The Official 2013 Formula One Update F1 Season Preview 2/3

The second piece of the 2013 preview is here and once again I dive headfirst into all kinds of speculation about the season ahead. But for now it´s all about the nest three teams and how they will shape the upcoming season.

Today I´ll be talking about Mercedes, Sauber, Lotus and Force India, four mid-field teams with great potential, some truly awesome drivers and they could give us some nice surprises.

Mercedes

Mercedes is one of those teams where you never really know what you get. From the formation, and I am not thinking about the classic Silver Arrowsteam from the 1930´s, but the modern version, the team has had a rather low-key status about them. First it was called Tyrrell and they have three titles to their name. Then British American Tobacco got involved in the late 1990´s, then it was a pure Honda team until they pulled out, leaving Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in doubt. Ross Brawn bought the team for a penny, turned it around and won the 2009 title, then sold the team to Mercedes. Phew.

The team hired Nico Rosberg and seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, but the return of the most winning driver did nothing for the image of Mercedes. 2010 was so-so, Nico Rosberg secured most of the points, and 2011 was a repeat of the previous year, 4th place in the constructor´s championship. 2012 kicked off with AMG as title sponsor, the high performance division of Mercedes, but the performance of the car and driver left much to be improved. Rosberg finished 9th, with Schumacher in 13th and he retired after the season ended.

So how will they do?

Lewis Hamilton, who was looking for some greener grass and after he had spend his teens with McLaren, he decided to sign with Mercedes, to replace Schumacher. Some say it´s a wise decision, because Hamilton is a driver who needs to push himself further and always prove to himself and others that he can adjust to a new team and that his 2008 title isn´t a fluke. Others think that he has made career suicide, but building a team is no easy feat. Lewis will be partnered by Rosberg, who is staying put, and the two of them know each other very well from junior series. I think that Mercedes might be able to push the front runners from time to time, but still need some work.

Prediction

Mercedes only had one win in 2012, in a year where 8 different drivers won a race. Not good enough. But a great driver in a new team takes some adjustment, but Lewis is a quick learner, and bloody fast too, so 4th for Mercedes.

Lotus

The team formerly known as Renault caused the biggest upset of 2012. They managed to sign Kimi Raikkonen, the one-syllable guy who likes to nap a few minutes before a race. In the second race he had the fastest lap time, and he won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The entire season was a truly awesome thing to watch, from the way he can keep the car so tantalisingly close to his rivals, insisting he has the right of way and then gently persuading them to give up. Raikkonen´s style might be one of a tight-lipped, kinda arrogant guy who dorsn´t care about anything, but he is a true racer who cares only about winning.

Lotus also had some issues that wwasn´t all rosy. Romain Grosjean also returned in 2012 for Lotus, after he drove for the previous installment of the team, Renault some years back. Comparing the two drivers may not be entirely fair, since Kimi Raikkonen was the only driver never to retire during a race, while Grosjean did so seven times, most notably during the Belgian GP, where he tried to squeeze Hamilton up against the pitwall, but both lost control. Grosjean was fined €50.000 and received a one-race ban. Oops.

So how will they do?

Grosjean will have spend some time during the winterbreak, to find himself. A driver is only as good as his last race and he almost jumped back onto the F1 scene, making a lot of noise and speculations. 2013 will probbaly be a bit more stress-free for Grosjean and I expect we will see a more mature and easy-going Frenchman. Raikkonen, on the other hand, will do what he is best at. Win. Surprise us. And sleep a little.

Prediction

Lotus finished 4th last year, and I think that the drivers will score more consistently, but on fewer occasions. I predict a few more retirements for Kimi, less for Grosjean, but more scoring in the lower parts of the board, simply due to the increased competition at this level. 5th for Lotus.

Sauber

The Swiss Sauber team has always been a black sheep in a way, but one that was always welcome. The team reminds me of my uncle, who is always able to see the lighter side of things and make a humorous comment about it. Sauber is a very good team, but they have had to say goodbye to their best driver, Sergio Perez, who will be driving for McLaren this year, replacing Hamilton. Monisha Kaltenborn has taken over the day-to-day running after Peter Sauber stepped down last year, and with Force India ousted Nico Hulkenberg and newcomer Esteban Gutierrez, who previously was the team´s test driver.

So how will they do?

Kamui Kobayashi was not signed for 2013, a tough decision for many fans. Gutierrez is a talented driver and will need to get his hands on some real race time before we can asess his performance. Hulkenberg has several seasons behind him and will add valuable knowledge to the team, but I don´t expect the leap forward many others do. I expect the team to finish roughly in the same place they did in 2012, mainly because they will not have the same amount of retirements they did last year. Remember, it´s a prediction…2013 will be a transitional year for the team, and it will be very interesting to see if the team´s own predictions about their driver choices will be on the mark.

Prediction

Perez was definitely the best driver the team has had for many years, and it looked as though Kobayashi might be able to finally develop into a brilliant racer. But with new guys on board and a new team manager, I think we should be happy with 6th for Sauber.

Force India

Rumours about Kingfisher´s imminent death, the absence of Vijay Mallya, the future collapse of title sponsor Sahara and a goodbye to Hulkenberg means, that Force India is a joker. They are yet to announce their second driver next to Paul di Resta, but in these very hours, Adrian Sutil´s agent has confirmed that Force India has stated that they want Sutil to race and not, as expected, Jules Bianchi.

So how will they do?

Because of the previous experience of Sutil, the team could collect a lot of points, but everything is up in the air. I honestly have no idea what to believe regarding the rumours we hear, and will not take address them in this article. I will, on the other hand, be carefully optimistic and sprinkle some light points in their general direction, with the odd retirement here and there.

Prediction

No idea. But to be a little more specific, I think they will stay in exactly the same place as last year, like Sauber. 7th place.

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.”

Ouch…

It was a day to forget for former seven time world champion, Michael Schumacher, as he had to pull out of the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The weekend started in decent shape, as the 43-year old finished the first practice session in sixth place, two tenths off team mate Nico Rosberg´s pace. And in the second session Friday afternoon, he crashed the Mercedes. But it went on from bad to much worse, since session one was the best result of the entire weekend.

Schumacher qualified 17th on the grid, while Nico Rosberg qualified thirteenth, but as the formation lap was over, Schumacher, for some reason, didn´t park within the confines of the designated grid position, and as race control signalled a second formation lap, Schumacher had cut the engine. The Mercedes was wheeled back to start from the pitlane, as the other drivers completed the second formation lap. As the race progressed, he was handed a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane and ultimately capped of a horrible weekend, by ending the race prematurely with a puncture eleven laps before the chequered flag.

There were some speculation that Schumacher was told to retire in order to get a free gearbox change for Spa in a month, but Schumacher describes his problems like this:

“We did not have full telemetry before the start and during the period of overheating, and this is why we finally decided to retire, so as not risk any damage which might make us suffer in the next race,” he said. “Now we can check the car properly before the break and prior to [the next race at] Spa.”

After the German Grand Prix a week ago, Mercedes admitted that the car needed race pace, as Schumacher ended the race almost half a minute down on Fernando alonso´s winning time. And that gap is something the team will have to work very hard to close, now that the summer break is upon the teams. Factories will shut down for a couple of weeks, so even if Mercedes finds the issues, they will still need to raise their game.

Nico Rosberg is sixth and Michael Schumacher is twelfth in the standings as Mercedes is trailing fourth placed Ferrari by 83 points.

Valencia – The Day After

The day after one of the most exciting races in years, and yes I could easily copy and paste the first few lines of text of that from the previous race. Or the one before that. It is getting increasingly difficult to find positive words to use to describe this season, when words like ‘astonishing’, ‘staggering’, ‘sublime’ or ‘brilliant’ just isn´t enough anymore.

So was it astonishing, staggering, sublime and brilliant? Well, let me say this. My father tries to watch all races, bu usually falls asleep after ten laps. He knows that the street of Valencia hasn´t exactly produced the most mind-boggling amazing races in the history of F1, in fact, the four previous versions can easily be labelled ‘most boring race of the season’. But I spoke to him on the phone after the race, and he not only managed to stay awake, it was almost as if he sounded younger and more vital. Well, I don´t know, but if he was entertained, then it´s a pretty fair shot to say that so was I.

Driver of the Day: Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso won the race, starting from 11th on the grid, in what I think is the best race performance from Alonso on the last five years. He ducked and he dived and he took the chances, calculating the risks so fast, you´d need a computer to beat him. This is one of his strengths. The mind of a racing driver is usually right on the edge, but Alonso showed that little bit extra that makes his effort seem just that more important. Alonso was in tears after his victory, and it was clear that a huge weight had dropped from his shoulders. No one can put a finger on his performance on Sunday. Well deserved win.

Best of the rest: Michael Schumacher

It´s what his fans have been waiting for since his return. A podium. And they got it. Schumacher drove a very smooth race, he too calculated the strategy so fine, knowing when to push, when to ease off. Tyres are hugely important this season, but in Valencia, it all came together for Schumacher and Mercedes, and produced some memorable racing. And his first podium in six years.

Best of the rest II: Mark Webber

Mark Webber is a strange cat, isn´t he? We know he´s fast, we know he drives that Red Bull so close to the edge, but he makes it looks so effortless that we tend to forget him a bit. In Valencia it was almost like no one noticed he drove home 4th, because all eyes were on Vettel´s exit from the lead and the race. Webber started 19th on the grid, that´s a long way up. In an astonishing drive, he managed to conserve the tyres at just the right time, finding that small gap where the tyres work perfectly, and in case you didn´t know, is actually second in the championship. Bravo, Mr Webber. Bravo!

Biggest Head Scratcher of the Day: Safety car

I am sorry, I didn´t get why the safety car had to be deployed. When it finally came out, the cars had been going round the track for a few laps and there wasn´t any dangerous debris lying around, and no car had been plowing into a barrier, blocking a piece of the track. First Senna and Kobayashi touched each other, that was the incident where Senna simply didn´t see the rather optimistic move from Kobayashi on his right side. No one´s fault, but Senna got penalized for it. Soon after Vergne and Kovalainen touched wheels and that was the reason the safety car came out. Both cars were able to either drive around to the pits, or if they couldn´t manage that, there was a huge run-off area right there. The deployment of the safety car did make the race interesting again, not that it was boring at all, but it was un-necessary in my opinion.

Great Driver: Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean is having a whale of a time these days, as he returns to F1. Good results are one thing, but coming back after two full seasons, into a car that had a big question mark on it in February and then are battling for wins against a handful of world champions, his place in F1 is rightfully deserved. To retire such a short way from the chequered flag is enormously frustrating, but I have every confidence in him to take at least one win this year.

Worst performance: McLaren

It´s safe to say that I didn´t expect the McLaren team to struggle the way they have been this season, but it seems that nothing they do seems to work. For Button, there were talks that he would copy the set-up from Hamilton, seeing that this is working out rather well for the 2008 champion. He has 88 points, Button 49. But the team continues to botch their pit-stops to such a degree that it looks they have given up. Again in Valencia, we saw how Hamilton´s second pit stop failed miserably, the one under safety car. we don´t know if the car is hard to handle for Button and this is the reason why he is not scoring the points needed. And we don´t know what the pit stops fail. What we do know is, that this needs to stop. Fix it.I am not commenting on who was at fault, when Pastor Maldonado and Lewis Hamilton had a get-together at Turn 12, that is just not up to me. I will say that the accident was avoidable.

 

No penalty for Schumacher

Michael Schumacher can keep his 3rd place finish.

The former seven time world champion was under investigation for having his DRS open under a yellow flag zone. But after an hour of deliberation, the stewards have decided not to impose a penalty on Schumacher.

In the statement, the stewards say they have looked at video footage and have decided that Schumacher did slow his car down whwn he approached the yellow flag zone.

“The stewards considered a report that driver #7 used his DRS in a yellow flag zone and that his allegedly constituted a breach of yellow flag regulations,” said a statement from the stewards. “Having examined telemetry and video evidence, and heard from the driver and team representatives, the stewards noted that the driver did make a significant reduction in speed on entering the double waved flag zone.”

 

 

Schumacher could lose podium

Michael Schumacher’ celebrated his first podium since the Chinese GP in 2006, and he certainly looked very comfortable being back holding a champagne bottle, like we have seen him do so many times before.

But the joy of finishing 3rd, in an action-packed European Grand Prix, could be stifled by race stewards, who are right now debating whether Schumacher´s podium should be taken away from him. There are rumblings that Schumacher did not slow down for yellow flags when he used DRS.

Mark Webber had radioed the pits to inform his team, and FIA, that the DRS of Schumacher´s car was open when they went through a yellow flag zone. Both Schumacher and a representative from the Mercedes team are right now talking to the FIA. If penalized, Schumacher will most likely lose not only 3rd place, but could be dropped ten places for the British Grand Prix in two weeks.

Canada – The Day After

The Canadian Grand Prix of 2012 held a promise of more surprises, more interesting mix-up of drivers in un-usual places and definitely more uncertainty in the drivers championship.

The race has always been one of my favourite circuits, I can´t remember the last time I was disappointed. Remember last year, when the race was a little bit static – I didn´t say boring! – and then half a lap before the chequered flag and Sebastian Vettel lost it to Jenson Button? Or When Robert Kubica crashed his BMW, only to win the event the following year? There has been so many memorable moments from Canada, that I was sure this was another one.

It wasn´t. Well, for some time it didn´t have the “Oh look at that, is so close” moments I was looking for, but then I realised that I was turning into one of those fans, who always complain when things are going great for the rival, but then makes fun of said rival when my own driver starts winning. Or when someone complains that ‘this is the most boring season ever’ and I once again have to tell the idiot that the overtakings have actually increased 3,000%.

I don´t want to be that guy. That guy, for lack of better word, sucks. What we have instead, is the best season in probably the last 15 years, at least, with very close fights, drivers who are actually risking it, compared to 2011, when everyone kinda gave up if Vettel was on pole. We have overtakings, so much action on the track it´s really difficult to keep track of it and plenty of smashes, and run-ins and incidents and accidents. Absolutely brilliant.

And so was Canada. A brilliant race, where tyre management was absolute key. And the best part was, that that part didn´t get boring. There were those who gambled and won, like Lewis Hamilton who had an extra pitstop so he had fresh tyres. Those tyres were so much faster, that he could pass Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso and take the win, his third in Canada, thus becoming the seventh winner in as many races.

And there were the loser. Alonso´s tyres were shot and he fell back, losing ground to Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez, until they, un-dramatically, overtook the Spaniard for 2nd and 3rd respectively. He knew he had old tyres, but just like Vettel, Alonso could gamble. He could pit, get fresh tyres and perhaps end up in 3rd or 4th or stay out and hope that the others weren´t that fast. They were, Fernando, but what great driving you showed us.

Driver of the Day: Lewis Hamilton

Lewis seemed to be in full control of the situation, even when he spoke on the radio, his voice was calm and almost meditative. And what a great radio call to get, that you are leading, just do this some more. Hamilton seems to be settled very nicely in his role now, after a 2011 he wants to put the lid on. he is back and he is going to win some more races. Absolutely brilliant performance.

What the Hell Moment of the Day: Michael Schumacher

When Michael Schumacher qualified just 9th on the grid, we knew it was going to be very hard for the no 7 man to win the race, It would have been awesome, right? Car number 7, 7 titles in the seventh race of the year. But alas, the old shoemaker had to pit and eventually retire because his DRS got stuck in the ‘open’-position. It´s going from bad to worse for Schumacher, who really looked like he could lift the Mercedes team up to at least a top three position.

Most Anonymous drivers of the Day: Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne

The Toro Rosso drivers came, saw and basically just drove around the circuit de Gilles Villeneuve without anyone noticing. They are not bad drivers, in fact they are pretty good. It looks to me like the car is just not in the right ballpark when it comes to performance. I really don´t know, but I think so. I am not saying Toro Rosso is going to hell in a handbasket, but instead of everyone blaming the drivers, who have only collected half the points as their predecessors did last year after seven races, perhaps it´s time to look at the car. It´s not fast enough!

Driver I Did Not Expect To See Up There: Sergio Perez

Actually, this one could be split in two and rewarded to Romain Grosjean as well. I honestly did not see that Grosjean and Perez should end in 2nd and 3rd. I mean I expected them to do well, but looking at how everyone else managed their tyres, I thought at least Perez´ strategy would fail and he needed one more pit stop. But I must hand it to those guys, they really kept their cool and fully deserves their positions. Perez haven´t scored points since Malaysia, but when he does score points, he really does it! Now it´s just up to the rest of the teams to understand, that when Perez is on a one-stop strategy, copy and paste!

Worst Driver of the Day: No one

No really! I don´t think that there is one driver who just did  a really crappy job, everyone did very well and got the most out of what they had. Sure, Massa´s pace in the race didn´t fully live up to what we saw in qualifying, but I feel it´s time to get off his back for a while. Pedro de la Rosa retired for HRT, but hey it´s Pedro de la Rosa driving a HRT, what did you expect? Same goes for Narain Karthikeyan, I just don´t understand why he is still in F1, when you have at least five drivers from GP2 or other series doing a helluva lot better.

As always the Day After report is simply a way for me to vent some ideas, thoughts or frustrations. 2012 has so far been one of the best seasons in recent memory and as I am getting older, closing in on the big 4-0, my memory will fail and I will hopefully remember every season as the best there ever was.

Thanks for reading.

Schumacher´s confidence building

After a disappointing result in Monaco a fortnight ago, where the former seven time world champion retired, the confidence is bigger than ever.

The 43-year old German is expected to stay with Mercedes through 2013 as well, but he is only focused on the race ahead this weekend, the Canadian Grand Prix.

“I am very confident on this weekend’s race,” Schumacher said Thursday. “If you look at the period since my return to Formula One this is probably the closest that we’ve been for setting a good result in the upcoming Grand Prix weekend.”

So far the first six races we´ve seen has produced six different race winners, a record, and Michael Schumacher feels he can make it seven of seven.

“Just put it this way: I like number seven,” he joked. “The track is certainly the right one for our car. We have seen in Monaco that we can be competitive and Montreal could also be good for us.”

“The Canadian Grand Prix is all about the great atmosphere at the track and in the city. The Canadian fans make the whole weekend into a real celebration and, for us drivers, it´s great to feel their passion for motorsport. That gives us a natural boost and it would be great to give them even more reasons to celebrate at the end of the weekend. The race in Montreal is usually action-packed, like we saw last year. The characteristics of the circuit should suit us, and we are counting on our car performing well there. As I said: a trip to Montreal is always worth it. And let´s hope we can make our trip this year especially worthwhile.”

Incidentally, Schumacher´s car has the no 7 on it. We´ll see….