driver than the team. This Alonso-Ferrari combination is now entering its fifth season together and if you go on the Michael Schumacher-Ferrari formula of success, it should be bearing the fruits of countless winners trophies. But it isn’t, it’s probably going to result in Alonso’s first winless season since the dark days of 2009, and that is just unacceptable to a man of Alonso’s quality and drive to succeed.

His lack of winning titles hasn’t done his reputation any harm at all. If anything it’s enhanced it greatly. 2012 should go down as one of the best examples of driving a near perfect season as anyone has ever seen only derailed by others mistakes, and I’m sure it will for the many knowledgeable fans out there, but for the casual fan the name written next to 2012 as the championship winner will be Sebastian Vettel’s and that’s all they’ll know.

I think it would be a tragedy for a driver the calibre of Alonso to end his career without another world title especially because in my opinion he is so much better now than when he won his first two titles. Is Alonso destined to be a driver remembered for just a couple of titles but mainly for outperforming his machinery? 

There’s something heroic about that, but in the end it’s not what gets you recognised as a true great around the world, success is the true barometer of a sportman’s legacy for many, and unfortunately for Fernando that’s been in short supply for too long. He needs another title, as if you cared to you could question his first two championships? When Kimi was a true speed king, he might well have won in 2005 if his McLaren hadn’t have been so unreliable. 2006 too, Schumacher probably should have won if it were not for an engine failure while leading at the penultimate race. 

I do tend to look at it another way though, 2005 he maximised his machinery and as is his way, built a championship, won when he could, maximised the points available if he couldn’t. He took the title with two races left to run. His 2006 title will always remain one which should be highly regarded as he battled an at his peak Schumacher to the last race of the season and beat him in pretty equal machinery. But since then he has played second fiddle to Vettel as the young German has exploited the maximum potential of the Red Bull machinery. Alonso has been the main guy to push Vettel, always the one challenging when perhaps he shouldn’t be. It's caused him much frustration to watch Vettel rack up the wins in a superior car when Alonso believes he's not as good as his four championships suggest.

On the Sky sports website, it was noted that that once again it was Alonso who was mixing it with this year’s dominant power unit Mercedes, but asked if he got much satisfaction from outperforming his car he replied tellingly. ‘"Not much," he sighed. "It's been five years like this. There is always satisfaction that everyone believes you are always performing at your best. There's the respect from drivers, Team Principals and fans for the job that you do. But I prefer to have no respect and to win more trophies."’

And there’s the rub of it. Alonso has made no secret of the fact that he deeply desires a third world title to put him amongst the greats like Ayrton Senna (although there’s plenty of great double world champions too), but as he approaches his 33rd birthday in just a month, time is running out for him to achieve his ambition.

You could say he has at least another four to five seasons but at the moment he is contracted at Ferrari until 2016, a team which should be producing consistently competitive cars but which have now been struggling to do that for over five years. Periodically Ferrari go through fallow periods, I don’t expect this one to last as long as the 21 year wait that Schumacher ended in 2000, but it’s not unreasonable to say it could be longer than four or five years.

Ferrari has been struggling with the calibration of their wind tunnel and even the supposed fix for this season doesn’t seem to be producing. They’ve brought in people like Pat Fry who designed for McLaren before and James Allison who was at Lotus and worked for Ferrari in the latter stages of the Ferrari steamroller of success. After the Schumacher era though, the core group of people that made the team work so harmoniously fell apart gradually, and it hasn’t had that same harmony since. It’s like trying to tape up a cut when it needs stitches; it’s not going to get better quickly. It’s taken Alonso to drag the limping horse to its feet these past few years and he continues to do that this season as he makes a mockery of the excitement that (an admittedly struggling) Kimi Raikkonen would challenge him as his team mate this year. 

Alonso publically maintains belief that Ferrari can step up next season, but it always seems to be next season at the moment with scarlet team. So where could he go? It’s well known his management team did a bit of investigating at Red Bull last season, but the likelihood is that with the immediate success of Daniel Ricciardo partnering Vettel, that driver combination will remain for a few years yet, although if Vettel doesn’t start beating Ricciardo a bit more you never know. 

McLaren have Honda coming on board next year, it’s a partnership that should work but McLaren aren’t exactly producing great chassis at the moment either and it’s bound to take a few years for this partnership to come to fruition. Despite saying things to the contrary I’m not sure Ron Dennis would want Alonso back after the 2007 spy gate affair lead to his acrimonious departure after just one season of a three year contract.

Mercedes? I think they’re quite happy with Nico Rosberg and Hamilton to be honest despite a Mercedes board member heaping praise on the Spaniard. I’m not sure any team would really want to put Alonso and Hamilton together again.  There really doesn’t seem anywhere open to him that would be immediately competitive. I’m afraid also that his reputation of throwing his toys out of his pram on occasion at Renault, the bust up at McLaren and the increasingly frosty relationship he seems to have at Ferrari has put people off him, he could disrupt the team especially if a team mate gets too close for comfort.

Unfortunately for Alonso he looks stuck at Ferrari as his best bet and that might mean he may never win a title again. As the younger generation become more established and he is in the latter years of his career, it becomes increasingly unlikely that a team will look to him to lead them for the future. After this season it will have been eight years since he won the world title. It wouldn’t be right for his career to be defined by early success and then a constant fight with sub-optimal cars that he out drove.

However, I’m not sure it would be right for him to jump into the best car and beat everyone either. No, for a fighter such as Alonso I think it would be far more poetic for him to create the perfect season as his legacy in a car just off the best. To drag and cajole it to perform miracles that no one on the grid (apart from perhaps Lewis when the mood takes him) could do. 

It’s obviously frustrated him to be given substandard machinery, after the epic 2012, last season he seemed subdued sometimes but who can forget that stare after he lost the title in the final round, it spoke of just total amazement and devastation, it was like he couldn’t quite believe that he could have lost after everything he’d done. He had put so much effort into 2012 that I think it was inevitable that after all he had done for Ferrari and they once again failed to keep up their side of the bargain that he would be sometimes below par. 

However he has regained the fight this year despite another poor car. I truly believe he can recreate a 2012 performance again. He might want to do it in the best car, but I’m not sure Ferrari can give him that for a while and there are no openings elsewhere. One more perfect season Fernando, he can be king again and he deserves to be.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Spanish Forecast

This weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix is set to be one of the most interesting races of the year so far. As the start of the European season it is traditional that after the opening fly-away races the teams bring a whole load of updates to their cars. After the Chinese race the cars returned to the factories for the first time in two months therefore this race presents the first real opportunity to see if anyone will be able to catch the current dominators of the sport, Mercedes.

The circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona is a real test of the cars with its long straight, fast, medium and slow speed corners, it has everything you need to tell whether your car has a flaw or not. It’s often said that if your car goes well here, it’ll do well pretty much everywhere. Then again Fernando Alonso won the race last year and then faded away so who really knows.

This year there are two DRS zones, one on the start finish straight and one between turns nine and ten, the second one seemed a bit short last year but we’ll see how it goes, it would at least help move them in a position to attack down the start finish straight a few corners later. Pirelli are taking the medium and hard compounds. Degradation is traditionally high in Spain because of its long corners and abrasive surface but with these compounds you’d hope it wouldn’t be more than a three stopper.

The weather is meant to be nice and hot all weekend with temperatures reaching around 24C. This could help teams such as McLaren get their tyres up to temperature a lot easier so we could see the Woking team slightly revitalised after a couple of very poor weekends for the team where they haven’t scored any points at all.

But who can really challenge the Mercedes team? Well all the engine manufacturers will have been working feverishly to bring some updates to the power units. The engines have been homologated which basically means they can’t do updates which specifically target performance. However, they can working on the software and work with the fuel companies to provide a boost. Renault are confident they will have made significant progress.

Which is good news for Red Bull as if any team is going to be taking on the Mercedes cars it’s them. Red Bull have once again designed a fantastic car, the main problem right now is the Renault engine holding them back. Undoubtedly the team will be bringing upgrades of their own but if Renault can at least get close to Mercedes then Red Bull will be firmly back in the hunt for victories.

Whether this means Sebastian Vettel can start getting back on terms with Daniel Ricciardo is another matter? The World Champion needs a result against his younger team mate, but first he needs the car underneath him and in his control. I wonder if the upgrades Red Bull are bringing will be targeted at making Vettel more comfortable in the car so he can unleash the speed that is still there. But if Vettel is more comfortable then there’s nothing to say Ricciardo can’t exploit the car just as well.

With a Renault upgrade the team to watch could well be Lotus. They’ve had an exceptionally poor start to the season which could be about to change. I by no means think they’re going to be challenging for podiums but Romain Grosjean was on for a point or two in China before he retired which after qualifying on the back row of the grid at the first round is quite the progression. Despite Pastor Maldonado winning here a few years back, Grosjean is the driver to watch, his form from the end of the last year hasn’t disappeared and I believe when the opportunity comes he’ll be the Lotus driver to take it.

Sauber have taken 20kg off their overweight car so hope to be the team least likely to join the disappointing Marussia and Caterham’s in Q1.  Hopefully the likes of Force India and Williams won’t start getting left behind by the upgrades to the bigger teams. Especially for Williams who have not taken advantage of their early season pace to record anything like the results they should have had. At least for Force India they have managed to grab a podium, although in Nico Hulkenberg’s eyes I’m sure he thinks the wrong driver picked it up as he has been the pace setter at every race but the one Sergio Perez picked up the podium at.

I’m beginning to think if Ferrari don’t offer significant improvement at this race then Fernando Alonso will be looking to get out of his Ferrari contract. Mercedes seem to think Ferrari are their biggest threat which I disagree with but like Renault, the Ferrari power unit will have been worked on to find ways of improvement for fuel consumption and driveability. The improvements that the team are bringing have got to move them closer to the front and offer Kimi Raikkonen a solution to the problems he has driving the F14T. If Kimi isn’t closer to Alonso then I think any upgrades will have failed because if the car is easier to drive then generally the drivers are closer as there is less problems to drive around.

I do expect Ferrari and particularly Red Bull in qualifying to offer more of a challenge, but can Mercedes be beaten yet? I don’t think so, they’ve barely had to open the taps and they won’t have been resting on their laurels at all. Obviously the opposition have more to gain as they are that far behind but Mercedes have a lot of clever people. So who do I tip to win? Well Nico Rosberg was stronger than Lewis Hamilton last year in Spain. I don’t think that will be the case this year, Lewis is just in total harmony with this car and seems to have Rosberg covered at the moment. I'm going with Vettel to get a surprise pole position, Hamilton to win, the Red Bull’s and Alonso to mix it with Rosberg with a Williams, Force India and McLaren lurking in the background. And a Grosjean ready to get a point, probably battling rookie of the year so far Daniil Kvyat.

all photo's taken from autosport.com