Rosberg wins in Brazil as Verstappen entertains

Nico Rosberg won the Brazilian Grand Prix in quite emphatic style from his fifth straight pole position. His Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton claimed he had the pace to beat Rosberg but just couldn't get close enough to pass, but in reality it looked like Rosberg had the world champion covered for the second race in a row.

Maybe if Rosberg had displayed this kind of driving earlier in the year we'd be looking forward to a title decider in Abu Dhabi in two weeks time but Hamilton has had him under the thumb for pretty much the entire season until the pressure was off when the the title was claimed two races ago in America.

It was a less than enthralling race which to be honest matches most of the races in 2015 with only a few epics to remind us how great Formula 1 can be. Once again as the battle at the front remained static it was left to the midfield to bring the entertainment and once again the driver doing most of the entertaining was Max Verstappen. 

This still only 18 year old superstar in the making was mixed up in the fight and for the umpteenth time is star of the race simply for the move he put on Sergio Perez into the Senna S, turns 1 and 2 of the lap.

With the down on power Renault power unit in the back of his Toro Rosso it was never going to be easy to pass for Verstappen or the other Red Bull affiliated cars. So when Verstappen got close enough to the Mercedes powered Force India of Perez it had to be a bit of a do or die move.

He had the DRS on the start finish straight and dived to the outside of turn one and just held it alongside Perez before hugging the kerb and the inside of turn two leaving Perez with the option of giving in or crashing. Perez wisely chose the former, Verstappen was through and went on to claim two points for ninth.

Verstappen has gotten better and better as the season has gone on, it's going to be so exciting to see him in a top car which isn't likely to be too far away.

Meanwhile at the front, Hamilton was asking to be switched to a different strategy in his attempts to get by Rosberg, but Mercedes have a policy that unless it's absolutely necessary then both drivers will run with the same strategy in the interests of fairness.

That is indeed fair enough, but for the entertainment factor there needed to be something different for one of them to provide us with a battle for the lead. Hamilton often closed the gap down, but Rosberg made no mistakes and as the tyres wore down was able to pull a gap to keep Lewis at bay.

There's meant to be a shake up in the rules for 2017 to allow the cars to stay closer to each other, therefore making overtaking easier. Unfortunately a lot of the sports commentators and even the drivers like Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are saying it looks like the direction these new rules are going to go to won't help at all. By allowing the cars pace to be dictated by the front wing and body work it means the car behinds airflow will always be spoiled by the car in front, leaving them with not enough down force to remain close.

If the the cars were given more grip by the tyres and ground effect aero was given more of a priority then this would change. Over the years I've heard this argument many times, but for whatever reason the rule makers are not listening. So even though I applaud the sport for wanting to make the cars look better, sound better and go up to six seconds a lap faster, what's the point if the racing isn't going to be any better? 

Rule changes often allow the bigger teams to increase the gap over the midfield anyway and once again we could end up with one team dominant. If the main aim is to increase competition there is an argument to leave the rules as they are as time and again it's been proven that stability in regulations closes the field up.

There's also been a lot of talk about how to make Formula 1 more competitive in general. Well first thing first is to give the teams equal money. Fine if some teams can acquire more sponsorship, I guess that's just life, but why not let the teams have an equal starting point? I hope the European Competition commission will rip up the current contracts giving some teams a hugely inequitable amount of money and see to it that all teams are paid the same.

For the good of the sport it's about time the teams stopped thinking of just themselves. In a perfect world, all the teams would be paid the same amount with the only difference being the money they get from their finishing position in the constructors championship the previous year. However, that is going to take years to sort out. For the fastest sport in the world, sorting anything out fairly is like watching a snail go from one end of the garden and back. I'm sure it's an interesting journey though.

Formula 1 has it's problems but it shouldn't be forgotten that generally speaking there also isn't too much wrong with the product, there shouldn't be knee jerk reactions just because something isn't working out for a year.

All sports have their seasons where there isn't as much competition at the top but F1 hasn't had it so bad, in 6 of the past 10 seasons the championship has gone down to the last race. There is plenty of competition, sometimes it just takes a while to come together, or as in the case this year, one driver is just simply head and shoulders above the rest which should be admired and not criticised.

However, silly ideas like reverse grids, success ballast, qualifying races and the like have no place in Formula 1. This sport is meant to be the pinnacle and artificial ways of spicing up the entertainment so directly should not be encouraged. Perhaps there could be less practice but a qualifying race isn't a good idea, it would take away from the main event.

If anything perhaps one way of helping keep competition closer is to stop the teams at the front from developing their cars for a few races so others can have a chance at catching up. For instance in a 20 race season, after the first five races, the teams at the top would be held to keep their car in that spec until the final five races and the title run in. 

Teams behind would continue to be allowed to develop but if they haven't caught up in a certain time frame then it's tough luck, they've had their chance. Of course top teams would fight against this, but if they were suddenly in a position that say McLaren find themselves in I'm sure they'd love it. It's a rough sketch, but it gives opportunities for those behind to catch up while leaving the sporting action still a sport and not WWE.

Having said all that with the the current rules generally stable for a third season, next year looks to be shaping up nicely with Ferrari and Vettel on course to give Hamilton and Mercedes a serious run for their money. Speaking of Vettel, he finish third with some good race pace not far off the Mercedes, while his team mate Kimi Raikkonen was a lonely fourth.

Valtteri Bottas in the Williams had the start of the day moving from seventh to fifth where he stayed. Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was sixth, Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull was seventh, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado in the Lotuses were eighth and tenth. Maldonado managed to hit Marcus Ericsson for which he received a 5 second penalty. Both cars managed to continue so that's positive.

Felipe Massa in the other Williams was originally eighth but was disqualified when his right rear tyre was 0.1 psi above the minimum tyre pressure Pirelli allow. The tyre blanket was also 27C hotter than the 110C maximum allowed. For various reasons Williams are appealing as their independent measurements show the tyre was within the required tyre pressures. All very exciting.

McLaren disappointed again but at least Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso got to the finish. Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull started from the back after an engine penalty but could only work his way up to 12th. Speaking of Red Bull all their bluster and threats of leaving the sport have come to nothing. What a surprise when their contract to get paid more money from the commercial rights holders and holds them to the sport until 2020 also stipulates they'd have to pay about half a billion to leave. It looks like they will be back with Renault next season but with the possibility of developing the engine themselves.

Anyway, the F1 circus rolls on to Abu Dhabi now where hopefully we'll get an epic finale to take us into the winter with fond memories of what has otherwise been a less than thrilling campaign.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Rosberg beats Hamilton in Brazil

It was always going down to the wire in Abu Dhabi, but Nico Rosberg showed he is more than up for the fight with a brilliant win in Brazil. The expected rain didn't turn up but if anything that would have taken away from a fantastically tense Grand Prix where Lewis Hamilton hounded his team mate all the way to the flag, losing out by under a second.

Rosberg truly deserved his victory, he was quickest in every single session, and although it looked like he tensed up during the race, he remained under control to hold off a fierce challenge from the ever present Hamilton.

With the front row locked out by the Mercedes cars, they both got away well and led the early laps fairly comfortably. The soft tyre was blistering quickly and all those who started on them started pitting after only five laps. 

Rosberg and Hamilton maintained their positions, but got ever closer to each other as they fought their way through the traffic of those who started on the medium compound and were able to go longer in the first stint.

It was the second stops that very nearly swung the race Hamilton's way. Rosberg stopped on lap 26 and immediately Hamilton set a banzai fastest lap that brought him into contention for the win. He went for a second lap, but the grip was gone, turn four, the car snapped and Lewis went sliding into a half spin, the potential win was gone.

The team actually apologised to him for making him do one more lap, but it is arguable whether he'd have exited ahead of Rosberg but it would have been extremely close. As it was Hamilton came out seven seconds back, but closed and closed. Every lap the number 44 Mercedes became more threatening to Rosberg's lead, but he didn't put a wheel out of line.

Through the third stops and into the final 10 laps, Hamilton was there filling the mirrors of Rosberg, but this time there was to be no pass despite Hamilton always having the DRS. Rosberg withstood all the pressure and the win was his, probably his best win of the year by a long way.

So it's to Abu Dhabi and double points. Thank goodness in a way that Hamilton didn't win as if we were in a normal situation he'd have won the title. Even better that Rosberg didn't retire at the same time as then the gap would have been 49 points, almost two normal wins ahead, the outrage would have been immense.

As it is now, for the title to be unaffected by double points for Hamilton to win he need only finish second or win. For Rosberg to win without doubles points affecting the result he needs to win and have Hamilton finish seventh or lower. In reality because of double points for Rosberg to win, he only needs Hamilton to finish third or lower.

I only hope mechanical failures don't come into it and we get an unaffected double points win in the finale. You have to expect the two Mercedes cars to once again head the field in Abu Dhabi, so lets see them race and may the best driver win. Today Rosberg showed he can live with Hamilton, but it's going to be a tough result if Lewis is to lose this title now.

Felipe Massa gave his home race crowd a great result for Williams with third place despite doing as much as he could do squander the opportunity. He got a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and then tried to have his tyres changed in the McLaren pit box. He still showed strong pace throughout and deserved his podium. 

His team mate Valtteri Bottas finished up 10th after starting fourth and suffered an unfortunate result, nothing seemed to work right for him once his second pit stop meant he had to have his seat belts tightened and then at the next stop debris cleared from his wings after Nico Hulkenberg politely squeezed him off track and turn one.

Jenson Button was my star of the race. Left hanging by McLaren about a drive for next year, he produced a brilliant drive, chasing after the Williams cars in the opening stints in a McLaren which although improved is still a way off their pace. He held off challenges behind and just looked like a man who should be continuing in Formula 1 next year. 

I thought he might have grabbed a podium after Massa's penalty but strangely he seemed even further behind, still fourth was a fine result, while his team mate Kevin Magnussen was embroiled in battles that eventually dropped him to ninth after starting sixth. Both drivers deserve another season at McLaren but with the looming presence of Fernando Alonso that's highly unlikely. Having said that, the rumours of third cars for Ferrari and Red Bull might well shake up just who goes where again. If I were Ferrari I'd be grabbing Button immediately.

Sebastian Vettel was the lead Red Bull all weekend finishing fifth after utilising the undercut at the second pit stops and then chasing Button down to fight for fou.rth. It was a decent display after a tough first lap when he ran wide at turn four, but fought back brilliant. Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull retired early on with a suspension failure while running behind, but with Ricciardo I think you begin to sense he's always going to make an attack at some point, so it's sad we didn't see that.

Sixth and Seventh was Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. Alonso could have been in the hunt for fourth and fifth and might have expected a call from the team for Kimi to let him through, but as he's supposedly leaving that call was not forthcoming.

Kimi held him off brilliantly on over 30 lap old tyres as he was the only one to make a two stop strategy just about work. Alonso was always going to get through but it was nice to see Kimi show he's still got his fighting skills, and it was a great effort when a three stop strategy was probably the way forward.

Hulkenberg took eighth with a very fine drive after starting 12th. He went the opposite way on tyre strategy running medium three times before ending on the soft compound. A very good drive after some quieter races in the middle of the season.

Formula 1 was still discussing the future of how money is split while despite Marussia closing its door there are still rumours it could be bought. I don't want to see third cars for the top teams as fun as that may sound. As many other people have pointed out, running third cars will squeeze the back of the grid still further from top results, leaving them with less money. We'll end up with just a few makes maybe one day even just one manufacturer.

Formula 1 is about many teams competing to design their own cars, make them and get the best engineers, mechanics and drivers to race them to push each other to the limit. This formula should not be messed with. Bernie Ecclestone says $900million goes to the teams and the lower teams should spend their money more wisely. Well maybe he should split the money in a fairly way and not give so much to himself, FOM and CVC, the owners of Formula 1 and concentrate more on funding a sustainable sport with teams competing on an even level.

That argument will continue for a while yet, but what we should all concentrate on now is a thrilling title showdown in Abu Dhabi one which hopefully will result in a world champion unaffected by double points. 

#ForzaJules

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The Brazilian Grand Prix Forecast

Rain, Rain and more rain is forecast for the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend. It's a race often effected by inclement weather and in recent years has also been a dramatic finale for the Grand Prix season. It won't end anything this year but it will still be crucial in deciding who is world champion by the end of the Abu Dhabi weekend.

The Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo is a mixture of fast straights and a tight twisty infield. Set up will be a compromise especially with the weather predictions being rain all weekend. The DRS zone may not come in to it if it's too wet but there is one on the start finish straight and between turns three and four. Pirelli have brought the medium and soft compounds but again at the time of writing it's unlikely they'll be used much. If they are they should offer decent grip and the degradation should offer us at least a two stopper for the 71 lap race.

I'm not sure either title contender wants a mixed up race this weekend, they just want a straight fight for the title. Lewis Hamilton has won and lost a championship here in mixed conditions, but it's certain he won't do either this year. In a normal season, one not potentially tainted by double points, then he would be on the verge of sealing it.

He is 24 points ahead of Nico Rosberg with only 25 for the win, but with Abu Dhabi offering 50 points for the final race of the season that championship win is still some distance away. Last season Rosberg qualified and finished ahead of Hamilton. He's going to need a similar result now, preferably for him with a few cars in-between.

The likelihood is that once again both Mercedes cars will be heading the pack, in this case all Lewis needs to do is finish second both in Brazil and Abu Dhabi to take the title. We all know he's not going to settle for second though, not if he's close behind and senses an opportunity to make the pass.

I think as always this year it'll be extremely close between the pair, but I can see Hamilton taking pole and the win and extending his title lead this weekend leaving us on tenterhooks as to whether double points is going to leave a bitter taste if something were to go wrong for Lewis.

It doesn't matter who wins as long as double points doesn't affect the outcome. Ideally if Lewis just finishes second to Rosberg then it'll be fine with the current points gap. If Rosberg is within seven points at the end of Brazil then again whoever is first and second in Abu Dhabi won't matter. Although looking at the season as a whole, with ten wins to Rosberg's four it seems inconceivable that Hamilton should not be the rightful winner. But Rosberg is up there for a reason, he's kept himself in the battle and driven some great races. It's all to play for still and with the weather not looking great, Brazil is going to be a very exciting chapter indeed in this thrilling title fight.

Behind the championship duo, I expect Felipe Massa to put in a strong performance for Williams at his home race. In 2006, '07, '08 he was quite simply superb and should have had a hat trick of victories. He'll certainly be one to watch, his team mate Valtteri Bottas is going to have to be at his very best to beat Massa this weekend. However, Williams have not had the best pace in the rain and if the forecast is right, then they may struggle.

Which will leave Red Bull as the main challengers, or the ones most likely to finish third. Again you would have to pick out Daniel Ricciardo as the man most likely to, he's been fantastic all year. I'm still expecting a stand out showing from Sebastian Vettel at some point, but he's running out of time to really leave a mark this season before he leaves Red Bull.

If the weather is wet, then again you cannot go wrong by predicting that Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button for Ferrari and McLaren respectively will be up there. Put Nico Hulkenberg into that category too, they are all brilliant in mixed up conditions and could play a major part in the final result. 

Alonso has still not announced where he's driving next year, but he looks more and more certain to go to McLaren with Kevin Magnussen most likely to be his team mate. This leaves Jenson Button fighting to stay in Formula 1, but although Porsche have denied it, there are still strong rumours he might go to the World Endurance Championship next season. I think Button still has a few more good years left in him in Formula 1 and this race could be ideal for him to showcase why.

Sauber have signed Felipe Nasr, currently second in GP2 this year and Williams third driver. He'll partner Caterham's Marcus Ericsson. It is to be presumed both have backing but Nasr is a fast driver and deserves a chance in Formula 1. It of course leaves both current Sauber drivers Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez without drives for next year. They'll be going all out to secure seats for 2015.

Jean-Eric Vergne has been doing that since it was announced Toro Rosso had signed Max Verstappen. It's not inconceivable that he might end up staying put, and the way he's been driving recently has shown just what a great racer he is. In the wet he's brilliant so keep an eye out for him.

Marussia and Caterham's continued absence means we still have just 18 cars. Even though the Austin race was very good, it still looked a lot emptier out on track and that is not a good thing. There needs to be more seats in the top echelon of motor sport so the stars of tomorrow can learn. But these smaller teams need more money from the sports authorities to survive so that can happen rather than taking pay drivers.

It looks like there may be a deal going on with CVC (Formula 1's owner) potentially offering $100million to be split between the smaller teams. There is good news of sorts with both Marussia and Caterham lodging entries for next season despite still being in administration while Marussia definitely hopes to be back for Abu Dhabi. Hopefully we'll have a full complement of cars soon.

Anyway, driver moves and the cash crisis are still likely to be high on the list of talking points, but it's the fight for the championship that'll be everyone's headline. In the wet of Brazil, it's about to get ever more intense.

#ForzaJules

all photos taken from autosport.com

It had to be Vettel in Brazil

It couldn’t end any other way could it? The threat of rain that so many wanted to create a thrilling finale to the Formula 1 season didn’t materialise, but in any case if it had done would it have changed the result? I don’t think so, Sebastian Vettel has simply been immense and in a way it would have been wrong for 2013 to finish in any other way other than with Vettel taking his ninth consecutive win and 13^th of the year.

He didn’t have it all his own way this time, Nico Rosberg qualified alongside him on the front row and took the lead into the first corner. He held the lead for all of one lap as Vettel tucked into his slipstream on the start finish straight and was easily through. He pulled a gap and was gone.

Only a fumbled pit stop stopped him from executing an almost perfect race. When Valtteri Bottas attempted to un-lap himself from Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes driver moved over on the Finn just slightly that it broke the left rear wheel sending the Williams driver careering off the circuit. Red Bull immediately thought that a safety car could be called so brought Vettel in a lap early.

Unfortunately and as happened far too often, this compromised the race of Mark Webber who was due to pit that lap. As they rushed to get Vettel’s tyres out, the German was sat there losing time. He had only been 12 seconds ahead of Webber, so now he was stacked behind. It made no difference in the end, Vettel was released back into the lead while Webber maintained his second place.

Vettel reeled off the laps, a few drops of water did nothing to slow him down and he took a comfortable win followed by his now customary doughtnuts. It typifies just how brilliant he has been this year. He has got better every year he’s won, and being only 26 years old he can get better still.

Next year there are plenty of regulation changes including with the power trains or engines as most people like to call them, aero rules are also significantly altered and it’ll be a hard task for Red Bull to continue to repeat their success, especially after they kept on developing this year’s car longer than most other teams.

However, they have Adrian Newey still heading up the design team, and they still have Vettel, who I’ve no doubt could mix it with the more lauded talents of Fernando Alonso and Hamilton. It’s not going to be an easy task for anyone to beat them next year. As Vettel says on the radio, they’ve got to enjoy these victorious moments because you don’t know when it could stop. But right now, you’d be a fool to think that Red Bull won’t be right up there competing at the front again in 2014.

Webber finishes F1 career in style

Before Mark pops off to the World Endurance Championship with Porsche he had one more race to take part in, and he gave his all as he signed off with a superb showing of race craft and passing that puts many far younger drivers to shame.

He made his traditional poor getaway, and dropped to fifth, but he was soon pulling the moves to get up the order. His pass of Lewis Hamilton into turn six around the outside was brilliant, but just another one to add to a collection of great moves.

He was soon ahead of Rosberg too and set about getting on the tail of Alonso. These two have had numerous bouts before and this one was just as good as they Webber stalked the Ferrari. It was so good that after the first pit stops when Webber had a slow stop and came out behind the Ferrari, they did it all over again. Webber was just on it all race and even had a go at closing his team mate down, but just couldn’t manage it.

He’d obviously have liked to go out with a win but unfortunately Vettel has just become too good with this current generation of car. It’s all change next year, and Webber deemed it appropriate that this was a time to get out of the F1 circus. Probably the correct thing to do but after a race like this it seems like he’s still got much more to give.

However we shouldn’t forget that he has been soundly beaten this year by his team mate. It’s true that most of the time if a Red Bull had a problem then it would be on Webber’s car. It’s also true that a few contentious decisions went in the favour of Vettel. But I think from an outsiders point of view he got given a good crack at Red Bull.

He nearly and probably should have won the 2010 championship. Things went against him, perhaps Red Bull made a few dodgy calls, but I feel that he tied up towards the end and let it get away from him. He still put in a fantastic season but unfortunately he’s only ever equalled that kind of performance on a few weekends since, and not consistently like that year.

It’s the one that got away, but Webber has had a great career, some of the qualifying laps in his early years, especially in the Jaguar were of the highest quality while some of his race drives in the glory years of Red Bull could not have been bettered by anyone.

McLaren end year on a high

Jenson Button had a smile on his face for the first time in what seems like months. He may have qualified a rather poor 14^th, but he worked his way up quickly and efficiently and made the strategy work for him. He actually ended up in a rather comfortable fourth place, albeit with Hamilton and Felipe Massa having suffered drive through penalties.

But the fact Button got ahead of Nico Rosberg on pace and then kept him back will have pleased him and the team no end as they head into 2014. McLaren will want to forget this year completely, they haven’t even recorded a podium for the first time since 1980. At least it sets them up for the winter, especially as the departing Sergio Perez also managed to secure sixth place after suffering a gearbox penalty that meant he started from 19^th on the grid.

He had a tremendous drive and was only a handful of seconds behind Rosberg after he’d hounded him for several laps. Perez moves on though and the exciting talent of Kevin Magnussen moves in but it would have been nice for Checo to have had another year, I only hope he manages to find a drive for 2014. But with the money that backs him I’m sure he’ll be fine.

Battles in the pack

Despite another Vettel win and the lack of rain, the race was generally quite exciting. It was an interesting spectacle as teams had to gamble on the best set up in a wet qualifying while knowing that race day was probably going to be dry, or at least dryer. In the early laps there were numerous changes of position as everyone found their wheels on a dry track for the first time this weekend.

Alonso was an early mover as he made up ground after losing his third place grid slot at the start. He soon passed Hamilton and Rosberg to move up to second before he succumbed to Webber’s attacks. The Ferrari though looked particularly fast in race conditions and Alonso was able to keep in the number 2 Red Bull’s wheel tracks for several laps before eventually fading, but he was never too far away.

Alonso finished in third and cemented his second place in the drivers championship. It’s been a good year for him again as he’s driven as well as ever although I do feel he suffered a dip in form in the middle as he realised that yet again Ferrari were not going to deliver the goods.

You’ve got to think that the Alonso/Ferrari relationship has to deliver at least one championship, but if it’s not next year, a separation could come sooner than what’s written on the contract especially as the rumours go that the new Ferrari turbo engine is the weakest of the three manufacturers behind Mercedes and Renault.

Alonso was apparently meant to give up his podium to Massa who had another barnstorming start, and got up from ninth to sixth, before passing a few more to lie fourth. He was holding off Hamilton when he got a drive through penalty for cutting the pit entrance to much. Apparently he had been warned before but it seems a particularly churlish penalty, but then rules are rules. He still fought back to end his last race for Ferrari with a seventh.

Mercedes had set their cars up for a wetter climate, so it was not too much of a surprise to see them suffering with a lack of straight line speed. Rosberg initially took the lead but was easy prey as Vettel hunted him down over the first lap. He dropped through the field and even had to yield to his team mate as his tyres went off. He still just about managed to maintain a decent fifth place.

Hamilton would have finished higher than his eventual ninth if it hadn’t have been for his clash with Bottas which left him with a puncture and then his subsequent drive through. He didn’t know what happened but it didn’t look like he realised Bottas was alongside him, and he moved just slightly enough that it was probably his fault the clash happened. He managed to scramble back up to ninth but that was a fairly poor payback from what looked like a promising race.

Hulkenberg continued to put himself in the shop window with a decent eighth, but it looks likely that if he is to have a seat next year it’ll be a midfield one. Lotus don’t seem to be getting the deal with Quantum sorted to bring more money into the team which means they might have to go for a driver who brings money to the team which is a sad state of affairs. Paul di Resta could only manage 11^th, but he is a driver who should be in F1 but at the moment it looks like he could end up with no seat at all.

The final point went to Daniel Ricciardo in his last race for Toro Rosso before he moves to the big team next year. A competent driver, but when he and Jean-Eric Vergne had locked out the fourth row, you might have expected Toro Rosso to bring home a few more points than they did. Another team to suffer from a set up directed too much towards wet weather perhaps?

Lotus had an appalling last race of the year. Romain Grosjean had qualified sixth but at one point looked like he could snatch pole position. His engine went after just two laps, but the end of the season has been a real fillip for Grosjean’s career as he seeks to lead Lotus into a new era next year.

Marussia maintained their 10^th place in the constructors ahead of Caterham.

It is the end of the shrill V8, but the dawn of the turbo

So next year it’s all change. Gone will be the V8’s and in come 1.6 litre Turbo’s with various energy recovery systems which make the cars far more road relevant. The racing will certainly be different next year and the sound not quite as loud, but they’ll still be the best and fastest racing cars in the world.

The main question is can anyone stop Red Bull? As 2014 gets closer we’ll begin to learn more about how everyone’s doing, but you have to believe that with such fundamental rule changes, the order is bound to be mixed up, already we’re getting glimpses of who might be leading the back, with Mercedes rumoured to be on the right track while Ferrari could face further struggles next year.

I think we can safely assume that Red Bull will continue to mix it at the front but you have to believe they won’t have own F1 quite as much as they have done this year, the future is an exciting one.

There's still things to be sorted with drivers too with a number of seats still up for grabs as the off season starts. There's going to be a lot of negotiations and worrying winter thoughts for a lot of drivers.

But this past season has been good. It might not have been a battle to the end, but it was one of just a perfect combination of man and machine, and when that happens, they become unbeatable. Vettel and Red Bull were that perfect combination and this year they made history.

Final Result after 71 laps:

1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull

2. Mark Webber - Red Bull

3. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari

4. Jenson Button - McLaren

5. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes

6. Sergio Perez - McLaren

7. Felipe Massa - Ferrari

8. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber

9. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

10. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso

11. Paul di Resta - Force India

12. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber

13. Adrian Sutil - Force India

14. Heikki Kovalainen - Lotus

15. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso

16. Pastor Maldonado - Williams

17. Jules Bianchi - Marussia

18. Giedo van der Garde - Caterham

19. Max Chilton - Marussia

R. Charles Pic - Caterham - Suspension

R. Valtteri Bottas - Williams - Accident

R. Romain Grosjean - Lotus - Engine

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The Brazilian Forecast

In Brazil we trust. Rarely do we get a dull race around the Interlagos track in Sao Paulo and with the weather forecast predicting rain on every day of the event, the 2013 season could be in for a thrilling finale which might just see the dampening of the Red Bull party.

Not that it would take much of the gloss off what has been a brilliantly dominant campaign from the Milton Keynes based team. If it is a dry race then they have every hope of Sebastian Vettel continuing to exploit their car to the fullest as Pirelli are bringing the hard and medium tyre meaning the tyres should last nicely. There are also two DRS zones, the first on the start finish straight with the second coming after the Senna S.

If it is a wet race let’s not get carried away with thinking that Vettel will be out of it. He’s brilliant in wet conditions too and would have every chance of showing them off, but a bit of H2O goes a long way to mixing the pack up, especially if it’s a wet dry race. The weather at the moment seems to suggest that Sunday will be full of short showers not constant falling rain. So let's look to the positives for F1's final 2013 fling.

I can’t think of a wet race that Romain Grosjean has excelled in during his time of Formula 1, although over the last few years they’ve been hard to come by. If it is raining on Sunday then that will be the first wet race all year. However, my point was that Grosjean in the latter half of this year has been brilliant and put in some incredibly mature drives, not least his great run to second place last time out in America.

Lotus look to have the only car capable of at least getting into the mix with the Red Bull’s in dry conditions so if it is wet, perhaps this will be the chance for them to nab a second victory of the year, in fact it would mean they bookend the season. Definitely watch out for Grosjean. Even his replacement team mate Heikki Kovalainen might be worth watching out for. He looked quick in his first race back for nearly a year, especially in qualifying.

Nico Hulkenberg for Sauber will also be worth watching out for. He took a fantastic pole position for Williams here in 2010 and last year was leading the race comfortably for a while before a dice with Lewis Hamilton saw him sliding helplessly into the British driver. He still recovered to fifth while Lewis retired in his final race for McLaren.

Lewis looked to have rediscovered a bit of form for Mercedes in the USA ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg, and he’s always looked quick here despite lacking a win. If it’s raining it might be a chance for him to shine one final time in 2013, his wet weather driving is usually something to behold and Rosberg isn't bad either.

That could also mean renowned wet weather specialist Jenson Button could finally grab McLaren a podium this year, or maybe something even better; he was the winner here last year in a mixed condition race. Sergio Perez too, in his final race for McLaren is pretty handy in the wet so it is potentially a race for them to go for the win with nothing to lose.

Valtteri Bottas made Williams look like a team to be taken seriously again in the USA with a strong qualifying and an equally strong race to claim their best result of the year. He was fantastic in wet qualifying in Canada, and with Williams having made real progress since they sorted out the rear end of their car, it would be worth keeping an eye on Bottas and Pastor Maldonado to spring a surprise.

We can’t forget about Ferrari either. In the dry, maybe we can, but again this hinges on the race being wet, but Fernando Alonso can be magnificent in these conditions and will exploit his car to its fullest to pull of one final miracle win. Felipe Massa shouldn’t be ruled out either, he’s a twice winner of his home Grand Prix, and in his final race for Ferrari will be desperate to go out in style.  

There are interesting dynamics in the constructors championship too, with a fight for second still going on between Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus while down at the back, it takes just one mixed up race for Caterham to steal 10^th place and a lot of prize money from Marussia who’ve been in the vital spot since the start of the year. Caterham pulled off that feat last year, there’s no reason they can’t do it again.

There's plenty to fight for with regards to next year too. There are only a few seats left up for grabs and enough drivers currently competing to fill them up twice over. It's going to one final chance to prove themselves for the likes of Paul di Resta, Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutierrez, Sergio Perez, Pastor Maldonado, Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic, Max Chilton and for some inexplicable reason Nico Hulkenberg. Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne have their seats safe for next year, but they'll likely be jostling with many of these drivers, so it could be quite the wild time.

We shouldn’t forget two time Brazilian Grand Prix winner Mark Webber either, in his final race in Formula 1. He’ll be desperate to finish his career with one more win to take him into double figures, and if it ends up being a dry race he should be the only one able to take the fight to Vettel and give us a rousing send off to the 2013 season. It doesn’t really matter if Vettel wins or not, I think some of his wins this year have been mesmerising. But it would just be nice to send this season off with an exhilarating fight for the win.

If it’s dry, it’s almost certain to be a Red Bull demonstration run, if it’s wet however, then let the sport come alive once more. Come on Formula 1, one last hurrah. 

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Vettel charges to title as Button wins Brazilian thriller

Sebastian Vettel is the youngest triple world champion in Formula 1 history, and certainly after this race no one can deny that he richly deserves it. It was an incredible come back drive after everything had looked lost for him in the tricky condition at Interlagos.

After being squeezed towards the wall off the start line from 4th, he backed off and ended up in the pack as they approached turn 4. First of all he owes Kimi Raikkonen a debt of gratitude who left his braking late and jinked out onto the run off to avoid hitting the back of the Red Bull.

If you look at the replays, Vettel was so close to disaster, his rear wing would have been ripped off and it would’ve been race over. As it was he went into a different accident.

He went to the apex of turn 4 but Bruno Senna’s Williams was already there tipping Vettel round which launched Senna over his right rear wheel. Ordinarily that could have been wheel off, but not this time, this was Vettel’s day.

As the rest of the field found their way by, Vettel kept the car straight as he continued backwards. Quickly flicking his Red Bull round, he got back on it and soon attached himself to the back of the pack again.

He was in devastating form and carved his way back into the top 10 in no time. In fact as the conditions worsened and cars were stopping for intermediate tyres on lap 11 Vettel had Alonso in his sights.

On lap 22 the safety car was called to clear a lot of debris from the track, it closed the pack up, but Vettel was already fairly close to Alonso, if anything it hindered him as Kamui Kobayashi managed to squeeze by followed a few laps later by a brave move from Alonso’s team mate Felipe Massa to come round the outside into turn 4. He now was 7^th, but it was still good.

As everyone switched back to dry tyres, the rain began to fall again, Vettel’s radio was malfunctioning and he came into the pits and got dries put on again instead of inters. He had to come back in, but yet again he made the progress he needed and was soon back ahead of the likes of Kobayashi and Michael Schumacher as the weather continued to add spice to the action.

Alonso was now in second, but it made no difference to Vettel, he had the position in 6^th and on lap 69 as Paul di Resta smashed into the wall just before the finishing straight, the safety car was called and that was it. Sebastian Vettel cruised over the line in now soaking conditions to confirm his third consecutive driver’s title.

A fantastic recovery when it had all looked so bad an hour and a half earlier. A lot has been said already about Vettel only winning because of Red Bull having the faster car at the end of the season. But that’s just to simplify things really.

Vettel was up near the front all year and when the opportunity came, as perhaps only he can, he exploited it fully. I’m not sure anyone can drive quite as fast as Sebastian when the car is perfect.

And let’s not forget his lost win in Valencia when he was dominating or the lost points in Italy through alternator failures or the fantastic recovery drives in Abu Dhabi and here in Brazil. Vettel is a truly deserving three time world champion.

It could have all been so different

Fernando Alonso will look back at this season, and I hope he believes like most others that it was one of the great demonstrations of how to go about constructing an almost perfect year of motor racing.

Yet again he qualified poorly, but that’s all the car has allowed him to do for most of the year. But as always he targeted the podium and very rarely does he not succeed in getting there. At the beginning of lap 2, Alonso was in world championship winning position; Vettel was nowhere and the Spaniard had already worked his way up to third with a nice double overtake on Webber and Massa into turn 1.

It could have been his, but as the rain continued to fall he ran wide at turn 1 to let Nico Hulkenberg through into third, and Vettel was already slicing his way into the points. By lap 11 as they changed tyres it was already looking too much, but as always this year he was there picking up the pieces and it so almost came off.

After Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton collided and Massa let him through, he was into 2^nd, but it just wasn’t enough. I think Fernando has looked a little tentative over the last two races, he’s been out paced by Massa and I think he knew it was going away from him when for so long he really believed it was his.

And it could have been, but for two crashes at the start of the Belgian and Japanese races he would be world champion, but Vettel can point to races where he lost points too, as can Hamilton. This is motor racing. We also should not forget that despite the desperate image built up this year, Ferrari have actually finished second in the constructors, and their car was podium capable from a quarter of the way through.

That takes nothing away from Alonso though, he would have truly deserved his third title; he’s scored 13 podiums, more than anyone else and he has galvanised the team like no one else has. They’re all behind him and working for him because he’s a truly inspirational figure head for the team and I’ve no doubt that Alonso’s day will come again sooner rather than later.

Jenson Button bookends 2012

Even without the drama of the title decider this race was a real thriller in the rain. It was a proper epic with drama all the way down the field and the battle for the lead typified this. The McLaren’s had locked out the front row with Hamilton on pole by less than a tenth.

They got away well at the start and there followed a hard battle between them as Button tracked Lewis, passed him, was re-passed then finally stayed ahead. Catching them steadily though was Hulkenberg who looked like he was about to produce a giant killing act.

As everyone including Lewis dived for the pits to switch to inters when the rain began to fall, Button and Hulkenberg continued to fight it out on slicks and actually built up a 40 second lead over the rest of the field. On lap 18 Nico made his move, exiting the final corner he used all his KERs energy to slipstream Button and pass him into turn 1.

Their lonely battle at the front was brought to an end when the safety car came out. Hamilton was back in contention and soon got ahead of Button, and began to hunt Hulkenberg, much as he did to Vettel last week.

Lap 48 and Hulkenberg slipped up, catching a damp white line into turn 7 and half spinning. He caught it well but it was enough for Hamilton to get by. It didn’t end there though, Hulkenberg was in great form and clung onto Lewis as they approached backmarkers 7 laps later.

The Force India dived down the inside into turn 1 but was on the wet, the back end got away from him and slid into the side of the McLaren destroying Lewis’ left front. He was out, Nico who had driven heroically dropped down the field, amplified by the stewards handing him a drive through penalty, he still managed to finish 5^th but it could have been so much more. Hamilton was out, his McLaren career over.

Jenson Button had been hovering not far behind and picked up the lead, he cruised to the finish to earn his third win of the year. If there had been no safety car it would have been interesting to see if Button could have got back past Hulkenberg, but whatever all three of them drove a great final race of 2012.

Another lost win for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton can justifiably claim to have driven a fantastic season. He’s lost a lot of points, mostly through no fault of his own, something which perhaps influenced his decision to leave McLaren to join Mercedes for next season.

Whatever the circumstances though he wanted to leave McLaren on a high, this is a team which have nurtured him since he was 11, they brought him into Formula 1 and took him to world championship glory.

It was a sad way to end, but he got a standing ovation when he returned to the pits and it was no less than he deserved. I think he’s driven one of his best years, especially after the shambles that 2011 was.

Lewis deserved more than he got out of 2012, but I believe he’ll win races for Mercedes next year. He’s that kind of driver. Whether he can get the team around him in the way Alonso has with Ferrari is another matter. We’ll see how that plays out over the coming seasons, and how he handles the situation if the team can’t deliver.

Schumacher’s final hurrah

A special mention to the legend that is Michael Schumacher who drove a fine final race to score Mercedes first points in 6 races. Qualifying 13^th he suffered a puncture and was lapped but the safety car allowed him back onto the lead lap.

From then on as the rain intensified he found himself fighting for points and eventually claimed 7^th as he showed his fighting spirit one last time. As ever with Schuey, he never gave up. It wasn’t the end many had hoped for and obviously his years at Mercedes weren’t the success they might have been.

But he showed enough speed and fight to show that despite his 43 years, he could mix it with this generation of stars and if he’d been given the opportunity would easily have taken another win and it certainly takes nothing away from the success he had in his first career.

Rest of the top 10

Felipe Massa came home third after juggling going fast, then slow, then holding up people and passing people in aid of his team mate. He’s been faster than Alonso over the last two weekends and he’ll certainly want to take that form into next year. He’s finally looking like the driver before his accident, if he can keep this up it’ll be interesting to see how Alonso takes it. One of the stars of the race.

Mark Webber had an eventful race to fourth, falling off and fighting back a few times. Squeezed Vettel at the 

start and tried to pass him at the restart which must have made uncomfortable viewing for the Red Bull hierarchy.

Jean-Eric Vergne had a fine race to finish 8^th. He battled with the best of them and was closing down Schumacher towards the end.

Kamui Kobayashi felt the final shove of Schumacher’s career as he tried to pass the Mercedes for 7^th. It spun him round but he kept going for 2 points. Earlier he’d been giving Vettel a hard time so not the result he was looking for in potentially his final race in Formula 1. It really shouldn’t be, he deserves a seat next year.

Kimi Raikkonen picked up the final point and learnt a valuable lesson, always make sure escape roads have their gates open. In one of several time he left the track, he tried to go round the back at turn 11 only to discover his way blocked off. A quick spin turn and a grass cutting exercise and he was back on track. He did however get lapped meaning he was one lap short of having completed every single lap this year.

Finally Caterham took an 11^th place with Vitaly Petrov meaning they passed Marussia in the constructors championship to earn valuable extra money and free travel.

So that was that then

The 2012 Formula 1 season is over, and wasn’t it just great? The majority of the races were fantastic, the championship went down to the wire and we have a great three time world champion with Sebastian Vettel after Fernando Alonso was an absolute hero for Ferrari to drag his car into contention.

Next year the regulations remain mostly the same, Pirelli are bringing new softer compounds, theirs plenty of driver changes, Alonso and Vettel will continue to lead their teams, Lotus and Kimi should progress and Lewis will win for Mercedes. It’s going to be even closer in 2013.

all photo's taken from autosport.com