Vettel´s Ferrari rumuours gather speed

Once again a news outlet has claimed that Sebastian Vettel, the current double world champion, will in fact move on to Ferrari soon.

It has long been rumoured that the 24-year old double world champion, the youngest in history, is number one candidate on a very short list of potential drivers for the Italian marquee, and now Italian TV station Mediaset Italia claims that a deal has already been reached between Vettel and Ferrari, to bring him to Maranello for 2014.

It´s bcertainly not the first time we see rumours appear, that the deal is already done, but Mediaset Italia believes they also know how much the team will pay to have the German switch to them, and how.

First off, Vettel is under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2013, but team mate Mark Webber is supposedly a free agent from next year. Ferrari are interested in getting Sergio Perez from Sauber, a member of the Ferrari Academy, but they feel the Mexican needs one more year to mature, before he joins. Perez would then take the seat belonging to Felipe Massa for 2014, Massa would switch back to Sauber, and for 2013 Mark Webber would fill Massa´s seat, if and when the Brazilian should be cut from the team.

But now with Sebastian Vettel in the mix, all bets are off. Naturally there is a reason Vettel comes with a massive price tag. Two titles and a huge talent is mouth-watering for any high profile team, so what now? According to Mediaset Italia, Mark Webber will replace Massa for 2013, in exchange for a €5m, £4m,  paycheck for that one year, and then he will move away or retire his career to make room for Vettel for 2014 Vettel has reportedly been offered €15m, or £12m, per season and will run until the end of the 2016 campaign, a time when Fernando Alonso´s current contract is also up.

 

Kobayashi given penalty for Silverstone

Sauber´s Kamui Kobayashi has been given a five-grid penalty for the British Grand Prix in two weeks, for his involvement in the incident with Felipe Massa, during the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The Japanese driver were unable to finish the race, but during the action-packed race in the Valencian harbour, he made contact with other drivers twice. Once with Bruno Senna, for which the latter got the blame, and then the incident with Felipe Massa. As the two drivers came over the bridge of the harbour, Kobayashi hit the side of Massa´s Ferrari and the stewards have decided to penalize Kobayashi with five places for the British Grand Prix.

“What a race today, but I am very disappointed,” Kobayashi said after the race.

I definitely had a good start from seventh. I made up two positions straight away and then overtook Pastor Maldonado on Lap 1. I was fourth and it looked promising.

“At my first pit-stop, after 14 laps, we had a problem with the front-left wheel. After that I was 11th and still had a good chance. On Lap 20 I was following Kimi Räikkönen, who was overtaking Bruno Senna, and then was on the inside next to Senna. I had the wall (on my right) and nowhere to go when we touched. I had to pit for a nose change.

“Later, when the race was restarted after the Safety Car period, I was fighting with Felipe Massa for position. Our cars touched and this time the damage was too bad to continue.”

Perez ‘quit rumours’ a compliment, says Peter Sauber

No doubt that scoring 3rd place in the Canadian Grand Prix, and securing his second podium of the season, Sergio Perez is the hottest name in F1 right now.

So naturally every one starts rumours that he is leaving Sauber tomorrow, the suitcase is ready and packed and the plane ticket bought, but as fast and reliable he might be, Peter Sauber is not about to let this one go.

“Basically I take it as a compliment,” team principal Peter Sauber said. “If the competition really wants one of my drivers, it means we must be doing things right.” 

Sauber is, for better or worse, a Ferrari mini-team. They have Ferrari engines, gearbox and more and Perez is part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, grooming young and up-coming drivers inside the organisation and funding them on long-term contracts. Naturally, and many people believe this to be happening soon, Perez is the number one candidate to replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari, unless of course Massa starts winning races again. Perez has been linked to the Maranello-based team for some time, but a comment a month ago suggested that Ferrari still thinks he is a bit too in-experienced for 2013. Cue Mark-Webber-moving-to-Ferrari-for-2013 rumours…

No doubt that Perez is the man of the future, perhaps for Ferrari, but he might as well stay at Sauber a couple of years, building on the momentum the team is enjoying at the moment.

Asked if Perez might leave after this season, Peter Sauber said: “(It will) certainly not (happen) this year. Beyond that I think it will be not so easy (for Perez) to leave our team.”

This could indicate a contract extension with some more 0´s in the end, but as usual silly season is…well, silly.

Sauber splitting a car in half – VIDEO

The Sauber team has made a frankly awesome video of a splut Sauber car. That´s right, they have taken a F1 car and split it in tow equally sized halfs, straight down the middle.

You will see how close to the ground the driver is positioned, how the fuel cells are made and located and just how cluttered the front of the car is. It´s a wonder the driver can find the pedals!

Chief Deisgner Matt Morris, gives you a very special look into the car and just how tight it really is in there.

Maldonado: From hero to zero

Pastor Maldonado is probably kicking himself at the moment.

After a decent qualifying round in Monaco on Saturday, where he placed the Williams car in 9th best time, the Venezuelan driver could only watch as he was dropped ten places for cutting across the front of Sergio Perez during practice on Friday. The shunt meant that Perez likely damaged his steering and subsequently, during qualifying, experienced the rotten fortune, of crashing in Monaco for the second consecutive year.

The damage meant that did not progress from Q1, as the left front wheel turned the wrong way after Perez hit the barrier.

As for Maldonado, he didn´t capitalize at all from the accident. He was penalised ten places to start 19th, but the Williams team discovered that there had been too much damage to the car, to the extend that the gearbox needed a change. And that drops Maldonado to 24th.

“The car had a lot of damage in it, to the point where we are having to change the gearbox in it as well,” said the Williams team.

“There was a significant amount of damage to the car, so the guys did a really good job to even get it out for qualifying.”

Read more about the ten place penalty here.

 

Maldonado dropped 10 places

The winner from Spain, Pastor Maldonado, has been given a ten-grid penalty ahead of the qualifying round in Monaco.

The reason for the penalty, was a skirmish between Maldonado and Perez. In the final practice session Saturday morning, Maldonado was trailing Perez for some time. The difference of opinion started at Anthony Noghes, the final corner before the start/finish line. The two drivers went around the circuit fast and close and at Portier on the following lap, after Perez gave room for Maldonado to pass him,the Williams driver cut across the front of the Sauber, hitting Perez.

The overly aggressive move was discussed among the stewards, who promptly delivered a ten-grid penalty to Maldonado for the race on Sunday.

Perez crashes in Monaco

I don´t have a habit of recycling headlines, but fans of Sergio “Checo” Perez will be heart-broken to hear, that the Mexican driver will not progress from Q1.

During the qualifying session in Monaco, Sergio Perez came into Turn 13, Louis Chiron, with what looked to be a little too much speed. he tried to rectify the position of the car halfway through Turn 14, Piscine, but it looked as though the car understeered heavily. The result was an early exit from the popular Sauber driver, who finished 2nd in Malaysia. Since then there has been some hard times for Perez, two 11th places in the next two races and a retirement in Spain.

Perez crashed here last year at Nouvelle Chicane, and as a direct result of this, the organisers have moved the wall partition that separates the track and the escape road, back a further 14 metres. the crash left Perez unconscious and in the following Canadian GP, he participated in the practice session only.

Sergio Perez is not hurt in any way.

Kobayashi: Podium is possible

Sauber´s Kamui Kobayashi believes that a podium finish should be possible in the up-coming Monaco Grand Prix next week.

After a 5th place in the recent Spanish Grand Prix, the Japanese driver feels the aerodynamic upgrades installed on the car worked as planned. And even though the Sauber driver also finished 5th in Monaco last year, he is happy about the performance of the car and might even hope for a podium. Speaking to GPUpdate.net on Thursday, Kobayashi said:

“It obviously provides an entirely different challenge than that of the Circuit de Catalunya. In Monaco the car is bouncing on bumps, you have understeer and oversteer when you are driving on the limit and the track doesn’t forgive any mistakes. I think our car will be better in Monaco than it was last year because it has improved in slow corners,” he said. “In 2011 I finished fifth, so the target should be to finish higher up this year. However, even if you are given the best car in Monaco, in the end a lot is down to the driver to get the ultimate tenths of a second out of it.”

“We have seen five different winners in five races, so you could say almost everything is possible this year.

“I believe we have a good car and good chances for good results. The final outcome always depends on a lot of factors. But what you have to do for success is to get every small thing perfectly right over the entire weekend: and that is what I’m aiming at.”