The Official 2013 Formula One Update F1 Season Preview 3/3

The final installment of the official preview is here and with only a few days to go before the first race of the season, it´s about time too!

I do apologize for the lack of a preview, but work has been mental the last few weeks. I will try to find the time to get you some good updates here and there, throughout the season, so we´ll see what will happen.

In the second preview article, I predicted that Mercedes, Lotus, Sauber and Force India to stay pretty much where they ended 2012, with only minor changes. The reason behind this logic, is that the teams is not bringing anything revolutionary to the table this year, because next year will be a completely new set of rules, with the new V6 turbo engines and what not. Therefor, as we saw in 2012, a discreet evolution of the cars with the usual updates along the season, is what can be expected.

Still, that said, it´s time to see if the last four teams on the grid will move up or down. Remember that places 1-7 have already been occupied, so for now it´s a matter of finding out who will be the best of the rest.

Toro Rosso

I am still struggling to find a solid argument for having the team on the grid. Sure they are a developing team, grooming young drivers, but the drivers isn´t promoted to Red Bull, which was the entire reason to establish Toro Rosso in the first place. Only man to get the nod, was Sebastian Vettel, and though he has done ok, irony might occur, the talent is either lacking or Red Bull is not interested in the team after all. There is this “let´s just see what happens with it” attitude about Toro Rosso from time to time, and then suddenly one of their drivers does something extraordinary and we fall right back in love again.

So how will they do?

Toro Rosso is not really moving anywhere. The results are clear: From the formation in 2006 when Minardi was bought, up until today, their best season was 2008, when Vettel won the Italian GP in soaking wet conditions, a staggering result for the team who was used to fill up the slots from the mid-field and down. Since then, not much have happened in terms of development, or should I say grooming. Not a single driver has been marked for greatness, except Vettel of course, and no driver has been performing so well, that other teams have had good use of his experience. No, Liuzzi doesn´t count, since he couldn´t do much at Force India. And ending his career at HRT, was….well, nuff said.

Toro Rosso might improve a bit. The team has secured the continued services of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo and these drivers should be able to move the team forward a bit, being second seasoners and all. But other than the pure talent of the drivers, I don´t think Toro Rosso will be anything else but mediocre this season.

Prediction:

I think a move from 9th last year to 8th might be realistic. I will expect fewer non-scoring finishes and fewer retirements, and paired with two drivers who began their duties last season, they could throw up a few, minor surprises.

Williams

The Williams team is the last true private team left on the grid and I have always had a soft spot for them. They have had some pretty serious ups and downs in the last 10 years or so, from finishing 3rd in 2001, then 2nd in 2002 and 2003, to suddenly see their performance curve slide down and down, to 4th, then 5th, 8th, then back to 4th. Then a series of seasons with disappointing results, where they resorted to their old ways, by way of never having a team of drivers, and dropped drivers by a whim. I know, I know, it´s not really that nice to Heidfeld, or Rosberg, or even Barrichello for that matter. Sure, Wurz´s3rd place in Canada was a great boost for the team, but it took a year almost to replicate that, when Rosberg scored 3rd in Melbourne. And then, not a single podium for 76 straight races. Then Maldonado won in Spain last year, and many believed that Williams are back. So are they?

So how will they do?

Yes, how will they do indeed. And are they back? Yes and no. Williams have ditched Bruno Senna in favour of test driver Valtteri Bottas. And yes, he is Finnish. There is an old saying in F1: If you want to win, get the Finn. So the season starts with Maldonado as a team captain, and hopefully with a more relaxed approach to climbing through the ranks, instead of his sometimes accidental/lucky ways he can escape by the hair on his teeth. He is close to becoming a good driver, but still to many mistakes. Bottas is a good driver, in tests that is, but I think we could be in for some good performances.

Prediction:

A new driver, again, for Williams and I honestly don´t think Maldonado can cut the mustard. I just don´t think he has the talent or even the stature to be able to help the team forward. I think he is driving for himself and then the team be damned. Bottas is the new guy, so he will try his hardest. Despite some good performances, I fear Williams will drop to 10th in the standings.

Caterham

The Team Formerly Known As…Oh give me a fecking break here. No one understands why Tony Fernandes went all the way to cling on to the Lotus name, only to then be perfectly happy to drop it, having Renault now driving under the name. His team is now known as Caterham and the results? Not impressive. Ok, so yes a new team will need time to form their identity, their way of dealing with difficult situations. I get that. But They got rid of Heikki Kovalainen, a true talented driver, who actually made a very good impression last year. Especially when he 1) made it into Q2 in Bahrain, 2) achieved 13th in Monaco, best in the season, 3) again making it into Q2 in Valencia and weas absolutely instrumental in helping the team to secure 10th in the standings. For this season, they have hired Charles Pic from Marussia for “multiple seasons” and Giedo van der Garde, who has been promoted from test driver. He has never raced a F1 car. Never. Besides 2012, his last appearance in F1, was when he was test driver for Force India in 2008.

So how will they do?

This is a team we have a hard time figuring out. Every time it seems they are on track, they do something unexplainable. And when it looks like an uphill battle, they pull through. I am hard pressed to find anything positive about them in 2013, but I do think that getting fresh blood in, especially after Vitaly Petrov turned out to be so-so, might be a good idea.

Prediction:

I am going out on a limb here. I think that Caterham could be the surprise of the year, taking some good points from Toro Rosso and Williams. 9th for Caterham.

Marussia

Now that HRT is no longer with us – serious have you ever seen anyone being sorry about that fact, besides the people directly involved in the team? – Marussia now bears the heavy burden of being the last and slowest team on the grid. There is no way they can evolve so much in just one season, this one, to jump several places forward, since development is almost non-existent.

The team has had a large switch in drivers for the 2013 season. Timo Glock was originally under a three-year contract, making 2013 his second season, but he left the team “for financial reasons”. It is unclear what this means, but some say he left because his salary was high, in order to let the team develop. Aww…so sweet. Others of course, believe that the team wasn´t impressed and kicked him.

Luiz Razia was actually meant to race for the team this year, but a conflict with the sponsor package meant he was not able to secure the necessary funds and the contract was terminated. Instead the team will use Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton as their drivers.

So how will they do?

Pretty good, actually. I know, since all the other positions are taken, they will inevitable end 2013 in last place, but they will end the year on a high. Why? Because Jules Bianchi is the 2007 French Formula Renault 2.0 champion, the 2008 Formula 3 Euro Series champion, the 3rd place finisher in the 2010 GP2 series, as well as the runner-up in the GP 2 Asia series. He is the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 series runner-up and oh…in 2011 he was test driver for Ferrari, on loan to Force India for 2012 and was considered as Felipe Massa´s replacement during the Brazilian´s absense.

Max Chilton is the son of Grahame Chilton, the proprietor of Carlin Motorsport, and comes from a family of racing enthusiasts. Brother Tom Chilton is a seasoned BTCC driver, with 10 seasons under his belt and something has to rub off, right?

Prediction:

As mentioned I think Marussia will finish dead last, but not without giving us some good moments. I do believe that if things work out, Bianchi might be able to prove that he is the next big thing, well Ferrari like to think so, and though Chilton is a rather blank page, he could throw in some surprises.

That´s it. The preview is done and I hope you have enjoyed reading it. And remember that nothing is chiseled in stone until the last race, but what a season we have waiting for us!

Have fun!

Petrov or Kobayashi?

There are several new drivers on the 2013 grid and that of course means that there are some other drivers who now doesn´t have a seat anymore.

One is Kamui Kobayashi, the former Sauber driver. The Swiss based team have said their goodbyes to both Sergio Perez and Kamui kobayashi and employed the services of Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez, the latter promoted from his role as test and reserve driver.

There are not many race seats left on the grid and HRT is no longer an option, as the hapless team folded shortly after the 2012 season finished. No buyer has shown interest in the scraps and that also means two seats less to fill.

Caterham is taking an awful long time to announce their driver line up. Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov are no longer part of the team, instead Charles Pic signed a multi-year deal with the team, but his team mate is yet to be announced. Petrov would be a good choice, but despite reports from germany that the management behind Petrov had secured new large sponsors, Petrov´s manager Oksana kosachenko is no longer that optimistic about a race seat for 2013.

“So far, we haven’t managed to find new sponsors,” said Kosachenko.

“At the moment there are a lot of unanswered questions. There are too many nuances that need to be sorted out. We’re at the waiting stage, which is linked to the team’s restructuring. We completely depend on them and can’t speed anything up.”

And Kamui Kobayashi is also a driver with no seat, despite having secured in the area of £6m, raised by sponsors and fans. Such is the support behind Japan´s most succesful F1 driver in history, but perhaps he has a future at Caterham?

Everything is speculations at this moment, but time is running out. The first pre-season test is on February 5 at Jerez, and it would suit the teams with vacant seats to finalize their driver line-ups and start getting to work. Kobayashi is perhaps not the obvious choice for Caterham, but I personally think that he could be the driver who can move the team forward, not Petrov.

 

Penalties all around

The effects of dangerous driving are well-known in the public but try a stunt on a race track and you will be punished there too.

As Michael Schumacher was able to keep his 3rd place finish in the European Grand Prix in Valencia on Sunday, after it was believed that he did not slow down the speed of the car while entering a yellow flag zone, and at the same time having his DRS open, several drivers have now been handed a variety of penalties for their wrong-doings in the thrilling and exciting race.

Pastor Maldonado was involved in an incident where he tried an overtake pass on Lewis Hamilton at Turn 12, where he had to move to the left, and outside of the track, in order to keep up with Lewis Hamilton. However, Hamilton kept his line, he was ahead of Maldonado, but the two hit each other and ended Hamilton´s race. Maldonado has received a post-race penalty of 20 seconds for his crash, leaving Hamilton without blame for the incident.

Former Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari said that Maldonado was overly aggressive towards Hamilton, and the Spaniard pointed the finger of blame on Maldonado.

“He was entirely outside the limits of the track and, honestly, there was no room to overtake at that point,” said Alguersuari.

As if it wasn´t enough, Kamui Kobayashi has also received a penalty, this one for crashing into Felipe Massa and he is bumped down five places on the grid for the British Grand Prix in two weeks. And over at Toro Rosso, Jean-Eric Vergne received a double penalty. His move on Heikki Kovalainen, where he overtook the Finn, but then moved into the path of the Caterham driver causing a collision, cost the Frenchman a fine of €25,000 and a ten-place grid penalty for Silverstone. The stewards said that the severity of the double penalty, should be viewed in light of the “serious nature of the incident”.

Spanish Grand Prix preview – Caterham

Looking at the performance of the Caterham team from the first four races, the team has taken a small step backwards and are still chasing their first points. According to team principal Tony Fernandes, the results are looking ‘encouraging’ but admits that there is still a lot of work to be done.

“We head back to Europe after what has been an encouraging first four races for the team,” said Fernandes. “We may not have quite bridged the gap to the midfield pack yet, but we are clearly much closer than we were this time last year, particularly on race day when we have seen clear evidence of the progress we have made.

“Having been with us for four races now, I am very pleased with the job Vitaly has been doing for the team. He is obviously a fighter and he is pushing his team mate well, especially on Sundays, and that is good for the whole team. I think Heikki is due a run of better luck in the races as he has been pushing extremely hard in qualifying, particularly to get himself into Q2 in Bahrain, but he has not had the same luck when the lights go out on race day. Hopefully that will change in Barcelona and we will be able to see both cars fighting to the chequered flag on Sunday.”

Heikki Kovalainen:

“Barcelona’s a good circuit where the main challenge is to nail everything absolutely perfectly. If you make a half a tenth of a mistake it can cost you a grid position and it’s a race weekend where you have to focus on the details to give yourself the best chance of success. It’s a track with a lot of high-speed corners, some where you have to be really on it to save time, and you have to be pretty committed going into the braking zone in T1 as that’s where there is an overtaking chance. For the fans it’s often a pretty quiet race because it’s a tough circuit to overtake on, but that makes qualifying even more crucial and means you have to get the plan on Saturday absolutely right.”

Last year Vitaly Petrov placed his Renault in 6th place for the race, in which he ended just outside the points in 11th. And this year, it will be harder to get into the points, he admits.

“After a good test in Mugello we are all looking forward to getting back to racing in Spain. Barcelona is a track I know well and one I like racing on. I was on the podium there in GP2 in 2009 and while I know that’s out of reach for us at the moment, we will all be focusing on continuing to take the fight to the cars ahead and repeating the sort of performances we’ve put in so far this season, particularly on Sundays.”

 

Schumacher reprimanded, Heikki fined

A couple of drivers were penalised after the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday.

Michael Schumacher received a slap on the wrist for his involvement in the crash between him and Sauber´s Sergio Perez. When trying to overtake the Mexican driver, Schumacher came too close to the Sauber and smashed into the rear of Perez´ car, hurlign the Mercedes over the car and ended the run in the barriers. This caused a safety car period.

And Heikko Kovalainen of Team Lotus, received a penalty of £8,700 for unsafe release. As he pitted, he was released right in the path of race winner Sebastian Vettel. The fine will be picked up by the team, not Kovalainen.

Heikki: We were too optimistic

On the official Facebook page of the Team Lotus, many fans are angry and disappointed about the performance from the team, because they feel let down by Team Lotus. Many were expecting points at this time of year, but perhaps the team itself was a little too optimistic.

“What a load of bollocks,” writes one fan, while anothr repeats himself on almost every post he makes, saying Team Lotus is full of hot air. And though the team is leading the new team battle, they have still to record their first point in their second season. But have it been too much to handle? before the season started, chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne said the team would be fighting in the mid-field, and stated ahead of the Spanish GP, that points would follow soon.

Star driver Heikki Kovalainen, said that the teams predictions might have been a tad too optimistic.

“I think they (the targets) were too optimistic,” the Finn said. “With the tools we have at the moment, we can’t expect to be fighting with the middle of the pack or with teams like Renault or Mercedes.

“We’re not there this year, we clearly don’t have the structure in place yet to be able to do that. I think the targets were too optimistic but I haven’t worried about that too much.”

Lotus is the team most expected results from, as the name itself almost guaranteed instant results. But the fans should remember that the team is started from nothing. They didn´t take over an existing team, or former factory, they had to begin from absolutely nothing. Comparing them to Hispania and Virgin, the other new boys in the class, the team has performed admirably. Adding to that, the whole Lotus naming-row took a lot out of the team energy-wise, but as Tony Fernandes recently said, it was necessary in order to build for the future.

Kovalainen states that the facility the team uses, along with the tools, needs to be better, more cutting-edge.

“I think it’s not good enough yet, it’s one area that we need to improve for the future. We know that because the main reason is that the facility that we have is not good enough yet, it’s not big enough.

“The tools that our designers and engineers have are not good enough. We’re working on those areas to give people better tools to actually be able to keep up in this development race.