Is Kevin Magnussen the next Lewis Hamilton?

Lazy headline I know, but stay with me. Kevin Magnussen has risen through McLaren’s young driver program at a time when a lot has been written in the F1 press about pay drivers. Those drivers who have managed to fund their stay in Formula 1 perhaps at the expense of better drivers who are not backed as heavily. The likes of Pastor Maldonado securing a top line drive at Lotus is the obvious one.

This was particularly notable for the fact that Lotus openly said that if they could secure the finance they wanted to hire Nico Hulkenberg. They couldn’t so they didn’t and in stepped Maldonado with a tonne of Venezuelan cash behind him. Let’s not forget though that Maldonado is a race winner, even the drivers with money have a huge amount of talent to reach Formula 1. Even Max Chilton was a race winner in GP2.

It is sad though that money can be a deciding factor in who gets to drive where and who will rise up the grid. It’s a distinct aberration in the way Formula 1 is run that some of the better midfield teams and even now some of the top teams have to make this consideration when deciding who will drive for them. There’s enough money coming in that all teams could be run comfortably, but large amounts of money are siphoned off into Bernie and CVC’s coffers while the spread amongst the teams is incredibly unfair and tilted to those who already have an advantage.

However, amongst all the concerning talk of pay drivers not allowing new talent to shine through in the top echelon of motor sport, the curious thing about 2014 is that the two rookies who have been promoted to rarefied air of Formula 1 have been picked on talent.

Admittedly Toro Rosso’s new driver is Russian Daniil Kvyat who has been hired just as the first Russian Grand Prix comes on the calendar. But let’s not be cynical, he is the current GP3 champion, like Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, so I look forward to seeing how he gets on alongside Jean-Eric Vergne. These are the kind of drivers who should be in the sport.

So it’s with even more glee I anticipate Magnussen’s arrival into the sport, not least because he is slotting into the McLaren seat vacated by Sergio Perez. He’s been under the McLaren young driver scheme since 2009 when he was just 17 years old.

So is he the next Lewis Hamilton? Well no, I wouldn’t seek to categorise him as such at all, he is Kevin Magnussen who has his own talents. If anything he is on a steadily rising upward curve. Whereas Hamilton won pretty much every championship he entered, Magnussen hasn’t reigned supreme. However as the Formula’s have got bigger he has got more successful. He was Danish Formula Ford champion, but after this success he didn’t win a title again until last year in World Series by Renault 3.5 which featured a great many talents I’d hope and expect to reach Formula 1 in the next few years including fellow McLaren young driver Stoffel Vandoorne.

That’s not to say he didn’t have success, his talent was obvious and in the Formula 1 young driver test at Silverstone last year he created a strong impression, so much so that Perez was moved on after just one year at McLaren to make room.

But what makes him so exciting is that he is probably the best prepared rookie we’ve had for years. He’s not had the testing miles he would have had in the past, but he’ll have had a lot of simulator experience and has been groomed by McLaren for five years now; for them to promote him without farming him out to a midfield team first means they have a lot of faith that Magnussen’s is a special talent just like Lewis was…is.

I’m really looking forward to how he comes up against Jenson Button. Gary Paffet, McLaren development driver, has said that he expects Magnussen will push Button, which is something Button needs to get the best out of himself anyway. I expect the 2014 regulations to suit Jenson too, so if Magnussen can compete with and even beat the former world champion, then we’ll have a superstar almost immediately.

At the very least I expect a longer and better McLaren career than his dad Jan Magnussen had in 1995, who had a two race stint before fading out of Formula 1 with Stewart Grand Prix a few years later after he’d shown such promise in junior Formulae.

There’s lots of other drivers to get excited about in 2014, the aforementioned Kvyat, the progress of Bottas at Williams, especially as he’s not up against Felipe Massa who I think will be rejuvenated now he’s left Ferrari.

Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez make a tasty combination at Force India. While at the front of the grid, I’m looking forward to seeing if Daniel Ricciardo can get one over on the four time champion Sebastian Vettel. It’s Ricciardo’s chance to shine and he might just get one chance with so much talent on the Red Bull young driver program coming through.

Ferrari obviously have quite the pairing with Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, although I don’t think it’ll be acrimonious between them it might get heated between the Spaniard and the team. I think it could get quite tense between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, especially if as is predicted Mercedes could be holding a title winning car.

Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado could surprise everyone. Grosjean particularly I think will shine this year if Lotus can get it together.

A lot has been talked about with the regulation changes but the drivers are the heart of the sport, they are the focus and there’s a lot to be excited about as 2014 gets going.

Drivers of the year 2013 - Q2

For numbers 23 to 17 please click here

And so we continue our countdown from 16 to 11...

16. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)

The latest flying Finn flew under the radar for the majority of it. He actually had a pretty decent showing despite lacking some of the sparkle that was expected as he was often out raced by Maldonado despite being ahead on the grid. Still an exceptional showing in wet qualifying in Canada when he started third and an even better dry top 10 start in the USA followed by four points for eighth marked him out as one to watch. He’ll be even better next season, hopefully Williams will provide the car for him to shine as much as people thing he is capable of.

15. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)

Marussia had the jump on Caterham for the early stages of the season and Jules Bianchi took full advantage of that. While dominating his team mate, he also took on and beat the Caterham’s even when they overtook them in development. It wasn’t as noticeable once Caterham were more fully in control so he began to be a bit overlooked but it was a great display for the Ferrari young driver. Perhaps the only surprise is that his performances this year didn’t yield a move up the grid, so slightly disappointingly he’s at Marussia for another year.

14. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

I thought it was a bit unfair of Red Bull to seemingly so easily dismiss Vergne as a replacement for Mark Webber. Vergne for much of the time is a perfectly competent driver with great potential, he may be out-qualified most of the time by his now ex-team mate Daniel Ricciardo, but often they’ll end up on track together with Vergne ahead. If Vergne can find an extra bit of speed in qualifying he can move up the grid. With GP3 champion Daniil Kvyat joining him he’ll have to up his game if he wants his career to move on up.

13. Paul di Resta (Force India)

It looks like di Resta is going to fall out of Formula 1 for next season, it’ll be a shame if he can find a way back because he deserves to be competing. Remember this is the guy who beat Sebastian Vettel when they were in Formula 3 together. But the thing is he does himself no favours with his I’m owed attitude that sometimes comes across in the press. His public perception isn’t great and it didn’t help that this season despite a positive start to the year there was a terrible middle of the year when Force India couldn’t get a handle on the tyres; for four consecutive races di Resta had incidents too.

Hopefully he’ll bounce back, there’s too many drivers competing that perhaps shouldn’t be there, but despite this when you’ve been in F1 for three years and you don’t look like you’re progressing, you’re lucky to have to been in F1 for three years.

12. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

Ricciardo got into Q3 nine times in the 2013 season. That’s five more times than his team mate Vergne did and that’s pretty much why he’s the one going to Red Bull. It’ll be interesting to see how he gets on against Vettel there, was he picked because they believe he’ll do a good enough back up job, or as some people suspect he can grow into a superstar himself. His qualifying indicates he’s fast enough, his race performances sometimes seem to show he can’t maintain that pace, but that could just be because he can manage to squeeze more out of the car over one lap than it’s capable of doing for 70. 

Whatever, there are still questions to be answer but it’s going to be fascinating to see if he can manage to put some pressure on Vettel in the German’s own team.

11.  Sergio Perez (McLaren)

To have a McLaren driver down in only 11th spot is an indication that the driver may have not performed to expectations but that also yet again McLaren have produced a dodgy car, except this one wasn’t just dodgy, it was a bit rubbish.

Perez started off quietly this year as he found his feet, but I thought he actually drove rather well. He had some problems but it was a learning year and he definitely displayed some fight and not an insignificant amount of pace too. 

Jenson Button may have out-scored him but Perez actually won qualifying 10-9. No points gained there but it showed that in many ways he was the equal and certainly in the latter few races of the campaign he was the go to man for McLaren’s points scoring. It’s a shame he won’t get another year in a better McLaren as exciting rookie and Renault 3.5 World Series Champion Kevin Magnussen takes over but at least he stays on with Force India.

For the top 10 please click here

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The 2014 driver game

 

As you may have noticed over the past week there has been a lot of movement in the driver market for next year, and even for this year. Let’s start with the biggest story, that of Kimi Raikkonen leaving Lotus before the end of the season so he can have an operation to cure his recurrent back problems.

It could appear to be that Kimi has left Lotus in the lurch but to be fair to the Finn, he hasn’t been paid this year, that money is not looking like it’s going to be forthcoming any time soon either. Added to that and probably more importantly, the recovery time of this op is estimated at around four weeks.

He’s facing a huge challenge with taking on Fernando Alonso at Ferrari next year, so will want to be ready to hit the ground running as soon as 2014 testing starts early next year. With the season finishing so late, it’s probably a good plan to get it done and dusted as soon as possible.

It’s probably a wise decision, although a disappointment for all Kimi fans not to see his smiling face for the final two grand prix. Nico Hulkenberg apparently turned down the chance to replace him as he felt it was too big a risk for just two races. Heikki Kovalainen grabbed the opportunity with both hands though. Having only played a bit part for Caterham in practice sessions this year he will be eager to show he still has what it takes. I sincerely hope he takes this opportunity.

However, I’d have liked to have seen 2012’s GP2 champion and Lotus reserve driver Davide Valsecchi be given the chance. After all what’s the point of having a reserve driver contracted if when the opportunity arises he is passed over? I know they are in a scrap to be in the top 3 of the constructors championship, but how are these reserve drivers ever likely to progress if they are not trusted for the job they’ve been employed to do?

I think it’s a bit ridiculous that he hadn’t managed to get a drive while someone like Max Chilton did. Yes, he was a race winner in GP2, but his drive was bought. The top level of motor sport should not be employing drivers who have paid for their seats. They should only be for the best of the best.

Perhaps a restructuring of the revenue generated by this global car circus would enable teams to afford to hire the drivers they really want and not the ones they need for the sake of budget. Even if it is an economic downtime, there is something seriously wrong when the top echelon of the sport has top teams not being able to afford to pay its drivers. But that’s an entirely different blog to be discussed later.

McLaren

Kevin Magnussen was awesome at the young drivers test at Silverstone this year. I was there and for lap after lap he just looked on it all the time, it was certainly very impressive. He also won the Formula Renault 3.5 world series this year, so I am glad that McLaren haven’t chosen to blood him in a lower team but have taken the chance to promote one from their own young driver program. I can’t wait to see how he performs next year alongside Jenson Button. I think Jenson is going to have his work cut out, much like Fernando Alonso did when a rookie Lewis Hamilton partnered him.

However the fact that Sergio Perez has been replaced after just one season seems a bit unfair. I hope he gets a decent driver next year because he deserved a bit more. Yes Button has scored nearly double the points but I think in general Perez has done nearly as good a job and certainly recently has looked the better bet for points.

It’s such a shame that he came to the team on one of their down years, as there is no doubting that on his day he’s a very good driver indeed. Much like Button in fact. And on their day, given the car in a certain year, they can be world champion, like Button was. But this looks like it’s back to the midfield for Perez, at least with his budget he should be able to secure a decent drive somewhere. I hope he does because I don’t think he deserved to be treated like this.

With rumours of Alonso perhaps joining for 2015 when Honda join the team, Button might have to look over his shoulder too, although the Woking team also have Formula Renault 3.5 runner up Stoffel Vandoorne on their books too so there’s another young prospect to look too. At least McLaren (along with Red Bull and Ferrari amongst others) are bringing in fresh good talent to fill the F1 seats. Watch out for Vandoorne, he’s plying his trade in GP2 next year.

Massa gets his 2014 seat

Felipe Massa will continue in Formula 1 next year at Williams. I’m delighted for him, he deserves to lead a team and I think getting away from Ferrari and the shadow of Alonso will do him good. I hope he rediscovers his form from before the accident in 2009 and shows that he’s not done yet.

If some of the rumours that his engineer from Ferrari, Rob Smedley might join the team as well as potentially a link up with Ross Brawn are true, then it could be a fantastic time to be joining the Williams team as they look to move back up the grid.

Valtteri Bottas is a good young hopeful and will keep Massa on his toes, but I think Felipe will believe he’s been hired to lead this team and I think that will give him the impetus to spark a second wave in his career; looking forward to seeing what he can do.

Of course that means Pastor Maldonado is now on the market with his masses of Venezuelan cash behind him, so the 2014 driver market is going to be a hot topic for some time to come with seats at Lotus, Force India, Sauber, Caterham and Marussia still to be announced.  

A final note about young drivers

The fact is money is hard to come by at the moment which is why many teams are looking for their drivers to bring a budget with them. Sometimes this means that a lot of the talented drivers who have not got the money miss out on an opportunity at the top of the sport.

This means that if this trend continues then the sport might not be presenting the best cars with the best drivers driving them. For instance last years GP2 champion did not get an F1 drive. This year at the moment it looks like the top 2 from GP2 are not going to get drives.

This is unacceptable. However the economy means that this may happen more often, so what I would like to see is the FIA buying two cars, perhaps year old ones or perhaps new ones from other teams and running them in free practice.

They would be run independently from the teams that made them so there would be no advantage for a team that sells a car. With these two cars, should a top driver from one of the top feeder series fail to find a drive in Formula 1 or high end alternative he would be given an opportunity to show what he can do to the teams and sponsors in the Friday free practice sessions.

Just put them in the shop window and maybe the teams might take a chance as might some sponsors. What with testing being restricted it would give a decent chance for drivers to get experience too. It’s a plan with perhaps many flaws, but flaws that could be ironed out. Surely worth a thought?

all photo's from autosport.com

The Abu Dhabi Forecast

So now Sebastian Vettel is world champion for another year, it’s all over isn’t it? Might as well pack up and go home now the title race is over for another year despite three races still to run. Well yes, you’d be foolish not to place a cheeky bet on Vettel making it nine race wins a row; if you enjoy a bet that is.

But this is Formula 1 and at some point people lose. They won’t always win. People once lamented that Michael Schumacher would win forever and no one else would get a look in. But no, in his last two seasons he lost the title, and in his second career he didn’t even win a single race.

Things change in sport, no one can win forever. With the pressure of the title race now finally done with, perhaps Red Bull’s and Vettel’s concentration will slip momentarily and allow others the chance for glory (unlikely).

We’ll see if there is any hope for that at this weekend’s race at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. It’s been on the calendar since 2009 and is now a dusk to night race. The tyres for the weekend are the soft and medium compounds which were used at India last weekend. As the race descends into darkness, although with hundreds of lights shining upon the circuit, it’ll be interesting to see how the tyre performance changes as the temperatures change when the sun goes out. It’ll still be hot though, the forecast is for the minimum temperature to be 23C this weekend.

There are two DRS zones this weekend between turns 7 and 8, with another one between turns 10 and 11. At a circuit which was hard to pass on and destroyed Fernando Alonso’s title hopes in 2010 as he struggled to pass Vitaly Petrov, it’s certainly worth having two DRS zones to make it slightly less, well dull.

So it’s guaranteed that the 2013 world champions Vettel and Red Bull will be up there fight for pole position and victory but who else will be in contention? Well I’m still hoping that Mark Webber will get a win in his final season of racing. He’s been a lot more competitive the last two weekends despite saying he is suffering with his motivation. It would be great for him to get one over on Vettel before his time in Formula 1 is up.

Never mind Red Bull for now though, even if they were to streak into the distance there’s still plenty of action out there to look for. The squabble for second in the constructors championship is an interesting one, with Mercedes ahead of Ferrari and Lotus closing both down.

Nico Rosberg was strong for the Mercedes team last time out, while Lewis Hamilton was a bit disappointed with his performance over the weekend. Lewis is always good in Abu Dhabi so I think he might have a chance of sneaking pole. It’ll also be interesting to see just the Mercedes team react to the increasing rumours of Team Principal Ross Brawn’s imminent departure.

I think Ferrari are done this year I can’t see them getting anything other than the odd podium in the last three races. You’d have to say that purely on last weekend, Felipe Massa will give the scarlet squad just as good a chance at a podium as Alonso. Massa put in a polished performance and will give him encouragement as he looks to secure his 2014 seat.

If Romain Grosjean hadn’t struck out in Q1, then where might he have finished in India? Second probably, as he rose almost unnoticed to snatch the final podium spot from 17^th on the grid. I still think he might grab a win this year and I think Grosjean will get another podium this weekend, maybe even a win. Kimi Raikkonen on the other hand will probably just want to get one over on his upstart team mate. Actually, I doubt he’ll care, he was at risk of not even turning up as disagreements with the managers at Lotus have started to create tension, especially with Alan Permane who swore at Kimi over the radio last weekend.

However, Kimi won in Abu Dhabi last year, there’s nothing to say he can’t do it again. Lotus are strong, probably the second fastest at the moment, so if Red Bull slip up I think the black and gold cars will be there.

Watch out for McLaren as they look to confirm their improved performance from India. Sergio Perez did particularly well last weekend, while Jenson Button will be looking to somehow grab an elusive podium.

In the midfield battle I think Sauber still have the edge and I believe will be the fastest ahead of Force India and Toro Rosso who actually both outscored Sauber after Nico Hulkenberg’s retirement.

There’s still plenty of action to be had, and like I said before, in Formula 1 and sport in general, no one can win forever. Will Red Bull win the last three races? It would be a brave man to bet on that. 

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Six wins in a row gives Vettel title number four

There should be no doubt whatsoever that Sebastian Vettel belongs with the true greats of Formula 1. His sixth win in a row, his tenth this season secured him his fourth consecutive world championship joining the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher. It also helped Red Bull wrap up their fourth constructors crown.

As with so many of his victories Vettel’s drive today was emphatic. Many pundits predicted that Red Bull’s other driver Mark Webber could take the victory as strategy options for the race were varied. Vettel was starting on the soft tyre which could barely last five laps whereas Webber had qualified on the medium tyre and could have a lot longer first stint while in theory Vettel would be stuck in traffic.

Vettel hasn't won so many races and taken so many titles without things going his way. It’s not to say that events just fall for him, he makes it happen, he’ll see the opportunity, take it and exploit it to the furthest it can go. He did that today.

Starting from pole position, the only man to ever start from pole in India in three events, Vettel flew away from the line. He made a slight movement to the right to just let the Mercedes pairing know he was there before just taking off. Felipe Massa had made another excellent getaway and had bolted past both silver cars down into turn four, but Vettel headed the Ferrari by over two seconds as they crossed the line for the first time.

Vettel pitted after just two laps dropping down the field to 18^th place. As other soft tyre starters pitted he quickly gained positions and made decisive moves to get rid of the medium tyre starters too. So fast was he that he was into the top three in ten laps and after Massa, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had pitted to get rid of their soft tyres managed to get past Sergio Perez’s McLaren to take second and lie only 11 seconds behind Webber having been more than 18 behind.

It was an impressive performance. Once Webber had done a similar short stint on the soft tyres and made his final stop to go back onto the mediums, Vettel was back in the lead having made his final stop too. There was to be no stopping him. Try as he might Webber has just not been able to compete with Vettel this season at all, so as he tried in vain to catch his dominant team mate it was yet again the Australian who suffered the Red Bull bad luck.

An alternator problem took out Webber with 20 laps to go. It made the team look at Vettel’s data, a faulty sensor was leading them to believe that his car too could be on the verge of failure. Not that it stopped him lighting up the time sheets to record a fastest lap so far. As ever with Vettel though, he knew when to push his car and when not to; once he’d battled back into the lead there was never going to be a challenge to him.

Partly this is down to the fact that the other teams just have not done a good enough job this year while Red Bull have continued to develop their car with purpose. Vettel may well bow down to the Adrian Newey designed car, but significantly the other part is that I just don’t believe anyone is as good as Vettel at getting the maximum out of a good car. 

Anything the team ask of him he can do. We must not forget the Red Bull hasn’t been this far ahead for half the season, but Vettel had learnt from last year and had still built a pretty decent points gap before with the tyre changes and developments they allowed the car and consequently Vettel off the leash.

Once everything is honed you are not going to stop a driver of Vettel’s calibre. I will write more about his season as a whole over the next few days, but right now should just be a celebration of a remarkable driver. Some have said he’s making the racing boring, but he had to fight for his win today, and even when he’s dominating it’s an awe-inspiring performance.

Even his own victory doughnuts showed the world he’s the best at that too, for which he got a reprimand. But no matter, today was Vettel’s day and he took the glory with remarkable emotion and humility, he knows he’s lucky to do this job and he comes across as just a regular guy but one with an immense talent for driving racing machines right to the edge; no one could touch him this year, a truly deserving four time champion.

Grosjean charges from the back

Lotus have no need to worry about next season at all. They must know this now as Romain Grosjean took his third podium in a row with a fine third place finish from all the way back in 17^th. It was a great drive built on one of the longest first stints on soft tyres; he stopped on lap 13.

The Lotus’ look after their rubber well but this was fantastic. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen stopped six laps earlier and tried to make it to the end of the 60 lap race. It didn’t work, Grosjean used his slightly fresher tyres to close down Kimi, they were battling for the final podium spot and despite how quickly Grosjean was coming at him, the Finn didn’t make it easy.

Coming down to turn four Grosjean went for it around the outside, Kimi on dead tyres held him wide giving him a slight nudge and pushing Grosjean off the track. Romain had taken the place but gave it back as he’d exceeded track limits something that perhaps last year he’d have lacked the head to realise this.

He calmly pulled off the move a lap later while Kimi sank several places before grabbing some extra softs with a couple laps remaining and taking seventh. But Grosjean is the form driver and if hadn’t been for a poor team choice to keep him on medium compounds for Q1 he’d have probably taken second and maybe, just maybe challenged for the win.

Perez stars to give McLaren timely reminder

Sergio Perez took a great fifth place finish driving with a calm assuredness and his typically have a go passing moves. He started from ninth and as the soft tyre starters pitted he rose up the field to run second behind Webber before his first stop at half distance. A few laps on the softs and he switched back to the mediums to run just behind Massa and Hamilton.

He drove with consistency and maintained a good enough pace to allow him to be in a position to take advantage of any problems. Hamilton was catching Kimi’s tyre suffering Lotus, while Lewis himself was feeling his tyres giving up too. Perez used it to his advantage and using the DRS he passed both of them in one go and simply drove away. McLaren should give Perez another go next year, I think he’s driven well enough to be given a good car rather than the truck they gave the Mexican this year. Meanwhile his world champion team mate Jenson Button could only finish a disappointing 14^th after a problem filled race.

Massa looks to secure 2014 seat

Massa is in talks with Williams for next year, so it was good of him to put in his best race performance for some time. He out-qualified his Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso yet again to line up fifth and then produced a great first lap to lie second. Once Vettel had pitted early he led for several laps before he had to make an early stop too.

Unfortunately while Vettel emerged in clean air, Massa came out into traffic and couldn’t cut throw the field quite as efficiently. Still, he held off the Mercedes pairing successfully until the final stops when Rosberg undercut him. He still managed to keep Lewis at bay and even began to close in on Grosjean. A good drive, one which he’ll need to replicate in the next three races if he really wants a 2014 place.

What the rest of the field did

Rosberg put in a great drive for Mercedes. While at first it looked like the silver arrow pairing might be relegated off the podium despite a great qualifying of second and third, Rosberg kept it all together and through strategy made it ahead of Massa. It was a crucial earlier stop that got him out ahead of Grosjean and meant he had first crack at the deteriorating Kimi. Second place was a decent result in a weekend when he looked to have the edge over Lewis who could only manage sixth.

The Force India’s had their best weekend for some time with Adrian Sutil particularly putting in a sparkling drive towards the front of the field before his first pit stop. Of course under the radar, Paul di Resta actually claimed the bigger points with eighth while Sutil slipped to ninth. A good result for di Resta, one that he desperately needed but not one which will have been noticed I fear.

It was about time Force India had something to shout about as they’d fallen behind Sauber and Toro Rosso on pace, but out scored them both this weekend to help them maintain their sixth place in the constructors race. Daniel Ricciardo grabbed the last point after running as high as third. Sauber meanwhile suffered misfortune as Nico Hulkenberg retired while Esteban Gutierrez got a drive through penalty for jumping the start.

Fernando Alonso

I can never forget the death stare of Alonso after he failed to win the world title last year. It was a face of such total disbelief and disappointment that he’d come so close and yet once again had failed. Today I imagine it was just one of resignation.

He hadn’t come close at all this season, in fact once the first few races were out of the way it was as if Ferrari failed to turn up. Well in a way, that is what happened as they haven’t brought any decent developments for quite some time. I believe Alonso on occasion has been guilty of perhaps phoning it in with the occasional flash of genius. He’s not looked happy, and after a race where he got into more scrapes in one lap at the start than he did almost all of 2012, I think we can forgive him that.

A damaged front wing and possibly the suspension too meant he could only manage 11^th. It wasn’t enough to delay Vettel his glory, only a top two position might have done that but we need Ferrari to produce a great car next 

year, I think Alonso needs to be reinvigorated.

It’s not over yet

There’s still three races to go, and still much winning to be done. I wouldn’t bet against Vettel getting another three wins to match Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season, then again I still believe we will see a new winner this year too with Grosjean being that man. A lot of racing is still to be done and with the title pressure off it’s time to have some fun. For Vettel that started in India but now he’s on a celebratory road trip, can anyone stop him? 

Final Result:

1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull

2. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes

3. Romain Grosjean - Lotus

4. Felipe Massa - Ferrari

5. Sergio Perez - McLaren

6. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

7. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus

8. Paul di Resta - Force India

9. Adrian Sutil - Force India

10. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso

11. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari

12. Pastor Maldonado - Williams

13. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso

14. Jenson Button - McLaren

15. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber

16. Valtteri Bottas - Williams

17. Max Chilton - Marussia

18. Jules Bianchi - Marussia

R. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber

R. Mark Webber - Red Bull - Alternator

R. Charles Pic - Caterham - Hydraulics

R. Giedo van der Garde - Caterham - Accident damage

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The Korean Forecast

The Korean Grand Prix doesn’t seem to be a much loved venue for the Formula 1 fraternity. Stuck in the middle of nowhere (attracting nobody), the circuit is situated in a half built complex, which I’m sure was meant to be completed some time ago. A lot of the hotels in the area are somewhat dubiously dubbed love hotels; I suppose that has a kind of charm!

But that actual track is pretty good, some long straights, with a flowing fast section followed by a slowed down more street course style on the way back, with concrete walls bordering the circuit. It’s got two DRS zones, one on the start finish straight followed immediately by another after turn one.

Pirelli are bringing the medium and super-soft compounds, which is a slightly more conservative choice than last year, and depending on degradation levels will make for an interesting strategy call. The medium at least should provide a durable tyre as we’ve had now for the last few races.

Whether the dry tyres come into play on the Sunday is another matter as rain is forecast for the drivers to enjoy. Practice and qualifying should be dry though, so we should see a normal grid with a chance of a mixed up race which is always a good thing. It’s been ages since we have a proper wet race, it’s about time we had one.

Despite Sebastian Vettel playing down his chances for this weekend how could you bet against him? Winner of the last three races, he’s also won here the last two years. Vettel is driving better than ever and his Red Bull appears to just be getting quicker and quicker. This isn’t a driver team combination that you can talk down its chances.

Putting that to one side however, there’s still a chance for Mercedes. They probably would have had a podium in Singapore if not for the safety car, so they’re still around fighting, and despite Nico Rosberg edging Lewis Hamilton at the last round, you just never know what Lewis can extract from a car. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Mercedes back on pole position here. They like long straights and twists and turns, so they should certainly be a factor.

But I don’t really wish to play up their chances because let’s face it, Vettel will be near the front, if he’s near the front and gets into the lead, he’ll win. He’s fooling nobody by saying others might be favourites. No they’re not. It’s foolish to think at the moment that this season has been anything other than a demonstration of Red Bull domination.

However, again Ferrari, or rather Fernando Alonso stole a second place, he can do that here too. He’s the only other winner at this track, and will be determined to not let this championship die just yet. It’s not completely over, one retirement and a win for this Ferrari driver and it’ll suddenly be much closer.

I will predict that Kimi Raikkonen’s back injury will be ok this weekend. It seemed to plague him at Singapore but he managed to get on the podium from 13^th. I really can’t wait to see him back in a Ferrari against Alonso.

Felipe Massa is the occupier of that Ferrari seat at the moment and he feels like he’s let off the leash so will again be out for himself as he looks to secure a new seat with specifically Lotus in mind. I think Romain Grosjean will be one to watch. In my opinion he is getting better, and he looked good in Singapore; it was unfortunate he suffered a car failure otherwise it would have been his Lotus on the podium. Even though he was visibly upset about it, I think he’s maturing into what will one day be a Grand Prix winner.

Let’s not forget Mark Webber. He crashed in 2010 which caused an almost knockout blow to his one shot at the title. I would love to see Webber finally get a win this year, and put some of those bad memories to rest.

Toro Rosso’s should be strong again, while Paul di Resta in the Force India was showing good form at the last race before crashing. He should have been around sixth, so perhaps it’s worth watching the Silverstone team, it looks like they might finally be getting an understanding of the tyres.

Other drivers to watch include Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, who might, just might be fighting over the McLaren seat. Hulkenberg’s most likely destination should be Lotus, but Perez hasn’t exactly sparkled in his debut McLaren season. Having said that I don’t think he’s done badly either and deserves a second shot at the big time. Hulkenberg just deserves a shot, Sauber need to provide with another chance to shine before the year is out. He’s in danger of being left in the midfield again, or worse.

Finally watch out for Esteban Gutierrez again. Points, he’s going to get points this time.

So pole position will go to a Mercedes (probably a Red Bull) with the win being a battle between the Silver squad and the cans of drinks (Vettel will win), while if it rains, it’s wide open (Vettel is a bit good in the wet).

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Vettel out front in dramatic Bahrain race

In a dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix full of dramatic on track action, Sebastian Vettel took his second victory of the year pretty serenely. Despite driving for Red Bull, the team which has lobbied hardest to have an adjustment of the tyres away from their current specification, he managed to control the tyres well and made a three stop strategy work to finish in complete control.

He made a good start to draw alongside pole sitter Nico Rosberg, who was very aggressive off the start, swerving almost to the pit wall but Vettel couldn’t quite get him and it left a gap for Fernando Alonso to dive through on the inside.

Vettel has his steely side too, and he swooped down the inside into turn 5 to take back second place and began to stalk Rosberg, the Mercedes beginning to show its trademark from last year as the tyres faded dramatically. Vettel was soon by and immediately headed off into the distance.

He didn’t really get too far away, but as the rest squabbled for position you always felt Vettel had pace in hand as he demonstrated by setting fastest lap a few laps from the end, sparking the now traditional radio message from Red Bull to tell him to back off.

Ferrari and Lotus still look strong contenders to snatch victories but the question now is how consistently can they do it? Ferrari has had a few reliability issues and organisational slip ups, while Lotus might well have been in contention if they could have qualified higher up the grid. It’s ominous that Red Bull despite their tyre issues was able to dominate in such dramatic fashion.

Ok, the tyres were not meant to degrade as much at this track, it was always going to be more of a temperature issue to keep them operating at their best, but it’s an emphatic demonstration that Red Bull are still the fastest out there. 

However, it would have been interesting to see what happened if Pirelli had stuck to their original plan to bring the high degradation soft tyres, and hadn’t switched them to the medium to accompany the hard compound and it’s also noteworthy that Webber’s tyres didn’t last. Whatever though, Vettel was in a class of one today, a fine win.

Star of the race: Grosjean comes alive again

As Vettel motored on up front, it was all kicking off behind him. It was a fantastic display of driving skill as the best drivers in the world went wheel to wheel at 200mph, and apart from the odd bumped wheel and askew front wing endplate, it was all pretty much the non-contact sport it’s meant to be.

I think first of all Lotus’ Romain Grosjean has to be highlighted. There’s no doubting the Lotus was one of the fastest cars out there today, but also after he failed to get into the top ten, Grosjean knew that starting from 11^th was still going to be a tough afternoon.

There’s been something slightly off about the Frenchman so far this year. Last year he showed tremendous speed but also a penchant for crashing into people, especially at the start. To be fair to him a lot of the incidents were not of his making but after the huge start line crash in Belgium for which he was banned for one race he seemed to become even more hesitant.

This year he hasn’t shown the speed we know he possesses. It looked like the events of 2012 had taken their toll on him and his potential was going to be firmly locked away. He also felt there was something wrong with the car.

For Bahrain they brought him a new chassis, and despite the problems in qualifying Grosjean came alive. He showed his speed and brought out the aggression again as he stormed through the field. He battled hard, but all the time he looked in control, he looked like he was aware of his surroundings, knew where everyone was and dealt with the situations appropriately in the split second you have to decide things from the cockpit of a Formula 1 car.

It was a great drive as he charged towards the final podium spot, capturing it with just a few laps to go. This could be a real turning point in his career; if he can replicate this form at the next few races a new star of Formula 1 will have arrived.

Paul di Resta just misses out on podium

Paul di Resta was so close to his first podium, so close, but he was always going to be vulnerable to attack in the closing stages as he managed his tyres on a two stop strategy. So it proved as Grosjean on fresher tyres having pitted three times snatched the position away from him.

However fourth place was still a great result for the Scotsman, Force India finally getting the top five result that their pace has deserved all year. In Bahrain they were good from the start, di Resta 5^th in the first two practice sessions, and there he qualified albeit after grid penalties for Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton were taken into account.

Force India team mate Adrian Sutil joined him on the third row, but suffered a puncture courtesy of Felipe Massa’s front wing on the first lap. He made a decent recovery to 13^th but was out of it from the start. di Resta’s luck didn’t desert him though, he took fourth at the start, was soon past Rosberg into third, and even managed to lead for several laps too.

If Force India can keep up development then Paul might not have to wait too long for his first podium. It’s also positive for him, as Sutil seemed to be grabbing the headlines so far this season, so for di Resta to reassert himself was needed.

Sergio Perez gets aggressive

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh had said in the week leading up to the Bahrain Grand Prix that Perez needed to show a more aggressive side. Didn’t he just?

Perez showed the kind of form that got him the McLaren drive in the first place. He was robust, incisive with his overtakes and didn’t give up.

That’s actually what was great about the race today, so much passing and re-passing. Half the time when someone passes another car they disappear off into the distance. But I was losing count of how many times the likes of Perez, Jenson Button and Rosberg would be passed, then a few laps or even corners later they’d be fighting to get their position back.

Perez has not had the start he’d have liked at McLaren. He expected to be fighting for podiums and wins not for the lower reaches of the top 10. To be fair this is mostly down to McLaren bringing out a dud of a car. But still while Button seemed to be taking charge and getting more out of the car than it deserved, Perez had been fairly quiet in the first three races, today though that Latin flair was back in evidence.

He went wheel to wheel with a number of drivers this afternoon, his overtake of Fernando Alonso for 7^th was wonderfully aggressive (which the Spaniard didn’t like), but nothing was quite as dramatic as his fight with his team mate Button.

No quarter was given, they were allowed to race, and Button who was beginning to struggle in the second half did not want to be beaten for the first time by his new team mate. Perez wanted to make a point and as they switched places, you could sense the entire McLaren team on tenterhooks. It was dramatic, but it was impressive. At times like that if I was a team owner, I’d have told Button to get out the way, but this was much more fun.

Things possibly went slightly too far, Perez tapped Button flicking a bit of front wing off against Jenson’s right rear tyre. Potentially it could have ended both their races, it didn’t though but it prompted Button to get on the radio to the team to tell Perez to ‘calm down’ and later he said he was over aggressive.

Sergio therefore went wheel to wheel again, their front tyres meeting down the back straight, Perez leaving the track only to come back alongside. It was awesome to watch. But Button’s tyres were shot and he ended up making a fourth stop to slide down to 10^th.

Perez kept the entertainment up though, passing Alonso and then on the last lap he grabbed 6^th from Webber. This result will give him a bit of confidence and it certainly brought McLaren into the limelight, especially with their choice to let them fight although words were said that to Perez after that this aggression may need to be tempered on occasion. 

However, despite their improved race pace it doesn’t take away from the fact they are not fast enough, especially in qualifying. They have a lot of upgrades coming for Spain, and they need them if they want to get back on the podium.

Ferrari lose ground

It all went wrong for the Scuderia. Alonso was keeping a watching brief in second 

behind Vettel when suddenly his DRS flap stuck open on lap 8. He pitted a lap later when it got stuck again. He dropped down the field and actually made a great recovery to finish 8^th without the aid of DRS. Massa suffered two punctures on his way to a miserable 15^th.

But after the great victory in China, Ferrari looked primed to produce another strong result after locking out the second row. Ferrari has got a stronger car than last year, but so far this year they’re not quite getting the consistency together that they had in 2012.

Alonso has now fallen 30 points behind Vettel in the championship. At no point last year in a woeful early season car did he fall so far back. It will be of concern, but at least this year they can take comfort that they have a strong car which looks like it’ll challenge for podiums and more importantly consistently battle for wins too. In Bahrain Ferrari didn’t feel they’d lost valuable points, they felt they’d lost a victory.

Rest of the top 10

Kimi Raikkonen took his third podium of the year with second place. He was the highest placed driver to use a two stop strategy and after dropping back at the start from his 8^th grid position he actually did quite well to get to the podium. Yet again the Lotus demonstrated its kindness to tyres and the pace it can still achieve. There is no doubt now that Kimi is in the long haul for this title, he lies only 10 points back.

I was quite surprised to see Lewis Hamilton end up 5^th, from his interviews I think he was too. He suffered from the Mercedes problem on tyre trouble, and also balance issues in the first half of the race, but then it all suddenly came good. He stopped three times, once less than his team mate, and subtly moved up the order. For a race with so much overtaking and fighting it was a surprise that it took so long for Lewis to get involved in a scrap but his fight with Webber for 5^th was as dramatic as anything else on track. Those 10 points also moved him up to third in the title fight.

Webber brought the second Red Bull home in 7^th, being passed by Lewis and Perez towards the end. He looked on for a podium at one point but his tyres failed him and he couldn’t maintain the pace.

Nico Rosberg took the final point, he had taken a great pole position, but despite some brilliant defence couldn’t keep up and made a fourth stop that dropped him to 10^th. He looks like he can challenge Lewis, but results are not going for him at the moment.

Charles Pic delighted Caterham who brought some upgrades which resulted in him finishing ahead of both Marussia’s for the first time this year and Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber. Maybe Heikki Kovalainen’s appearance in first practice gave them a better direction too.

Back to Europe

So four races have gone, that is effectively a quarter of the season done already. Ferrari should have done better, but they have the car to challenge, Lotus is ready for a title challenge and Mercedes are lurking.

Force India are the surprise package while McLaren will be looking for their revisions in Spain to take them back to battling for wins. Sauber have disappointed, Williams have reversed while Toro Rosso look like they have untapped potential on occasion. Marussia and Caterham battle looks to be intensifying.

Red Bull look strong and you fear they have extra speed just waiting to be unleashed if the right tyre circumstances arrive but it’s still too close to call at the top... for now.

LAT and XPB photo's taken from autosport.com, all others from planetf1.com