Awkward…

The 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix will forever go down in history, as the race Mark Webber won, but had to concede the position to Sebastian Vettel.

It was an exiting race with plenty of close calls and near-misses, but then trailed off into a rather muted affair with 15 laps to go. Last race winner Kimi Raikkonen was not able to transform his 10th place start into a victory, as he did in the opening race at Melbourne Park last week, and after just one lap Fernando Alonso had to retire his Ferrari, as the team botched up their strategy completely.

And team strategy, or lack thereof, is the main theme of today´s article. Alonso made a great start from 3rd and was able to get right under the rear of Vettel´s Red Bull, but stepped in a little wet spot and just hit the back of the car in front. That caused some damage to the front wing, resulting in the left part of the wing to scrape along the asphalt for the first lap. Everyone then thought that Ferrari would pit Alonso so he could have a new wing fitted, thus continuing the race, and very likely be able to finish in a point scoring position. The team did not do that. Instead they did nothing at all, leaving their man out on the track to battle with the wing, and Mark Webber, until right after the first lap was done. On the main straight of lap 2, Webber saw an opportunity to get rid of Alonso without being a bastard, so he managed to get the better line out, climbed on the back of Alonso´s car and overtook him towards Turn 1. This caused the air in front of Alonso´s car to be disrupted, so he lost downforce and the Spaniard wasn´t able to turn into the corner, but ended his day in the gravel.

A tough day for Alonso, but not at all a good day for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton has been heavily criticized for being bullish about his options and future at Mercedes, some say that he is burning the bridges, others that it is much to early to fight for podiums. But in the race last week and today, Hamilton showed exactly what he is worth. Every single penny. From start to finish Hamilton controlled the car and the surrounding conditions to perfection, despite a little trip to visit his old employer at the McLaren garage during a pit stop, and he ended up in 3rd place. So well done to the Hamster, right? Wrong. During the final stages of the race, Nico Rosberg was able to lap faster than Hamilton, because Hamilton was told to preserve fuel and it was clear to all that it was a matter of time before he took the Stevenage Speedster for the final podium place. He even asked for permission, but then Ross Brawn came on the radio and just said no. Rosberg settled for 4th, just behind Hamilton, but neither men were happy with that decision. In fact, when Rosberg parked his car, Brawn hailed his performance and said he did a good job and that they need to discuss the events further in the debriefing later. To which Rosberg replied: “Remember this one.”

A threat? Possibly. But Nico Rosberg is not content with being second driver to Lewis Hamilton, as both drivers see themselves as equals. And after thr race, Hamilton has clearly stated that Rosberg should have been on the podium instead of him, saying “If I’m honest I really feel like Nico should be standing here, generally he had better pace than me throughout the race. But he’s a great team mate and did a fantastic job today.”

Rosberg has replied to his good friend, that it was nice to hear, and added: “I understand I drive for Mercedes, for you guys at home who put your life into building this car over the winter and doing such a fantastic job. I’m pleased to be able to do such a great result for the team.

“But of course there’s a small side of me where I want to go flat out all the way to the end and we up on the podium myself. But the time will come for that.”

To make the podium takes a lot of every driver, but todays´podium has to be one of the most cringe-worthy things I´ve ever watched in modern F1. Sebastian Vettel, who by the way won the race, was not really pleased with the results. he basically stole the win from Mark Webber, who looked like he was about to erupt at the drivers lounge immediately after the race.

The reason for this, is that Webber lead for most of the race and after the last pit stop, he was told to turn his engine down. This means that he goes off the setting which spends the most fuel, and instead cruises a little, in order to save fuel and material. This is even agreed upon before the race starts, and the deal was to save the engines and cruise, if possible. However, Sebastian Vettel obviously and blatantly chose to ignore this and instead attacked Webber for the lead. At first he failed, but then Vettel made the best of the DRS zones, squeezing past Webber to claim a very un-popular win.

Webber explained:

“After the last stop, the team told me the race was over. We turned the engine down to get to the end. I want to race as well, but the team made a decision which we always say before the start; we look after the tyres and get the cars to the end.

“In the end Seb made his own decisions today and will get protection as usual, and that’s the way it goes. I turned my engine down and started cruising on the tyres, and then the fight was on. I was disappointed with the outcome of today’s race.”

Ok, so let´s discuss this. Should Vettel stay behind Webber? Yes he should. Of course, because this is agreed upon between Christian Horner, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, so there. But should a driver always push if he is able? Yes again. There will always be a line that is crossed whenever a driver takes a decision into his own hands. Vettel was told to conserve fuel and to not race Webber, but ignored it and won the race. Nothing will happen, because he is a three time world champion, so of course he can basically do whatever he bloody well pleases. And here is what is interesting.

When Vettel did attack Webber, Horner was not at all happy about it, naturally, saying it was silly of him to attack, when they should save the cars and try not to make mistakes. But wait a minute. First of all we have a three-time world champion who races for a living. Everything he does, from he wakes up until he goes to bed, is about being number one. Don´t tell a natural born racer, like Vettel, not to race. The problem is not the team order, the problem is that despite his three world titles, Red Bull is showing a tremendous lack of faith in their driver, which I have to say is very un-settling and quite honestly, disgusting. Horner has clearly showed that the team is pushing Vettel forward to be the best driver ever and will no doubt do what they can to make this happen, but at the same time they are telling him to behave and do what he is told. Rubbish.

It either shows how immature Vettel still is, the little spoiled brat who always gets what he wants or how cynical Red Bull really is. I don´t know, but I know that Mark Webber just increased his value a lot and that Mercedes better need to get the big pen out, when it´s time for Rosberg to negotiate a renewal of his contract.

The Official 2013 Formula One Update F1 Season Preview 1/3

Yup, nothing less than a catchy headline will do, as we tread carefully into the bewildering forest of making a preview. It´s all the rave and every website is doing one, so why not jump on the bandwagon as well, right?

Making a preview requires extensive knowledge into the finer dealings of F1. The writer is expected to have his or her finger on the button at the right time, contacting the right people at the right places. I do have media access to all the teams and also several key people as sources – just look at the older articles, you´ll see – but I am not leaning against test times or how one team has made a different exhaust detail compared to the other. This preview is simply a run-down of who will do best. Team and driver.

Red Bull

The Austrian team, based in the very British Milton Keynes, of Her Majesty the Queen´s England, is entering their 9th season in F1 and they do so with the best material, the best drivers and of course three consecutive world championships. There is little doubt that Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull will be in the very best of starting places once the season takes off, and they will expect nothing but a winning car. Red Bull also has the same driver line-up as before, Mark Webber will be celebrating his 7th season with the team, while Sebastian Vettel is entering his 5th season. With three world titles to his name, notched up in just five years, Vettel could become quadruple champion this year, and this will mean he is in very exclusive company. Only Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and the great Juan Manuel Fangio has won four or more titles.

So how will they do?

Red Bull is not known to be complacent or happy to settle with second best, so they will try everything they can to surprise their opponents and hope for an early advantage. It did take them a little while to win their first race last year, Bahrain, and for 9 straight races, Vettel was not on the top step of the podium. Mark Webber secured 2 wins, while the mechanics scratched their heads. When they were done doing that, Vettel won four races in a row, and also managed to score some vital championship points when he was not the best driver of the day.

Prediction:

Red Bull will win a fourth championship title, but Vettel will finish second. Mark Webber will be sharper and closer to Vettel, finishing in the top 5, but will announce his retirement after the season, concentrating on building ships in small bottles.

McLaren

The team is celebrating 50 years of high-class racing, since its foundation in 1963 by Bruce McLaren, the team has notched up 8 drivers titles and 12 constructors trophies. Jenson Button began the season by winning the first race, but then hit a snag,while Lewis Hamilton secured some crucial third places. The 2012 season was hampered by silly mistakes, a design flaw in the wheel nut and a general running around and not knowing exactly what they needed to focus. 4th and 5th for Hamilton and Button was all they could do, and the team will be looking to improve in every single area.

So how will they do?

Hamilton moved to Mercedes and the new boy is former Sauber superstar Sergio Perez. His learning curve at McLaren will be steeper than at Sauber, ut we must not forget that he is a very, very talented driver who understands the way a machine works. He has a way of feeling the car, much like Button really, and their driving styles should fit very well together. The car is also not that remarkable to look at, it´s been cropped and shaved here and there, and as always it´s the minor details that will be upgraded.

Prediction:

McLaren will finish second in the constructor’s championship, with Perez taking his first podium for his new team after just three races. Button will have a fantastic year, with four wins and several podiums, and will be right on Vettel´s heels for some time.

Ferrari

The new flyer, the F138, is the car that the Maranello-based team will use to propel Alonso into his third title. Nothing less than a miracle turn-around is needed and nothing less than victories is expected. Or is it? Ferrari have learned the hard way, that old ways are not always the right way and being overtaken by an energy drink manufacturer, has a negative effect. Last season Alonso was within a nose hair´s distance to secure the title, when Alonso took second, Vettel was third. If Vettel won, Alonso was right there on the podium with him. So close. Felipe Massa got his groove back around the halfway mark, and had some excellent races. He will be hungry for more and so will Alonso.

So how will they do?

Ferrari will be right out the box fast. But then again, I really have no clue. The car seems easier to handle and manage, Massa himself said that it is a completely different experience than the 2012 car. And he needs a good car. Alonso has matured a lot in the last few season´s and have this “we´ll get there”- attitude about him. I would expect some close racing between Perez, Alonso and Vettel.

Prediction

Ferrari will be the team who develops the most during the season, with plenty of minor upgrades. But eventually they will lose second place in the championship to McLaren by a few points, however I think Alonso might take the title this year. And how is that done, you ask? Massa is still a lieutenant to Alonso and will be sacrificed in order to allow Alonso to win. Simple as that. Massa will hit a small bump of performance, bounce back a little, eventually do better than last year, but his results will mean Ferrari will finish third, with Alonso as champion.

Remember that this preview is entirely personal and I do not use any influences whatsoever. I look at a couple of factors to determine the view, but in the end it´s all a bit of fun.

Bit of this, bit of that

Williams became the last team to launch their 2013 car, the FW35. Adrian Sutil had had a seat fitting made at Force India, and are testing the new car in Barcelona, while the Kingfisher Airline owned by team owner Vijay Mallya is in deep financial trouble. Mercedes rejects the claims that they are about to pull out of F1 all together, and Lewis Hamilton has beaten Sebastian Vettel´s time on TopGear.

According to two shareholders of Mercedes, Michael Muders form the fund manager Union and henning Gebhardty, of DWS, the foray into F1 has been to expensive for the Daimler group and the yield is not big enough to continue, they say.

“Mercedes has been behind for years, without consequence,” said Muders. “But Formula One is expensive and brings nothing to the (Daimler) group.”

Gebhardt added: “Formula One no longer enhances the image (of Mercedes), especially if we are in countries criticized of human rights violations.”

Truly some good and valid points and they need to be discussed. But is it a carmakers job to deal with human rights issues? Who draws the line between hat is right and what is wrong? Personally, I think the Bahrain story of 2011 and 2012 was a very good example of how a completely different event drew attention to F1, even though the demand for reforms and basic human right has nothing to do with 24 cars screaming around the desert. Of course the carmakers could and should be concerned about what is going on in the world, and yes I do tink that the event in bahrain was controversial. But a carmakers finest task is to build cars and if they wish, to race them. Don´t race cars and then say it costs too much. You´re in or you´re out.

Mercedes´ new chairman Niki Lauda, rejected the claims from the two shareholders, saying that there are more TV viewers today and there is a lot of growth to be seen, as more and more countries are added to the calendar.

Over at Force India, Adrian Sutil is back. Or is he? The German, who has spent his entire F1 career at the team, when it was known as Midland and Spyker, and knows his way around the team. Sutil was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, when he was incolved in a nihgt club incident with Genii´s Eric Lux. Sutil was charged with assault, received a suspended 18 month prison sentence and a fine of €200.000. His career looked to be over. But then, as the teams managed to fill their seats, Force India was the only one left with a vacant seat. The call came and Sutil had a seat fitting last week, and he is today testing the brand new car. But there is still no contract for him to race this year.

So, a team in financial distress, a team owner who has not shown up and taken the bull by the horns, not even trying to explain what is going on in his own team, and a experienced driver who is testing their car. For free, it seems. If Force India does not sign Sutil, they are shooting themselves in the foot. Rumour has it that Sutil has secured a sponsorship package worth €8 million, so the money is clearly there. Just sign it, Vijay…

Lewis Hamilton appeared on TopGear recently, and was eager to beat his own previous time in the reasonably priced car. And not only did he do that, he also smashed Sebastian Vettel´s time, who at the time was the fastest time of F1 drivers past and present, with more than a second. Kudos to you, sir.

Finally, Williams launched their FW35 car. it is blue and white. Four wheels. A steering wheel. Ok, so it looks enormously dull, but Mike Coughlan, you remember, the guy with the spy shit some years back, said that the team had made a great deal of dyno testing to ensure reliability. The work also includes a new gearbox new rear suspension, new radiators, a new floor, new exhausts, new bodywork, a new nose and a significant amount of weight-saving.

It will be interesting to see how well Williams will fair this season, considering their improved form last year.

Hamilton crashes brand new Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton has suffered a crash on his first day of testing ofr his new team, Mercedes.

After Tuesday´s test day had to be cut short, due to faulty wiring on Nico Rosberg´s car, Lewis Hamilton did not have much luck either in getting some good laps under his belt. Just 15 laps into the second day of testing in Jerez, the 2008 world champion had a braking issue, which caused hamiltno to lose control of the car at the end of the back straight.

Hamilton was unhurt from the crash and Mercedes are now investigating what went wrong.

Rosberg drives the new Mercedes W04 – VIDEO

Mercedes W04 breaks cover – cool gallery inside

Mine is bigger than yours

The recent rant from Helmut Marko, the Red Bull advisor, has really caused the internet to overflow with articles either praising his comments or the opposite. And instead of clearing up things, for instance why Marko feels it necessary to call Fernando Alonso “too political”, Red Bull has apparently been transformed into a kindergarten.

It´s one thing to be a fast driver in decent, but not quite fast enough car, like the one Alonso was driving in the 2012 season, it´s another thing to be blamed for not praising the “right guy”. Ok, backstory…

Helmut Marko, who more and more seems to be making all the decisions at Red Bull these days, claims that during the 2012 campaign, Fernando Alonso played mindgames and was very political. Marko claims that comments made from Alonso, about how he was regarding Lewis Hamilton his biggest rival of 2012, was a clear sign of stress on the Spaniard´s part and that Alonso played psychological mindgames.

On January 10th, Marko said:

“Alonso is constantly involved in politics,” Marko told Red Bulletin magazine. “I believe we saw the stress he was under towards the end of the season. Saying things like, ‘I’m competing against (Lewis) Hamilton, not Vettel,’ and ‘I’m up against (Red Bull design chief Adrian) Newey,’ these psychological skirmishes. We said, ‘Just ignore him.’

And instead of doing just that and take his own advice, Marko then keeps going about how Alonso is not near as focused and able to shut out the world, as Vettel is.

“Sebastian’s driving was virtually flawless,” Marko added. “But he is a phenomenon: it is always like that. After the summer break, his performance curve shoots up. That’s what happened in previous years, too. I don’t know how he does it, but to keep doing it cannot be a coincidence.

“That brings us back to his method of preparation, the way he shuts himself off from the rest of the world, so that he can still call on reserves that other drivers might not have: Fernando Alonso, for example, who is busy with politics and funny comments.

“Vettel ignores it all, he doesn’t read the newspapers, or the internet. And that’s the point, we concentrate on our job: to make the fastest car and the best team possible.”

Right. I need to throw up. Over to Pitpass.com who jumped on the Red Bull bandwagon – better stay good friends with the world champions, right guys – where an article more than suggests, that Alonso has been groomed carefully to mimic the thoughts and even ideas from Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

And what about Alonso himself?

“Who is (the) strongest driver? My answer is Hamilton,” Alonso said of Hamilton. “It was true last year, it was true this year. The strongest driver? It is a personal opinion, not political, not to make people think something. Who is the strongest opponent, the strongest driver on grid? Who is the one you have to keep an eye on? It is Hamilton, and it will still be Hamilton next year.”

“I don’t think I am good at politics. I just drive the car,” Alonso said. “Some recent remarks have surprised me, but I can’t see the sense in them. Some say they don’t read them, don’t hear them and don’t see them, before adding that they are not influenced by them. So clearly they do read them, maybe at night…”

Helmut Marko is an attention-seeking has-been, who does everything he can to talk even though no one is to listen to him. A solid advice would be to keep his mouth shut and do his job. Whatever that is, besides being in the way of real mechanics, engineers, drivers and team bosses, who are actually contributing to something.

 

A bit of everything

Catching up a little is always a good thing, and now that I have re-booted the blog, slowly but surely, I have decided to make the format a little different than before. Formula One Update originalle started as a gateway to all the relevenat news stories related to F1, I made huge attempts to cover as much as possible and tried to be the first with the story. But I ran out of energy, I didn´t feel I got enough out of the work I did, so for some months the blog has been disabled. Until now.

The idea is that now I try to find some relevant stories whenever I feel like it, and they might not be brand spanking new, but at least you get my weird sense of humour to go along with it, so hey. I will not be covering every angle or every story out there, I just don´t have the time for it. So for now, this is a cozy little project and I hope you feel that you still get something out of it. Enjoy.

Red Bull has become the next team in line to reveal their launch date of their 2013 car, the RB9. The team has admitted that their development on the new car has been somewhat delayed, since they concentrated on getting everything out of the 2012 season, eventually finishing with Sebastian Vettel taking his third consecutive championship. The new car will be revealed on february 3, at the Red Bull factory in Milton Keyes, just two days before the first pre-season test at Jerez, Spain.

Over at Williams, Valtteri Bottas, who has been promoted from test and reserve driver for this season, after Bruno Senna was dropped, says that the un-popular stepped-nose design of the FW34 from last year, will not be on the new car. The frton nose of the FW35, which is the brilliant new name for the 2013 car, will instead be covered by a laminate panel, so the design will look more like a 2011 model, Bottas says.

“In terms of looks, the car is pretty much the same as last year,” Bottas said. “With the new rules, the stepped nose has been straightened. It is the biggest difference in its appearance.

“The new car is a development of last year’s car. There are certain improvements in aerodynamics, we have tried to gain more traction in the corners.”

Williams enjoyed a boost in their confidence in 2012, as the team managed to score points on 15 occasions, 5 for Maldonado and 10 for Senna, leading to 8th in the championship with 76 points. For 2013 Bruno Senna is no longer part of the driver line-up.

New McLaren-Mercedes driver Sergio Perez, who will partner Jenson Button, has said that a mentality change is necessary in order to be competitive at this new level in his career.

“It definitely changes,” Pérez said of his overall approach to racing. “At McLaren, you are not here to just fight for the points. You are here to fight for victories at every single race.

“Your race preparation has to be 100 percent. It has to be 100 percent for all 20 races because at every race you have the opportunity to win. Then you can fight for the championship.”

Perez had a strong season at Sauber, scoring three podium places and finishing his season in 10th place. Throughout 2012 he was rumoured to be replacing Felipe Massa at Ferrari, but the Maranello-based team said that though they really would like to sign the Mexican, he needed a little more time in order to mature as a driver. McLaren snapped up the talented driver, as Lewis Hamilton found a vacant race seat at Mercedes, after Michael Schumacher finally retired his career.

Perez is adamant that he will learn a lot from Button, even though he eventually would like to beat the 2009 champion at some point.

“I have got a lot to learn from him,” Pérez said of Button. “His experience, his knowledge, it will all be useful for me. I am really looking forward to working with a World Champion, a great guy. The whole team has so much respect for him.

“I am looking forward to building my relationship with him, to help the team become the best and to have the best car possible. I think we’ll have a good relationship.”

Perez´ former team mate, Kamui Kobayashi, is without a race seat for 2013, as Sauber opted for a all-new line-up with Esteban Gutierrez and Nico Hulkenberg, but thinks that the japanese driver can find a seat for 2014.

“He’s a great driver and a great guy and someone who can do a very good job for a team,” Perez said. “I feel a bit sorry for him but I’m sure he’ll be back next year because with his speed he should be able to find a good seat and hopefully we’ll have him back.”