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.

Spanish Grand Prix preview – Force India

The Sahara Force India team comes into the Spanish Grand Prix on something of a high, after Paul di Resta secured sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix. The two-stop strategy adopted by the team worked perfect, and netted the team ten points.

Paul di Resta talks about Bahrain, and expectations for Spain:

“I think when you have a result like that you feel very proud of everyone in the team. Everybody stepped up and helped deliver the performance. The strategy was a bold one, but it was the right one and gave us one of our best results in the last couple of years.

“We didn’t do a massive number of laps but it was a chance to start evaluating some of our car developments. There’s still plenty of work to do in free practice to get on top of the car, but we’ve already done the basic checks.

“I probably know Barcelona better than any other track on the calendar. We did two tests there in the winter and I had four days in the car so I already feel quite well prepared, but it’s the same for everyone. I expect the field to be incredibly close once again.”

Team mate Nico Hulkenberg has come away with just two points, a ninth place secured in Malaysia. Hulkenberg is getting familiar with the crew and as most drivers, he is looking forward to start the European leg of the season.

“It’s a track I enjoy and where I’ve been successful in the past. It’s high-speed, there are lots of right hand corners and it’s quite tough physically, especially on your neck. As a city I enjoy being in Barcelona because it’s a great place with a nice atmosphere. Also, the stands are always full on race day because the Spanish fans love Formula One.

“The first sector through turns one, two and three is tricky and you need to treat them as one corner. A mistake in one or two will hurt you through three and cost your laptime. It feels great when you get them just right. Also, the final sector is quite technical: it’s slow and twisty, especially the last chicane and it’s easy to drop time at the end of the lap.

“I feel very comfortable in the team and I’m enjoying the season. A few of the races haven’t worked out for me, but I’m looking forward not backwards and determined to get some great results for the team. I’m working well with my car crew, we are pushing hard and we will try our best to get back in the points this weekend.”

Busy day for Force India

Force India´s Paul di Resta suffered an early problem with the hydraulic on his car on Wednesday, limiting his run to only 14 laps.

The original plans for Force India today, Thursday, was to have Nico Hulkenberg to drive the car the entire day, but the team has altered the plans to allow Paul di Resta to do some more running, the to drivers sharing the testing duties. But according to di Resta there shouldn´t be too many issues ahead of the team on this the last day of testing before Spain.

“I don’t think it’s massive,” Di Resta said. “We’re quite limited with what we were going to learn anyway, given the way the track is. It’s not got that many similar characteristics compared to the tracks we’re racing at.

“It would have been nice to get some more running, but these things happen. If we can get cracking tomorrow [Thursday] and get a full programme in we’ll be okay.”

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley said that the team has made several big chances to the car, including the engine and hydraulics.

“We had some faults in the data and we needed to do quite a few changes to the hydraulic system to eliminate it. [It was] a bit of a painful day,” he said.

“[The] problem was tracers. We were just worried it was going to cause an issue, partly safety and not wanting to cause any damage. We changed everything; the engine, the hydraulic pack. The key thing was to make sure Paul was comfortable.

“We will change our schedule, run half a day with Paul [Thursday] morning and Nico in the afternoon, to give them equal time in the car.”

As of noon Thursday, di Resta is down in sixth place, after a trip to the gravel trap. He was running in fourth at one point. Nico Hulkenberg will take over the car after the lunch break.

Plenty of support for Karthikeyan after Vettel incident

Ok, so what should we call this one? Karthikeyan-Gate? Overtaking-Gate? World-champion-in-a-difficult-situation-while-in-the-race-having-to-struggle-more-and-so-is-more-frustrated-than-he-usually-is-when-he-is-leading-Gate? I vote for the last one.

Sebastian Vettel is a world class driver, he is blindingly fast and is a double world champion. He is one of the best drivers I have witnessed in the last 20 years, and his talent is so pure, so enormous, that we all know he is not done winning races and championship. But he is also a spoiled little brat at times. This is not one of those articles, in which I competely change my stance on a driver, just because he had a bad day at the office. Vettel is brilliant, no doubt about that, but just as your oldest kid grows up, he leaves behind an innocence that will never come back. He/she will meet new people, get influenced by them and make up his/her own minds, and that sometimes brings frustration. This doesn´t mean that your kid is suddenly a completely different person, just as Vettel is no longer a great driver. Because believe me, Vettel is a great driver.

Since the Malaysian Grand Prix last Sunday, in which Narain Karthikeyan now famously caused fourth placed Vettel to end up 11th in the race, by shredding his rear left tyre, the internet has been ripe with all sorts of name calling and slandering. It´s one thing that Vettel´s fans are calling for the Superlicense to be revoked for Karthikeyan, but looking in a mirror is sometimes also a very good idea. This is not about who caused what, but how the reactions have been afterwards. And many are of the firm believe that Narain Karthikeyan had no fault in this.

Immediately after the race, Vettel said that Karthikeyan was an idiot, blaming the Indian driver for the incident. Karthikeyan received a 20 second post-race penalty for the incident, although many expert observers are saying he didn´t deserve the penalty.

“It’s like on the normal roads, there are some idiots driving around and seems like there is also one driving here,” Vettel had said.

Fellow drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta, from Force India, are giving their support to Karthikeyan, saying they don´t understand why Vettel would stoop so such a level, as to call Karthikeyan an ‘idiot’.

“I heard about whatever happened and I also saw it on tv. From what I saw, it was not Narain’s fault. So, I don’t really understand why he (Vettel) said all of that,” said Nico Hulkenberg. “I think Vettel was just emotional at that point of time. He lost out on points, it was frustrating for him and his team. At the end of the day, he is just human and sometimes you get emotional.”

Paul di Resta: “Though I have not really seen the incident, I am sure a lot of was said in the heat of the moment. May be he (Vettel) used the wrong words. Emotions run high in Formula One and sometimes you tend to say what you don’t really mean. Having said that, Narain is entitled to do as much on the track in comparison as someone like Vettel. Both are F1 drivers and are there to represent their teams.” 

 

 

Barcelona Test Day 2: Hulkenberg ahead

Sorry folks, but I have no time to spare, so I will instead just copy-paste from the excellent GPUpdate.net.

“Force India and Nico Hülkenberg topped the timesheets as Formula 1’s winter testing period continued in Barcelona on Wednesday. The German shot ahead as he fitted a set of Super Soft tyres. However it was double World Champion Sebastian Vettel who made the biggest impression, as his day officially ended in third spot.

Once again, gloves and hats were the name of the game for Spanish track officials, spectators and most of those working in Catalonia, although another chilly morning soon become a comfortable afternoon of sunshine and blue skies as ambient temperatures moved into the mid-teens.

Caterham was first on-track once again, with Vitaly Petrov having a debut drive with his new team; this included a selection of new car parts after Heikki Kovalainen ran into trouble with a rear suspension failure on Tuesday. Hülkenberg, back in F1 after being dropped by Williams in 2010, started as he meant to continue by recording the first lap time.

Fernando Alonso and Ferrari led the way after the first hour, with Vettel soon moving ahead as Hamilton took third from Hülkenberg. Cementing that the order in testing is somewhat meaningless, with all teams’ fuel loads are car setups remaining highly secretive, both the Force India and Sergio Pérez for Sauber jumped up to the top two, fitting Pirelli’s new generation Super Soft tyres shortly before the hour-long lunch break. Incidentally, Vettel was able to gain more mileage before one o’clock, having previously spent a lengthy stint in his garage.

At Williams, reserve driver Valtteri Bottas enjoyed a full day of running, attempting to improve the FW34’s pace in low-speed corners following on from Bruno Senna’s difficulties of Tuesday. Ahead on the timesheets but significantly behind for lap numbers was Daniel Ricciardo, who was forced to stop twice and therefore caused the day’s pair of red flags. The first came only 29 minutes in – its cause remains unknown, but the Italian team confirmed to GPUpdate.net that it was not related to yesterday’s stoppage. The Australian appeared to suffer more woes at half past two, with the car seemingly stalling in the pit lane exit.

The true pace of all teams remains very much unknown, as is so often the case in this pre-season period. Despite that, all rivals admit that Red Bull appears to be in front, with McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes perhaps all with potential to challenge for top three positions. Judging by the classifications of the six days so far this February, Force India seems to be enjoying both great consistency and reliability.

On Thursday, a number of drivers will be in action for the first time this week, namely Mark Webber, Jenson Button and Felipe Massa, with Scotland’s Paul di Resta taking the helm at Force India for the remainder of the test. Lotus, on the other hand, withdrew from the test after a major chassis problem was discovered on Tuesday morning; crucially, this deprives returning 2007 Champion Kimi Räikkönen of any track time this week.”

Official: Hulkenberg and Di Resta confirmed at Force India

Force India has finally announced their drivers for 2012, and it is Nico Hulkenberg to replace Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta to stay.

That means Adrian Sutil have been fired from the team, Hulkenberg receives a promotion from test driver, but so far a third driver is not yet announced.

Friday afternoon, Vijay Mallya said:

“In Paul and Nico we have two extremely talented drivers with tremendous potential. I think Paul caught the eye of everybody in the pit lane during his rookie season. His speed, maturity and racecraft confirmed that we were right to believe in him and we look forward to working with him again next year.

“As for Nico, we identified him as a rising star at the end of 2010 and chose to evaluate him during the course of this season. Despite having only limited time in the car, he convinced us that he deserved a race seat for 2012.

“Our new line-up means we say ‘goodbye’ to Adrian Sutil, who has been with the team since we entered the sport. He has been an integral part of our success over the past four seasons and we wish him well for the future.”

Young Hulkenberg is ecstatic to get the second seat, here´s his thoughts.

“I’m obviously delighted to be staying with Sahara Force India and to be given the chance to race next year. It wasn’t easy to watch from the sidelines this season, but I did my best to help the team and show what I was capable of.

“I’m extremely motivated for 2012 and would like to thank everyone for believing in me and giving me this chance. I’m keen to get down to work over the winter to develop our new car and help the team build on this year’s achievements. The first test in Jerez can’t come soon enough.”

The future might not be so dark for Sutil,as he is now a prime candidate for the second seat over at Williams, next to Pastor Maldonado. Other candidates include Rubens Barrichello, Bruno Senna, Sebastién Buemi and Vitaly Petrov.

Has Hulkenberg signed with Force India?

The rumours are swirling these hours, that Williams´ outcast and Brazilian pole sitter last year, Nico Hulkenberg, could be o the verge of signing a deal with Force India to race with them for 2012.

If the rumours holds water, and by all accounts they do, Adrian Sutil will be leaving the team after spending his entire F1 career with them. He started as a test drivers in what was known as the Midland team, then it was bought by dutch carmaker Spyker and ultimately taken over by Vijay Mallya the following year. Since then, Sahara Group have taken over a large stake in the team and it is believed that the new owners – although everyone else is calling them partners – have decided that Nico Hulkenberg deserves another shot at a race seat.

The team have been stronger season by season, so has the car, and with rookie Paul Di Resta impressing everyone, it is the belief that the team is now targeting a young driver line-up with a clear aim to fight for podiums next year. The contract with Hulkenberg is believed to be for 2012, with 2013 as an option.

Sutil´s manager Manfred Zimmermann, rejected the claims, saying they are just rumours.

“That is not right. The team – Vijay Mallya and Rob Fernley – confirmed yesterday that this is a rumour in the press and not the truth,” he insisted.

“We are in negotiations with the team,” added Sutil’s manager. “When they are concluded I cannot say, but we certainly will not wait until December the fifteenth.”

Only last week Vijay Mallya laughed off the claims that the team had been sold to Sahara, only to announce 48 hours later, that they had in fact taken a mayorityof stakes in the team. It´ll be interesting to see if Mallya is lying again…

The deal is expected to be announced shortly.

 

Sutil might face criminal charges

Force India´s Adrian Sutil could face criminal charges for the nightclub attack he was involved in in China last month.

There is a real threat that Adrian Sutil could lose his super license or even face jail time for the attack on Genii´s Eric Lux. Several Formula One drivers were at a nightclub in China during the Grand Prix weekend, and apparently Sutil and Lux exchanged some kind of argument.

Sutil allegedly broke a champagne glass and cut Erix Lux in the neck, after celebrating Lewis Hamilton´s race win. Hamilton and Sutil are close friends.

According to F1 Times, Lux is taking legal actions against Sutil, as well as sending a report of the incident to the governing body, the FIA. If the case goes tocourt, they could remove Sutil´s superlicense and ban him for driving. It will take some time, before the case will go to these lenghts, but if so the teams reserve driver, Nico Hulkenberg, is standing at the ready.