Cutting the Chicane

Early Days!

2012-02-10T12:48:00.002+05:30

It is still early days and the first test is never abenchmark for the season but we can assume a few things as always with thistest. In an historic season which will see 6 World Champions on the track withthe comeback of Kimi Räikkönen, the season on paper looks to be the most excitingseason. 2007, 2008 and 2010 were the most exciting season in recent times whilethe dominance of Red Bull and Vettel was too much during the course of lastseason that even Mark Webber in a similar car to Vettel could just not matchhis pace.

This season the likes of Ferrari and McLaren have said thatthey will be challenging RBR right from the start while Mercedes & Lotuswants to challenge the big 3. So far based on the times, we can say that rightnow Red Bull once again has the car which everyone has to beat but then thedifference between theirs and their challengers could not be determined and itis still early days. McLaren over the last few seasons despite not having thebest of starts eventually catch up with speed towards the end of the season.This is good news for the team with regard to the development pace but then toomany times the lead is just too much that the team realistically just cannotcatch with the Championship team.

Ferrari is having a sense of Déjà vu of the early 90s’s asthey once again do not have the pace to beat the best team but then they arebetter than the rest. Ferrari has promised something different for this season butunless they do something drastic in the next few weeks they will not be racewinners during the 1^st half of the season. The F2012 has problemsand they need to be solved quickly. Lotus may not be able to do a Brawn butthey do have a car which can consistently fight for podium finishes. Which isactually good news for the team where last season they were nearly caught bythe Force India.

Mercedes may have topped the timing but it was with a 2011car and the team needs to show that it has in it to fight the top 3 teams. Thiscould be Schumacher’s last season and though a win may be very tough a fewpodium finishes could be good while Rosberg needs to show that he is actually adriver capable of a World Championship as given how he is in his career itcould either go the Button way or the Heidfeld way!

Force India aspires to come 5^th in theChampionship and they certainly have the most existed driving pairing in recenttimes so if the car is good then they can challenge the likes of Lotus andMercedes. But then the team does needs funds and given the current size theyare punching well above their weight. They have new sponsors in Sahara who dohave bucket loads of cash while with UB in a mess don’t expect too much fromVJM this season.

Among the others STR looks most likely to finish ahead ofSauber who are short of funds while Williams now are quickly going down the originalTeam Lotus route. The team missed an opportunity to sign Kimi and even thoughthey have Renault engines now, Williams are right at the bottom and they needto be careful as the likes of Caterham will be looking to beat them. Maurussiawill have a car but HRT is one team which should not be allowed on the grid.The team’s flawed principle on how it views F1 is not a good thing for thesport. Would rather see David Richards and his Prodrive team or even ART GPinstead of this team.

Over the Curbs Awards – 2011

2011-11-28T12:32:00.001+05:30

After a stunning 2010 season where till the final race ofthe season you were not sure who will win the F1 Driver’s Championship but 2011turned out to be a year where Vettel not only became the youngest double WorldChampion but also broke Mansell’s long standing record of the most number ofpoles in a season. Red Bull proved that they are no one-hit wonder and thatthey are here to stay. Red Bull was so dominant that Vettel and RBR won thetitles even before the season was over. McLaren and Ferrari were able tochallenge the team only at few races while the mid-field battle between ForceIndia, Sauber and STR was pretty exciting.

Schumacher nearly hot the podium in Canada but though hestill struggles in qualifying, overall the German Legend has improved his racepace and given a good car can challenge for wins once again though there weresilly errors from him throughout the season. Also the whole Lotus saga comes toan end with Lotus Renault GP will now become Lotus while Team Lotus will becomeCaterham.

Robert Kubica was severely injured before the season startedand he is not ready to drive a F1 car. We all hope during the course of the2012 season, he can atleast drive a car in tests and show that he still has itin him. Also there were talks of Kimi racing for Williams and Lotus Renault for2012 but given the state of global economy and Kimi’s inflated salary, don’t thinka Kimi comeback is on cards.

Among the 3 new tears none really made a huge progress but TeamLotus did manage to challenge some mid-field team during a few races and theyshould make the jump from this pack to challenge the likes of Sauber and STR.Williams are on a deep slide and they had their worst ever F1 season. If theycontinue going this way they may end up like the original Team Lotus and mayeventually go into liquidation. For 2012 they have big plans and they have signedup with Renault for engines. They had the same Renault engines during their successfulperiod 1989 to 1997. Realistically, we can’t expect the team to win races butthey should be challenging the likes of Sauber and STR.

Also there was the first ever Indian GP and it managed to goon without a hitch while Force India has sold a 42% stake to the Sahara group andwith Sahara coming onboard, the only way for Force India is to go up and aftera stunning last 2 seasons, the team should challenge the likes of Lotus Renaultfor the coming season.

Over the Club Awards for 2011 Season:

Driver of the Season – Sebastian Vettel

Team of the Season – Red Bull Racing

The Next Big Thing – Paul di Resta

Most Improved Driver – Jenson Button

Most Improved Team – Force India

Race of the Season – Canadian Grand Prix

Best Grand Prix – Singapore Grand Prix

Worst Grand Prix – Chinese Grand Prix

Rookie of the season – Paul di Resta

Most disappointing driver of the Season – Lewis Hamilton

Most disappointing team of the Season – Williams

Lucky to be in F1 (for the season) - Jarno Trulli

Veteran of the Season – Michael Schumacher

Comeback of the Season – Adrian Sutil

Most entertaining driver of the season – Michael Schumacher

Most boring driver of the season – Vitaly Petrov

JV of the Season – Lewis Hamilton
(For the driver who talks utter nonsense like how JV used to do it in hisracing days)

Whiner of the season - Rubens Barrichello

Most missed Driver – Robert Kubica

Least missed Driver - Pedro de la Rosa

The Crazy and no-so Crazy Driver Market!

2011-10-27T11:27:00.002+05:30

The F1 driver market will always be an interesting read asat times you can hear some audacious stories floating around. For 2012, thereis an unusual calm and more or less all the big 4 teams have announced their drivers.I don’t expect any change in Red Bull (Vettel & Webber), McLaren (Button& Hamilton), Ferrari (Alonso & Massa) and Mercedes (Schumacher &Rosberg) and also Sauber has announced that it will continue with Sergio Perez &Kamui Kobayashi while Team Lotus has re-signed both Heikki Kovalainen &Jarno Trulli, there is still some speculation on Trulli’s role if he is goingto be a race driver or will he take up a David Coulthard type of role.

Williams, Lotus Renault, Force India, Scuderia Toro Rosso, MarussiaVirgin Racing and HRT still has available seats and there are plenty of driversin the market. The biggest news which is going around is that former WorldChampion Kimi is having talks with Williams. One may wonder why a driver of thecaliber of Kimi would have talks with Williams but it actually makes sense foreveryone involved if this actually happens. Williams have gone from one of themost dominant team of the 90’s to a mid-field team which this season has goneeven worse. They are just ahead of the 3 new teams of F1. Force India andSauber are well ahead and even the possibility of catching up Toro Rosso isremote. Williams have announced a partnership with Renault but Red Bull is thepremier works team of Renault while Williams is more or less a customer teamonly. The benefit for Williams by signing Kimi is that they have a former Championracing for them and this could easily attract new sponsors for the team. Alsothe serious intent that the team is looking at breaking away from the mid-fieldwill be shown by this move. Williams took a lot of flank by replacing Hulkenberg with Pastor Maldonado but then atleast the team’s financial situation is stableand Maldonado is doing a pretty decent job and comes with a decent driverpedigree as having won the GP2 Championship. For Kimi, Williams is the sort ofteam where he would have less pressure as no one expects him to win races withthe team and a few good drives would once again entice the likes of Red Bulland McLaren. If Kimi had gone to Red Bull and had Vettel smoked him out like heis doing it to Vettel, Kimi’s future in the sport will have a downward spiral.So Kimi and Williams is the best combination for both the parties involved.

Force India is now almost challenging Renault for the 5^thplace and has a realistic chance of taking it but then with Sahara taking overa major stake in the team and also Sahara is keen on an Indian driving for theteam, things are not too clear for the team. But then Paul di Resta seems tohave a contract for 2012 while there are reports saying that Nico Hulkenberg hasalready signed for 2012. This line-up seems to be the most logical for the teamand if the car is as good as this year, this line-up can pose a challenge foreven 4^th place for the 2012 season. F1 is business and nationalisticideals do not go well with it and Force India may actually will not a sign anIndian driver to race while Sutil is bound to get the axe despite being in theteam since the beginning. Sutil has had enough chances and also the brawl inChina has not done him any favors. He has some personal sponsors and he islooking at the Williams seat as well but then his days in F1 is more or lessover if Force India does drops him.

Lotus Renault is the most complicated team on the grid asdespite being called a Renault the team has nothing to do with the car companyand all it does is run Renault engines. The team could have had a stellar yearthis season but Kubica’s accident has ruined everything and his replacement NickHeidfeld has failed drastically and has even been dropped by the team. It is abit harsh on Heidfeld as more or less his F1 career is over with this move.Kubica is still recovering and there are rumors floating around that he maybecome the reserve driver for Ferrari in 2012 and take up the race seat duringthe 2013 season once Massa’s contract is done. This seems to be a good optionfor Kubica as given how murky the Renault teams has become. Renault still had adecent car and could attract some good drivers but does the team actually hasthe money to pay a good driver is a good question. Vitaly Petrov & BrunoSenna are currently racing while Petrov is well backed, Senna if he could pulloff some good performance during the last few races, could be a good for theteam as the Senna name can attract sponsors. Romain Grosjean is more mature anda better driver than we last saw him and his French connections could earn hima seat but then it call comes to money when Lotus Renault will decide on itsdrivers.

Toro Rosso has four drivers for 2012 with the incumbents Jaime Alguersuari & Sebastien Buemimore or less evenly matched but with new Spanish sponsors coming in,Alguersuari may have an edge while Daniel Ricciardo & Jean-Eric Vergne willalso come into the mix. Ricciardo has done decently well with HRT while Vergneis rated highly but still is untested in F1. STR may just drop both Alguersuari& Buemi and bring in the other guys.

For the minnows, Timo Glock will race for 2012 while Jeromed’Ambrosio may get the boot. The likes of Charles Pic & Giedo Van der Gardewill come into the mix while even Petrov can come in if Lotus Renault decidesto give him the ax. For HRT, the biggest thing once again will be getting theircar ready and anyone with enough money will be driving for team but VitantonioLiuzzi may yet be retained.

Rubens Barrichello’s long F1 career is coming to an end andit looks certain that Williams have not renewed his contract while LotusRenault could be his realistic shot at driving a good car while HRT may signhim if he brings in the money.

2012 looks sober but 2013 will be very interesting with thelikes of Hamilton, Massa, Webber, Schumacher and Rosberg all without contractsmeaning that big 4 teams has seats available. But Mercedes is sure to sign onRosberg unless McLaren dumps Hamilton while Schumacher will retire at the endof next season but then a few race wins may even keep him going longer for abit. Massa needs a miracle to continue with Ferrari while only a WorldChampionship could get Red Bull retain Webber. Hamilton’s best chance ofanother title is with McLaren but then stranger things has happened in F1 and aformer World Champion did sign for BAR and his F1 career plunged into thedepths and it never took off again. Kimi’s return will be a big plus for the 2013 silly season as a solidyear with Williams could add him in the mix and F1 is just getting interesting.

Enough is Enough!

2011-08-17T14:43:00.000+05:30

Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest formula 1 driversof all time and he is the best if you go only by statistics. AT 42 Schumacherstill has it in him to go head-to head with drivers who were in their diaperswhen he started racing!

The constant criticism he gets from former drivers and theBritish media is uncalled for and it is just plain sour grapes. One his archrivals Jacques Villeneuve who is often known for his brash and crazy commentsactually made a good point about Schumacher’s’ comeback. F1 is not about thedriver alone and though till the early 80’s it was 50/50 now it is more on thetechnical side and the car that it is become 80/20 in favor of the car. Yes aKarun Chandhok given a Red Bull may not win a race but a Rosberg with a RedBull will be a title contender.

During this Belgian GP Schumacher would be celebrating his20^th anniversary of his F1 debut which happened at Spa. This wasalso the venue which saw his 1^st race win and been host to a bunchof memorable Schumacher drives. Even during the Canadian GP we were shown thathe has not lost much and was actually in line for a podium finish buteventually the faster McLaren of Button and Red Bull of Webber overtook him andhe finished a much celebrated 4^th place.

For the British media anyone not from the isles winningraces means the car is good while if their own guy wins then it is all aboutthe driver. Vettel, the reigning Champion and also according to many the heirto Schumacher’s throne is considered an inferior driver to Hamilton accordingto the British press. Vettel has shown that he is a more consistent driver andby far a better team player than Hamilton will ever be. F1 is not about onerace but it is about performing the whole season. This is something which Schumacherthroughout his F1 career has shown.

From the time he made his debut for Jordan, he has shownthat he is a special talent and with an unfancied Benetton managed to win 2driver’s championships. This was the time when Williams seems invincible andeveryone wanted to drive for the team. Also the Frenchman and multiple-timeWorld Champion Alain Prost ran away from Ferrari after a poor season but notSchumacher. Given his German connections he could have easily gone to McLarenbut he stuck around with Ferrari and ensured that Ferrari which at that pointwas lagging behind the likes of Williams, Benetton and McLaren became the bestteam in F1 history!

His time with Ferrari was one the greatest moments in F1which resulted in 5 consecutive world championships and barring 2 years of histime with Ferrari, he was challenging for the title every other time. He is oneof the greatest drivers ever but he is not a superman who can take a dog of acar and win races in it. Seriously who has managed to do it? None has inreality. Senna did manage to drag a Toleman to a Monaco during very wetconditions while Vettel went one up by actually winning at Monza during a wetrace driving for the Toro Rosso team which in its previous incarnation as Minardiwas always a back-marker team.

You have to remember that the Brawn GP car in which Buttonwon was actually one of the most expensive F1 cars ever which had close to 2years in development time. While the likes of McLaren & Ferrari werefighting for titles and Red Bull just coming up the ladder, Brawn thanks to avery generous funding by Honda managed to build a car which during the 1^sthalf of the season was close to invincible. You can always argue that RubensBarrichello did not win a single race during that phase but again the driverdoes make a difference. Best example is if Chandhok is in a Red Bull. Do youthing he can win the title?

The very team in its previous avatars as BAR & Honda F1has proved real dog of cars. Except for 2004 and to an extend 2006, the teamhas never produced cars capable of even challenging for podiums at regularintervals. Now how can you expect Schumacher to actually come take this dog ofthe car and challenge the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren? He can’t andthe car is just not capable enough. Also Schumacher is not 28 anymore and he is42 and he has been out of F1 for 3 years. Yes he is not the same Schumacheranymore but then Rosberg is a very good driver and given a good car he can challengefor wins and maybe even a title. He is similar to Jenson Button who is very consistentand can win a title if everything goes in his way.

It not like Trulli is beating Schumacher and the differencebetween Rosberg and Schumacher this season is actually not much. Schumachergiven the right car will be challenging for wins but then even Vettel with thisMercedes would find it difficult to challenge for podiums leave alone a win.The car could be the best of the rest but it is lagging behind the top 3 teams.So unless Mercedes produces a car where one driver is winning while the otheris yet to win you can question Schumacher. Something similar is happening inRed Bull but then since Webber is Australian who is a darling of the Britishmedia they still manage to spin the conspiracy theory that RBR gives Vettel asuperior car compared to Webber!

Guys like Lauda and Jordan can keep quiet as they have hadtheir time and it is sour grapes that Schumacher has done something which theyhave never managed to it. Also the British press despite their constant criticismof Schumacher he is actually not that as bad as they portray. Well the last 30years has produced 4 British Champions and Schumacher alone has more titles puttogether than these 4 combined. Britain despite being home to F1 has not consistentlyproduced good drivers. Germans since the arrival of Schumacher has had moredrivers than the Brits. Among the 2 drivers on the grid, Button can win ifthere is rain and chaos or he has a car which is 2 second faster than any othercar while Hamilton is getting worse as a driver since his F1 debut.

Schumacher is Schumacher and this comeback does not takeaway anything and if you look purely at statistics like a few commentators havedone then Rosberg in his 6^th season is yet to win a race whileSchumacher in the 6^th season has already won 2 World Championships!So statistics alone would count for nothing! Give the man a good car and hewill show he is still the Man!

Webbergate: Version 2

2011-07-12T14:13:00.001+05:30

The whole “team order saga” once again erupted but then thistime around Webber whining is just getting plain boring. Mark Webber is justlucky to drive for Red Bull. If Webber was so good, he would have gone toRenault during the 2007 season but the only reason he got his Red Bull drivewas because of Renault supplying engines to Red Bull and his manager FlavioBriatore ensured that the deal happened.

Webber is way over-rated and on his day he can be a gooddriver but then he is not a “special” driver who can go on and win titles. Hecan be a good #2 or he can be a good driver for a mid-field team but thenexpecting Webber to win and challenge for titles is something which just is notpossible. Last year people say it was Webber’s best chance but then he was justnot consistent enough and that showed that by the end of the season it wasAlonso who was Vettel’s biggest threat not Webber.

This season in 8 races before the British Grand Prix, Vettelhas won 6 races and managed to finish 2^nd in the other 2 races.McLaren drivers Hamilton and Button both won races but Webber was just chasingVettel throughout the season and was not even close to him. Even at the BritishGrand Prix despite on being pole Webber never did challenge him till the last 2laps and that too it happened because of a horrible pit-stop by the Red Bullcrew on Vettel while Webber actually got the better pit strategy.

Webber’s indiscipline this time is unacceptable and Red Bullshould just not re-sign him for the next season. If they feel the youngerdrivers whom they have under contract is not good enough they can just sign KamuiKobayashi who has proved that he is a highly capable driver and given a fastcar he can be more than a capable teammate for Vettel. Or else they can justlook at Massa who after the last 2 years in Ferrari is looking lost and he seemsto have lost that spark that made him a challenger to the Championship duringthe 2008 season.

Red Bull does not need Webber while Webber needs them morethan anything else. Webber does not have too many good options and the onlyseat which could be possible is Ferrari but that depends on Massa. Massa had acontract for 2012 but in F1 contracts means nothing so that is a possibilitybut then Alonso has molded the team around him Webber will have to be a #2driver. He can go to Renault but with the whole Group Lotus fiasco, Renault mayprovide a good car but they just cannot provide a race winning car.

Williams and Force India are two options while Williams witha deal with Renault may look like they are keen on revival but given his ageWebber would not want to spend his last few years nurturing the team whileForce India will always be a team which performs well on a few track ratherthan a team which challenges for podiums.

Webber should have kept quiet and Red Bull should just signKobayashi as he is one for the future and has a good marketing potential too.Webber can just call it day or finish his career with Renault as he has justshot himself with his latest outburst.

2012: The Silly Driver Market

2011-05-07T11:07:00.009+05:30

The driver market has been very stable for the last few things and the last big move occurred when Alonso left Renault to join Ferrari while that was always expected but there have not been any big shocking moves which caused most teams to change drivers. Looking at the line-up of the top teams for the current season, everyone has a good line-up and maybe expect for McLaren, 2012 could be very different for the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and even Renault.

Two drivers who could really make a difference and plunge 2012 into a silly season are Mark Webber and Felipe Massa. Webber has a deal only till end of the year while Massa despite on paper has a deal till 2012 nothing is guaranteed as everyone knew what happened to Kimi Räikkönen.

Red Bull owns Toro Rosso for the development of drivers in their program and Vettel’s success vindicates continuing the program but then with Daniel Ricciardo all set for a Toro Rosso seat in 2012, both Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari will be hoping to step-up and become Vettel’s teammate for 2012. But then it all depends on Webber and his chemistry with the team. No team likes a driver who is way too outspoken and keeps criticising & whining to the press about the team and Red Bull given how strong they are can actually any driver to partner Vettel.

Things in Ferrari are a different story and some speculate that had it not been for Massa’s serious accident, it would have been Kimi and Alonso rather than Massa continuing in the team. Massa had one great season where he nearly won the championship but then apart from that season Massa has lacked the consistency which is needed for a top driver. Last season Alonso owned Massa and looking at how things have shaped up this season things may not be that different. Massa’s failure last season was one of the main reasons why Ferrari could not even challenge for the constructors title while McLaren due to good point scoring drives by Button and Hamilton were very much in the hunt.

For Red Bull things are not that complicated as given how strong their car is any good driver would want to drive for them. Webber if he still has that hunger could be retained but I doubt if that could happen. Among the 3 young drivers Daniel Ricciardo is the most talented one but he is yet to drive in F1 while the current STR drivers Buemi and Alguersuari are both good but lacks consistent which Vettel showed when he was in Toro Rosso. If Massa is booted out of Ferrari he could come into the picture as he is a proven performer and with a fast car he can always have a good race. But one name which could surprise everyone was Nico Rosberg. Rosberg has always showed that he had the talent when he was in Williams and moving to Mercedes he did manage to beat Schumacher but then if he does manage to beat him once again this season Rosberg will be able to prove that he belong with the race winners.

One name which keeps popping up whenever Red Bull comes up is former champion Kimi Räikkönen, who is sponsored by Red Bull and is not that serious about either rallying or NASCAR as his deals are all on per race basis. A Kimi return would do F1 a world of good and it would be good to see Kimi and Vettel go up against the likes of Hamilton, Button, Schumacher and Alonso. But then Kimi has been out of F1 for 2 years and things have changed now but not that drastically that he could still be fast and challenge for races. Kimi would be a marketing coup for the team and he is also close to current world champion Vettel which means that the driver harmony in the team will be very good.

Massa and Webber could just swap seats but then Ferrari would actually benefit a lot from Webber as he is off proven quantity and since he does not have too many years left in him, he could fill in the seat till Vettel is available or till the likes of Sergio Pérez and Jules Bianchi are ready for F1. Another name which could be associated with Ferrari will be Nico Hülkenberg. The man is managed by Wili Weber, the same guy who brought Schumacher to Ferrari and the Hulk showed last season that how good he was in a bad Williams’s car and this season in Friday practices he has shown good pace with Force India.

Mercedes could end up losing both its drivers but then though Rosberg to Ferrari rumours are afloat, he is currently in the best position to pick teams as if he has a good 2011, he can actually choose between Ferrari and Red Bull while his teammate Schumacher has said that he will continue to drive till 2012, but then if Rosberg dominates him once again like he did in 2010 and Paul di Resta if he continues in the way he has started the season, he could retire to make way for the younger driver. Another possibility for the Mercedes seat will be Hülkenberg but then his nationality would play a major factor in getting him the seat.

Renault will be waiting for Kubica as this season they do have a car which can challenge for the title and no offence to Nick Heidfeld, who is very good but then he did not have a whole season for 2010 and the car was built around Kubica. Heidfeld could still do well but then losing the early momentum means that the team would be forced to fight for the 3rd place in the championship rather than look at race wins and the title itself. Vitaly Petrov has been impressive so far and if he continues to do the same he could hold on to the seat for quiet sometime. A very good season for Heidfeld means that he could possibly get a seat with likes of Williams and Force India for 2012.

Among the others, veteran Rubens Barrichello could stretch his career further but that is not going to benefit anyone while Sutil if he continues to get outpaced like this then his dream of a top car could just vanish as Mercedes would be looking at the likes of di Resta and the Hulk while Renault wants a consistent driver which Sutil may not be. Timo Glock will rue that he did not take the gamble and sign with Renault as his chance of getting a drive for a top team is getting very slim. Maybe he and Sutil can look at Team Lotus for a drive as Trulli is not getting any younger. One driver who I wish gets a good drive is Kamui Kobayashi as he is a true racer and Red Bull will do no harm in giving him a chance for 2012. If he fails to land a drive in the next few seasons he could fast become these generations Heidfeld, a good talent but never had a race winning car.

Long way to go for the 2012 season but the traditionally the driver’s market slowly picks up momentum at the start of the European season and this year it could be no different.

2011 Malaysian GP Review: Flawless Vettel dominates dominates Sepang

2011-04-10T17:56:00.001+05:30

Sebastian Vettel won his 2nd race of the race with an ease that for most part of the season he was on his own. Even better this victory was that his championship rivals from last season Hamilton and Alonso could only finish 6th and 7th. Though it was a good race for Vettel, his teammate Webber had a mixed race but eventually managed to finish 4th fighting it out hard for that place. Not a dream start to the season for Webber but he will take it. Red Bull looks strong and if they could solve their KERS issue they can run away with the championship this season.

Jenson Button finished 2nd and though he never looked like challenging Vettel this was a good result for the British driver as the season is 19 races long and this finish is good for him in-terms of his standing in his team itself and also with regard to the driver’s championship. Button did similarly last season and was in contention for the title till the penultimate race of the season. Also he seems more suited to the Pirelli tires than his teammate Hamilton.

Ferrari came into this weekend not expecting to challenge Red Bulls for a win but there were ready to challenge for podium places and Alonso during various stages of the race was set for that but due to various races it never materialized and he could only finish 6th while teammate Massa improved to finish 5th. Not a great finish but finishing ahead of Alonso and a much improved show by him should restore some faith him in by the team.

Renault had Vitaly Petrov on podium during the last time and this time they had Nick Heidfeld who had a stunning race to finish 3rd. Renault’s decision to replace Kubica with Heidfeld has been vindicated and Heidfeld was the driver of the race and was actually 2nd during the early stages of the race after an amazing start. Petrov also had a good race till he crashed out but he has shown that he can race and if he continues his progress, then Renault can mix with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari.

Sauber once again showed that they have a very good car and though both Kobayashi and Pérez were disqualified in Melbourne for technical infringements but here in Sepang, Kobayashi once again drove a very exciting race and he fought hard with everyone and finished 8th. It is only a matter of time till one of the big teams will sign this Japanese driver. Perez did not have a great race but he has the potential and as the season progresses he should do well.

Mercedes after a horrible Australian GP looked set for an improvement at Sepang but they did open their account for this season with Michael Schumacher coming in 9th. Schumacher did show some of his old magic and if only he had the car he could be mixing with the guys at the top of the grid. Teammate Rosberg had a poor race and whatever reputation he gained during the last season will be gone quickly if he drives a few more races like he did today. Mercedes needs to up its game or else it will find itself battling the likes of Sauber and Force India rather than Renault, Ferrari and McLaren.

After seeing the way Paul di Resta drove today, we all should be wondering what was he doing in DTM for so long but he atleast managed to get a break this season and yet again finished 10th and got into point scoring position for Force India. Though the team’s car is lacking in pace compared to Sauber and even Toro Rosso, di Resta drove brilliantly and he is on course to become the rookie of the year if he continues to drive the same way. Teammate Sutil also had a good race and he managed to finish 11th importantly ahead of Rosberg and the Toro Rosso drivers.

Williams is having a catastrophic season and the way Rubens Barrichello, the most experienced driver on the grid is driving, they would wonder if they made a huge mistake in letting go Nico Hülkenberg. Williams ever since BMW left them have been on a downhill and the team also has made some mistakes when it came to drivers and engine suppliers and yet again this season instead of signing up with Renault they went with Cosworth. Pastor Maldonado despite brining in the money in the 2 races he has raced has shown that he does not belong on the grid.

Toro Rosso had a poor race as they do have a car which can challenge Sauber and which is better than Force India but both their drivers failed to score points. This resembles last season as the team had a decent start and they just tapered off during the middle part of the season. It is a very important season for both Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari if their F1 careers have to continue.

Among the others who make up the numbers on the grid, Team Lotus despite their promising show during the testing has not really progressed beyond the tail-end of the grid while Virgin and HRT racing is just one bike joke. The teams are neither competitive nor doing something to improve it. Virgin despite backed by Sir Richard Branson should quit F1 as the CFD alone concept is not working and Branson should learn how to run an F1 team from other billionaires out there which is throw some money on the team. HRT’s shoestring budget set-up looks like it will not last the whole season. The team has decent drivers but the car is not even good enough to race in GP2. FIA should step in and throw the team out.

The next race will be in China next week and none of the teams will have time for any updates and given how RBR and Vettel have dominated so far, things should not change too much in China. Maybe a clever mix of strategy and some gutsy driving could have the likes of Hamilton and maybe even Heidfeld challenging Vettel.

2011 Australian GP Review: Vettel dominates while rest watches

2011-03-28T16:03:00.001+05:30

Sebastian Vettel, the reigning world champion had no problems winning the 2011 Australian GP a race which he dominated from pole and he won without even a challenge. Vettel and Red Bull once again looked dominant and if the likes of McLaren and Ferrari have any decent shot at the title, then they drastically need to cut the distance or else Red Bull will have the titles by mid-season.

Lewis Hamilton despite nursing home his McLaren should be a very happy man with his 2nd place finish and just 2 weeks back McLaren was lagging behind not only RBR but also the likes of Ferrari, Sauber, Renault and even Toro Rosso but the team has done extremely well to change things and now look set to challenge RBR as the season progresses. One thing the team has to be careful about is Hamilton’s over aggressive driving style may have issues with the new Pirelli tires.

Vitaly Petrov has his best result in his F1 career by finishing in 3rd. It was not only his 1st podium finish but it was the return of the Lotus name on to the podium after more than 2 decades. Though for all technical and legal purpose the car is officially still called as Renault, the Lotus Cars sponsored Renault team which was expected to be the surprise package of this season did not disappoint at all with Petrov having a very solid race. He is definitely my driver of the race. Teammate Heidfeld had a horrible debut for Renault and he will hope that he can get back his groove during the Malaysian GP or else if he continues in his current form, he maybe replaces very soon.

Ferrari which was expected to challenge Red Bull Racing would be disappointed but it was not a very poor start. Alonso was scrappy through the race and ever since been pushed out of the 1st corner of the race, he just could not fight it out for a podium finish. The car looks ok and with more updates it can challenge RBR. Teammate Massa had a very mixed race and if he continues in that same vein he may yet again be relegated to being Alonso’s #2. He definitely needs to up his game for the next race while Button the man with whom Massa fought most part during the race was a bit unlucky. The tires should suit his driving style and with some clever strategy he could do better than Hamilton but if he needs to pose challenge for the title he needs to be more aggressive.

Sauber was the team of the race till both their cars were disqualified due to technical violations. Though the team has appealed, Sauber has started the season well and at current form looks better than fellow mid-field teams like Williams, Force India and Toro Rosso. Sergio Perez had an amazing debut and showed that Peter Sauber does have a knack for finding talent while teammate Kamui Kobayashi yet again showed his worth by battling it out with everyone. Kobayashi has all the ingredients to become Japan’s 1st F1 champion provided he gets a very good drive.

Toro Rosso which looked strong during the pre-season testing had a solid car and will be looking at beating fellow mid-field teams like Sauber, Williams and Force India. Sébastien Buemi, the once highly touted rookie is under pressure to perform and he did well to finish 8th while teammate Jaime Alguersuari needs to up his game a bit as the highly promising rookie Daniel Ricciardo is waiting for a drive and he will put immense pressure on the incumbent drivers.

Force India despite not having a car which can score points were lucky to score points due to Sauber’s disqualification as Sutil and di Resta were classified 9th and 10th. Sutil was very consistent through the race while rookie teammate di Resta was very impressive. He did not get overawed during the race and showed that he does deserve his place on the grid. A good season in which if he could be Sutil could result even in a Mercedes drive in the future. But the team has to work hard if they have to catch up Sauber and STR.

Mercedes had a race to forget with both cars retiring. Schumacher got tangled in the 1st corner with Alguersuari and he just did not recover from it. The car was damaged and Schumacher had a forgettable race. Teammate Rosberg was a having a decent race till Barrichello decided to punt him which resulted him having issues and he had to retire. Barrichello despite being the most experienced driver on the grid once again proved that why he never won a world championship at Ferrari and Brawn GP. While teammate Pastor Maldonado another rookie making his debut retired after having transmission issues. Williams should have taken a cue from Sauber and should have partnered Nico Hülkenberg with Maldonado as Barrichello just do not bring in much to the table while Maldonado is needed for bring in the money for the team. They need to up their game or else they may even have Team Lotus catching up with them.

Team Lotus despite early promise once again looked the best of the 3 teams which made its debut last season but not as good as the other teams. The team had reliability issues during the pre-season testing and once again in Melbourne Heikki Kovalainen had to retire due to water leak while Jarno Trulli managed to finish 13th. The team has pace and if they could managed to solve their reliability issues they can catch up with Force India which looks the weakest among the mid-field teams.

There was not to expect much from the entirely CFD designed Virgin cars but Jérôme d'Ambrosio finished 14th and was the last person classified while Timo Glock was too far behind to have been classified. The team is still half a second behind Team Lotus and they have lot of work to be done before they can catch up with the Lotus team. HRT landed up in Australia with a car which was yet to hit the road and as expected the team failed to even qualify for the race with the 107% rule implied. Having teams like HRT is making F1 looking like a joke.

With no chance of having a Bahrain GP this year, there will be 19 races and Vettel if he manages to continue his current form, he should easily retain his title while McLaren and Ferrari need to up their game or else Renault may just surprise and even beat them. It is a good start to the season and it can only get better.

2011 Season Preview: All things Possible!

2011-03-10T22:23:00.002+05:30

2010 turned out to be the most exciting season ever and till the last race, 4 drivers were in contention for the Driver’s Championship but Sebastian Vettel not also won his 1st title but also became the youngest ever champion. Though it was a very tough season were Vettel was trailing his teammate Webber and Ferrari’s Alonso for most part of the season but in the end his toughness and determination led to him conquer the F1 world with his maiden title. Vettel also became the 2nd German to win the title while compatriot Schumacher who made a stunning comeback had one his worst ever season.

Even before the season started, there was a very serious accident to Robert Kubica who will be out for more than a year after his rallying escapades ended in disaster. It not only put him out but also has created a problem for his team Renault who has since replaced him with his former BMW teammate Nick Heidfeld who has had a rebirth of sort after failing to land a seat for 2011. The 1st race of the season will be the Australian GP this was because of the unrest in Bahrain which led to the cancellation of the Bahrain GP. We still do not know if we are going to have the Bahrain GP otherwise we will have only 19 races for the season with the Indian GP making its debut.

All teams which raced during the 2010 season will be starting this year too but there have been some minor name changes while the driver market did see some major moments from the mid-field teams. The highly talented rookie Nico Hülkenberg was dropped by the Williams team but he has managed to join Force India as it’s reserve driver while the racing career of veteran Pedro de la Rosa seems to have ended after Sauber dropped him mid-way last season and replaced him with Heidfeld but they have signed up talented Mexican Sergio Pérez who was also the GP2 runner-up. GP2 winner Pastor Maldonado was signed by Williams and though they do claim that he is not a pay driver, but Maldonado is heavily backed by the Venezuelan government.

2011 will also see the return of former Jordan driver Narain Karthikeyan who will join HRT while his fellow countryman Karun Chandhok failed to secure a seat for the coming season. Other drivers who exited after last season includes Christian Klien, Sakon Yamamoto, Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi. This season will also see the debut of the highly rated reigning DTM champion Paul di Resta who actually was Vettel’s teammate during the 2006 Formula Three Euroseries season and actually managed to win the title by winning Vettel.

As always there was the technical changes which comes in with the new season but 2 of the biggest change from last year was that KERS makes a comeback while Pirelli returns to F1 after 20 years and with the exit of Bridgestone, Pirelli would be the new sole tire supplier.

There are the predictions on how each team would perform:

Red Bull – The reigning world champions, RBR impressed everyone last season by winning both the championships but unlike their rivals they backed both the drivers and in the end despite the catastrophic Turkish GP, it turned out to be a good plan for the team with Vettel winning. Despite having the best car on the grid the team did not race to its potential and at one stage Ferrari had a chance to upstage them but for a glaring strategic error, they could have stolen the title. This season so far RBR seems to have the best car and with Vettel winning the title he will go into 2011 stronger while Webber would once again try to win the title in what could be his last season in the sport.

Ferrari – The Alonso led Ferrari nearly won the driver’s championship but Massa’s form last season prevented them from challenging for the Constructor’s championship. Though the team seem to have a solid car for the coming season, they need more from Massa if they are going for both the championships. This season is highly crucial for Massa as if he fails once again he may be out of a seat for 2012 or could just become another designated #2 driver for the team. Alonso showed great maturity last season and if he continues to show that he will be a very serious treat for Vettel’s championship.

McLaren- Having 2 world champions as teammates never do work but for McLaren they somehow managed to pull it off. Hamilton was in contention till the last race but he may a lot of errors which resulted him failing to win the championship while Button who everyone expected to be outclassed by Hamilton proved that he was a worthy champion and despite not fighting out for retaining his championship he did manage to gain respect from everyone. 2011 will be a tough year for the team as if we are to go by testing, McLaren just do not have a good enough car which will fight for the championship.

Mercedes – The fabled silver arrow team was revived last season after Mercedes purchased the Brawn GP team and even convinced Schumacher to make a comeback but it was a season they would want to forget. Schumacher failed to even get on to the podiums while his younger teammate got some credibility by outclassing the veteran consistently through the year. This was the same team which did produce some real bad cars during its previous incarnation as Honda so do not expect a miracle for this season but a few more podium places can be expected from this outfit.

Renault – The team was in the news for all the wrong reasons and despite being called Renault the team has nothing to do with the carmaker apart from some technical partnership and engine supply. The Lotus Cars sponsored Renault out did seem to have a car which can challenge for the title but Kubica’s accident has through the team into disorder but in Nick Heidfeld they do have more than a capable replacement and this could be the season Heidfeld could straighten the record. They may well emerge as the 3rd best team provided Vitaly Petrov drives every race like the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP.

Williams – They have entered the stock market and they claim they do have enough funding but dropping Nico Hülkenberg for Pastor Maldonado showed that all is not well for the team. Despite winning the GP2 title Maldonado would not have got the Williams seat without funding and also the 2010 GP season was not the best and it was Maldonado’s 4th season in the series. Rubens Barrichello will be with the team and this could be his last hurrah as the Brazilian if he fails to impress may just have to quit the sport after spending 2 decades in it.

Force India – The team which was the surprise package of last season till the end atleast have 2 very good drivers in Sutil and Di Resta while their reserve Hülkenberg could one day be a future world champion. The team lost some key technical personals and there are talks of financial problems but if they do manage to get their act together they have a chance to do better than last year. Make or break season for Sutil while if Di Resta do manage to impress bigger things can happen for the Scottish driver for 2012.

Sauber – The team has the mercurial Kamui Kobayashi who with a decent car will be the most entertaining driver on the grid. Kobayashi has proved that he can go wheel to wheel with anyone on the grid and he will not get intimated by any names. If they have a good enough cars he could consistently get to the podium. While his teammate Sergio Pérez may be a bit too early for the sport but he is backed by Carlos Slim the richest man in the world and his money would help the team in beating rivals like Williams and Force India.

Toro Rosso – The sister team Red Bull won the championships while STR after having a decent start just managed to finish ahead of all the new teams only. So far this season after testing STR may have the surprise package and even if they do manage to finish ahead of Williams, Sauber and Force India, it would be a great achievement for the team. In Buemi and Alguersuari they have one of the youngest driver line-up in the grid and with highly rated Australian Daniel Ricciardo as reserve both the drivers are under immense pressure to perform.

Team Lotus – The team which along with Renault was in the news for all the wrong reasons have made some huge progress during the off season with a new engine deal with Renault and also a technical partnership with Red Bull Technologies the team would be hunting for its 1st points and also will try to challenge the likes of STR and Force India. They have retained Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen which has showed that the team wants continuity and they could by the end of the season could challenge some of the mid-field teams.

Hispanic Racing – The only team during the 2010 season which failed to manage a single update from the start of the season had as many as 4 drivers racing for them and at one stage anyone with cash was offered the seat. The 2011 car will not be any better but they have signed a technical partnership with Williams and in Liuzzi the have a very decent driver. Narain Karthikeyan will bring in the money for the team and he completing races would be huge for the team.

Marussia Virgin Racing – The only team which does not do testing by using wind tunnels but rather use CFD alone well last season they were just about challenging fellow newcomers HRT and this season to the team would be stuck behind the pack. Timo Glock by being part of this team would have sealed his F1 future while Jérôme d'Ambrosio will join him to just make up for numbers.

2011 Constructor Championship Predictions:
1. Red Bull Renault
2. Ferrari
3. Renault
4. Mercedes
5. McLaren Mercedes
6. Sauber Ferrari
7. Toro Rosso Ferrari
8. Williams Cosworth
9. Force India Mercedes
10. Team Lotus Renault

2011 Driver’s Championship Predictions:
1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Nick Heidfeld
6. Michael Schumacher
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Nico Rosberg
9. Kamui Kobayashi
10. Jenson Button

Who will have the Force for 2011?

2010-11-25T17:13:00.002+05:30

Force India may have just finished ahead of Sauber and Toro Rosso in the 2010 F1 constructors championship but then Sauber just recovered from the whole BMW exit fiasco while Toro Rosso apart from 2008 season where Vettel gave the team it’s only win in F1 so far and managed to place the team 6th in the table have always been perennial backmarkers and is a training gorund for Red Bull’s junior drivers.

If you look at the 2nd half of the season Sauber was actually better than Force India while Williams managed to sneak past and finish ahead of Force India by just a point. In the end Force India managed only a 7th place finish in the table which was boosted by 3 new teams. A major worry for Force India is that a lot of key staff from the team has left it to join other teams like Sauber and Lotus (or whatever it will be called). Force India should address this situation immediately or else the team may be further behind next season and will find the likes of Toro Rosso and even Lotus ahead of it.

The current set of driver’s for the team Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi did not exactly have a stellar season and both were pretty patchy and inconsistent. Sutil had a strong start to the season but towards the end he really struggled while Liuzzi was never really consistent but he was unlucky at times too. Sutil and Liuzzi have been in F1 long enough and with decent cars never really looked like they are going to set the world on fire.

Sutil all along was looking for a better drive and was linked to both Mercedes and Renault but Schumacher has confirmed that he will race next season while with a Russian GP coming in 2014 and Petrov apart from being a well backed Russian drove the race of his career in Abu Dhabi by managing to be ahead of Alonso and Webber, who were fighting for the title but in the end Petrov made Vettel’s job even easier.

Liuzzi has a contract with Force India for the next year but then the team will be better off by buying him out of his contract as he has lost them more money on the track and in the end they lost the 6th place to the Williams team by just a point.

Force India is a proven team with a decent car and currently has the most attractive seats on the grid for any driver. In Paul di Resta they have a young driver who is quick and backed by Mercedes. Since he is backed by Mercedes the team can actually get some discount on the engines and even ask Mercedes to foot his bill. But more importantly di Resta Formula 3 Euroseries in 2006 and the man who he beat to the title is currently the youngest F1 champion in the world.

Only one man has a similar junior racing pedigree similar to Nico Hülkenberg and that is Lewis Hamilton. The only difference was that Hamilton made his debut in a McLaren while the Hulk had his chance with a struggling cash strapped Williams team. Though the Hulk had a slow start to the season, towards the end he was even better than his teammate Rubens Barrichello who happens to be the most experienced driver on the grid. Despite having an inferior car the Hulk managed to get a pole position during the Brazilian Grand Prix and that definitely is not a fluke.

It is a shame to see that a team like Williams with its rich heritage dropping a exciting rookie for a pay driver but then the team has a history of treating drivers poorly and that along with various other decisions have now made the team a midfield team.

Apart from these 2 promising driver’s Force India also have the option of hiring Nick Heidfeld, who apart from being a very solid car developer, has also raced with some esteemed names as teammates and have managed to beat them. The list includes Kimi Räikkönen, Felippe Massa and Robert Kubica . Given the exit of technical staff from the team, Heidfeld will be a very safe bet for the team.

Apart from these driver’s there is always Karun Chandhok and with an Indian GP coming next year, it would be an amazing PR exercise for the team to have an Indian driver but then Vijay Mallya would not want the driver to overshadow the team but Karun did do a decent job with HRT and he would not be any worse than its current set of drivers.

If Vijay Mallya is very serious about Force India, he should have race di Resta, the Hulk or Heidfeld rather go back to Sutil or Luizzi. It would be exciting to see di Resta and Hulk go against the other drivers as both these guys would be driving for places in the top teams for the future.

Over the Curbs Awards – 2010

2010-11-20T14:08:00.000+05:30

We all actually though that 2007 was one of the greatest seasons in F1 ever and wondered if anything else could beat it but then come this year 5 drivers were battling for the World Championship. It was one of the best F1 grids in ages and to see the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button fighting for the title was surreal. Even the legendary Michael Schumacher who made a dramatic comeback for newly revived Mercedes GP team after Daimler took over last year’s winners Brawn GP ensured that the grid had 4 World Champions starting the races.

Though Schumacher did not set the world on fire but then he was coming back after 3 years and Mercedes just did not have the car that could challenge for podium places on a regular basis leave alone winning. But his teammate the young German Nico Rosberg proved that he has enough talent in him and with a right car could be a title contender. Also Renault which ended 2009 in a disaster made a good comeback with Robert Kubica putting in some stellar performances and with an equal in teammate Renault could have even challenged the Mercedes GP team.

The season saw 3 rookie teams making its debut and the Malaysian outfit brought back the Lotus name which is now in all sorts of controversy. The season also saw quite a bit of rookie drivers but the most impressive rookies were Kamui Kobayshi and Nico Hulkenberg, though Kobayshi did make his debut last year, this year was his 1st full season in F1 which would make him a rookie. Also F1 saw Russia’s 1st driver in Vitaly Petrov who had a roller coaster of a season but in the end had a great final race in which he actually played a part in Vettel easily winning the title.

Let’s go to the awards and see who has done what:

Driver of the Season – Sebastian Vettel

Team of the Season – Red Bull Racing

The Next Big Thing - Kamui Kobayashi

Most Improved Driver – Mark Webber

Most Improved Team – Renault

Race of the Season – Japanese Grand Prix

Best Grand Prix – Italian Grand Prix

Worst Grand Prix – Brazilian Grand Prix

Rookie of the season – Kamui Kobayshi

Most disappointing driver of the Season – Michael Schumacher/Felipe Massa

Most disappointing team of the Season – Williams

Lucky to be in F1 (for the season) - Sakon Yamamoto

Veteran of the Season – Nick Heidfeld

Comeback of the Season – Robert Kubica

Most entertaining driver of the season – Kamui Kobayshi

Most boring driver of the season - Jenson Button

JV of the Season - Rubens Barrichello
(For the driver who talks utter nonsense like how JV used to do it in his racing days)

Whiner of the season - Rubens Barrichello

Most missed Driver – Kimi Räikkönen

Least missed Driver - Luca Badoer

The crazy driver market that never was

2010-10-08T17:55:00.001+05:30

The 2010 driver market was thrown completely out of control after Alonso joined Ferrari, Button quitting Brawn GP and Michael Schumacher making a dramatic comeback joining the revived Mercedes GP team.
This year things were heating up as there were talks of Kimi Raikkonen making a return to the sport he quit at the end of last season, Webber retiring and Kubica joining Ferrari. Till last week, there were speculations regarding seats in various teams like Force India, Sauber, Williams, Toro Rosso and Lotus. But now the only 2 vacant seats of any interest are of that of Williams and Renault. Force India and Toro Rosso have just confirmed their existing line-up while Lotus who apart from signing a technical deal with Red Bull will also get Renault engines to leap frog it toward the mid-pack will also most likely retain its current line-up.

While there is still talk of Schumacher retiring, all signs points to the fact that it is not sure if he will be with Mercedes for 2012 but for the next season he will be with the team alongside Rosberg. Nick Heidfeld will once again be jobless unless he can pull something dramatic out of the last four races of the year with Sauber as the team has retained Kamui Kobayashi and have signed young Mexican Sergio Pérez who apart from having the backing of Telmex has also been signed by Ferrari for its young driver program joining the likes of Jules Bianchi and Mirko Bortolotti.

Though both Renault and Williams are yet to retain their rookies Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hülkenberg, Petrov despite being totally outmatched by Kubica and also not showing the consistency which is expected from him could retain his seat as Russia is a big market for Renault and Petrov has some major backers with him. Williams will lose 4 sponsors at the end of the year and with the current GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado backed by the Venezuelan government, he may replace the Hulk at the Williams for the coming season.

While everyone expected Toro Rosso to confirm the line-up, the decision of Force India’s is highly surprising as Liuzzi has totally underperformed this season compared to his teammate Sutil. Sutil was linked to the Sauber seat but now his best bet on a better seat is Renault which fellow Germans Heidfeld and Glock are also clamoring for along with Petrov. While Williams could have a vacancy, it would not be a great difference for Sutil from his current seat in Force India. Maybe a good 2011 could earn him a seat with Mercedes for 2012.

Paul di Resta is one of the most unlucky drivers as he is such a talented driver that he still struggles to find a F1 seat. Despite being backed by Mercedes, everyone expected him to driver for Force India for the next season but with them retaining their current drivers, di Resta could become a test driver for Mercedes or just leave the sport all together and focus on sports car racing.

Another driver who has done a decent job is Karun Chandhok who already has lost his HRT seat and with Force India not too keen on him, his best bet will be Lotus but that too now sounds very remote and most likely he will miss the inaugural Indian GP.

Renault has the most coveted seat as of now but all things could turn if Webber wins the 2010 F1 World Championship and just decides to retire. Anything can happen in the driver’s market as we have seen in the last few years.

But my money is on Petrov retaining his seat while Maldonado could edge out Hulk from the Williams team, but then F1 is a crazy world and it’s safer to confirm the line-up at the start of 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix.

2010 Hungarian GP: Webber uses “Team Strategy” to win while Vettel robbed of victory!

2010-08-01T20:22:00.002+05:30

F1 and hypocrisy goes hand in hand as while just a week back Ferrari was criticized by every single British writer and non-Ferrari fan for issuing team orders but Christian Horner the Red Bull team principle who said there is no place for team orders used team strategy instead to gift Webber the race while teammate Vettel who acted for the team ended up getting a penalty and was robbed of a race win. Red Bull does not have number one & two but then by favouring Webber, Vettel not only lost the race but also lost out on the chance of leading the championship race but now due to Red Bull’s strategy for Webber, Vettel is only 3rd in the championship behind Webber and Hamilton. Though there have always been talks of how Vettel has been the chosen one for the Red Bull team not many know about Webber and Horner’s co-ownership of MW Arden. Red Bull’s management decision has not been the best and incidents like these are going to cause the championships for the team.

Ferrari proved that they are the best among the rest as Alonso took home a very strong 2nd place finish and in the end managed to hold off a red hot Vettel. This very result sort of vindicated their decision to let Alonso finish ahead of Massa. With both Webber and Vettel taking of points off each other for every other race and if Ferrari and Alonso continue to maintain their strong form, Alonso may end by winning his 3rd world championship by the end of the season. Massa may not have been as fast as Alonso but he is back in form and he did a good job for the team by finishing 4th at the same place where one year back nearly ended his F1 career. Massa by consistently finishing ahead of McLaren’s would help Ferrari claw its way back in the constructor’s title race and may even have an outside chance of winning it.

Vitaly Petrov was the man who is under immense pressure as Renault is actually looking at other drivers who can be quick and score consistently for the team did no harm to his credentials for the next season as he managed his best ever performance by coming in 5th. We should all remember that Petrov is a rookie and so far has done pretty well. Despite Kubica outclassing him all season, Petrov has been the better driver this weekend and showed that he deserves his Renault seat. Kubica would be disappointed as once again he had a car which was faster than even McLaren but then pit-lane mayhem caused him pull out onto Sutil which caused them their races. Renault is looking good and has a realistic chance of catching up with Mercedes before the season ends.

Nico Hulkenberg may not have won the battle of rookies with Petrov today but then he had a very solid race and finished well ahead of his experienced teammate Barrichello who was racing his 299th grand prix today. Not bad for a rookie and Hulkenberg did show that he has all credentials of being a very good racing driver. It is still early to see him as a future world champion but he can always improve and provided he does get a solid racing car he can go on and win the title a few times. Barrichello also proved a point against his former teammate Michael Schumacher by snatching the last points available but then Schumacher’s driving style and the way he tried to push Barrichello towards the pit wall was questionable and for a 7 time world champion doing this to just defend one point is just not needed. FIA should reprimand Schumacher for this incident.

Sauber once again had a good weekend with both its drivers scoring point while Pedro de la Rosa came in 7th and scored his first points of the season but Kamui Kobayashi despite a very bad start where he did not make it out of Q1 and also had a 5 place penalty managed a very good drive once again and aided by the pit-lane mayhem ended up finishing 9th. Sauber if they continue to perform the same way can realistically look at catching up with both Force India and Williams who are not too far away.

McLaren had a horrible race with Hamilton the championship leader going into the race retired after having a transmission problem while Button managed a 8th place thanks largely to the pit-lane mayhem. McLaren are well behind both Red Bull and Ferrari during the last 2 races and the team has to once again focus hard to catch up with these teams. Red Bull once again leads the championships while McLaren still have an edge over Ferrari but if Ferrari manages to surge ahead as they have done during the last 2 weeks, McLaren could end up 3rd in the constructor’s championship by the end of the season. Button is looking like the #2 driver for the team as despite his early season form, Hamilton is scoring more points than him and Button needs a solid performance and finish well ahead of Hamilton to prove that he has it in him to beat Hamilton in the same car.

Force India after a stunning start to the season have gone backwards and at one stage being the best of the rest now the team is battling Toro Rosso while both Williams and Sauber have made significant improvement over the last few races. Force India needs to find something real quick as if they do fail so both Williams and Sauber may overtake them at the end of the season. Sutil may have been unlucky this weekend but Tonio continues to blow hot & cold. If he fails to score consistently, there are lot of good drivers on the paddock who will be more than willing to take his seat.

Toro Rosso after being ahead of both Williams and Sauber during the start of the season is now well behind them and now are stuck in a place where they are well ahead of the new teams while they are also well behind the other established teams. Toro Rosso may not score another win in their history but then they need to improve to score points further this season and they may end up with 10 if they continue to go the same way.

Looking at the performances of Lotus, Virgin and HRT one may actually wonder if we do need them on the grid. Despite early promise and potential Lotus have not really achieved anything great and have just about managed to stay ahead of Virgin and HRT. If Virgin continues to use CFD and have a shoestring budget, they would not make any improvement at all and it is sad to see a team like that on the grid just doing nothing. HRT on the other hand is a team which offers F1 drive for the guy who can afford it but then if not for money Christian Klien would be racing for them.

The F1 world takes a 3 week break where practically everything is shut and we have to go to Spa for the Belgium Grand Prix. Last season Ferrari’s Kimi and Force India’s Fisi battled the entire race for the 1st place while this season Kimi is driving for the Red Bull rallying team while Fisi is Ferrari’s 3rd driver sitting in the paddock doing nothing. Come Spa the mood will be different in the Red Bull garage and all hell may break lose.

2010 British GP Review: Webber conquers Britain but civil war looms at RBR

2010-07-11T20:37:00.000+05:30

Mark Webber won the 2010 British GP but Red Bull could end up as the overall loser in the championship hunt as Webber collided with teammate Vettel which caused him to go right behind everyone else but an inspired drive by the young German saw him finish 7th. The season is not yet over but the war between Webber and Vettel has turned ugly and the team has to either control the situation or just back one driver as if this continues Hamilton may end up winning the championship like how Kimi won in 2007 when McLaren’s policy ended up in disaster as both Alonso and Hamilton lost out by a single point.

McLaren is happy that despite having 2 world champions there has not been any major issues but in a few races they have to back either Hamilton or Button and this could lead to a civil war in the McLaren camp as well. Having 2 strong drivers looks good on paper but in reality it does not always workout as the success stories of Ferrari and Renault have seen one superstar driver paired with a solid hand who can not only score points regularly but also win races at times. But McLaren should be happy with the results as despite their issues with the car Hamilton finished 2nd while Button after a disastrous qualifying ended up 4th.

Nico Rosberg is back on the podium with a solid 3rd place finish but he Kubica’s retirement meant that he was not troubled by anyone and despite Button following him towards the end of the race, he was never in a position to really overtake Rosberg. A good result for Rosberg but his teammate the 7 time Champion Schumacher despite a pretty decent race could only finish 9th and the Schumacher bashing could once again start but the next race is his home race and it is highly important for the Mercedes team to be competitive during the race. Schumacher could use the German GP as a platform to show the world that he still has it in him to not only win races put pose one last challenge for the world title.

Williams after a slow start to the season has been revived with Barrichello once again putting in a solid drive by finishing 5th while rookie teammate Nico Hülkenberg managed to finish 10th and take home the last set of points. Likewise fellow mid-field team Sauber who has also seen a change in fortunes saw Kamui Kobayashi yet again performing a good show with him finishing 6th. If Sauber and Williams continue their momentum they could challenge Force India for the 6th place spot in the championships.

Force India who until the last race was seen as the best of the rest and at times has shown pace enough to match the likes of Mercedes, Renault and even Ferrari is now under pressure from Williams, Sauber and even STR at times. Despite Sutil’s 8th place finish the team will be hoping for better luck at Monza and Spa, 2 tracks which should favour them while Liuzzi is once again blowing hot & cold during the races. If he does not perform consistently he may end up losing his seat for the 2011 season.

Toro Rosso may not have scored much this season but Buemi have made the most of it this season by putting in some good drives that he is now in frame for a Renault seat for the 2011 season. While teammate Alguersuari after a good start to the season is now lagging behind Buemi and he needs to finish off the season on a high if he needs to retain his drive for the next year.

Ferrari and Renault are 2 teams which would want to forget the British GP immediately as it turned out to be a disastrous weekend for both the teams. Neither was expected to win but Ferrari was hoping for a podium finish while Kubica at one stage was all set for a podium place till his mechanical issues. Ferrari and Alonso were once again at the wrong end of the Steward’s decision. Alonso did benefit from the overtaking of Kubica but then the Steward’s taking their own time in making the decision and the safety car once again ruined the race for Ferrari. Massa is struggling and he once again failed to score any points. He is under pressure and he needs to start putting in some good performances as Ferrari did have a good car but the drivers ruined it for the team this weekend.

The new teams once again just made up for numbers and the good thing was that none of them were involved in any incidents with the faster teams. The British GP was exciting but then the coming week will be highly crucial for the Red Bull team and the future of Webber’s F1 care

2010 British GP Preview: Red Bull and McLaren fight it out at Battle of Britain

2010-07-10T12:25:00.000+05:30

Red Bull heads into the British GP as the favourites with Vettel going in carrying some very good form after winning a stunning European GP. His teammate should be happy to just walk leave alone racing after a horrid crash which saw him airborne for some time. Webber will be using Vettel’s old chassis but despite that he has shown some solid pace the practice. Red Bull has done well at Silverstone and they are all set to continue to dominate this year’s British GP which will mark the debut of the new Silverstone circuit which has seen some changes which will make it a very high speed circuit.

McLaren at their home race will be looking for the win but they do have not yet seem to have got the grip of the new track while Button will be desperate to win his home race as he is not only yet to win this race but also needed this win to go over his teammate Hamilton as he has been outpaced by his younger teammate for the last few races. Hamilton despite all the controversy during the European GP will be looking for a podium place here. Winning could be tough here but then given his recent form a podium seems a certainty unless Ferrari has managed to catch up with McLaren.

Alonso and Ferrari had a shot at the podium at the European GP but the safety car ruined everything for them but they will go into this grand prix determined as they still have a good shot at challenging both the championships. Alonso will be desperate for a win here as he has not won a race since the Bahrain GP while Massa despite a contract extension will be under immense pressure as his performance when compared to the previous 2 seasons has been very poor and he is yet to challenge for a win this season.

Mercedes has had a disastrous start to the season and despite their claims that they would be challenging for the titles the reigning champions have gone from bad to worse since the start of the season. Both Rosberg and Schumacher have not consistently challenged the front runners and Schumacher at times during the season have been beaten by the likes of Force India, Williams and Toro Rosso. Recent news of Haug’s meeting with Kimi does not bode well for the 7 time champion but then Mercedes should show patience as this was the same team which came up with dog of a car during its time as BAR/Honda.

Renault is the most improved team since the start of the season and with Kubica signing for the next year as well, the team looks at catching up with Mercedes during this weekend. Kubica has been the driver of the year so far and has been very consistent and despite an inferior car has put up a fight with the likes of Ferrari as well. Vitaly Petrov may have been the best rookie of the year but despite his good performance he will remain in the team as long as he can bring in the sponsors. If the rumoured MasterCard deal goes ahead, Petrov will be looking for a new team for the 2011 season.
Force India has been the most improved team since the last season and despite the fact that the team has not been challenging for podiums, it has done extremely well and the team is looking like the Jordan team of the late 90’s where the team was a solid mid-field team. Team owner Vijay Mallya has the resources to make the team better and if the team continue its impressive progress, it can be challenging for podiums regularly by the next season.

Williams has had some major announcement with Frank Williams stepping as the Chairman of the team due to age issues. Williams the most dominant team during the 90’s are struggling and fighting it out with the likes of Toro Rosso and Sauber. Already Force India is way ahead of them while both STR and Sauber have beaten them this season. Williams showed some improvement during the last race and the main aim for the team will be to finish ahead of STR and Sauber while also trying to catch up with Force India by the time the season ends.

Toro Rosso has been decent so far this season and this is the team’s best season since the 2008 season when Vettel had a magical season for the team which also won its 1st race at Monza. The team during its previous Minardi days struggled but now the team with 2 very solid young drivers are always looking to score points and so far this season apart from scoring a few points have also done well to beat Sauber and Williams regularly and even during the odd occasion the team has also outpaced Force India.

Sauber after a disastrous start have finally started scoring points and the team has improved by leaps and bounds since the 1st race. The team has always had the pace but reliability has been the issue and if the team does manages to solve that with a driver like Kamui Kobayashi the team can score a lot more points.

Lotus, Virgin and HRT so far are only making up the numbers while despite the claims by Lotus that they are catching up with the likes of Sauber and STR, the team has just managed to perform better than Virgin and HRT but then the team has a long way to go if it has to even make it to Q2. The biggest news of the weekend has been the axing of Senna for the British GP by HRT. Sakon Yamamoto has hardly set the F1 world on fire by his previous drives for Super Aguri and Spyker but the Japanese driver will be doing a decent job if he manages to stay out of trouble.

The British GP at the new Silverstone circuit should be special and also we can always include the possibility of rains which will make it even better. Red Bull looks the favourite but if anyone can challenge them then it has to be either McLaren or Ferrari but Renault could be the dark horse for the race.

British GP Top 10 Predictions

1. Sebastien Vettel

2. Mark Webber

3. Robert Kubica

4. Fernando Alonso

5. Lewis Hamilton

6. Adrian Sutil

7. Felipe Massa

8. Nico Rosberg

9. Jenson Button

10. Vitantonio Liuzzi

The Michael Schumacher Problem

2010-07-03T09:58:00.002+05:30

Michael Schumacher is statistically the most successful driver in the history of F1 and he could also be the best driver to have ever raced. Of course a few would always counter that there have been others like Juan Manuel Fangio, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna who could have been better than Schumacher but comparing drivers of different era is tough and the sheer success rate of Schumacher makes his probably the greatest ever driver. Prost and Senna finished their careers when Schumacher was starting his but Prost and Senna always raced for the best of teams. Prost left Renault as he could not win the championship with them while his rivalry with Senna caused him to move out of McLaren. He spends just 2 seasons with Ferrari and took a sabbatical from the sport only to re-join a year later to win his final championship with Williams. Senna after some good drives with Lotus joined McLaren as it was the most dominant team in the late 80’s while left the team to join Williams as they started dominating the sport but unfortunately he dies in a horrific crash at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Prost and Senna are good drivers provided they have good cars and neither have not gone on to build a team like Schumacher has done it. Prost and Senna are no angels on the track as they also had their run of incidents and Senna if not for his death on the track is no stranger to controversies and he has in fact been involved in quite a bit of fist fights for on track incidents. Before Schumacher joined Benetton, the team was good but never good enough to win titles. He ended up winning 2 championships with the team and was fighting for race wins right from his 1st full season with the team. He made the team dominate the sport for 2 seasons where they decimated teams like McLaren and Williams. He then joined Ferrari and when he joined the team, the team had not any titles since 1984 and in the 5 year period before he joined the team won 2 races in that period. Schumacher build the team and ensured that they became one of the most dominant team of that era. The Schumacher led Ferrari won 5 driver’s championship and 6 constructor’s championships. Their worst finish in that period was finishing 3rd in 2005. Schumacher won an astonishing 72 races in 11 seasons with Ferrari. He is not only the world’s greatest driver but also the best support driver as Eddie Irvine would say as during the 99 season, Schumacher broke his leg and missed 6 races which ruled him out for the season but he came back and ensured that he provided all the support for the Irishman who went on to lose the title by just 2 points. That was the year Ferrari won his first constructor’s championship since 1983.

There have been fast drivers like Kimi Räikkönen, Jacques Villeneuve, and Lewis Hamilton who went on to win titles with a fast car but no one else have built a team around them and turned the fortunes of a team so much that he became synonymous with the team itself. Though Ferrari could have been hasty in putting in Kimi for the 2007 season which resulted in Schumacher retiring from the sport after a stunning drive at the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2006. It could have been a bit premature as he had a few years left in the tank. He did test the Ferrari cars and was their consultant till 2009 but then Schumacher was used to racing not watch it from the side-lines but Massa’s accident nearly resulted in him making a comeback last year for Ferrari but then when Button left Brawn and when Mercedes took over the team they needed a world champion and Schumacher answered Brawn’s call as his association with Brawn is even longer than his association with Ferrari and Brawn has been instrumental in all his championships.

We should remember that Schumacher has been out of F1 for 3 seasons and a lot of changed. The current field is one of the most talented fields ever while another factor is that the Mercedes team in its previous avatars as BAR and Honda has produced some disastrous cars. Brawn GP though ran on low budgets their car was in development for over 2 years and Honda has put in close to half a billion on that car. It is not that Schumacher is struggling while his teammate is winning but despite the reasonable start that Rosberg had when Schumacher was still getting used to the car it has not been as big as a disaster as some sections of the media are portraying. Schumacher did have his worst ever finish in Valencia on a track where he has never raced before but then he was also an unlucky victim of FIA’s flawed safety car rules. Had that not been the case he could have even been on the podium and the Schumacher comeback story would have taken a different turn. In 2009 while Button was winning races his teammate Barrichello was not even on the podium on regular basis but here Rosberg is not exactly doing wonders apart from his early good run. Rosberg has never truly beaten Schumacher and the good old Schumacher may not be back as long as they don’t provide him with a good car. Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari are miles ahead and even Renault is catching up. Last weekend at the European Grand Prix saw Williams and Force India showing stronger pace then Mercedes.

If Mercedes do improve then the old Schumacher should be back and with the likes of German, Belgian and the Italian GP’s to go, these tracks have been special to him and we could even expect a win but knowing how the development has gone for this season for Mercedes, that may just not happen. Schumacher’s comeback given the situation and car has been very good for a 41 year old drivers competing with men half his age but then he should not give up so easily and even if he manages to win races that would cap off as a remarkable comeback as this was the team who used to produce some of the worst cars on the grid during the BAR/Honda era. Brawn is one man and he could not change much but the team should focus on 2011 and just use this season for Schumacher to warm up as if the car is developed for him and if the team is able to produce a car which is even half good as the Brawn GP car of 2009 then he can challenge the likes of Red Bull, McLaren and his old team Ferrari. The real Schumacher will be back only if he has a car to drive with the current car even the likes of Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton, the 3 best drivers of this new era will fail to challenge for wins leave alone score points regularly.

2010 European GP Review: Vettel wins controversial European GP

2010-06-28T12:05:00.002+05:30

Sebastien Vettel won his 1st European GP on the streets of Valencia and this win will ensure that he is back on track for the World Championship hunt. Vettel has not won a race since Malaysia and after the crash at Turkey this win would do a lot of boost his confidence ahead of the British GP which should favour the Red Bulls. He is now only 12 points behind championship leader Hamilton and 12 points ahead of teammate Webber who failed to score any points. Webber should be happy that he was able to walk away from his car after a horrific shunt with Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen. This was Webber’s fault as he misjudged the speed of the Lotus car which a few seconds slower than the Red Bull.

McLaren managed to get to the other 2 podium places but despite the good results there was a lot of controversy with Hamilton’s rule breaking performance which enabled him to retain 2nd even with a penalty. Hamilton was one who took the most advantage of the safety car that he even overtook it and got away with a drive through penalty as the race stewards were too late in making the call and he had enough time to go in and come back. The FIA should look at this as Ferrari’s Alonso who was just behind Hamilton got a real raw deal as he ended up finishing the race only 8th while Schumacher who was 3rd during the safety car period ended up with one of his worst finishes ever with a poor 15th place. Jenson Button who had a steady race and thanks to the safety car luck managed to finish 3rd and now he trails Hamilton by only 6 points.

Ferrari and Alonso had one of their worst weekends as despite having a very good car while it was backmarkers who cost Alonso the race in Canada but this time around the safety car and the weird rules of the FIA cost them a podium place. Even Massa was running good but due to the safety car he failed to even finish in points. Alonso and Ferrari needs to put this behind them and focus on the British GP where though it could be tough to match the speed of Red Bull but they definitely can match McLaren and even beat them.

Mercedes had another bad weekend and despite the criticism mounting on Schumacher, he still showed that he still has the race pace needed and the car is definitely not up to the mark as now they are well off the pace of Renault and even had the likes of Williams and Toro Rosso catching up with them over the weekend. Despite Brawn producing a dream car last year, the same team which was know has BAR and Honda has produced some disastrous cars in the past. Rosberg may have been consistent the whole season but he is not a world champion in the making and the team should focus on 2011 and ensure Schumacher is still with them.

Williams after being outpaced by Force India since the start of the season and also had Toro Rosso catch up with them during the last few races finally good things together with veteran Rubens Barrichello finishing a strong 4th. This was the best result for the team this year and the team should use this momentum to catch up with Force India and try to beat them by the end of the season. Rookie Nico Hulkenberg was set for points but then mechanical issues made him to retire from the race but nevertheless he still had a very strong race.

Force India’s qualifying went haywire but the safety car played into their hands and Sutil managed to finish 6th ahead of Alonso while teammate Liuzzi was unlucky and could only manage to finish 16th. The car should be strong during the British GP as the track should favour them as they can use it to their advantage and try to catch up with the likes of Mercedes and Renault.

Sauber and Kamui Kobayashi had a brilliant race and the gutsy move by Sauber to keep Kobayashi on the track for so long without changing tyres paid off in the end and some last minute overtaking moves on Alonso and Buemi ensure that Kobayashi finished 7th while teammate de la Rosa was on points but was moved down to 12th place after the steward’s penalty towards the end of the race.

Toro Rosso and Buemi had a good weekend and if Buemi continues to drive the same way he is all set for Red Bull for 2012 while Jaime Alguersuari needs to start performing well if he needs to maintain his seat for the coming year.

Lotus was hoping for a special weekend as this was to be their 500th race as the team still does maintain that it shares the heritage from the original Team Lotus but they had a very bad weekend as Trulli finished last while Heikki Kovalainen’s race was compromised by Webber’s crash.

Both Virgin and HRT managed to finish the race but then it is sad to see the fact that these cars make up only for numbers and actually could cost potential winners as it was found out at Canada that it can cost leaders even races. The good news is that the 107 rule is back and this means that these teams needs to get faster or else they may not make it to the starting grid.

It was a good European GP but Vettel was the driver of the race as after a small tiff with Hamilton during the 1st corner he had a spotless race and he managed to outpace everyone. This victory will also give him all the confidence going into future races and a few more wins will ensure that he is on track to win the World Title.

2010 European Grand Prix Preview: Can the prancing horses catch up with McLaren?

2010-06-26T11:15:00.002+05:30

McLaren and Lewis Hamilton are on a roll after back to back one two for the team and will be looking for a hat-trick of wins but the biggest competition to Hamilton will be his teammate Jenson Button who is just 3 points behind Hamilton and could upstage Hamilton during the European GP at the streets of Valencia. Despite the track which should ideally favour McLaren but the team should not rule out the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari. Even Mercedes have looked strong in practice should pose some threat.

Red Bull has not been the same since the incident at Turkey but the team has to forget that and ensure that they catch up with McLaren as another one two here could take McLaren on pole position for both the championships. Vettel looks most likely the driver who can win the title for Red Bull but Webber despite his phenomenon form this season is yet to prove that if he can maintain that over the course of a season. Red Bull may also use the much improved F duct which can swing the race in its favour but it needs superhuman drives from both the drivers to finish one two here.

Ferrari and Alonso had the pace in Canada and if not for the back markers they might have even won the race but this race is crucial for Ferrari as Alonso needs to win this as he needs to close in on the championship leaders. If Ferrari wants to challenge McLaren and Red Bull in the constructor’s championship then they have to ensure that Massa too gets on to the podium. Massa has not been the same and despite good start this season his form has dipped severely and he should be resigned to the fact that he will be the #2 driver for this season unless he can win the next 3 races.

Mercedes have still not given up on this year’s car but ideally the team should focus on the 2011 car rather than continue to work on its current car. The problem for Mercedes is that the current car was build around Button and Schumacher is finding it extremely tough to adapt towards it while Rosberg was doing ok until the team shifted its attention to develop the car as per Schumacher’s liking which has not done anything good for the team. Mercedes should give up on its current car and focus on the 2011 championship.

Renault and Kubica have been a revelation and at times have been faster than both Ferrari and Mercedes on different tracks but the team do have a realistic chance of catching up with Mercedes while Ferrari has found its pace and is well ahead as of now. Renault is clearly ahead of the middle bunch like Force India and Toro Rosso while if Vitaly Petrov scores more consistently they do have a realistic chance of beating Mercedes this season.

Force India has been the best of the rest and while they have clearly beaten the likes of Williams, Toro Rosso and Sauber, they are well behind Renault and now they should focus on catching up with the likes of Renault and Mercedes. It is a tall order for the team but with Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi the team has 2 good drivers who could be driving for the top teams if not for the talent which is available this season. Another race with both drivers finishing in the top 10 will be amazing for the team.

Toro Rosso has caught up with Williams and they need to ensure that they beat Williams by the end of the season. Both Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari are still very young and have a long future ahead but they need to keep pushing themselves and hope for points so that by the time they race for bigger teams, they have all the experience in the world to go for wins straight away.

Williams have once again promised improvement this weekend but unless they show it during the race no one will take them seriously again. Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg have done all they can despite the limitations but if Williams need to get back to its old glory then they need to have one look at Red Bull as despite being an independent team with customer engines and with spends less than Ferrari and McLaren, the team has done extremely well. Williams should focus on the 2011 car and should get Renault engines and the Cosworth engines are taking them nowhere.

Sauber will race as BMW Sauber till the end of the season despite BMW playing no part in the team and the awkwardness which goes with the team calling itself BMW Sauber Ferrari. But the team should stop blaming Ferrari engines for its trouble as Toro Rosso uses the same engines and have not had reliability issues. Sauber has the pace but if its reliability issues are worked out then they can catch up with Williams and Toro Rosso. Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa needs to become more consistent if they want to retain their seats for 2011 but de la Rosa is already looking for a seat for the next season.

Lotus will be going for its 500th race but despite not having any real heritage with the Classic Lotus team the new Lotus team has ensured that it does everything to continue the legacy but the team despite being the best among the newcomers needs a lot of improvement if they need to catch up with the likes of Sauber, Williams and Toro Rosso.

Virgin and HRT will make up for the numbers but the team has to keep itself away from the faster cars as Karun’s HRT cost Alonso a lot during the Canadian GP. Also the team needs to catch up with Lotus if anyone actually has to take them seriously.

European GP Top 10 Predictions
1. Sebastien Vettel

2. Mark Webber

3. Jenson Button

4. Fernando Alonso

5. Lewis Hamilton

6. Nico Rosberg

7. Robert Kubica

8. Felipe Massa

9. Adrian Sutil

10. Michael Schumacher

2010 Canadian GP Review: McLaren edges out Red Bulls at Montreal

2010-06-15T21:56:00.002+05:30

Ever since the fateful corner at Turkey where Red Bull pushed its self destruct button when Webber and Vettel collided, McLaren has seen a revival and for the second straight race, Hamilton and Button have managed a one-two. Now McLaren leads both the championships with Hamilton leading the driver’s championship for the 1st time this season. Though Montreal was a track which would favour McLaren, Red Bull’s poor tire strategy caused it a place on the podium with Vettel and Webber finishing 4th and 5th.

Ferrari and Alonso have been under severe pressure off late and despite McLaren’s domination, Ferrari and especially Alonso did have the pace and if not for the back markers especially HRT’s Karun, Alonso would have come 2nd. Massa once again had a race to forget but he was atleast on course for points till his tangle with Schumacher but with a contract for 2012 he should start focusing as already Alonso is the lead driver for the season.

Mercedes had a very average race with Rosberg finishing 6th while teammate Schumacher struggled the entire race. Once again former drivers are calling for his head but then the verdict is not over till the end of the season. But to see Schumacher bumping into Kubica and Massa was ok but to see Buemi on a Toro Rosso overtaking him along with both the Force India cars is wrong. Something is wrong and to see the legendary driver go through this ordeal is a sad sight for all the fans that are used to the Red Baron decimating the field.

Despite Hamilton winning the race and having done the best qualifying lap we have seen this season, Toro Rosso driver Buemi was the driver of the race as despite having a car which was not exactly the fastest in the field he managed to go wheel to wheel with the legendary Schumacher and even overtook him and managed a very good 8th place. He was also leading the race for a lap before he pitted and he managed to finish ahead of Force India which is a good effort. He was under immense pressure before this race and there were even talks that he may not retain his STR seat for 2011 but if he continues to drives like this he is all set for a Red Bull drive for 2012.

Force India for the very 1st time managed to get both the cars on points and it was a very good show by both Liuzzi and Sutil. Liuzzi was under pressure from test driver di Resta and his performance at Montreal would have ensured that he had the seat for the rest of the season. Sutil who was comfortably beating his teammate till this race was totally blow by the performance of Liuzzi. Force India is easily the best of the rest but they need to keep an eye on Toro Rosso who can catch up quickly with them.

Williams may once again blame it on other factors but time has come for the team to seriously change itself as the way it goes, it may end up scoring points all together. Force India is way well ahead of it and it looks like by the end of the season Toro Rosso may also be above them. Finishing ahead of an underfunded Sauber and new comers like Lotus is not an ideal scenario for the team which they need to change immediately.

Renault had a very quiet race but Kubica managed to finish 7th and the way the team is developing, it can very well catch up with Mercedes by the end of the European season. Though Petrov has been the best rookie on the grid, he needs to score points more consistently if he needs to retain his seat for the next season. With his money he can get a racing seat but getting a seat which will get him points will be very tough. There are already talks of Sutil or even Kimi replacing him for the 2011 season where Renault hopes that it can be on par with the big 4 teams.

Among the new comers, everyone did struggle once again but Lotus was close to Sauber and by the end of the season they can actually catch up with them while for Virgin and HRT all they can hope during this season is to learn and hope all the information they gather is useful for the next season if they do participate especially HRT which is cash strapped =.

2010 Canadian GP Preview: Will McLaren able to capitalize on the Bull Run-ins?

2010-06-11T11:13:00.001+05:30

The Canadian GP is back after a break of one year but so far the consequences of the events which unfolded in Turkey is still hovering Montreal like a dark shadow and with rains too expected, this could be the race which could define the future of F1. Before the start of the season, the big 4 teams had all had drivers who wanted to win World Championships but everyone expected the initial bust up to start in Ferrari or Mercedes but surprisingly Red Bull which had Vettel and Webber having an harmonious relationship is now in the mist of one of the most controversial crashes in F1. Forget whose fault it was but in the end it is going to hit back at both the drivers and also the team.

Red Bull will once again go into this weekend as the favourites as they have been doing so far but for the 1st time because of the bust up despite what Red Bull and it’s PR team says, McLaren which nearly had a bust now had a real chance to use it moment to catch up with the RBR and this will be one track where the McLaren could even be better than RBR. Vettel the golden boy of Red Bull and the success story of its driver program will be against his teammate who originally was brought in so that they can get the Renault engines. Webber has always been a journeyman but this season he has a chance to be this generation’s Mansell by winning the title.

McLaren having 2 British World Champions have done well so far and off late seems to have the edge of both Ferrari and Mercedes but they nearly messed it all up with Button and Hamilton nearly crashes but then both drivers have bit it behind them and despite the official claim that the team does not have team orders, eventually they need to back one of the drivers and this race could actually decide it. If Button convincingly beats Hamilton, he will gain an upper hand and he will have all the resource in the world to defend his title.

Ferrari after a dream start to the season is going through a nightmare phase but despite in a position where most teams would envy to be in Ferrari is Ferrari and they should be fighting for the world championship but not fending off the likes of Renault. Alonso so far has proved that he is not as good as Schumacher has been for Ferrari while Massa with his contract extension will feel relived and now he needs to put his head down and take on not only Alonso but also the other drivers on the grid.

Mercedes is slowly becoming stronger but then it may be too late and by the time they hit pace, they maybe too far away from the championship. Schumacher is still not 100% but then he is improving and at Montreal which has been his favourite track and if the updates do work and with some rain, he can very well give the team its first victory in over 50 years. Rosberg has done a good job so far this season but he needs more than consistency to actually make everyone think that he is good enough to win championships.

Renault and Kubica has been the surprise story of the season and despite all the issues the team has had in the past, it has done extremely well. During this season though the team is 5th on the standings, but in reality depending on tracks it has managed to beat both Mercedes and Ferrari. If Vitaly Petrov started scoring more regularly they will catch up with Mercedes before the season gets over.

Force India has had a good season so far and the team is finally breaking away from the mid-field pack but then the team may just have a lonely fight this season as they are still not as fast as the top 5 teams as but much faster than the rest. Adrian Sutil is the best driver among the rest and it is sad that there is no seat available in the big teams for 2011. But he has showed that given a fast car he can do really well but teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi needs to buckle up or else the highly impressive Paul di Resta may well take his seat before the season ends.

Williams is the only team on the grid which has not improved since the season started and the team like always have put the blame on to the engines. Williams knowing that Cosworth have developed the same engine which it used in its disastrous campaign in 2006 went for it. Williams should get Renault for 2011 and forget this year. Nico Hulkenberg who has won every other championship he has been in the past had not exactly set the stage on fire while Rubens Barrichello should have retired after a dream season in 2010.

Sauber and STR have improved a lot off late and they are better than Williams but then for Sauber if the team manages to get cars to finish races it will be scoring points on more regular basis while STR has been good given its limited resources but its drivers needs to stop making minor mistakes as they have cost the team points in the past.

Among the rest, despite Lotus being better than Virgin and HRT, it has not really cached up with the likes of Williams, Sauber and STR. Lotus needs a miracle to score points this season but the team atleast looks on track for a better 2011. HRT seems have caught up with Virgin despite its non development while CRD experiment has failed miserably for Virgin Racing.

Rains are expected and this can only make the race more fun, but Red Bull and McLaren will go into the race as strong contenders while do expect a surprise from Mercedes and Ferrari.

Canadian GP Top 10 Predictions

1. Sebastien Vettel

2. Michael Schumacher

3. Jenson Button

4. Mark Webber

5. Lewis Hamilton

6. Robert Kubica

7. Fernando Alonso

8. Felipe Massa

9. Adrian Sutil

10. Nico Rosberg

The Gravel Trap

2010-06-01T11:04:00.002+05:30

Due to various reasons both the preview and the review of the most exciting Turkish GP ever could not be made but this week’s edition of The Gravel Trap will be loaded.

Red Bull Racing went into the season with the least of the driver friction which was expected to plague the big 4 teams but as of now after Vettel’s crash with Webber, the scenario has changed and the team has do bring the situation back to normal. Vettel and RBR are looking the villains but in reality it was a racing incident and in all fairness Webber failed to give room to Vettel. Webber should realize that Vettel is his teammate not just another driver. While Vettel did have pace on Webber for that lap, the so-called conspiracy theories going around that RBR favours Vettel. Yes Vettel is a product of their racing development program but if they have favoured Vettel, well Webber will be well off pace throughout the season.

Webber has been a journeyman all his life and winning 2 races does not make him a superstar. Had it not been for Red Bull, well Webber may have been stuck with the likes of Force India or Williams or even worse at Lotus! He needs to be grateful for what he has and if he does decides to walk away for the next season well it is his biggest mistake and his options are limited to either Williams or Renault. Williams is living of past glory and on a slow path to its demise while Renault will be build around Kubica. It is a racing incident and the crash should be forgotten as if Webber is going to bring it up again he will be the biggest loser.

Webber and Ferrari will never happen and even if it does happen, well he will be the #2 driver as Ferrari as of now is Team Alonso and even a guy like Massa is struggling. Talking of Massa, all signs point to his contract being renewed for 2011 as it does make sense to continue the line-up rather than bringing up someone like Kubica or even Webber for now. Ferrari should stick with this pairing till Vettel is ready to join the team.

Lotus boss has taunted Ferrari. Not bad, this is the team which has no connection to the original Lotus outfit but still for all marketing reasons is calling themselves Lotus as no one would want o see Team Malaysia or Fernandez F1. He is better off in trying to get his car to Q2 then actually tout the greatest team in F1 history. Ferrari is F1 and there are no more arguments to this. People pay to see Ferrari and not Force India or any other teams like Virgin or HRT!

On talk of a 13th team entering F1, ART GP owned by Nicolas Todt son of FIA president Jean Todt has thrown his hat in the field. ART is the most successful team in both GP2 and Euro F3 series and has had drivers like Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel drive for them. They have all the pedigree of a good racing team and there are talks of Sauber being merged with the team. This is good for the sport as this will ensure Sauber’s survival in the long run. ART Sauber Ferrari sounds nice with the likes of Massa and Jules Bianchi behind the wheels of this team. ART has good relationship with also Renault and Mercedes and they have the best options entering the grid. Hope ART GP gets in F1.

The Gravel Trap

2010-05-18T21:08:00.000+05:30

Two races have gone since the last edition of Gravel Trap but the biggest news so far has been Michael Schumacher and though he may have been overshadowed by Mark Webber’s success on track but Schumacher who has been questioned on his comeback has answered critics in an emphatic manner by back to back solid performances over his teammate Rosberg.

The big story was in Monaco during the last corner of the race when the safety car went in while Schumacher overtook Alonso to pip him for a post. Though initially Schumacher was classified ahead of Alonso, the race steward gave him a 20 sec penalty which made him drop from the points table. Interesting thing is that Schumacher’s former rival Hill was one of the stewards and this leads to loads of controversy. Though Schumacher and controversy are not far behind but this time he has done everything under the book but yet penalized.

There are many examinations of the rules and their implications in this case, but it seems quite simple. The stewards point to the fact that section 40.13 applies and that “If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.”

In reality, however, section 40.11 applies: “When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to call in the safety car the message 'SAFETY CAR IN THIS LAP' will be displayed on the timing monitors and the car's orange lights will be extinguished.” This is exactly what happened in Monaco.

From this point on, the following applies: “As the safety car is approaching the pit entry the yellow flags and SC boards will be withdrawn and replaced by waved green flags with green lights at the Line. These will be displayed until the last car crosses the Line.” The cars were racing; the race did not end under safety car conditions.

If we are to believe Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali, the Ferrari drivers were told that the race was finishing under safety car conditions and they couldn’t be overtaken. Why then, did Fernando Alonso accelerate so hard that he lost control of his car? Surely, if he was cruising to the flag, there was no need for such acceleration.

Everything at the track pointed to the race having restarted. The SC boards were in, green flags were being waved, and all of the drivers were looking for that final opportunity to pass. Schumacher alone was successful. Well the FIA has got this thing wrong and it is absurd to penalize Schumacher while racing in the pit lanes and throwing a steering wheel is no offence!

The big news is Mark Webber. A few weeks back there was talk of Webber retiring at the end of the season with Kimi replacing him but now there are even talks of Webber replacing Massa in Ferrari. Don’t remember since when a driver’s fortune has changed so dramatically in 2 weeks time!

Webber has always been a solid journeyman driver who was fast but then he was never talked as being a F1 World Champion material but though last season he was in a position where he was running for the title but this time he has a realistic chance and if he manages to continue this form then there is no stopping him. Red Bull will most likely retain him but then if they fail to do so Ferrari will definitely keep him in till they can get Vettel. Webber holds the key to the 2011 line-up and if he moves to Ferrari the world of driver market will once again head towards chaos.

2010 Monaco GP Review: Bulls conquer the streets of Monaco

2010-05-16T20:11:00.002+05:30

Red Bull went into the Monaco GP as the team to beat and they ended up thoroughly dominating the street circuit with Webber winning his 2nd race of the reason with teammate Vettel coming in 2nd. Despite the safety car playing its part through the race, Webber was in a different world with hi totally dominating the race. A few weeks back there was talk of Webber being replaced but now there are even talks of Webber going to Ferrari and such has been the meteoritic rise of his stock in the last 10 days. Now Red Bull leads both the championships with both Webber and Vettel equal in the driver’s standings.

Renault and Kubica continued their upswing with Kubica getting his 2nd podium of the season with a well deserved 3rd place finish. No one gave this team a chance before this season but both Renault and Kubica proved everyone wrong by once again pulling off a very solid performance. Not only are they with the top 4 teams but well ahead of all the teams. If Renault continues this, Kubica may be the surprise package of this season and team could even knock off a top 4 team at the season ending championships. Another reason to celebrate is that all the cars on podium at Monaco were Renault powered cars.

Ferrari were looking good going towards the weekend but despite Alonso starting from the pit stop they did have a very good race with Massa coming in 4th while Alonso putting one of his best drives ever coming in 7th. Though Alonso should be disappointed that Schumacher overtook him at the least corner when the safety car just going him costing him a place. But both Alonso and Massa should go to Turkey with momentum but then can they catch up RBR will be the big question.

Mercedes had a solid race with Schumacher showing old signs of pace and attitude should be happy for his 6th place finish while Rosberg was back in form but then now Schumacher is slowly looking like the lead driver and Rosberg needs more than a 8th place finish to shift the momentum back in his favour. Though since the start it looked like it will be Rosberg who will win the 1st race for Mercedes GP but now Schumacher seems more likely to do it.

McLaren overall once again had a disappointing weekend with losing lead in both the championships and also getting only one of its car on points. This time Hamilton came 5th and though he did show some spirit it was just not enough and in the end he looked like he was more than just happy to finish the line while Button retired due to an error by one of the mechanics. If the team has to realistically compete against Red Bulls and be ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes, it needs to show more consistency and ensure goof ups like these do not happen again.

Force India for the very 1st time got both their cars on points and there should be a wild party tonight for the team. The team has been very consistent throughout the season and now it is definitely ahead of both Williams and Toro Rosso. The future is looking good for the team and if they continue in this direction they can relive the glory days of Jordan GP.

STR despite getting both its car to finish the race just missed out on the points and the team now has to work hard to catch up with Force India and also ensure that it is ahead of Williams. It will be tough for the team to score points from now on as the six teams at the top are very solid but then in F1 all things are possible and if the team does race consistently it can score a few points here and there.

Williams must be wondering what went wrong this season as they started the season with a totally redesigned car and despite all the hype behind it, it is one team which has remained the same since the start of the season. STR has a better car as of now and if its drivers continue to drive the same way, Williams could be fighting it out with Sauber and the new teams.

Sauber is the only old team yet to score points and though the team looked like it has improved at Barcelona, it was 2 steps backward here and the team needs some drastic showing in the next few races if it has to survive this season. None of the new teams finished the race but Lotus despite showing all the promise is not really catching up with Sauber while both HRT and Virgin have managed to tag along with Lotus.

It was a very good Monaco GP and Webber who after a slow start to the season looks a totally different driver and if he continues this form, we can once again see an Australian World Champion in F1.

2010 Monaco GP Preview: Can the Bull Run continue on the streets too?

2010-05-13T22:10:00.000+05:30

The most prestigious grand prix of the season will take place this week at the principality of Monaco. Though the race on the streets of Monaco has its own mystique it is also one of the most demanding circuit in F1 as even a single small error could see a driver crashing out quickly. Though Red Bull has been the team to beat this season but they continue to be plagued by a mix of reliability issues and bad luck. Despite pole on all 5 races this season, the team has won only 2 races with Vettel and Webber taking a victory each. Though Webber pulled off an amazing win in Barcelona last week, Vettel must be happy to finish on the podium despite issues with the car. Though the streets of Monaco is totally different from the rest of the circuits, if Red Bull gets pole once again, it will be tough for anyone to challenge the team.

Ferrari and Alonso looks like the people who could most likely to challenge the bulls but then though Ferrari and Alonso have been pretty consistent this season they are yet to match the pace of Red Bull and Alonso should bring in all his experience to someone get his car on pole so that he can win the race. Teammate Massa had a very poor Spanish GP and with talks of Kubica replacing him next season, he needs to put a solid performance for the next few races of Ferrari have to keep him in. Already he is looking more like a 2^nd driver rather than look Alonso’s equal.

McLaren has been the surprise of this season with Button just about leading the championship. Though Hamilton has put on some unbelievable drives throughout the season, he tends to makes mistakes and even has had some bad luck. This is one of his favourite circuits and if McLaren is even closer to the pace of RBR he can take on the fight to the team provided he keeps his cool and finishes the race for a change.

Mercedes has had a mixed race in Barcelona with Schumacher showing old signs while Rosberg just looking lost. Though so far for Monaco both Schumacher and Rosberg have looked competitive, it is Schumacher who will go into the race as the Mercedes driver who had a chance of winning this race given his experience on this track. He is also a former 5 time winner here while Rosberg once again have to prove himself against the legendary driver.

Renault and Kubica had so far had a decent if not pretty good start to the season but despite Kubica showing impressive pace, the team needs rain or a major pile up to be once again on the podium while Vitaly Petrov needs to be extra careful as this is one of the tracks where a driver can’t make any error at all.

Force India and Toro Rosso has had their best starts so far and they will once again use this weekend to try catch up with Renault while also extend their gap with Williams who has look the same since the start of the season. If Williams does not do anything even Sauber may catch up with them very soon.

Among the rest the new teams may actually prove very dangerous during both qualifying and the race as Monaco had a very narrow street circuit and it could be very dangerous for the other teams if the backmarkers fails to drive properly.

It should be a very good Monaco GP where Red Bull’s pace should be neutralized due to the nature of the track but both Ferrari and McLaren will provide stiff challenge with Mercedes going into this race as a dark horse.

Monaco GP Top 10 Predictions

1. Sebastien Vettel

2. Fernando Alonso

3. Michael Schumacher

4. Mark Webber

5. Nico Rosberg

6. Jenson Button

7. Lewis Hamilton

8. Felipe Massa

9. Robert Kubica

10. Adrian Sutil

2010 Spanish GP Review: Bulls on Rampage with a Webber win!

2010-05-10T13:09:00.004+05:30

Red Bull went to a race once again looking as the team to beat and though there were some hiccups for Vettel, Mark Webber had no problem and won his 3rd race of his career in an empathic manner. He totally dominated the field and not once since the start that he was challenged by anyone on the gird. Even his teammate struggled to match his sublime pace. Though Vettel did manage a 3rd place there were moments where the car looked like it will breakdown but he scored vital points and has kept his hands on the driver’s championship with this result.

Bernie Ecclestone dream had come true in Spain after Alonso was in Spanish GP in Ferrari colors for the very 1st time, most of the stands saw only red and it was a windfall for the Ferrari team. He also did not disappoint with a very consistent drive to finish 2nd. A few more performances like this would ensure that he is the clear #1 in the team while teammate Massa who is under pressure did himself no favor as he could only manage 6th. Already there are rumors floating in the Italian media that Kubica will replace him for 2011. Massa needs to seriously up his game in a weeks time or else he may need to look for a drive the next season.

Mercedes and Schumacher came into this grand prix under tremendous pressure but Schumacher though did not pull off a miracle he did had his best drives of the season and he thoroughly beat teammate for the 1st time during the whole weekend. Next week in Monaco he has a realistic chance of a podium place but then with rains, the old magic could be back. Nico Rosberg should be unhappy after a bad weekend where he went into the Spanish GP with just 10 points behind leader Button but he failed to score any points and now he is in 5th with Vettel, Webber & Alonso going over him while both Massa and Hamilton are just a point behind him.

McLaren was the team which was expected to challenge the Bulls but in the end, the race was a disaster for the team. Though they lead both the championship as of now, the margins have dropped drastically and Hamilton who was on course for a 2nd place finish crashed out at the dying moments of the race. Button had a frustrating race as he was stuck behind Schumacher for most of the race and his failure to get past him robbed him of any chance of fighting for a podium.

Both Force India and Renault had a consistent race with Sutil and Kubica scoring points. Though Renault looked like they have cleared the mid field pack and have closed in on Mercedes, but after this race they are back on par with Force India and they have lot of work to do. Force India as of now is better than Williams, Toro Rosso & Sauber but they need to get both drivers on points to catch up with Renault but so far this has been one of their best ever seasons since the Jordan days.

Though Williams and Toro Rosso scored points, Williams have not made any significant progress since the start of the season and if this continues STR & even Sauber may overtake them very soon. Sauber finally made some progress with Kamui Kobayashi finishing a race for the 1st time this season but de la Rosa will be a man under pressure and if he fails to score points in the next few races he may be out of the team.

Virgin had a good weekend with both their cars finishing for the 1st time this season while Lotus though had Trulli finishing, Heikki failed to start the race while HRT once again had both the cars retiring during the race. Virgin suddenly seems like the team who can beat this pack but Lotus will provide them a stiff challenge.

It was a very good Spanish GP with Red Bulls dominating while Schumacher did show glimpse of his old form. If he does manages to keep improving, he can once again start winning races and the battle between Schumacher, Vettel and Hamilton could be very good.

2010 Spanish GP: The fight for the Championship starts now

2010-05-07T13:50:00.003+05:30

The European leg of the F1 has in the past traditionally separated the boys from the men. Last season though Williams and Toyota were close to Brawn during the Asian leg of the calendar, once the European season began, it was a straightforward battle between Brawn and Red Bull for the title. This season as many as four teams are in the race with Renault still in the mix. The hot favorites for the title Red Bull despite having the fastest car on the grid is only 3rd in the Championship while Jenson Button and McLaren have surprised one and all by leading both the championships.

Jenson Button has proved everyone wrong by going into Europe with 2 wins and a substantial lead over his much fancied teammate Hamilton. Though Hamilton can always bounce back but he has to deal with loads of both on-track and off-track antics while Button has solely focused on racing alone. If Button continues to maintain the form he showed in Asia, there is every chance that he may once again be the champion and prove to the world that he won not because of the car but also he is good enough to win it.

Ferrari like Red Bull were fancied towards the start of the season but reliability issues have hit them hard but now they seem to have sorted that out and if Alonso & Massa can work as a team Ferrari will be hard to beat but if the pair fails to get along then Ferrari may self destruct it chances of winning the titles. Though they are still not as fast as Red Bull, they can quickly catch up with McLaren and need to beat them fast.

Mercedes went into the season as defending champions and even got Schumacher out of retirement but then his comeback though has been pretty good but then everyone is so used to Schumacher dominating the field but now his teammate who is yet to win a race has beaten him in four straight races and this is something which the legend has never experienced before. Though the Mercedes is being set for Schumacher and everyone does expect a backlash from the German but he needs to prove in Barcelona that he still has it in him and the most important thing will be to dominate Rosberg who has had a dream start to the season.

Red Bull must be comfortably leading both the championships now but a mix of bad luck and reliability has cost them hard. If Vettel needs to win the title, RBR should provide him with a car which is not only fast but also can go the distance or else it will be a case of chasing the leader once again and then miss out in the end. Webber will be a man under pressure as there are talks of Kimi replacing him for 2011 but the Australian needs to bounce back strongly and needs to get back on podiums before winning races.

Renault and Kubica have been the surprise package and though they may not win the titles, they may yet win some races and if they continue their progress they can be a thorn in the path of the big 4 teams and even could beat a couple of them in the end. Vitaly Petrov, their rookie driver has been the best among the rookies so far and if he too continues to score points, it could be a great revival for the team which nearly closed shop last year.

Force India has had its best start ever and both Sutil and Liuzzi have been impressive but the team should now focus on trying to catch up with Renault rather then trying to beat Williams and STR. The team has beaten those 2 teams soundly so far and in order to reach the next level they should target Renault.

Williams are once again suffering from being a private team and though before the season started they did seem to have a decent package but now their car is not good as the rest of the field and they are fighting out with the likes of STR. Rubens Barrichello is a fast driver and it is disappointing to see him finish his career this way while Nico Hulkenberg has shown promise and he deserves something much better than this as of now.

Toro Rosso have had a typical start where they manage to score points but then lag behind bigger teams but they have 2 promising drivers and if the updates are as good as they are expect both Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi to be in points and the team must beat Williams once again and also catch up with Force India.

Sauber has been the most disappointed team and if the team continues to go the same way they may not even finish the season. Both de la Rosa and Kobayashi have failed to impress though the car has not been too supportive as well. But the team has to turn around its fortunes quickly if it needs to survive this season and start the next one.

Among the new teams as expected Lotus have impressed everyone and they seem to be closing in on Sauber slowly as well. Though scoring points is still way off if they manage to catch up with Sauber and beat both HRT and Virgin on a regular basis, it would be a good debut season for the team. HRT after a horrible start seem to have caught up with Virgin but then the poor Dallara chassis may hurt them in the long run while Virgin after looking promising have taken a few steps back. The team needs to regroup and start challenging Lotus.

It should be a good Spanish GP and this race would possibly set the precedent on how the season may end but after a few rain interrupted races a dry race will be a welcome sign.

Spanish GP Top 10 Predictions

1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Michael Schumacher
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Jenson Button
8. Robert Kubica
9. Lewis Hamilton
10. Jaime Alguersuari

The Gravel Trap

2010-05-01T09:43:00.000+05:30

Jacques Villeneuve has finally opened his mouth again and this time though his comments were actually a bit sensible for a change. He still wants to make a comeback & we all hope he does makes his comeback for 2011 as F1 needs someone who talks without even thinking. This time he has actually praised Schumacher for once while he has glorified Button as the best wet weather driver which is actually not true as the best guy on wet should be the kid who got the former Minardi car on to podium at Monza and gave Toro Rosso its 1st and only win so far plus got us to listen to both the German & the Italian anthem together for one last time! All hopes on this driver joining the Scuderia for 2012!

Many actually though that F1 would be tireless for 2011 but now we do have 3 serious companies which wants to supply and among the 3, Michelin seems to be the favorite as of now while Avon is backed by one Bernie Ecclestone himself. Italian maker Pirelli has also entered the race and the last time it supplied tires to F1 cars was in 1991. It will be good to have 2 or even 3 suppliers as the tire wars is something which can spice up F1.

Teams want KERS for next season and while Renault is ready to supply to anyone, Ferrari has promised its units for teams which run the Ferrari engine while Williams has increased its share on the company which manufactures its KERS. Ideally McLaren has the best package on the grid and FIA should make it the common system as each team developing KERS will only lead to more expenses.

Finally Ferrari is criticized for running subliminal advertising on its car as the bar code featured on its cars and other team members is said to advertise Marlboro. This should be the most ridiculous claim ever as even without the barcode; Ferrari’s association with Marlboro is such that the very colour of Rosa Corsa will be associated with the brand. Also just because Ferrari runs the barcode means more people actually take up smoking. Smoking is bad but then that should be the least of worries in many countries especially the 3rd world ones which includes India.

The Gravel Trap

2010-04-23T12:09:00.002+05:30

The Gravel Trap will be a weekly short column which will focus on what is happening around the world of F1 for the week. It will run regularly during the season.

Michael Schumacher has been on the radar of the Tifosi since he jumped ship to Mercedes and him promoting the new AMG supercar which is ironically colored as Rosa Corsa has not gone too well but his comeback has been more like the other Schumacher’s comeback rather than the bloody driver who pushed his own brother to get a podium place!

The Volcanic ash has affected the F1 crew but now there is no reason why the Spanish GP has to be cancelled. It is interesting that teams & drivers have travelled all over the world to reach their home bases and some locations include Morocco, Hawaii, New Zealand, etc.

Ferrari finally has a young gun program and I guess gone are the days of sending a boy to Sauber to get some training but then doing a few laps every grand prix is not exactly training. Some future F1 hopefuls include Jules Bianchi and one Mirko Bortolotti, who is said to be the most talented Italian driver of this generation. Though the last talented Italian driver got his Ferrari drive a bit too late and rest is history.

Hamilton likes moderate F1 stewards so that he can weave to overtake a rookie and then go drag racing in the pits stop so that he can show of to Nicole Scherzinger!

The Race to the Championship

2010-04-19T12:29:00.001+05:30

Only four races are over this season and already we have had 3 different winners and 3 different people leading the championship. Before the start of the season, as many as four teams were in contention with up to 8 drivers having a chance for the title. Though only four races are over, realistically as of now only 3 teams have a chance for the constructor’s championship and 7 drivers have a chance for the driver’s championship. Stranger things have happened and it is still very early to discount Mercedes in the constructor’s title race and Schumacher in the driver’s championship along with Webber.

Let us look at the driver’s and the teams to see what has been done so far and who has to do what to get closer to the title race.

Jenson Button – No one expected Button to lead the championship after the 1st four races of the season but he is leading the championship and he also won 2 races so far. A mix of good driving and a sound tire strategy could be the key towards this but Jenson Button has proved that he is not going to let Hamilton blow him away and though there have been 2 races where Hamilton has beaten him, Button has made the most of the conditions and because of various factors he leads the race as of now. If Button has to retain his title, he needs more solid drivers and should hope that strategy always works in his favor.

Winning the title could be another Cinderella story but finishing ahead of Hamilton is a possibility

Lewis Hamilton – The 2008 World Champion was expected to leave off Button but Hamilton despite some brilliance on the track is once again followed by controversy for his on track antics. His weaving maneuver on Vitaly Petrov has not gone well with the F1 community while his pit-lane skirmish with Vettel is sure to attract some criticism. Though he drivers flat out there is a difference between fair racing and bending all sorts of rules. If Hamilton continues to do that, it will only be a matter of time that he will be black flagged very soon.

Chances of winning title is slim as of now as he needs to be more consistent but beating Button should be a worry

Sebastian Vettel – The man who was expected to win all the races so far has won only one while mechanical failures has cost him 2 while bad strategy cost him another one in China. Vettel is one of the best driver’s on the grid and if Red Bull overcomes their mechanical issues, he is the clear favorite to win the title. Though he has shown great maturity, he also needs the backing of the team. If things continue as it has been during the 1st 4 races, he may still be in the hunt but these early mistakes could cost him the title.

If Red Bull gets it act together, expect Vettel to be crowned the youngest F1 driver

Fernando Alonso – After the 1st race everyone expected the Spaniard to win the title without any hiccups but now not only has Alonso has to worry about Massa but with the likes of Vettel, Button & Hamilton in the background, Ferrari’s engine trouble may cost him the title as he may just run out of engines by the last few races and with grid penalties it would be an impossible task to win the title when it gets close.

Alonso is a very serious contender if Ferrari’s engines don’t blow up

Felipe Massa – Massa was leading the table after 3 races without even winning a race shows how consistent he has been. It has been his best ever start to season and he has been very consistent so far with points scored during all the races. Though his best chance of winning a title was in 2008, he has really improved as a driver but has to beat Alonso consistently to ensure that Ferrari backs hid bid for the title.

Massa could once again end up his teammate for the title challenge during the 2nd half of the season

Nico Rosberg – During the last season, he was one of the most wanted drivers on the grid with McLaren, Brawn and BMW courting for his services. He joined Brawn and was expected to lead the newly reformed Mercedes GP team but his lack of race wins saw Schumacher making a shocking comeback and though Rosberg was expected to struggle against Schumacher, he has proved that he deserves a top car and so far has not only comprehensively beaten Schumacher but a very consistent season means that he is now 2nd in the drivers championship.

Still early days but needs a few wins to really make him a title contender

Robert Kubica – No one expected Kubica to be on podiums leave alone actually has a fighting chance for the driver’s championship. Kubica and Renault were expected to be fighting the likes of Williams and Force India but after a stunning start to the season, Kubica has become the dark horse of the season and if the big 4 drivers continues to take points off each other, he maybe the unlikely candidate for the driver’s championship.

The Dark horse of the season needs luck to clinch him the title more than anything else

Though it is early days, both Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber have struggled and have failed to have an impact like their teammates have had. Also their performances may decide the fate of their teams in the constructor’s championships.

Michael Schumacher – Has had one of his worst starts to the season but he has been out of F1 for 3 long years and things have changed. Previously Schumacher was used to just one team and one driver challenging him but now with some many rivals; this could his toughest ever season. Though Schumacher winning the title for 2010 may not happen, him winning a race towards the end of the season is a possibility.

Winning a race would make this comeback a great success but he needs to beat Rosberg

Mark Webber – Talk of Kimi replacing him at Red Bull next season will be running at the back of his head but this could be his only chance of having any realistic chance at the title. He needs to drive like a champion for the rest of the season to make an impact and put his name in the title race. Even a top 3 finish at the year end driver’s ranking will not guarantee him of a seat at RBR unless he beats Vettel.

Webber may have his last season with a very good car

Expect Vettel & Alonso fighting for the championship with Button, Hamilton, Massa & Rosberg also in the mix. But this season the result will depend on the team reliability rather than the drivers.

2010 Chinese GP Review: Button wins with Mercedes power dominating the podium

2010-04-18T21:58:00.000+05:30

Jenson Button won his 2nd race of the year and won the Chinese GP under wet conditions to take lead in the driver’s championship. Jenson Button had a flawless driver where a mix of solid driving and good tire strategy won him the race. It was a good weekend for McLaren as Hamilton though did make some questionable moves throughout the race came in 2nd to ensure that they lead the constructor’s championship as well.

Rivals Mercedes should be happy with the result as Rosberg not only got his 2nd consecutive podium but also ensure that he is now 2nd in the championship while teammate Schumacher was still struggling and could get only one point of the race. Mercedes though were expected to struggle this weekend did look strong and it will be only a matter of time where they will have a car as fast as anyone else in the grid.

Red Bull though managed to have both their drivers scoring points should be highly disappointed with a questionable tire strategy which saw both their drivers who were on target for podium finishes to finish at 6th and 8th. It is still early days but then with the grid so tight and as many as 7 drivers fighting for the title as of now, RBR needs to get its act together or else may once again lose out on the championship.

Ferrari did not exactly have a good weekend and now they have lost both the driver’s and constructor’s championship positions to McLaren. Ferrari needs to sort out small issues if they need to win the title. Massa & Alonso are not too behind Button but they need a string of wins to start dominating the tables as there have been too many changes within such a short span of time.

Renault and Kubica would be cursing the safety car as they were on track for another podium but they once again had a solid weekend and managed to get both the cars on points. It was a good weekend for the team with Kubica still on the hunt for the driver’s championship while the team is definitely ahead of Force India, Williams and STR while it is fast catching up with Mercedes. Vitaly Petrov scored his first points and it was good to see the Russian driver finish his first F1 race with points as the previous 3 races saw him retire.

Force India had a solid package and should feel unlucky for not scoring any points but then the team is ahead of both Williams and STR but they have to do a lot of work to catch up with Renault. Williams are struggling and though the team may score points, they need some upgrades to catch up with Force India while STR is on par with them and could even overtake them during the European leg of the season.

Sauber continued to have a miserable start to the season and if this continues the team may just fold off. Though the car is pretty quick, the team has to work on reliability and should ensure that the team start finishing races before even thinking of points.

Among the 3 new teams, Lotus once again proved to be the best among them while HRT as of now seems to have a better package than Virgin but the European season could see some major changes among this pack.

It was very chaotic Chinese GP and Jenson Button is proving to be a good competitor for Hamilton as before the start of the season everyone expected Hamilton to blow Button away and though it is early days, if Button continue to perform this way, he may have a very serious shot in retaining his title.

2010 Chinese GP: Ferrari & McLaren seek redemption during Bull Run

2010-04-15T21:57:00.002+05:30

Red Bull totally dominated the 2010 Malaysian GP with a perfect race which saw Sebastien Vettel winning his first race of the season with teammate Webber coming in 2nd. Red Bull has been strong since the start of the season and seems to have the fastest car but reliability have hit them hard and Vettel was on track to win both the Australian and Bahrain grand prix till reliability issues stalled his progress but they seem to have got everything right when he won at Sepang. Mark Webber is under severe pressure to perform this season as there are rumours of Kimi taking his seat for the 2011 season. SO far he has been a bit shaky this season but if he continues to race as he did in Malaysia, he should be on the hunt for the title very soon.

Ferrari and McLaren had a very bad Malaysian GP which saw them mess up qualifying so badly that the teams failed to get a driver on the podium despite having superior machinery as of now to Mercedes GP. McLaren seem to have an upper hand as we go towards the Chinese GP as their cars looks more suited to the track and could provide stiff challenge to RBR while Ferrari may lead both the championships as of now but with engine reliability as an issue things are not looking as rosy as it was for the team. Massa may lead the drivers’ championship but with the rumour of Kubica joining Alonso in Ferrari for 2011 should be a distraction which is best avoided for his own good.

Mercedes scored its first podium of the year with Rosberg finishing 3rd and though on paper he is just 4 points behind leader Massa, he needs to score as much as points as possible till Barcelona as the team is expected to debut a “B” spec car which is expected to put them on the title hunt firmly. Michael Schumacher’s last win was here but that seem to be a long time back while even rival Alonso might still consider Schumacher as his title rival for 2010, unless Mercedes does something to the car, Schumacher will only be a prop for the team. He may still beat Rosberg to prove a point that he still has it in him.

Renault and Kubica have had 2 amazing race weekends and Renault is looking to catch up with Mercedes during this weekend. Though Kubica is not much behind Massa, but if he continues to drive the way he is doing as of now, he may emerge as a dark horse for the title race this season. Russia’s 1st F1 driver Petrov proved that he is every bit of a racer and it took Hamilton to pull off an unsporting weaving to actually keep Petrov off. He will be looking forward to score his 1st set of points this weekend.

Force India has had its best ever start to the season and the team while it was known as Jordan actually even challenged for the title for a season will be looking to catch up with Renault. So far Force India is well ahead of Williams and STR but it needs both its drivers to score points together to catch up with Renault. The track should favour them and they could even be faster than Mercedes GP this weekend. Force India has to make the most of the conditions and ensure that they get both drivers on points with one of them even having an outside chance of making it to the podium.

Williams and STR are with points and though STR seems like it has caught with Williams during the last race, it is a long season and STR should work really hard to sustain the momentum. Jaime Alguersuari may have ended his points scoring draught but Sebastien Buemi is still considered a better driver and the tussle between these 2 through the season should be interesting. Nico Hulkenberg proved that he has the talent by scoring his 1st F1 point but he needs to beat Rubens Barrichello once again to show that he is the real deal.

Sauber is the only old team yet to score points and the way things are going if they don’t score points they may not even last the season. Pedro de la Rosa is yet to score points while Kamui Kobayashi is just the shadow of the driver we saw he was with Toyota last season. Sauber needs a change in fortune or else it will be only a matter of time when Lotus catches up with them.

It is good to see the new teams making progress and Lotus may be the only team among the lot to have a realistic chance of scoring some points during the season. Still lot of work has to be done but with 2 experienced drivers and a good set-up they can surprise people towards the 2nd half of the season. HRT has done well so far but with Dallara not building a car up to the mark they may lag behind Lotus and even Virgin Racing.

Though RBR seems to have the speed, you cannot discount Ferrari or McLaren while Force India and Renault may surprise a lot of people. Mercedes needs a sound strategy and a miracle drive from Schumacher to pull anything of this race. This was also the venue where Vettel driving for STR during his debut season crashed into Webber during the safety car period while Hamilton got stuck into gravel on his way to pits. So strange things have happened here and 2010 would definitely benefit from another strange race with rains.

Chinese GP Top 10 Predictions

1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Mark Webber
3. Adrian Sutil
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Michael Schumacher
7. Felipe Massa
8. Jenson Button
9. Robert Kubica
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi

The Red Baron is no more but will the Silver Knight rise again?

2010-04-09T15:35:00.001+05:30

Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest if not the greatest driver ever in motorsport history. He is a former 7 times World Champion and holds every possible record possible. But a lot of things have changed in the sport since the time he left in 2006 to what it is now. Three years may not be long enough span in other sports but in F1 lots of things have changed. Apart from the rules and regulations, 4 teams namely Honda, Toyota, MF1 & Super Aguri do not exist anymore while BMW has left Sauber while Renault is not in control of its own team.

Kimi Räikkönen, the man who was hastily pulled in as a replacement for Schumacher managed to have a stellar season during his debut for Ferrari and erased the image of Schumacher for a while after a stunning victory at the Brazilian GP to snatch the titles from the McLaren duo of Alonso and Hamilton. This was to lead another golden era for the team but then Kimi started to fade and he became very erratic. Kimi had way too many ups & downs that his teammate Massa who was expected to be the 2nd driver rose up for the challenge and fought hard for the Championship during the 2008 season and ended up losing it by a point to Hamilton despite winning more races through the season.

2009 is a year which Ferrari should forget as they had their worst ever showing since the Schumacher era but Massa’s accident nearly made Schumacher to make his comeback for the Ferrari team but then his neck was not yet healed and instead longtime test driver Luca Badoer was Massa’s replacement while after just 2 races he himself was replaced by fellow Italian Giancarlo Fisichella who’s long dream of racing for the Scuderia was fulfilled. Brawn and Jenson Button managed to win both the titles and for a while there was talk of both Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld both linked with both McLaren and Brawn. But with the exit of manufacturers like BMW and Toyota, the driver market was turned upside down and the signing of Alonso, the man who beat Schumacher to 2 World Championships with Ferrari ended in the exit of Kimi.

The most shocking turn of events began when Mercedes decided to pull out from the McLaren team and decided to take over the Brawn team. Though Jenson Button was expected to stay, he ended up moving to McLaren to prove that he did not win the title only because of his car while Nico Rosberg after months of speculation joined the newly reformed Mercedes GP team. Though Nick Heidfeld was expected to partner Rosberg in an all German team, the team lacked the star value which rivals McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull had and both their drivers were yet to win a race. Ross Brawn has send an SOS to long term friend Schumacher and the unthinkable happened. The Red Baron quit Ferrari to join rivals Mercedes and made one of the most dramatic comeback in sports by racing for the Silver Arrow team.
Schumacher is 41 years old and made his F1 debut when Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari was just one year old. Though he is very fit, he has not been racing or even testing during the last 3 seasons and him making a comeback and finishing in points at the Bahrain GP itself is an awesome achievement which only he could have done it. Last season Rubens Barrichello who was Button’s teammate had one podium finish after the 1st 3 races while Button won 2 races and managed a 3rd in the other race. Though Barrichello was quick and was racing in F1 without a break, he was totally outpaced and outclassed by Button during the 1st half of the season.

This season Rosberg who was always been a good driver but never had the car to win races even now does not have a car which can win races. Mercedes is improving but no way is it close to Red Bull, Ferrari or the McLaren cars. It is a decent car which can challenge the other 3 teams but it is not like Rosberg is winning with the current car while Schumacher is failing to finish races. It is still early days and if Mercedes does have a car which can challenge for wins, Schumacher will be in the hunt. It may take some time but Schumacher will win more races before he retires permanently.

The talk of Schumacher’s comeback as a failure is very premature and childish as also Schumacher’s 9 points compared to Rosberg’s 35 points is also because of the new points system. It is early days and it is a long season, once Mercedes is up to pace, Schumacher will be back. Ruling out a legend like that is just plain stupid and however good you are, if the car is not fast enough you just cannot produce results. A good example of this was Alonso during the last season when the Renault was just not performing. Schumacher is more motivated than ever and by the end of the season if Mercedes do have a car which can be quick, expect some wheel to wheel racing between Schumacher & the young guns like Hamilton and Vettel.

2010 Malaysian GP Review: Vettel wins with Red Bull 1-2

2010-04-04T16:50:00.000+05:30

Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull showed that why they were the most feared team before the season started as finally the Red Bull managed to hold up and Vettel drove the perfect race to finish a one-two for the team with Mark Webber coming in 2^nd. Though rains main qualifying unpredictable with the likes of Ferrari and McLaren missing Q1, the rains stayed away from the race and though Vettel was not bothered much by anyone, there were awesome fights across all the other positions on track.

Lewis Hamilton drove one of his best races and though was at times a bit too aggressive, it was great to see him finish 6^th after starting from the 20^th. Though towards the end he struggled to overtake Adrian Sutil, but it was a great site to see Force India keeping ahead of McLaren. Teammate Jenson Button managed to come in 8^th but was luckily to keep out Alonso who had gear problems which eventually not only caused him problems in overtaking Button but with a lap to go the engine blew up causing him to lose 2 vital points as now he is tied 2^nd in the championship with Vettel while teammate Massa leads the table for Ferrari with a 2 point lead.

As expected this season should be a close one, but Mercedes GP who was title contenders before the season started finally managed to get to the podium with Rosberg taking a well deserved 3^rd place. Not only he proved that he is faster than Schumacher but he showed that he has it in him to fight with the best. Schumacher once again had a disappointing race but this time he retired due to technical issues but he did show glimpse of old form during the qualifying and by the 2^nd half of the season he should be back to normal.

Renault after a very good Australian GP which saw Kubica finish 2^nd, once again had a good race for Kubica as he managed 4^th place. This was a crucial finish for the team as now in the Constructors championship, it is well ahead of the rest and fast catching up with Mercedes. Vitaly Petrov proved that he has all the talent in the world but going wheel to wheel with Hamilton and even successfully keeping him at bay for a while till Hamilton pulled an illegal move to overtake the Russian. It is only a matter of time with some luck Petrov should be scoring points.

Force India proved that early season form is no flash in the pan with Sutil finishing 5^th and the team managed to finish ahead of well funded teams like McLaren and Ferrari. Force India have started the season well and if they improve further they have a good chance of getting one of their drivers on podium but now keeping up with the Renault team should be a challenge for the team.

William’s Nico Hulkenberg scored his maiden F1 points by finishing 10^th and though he was lucky at times, he managed to perform in an underpowered Williams which is fast losing out to Renault and Force India, while Toro Rosso was faster than the Williams during the Malaysian GP. Toro Rosso also opened its account for the season with teenage driver Jaime Alguersuari scoring maiden points after a miserable last season. Alguersuari is very young and with experience he could become a very godo driver in the future.

Sauber had a horrible weekend once again with reliability issues hurting them badly. Pedro de la Rosa failed to start the race while Kamui Kobayashi who was looking good early on retired after 8 laps only. Though Sauber is a quick car if they manage to sort out the reliability issues, they can score a few points.

HRT which had a very bad start to Bahrain looked better than both Lotus and Virgin Racing as the Spanish team had both drivers finishing the race. The team has improved a lot and both Lotus and Virgin had to seriously look at this team as they could emerge as the front runner among the new teams this season.

It is early days but it is good to see 3 different winners already this season and as many as 5 drivers separated by less than 5 points. It is good see Kubica and Renault in the mix as well and though it may be an impossible task for the team but Kubica is ahead of Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher as off now and just one point behind Lewis Hamilton. Still early days but the F1 season after a boring start at Bahrain has really kicked off and it should only get better as the we head to China in 2 weeks.

2010 Malaysian GP Preview: Vettel will win if he finishes while rain could play a part

2010-04-01T11:08:00.001+05:30

After a boring start to the season at Bahrain, it was a slug fest at the Australian GP and Jenson Button would definitely feel vindicated after a stunning win on a wet track due to a great gamble and Vettel’s reliability issues. Though had Vettel had not had that failure he would have won the race but nevertheless Button showed that he is not purely dependent on very good cars to win the race and he can also drive for victories. His teammate had a weekend to forget and though he did manage 6th place but he still was critical of McLaren’s strategy and have to forget what happened in Melbourne last week and regain composure to challenge for the win in Malaysia.

It is early in the season but it is high time Red Bull solves all reliability issues as Vettel can’t be the fastest man on track but still struggling to finish races and he has been vocal about the possibility of moving to Ferrari in the future and if Red Bull wants to keep him post 2011, he needs to win the title this season while teammate Webber though tried too hard in his home grand prix, he needs to up the game and perform like Vettel’s equal rather than a # 2 driver and if Webber continues in this form, Red Bull may just put Kimi in its cars as he is already racing for them in the WRC.

Ferrari leads both the titles as of now and do have the most all-round car on the grid but with team orders a thing of the past but if Massa and Alonso continue to eat points of each other then it may be a case where they will win the constructor’s title easily while may yet lose out on the driver’s championship. Though the relationship between Massa and Alonso has been cordial it is still early oart of the season and once it gets heats up, there can many potential clashes between the duo both on and off track.

Mercedes as Brawn managed to totally decimate the opposition but now with Schumacher, a 7 time World Champion and Rosberg, one of the brightest young talent on the grid, the team is struggling and they need to up their performance quickly as if they do fail so they may be faster than the rest of the grid but will lag behind Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull. They may have a lonely season and Schumacher may just quit once again if he is not motivated enough.

Kubica’s stunning performance may have given Renault all the inspiration in the world and though they may not achieve the same in Malaysia, but still it was a very important result for the team which went through various changes towards the end of last season and a strong Renault team is always good for the sport. Vitaly Petrov has not had the perfect debut season but he needs to start performing soon or else though he is a talented driver, the pay-driver stigma will hurt him badly in the future.

Williams and Force India ware well ahead of Sauber and Toro Rosso but now with the emergence of Renault, it has turned into a 3 way race to see is who will finish as the 5th best team in the grid and though Force India compared to the last few seasons had had one of its best starts ever and at times seems even quicker than Williams but if Williams continues to aim to remain as a premier team, they need to do something real quick as they have not won a race since 2004 and great teams usually do not go on such a long losing streak.

Sauber have to overcome their reliability issues and though they de la Rosa did manage to finish the race, the team was not expected to do a Brawn but was considered a dark horse but now struggling to keep up Toro Rosso and the way things are shaping up, the Italian team may just upstage their rivals and may quickly want to catch up with Force India, fellow back markers during the previous seasons.

Lotus must relish racing here as this is their home grand prix and though scoring any points will be an amazing thing for the team especially at sepang but so far they have proved that there are the best of the new teams and if they continue to improve they realistically have a chance to catch up with the likes of Sauber and STR before the season ends.

Virgin may not finish races as off now due to a very small fuel tank while Hispanic Racing after a disastrous start at Bahrain have got their feet on ground and it is only a matter of time before they start challenging Virgin and Lotus but their only problem could be is that Lotus and Virgin have drivers with F1 experience while HRT has 2 rookie drivers.

Last year’s Malaysian GP was a deluge and though rain is expected this year, it should not be that bad and if it does rains, it will be amazing to see wet track specialists like Schumacher, Vettel and Button battling each other. F1 season has really begun and Malaysia will once again provide a total entertaining race.

Malaysian GP Top 10 Predictions

1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Felipe Massa
4. Jenson Button
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Michael Schumacher
8. Mark Webber
9. Adrian Sutil
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi

2010 Australian GP Review: Jenson Button does the impossible and wins a thrilling race

2010-03-28T14:02:00.002+05:30

Jenson Button winning races during the 1^st half of the 2009 season was such a common sight that when he signed for McLaren for this season, no one believed that he could win a race soo early this season and though Button was a bit lucky that Vettel was fastest man on track had to crash out due to technical issues but it was still a very impressive performance from the British driver who had to prove a point that he won last year’s title not only because of the car alone but also show that he is Hamilton’s equal if not he can be better too.

Kubica was the surprise package of the race and it was nice to see both him and Renault back in the podium. Though Renault were expected to challenge the big 4 towards the 2^nd half of the season, this early podium is good for the team and it will surely make them break rank with rest of the teams in the mid field as most teams there as of now are more or less have the same package.

Ferrari leads the championship and it was good to see Massa once again hit the podium while teammate Alonso after a first corner incident started at the tail end of the grid and fought really hard to finish 4^th. Though Alonso leads the driver’s championship but in reality there is not much between the 2 Ferrari drivers and the likes of Button, Hamilton and Vettel challenging him is very high.

Red Bull should be very disappointed with this result as for the 2^nd race in a row Vettel had the fastest car on the gird but thanks to the car once again he failed to win and this time did not even score points. If this continues it may become like last season where Vettel will be left with too less time to actually challenge for the title while teammate Webber just tried too hard in front of his home fans and though he managed to score 2 points by coming in 9^th, it was a race where Webber had he kept his cool could have managed a podium finish.

Nico Rosberg finishing ahead of a 41 year old Schumacher is not the reason for which he signed up for Mercedes and though Mercedes is slightly behind the pace of Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren as of now, they should catch up very soon or else have the likes of Renault hustling them. Today was a day that proved that though Rosberg was a decent driver but he is still not world championship material yet as though his car was not as good as the others, he did have some favourable grid position at various time during the race and him finishing 5^th is just not good enough.

Force India at the start of the season wanted to become the best mid-field team and so far they have shown that they can do it but with the emergence of Renault they need to work harder while Williams though maybe slightly off so far but expect the grove based team to increase its performance as the season progresses. It was good for Liuzzi to score points as though he is a very talented driver, Sutil was always thought of as the leader of the team and now he is under immense pressure to perform.

Another disappointing race for both Sauber and Toro Rosso, while Sauber continues to have reliability issues but if they don’t start performing there is a real danger in the team winding down before the season gets over while Toro Rosso is way better than the new teams but still is somewhat behind the likes of Williams, Renault and Force India while based on the issues Sauber is having now, Toro Rosso is well ahead of them.

No miracles were expected from the new teams and though it was disappointing to see Virgin ask for the FIA permission to redesign their fuel tank as it was too small and this ofcourse does not go too well for the people who back CFD while Lotus and Hispanic Racing managed to get one car finish the race for them. It was a good drive from Heikki Kovalainen in whatever equipment he had as he was pretty impressive through the race and more drivers from him could see him back among the big boys while Karun Chandhok managed to finish his 1^st race in his short F1 career which is pretty good for the rookie.

It was a very exciting Australian grand prix and the wet tracks at the start of the race too played its part while with Button winning the race and also Kubica coming in 2^nd has thrown the season wide open and though it is still early days, one thing is certain, Ferrari will be strong through the season while Vettel maybe the next great driver but then unless Red Bull can deliver a car which can go through the race distance, he may well join Ferrari sooner than expected.

2010 Australian GP Preview: Prancing Horses sprinting while Bulls pray for rain!

2010-03-24T17:08:00.001+05:30

The most anticipated F1 season ever started at Bahrain two weeks back but it turned out to be a very boring encounter with virtually qualifying, the first corner and a faulty Renault engine deciding the outcome of the race rather than some real wheel to wheel action which was badly missing. Though there may not be drastic changes at Albert Park but with some predictions of rain, it may throw a surprise result with Schumacher and Vettel arguably two of the best wet track drivers fighting it out but all depends on the success of the rain dance crew organized by the Red Bull team.

Ferrari had the perfect start with Alonso and Massa coming 1-2 with Alonso making a perfect Ferrari debut by winning his first race for the team while Massa showed no signs of rustiness made a very good comeback after a horrific accident last season. Though Massa might have been ok to let Alonso go to the finish line without a challenge at Bahrain but at Albert Park if he is not far behind he would not hesitate to fight with Alonso to challenge for a win.

The Red Bulls may have the best car on the grid but their Renault engine has once again let them down and if the engine is not consistent expect another season of near miss for the team as Vettel has a very good chance of becoming the youngest world champion this season while teammate Webber can be the most unexpected winner of the championship since Keke Rosberg.

McLaren and Hamilton will be thanking their lucky stars for a podium finish but if they need to score podium again they need to up their game to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull while they also need to keep a close eye on the Mercedes team as they are expected to perform well this weekend and already both Rosberg and Schumacher finished ahead of the reigning champion Button at Bahrain.

Force India has high hopes for this season and the way the car performed so far this season has given all indication that they do have a realistic chance of finishing 5th ahead of their immediate rivals like Williams, Renault and Sauber. They have already scored points and if they manage to outpace a top 4 team don’t be too surprised while Williams did have a decent start but they need to something extra special to match the top 4 teams as finishing ahead of the mid pack is not a great achievement for Williams who used to be a top team in the 80’s and the 90’s.

Renault may be the dark horse of the season and as the season progress they should be catching up with the bigger teams while Kubica may even get a few podium places towards the 2nd half of the season while Petrov who had a decent debut would want to prove a point that he deserves his place on the grid.

Sauber and Toro Rosso both would have been disappointed with the results in Bahrain and Sauber just cannot have 2 cars retiring for a team which has been racing for the better part of the last 2 decades while Toro Rosso need to up their game to score points. Right now they yet do not have the pace of Renault, Williams and Force India but if updates they can catch up with them very soon.

Among the new comers Lotus impressed the most and though they did finish the race this season could be the one for them where they will go through a whole season without scoring but it should be good for them as they should be more focussed on 2011 rather than this season. Virgin Racing proved that CFD can be a thing to look at for underfunded teams while HRT racing getting away with putting two rookies without any F1 experience in an untested F1 is something where the whole community should be happy as there were no incidents.

Hope it rains in Albert Park and this could turn the race into a very exciting contest which all F1 fans do deserve given the hype this season has had.

Australian GP Top 10 Predictions

1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Michael Schumacher
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Jenson Button
9. Robert Kubica
10. Nico Hulkenberg

2010 Bahrain GP Review: Normal Service Resumes with Ferrari One-Two

2010-03-14T20:05:00.001+05:30

The 2010 season finally started off in what can turn out to be the most unpredictable season ever but though Alonso made his Ferrari debut in grand style by finishing 1st while Massa making a comeback after a very serious injury followed him to the 2nd place in what was a Ferrari one-two after nearly 2 years. The last time was during the now defunct 2008 French GP and though usually a Ferrari one-two means total domination by the team but this season there are 3 other teams which could be challenging it and these includes Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel will be the most disappointed man on the grid and though he was set to win the race after a stunning qualifying pace but the RBR turned out to be fragile with Vettel just managing 4th place. His teammate Mark Webber after a first corner error managed to finish only 8th and RBR will be disappointed with these results but RBR has proved that it is really a top team and they will be a major threat throughout the season.

Hamilton and McLaren will be happy with their lucky 3rd position which was largely thanks to Vettel’s mechanical issues while Button managed only a 7th place on his McLaren debut and already Hamilton is proving that he is way ahead of Button. McLaren will be happy to score more points than Mercedes their former owners but they need to have a significant updates in order to match the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull.

Mercedes went into the race saying that they are still slightly off pace and they should be very happy with the way things have turned out for them. Michael Schumacher making his comeback after 3 years showed no sign of rust as he managed a 6th place and crucially finished ahead of the reigning World Champion Button but he still needs to up his pace during qualifying as Rosberg though may have finished ahead of Schumacher it was still not a convincing performance but it is still early days and the fight between these 2 should be interesting.

Force India proved that their days as back markers are over and they could be well be the surprise team among the mid-field teams and could bring back the team to its past heights when it was Jordan Racing. Vitantonio Liuzzi managed a well deserved 9th place while Sutil managed to finish 12th. Williams unless they become a works team once again should be getting used to its status as a mid-field team and though Rubens Barrichello did score the final points for the team, if they managed to finish ahead of Renault, Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso then they should be very happy with the results and Nico Hulkenberg making his F1 debut did nothing wrong and managed to finish the race 14th.

Renault though did seem to have the pace early on but after Kubica’s spin they lost the plot and they just did nothing significance during the race while they did have a very shoddy pit-stop for Vitaly Petrov which was not the perfect start for Russia’s 1st F1 driver. Sauber said to be the dark horses for the season had to retire both the cars with hydraulics issues while Toro Rosso looked decent and they should only improve as the season goes on.

The historic name Lotus was back in F1 and they proved to the best among the 3 new teams which was making its debut and it was an impressive effort by the team which had just 4 months to build the car and its experienced drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli though were way off the pace still managed to finish the race distance. Virgin cars were plagued by gear box problems with Glock lasting 17 laps while di Grassi managed only 2 laps. Hispanic Racing were the worst of the lot with their car running for the 1st time ended up having one of the worst debuts ever with Bruno Senna managing 18 laps while Karun Chandhok who had no business on being in the grid managing to crash out at the first lap itself.

The Bahrain GP may not have been the most exciting grand prix but it did show signs of a very unpredictable season which is what 2010 is going to be all about. In the end though Ferrari won, there were 3 teams behind it while the middle pack looks unpredictable. The next race is at Melbourne in 2 weeks time and it should once again throw in a lot of surprises.

2010 Bahrain GP Preview: A Brave New Era Begins

2010-03-10T22:07:00.001+05:30

This weekend the 2010 Formula One World Championship begins and for the first time in the history of the sport, there will be four teams going into the season with nearly six drivers favorites to win the driver’s championship. The traditional power teams like Ferrari and McLaren will be joined by Red Bull and the rebirth of the Mercedes Grand Prix team will lead to the most unpredictable season ever.

Mercedes is not the only iconic name which is returning to the sport but the greatest driver of our era and maybe the sport as well is returning but not with Ferrari but Michael Schumacher will make his dramatic comeback with the Silver Arrow Mercedes team where he will team up with Ross Brawn once again and this was the combination which resulted him all of his seven Championships, five with Ferrari and two with Benetton.

Names like Schumacher and Mercedes will overshadow others but then Cosworth is back after a disastrous 2006 season while the Senna names returns to the grid in the form of Bruno Senna, the nephew of the legendary Ayrton Senna a former three-team World Champion who died in a crash during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Though the Lotus name returns, this outfit has no connection to the Colin Chapman led outfit. The only connection is that the group which owns the current Lotus team also owns Lotus Cars.

Though last season Brawn surprised everyone and won the Championship largely due to a loophole in the regulations and had it not been for the double diffuser, then Red Bull may have won it but this season Brawn which is Mercedes now will face a very stiff challenge from Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren.

Mercedes may not go into the season as hot favorites, and though the team does not expect to win right away and would take time, but if Schumacher comes out of retirement, then he is in for wins only.

Though publicly the team may deny it will take time, Mercedes and Schumacher could be on track for wins right from the first race while teammate Rosberg after polishing his skills in the under-powered and under-funded Williams, he finally can prove his potential and show that he can win races.

Red Bull last season’s runner-up is tipped to have the fastest car and with Vettel & Webber behind the wheel, they the only top team to have the same lineup and Vettel is tipped for greater things while Webber who is 33 now may have him last chance at going for the Championship and he could be the dark horse for this season.

Ferrari after a disastrous 2009 did stop work on their 2009 car and started work on their 2010 car before everyone else and with Alonso joining the team, the Latin era begins for Ferrari with Massa coming back after his injuries, this season if both Alonso and Massa can work as a team, Ferrari will be challenging for the titles this season right from the first race.

McLaren has a British super team with Hamilton and Button but with what happened when Hamilton teamed up with Alonso, things may not be as smooth as it seems as Button will take sometime getting used to the car and crew while by then Hamilton will have a good enough lead over him to relegate Button to the No. 2 driver status. Also the ruling on the wing will play a part at their campaign early on this season.

Williams has a strong lineup with the experienced Barrichello along with the GP2 Champion Hulkenberg and with Cosworth proving to be consistent maybe not be far off behind the top four while Sauber after taking buying back the team from BMW may not pull off a Brawn but could be the surprise package of the season as they have a car which has the best tire management so far.

Renault will be led by the mercurial Kubica who given the right car can go wheel to wheel with anyone while Vitaly Petrov has to prove that he is in more for his talent rather then the money he brings with him. Force India is looking forward to 2010 as the break through season for the team while Toro Rosso building a car for the first time on their own since the Minardi days may provide the biggest surprise of this lot.

Though Lotus and Virgin managed to run the car on the tracks but Hispanic will be running the car for the first time during the race weekend and if the car is slow it may prove to be dangerous for all the other teams who are not far off from each other in terms of speed.

The Bahrain Grand Prix will be the first of many exciting races we will have this season and the return of marquee names will provide more excitement to the season.

Bahrain GP Top 10 Predictions

1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Michael Schumacher
7. Nico Rosberg
8. Jenson Button
9. Kamui Kobayashi
10. Nico Hulkenberg

The New Era of Pay Driver’s!

2010-03-05T17:27:00.001+05:30

The one real thing which happened in the 90’s was that though the entry of manufacturers insanely hiked the budgets of various teams but with the likes of Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Toyota, Renault and Ford all either started teams or closely aligned with constructors and the likes of Jordan, Sauber and Minardi were the last set of independent teams and apart from Sauber who after taken over by BMW is once again back as an independent team this year while Williams after a bad marriage with BMW which finally ended in 2005 was at one stage the only independent team in the grid.

With the global financial downturn, big names like BMW, Honda and Toyota have all left the sport while Renault only exists in its name while teams like Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Force India are financed by billionaire entrepreneurs. Also the FIA had such a dicey selection process where known names like Prodrive and Lola missed out while teams like Manor, Campos & USF1 made the grid. Off the 3, manor due to Virgin’s backing did not have any problem launching while Campos is now taken over by Jose Ramon Carabante and renamed the team Hispania Racing F1 Team while USF1 has shut shop.

The influx of new teams and the high cost of the sport have forced even established teams Sauber and Renault to look for drivers with some money as otherwise Nick Heidfeld would have still made it to the grid. The issue with under funded team entering the sport is a huge risk as their cars are 5 seconds slower than most of the grid and Hispania Racing is going to start the grid in Bahrain with 2 rookie drivers with no testing. The teams would not have any qualms about overtaking a slow car but then a car which can potentially drop parts is highly dangerous and looking at what happen to Massa, this will be a concern for all the teams.

There are five new boys: Nico Hulkenberg, Vitaly Petrov, Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi. Of the lot, Nico Hulkenberg has proved himself at all the previous levels of racing while Lucas di Grassi has been a test driver with Renault and does deserve a spot on the grid. Vitaly Petrov is a decent driver who did finish runner-up to Hulkenberg in GP2 but without his money he may not have made it to the grid. Bruno Senna is decently talented but got his break due to his last name while Chandhok is purely in because of the money he managed to bring in for the team.

There is an argument that GP2 or any other lower formulas is an indication on the talent as we had Kimi who came through after just a handful races at open wheel racing while Kamui Kobayashi did not exactly set the world on fire in GP2 but have shown that he is an extremely quick driver and with a fast car can go wheel to wheel with anyone. Though guys like Hamilton, Rosberg, Kubica and Vettel who have come through the ranks of lower formula have all done consistently well at those levels and of course for every Hamilton you will have a Nelson Piquet who despite good credentials at junior formulas failing at the highest level.

F1 is an expensive sport where but the era of pay drivers is something which should be avoided as guys like Chandhok who apart from a few wins in GP2 in 3 years has not exactly set the world on fire but him racing ahead of a talented youngster like Paul di Resta or a veteran like Heidfeld is just bringing the standard of the grid down. 2010 is having one of the strongest grids ever with the likes of Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton, Button, Vettel, Massa and Webber all eying for the championship along with the likes of proven drivers like Rosberg, Barrichello, Kubica, Sutil, Trulli & Glock along with exciting youngsters like Kobayashi and Hulkenberg is just amazing for the sport. You will always have the likes of failed drivers like Heikki Kovalainen and guys making comeback like Vitantonio Liuzzi but the grid should not be weakened by the era of drivers coming in due to their money.

These names will come and go but as with the case of established teams like even Jordan and Sauber at times due to financial constraints have to employee pay drivers as a one off basis and this should not become the norm like how Minardi used to run it but then Minardi also gave us the likes of Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber from time to time. It would be great if the new teams can provide talented drivers a start in F1 but then giving it to the guys with the most money is just not the right thing to do. Off the rookies, the most likely to impress will be Nico Hulkenberg while Vitaly Petrov may just prove everyone wrong and prove that he too deserves his seat.

2010 Season Preview: Chaos reigns supreme

2010-02-03T13:53:00.000+05:30

The season officially begins only on 14th March but already the 2010 season has garnered so much attention and this could be the most awaited and excited season in the history of the sport. Just 2 days into the first testing for the season in Valencia, Michael Schumacher has already created ripples by being one of the fastest men on track and has outpaced teammate Nico Rosberg. The irony of all this is that Rosberg was supposed to be an equal match to Schumacher given his potential but Schumacher getting behind a wheel of a F1 care after 3 years is able to outpace his teammate who is 16 odd years his junior. Maybe Barrichello was right when he joked that Rosberg should get out of Mercedes when Schumacher is also in the team.

Another return was that of Massa who was returning to the sport after the terrifying accident which made him sit most part of the 2009 campaign. Massa showed no signs of rustiness as he topped the timing for both the days of the practice and though it is too early to predict anything, Ferrari will pose a more formidable challenge this season and Alonso should be wary of Massa but then racing on empty tracks is different from the race itself and come Bahrain we will know if Massa has lost speed or is still the same.

Though the return of Schumacher and Massa has been on top of everyone’s mind, another drive made his F1 return and it is longtime McLaren reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa who will be making his debut for the BMW Sauber team during the 2010 season. He was also pretty quick and the Sauber can was impressive but the weird thing is that the team is yet to change the name as BMW is out of the sport and now the official name is BMW Sauber Ferrari which is really stupid and I don’t see why Ferrari is still quiet about it. Sauber has said for legal and commercial reasons he needs to change but if Brawn can become Mercedes, then FIA and FOM should have no problem with BMW Sauber dropping the BMW tag from its name.

A few more technical changes though minor will be enforced this season but the biggest change will be the new points system which will ensure 10 drivers score points while the driver who wins will get a big share of the points. This will make races more interesting and will make drivers challenge for places and go for the wins rather than just drive to score points consistently which along with a few races will make a driver win Championships without taking much risks.

This is a bit early for predictions but this should hold good for most of the season:
Ferrari – As a team after a disastrous 2009 the team will be going in strong for 2010 going after both the Championships. They have Alonso, who beat Schumacher twice to the title when he was at Renault while he will be joined by Massa who based on the testing so far is as good as he was before the accident. Ferrari is in a good position to win the titles provided Massa and Alonso have the sort of balance which Massa had with Kimi. Early on Massa may be the quicker of the duo but as the season progress Alonso should be very strong.

McLaren – The team had a very poor start to 2009 but they were stronger than Brawn towards the end of the season. They have the championship pair of Button and Hamilton, arguably one of the strongest line-up ever fielded by the team since the days of Senna and Prost. If McLaren produces even a car which is as good as a Ferrari, then Hamilton will be one of the favorites for the title while the mid-fueling ban could favor Button but it is still early days but one thing is certain and that is McLaren would challenge for the title in 2010.

Mercedes – Mercedes pulled off a coup of sorts towards the end of the season by 1st taking over Brawn and then bringing Schumacher from retirement to join Rosberg in an all German super team. Though Rosberg is yet to win a race and Schumacher has not raced in 3 years and is 41, based on what happened during the 1st 2 days of testing, normal service will resume and Schumacher would challenge for the title and would also outpace Rosberg. The young German will be more than happy to win his 1st race and anything more than that from him for the season may just be too much.

Red Bull – Though the team has delayed its launch by 15 days, Red Bull may pull off something this season after a phenomenal 2009 where both Vettel and Webber for challenging Brawn for both the titles. Vettel has really matured as a drive and it won’t be too long that he may be racing for either Mercedes or Ferrari but he is all likely to win a title with Red Bull while Webber will be very consistent and help challenge Red Bull for the constructor championship.

Williams – The team will have an all new driver line-up with the vastly experience Barrichello joining the highly rated German rookie Nico Hulkenberg who is managed by Wili Weber, who also managed Schumacher. Though Williams has promised a radical design, they may well be behind the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull but the chances of even Sauber being quicker than Williams is pretty high. Hulkenberg like Rosberg before him would want to use this chance to impress the big teams and Weber already is plotting Hulkenberg’s future by predicting a Ferrari drive for him within 3 seasons.

Sauber – Sauber may have never made it to the grid if at all for Toyota’s withdrawal in the end but the team not long ago under the BMW moniker was challenging Ferrari and McLaren for the title and the team which worked on the car is the same. Sauber may not pull off a Brawn but expect the team to be best of the rest and even challenge the big teams at times. Kamui Kobayashi is highly rated while he is joined by experienced test driver Pedro de la Rosa who with his years of experience will be highly useful for his skills in car development.

Renault- Though the team has Robert Kubica driving for them and has gone back to its roots with the livery but the team is not totally under control of Renault and though the team is not going to challenge the top teams it would want to be the best of the rest with Williams and Sauber expected to challenge Renault for that glory. Kubica will be joined by Russia’s 1st F1 driver in Vitaly Petrov who apart from bringing in good sponsorship money is also a very decent driver as he finished runner-up to Hulkenberg in the 2009 GP2 championship.

Force India – Last season Force India pulled off a very strong performance by being one of the fastest cars on the grid during a few races and even challenging for a win at Spa but with Sutil and Liuzzi have both the experience and the talent to challenge the mid-field pack on the grid. Force India will be hoping to move away from the back end of the grid with the influx of four new teams and challenge the likes of Williams, Sauber and Renault for a mid-field position. In all likelihood Force India should be faster than STR during the 1st half of the season.

Toro Rosso – It will be the first time the team will be building its own chassis and though the 2010 design will not be radical, it will be more of an extension of the 2010 design and in Buemi along with Alguersuari, the team has a pretty good young line-up which will finish well ahead of the new teams while it will be hoping to finish ahead of its immediate rival Force India.

Lotus – The iconic name is back on the grid but this team has no links to the Chapman led Lotus team. Among the new teams this team looks the best and it could be the 1st to score points. Having Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen in the line-up makes it a pretty decent outfit and by the middle of the season, Lotus would want to emerge from the new team pack.

Virgin Racing – Richard Branson has branded the Manor outfit as Virgin and last year he spent the least among sponsors but got the most visibility due to Brawn’s Cinderella season while this season looking for a new challenge he is backing Manor GP which is designing the 1st car in F1 history without the use of wind tunnel. The drivers will be former Toyota driver Timo Glock and joining him will be Renault test driver Lucas Di Grassi who has been very consistent in GP2. Unlike last season, this season Virgin will be happy if the team managed to just score points.

Campos – Campos was considered to be the strongest among the new teams a few months back but now the team is cash strapped and it would be something for the team just to be on the grid at Bahrain. Bruno Senna is the only announced driver while the 2nd driver is bound to be a driver who can bring in a lot of sponsorship along with him and as of now Andy Soucek, the Spanish driver who won the FIA F2 Championship along with Pastor Maldonado are the favorites to get a drive.

USF1 – The team again like Campos is struggling to be on the grid but USF1 was the first to announce its intentions of joining the grid and though some of the top open wheel drivers in US like Danica Patrick, Ryan Briscoe, Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti have all been linked to the team along with some F1 veterans like Alexander Wurz and Jacques Villeneuve. Though the team has confirmed José María López, the identity of the other driver is unknown and like López, the team may surprise once again.

2010 Constructor Championship Predictions:
1. Ferrari
2. Red Bull
3. Mercedes
4. McLaren
5. Sauber
6. Williams
7. Renault
8. Toro Rosso
9. Force India
10. Lotus

2010 Driver’s Championship Predictions:
1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Michael Schumacher
3. Fernando Alonso
4. Felipe Massa
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Jenson Button
7. Mark Webber
8. Nico Rosberg
9. Kamui Kobayashi
10. Nico Hulkenberg

2010 Season: The New Era Begins!

2010-01-18T21:59:00.001+05:30

The year 2010 should be the most exciting year for Formula One as the sport will see one of the strongest grids it has seen since the start of the 90s. There will be as many as 4 World Champions on the grid and ofcourse the return of 7 times Champion Michael Schumacher after a span of 3 years at the age of 41 is one of the biggest comebacks in all of sports. He will be joined by the man who beat him twice on route to the World Championship, Fernando Alonso who now will be driving for Schumacher’s old team Ferrari while McLaren will field the all British World Championship team of Lewis Hamilton and the reigning Champion Jenson Button.

They will be joined on the grid by drivers of immense calibre like Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica and Mark Webber. All given a right car have the potential to win World Championships while the oldest man on the grid for the 2009 season Rubens Barrichello will no longer be the oldest man as he was superseded by his onetime team Schumacher will be joined by a mix of veterans, youngsters and first-timers on the grid for the coming season.

Schumacher is not the name which is making a comeback, Mercedes though through Sauber first and then McLaren has been involved in the sport for a long-time now as an engine supplier will be returning as a factory run team after more than 50 years. Mercedes by taking over the Brawn team has brought back the Silver Arrow once again to the sport. Apart from these 2 names, Cosworth the most successful engine manufacturer after Ferrari is back while though apart from the name, the team has no connection to the Colin Chapman led Lotus team, the name is back while the Senna name is also back due to Bruno Senna, the nephew of the legendary driver late Ayrton Senna.

The season will also see some new rules and regulations with the ban on refuelling during the race being the biggest while KERS which was such a disappointment during the 2009 season has been scrapped for this year by FOTA. There are other various technical changes while the engine freeze continues to remain. The points system will see changes and it is expected to benefit the driver who wins the most rather than a driver who is consistently on the podium.

Formula One over the last few seasons have been very exciting with Ferrari and McLaren slugging it out for the championships and taking it down to the wire during the 2007 and 2008 seasons while in 2009, Brawn GP had a Cinderella story with Button winning his first championship and though it was not as close as it was the previous 2 seasons, it was nice to see Brawn slug it out with Red Bull another independent team while the well funded teams failed to match the pace of these 2 teams.

Though 13 teams are expected to be on the grid for the Bahrain GP, only 11 are in a real position to enter and off the new teams, Lotus & Virgin Racing are well equipped to start the season while there are doubts hovering around the possibility of USF1 & Campos actually starting the season on time.

Though 2010 a lot of new things can be expected but some things will never change and don’t be too surprised to see Ferrari and McLaren fighting it out for the title while the all German team of Schumacher and Rosberg led Mercedes may take the fight to the Big 2 of the sport while Red Bull remains a dark horse and in Vettel they have a driver who can upset the established order. It is a season where as many as 4 teams will be in the running for the Championships while among the drivers as many as 6 of them do have a chance for the Championship.

Among the drivers expecting their first victory, Nico Rosberg is and could be the only one with a realistic chance of making it happen while fellow German Nick Heidfeld will be lucky to make it to the grid leave alone a win.

With the exit of Honda, Toyota, BMW and the sell-out of a major stake by Renault, F1 has only 2 manufacturer backed teams in Ferrari and Mercedes and it has gone back to its roots with a lot of independent teams led by the experienced due of McLaren and Williams. It was only a few years back that Williams was the only true independent team but now a host of other teams have followed them.

2010 is a new era for the sport and the season could be the most unpredictable for the sport. The return of Schumacher would do a great deal of good for the sport but then with a very talented gird which is a mix of seasoned professionals joined by some exciting rookies bodes well for the sport which truly is the pinnacle of motorsports.

2009 Season Review: Jenson Button & Brawn’s Cinderella story

2010-01-03T18:17:00.001+05:30

F1 has seen an on track resurgence in the last few years. Both 2007 & 2008’s titles were decided at the last race while 2009 was an year though it was dominated mostly by off track news, it was an year where the regular order crumbled and a new order in the sport was created. Who would have imagined the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber & Renault were nowhere near the title picture but Brawn & Red Bull not only were better than the established teams, but they dominated the season so much that barring a few races, none of the big teams could match the pace of these two teams.

Brawn GP truly had a Cinderella year as if Honda had remained patient for a few more months, all the money they have put in their F1 program would have finally raked in the benefits it deserved and they would not have pulled off F1. Instead, Ross Brawn took over the team and the team was not even sure if they would be on track at the Australian GP but once they were on, they dominated the 1st half of the season and though Red Bull did put up a stiff challenge, in the end Brawn managed to win both the titles without any major chaos.

Their title rivals Red Bull and its drivers had a breakthrough year and they managed to challenge the Brawn team till in the end. Vettel proved that he is the real deal and at one stage had all the big teams running for his contract but in the end he did decide to extend his deal with Red Bull which seem to be a very wise move as of now while teammate Webber won his 1st race and proved that given a good car, he can challenge for the title. 2010 will be an important year for the year and if Renault could provide them with stable engines, the team can once again emerge as an early favourite for the titles.

Ferrari and McLaren had a very poor season by their standards while though McLaren in the end managed to salvage something and pulled the coup of the year by signing the reigning world champion Jenson Button and to form a British super team with the 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton. They could pose a very serious threat for the 2010 season while Ferrari had its moments during the season but with an injury to Massa, it was Ferrari which inspired Schumacher about the real possibilities of a comeback and in the end he signed for the Mercedes GP team. Kimi has taken a sabbatical from the sport for 2010 but no one will be too shocked of he failed to return again while Alonso finally did sign for the Ferrari team and his partnership with Massa would be a real threat for any team for the coming season.

Williams and Toyota both had a disappointing season as both were early title contenders but as the season progressed Williams had Rosberg scoring points consistently but then lack of podiums did it for the team while Toyota finally pulled out of F1 after spending close to 2 billion dollars and failing to even win a race during its tenure in the sport. Toyota ideally should have made Williams its works team but then their decision to form their own team in the end was one of the worst moves in the companies’ corporate history.

BMW Sauber after being at title contender for 2008 pulled off all of a sudden and it left the team in a disarray after the failed Quadback takeover but then they finally managed to get a spot on the grid thanks to Toyota’s pull-out and Sauber will be once again be there on the grid as an independent team.

Renault had a season to forget and the off track situation nearly made the team leave the sport in disgrace but then the team can still continue as an engine supplier due to Red Bull’s success and the phased pull out of the team with it selling a major stake of the F1 team to a investment group will still see Renault team on the grid for the next 2 years but beyond that it will be highly doubtful if we will see the Renault name as an constructor.

The year was also good for Force India as it not only managed to convincingly outpace fellow backmarker Toro Rosso but also at different times managed to be faster than the likes of McLaren, Williams, Renault, BMW Sauber and Toyota. It was one of the best ever seasons for the former Jordan team and with four new teams coming in for the 2010 season; Force India can relive Jordan’s midfield status for the next few years.

It was a remarkable year for F1 but 2010 should be even better as Schumacher makes a comeback with the Mercedes GP team and for the first time since the early nineties we will see four World Champions on the grid. As many as four teams and 6 drivers have a realistic chance of going for the driver’s championship. We can also see the likes of gun drivers like Hamilton, Vettel & Rosberg going head to head with the greatest living driver Schumacher and though he may not win the title, but even a few wins would be the most remarkable comeback in the history of the sport.

Red Baron returns as the Kaiser for the Silver Arrow Team

2009-12-23T23:07:00.000+05:30

The rumour which has been floating around for some time now has finally been officially confirmed and one of the greatest if not the great Michael Schumacher will make a comeback after a gap of 3 years to partner young German Nico Rosberg in the newly branded Mercedes Grand Prix team. Schumacher has gone through the whole circle and joins the team which backed him during his early pre-F1 career and even paid for his drive during his debut for the Jordan team in 1991 at Spa.

Schumacher a seven time former World Champion with Benetton and Ferrari has most of the records in F1 and the most important thing is that he is reuniting with Ross Brawn with whom he won all his 7 championships. To expect Schumacher to come back and start winning titles is unrealistic but then knowing Schumi, all things are possible and don’t be too shocked if he comes back and drives like he did during the time he left F1.

Niki Lauda has the most amazing comeback which resulted in him winning the title once again in 1984. But Lauda was still in his mid-thirties when he made his comeback while Schumacher would be 41 when he races once again. Age may not be a factor in motorsports to a large extend as other competitive sports but then even if Schumacher is super fit, he just cannot be 100% as good as a 24 year old driver. But knowing Schumacher, he is in for good and he will give his best.

Formula one for the last 3 years have been embroiled in one controversy to other and 2009 was one of its worst years with the race-fixing scandal which rocked the F1 world. Plus 3 manufacturers pulled off in the last one year while another one just sold of a huge stake in its team to an investment company. First Mercedes taking over Brawn was a very positive news for F1 as when the likes of Honda, Toyota, BWM and even Renault all want to exit the sport, Mercedes is involving itself more than it ever did in the last 50 years and we finally get a Silver Arrow team for the first time since the 50’s.

Schumacher making a comeback is a huge positive news for F1 and a whole new generation of fans will see the living legend go wheel to wheel with old rivals like Alonso and Button while guys like Hamilton and Vettel will get to go and test themselves against the greatest of all. Schumacher has frankly nothing to lose and his comeback is not about winning, but it’s about a personal challenge in which he will compete against the best drivers on the grid to see if he has it still in him and even if he wins a few races, that would seal the Schumacher legacy forever.

Nick Heidfeld: Always at the Right Place at the Wrong Time!

2009-12-21T16:43:00.001+05:30

Nick Heidfeld is one of the most consistent and talented F1 drivers of this generation and has the dubious record of having the most number of starts without winning a race. The German driver was part of the West McLaren young driver’s program and was also backed by the motorsport division of Mercedes Benz and was also the official test driver for the McLaren team during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. He also won the International Formula 3000 in 1999 which was the precursor to the current GP2 series.

For the 2000 season, he signed up with Prost GP and had a miserable season and he was with an unresponsive and uncompetitive car which more or less did not even last a race distance. He had 10 retirements out of 17 races and failed to score any points at all. During 2001 he signed up with Sauber and future World Champion Kimi Räikkönen was his rookie teammate. Though Heidfeld was very impressive and outperformed Kimi, the vacant McLaren seat which was created due to Mika Häkkinen’s retirement but Kimi took the seat and Heidfeld continued in Sauber for 2 more seasons with decent consistent performances.

A move to the ailing Jordan team in 2004 did him no good and after an average season with the team he was finally signed by a big team as he raced for the Williams F1 team during the 2005 season. Though he was impressive during the first half of the season, his form tapered away towards the end and also the BMW’s partnership with Williams came to an end and Heidfeld moved to the newly formed BMW Sauber team after BMW took over the Swiss team. Though BMW did not have any lofty ambitions during its first 2 seasons, Heidfeld was very consistent and was defiantly the best driver on the grid not driving a Ferrari, McLaren and Renault during this phase. Heidfeld even managed to break the most consecutive classified finishes record with 41 straight finishes which started with the 2007 French GP and ended with the 2009 Italian GP.

Though he has outperformed Kubica his teammate for 3 years in 2 out of the 3 seasons together in BMW, Kubica had a golden 2008 as till he final few races he was in contention for the driver’s title while the team actually led the constructor’s championship for a short bit and also scored its only win with Kubica winning 2008 Canadian GP with Heidfeld following him in 2nd. Things were finally looking good for Heidfeld as he was in a team which can actually challenge for the titles but 2009 was disastrous for the BMW team as due to variety of reasons, the team pulled off its F1 program and Sauber was once again an independent team.

The takeover of Brawn GP by Mercedes brought back Heidfeld into the limelight once again as due to his smooth driving style and his nationality there was talk of him partnering fellow German Nico Rosberg in an all German superteam but Heidfeld’s lack of race win along with Rosberg’s own failure to win a race so far in his career is not helping Heidfeld’s chance with Mercedes GP. He was briefly linked to a race seat with McLaren but Button’s shocking move there has removed any chances with McLaren.

Though there are still seats vacant in the grid, Heidfeld has to wait not only on Schumacher’s comeback decision but also has to wait if Kubica would turn his back on Renault as these two are the hot favourites to take the vacant Mercedes seat. If Schumacher does make a comeback, Heidfeld can re-forge his partnership with Kubica for Renault or he can go back to his old team of Sauber which will be powered by a customer Ferrari engine but time is running out for Heidfeld.

He has always been at the right place at the wrong time and if he fails to land a Mercedes GP seat, chances of Heidfeld finishing his career without a win is very high and he will have the dubious distinction of having score more points and races without a win. An unwanted record for a driver like Heidfeld, who will always be known as a very smooth operator but unless he gets a car which can win him races, we will never know if Heidfeld could have been a F1 great or just another talented youngster who failed in the big stage.

Will He or Won’t He? The Red Baron joining the Silver Arrow

2009-12-15T15:27:00.001+05:30

The entire F1 world is waiting if the resident Red Baron and one of the all-time greats in the sport Michael Schumacher will make his miracle comeback to once again go wheel to wheel around the world with the current crop of F1 drivers. The last time Schumacher was driving, he nearly had a dream retirement but thanks to a dominant Renault led by Alonso and also Ferrari’s first engine failure in nearly 5 years robbed Schumacher of his perfect retirement. A year later his replacement at Ferrari, Kimi went on to win his first and only World Championship who now will be racing in the World Rally Championship and is not sure if he will ever comeback to F1. Schumacher’s one time rival Alonso is now part of the Ferrari team and will lead the team’s challenge for the 2010 title after a disastrous 2009 for the Italian team.

It was Mercedes who brought Schumacher into the sport by giving him his first drive with the Jordan team and so impressive was Schumacher that after just one race he signed up for the mid-field Benetton and ended up winning 2 World Championships with them and then he shocked everyone by joining the Ferrari team which has last won a title some 15 years back and within a few years made Ferrari the most dominant team and won 5 Championships with the team. Schumacher became synonymous with Ferrari and it was a partnership made in heaven with Schumi being a lifelong ambassador for the team. Though an opportunity to race for the Silver Arrow Mercedes who themselves is making a comeback after more than 50 years as a factory owned outlet will be highly enticing but giving his past with Ferrari, he may in the end may not take it.

Though Ferrari’s over reliance on Kimi resulted in Schumacher retiring a bit early and if not for his neck, he could have well made his comeback as a replacement for Massa in 2009 but then his neck may not be the only reason for Schumacher not making a comeback this year. The 2009 Ferrari was so bad that it took Kimi half a season to get used to it while Fisichella who was having a dream season with Force India failed to score any points with the car. Maybe it was wise of Schumacher not making his comeback in such a bad car.

Ross Brawn was involved with Schumacher’s all titles in both Benetton and Ferrari and Brawn in his first season as a team principle managed to win both the Championships. Ross Brawn was one of the main reasons why Mercedes decided to take over Brawn GP and Schumacher knows that Ross Brawn can deliver a car which can make him go head to head with the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull. No one expects Schumacher to win the title in his comeback, but then knowing Schumacher he will give his best and will try to win a few races for his team.

Schumacher actually has nothing to lose as if the car is very good then it is because of Schumacher and if he fails then the car is not good but knowing Schumi he will not take this path and if he makes a comeback then he will make sure he gives his best for the entire season and he has a car which will make him challenge for victories and maybe even for the title. F1 is a funny world with weirder things happening so don’t discount Schumacher making a comeback for Mercedes but then it would be a dream to see the likes of Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Hamitlon and Button going head to head with the greatest driver the sport has ever produced.

Who will race for the Silver Arrow Mercedes in 2010?

2009-11-21T11:42:00.000+05:30

Mercedes-Benz traditionally has been one of the early power houses in F1 and finally after 55 years, Mercedes is back in grand prix racing as a constructer ever since taking over Brawn GP a few days back. Though the McLaren Mercedes alliance has been one of the most enduring one in the sport and has lasted 15 years and it is quite possible that it may even go on to last 21 years after their revised contract, in which McLaren buys back its shares while Mercedes supplies engines till 2015. For years Mercedes wanted a German driver for the team but McLaren has usually gone with Finnish or British driver and for 2010 they have pulled a major coup and has pulled the rug under Mercedes by recruiting Jenson Button the 2009 World Champion who will team up with Lewis Hamilton the 2010 Champion. It will be a dream team for all the British marketing firms as finally McLaren has two British drivers who have won the Championship in the last 2 seasons. Crucially, Button will once again bring the #1 to the team while Mercedes after buying Brawn who won both the titles last year had to go through one more season to reclaim the #1 position.

Though the team has said that it wants to become an international power house team, it is most likely to have 2 German drivers in its cockpits. Though for F1, there is nothing better than a Great Britain-Germany rivalry but then Mercedes could be forced to field 2 drivers who have raced in more than 200 races without even winning once. Well Rosberg never had a car which can win races while Heidfeld despite being a very promising driver never was in the right teams. Rosberg was considered to be the “Next Big Thing” of F1 while Heidfeld has become from being the nearly man to a vastly underestimate driver who is Mr Consistent. It may not be a team of superstars but it has enough talent and potential backed by an ideal machinery, could well go on and challenge the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull for the title.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, were no superstars as Button was more or less a “has-been” driver in 2009 with a single race win due to rain while Barrichello was one the world’s best # 2 driver who can be a good side-kick but never good enough to challenge for the crown but in 2009 both were fighting for the crown and now Button is a World Champion and will join McLaren while Barrichello despite his age still manages to find a seat in Williams.

For 2010 we will see Mercedes Grand Prix end up with Rosberg and Heidfeld, but you just cannot ignore 2 other drivers who had a chance to drive for the team and both are ex-Ferrari drivers. 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen was in contention for a McLaren seat but due to money related issues and with Jenson Button joining the team, that option is closed but with Norbert Haug has always been impressed with Kimi and you can still have Kimi leading the charge for the Mercedes team for the next season.

The other option is something which has been going around in many circles but if you do look at the past, it was Mercedes which did support Michael Schumacher in his early career and though he has been retired from the sport for the last 3 years, he was still in contention to race for Ferrari as a replacement for Massa and if not for his injured neck, he could well have made a comeback but a more interesting link to the Mercedes team is that Ross Brawn was involved in all the 7 World Titles he has won with Ferrari and Benetton. It could be the most amazing comeback in the history of F1 and if one person can pull it off it can be only Schumacher but then he is soo much associated with Ferrari, it is actually strange to even imagine him driving for any other team apart from Ferrari but then never say never in F1 and he can be winning the championship next year with the Silver Arrow Mercedes.

One thing is sure and that is Mercedes is surely having one German driver and this is Rosberg but who will partner him is still a mystery and given the current scenario, you can expect anything and it can even lead to a Cinderella comeback for Schumacher.

And then there was none........

2009-11-12T15:42:00.000+05:30

The team line-up for the 2010 season was expected to be right on track after Spanish double World Champion Fernando Alonso joined Ferrari but so far only 10 out of the possible 26 seats is yet to be confirmed. Though there was some uncertainty if Toyota and Renault would stay in F1, but Toyota has pulled out of the 2010 season while Renault is still expected to stay on despite the global economic turmoil which affected the automobile industry and not to mention the spygate scandal where some former senior members of the team was involved. They have confirmed Robert Kubica as one of their drivers and actively on the lookout for another driver to partner him but all said and done, they may still end up pulling out but they should stay as an engine supplier as their customer team Red Bull Racing gave Brawn GP a run for their money and fought till the Brazilian GP for both the titles.

Jenson Button after his title victory may still not sure if he will race next year as his contract talks with Brawn is stalled and he could be the key to the driver’s market puzzle. If talks with Brawn fail, he only has McLaren as his realistic option for defending the title he won this year. McLaren would not mind a pairing of the reigning World Champion with the 2008 Champion Lewis Hamilton as that would be a dream combination in the minds of all English racing fans and would be a sponsorship coup. Though Brawn has been talking about how sponsorship has been lined up for the next 3 years and there are rumours of Mercedes buying a stake in the team but Jenson Button is actually not too expensive for a World Champion and if Brawn is still not keen on spending too much cash Button can look at McLaren but then there are stumbling blocks to it too.

The last time McLaren was in such a comfortable position when it comes to have 2 very good drivers was in the 80’s when Prost and Senna were teammates but now McLaren have enough options to choose on who will partner Hamilton in its quest of reaching the top once again. Ferrari has a very enviable combination of Alonso and Massa, while Red Bull has the wonder kid Vettel partnered by the very able Mark Webber who is one of the most underestimated driver on the grid. They can go back to Kimi would will be the ideal foil to Hamilton and if Kimi is motivate, well McLaren can pose a very dangerous combination which can take on anyone on the grid while picking Rosberg too can be an ideal scenario for McLaren as not only would that please Mercedes but Hamilton and Rosberg go a long way and there would not be any friction in the team. One thing is certain, both Rosberg and Button would drive a Mercedes powered car next year. Other options include McLaren’s former protégé Nick Heidfeld who is actually talking to every other team apart from Ferrari and RBR. Many were surprised when Heidfeld was overlooked for Kimi but though this maybe too late in his career, he can be the ideal #2 driver for the team. If the team wants a long term #2 then Sutil will be a good choice but neither Sutil nor Heidfeld would be challenging for the titles as long as Hamilton is there.

Renault has confirmed Kubica and though there was talks on Heidfeld partnering Kubica but now the team is interested in securing the services of former Toyota driver Timo Glock and if the team does races next season, the combination of Kubica and Glock would be a power house mid-field line-up. Apart from Glock the team can go back to Heikki Kovalainen, who is on the hunt for a race seat for the next season while current driver Romain Grosjean’s chances of retaining his seat is slim but long term test driver Lucas Di Grassi has an outside chance.

Toro Rosso was expected to confirm both Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari but so far only Buemi has been confirmed while Alguersuari may have some stiff competition from Red Bull backed drivers which also includes the highly rated Italian Mirko Bortolotti who broke the Fiorano lap record while testing with Ferrari and was touted as one of the potential replacements for Massa after his injury. The others includes New Zealander Brendon Hartley, who was a reserve driver for STR for some parts of the season and also Australian Daniel Ricciardo, the new British F3 champion. Among the 3, Bortolotti will be the one most likely to get the nod if Alguersuari does not make the cut as not only is STR powered by Ferrari but the team may also have long term plans for this Italian protégé.

Force India is expected to retain both Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi but former driver Giancarlo Fisichella also cannot be ruled out if Sutil ends up joining a higher profile team. Though Neel Jani and Karun Chandok may have an outside chance due to their Indian heritage.

Sauber the team to benefit most from Toyota’s withdrawal will be looking to retain current driver Nick Heidfeld if his move to McLaren fails to initialize while test driver Christian Klien may also be in the loop. If Heidfeld does drive for McLaren, then Italian Fisichella may also be in contention as the team has a Ferrari engine and Fisi is open to racing next season though he is a Ferrari test driver from 2010 onwards.

Among the new teams, Lotus F1 is surely going to make it to the grid and the mercurial Italian Jarno Trulli is being linked with the team. Among others who has been linked includes former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, Christian Klien and Japanese rookie Kamui Kobayashi, who impressed everyone with his drives in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

Campos has brought the Senna name back to F1 by signing in Bruno Senna the nephew of legendary Ayrton Senna while Pedro de la Rosa was expected to take the other seat but talks have not been that fruitful and even Nelsinho Piquet may have a chance for a seat due to his good financial backings. No one has a clue on who will be signed for Manor GP and USF1, but we can rule out some famous American drivers like Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti for USF1, while experienced drivers like Anthony Davidson and Alexander Wurz will be on the radar for these teams.

Nothing is certain till the Bahrain GP of 2010 where we will actually know which teams makes it and which drivers manages to have a spot on the grid.

Over the Curbs Awards - II

2009-11-03T14:25:00.001+05:30

Over the Curbs awards enter the 2nd season and though it was fun giving the awards last season and deciding on a few things was very tough, but at the beginning of this season, I though it should easy given that Jenson Button and Brawn during their Cinderella run were reaching immortality but as the season picked up we saw good performances from a variety of teams and drivers.

Once again it is going to be fun in naming a few drivers and teams but then this year was marked with controversy off-track that it managed to take the sheen of an exciting season. Need to go back into the F1 record books and actually look when the last time 2 non-works team fought for the title were. It should be a very interesting research.

Driver of the Season – Jenson Button

Team of the Season – Brawn GP/Red Bull Racing

The Next Big Thing - Sebastian Vettel

Most Improved Driver – Nico Rosberg

Most Improved Team – Force India

Race of the Season – Belgian Grand Prix

Best Grand Prix – Belgian Grand Prix

Worst Grand Prix – Malaysian Grand Prix

Rookie of the season – Kamui Kobayshi

Most disappointing driver of the Season – Heikki Kovalainen

Most disappointing team of the Season – BMW Sauber

Lucky to be in F1 (for the season) - Nelson Piquet Jr

Veteran of the Season – Rubens Barrichello

Comeback of the Season – Mark Webber

JV of the Season - Nelson Piquet Jr
(For the driver who talks utter nonsense like how JV used to do it in his racing days)

Most missed Driver – Felipe Massa

Least missed Driver - Nelson Piquet Jr

Abu Dhabi GP Preview: The Spectacle descends on to the Emirates!

2009-10-30T22:20:00.000+05:30

Jenson Button and Brawn GP may have wrapped up the Championship at Interlagos but there is still more important battle to be fought on track apart from the grand debut of the 1st ever Abu Dhabi GP at the Yes Marina Circuit which is not only the 2nd grand prix in the Middle East but this race is the first twilight race in F1’s history and this race would want to be the Monaco of the East.

Though Button can relax his teammate Barrichello is locked into a fierce battle for the 2nd place in the driver’s championship with Red Bull’s Vettel. Though Vettel leads only by 2 points, this seesaw battle has seen both drivers swapping places nearly at the end of each race so anything can happen and both cars are evenly matched at this circuit which has one the longest straight lines in F1. Brawn though may have won the Championships is yet to secure Button’s signature for the next season and if things do get hostile after yet another contract talk deadlock, McLaren may once again have the #1 car on the gird.

Though both Brawn and McLaren looks strong in practice Red Bull is not too far off and both Webber and Vettel will be looking for a strong showing during the race but McLaren with KERS will have a slight edge over rest of the field. Hamilton for the first time in his career is going into the last race without having the pressure of having to win the championship. He will be the favourite going into the race and he would want to finish 2009 on a high. His only condolence could be finishing ahead of Kimi who can actually race with Hamilton at McLaren for the next season. Heikki Kovalainen did not make the most of his chances at McLaren and it is certain that he would not race for them for 2010 but he would want to leave the team at a high.

Ferrari may have given up on the season but both its drivers will be pumped up for what could be both men’s last race. Kimi though may still end up with a race seat but teammate Fisi has signed on as a tester for the team and though he may still drive for one of the teams but unless Sauber gets an entry, the Ferrari powered team may have Fisi behind the wheels for them. It is highly important in terms of ego for Ferrari as they are behind McLaren by just a point and Ferrari would want to finish ahead of their arch rivals while Kimi too would want to finish ahead of Hamilton who also happens to lead Kimi by a point. Fisi will be hoping for some good luck as though he may be living a dream, but his departure from Force India was just when the team went through a surge and at times were on par with the likes of even McLaren and Brawn.

BMW Sauber will have mixed feelings going into this race as this is the last race for the BMW team. Though the team has supplied engines to the likes of Brabham in the 80’s and Williams during the early part of this decade, but apart from this season, ever since BMW took over Sauber, the team has been a force to reckon with and till last season, it overtook Williams and joined the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Renault as the new big 4 of F1. Though Kubica has secured a drive, his teammate Nick Heidfeld is yet to secure a drive and he has been linked to every other team with a vacant spot and he definitely would like to end his Sauber career a team with which he has driven for most of his career in both the BMW and the Petronas avatars.

Toyota has had a last minute revival and though Trulli had an intense battle with Force India’s Sutil outside the track, the team will be hoping for a good show on a track which is fast paced and which could help them but everyone will be looking at Kamui Kobayashi who has the speed and the driving skills to become the next Sato a highly entertaining gutsy driver though may not be consistent always but would not mind banging wheels with anyone on the track. Another good show here may seal a seat with Toyota for the next season.

Williams will have a wholesome change for 2010 as not only have they announced a new engine partnership with Cosworth but also will have a total new driver line-up for the next year. They are most likely to filed veteran Brazilian Barrichello and rookie German protégé Hülkenberg who is managed by Weber the same guy who did manager Schumacher during his glory days. Frank Williams has already given hints that Rosberg would drive for a Mercedes powered team and that could be only one of the 2 between Brawn and McLaren.

Alonso is very emotional about having his last race for Renault and this time it could actually be his last race for the French team as he would want to retire from the sport with Ferrari but then Kimi said the same thing and he could infact be making a dramatic comeback for 2010 with McLaren but Alonso doing once again with Renault may not happen. Teammate Romain Grosjean needs to drive his best ever he has drive so far if he has to retain his Renault seat for 2010.

Both STR and Force India are strong but Force India with more experienced drivers seem to be in a better position to score points while STR thought maybe in reckoning but the drivers at times make errors to just throw a race from point scoring positions and on a new technically challenging track, they need to be at their best.

Abu Dhabi GP has made tall claims on wanting to be the Monaco of the East but with a twilight race and a brilliantly designed track, they may end up having that distinction if they race turned out to be “Any One Can Win” race. Yes Marina circuit is a great addition to the F1 calendar and this track will definitely separate the talented drivers from the rest.

Abu Dhabi GP Top 8 Predictions:

1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Jenson Button
4. Mark Webber
5. Rubens Barrichello
6. Kimi Räikkönen
7. Heikki Kovalainen
8. Sebastien Buemi

Jenson Button: A True World Champion

2009-10-20T16:13:00.001+05:30

Jenson Button finally won his first F1 World Championship in his 10th season and his perseverance with the then Honda team finally paid off as Brawn dominated the season and helped him win the crown in style. Though there were lot of criticism that he was helped by driving a car which was better than any other car on the grid but unlike Hill’s win in 1996, the Brawn during the 2nd half of the season was not the best car on the grid. The likes of Red Bull and McLaren had improved a lot and at times even better than Brawn. Also the likes of Ferrari, Toyota and even Williams were nearly matching and in some circuits better than Brawn.

Rubens Barrichello his teammate who clearly was the better driver among the 2 in the 2nd half of the season should once again be unlucky to finish either 2nd or 3rd which used to be a norm during Schumacher and Ferrari’s dominance during the first half of this decade. Barrichello had the same car as Button, but he did not capitalize on the superiority of the car during the first half of the season and this result was key in Button winning the championship. Keke Rosberg won the title in 1982 by winning one race but he was consistent through the season and so far Button till the Brazilian GP has scored points in all races expect for the Belgian GP where he had to retire. You may not need to win the most races to win the championship but Button actually has won 6 out of the 16 races held so far and at one stage had won 6 out of the 7 possible races.

Thanks to a superlative first half where he had capitalized on the performance of Brawn, Jenson did not have to pull off a dare devil drive for the championship and all he had to do was to keep scoring points while his rivals took points off each other and he also benefitted from the revival of notable McLaren and to an lesser extend of that of Ferrari. Button has been in F1 long enough and though he started as a hot-shot rookie in Williams, he had been through a string of teams which includes Benetton, Renault, BAR, Honda and finally Brawn. The thing about Button was that he stuck around with BAR/Honda/Brawn for long enough and he had faith in them and it did pay off this year.

He won his first race during the 2006 season at the rain infested Hungarian GP and at one stage before that had the distinction of being the driver with most points without a win but now Nick Heidfeld has this distinction. Though he is a sort of playboy outside the track and does manage to attract some unwanted media attention, the wisest decision he made was to get off a Williams contract and he spend an estimated $30 million to buy off it and well to look back at things now, it could be one the best decisions he took in his career as Brawn looks all set to become a Mercedes backed works team post the 2012 season while Williams continues to languish in the mid-card since BMW pulled off its backing for the team.

Button has already said that he does not want to be a one hit champion and though his future for 2010 looks uncertain, he is most likely to continue in the Brawn team but don’t be too shocked or surprised if he drives for McLaren or even Toyota. Jenson Button has transformed himself from a rookie playboy racer to an elder statesman on the grid and though winning the title again may not be an easy task as both Ferrari and McLaren will be strong next season while Red Bull seems to get better every year. Also we just cannot discount either Renault or even Williams who can cause some trouble for the big teams. Button is a worthy champion and unlike his predecessor Jacques Villeneuve, Button should not blindly go after money and should drive for a team which can provide him with a car to fight for World Championships.

Brazilian GP Review: Button and Brawn wins the 2009 Championships!

2009-10-19T11:18:00.000+05:30

It was truly a Cinderella story as Jenson Button drove a flawless raced backed by aggressive strategy by the Brawn GP team to win his first driver’s championship. Brawn GP also sealed the constructor’s championship and it was a dream run for the team who at the beginning of the season after Honda pulled out was not even sure if it would make it to the grid but now they are on top of the F1 world. McLaren sure would have rued the fact that the decision to allow Mercedes to supply to Brawn has surely backfired in the long run as Mercedes wants to make Brawn GP its work team post 2012.

Among the contenders though Barrichello managed pole and led the race during the start, the safety car did him no favours and his Interlagos jinx continued as he managed to come only 8th and thereby lost all hope of taking the fight to the Yes Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. He may yet again finish the season as the runner-up but Vettel after a stunning race, managed to finish 4th and now he leads Barrichello by 2 points. Though the season maybe over in terms of bigger prizes but the runner-up spot for the driver’s championship is wide open and it will be an interesting tussle between Vettel and Barrichello.

Though Brawn and Button have hogged all the limelight with their championship wins, Red Bull’s Mark Webber has a very good race and won his 2nd race of his career. Ever since his win in Germany, his form has tapered and due to a variety of reasons he has not been at his best but it was good to see Webber back in form with a superb performance in Brazil. Red Bull may have finished runner-up but they did take the fight to the Brawn’s and if not for the last of consistency from the Renault engines, they may have ended up winning both the titles.

The first lap saw some crazy action as Trulli caused a crash which took out both Sutil and Alonso. Though it was deemed a racing incident, Trulli nearly came to blows with Sutil and now faces a penalty for his conduct. Heikki Kovalainen was not only involved in some incidents on track but also McLaren failed to get the fuel rig out of his car which nearly cause a major calamity in the pits. Kimi’s car was nearly torched and the race turned out to be highly unlucky for the Finnish driver who actually had a chance for a win but a bump with Webber at the first lap ruled out any chance of a win and he managed to salvage a 6th place finish.

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren after a disastrous qualifying drove one of his best races and he managed to put the ghosts of his previous Brazilian GP behind him and managed to finish 3rd. Though the season is lost for the team, they still would want to finish ahead of Ferrari in both the driver’s and constructor’s championship. Kubica came 2nd and though his car was nowhere near the pace of Red Bulls or McLarens, backed by solid strategy and very consistent driving, he showed that he is one of the most talented guys on the grid and with a good car; we can expect lot more from him.

Toro Rosso finally scored points with Sébastien Buemi coming in 7th. The last time he scored points was during the Chinese GP while STR after Monaco is scoring some points. It was good to see the team score points and do well as their back of the grid rivals Force India have just taken off and been way quicker than the Italian based team.

Kamui Kobayashi after making his F1 debut and with just one race behind him may already be the rookie of the year as it was an amazing debut for the Japanese driver as not only did he go wheel to wheel with the likes of Button but also showed no nervousness as he clearly deserves a Toyota drive for the next season and he did deserve to finish in points during the race. Kobayashi is easily the best Japanese driver currently in F1 and after Sato is the best talent to come off Japan.

It was an amazing Brazilian GP and yet again a new champion was crowned in Interlagos. It was also good to see Massa back in the pits and hopefully during the 2010 Brazilian GP, he will be fighting for the championship once again. Brawn and Button will have a major party of the Abu Dhabi GP while both Barrichello and Vettel were worthy challengers for the crown.

Brazilian GP Preview: Will Vettel and Barrichello do the Brazilian Job?

2009-10-15T15:35:00.000+05:30

Sebastian Vettel going into the Brazilian GP looks like the only man who stands between Button and the World Championship but don’t discount Barrichello who despite his very poor record at Interlagos, can still snatch the title at the last minute from his teammate Button. Rain is also predicted and if anything goes by, then looking at last year’s race, well even with some bit of rain can turn a race topsy turvy. If it does rain, it could be another race where Vettel will expect to dominate while rivals Button and Barrichello will be dreading the rain.

Jenson Button will be keep to seal the title in Brazil as Abu Dhabi is a brand new track and anything can happen while Vettel who does not have any new engines will be giving his best and among the 3 drivers still in contention for the title, he is the one with nothing to lose and if can pull a Kimi and managed to snatch the title, he will the youngest world champion in the history of the sport. Brawn needs to back one driver and if they continue to back both the drivers and if it becomes too close heading to Abu Dhabi, things may just turn ugly.

Ferrari has stopped their focus on the 2009 car and with Alonso joining Massa, Kimi would like to end his Ferrari career on a high while FIsi though has signed on as a test driver for the 2010 season, he may actually race for a Ferrari powered team which will be Sauber if they manage to make it to the grid. We do not know where Kimi is heading next season but we do know that Ferrari will begin a rejuvenated campaign for the next season with Alonso and Massa forming one of the strongest driver’s line-up in recent times.

McLaren has been strong and though the team is not in contention for any championships, both Hamilton and McLaren would like to finish ahead of Ferrari. Heikki Kovalainen may still find a chance in McLaren if he manages some phenomenal drive for the last 2 races of the season. It is very interested to see who will partner Hamilton for the next season and McLaren does have some very good options.

Toyota managed to finish on the podium for the last 2 races and the team may not have signed a big name yet but another strong performance in Brazil could help the team in landing a big name for the 2010 season. Though the team has not categorically ruled out Trulli and Glock but with Glock ruled out for the race, Trulli will be leading the Toyota charge with rookie Kamui Kobayashi, who will be making his F1 debut.

Williams seem to have recovered and now after ending their relationship with Toyota may have an all new driver’s line-up with Rosberg most likely moving to Brawn while Nakajima who managed to have a seat in Williams thanks to Toyota. The best bet for Williams to score points will be from Rosberg once again while BMW a team which may not be on the grid for the next season will be hoping once again to score some points. Though BMW will be leaving the sport, Sauber with a Ferrari engine should make it to the gird for 2010.

Force India after the highs of Spa and Monza have failed to live up to expectations will be hoping to finish the season on a high while STR after some early season points seem to finally have a car which can get them some points provided their rookie drivers get it for them.

The last 2 seasons have seen heart breaking and pulsating races and all signs point to another nervy and edgy Brazilian GP.

Brazilian GP Top 8 Predictions:

1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Mark Webber
4. Jarno Trulli
5. Kimi Raikkonen
6. Jenson Button
7. Rubens Barrichello
8. Adrian Sutil

Japanese GP Review: Vettel wins to gatecrash into the Championship Race

2009-10-04T13:48:00.001+05:30

Sebastian Vettel drove his best race of the year to win the 2009 Japanese GP in a convincing style and still have a shot at the drover’s championship. With 2 races to go, Vettel is behind leader Button by 16 points and if Vettel manages to win both the races and if Button once again scores only a minimum of points, well the Briton may not actually win the Championship which was in his hands during the 1st half of the season. Rubens Barrichello crucially managed to finish ahead of Button to score 2 vitals points and the gap between him and Button is now only 14 points but Vettel has a better chance than Barrichello in the title hunt but though Button may win it in the end, he has to work extra hard for it.

Jarno Trulli had a very impressive race and with only one Toyota running, he raced in what could be the most important race for the team in its F1 history as only his 2nd place finish may have kept the team on the grid for next season, but it may also entice a driver like Kimi or even Kubica to join the Japanese outfit for 2010. It was a flawless drive from Trulli who still showed everyone that he still has it in him while Glock after his accident in qualifying could not take part in the race will feel a bit unlucky as he too would have been in point scoring position during the race.

Lewis Hamilton managed to come 3rd and though he managed to finish ahead of Kimi in the race a lot will be going thru his mind as there are enough reliable sources out there who suggest that Kimi is well on his way to McLaren for the next season. Hamilton though had a good pace he was nowhere near Vettel and even with KERS, he could not catch up with him during the early part of the race while McLaren’s KERS which was supposed to be the best on the grid had to be deactivated for Hamilton for the 2nd straight race while teammate Heikki Kovalainen failed to score points and well after the next 2 races, he may have to struggle to find a seat with a top running team once again.

Kimi and Ferrari helped by lot of grid penalties managed to come in 4th while Rosberg came 5th and though he is the only scoring Williams driver so far this season, he has single-handedly put up the fight against teams like Renault and BMW. He is by far the contender for the driver or the year and he surely cannot stay with the underperforming Williams team for another season and its time he either joins Brawn or even McLaren if he has any chance of going for the title.

Nick Heidfeld came 6th while teammate Robert Kubica missed out on the points by coming in 9th just behind Button. BMW now had found a buyer and is hoping to leave the sport on a high while both Heidfeld and Kubica are driving to just get better drives for the next season. Though Kubica is a wanted man, weirder things have happened in F1 and don’t be too shocked if Heidfeld goes to McLaren, as he was not only part of their young driver’s program but was supposed to head there before Kimi sped his was past nick into the McLaren line-up.
Apart from Vettel, all the 3 other Red Bull cars had a miserable weekend, as Webber not only pitted 5 times, he had to start from the pits after he missed qualifying due to a crash during practice and his only consolidation for the race was putting in the fastest lap of the race while Toro Rosso actually had a good car which was capable enough for points but both Buemi and Alguersuari ended up having a wild weekend as Buemi apart from crashing a few times during qualifying had to retire due to clutch issues while Alguersuari who benefited with all the penalties on the grid started from 12th but had an accident which put him off the race and got the safety car involved.

Force India was expected to do well on this track but some over ambitious driving from Sutil ensured that the team failed to score points while Liuzzi have so far done enough to suggest that he deserves a drive for the next year.

Though rain did not play a part we still saw a very strong performance from Vettel and he will go into the Brazilian GP as a clear favourite but don’t discount Rubens Barrichello who may use his home grand prix as the best place to assert himself in the title race.

Japanese GP Preview: Rubens Barrichello’s Last Stand

2009-10-02T11:07:00.000+05:30

The Japanese Grand Prix has traditionally been one of the last races on the calendar and it has been the venue for many title-deciding races, with 12 World Champions being crowned over the 24 Japanese Grand Prix that have been hosted. Now the race comes back to Suzuka after a 2 year period when it was held at Fuji Speedway. The irony is that Suzuka is a track owned and operated by Honda and both drivers who are in contention for the title though maybe driving a Brawn GP car but still the car was very much funded by Honda before its exit from F1 and which led to the birth of Brawn GP.

Jenson Button can very much seal the title here but he is sure not to do anything hasty as with a 15 points lead, he is in a comfortable position and as long as he comings finishing ahead of Barrichello he can comfortably seal his title bid. While Barrichello is one of the 3 previous winners on this circuit and have the best car among the 3 to repeat that feat will be going in for the kill as not only does he needs a win here, but he will also be hoping that Button fails to score points as it would reduce the deficit. Though Brawn has giving hints that for 2010 he may retain both the drivers, there is a possibility of Brawn fielding a new line-up for the next season if Button’s contract talk fails while age is a factor for Barrichello.

McLaren and Hamilton should be favourites on this track as it is a very fast circuit and after their win in Singapore, Hamilton would like to have a few more wins under his belt before the season gets over. He will also be interested in finishing ahead of Kimi in the drivers’ championship. Kovalainen may not race for the team for the next season, but he has to put in a good performance if he wants to land a seat even with a mid-field team as the number of proven quality drivers on the market is plenty and race winnings seats are shrinking by the day. His best bet would be Williams or even Renault but it all depends on other drivers plan or in the end he may end up racing for any of the 4 new teams.

Ferrari has finally made it official that Alonso would join the team for 2010 with Massa meaning both its current drivers Kimi and Fisi would not be racing for them in 2010. Though Fisi has signed on as a test driver, there is a good chance he may even drive for the Ferrari powered Sauber team for the next season while Kimi has plenty of options and his decision now can lead to how the other team shapes up their line-ups. It was in Ferrari in which Kimi won his world championship and he would like to go out in a bang in the remaining 3 races of the season.

Toyota has given enough signs that it will continue to be in F1 till 2010 but the future of both Glock and Trulli is uncertain. Glock did not even take part in the Friday practice as Japanese driver Kobayashi replace him but the team has confirmed that Glock will be racing for them in the grand prix. Glock after his 2nd place finish in Singapore will be brimming with confident and a few more podiums would seal a deal with a good team for the next season while Toyota themselves need a good performance during the weekend in order to entice any of the top drivers to join the team for the next season.

With talks of rains, Red Bull once again will be in a very favourable position as when it rains, no other team can come close to the bulls while Vettel is the rain master and he could once again be in the reckoning for the title if he wins the race and both Brawns fails to finish. But it all depends on the rain and in a rain race anything is possible. Teammate Webber has been out of luck for the last few races and he would like to put that back and would want to finish the season on a high. Sister team, Toro Rosso has shown some improvement and don’t be too surprised if one its drivers actually score points in Suzuka.

Alonso and Renault had a lot of prove in Singapore and though he may be leaving the team, it was Renault which gave him 2 world championship and made him the start he is now and he would want to give something back by putting in some strong performances in the next 3 races as not only will it help the team secure some sponsorship for the next season but also get some high profile driver involve himself with the team.

BMW has showed steady progress in the last few races and with rumours of both its drivers leaving the team at the end of the season plus the new team of 2010 is not even assured of a spot on the grid though it is highly possible that not all the 4 teams will make it to the grid in Bahrain and the team will eventually make it. But it will be interesting to see how the team performances for 2010 as will it continues to be a mid-runner or slip behind the likes of Toro Rosso and Force India.

Talking of Force India, ideally this circuit should favour them and once again make them in reckoning for point scoring positions but if the team does score points in Suzuka, the team has truly arrived and its performances in Monza and Spa were just not flash in the pan one off stroke of luck for the team. With Flavio gone, Vijay Mallya would take over as being the most flamboyant man on the paddock and he surely wants his team to be a regular point scorer for the next season.

It should be a highly entertaining Japanese GP and when you add in the rain factor, it could be anyone’s race but then Red Bull would have some rain dancers as when it rains, Vettel is like a god on track.

Japanese GP Predictions: 1. Vettel 2. Hamilton 3. Kimi 4. Barrichello 5. Alonso 6. Rosberg 7. Button 8. Sutil

2010 Driver Market is still bizarro-land!

2009-09-28T11:20:00.000+05:30

Usually by this time of the year, we will more or less know which driver will be racing for which team for the next season. But then this season is no ordinary season as one controversy has led to another. Everything something gets resolved, something bigger pops up and more or less things have been focused on what is happening at the paddock rather than the racing which is happening. We have the possibility of 14 teams taking part in the 2010 season and so we have 28 seats to fill. Although among the 4 new teams, we are not still too sure on how many will actually lands up but USF1 who a few months back was a certainty to start the first race is the least doubtful among the new teams.

We have to assume that we do have 28 seats available but the worst case scenario for F1 will be both Toyota and Renault pulling off while 2 out of the 4 new teams failing to turn up will make the grid once again with only 10 teams. Hope for the sake of F1 and also the drivers that does not happen. Red Bull is the only team on the grid which has confirmed both its driver with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel leading its championship charge for 2010. The engine market is also very crazy and as many as 4 teams yet to confirm their engine suppliers and 3 out of the 4 is looking for a deal with Mercedes Benz but Mercedes can only supply 2 other team that too their works team McLaren will have to allow them to do it. Red Bull’s Mercedes team was more or less a certainty till news of Mercedes plans of making Brawn their works team threw a spanner in Red Bull’s plans. Also their current supplier Renault after the race fixing scandal is not too sure if they would continue for the 2010 season. Red Bull is in a bad state and worse come scenario they may have to run once again with Ferrari engines which is much better than the Cosworth option available.

Ferrari is in a very good position when it comes to drivers but then it has too many options under its books that it is now becoming a headache to choose their lead pair. If not for Massa’s accident, Alonso and Massa would have started for them for 2010 but now with Massa’s fitness still not a certainty, the team is playing the wait and watch game. Though it is not officially confirmed if Alonso will join the team for the next season, it is more or less certain that Kimi may not drive for the team but the only issue is that Kimi has a very expensive contract with Ferrari. Ferrari also has Fisi in-case there is an emergency but then don’t forget there is always the German Kaiser lurking behind who may yet make a F1 comeback. McLaren is the only other team which has a confirmed driver in Lewis Hamilton and he is sort of bound to the team for the next few years.

It is not the first time that Alonso has held the key to the driver’s market while Rosberg is once again the most wanted driver on the gird while Kubica ever since the BMW pull-out is a hot property while the likes of Button, Barrichello and Heidfeld also available makes the market very interesting. The last time I looked at the driver’s market which was in July, BMW was still in F1 while there was no scandal with the Renault team. Now things have been turned upside down and we also have Lotus returning to F1.

Fernando Alonso: He is very much a hot property and though his deal for Ferrari for 2010 remains an open secret, it is more or less certain and Alonso will most likely race for the Italian team during the next season. Although the Italian team’s pursuit of Vettel for 2011 and his decision to turn them down to race for Red Bull does seem strange but I do assume Alonso will be racing for the Ferrari with Massa who was the only confirmed Ferrari driver for 2010 so far.

Nico Rosberg – Two seasons back, everyone was talking about how Rosberg would go to McLaren and once again this talk is back but the difference now is that Mercedes wants a German driver and Rosberg with both German and Finnish credentials would be a perfect fit plus he is good friends of Hamilton but with rumours of Mercedes interested in making Brawn its works team post 2012 ha strongly linked Rosberg to Brawn which provides both its drivers equal opportunities unlike McLaren which has clearly favoured Hamilton over his partners.

Robert Kubica – He has lot of options but he is looking only for a 1 year contract as he is looking for a Ferrari seat for the 2011 season while he has been a Renault Young Driver, the team is looking for a longer contract than what he is asking for while Williams could be a good place for him but with the Renault & Williams engine deal which can complicate things but Kubica will end up in either Renault or Williams.

Jenson Button – He is most likely to win the 2009 championship and though he took a pay cut to race for the team this season, but an awesome performance this year has made him a hot property once again and though he has rejected Toyota’s deal, he could either stay in Brawn or even more to McLaren. Only money remains an issue but with Mercedes and its long term plan for Brawn, he could very well stay with the team for the next few years.

Rubens Barrichello – The Brazilian is in a very dicey situation as he does not have an option apart from Brawn plus his age is a factor which is working against him, but unless he wins the title, he may not be retained by Brawn while Williams can be a long shot for him. He does have options with the new teams but then I am not too sure if he is motivated enough of running in the back once again.

Nick Heidfeld - He was on his way out of BMW even before they planned to pull off F1 but he has a few options and if he does get lucky he could even land up a drive with McLaren. There was talk of him going to Brawn before the Mercedes talks were there but if Rosberg does go to McLaren, the Heidfeld paring with Button will be solid and he can be a steady side-kick to Button. But he is most likely to end up with Williams and if it does fails, he always has an option with Sauber if their position on the 2010 grid is confirmed.
Kimi Räikkönen – One of the most shocking options on the grid, many though he will retire from F1 and would join the FIAT rallying team but he has said that he wanted to race next year and though he does have a contract with Ferrari he has plenty of top quality options. Brawn, McLaren, Williams and even Renault are all options but don’t be too shocked if Kimi makes a shocking comeback to McLaren.

This is a possible line-up for 2010:

Brawn: Jenson Button/ Nico Rosberg
Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel/ Mark Webber
Ferrari: Fernando Alonso/ Felipe Massa
McLaren: Lewis Hamilton/ Kimi Räikkönen
Williams: Nico Hulkenberg/ Nick Heidfeld
Toyota: Timo Glock/ Heikki Kovalainen
Renault: Romain Grosjean/ Robert Kubica
Toro Rosso: Sebastien Buemi/ Jaime Alguersuari
Force India: Adrian Sutil/Vitantonio Liuzzi
Sauber: Giancarlo Fisichella/ Christian Klien
Campos: Pedro de la Rosa/Vitaly Petrov
Manor: Anthony Davidson/ Lucas Di Grassi
USF1: Jonathan Summerton/ Alexander Wurz
Lotus F1: Bruno Senna/ Jarno Trulli

2009 Singapore GP Review: Hamilton wins as Button extends his lead!

2009-09-27T21:49:00.000+05:30

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren were back on top with a thumping victory thanks to a series of unfortunate incidents to race rivals. Taking nothing away from the drive, Hamilton had a very consistent drive and even scorched rumours of his break up with pop star girlfriend Nicole as she was cheering him on from start to the finish. Though it may be too late for Hamilton to challenge for the title, but the 3rd spot at the constructor’s championship is still wide open and he has a shot at being the best of the rest. Heikki Kovalainen driving a similar car once again struggled and could manage only come 7th.

Jenson Button’s 5th place finish in the race was highly important for him as not only now with just 3 races to go his championship lead is 15, he crucially managed to finish ahead of Rubens Barrichello who has been the better Brawn driver for the last few races. On paper Button looks the favourite to win the championship but in F1 anything can happen and of Rubens managed to win a race while Button fails to score things could become really tense for the team going into the Abu Dhabi GP. Also with Rosberg rumoured to have signed with the team for 2010, whoever wins could potentially land up a race seat with the team for the next season.

Fernando Alonso and Renault has the most torrid week and Alonso drove like a true champion and is surely the driver of the race by bringing in his underperforming Renault on the podium by finishing in 3rd. After what happened last season, Alonso proved that he does not need any fixing to get him on to the podium and Alonso showed that even with a car like Renault, he can give his best and if we are to believe the paddock gossip, he could be racing in red overalls during the next season.

Timo Glock and Toyota must be relived after Glock managed to score a 2nd place finish. The team after a good start early on in the season went thru a horrific mid-season slump and this 2nd place finish was the team’s best finish since the 2008 Hungarian GP. This can also seal Glock’s place if Toyota does manage to compete during the 2010 season. Trulli needs a win in Suzuka if he does manages to retain a spot in the grid for the next season as Glock has surely been the more consistant driver this season.

Sebastian Vettel nursed his car to a 4th place finish and he will be surely cursing his luck during this weekend as during qualifying he was all set for pole position till Barrichello crashed at the end of Q3 and also during the race itself he was catching up Hamilton but a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane took him of the equation and his title chance for 2009 fades away unless he does manage to win the remaining races and hope that Button fails to score at all. Webber’s chance now is out and he has a disastrous race with a brake failure making him spin out with 16 laps to go. Sister team Toro Rosso also retired immediately after Webber’s spin as they share similar braking technology.

Kubica scored the final points available at the race with his BMW team coming in 8th. Though the team is much better off than the 4 newcomers, its position is not confirmed yet while we will know if the Sauber team will be on the grid for the next season in a week’s time. Force India had a very bad weekend as their car is not just suited for this track and adding in more misery is that Sutil took out BMW’s Heidfeld and is being investigated by the stewards.

Ferrari had a race to forget and though the team have decided to focus on the 2010 car, both Kimi and Fisi are not too happy with it and it won’t surprise too many people if the team does have a complete different line-up for the next season. Suzuka is a fast track and it should favour the team by then Force India should also be in the reckoning to score to points as well.

Rosberg had a chance to score his first win and Williams also had a shot of winning a race after 2004, but then Rosberg’s penalty effectively ruined the race for the team and he managed to finish only 11th while Nakajima came in 9th and is yet to score points for the team.

Leaving aside the things which happened outside the track, Singapore once again stole the show while the racing on track was not the best of the year, but the night race dominated everything else and the 2nd Singapore GP was a very successful race. Suzuka will be a very interesting race and a high speed circuit which should bring in Ferrari once again into the reckoning.

Singapore GP Preview: Brawns slugfest on Singapore streets!

2009-09-26T12:39:00.001+05:30

The time has come to focus on actual racing as too many times this season, the focus has been on everything else apart from racing but then we go back to Singapore which after just one race suddenly was competing with historical tracks like Monza, Monaco and Spa as people’s favourite race and though being an exclusive night race may give it an edge for sometime but after what happened during last year’s grand prix and what should have been a shining moment in the history of this small nation was turned into a nightmare by 3 individuals and luckily this time around the concerned conspirators would not be anywhere near the track.

Brawn after the Italian GP seem to have a clear edge over its immediate rival Red Bull and though both Webber and Vettel have said they do have a very slim chance at the title both have promised to give their best and would be going for the kill while inside Brawn though the lead is good enough not to worry too much about Red Bull, but Button the championship leader and teammate Barrichello who is trailing by just 14 points should not end up taking out each other and though they have not shown such intense characteristics so far in their career but when your this close to the title anything can happen and it’s up to Ross Brawn to preserve sanity in the team.

Renault went through its worse phase in its Formula 1 history and thought Renault may never be an iconic team like Ferrari or even McLaren, the team has contributed well to the sport as both as a constructor and an engine supplier. Alonso may forever be tarnished for his win last season but forget the crash, it takes a great driver to win the race and Alonso is currently one of the best drivers on the grid and in what could be his last season with Renault and also to clean the slate clean after what happened last season, he will be looking for a win. Grosjean is slow and he has just recovered from a sickness and there is a chance that he may well crash since he is a rookie and he is not used to street circuits, but we all hope this again does not lead to conspiracy theories.

McLaren and Ferrari after a string of solid performances is not looking too strong on the street circuit but don’t count out Kimi and Hamilton especially when the safety car can become involved, you can have a situation where you can see one of them on the podium. Fisichella is getting better every race and it does take some time getting used to the Ferrari but he should put up a decent show while Kovalainen will be racing for a spot as he is more or less out of McLaren for 2010 and he needs a good show to get into any of the decent teams on the grid.

Force India will definitely struggle in this track and the car is just not made out for this circuit. The next circuit after this where they do have a chance of scoring points will be Suzuka but both Sutil and Liuzzi will be giving in their best as with as many as 14 teams next season, there are some good spots opening up especially for Sutil who can look at the Toyota or even a Williams racing seat. BMW has been sold to an unknown consortium and though they will be powered by Ferrari, it is not yet confirmed if they will be starting at the Bahrain GP and their car has too many updates going in that both Heidfeld and Kubica should be in for some points and also enhance their reputation for a race seat for 2010.

Williams after a nightmare of the Italian GP should be back in form and especially Rosberg who did managed to come 2nd during last year’s race should be once again in reckoning for some points while Nakajima needs a miracle to stay in the team for the next season since Williams will not be using Toyota engines for 2010. Toyota at the beginning of the season was looking for a few wins and even challenging Brawn for the title but once again the team has been very inconsistent and don’t be too surprised if you do not see them for the next season.

Toro Rosso of 2009 is nowhere near the same team which won a race in Monza and came 6th in the championship and the team has gone back to the Minardi days as they are once again scrapping at the tail-end of the grid while fellow scrapers Force India seem to have upped their game and now sort of in the mid-field pack and have even at times been faster than the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Williams.

This year should once again be very exciting and with both Brawns in the reckoning while Red Bull providing an inspired charge, once again there will be bedlam on the streets of Singapore and the only thing which can make it even crazier will be rains.

Singapore GP Predictions: 1. Vettel 2. Alonso 3. Barrichello 4. Button 5. Webber 6. Rosberg 6. Heidfeld 7. Hamilton 8. Kimi

2009 Italian GP Review: Brawn Dominates Monza and Shuts out Bulls!

2009-09-13T19:39:00.000+05:30

The European leg of the F1 season comes to an end with Brawn once again coming 1 and 2 at the Italian GP at Monza. Rubens Barrichello once again seems to be the better Brawn driver and is moving closer to Button as the season comes to an end. With 4 more races to go, it has become a straight shootout between the 2 Brawn drivers and though Button has a significant advantage over Barrichello, he really needs to finish on podium till the last race if he has to have a comfortable victory. The moment he fails to score and Barrichello wins another race, things can become too close to call between them.

Kimi brought the Ferrari for a podium once again and though the car set-up did not favour the high speed Monza track, it was a good effort from Kimi who was once again hounded by a Force India car which followed him throughout the race. Teammate Fisi was impressive with his 9th place finish but imagine had he not left Force India, well he may have got another podium at his home grand prix but then not everyone can claim to drive for Ferrari in F1. Force India proved that their Spa performance was no fluke and Sutil impressed everyone with his 4th place finish while Liuzzi was all set to score points till an electronics failure forced him into retirement but he performed brilliantly after not driven a F1 car in 2 years and this could have well rewarded him with a drive for 2010.

Hamilton and McLaren were the team to beat after qualifying but they were strategically outwitted by Brawn and later with just a lap to go Hamilton threw away a podium finish by hitting the curb too hard which resulted in a spin and crashed him out of the race. Kovalainen had a very quiet and uneventful race which saw him finish 6th but he needs more than this if he has to keep Rosberg, Kubica or even Kimi from taking his seat for the next season.

Red Bull’s chances of fighting it out with Brawn for both the titles seem to have ended with a disastrous Italian GP. While Brawn took 18 points from this race, RBR could take only one point with Vettel finishing 8th. Vettel is also running with his last engine and he will have to take a 10 place grid penalty at the Singapore GP as there is no point running with an underperforming engine while Webber’s title hopes vanished with his retirement early on in the race.

BMW had a very mixed race with Kubica retiring in the middle while Heidfeld came 7th to score valuable points for the team. Given his age, his performance must improve if any of the existing teams would want to take him in for the next season while the team needs to do more than this if they need to find a new buyer very soon as FIA will decide if they will be on the grid for 2010 or they would offer the spot to any of the new teams.

With all the speculations of race-fixing gathering momentum, it was important for Renault to perform on track and though Alonso never looked like he was in for a place on the podium, it was once again a very solid drive from him to finish 5th while rookie Grosjean finished 15th.

It was a race to forget for Toyota, Williams and Toro Rosso as they were way off from the other teams. Toyota needs a podium very soon or else this year could be the last season in F1 for the team while STR just could replicate last year’s magical performance from Vettel for the team.

It was a good Italian GP and though no news of the impending Alonso-Ferrari came out, everyone is set for September 21st hearing on the fate of the Renault race fixing scandal as the driver’s market is directly dependent on the outcome of that proceeding.

Italian GP Preview: Everything to race for!

2009-09-11T18:57:00.001+05:30

Once again, another race weekend is bombarded by news for all the wrong reasons and what should have been a season where 2 independent outfits are battling for the championship after years of manufactures dominating F1 is now threatening to disrupt the sport once again. This season has seen a lot of things, starting from McLaren lying scandal to the FIA-FOTA wars and now with Nelson Piquet claiming that he was ordered to crash and Renault infact had fixed the 2008 Singapore GP. This will not only make the manufacturers leave the sport but also not encourage potential sponsors to put their money in a sport which is hit by once scandal after the other.

The Italian GP has always held a special place in the calendar and tit being the home GP of Ferrari, once can see hordes of Tifosi around the circuit. Ferrari have run into some serious form with Kimi winning the Belgian GP and it would be a very special race for Giancarlo Fisichella, who after a stunning performance at Spa where he not only pushed Kimi all the way till the finish but also scored the first points for Force India by coming in 2nd. It has always been a dream for Fisi to race for Ferrari and this could be the best place for him to make his debut and if Fisi wins, this could become folklore and will be remembered as the best Italian GP ever.

McLaren and Hamilton may have had a disappointing weekend in Spa but they have been very quick on the 1st practice and the long straights at Monza will defiantly favour them and with KERS, they should be the team to beat. Don’t be too shocked to see a McLaren win but Heikki Kovalainen needs more than points to continue in the team for the next season as though Rosberg’s name has been touted as a possible replacement, a dramatic comeback for Kimi too could not be ruled out.

Force India are in a very serious position to score points once again and though Sutil can even dream of a podium, any points will do for Liuzzi as he is making a comeback after 2 years and if he manages to score in his home grand prix, he may have a deal for the next season. BMW had a very good race in Spa and they once again seem to have found pace here. The team will do anything to go out with a bang as the stronger the team gets, the easier it becomes in finding a buyer for the team for next season.

The championship contenders seem to be backtracked by the resurgence of Ferrari and McLaren and among the 2, Red Bull seem to be in better shape but with Vettel and Webber eating points off each other, it may be tough for either of them to win the championship while the contractor’s title is within their grasp with only 14 points separating them and Brawn. There has been a rumoured deal that Mercedes would make Brawn its works team after 2012 but for now Button should be focused on winning the title which is surely his if he just manages to pull off another win while Barrichello who has been the better driver among the 2 for the last 5 races will be hoping to gain points at Button’s cost.

Renault has been embroiled in controversy and with Alonso leaving the team at the end of the season, there is a distinct possibility that the team may quit the sport but leaving aside on what is happening outside the track, the team will be hoping for a decent performance and with KERS in the car, don’t be too surprised if Alonso manages to reach the podium while Romain Grosjean may be one of the first to spin out due to the raised curbs.

Rosberg pulled off a miracle by getting some points for Williams in Spa and expecting the same thing from him once again in Monza is unfair from the team as the set up is not suited for fast tracks. If Rosberg does score points here, well he is surely a world championship material if he gets his hands on a good car and with both McLaren and Brawn courting him; it will be interesting to see where he lands up. While Kazuki Nakajima is just be looking for finishing the race as with the Toyota’s deal with Williams off for the next season, he could be out of job for 2010.

Speaking of Toyota, this was the team which was expected to challenge Brawn for the titles but with a few more races to go till the finish of the season, no one will be shocked if the team leaves F1 next season as despite having a good car, the team has faltered due to inconsistent driving and poor strategy. Monza should be a nightmare for the team.

Toro Rosso especially Sebastien Buemi has been good on practice and though repeating what Vettel did last year should be a tall order, any points from him should be good for the team. Hope Monza once again throws a very interesting race like last season and the race should bring back the focus on what actually makes the sport which is intense high quality wheel to wheel racing.

Italian GP Predictions: 1. Fisichella 2. Kimi 3. Vettel 4. Hamilton 5. Alonso 6. Webber 6. Sutil 7. Buemi 8. Heidfeld

Monza and the Ferrari Seat!

2009-09-02T12:15:00.005+05:30

Ferrari is one of the greatest brands which exist today and though some may differ, Ferrari is F1 and F1 needs them more than Ferrari needs the sport. Ferrari has always been a dream drive for any drive in the sport and even when they were going thru a very rough phase in the late 80’s and early 90’s, respected French driver Jean Alesi choose the team over Williams and missed his chance to become a World Champion. Ferrari is the Holy Grail for any driver. Some very famous name like Juan Manuel Fangio, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve, Carlos Reutemann, Jody Scheckter, René Arnoux, Nigel Mansell, Gerhard Berger, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Räikkönen, Felipe Massa and ofcourse the most famous and the greastest driver in F1 history Michael Schumacher all drove and many even won Championships for the team.

There are times when the car is real bad and however great the driver is, it will still be off the pace but what Luca Badoer has done is a cardinal sin for the Tifosi and when you have one driver winning and the other driver coming in last, well it is a disgrace and the Tifosi has always seen 2 real quick drivers on the cart and the last few years have seen both the drivers racing each other for the title means that Luca driving for the Ferrari is a mess and if the team does not replace him with someone, well you can be assured that there would be a riot in Monza and the team will be better off with going with only one car. On the bright side, they can save some money rather than have a guy coming in last and way off the pace which the car can produce. Yes Luca will be faster than anyone of us but then he is in F1 which is the pinnacle of motorsport and when driving for a champion team, you have to drive like a champion which he is not anyway close by. Would rather see a 18 year old do this rather than a 38 year test driver who has put in more miles on a Ferrari F1 car than any other driver in history!

Ferrari has well too many options and though some may just be speculation others are realistic enough and surely a majority of the options cannot do any worse than Luca, so for Monza the team should change their driver and well they can either look into the future or give someone a drive for a nostalgic feel or just shock everyone and just do it for a publicity stunt which I feel the team should avoid. So let’s look at some of the options the team has for Monza:

Michael Schumacher is once again on top of everyone’s list and though both Ferrari and the Tifosi would love this to happen, Schumacher’s neck has not recovered fully and I don’t think he wants to get in when he is not fully fit. But Schumacher when half fit and 40 is still better than 15 out of the 20 drivers on track.

Valentino Rossi the legendary Moto GP Champion has achieved everything he can in the sport and though he is well set to win the title once again this year, he has said in the past that driving for Ferrari is also a dream of his and being an Italian would make it easier for him too but then this is a very long shot and it may just not happen.

Giancarlo Fisichella has always dreamt of racing for Ferrari and after a stunning Belgian GP where he scored the first points for the Force India team by coming in 2nd and challenging Kimi for the win till the end, he is the most logical choice as he is in form and after his stint with Ferrari till the end of 2009, he can sign up as their test driver from 2010 onwards but he still has one more year of racing left in him and this all depends on Force India.

Fernando Alonso is the best overall driver on the grid and though he moving to Ferrari for 2010 is the worst kept secret in F1 history, he is a very good choice and if the 2010 move does happen, it is good for both the parties involved and it should be interesting to see Alonso and Kimi battling it out with the same equipment.

Robert Kubica driving for Ferrari is earlier than Alonso coming over as BMW has pulled out of F1 and only last year he was fighting for the championship with Hamitlon and Massa. There are talks of him moving to Renault for the next season, so there could be a 3 way swap possible but he is a very good driver and Ferrari should seriously consider him for the remaining races.

Marc Gene, Ferrari’s other test driver and unlike Luca, he does have recent racing experience as he did win this year’s 24 hours Le Mans and have subbed in the past for Williams. But after Luca’s performance, Ferrari will think twice to put him in a car but he would have been a better choice than Luca and maybe Ferrari did make a huge mistake in putting Luca.

Sébastien Loeb is again an interesting option and he has shown his interest in racing for USF1 team for 2010, it could be a huge thing for him to race without testing for Ferrari at Monza. This would be only a publicity stunt which Ferrari would never do.

David Coulthard, the test driver for Red Bull is a solid man to have in the #2 car as he has been with Williams, McLaren and Red Bull teams. Also he did race in the championship only last season and he knows all the tracks very well.

Jarno Trulli is another Italian driver on the grid and though he has a contract with Toyota for 2009, chances is that he will be out for 2010 and with current experience of the track, he should be a good bet for Ferrari provided Toyota is willing to release him.

Tonio Liuzzi is Force India’s test driver and he has had prior racing experience with Both Red Bull and Toro Rosso He too is an Italian but this is a long shot which Ferrari may not want to try out at Monza.

Jacques Villeneuve is a former World Champion whose father drove for Ferrari but he is too old and has been out of F1 for a longtime now and Ferrari will definitely not take him in unless he is the last driver available.

Sébastien Bourdais is an F1 reject who was axed by the Toro Rosso team. He has used the Ferrari engine but then would you want a driver who was axed by STR?

Nelson Piquet was another option which was floating around but then with the Singapore GP scandal of last year erupting and this news could just see Renault walking out of F1, well Piquet will surely be the most hated man on grid and Ferrari would rather run one car or even give Luca a chance rather than give Piquet a drive.

Nico Hulkenberg is said to be a very talented driver who is Williams test driver and he has Wili Webber as his manager. The same guy who managed Schumacher and Hulkenberg should be a very intresting choice as the team can actually check how good he is and if he is the real deal, then they can actually sign him up for post 2012.

Mirko Bortolotti is said to be the most talented Italian driver and he is only 19 and currently driving in the inaugural FIA’s F2 Champioship. Mirko has tested with Ferrari in the past and in 2008, he set the fastest time ever on the Fiorano Circuit by a F2008 car. He should be a pick with the future in mind.

This may never happen but would definitely garner the most media attention after Schumacher and if somehow Ferrari gets Danica Patrick to race for them not only we will know how good she is in an F1 car but also the kind of press coverage will be mind blowing. With all the bad publicity F1 has had this year, this could be the only thing after Schumacher’s return which could save F1 and also there is also the sight of a sexy girl driving the most beautiful scarlet red car on the track.

If incase Ferrari has to save money, well it is better for them to run only one car rather than run Luca.

2009 Belgian GP Review: Ferrari wins while Force India creates history!

2009-08-31T10:31:00.000+05:30

The Belgian GP is one of the favorites grand prix for most F1 fans and this year’s race did not disappoint the Tifosi in any way as Kimi Raikkonen wins a race after more than a year and he proved that he is still one of the best on the grid and after such a superior performance, Ferrari is in a fix as now they have 3 drivers under contract for 2010 and they need to drop one of them. Well Alonso joining Ferrari for 2010 is more or less certain while Massa is yet to get medical clearance if he can race again. Any 2 of the combination of Kimi, Alonso and Massa should be a formidable pair which the opponents should fear. Vettel by extending his deal with Red Bull till 2011 saved Ferrari from putting itself in more dilemma as had Vettel signed for 2011, things sure will be murky for them. One thing is certain for Monza, Ferrari will definitely not race Luca Badoer at their home race after a very below par performance from the Italian once again. It seems that he will end his F1 career without scoring points.

Force India and Giancarlo Fisichella had a dream weekend as not only the team scored its first points but this is also Fisi’s first podium since the 2006 Japanese GP and not only did he give Kimi a run for his money but he ensure that Force India have now scored more points than Toro Rosso and now they have a genuine chance of overtaking Renault in the constructor’s championship. Already even before the races they were rumors’ floating around about Fisi driving for Ferrari at Monza and this performance may just catapult him into the Ferrari seat. Though Force India seem to have a the pace now, they apparently still owe Ferrari money over engines supplied last year and every Italian’s dream is to drive for Ferrari at Monza and if the team does calls, Fisi will take it without even thinking.

Red Bull was expected to do well but Vettel actually drove amazingly well to come 3rd and once again put his name in the championship fight. Though he has only one engine left, it will be nothing short of a miracle if Vettel does manages to win the title while Webber after a pit stop mishap where he nearly collided with Nick Heidfeld had to go thru a drive thru penalty which ended his race hopes and he failed to score points which was vital for him. Red Bull has inched closer to Brawn on the constructor’s championship and well could actually overtake Brawn by the end of the season.

Brawn GP is going thru a tough phase and though Rubens Barrichello actually had decent pace and managed to come 7th and take those crucial 2 points, what is happening with Jenson Button remains a mystery and after his performance at the beginning of the season, he was expected to have the championship by now but now 3 guys are chasing him and if he manages to drive the same way as he is doing now, he may end up losing the title this year.

McLaren after 2 stunning races was expected to have a very good race but the team had a very poor race with both Hamilton and Kovalainen failing to make Q3. Hamilton crashed out at the first lap of the race while Kovalainen managed to come 6th and now with rumors of Kimi making a dramatic return to McLaren for 2010, his chances of retaining the seat looks very remote.

BMW Sauber is doing all it can to find new buys and the team had a good show with both Kubica and Heidfeld coming in 4th and 5th. It was a very important result for the team and the drivers while Williams should be happy and should thank Rosberg for somehow managing to push the car to 8th as its setup was just not suited for Spa and Rosberg is just making his own profile go up and well based on his performance he will not be a bad bet for McLaren.

Renault once again had a very poor race and with allegations of fixing the race in Singapore by making Piquet crash, things are not going too well for the team and with Alonso on his way out, the team may not make it next year as Renault as they need to something to score some points or the parent company may just pull the plug while RBR has already given enough indication that it will change its engine supplier for 2010.

Toyota continues to baffle everyone as the team which always had a car to win races and even challenge the likes of Brawn and Red Bull is struggling and thanks to poor strategy and inconsistent racing by drivers the team is sitting 5th on the constructors table and if Rosberg continues his amazing show, even Williams can overtake them. STR had a race to forget and they never looked like score points and now they officially the weakest team on the grid and the team looks like it is incapable of scoring any more points for the remaining of the races.

It was once again a very good Belgian GP and though Ferrari never did have the best car on the grid, Kimi drove like a superstar and pulled off a supreme win the team while Force India after missing points due to various reasons finally scored points in a thumping way with Fisi coming in 2nd. All this leads to a very interesting Italian GP in Monza.

Belgian GP Preview: Now or never for the Red Bulls!

2009-08-27T16:26:00.000+05:30

Rubens Barrichello drove a brilliant race and with a bit of luck managed to win his 1st race in 5 years and won the European GP. This is highly important for Barrichello as not only has thrown his name in the title race once again but also could have earned a contract with Brawn GP for the next season. If Barrichello can continue to do this, Ross Brawn will be in a big fix but luckily for them even their rivals Red Bull face the same problem but then mathematically even Lewis Hamilton does have a chance but then Hamilton’s chance is as good as Luca Badoer winning a race this season!

Jenson Button after his near invincible show during the first half of the season is now struggling and since his win at the Turkish GP, he has failed to be on the podium and his teammate Barrichello had outscored and outperformed since then. Button needs to not only finish ahead of Barrichello but also score more wins to show that he is a dominating champion and his title is win is just not because he had a very superior machine compared to his competitors. But Spa will not be as hot as Valencia and if we have to go back and see what has happened, Brawn has struggled when the conditions are cold and this will surely give Red Bull an edge over them.

Red Bull has to pull off a one-two and also hope that Brawn fails to score if they want to have a realistic chance to go after both the titles. The team is also having engine problems especially with Vettel as he only has one more engine left and that has to last 6 races. He is bound to have engine penalty and this would definitely hamper his title hopes while teammate Webber will hope that the team backs him in his pursuit of the championship. Renault must be worried as Red Bull is eying the Mercedes engine which is the best on the grid and after the recent engine issues, Mercedes could power yet another team for the 2010 season.

McLaren and Hamilton must have been disappointed after their pit crew goof up which caused them a win but they should be confident as they have been the superior team on the grid for the last 2 races and they could also both cause or maybe help Brawn and Button on their championship quest. Heikki Kovalainen should be a very worried man and though he came in 4th in the European GP, McLaren is still not happy with his race pace and he needs to drive out of his skin if he needs to retain his spot in the team for 2010 as Rosberg is all set to sign with the team.

Ferrari must be wondering what on earth they have done by bringing back Luca Badoer to F1 after a decade of absence. Fellow tester Marc Gene would have been a better choice as he did substitute for the Williams team during the 2004 season and this season he has won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. A few other people who have raced in F1 in the recent past like David Coulthard, Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Bourdais have been linked to the seat but Ferrari should use this opportunity to give youngsters like Mirko Bortolotti or William’s reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg a chance as this would definitely help the team in the long run. Kimi must be a happy man as he is not only improved since the beginning of the season but in the absence of Massa, he is the focus of the team and he needs to show his worth if he has to retain his seat for the next season.

Nico Rosberg is the most talked about guy on the grid and he is making every use on what Williams is able to give him and though he is still some pace off a podium finish, he has scored points now for the last 7 races and with Kazuki Nakajima yet to open account, Williams is highly depended on their fight against the likes of Toyota as they are still catchable while Ferrari and McLaren will be fighting for the 3rd and 4th spot. Toyota needs to do something drastic as the team has been giving mixed signals, while they pull off their track from F1, they also try to sign Vettel for the 2011 season. It is time for the team to decided if they want to continue in F1 or not as the blow hot blow cold attitude is not going to help anyone at all.

BMW is yet to find a buyer but the team has did score points and any points is good for both the team and the driver as Kubica and Nick Heidfeld would be looking forward to join a top team rather than join a team which will be stuck at the back of the grid. All signs point to Kubica moving to Renault to replace Alonso as the dream team of Ferrari and Alonso is more or less finalized according to German and Spanish media and once again the driver market is dependent on where Alonso goes. Renault will stay and though there has been speculation that the team will leave the sport for the last 3 years, Honda and BMW has pulled the plug while Renault has stayed on and Flavio has promised that they would be on the grid for the 2010 season. Romain Grosjean did not set the track on fire but had a decent debut and if he could score points in the coming races, he will be driving for the team during the 2010 season.

Force India has continued to show progress and though on track since the British GP, the team has been better than fellow minnows Toro Rosso, the team is yet to score points while STR scored some points early on in the season and seem to have now an unassailable lead over Force India.

Belgian GP has always been exiting and it is one of the most popular circuits on the calendar and there is always the rain to spice up things. We all do remember the 1995 edition of the race when Michael Schumacher proved that he is truly a racing god as he won the race starting from 16th on the grid. It has also been a good track for Ferrari and Kimi and this could be a ideal place for both Ferrari and Kimi to start winning this season.

Belgian GP Predictions: 1. Kimi 2.Vettel 3. Hamilton 4. Webber 5. Rosberg 6. Button 7. Heikki 8. Barrichello

2009 European GP: Barrichello wins to reignite Brawn Wars

2009-08-23T20:23:00.000+05:30

What should have been a first one-two of the year for McLaren ended in a disappointment as Rubens Barrichello wins ends his race victory draught and wins his first race after 5 years. It was a very important win for Barrichello as he is now #2 in the drivers’ championship and he can once again resume his rivalry with Button for the title. Having both Barrichello and Button score is good for Brawn as it makes the gap between them and Red Bull wider and gives them the advantage in the constructor’s championship.

McLaren who clearly looked like the team which would dominate Valencia in the end had to be content with Hamilton coming in 2nd while Heikki Kovalainen was demoted to the 3rd spot after an inspired drive from fellow Finn and Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, who scored his 3rd podium of the season. Kimi’s performance was the only thing to look forward for the Ferrari team after a very poor performance by Luca Badoer. It is highly unlikely that Luca would be given another chance after his miserable race which saw him start from the back and he managed to come 17th out of 18 cars and this too due to a tire puncture for Kazuki Nakajima.

Red Bulls had a race to forget as the car lacked the pace of McLaren and Brawn in the qualifying and though Vettel had a decent start, due to a fuel pump problem had to pit twice within a span of few laps finally had to retire from the race due to an engine blow-up. A major worry for the team as Vettel just has one more engine to use for the remaining of the season and if he has to use anymore he will have grid penalties. Teammate and fellow title contender Webber looked like he may squeeze in a few points but Jenson Button did well enough to not only finish ahead of him but also score 2 useful points while Webber came in 9th and failed to score any points.

Nico Rosberg once again had a very good race for the Williams team and he nearly caught up with Heikki Kovalainen towards the end of the race though he may not have caught up Heikki, he has done well enough and if the rumours are true, he would join Hamilton in a dream team for McLaren for 2010. Williams are also slowly catching up with Toyota and it would be a great feat for them if they could overtake the Japanese team as so far Rosberg is the only driver who is scoring while Nakajima is there to make up numbers.

Renault and Alonso were allowed to race at the last moment and though the team did not perform any miracles, it was great to see Alonso once again score points by coming in 6th while Romain Grosjean had a promising debut and proved that Renault was right in sacking Nelson Piquet. Robert Kubica scored the final points and it was good to see the BMW team score some points. It is very important for both the drivers and the team to do well till the end of the season as for both Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, it is important to do well in order to secure drives for the 2010 season while if the team does well, it would be an attractive option for any new buyer.

Toyota once again had a disappointing race as Trulli and Glock could finish only 13 and 14. The team has to do something really fast and they have been in F1 for some time now and after spending soo much on the team, they are yet to win a race and if the team continue to perform the same way, the head office may just pull the plug of the program. Force India once again had a very good weekend and will be disappointed in not scoring points as the team not only was faster than Toyota but also now has clearly proved that it is better than STR though Toro Rosso leads them on the table.

It was nearly an uneventful European GP till McLaren decided to give away the race to Barrichello and some last minute catching up by Rosberg and Button did provide some excitement. There are talks that this could be the last European GP in Valencia, but no one would actually miss this circuit as there is nothing special to this place.

European GP Preview: Change of guard as Traditional Powers Rise!

2009-08-20T15:08:00.000+05:30

The break in the F1 calendar for once has not raised any new issues between FIA and FOTA but legendary F1 driver and arguably one of the greatest driver ever to compete Michael Schumacher was the talking point ever since the Hungarian GP. We are all happy that Massa has recovered well and if everything goes well could be racing for Ferrari at his home race, the Brazilian GP. Also BMW has announced that it will be pulling out of F1 but then though this has surprised a lot of people, but BMW has a habit of pulling out of F1, well it did happen in the 80’s and again a few years back, they bailed on Williams and the team has been in downhill ever since that.

Michael Schumacher was the biggest newsmaker and he decided to come out of retirement and drive the Ferrari as a replacement for the injured Massa but then his neck injury he sustained during a bike crash is still not healed properly and he decided to not race in Valencia though there is a chance that he could be back this season and well most know that Schumi did retire a bit early and he could have easily raced for another year or so but at 40 even with a car which is not the best at the grid, a half-fit Schumi is good enough to beat most of the younger drivers on track.

This is a very important race for Jenson Button and Brawn GP as the last few races have seem them down the pack and their rivals Red Bull seem to have the car which is the best on the grid but then the only thing which is going in Button’s favor is that both Vettel and Webber are eating points of each other which should in the end may actually benefit Button but then on the constructor’s side, Red Bull is all set to overtake Brawn very soon. Red Bull has to decide which driver to back or else they maybe just short of Button provided Brawn does not improve but in all possibility Brawn has been working very hard and should atleast challenge for podium places.

McLaren and Hamilton are happy after their first win for the season at the Hungarian GP but they know that Ferrari is also fast catching up and they could pose a very serious threat. It is also very important for Heikki Kovalainen as the next few races will decide his F1 future as Nico Rosberg is tipped for a McLaren drive and with BMW out of the picture; McLaren seems to be his only destination. Heikki has to drive out of his skin to retain his seat for the next season.

Another Finn who is under immense pressure is Kimi as with Alonso moving to Ferrari for the 2010 season is one of the biggest open secrets ever, there is a chance that Ferrari may buy Kimi out of his contract so that he can go on to become a rally driver but now with Schumi not driving, Kimi should be a happy person as he does not want to be slower than a 40 year legend but then worst is being slower than a 38 year old test driver who has never raced in F1 this century! Luca Badoer is living a dream and the man who has never scored points in F1, finally does get his chance to rewrite history and though it could be only for a short time, finally we see an Italian in the Ferrari team.

Renault and Alonso are back at the last minute and it was important for the organizers that Alonso drive this weekend as the popularity of F1 has raised ever since he won 2 world championships. Piquet finally gets the boot and Frenchmen Romain Grosjean gets to replace him. This again is a very important race for Renault as if the team continues to languish, the team may consider pulling out of F1 as the company at the moment is not doing very well.

BMW has promised that they will improve the car in order to make it more attractive for prospective buyers and with the Peter Sauber backed Brawn style takeover bid now gone, it is very important for the team to find new backers or else a new team may occupy its place on the grid. Kubica and Heidfeld will be racing as each is their last in-order to make themselves attractive to other teams.

Toyota another team which may exit F1, will be looking for a good show from both its drivers as though through the season, the team did always have a car which was really good but then the team has struggled at times and at no time it was actually challenging for a win. Time the team goes up a notch and get its maiden win but then that should be a real hard task as Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and even Williams are far ahead. The other Toyota powered team, Williams will once again fight the big boys while spending a fraction of what they do, it is important for the team to keep scoring points and try challenging for wins if the team has to remain in the sport on a longer run.

STR and Force India will have an interesting battle at the bottom of the grid, though STR is ahead with points on the table, Force India is still looking for those elusive points and they may just do it in Valencia with a little bit of luck on their side. Hope this year’s European GP is more interesting than the one we had last year.

European GP Predictions: 1. Vettel 2.Webber 3. Hamilton 4. Kimi 5. Button 6. Rosberg 7. Glock 8. Trulli

The Hiatus

2009-08-15T10:35:00.000+05:30

Cutting the Chicane also took a mini break due to the ongoing break in F1 and well though Williams and Force India, the 2 non FOTA teams may complain how they have incurred cost by shutting down their factories during this period but from a fan point of view, this break has been hard on people and I think both FIA and FOM along with FOTA should reconsider such long breaks. I suggest it is better to make the season shorter than have such a long period especially when you are expecting a very close finish in the championship with Brawn losing steam and both the Red Bull driver’s closing in on Jenson Button during every race weekend. They say there are no fairytales in sports and this could actually be true for both Jenson Button and Brawn GP, but then if Webber or even Vettel does pull it off it will be nothing short of a miracle!

Something’s which has hogged the limelight and they are in no particular order

- Schumacher’s legendary return and later his decision to abort from the European GP and maybe even from the 2010 season. (I nearly booked tickets for the Singapore GP!)
- BMW going the Honda way and shutting down the team for the 2010 season. Peter Sauber nearly did a Brawn but BMW got too greedy. (History repeats itself, BMW pulled off Williams at the end of 2005 and Williams has never been the same)
- Jean Todt and Ari Vatanen trying to outgun each other as both men has high hopes and have a surreal campaign going around.
- Jaime Alguersuari decided to race as much as possible with apart from F1 commitments, decided to go back to Formula Renault series and also take part in various Karting events.
- Romain Grosjean waiting for his F1 debut with the Renault team but not sure if it will be in Valencia or Spa-Francorchamps as all depends on the FIA
- Luca Badoer makes a historic comeback and he gets rewarded for all the work he has put in as a Ferrari test driver. This will be the 4th Italian team he races for after Scuderia Italia, Minardi and Forti Corse teams and he has the most recorded starts and yet to score points in the championship. (The last Italian to drive for Ferrari was Nicola Larini during the 1994 San Marino GP, he came 2nd)
- Montreal returns as a F1 circuit and it will be on for the 2010 season
- Jacques Villeneuve is looking for an F1 seat for the 2010 season and oh yeah he is divorced now.

2009 Hungarian GP: McLaren and Hamilton back to winning ways

2009-07-26T23:03:00.001+05:30

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren were back to their winning ways and for the first time this season a non Brawn or a Red Bull car have won a race and a car with a KERS a system which had a development cost between 50 to 100 million won a race. Kimi came 2nd in his Ferrari again a car with the KERS but the main story is about Massa’s crash in the qualifying and his subsequent withdrawal from the race. He has a cracked scull thanks to a part which flew from Barrichello’s car which ended him crashing. Though he is said to be stable, he is still in the ICU and he is in an induced coma. We all hope that he will recover and will be back for the European GP.

Hamilton may have won in style but luck did play a part with Alonso’s pit crew just throwing away the race due to a faulty tire change which resulted in the tire coming of his car and Alonso finally ended up retiring at the end of it. Though Alonso was on a 3 stop strategy, he still could have pushed Hamilton and so could have Kimi if not for a horrible engine stall during his 2nd pit stop which did stall him for a while and cost him precious time but then he did well to come ahead of an inspired Webber and Rosberg who ended up with a late surge.

Red Bull should be disappointed as they had a car which was the best on the track but the first corner where the cars with KERS Kimi’s and Hamilton’s overtaking Vettel just ruined the race for the young German and he finally ended up retiring. This was a track where he could have closed in on Button’s huge lead but instead his teammate Webber suddenly has emerged as a very dangerous rival for Button and if Brawn does not get their cars up to speed, they could well be in big trouble towards the end of the season to sustain the lead they have knocked up in the first half of the season.

Nico Rosberg was just brilliant and he is among the top 5 drivers this year as with a Brawn or a Red Bull, he surely would have won a few races this season and it is not surprising that he is negotiation with big teams like McLaren and BMW for a 2010 drive and don’t be too surprised if he is announced as Hamilton’s teammate for the next season. Kazuki Nakajima should be disappointed to have not finished among points as he fought hard throughout the race and he did deserve a point for his drive in Hungary.

Toyota continue to baffle everybody with their strategy as though they actually have a car which may not be as good as a Brawn or a Red Bull at the early part of the season, but they always had a very consistent car which was 2nd or 3rd fastest throughout the season so far and they continue to somehow miss podium places. The time has come for the team to score a few podium places and even win a race or else they may be out of F1 very soon.

2009 Hungarian GP: McLaren and Hamilton Back to Winning Ways

2009-07-26T15:10:00.000+05:30

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren were back to their winning ways and for the first time this season, a non-Brawn or a Red Bull car has won a race. Not to mention a car with a KERS a system, which had a development cost between $50-$100 million, won a race.

Kimi may have finished second in his Ferrari again (a car with the KERS), but the main story is about Massa’s crash in the qualifying and his subsequent withdrawal from the race.

He has a cracked scull thanks to a part that flew from Barrichello’s car, which ended with him crashing. Though he is said to be stable, he is still in the ICU and is in an induced coma. We all hope that he will recover and will be back for the European GP.

Hamilton may have won in style, but luck did play a part with Alonso’s pit crew just throwing away the race due to a faulty tire change. The faulty resulted in the tire coming of his car and Alonso finally ended up retiring at the end of it.

Even though Alonso was on a three-stop strategy, he still could have pushed Hamilton. Kimi could have too if it wasn't for a horrible engine stall during his second pit stop. The stall delayed his timing, costing precious time. However, he did well enough to come ahead of an inspired Webber and Rosberg, who ended up with a late surge.

Red Bull should be disappointed as they had a car which was the best on the track. Still, the first corner where the cars with KERS Kimi’s and Hamilton’s overtaking Vettel just ruined the race for the young German and he finally ended up retiring.

This was a track where he could have closed in on Button’s huge lead but instead, his teammate Webber suddenly has emerged as a very dangerous rival for Button. If Brawn does not get their cars up to speed, they could well be in big trouble towards the end of the season to sustain the lead they have knocked up in the first half of the season.

Nico Rosberg was flat-out brilliant and is among the top-five drivers this year as with a Brawn or a Red Bull. He surely would have won a few races this season and it is not surprising that he is negotiating with big teams like McLaren and BMW for a 2010 drive.

Don’t be too surprised if he is announced as Hamilton’s teammate for the next season. Kazuki Nakajima should be disappointed to have not finished among points as he fought hard throughout the race and deserved a point for his drive in Hungary.

Toyota continues to baffle everybody with their strategy. Even though they actually have a car, which may not be as good as a Brawn or a Red Bull, at the early part of the season, they always had a very consistent car which was second or third fastest throughout the season so far.

They continue to somehow miss podium places. The time has come for the team to score a few podium places and even win a race or else they may be out of F1 very soon.

Hungarian GP Preview: Can the Bulls make it 3 times in a row?

2009-07-25T09:53:00.001+05:30

It’s been sometime since a driver got kicked out and replaced by another one and this time in Budapest, young Spanish prodigy Jaime Alguersuari will be making his debut for the Toro Rosso team and he will be the youngest driver to race in F1 at the age of 19 years and 125 days, breaking the record held by Mike Thackwell. He replaces Sébastien Bourdais, who has taken his sacking in a bad way and has even threatened to go to courts.

Once again the Budapest the battle should be between Red Bull Racing and Brawn GP, but this race could throw a curve ball as the olds guns like McLaren seem to have found the pace in practice and don’t be too shocked to see Lewis Hamilton back on the podium. But if practice has to be taken into account then Williams should be leading the championship and not Brawn and once again the team is looking very solid in practice but they have shown improvement and the last few races have been good for the team especially Rosberg who continue to impress everyone and another good showing here would up his market value and he is already pursued by both McLaren and BMW.

Among the Red Bull drivers, Webber looks better than Vettel atleast on practice and who comes on top during the race on Sunday will be very tough to predict but expect both the drivers to fight it out till the end but though this is good for the team when it comes to chasing Brawn for the constructors’ title but when it comes to the driver’s championship with Vettel and Webber eating away valuable points, Button with a 20 point lead look set to take the championship without any major worries. His teammate Barrichello seems relaxed now after his outburst after the German GP and he would do his best to come ahead of Button.

Ferrari seem to have been steadily improving and looks like fighting it out with Williams and Toyota for the position of the 3rd best team on the grid but they have not shown anything spectacular in practice and well that has been the case throughout this season but they have done well in race situation especially Massa who would want to prove a point in Hungary as this is one of his worst tracks and he has not finished ahead of 7th place. Kimi needs a miracle as with the Alonso coming to Ferrari rumours getting stronger by every day, he looks to be man who could lose his race seat and he would want to prove his critics wrong buy not only finishing ahead of Massa but putting a strong show.

With Red Bull courting Mercedes for engines and with the Alonso-Ferrari rumours, Renault pulling the plug from its F1 project seems more likely everyday and though there is a possibility of Flavio Briatore buying the team with Renault supplying the engines, clearly its days as one of the big teams is fast running away and the team will be lucky to score points in Hungary. Nelson Piquet will be under immense pressure once again and if word is out that this could be his last race and he could be replaced by the Frenchman Romain Grosjean for the European GP in Valencia.

Toyota should be a worried team as even with a good package, the team has not been able to deliver on the track while Trulli and Glock are good but neither is a champion driver and they are not able to consistently target podium finishes while BMW who is looking desperate just to score some points will be looking for things to turn around in Budapest.

Force India looks stronger every race and with a little bit of luck they could have scored points this season, but once again they go into a race where they do have a realistic chance of scoring points but they do need a flawless strategy and their drivers need to pull off something special while Toro Rosso with all the attention on Alguersuari and his sheer lack of experience in a F1 car will be hoping that things do go well for him and also Buemi who showed soo much promise during the start of the season looks like fizzling out a bit.

It should be a cracked of a race and expect the Red Bull Vs Brawn and Vettel Vs Webber Vs Button battles to continue while Rosberg and Hamilton could just spoil their party.

Hungarian GP Predictions: 1. Webber 2. Vettel 3. Rosberg 4. Hamilton 5. Button 6. Barrichello 7. Räikkönen 8. Kovalainen

2010 Possible Driver Line-Up

2009-07-19T11:59:00.001+05:30

The 2010 Formula season will be the most exciting when it comes to the driver market as barring a few driver’s on one on the grid is sure on which team they will be landing up in the next few months. We must assume that the FIA-FOTA battle is resolved as otherwise well the driver market will once again be turned topsy turvy. The emergence of Brawn GP and RBR as title contenders has given the sport the trust it badly needed and it has also provided an opportunity for title aspirants a chance to fight it out with the traditional superpowers like Ferrari and McLaren. Also with 3 new teams coming in, 6 seats are open and this provide opportunities for out of favour veterans and young guns both an equal chance of getting into F1.

Ferrari

Both Massa and Kimi Raikkonen have contracts till the end of 2010 but this season has been their worst ever and it will be harsh on blaming the performance on drivers alone but both the drivers have seen their fortunes take a twist after the 2007 season. Kimi after winning a miraculous championship in 2007 has been on a downhill and he barely looks like a championship contender while teammate Massa nearly pulled off a title win in 2008 and has looked the better driver in the last 2 years. Massa is having the last laugh as once he was mocked in the pit lane as the only driver who would play 2nd fiddle to Schumacher and now the same guy is the best team for the Scuderia.

But the biggest open secret of the year is Alonso coming to Ferrari for 2010. The Spanish giant Santander is switching sponsoring agreement from McLaren and Ferrari and as a part of the deal Alonso will also come to Ferrari next year. But the one issue is that Kimi still has a contract and if we are too be believed, Kimi will be forced out and should retire by the year end.

McLaren Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton has a contract signed for the next season but it is highly doubtful if Heikki Kovalainen will retain his seat. He has been a perfect # 2 for Hamilton but then his performance is still not to the level which you will expect from a McLaren driver. It is most likely that he will be replaced next season but who will replace him will be very interesting as Haug is interested in having a German driver in the McLaren team and Vettel seem to be on top of his wish list but with a long contract with Red Bull I don’t think Vettel will come to McLaren while Nico Rosberg is suddenly the most wanted driver on the grid as he is keen on moving away from Williams as they are yet to provide him with a championship winning car as they have promised him for years plus he is very good friends with Hamilton may also be good for the team. Webber after an impressive 2009 will also be on the team’s list but after an amazing year with RBR, it is unlikely he will leave the team. Adrian Sutil will be the long shot for the team and so will be Glock but he does have a contract with Toyota for the next season.

Williams Toyota

Once they were part of the Big 4 of the F1 but their fortunes have dwindled ever since Renault left them and though they did show signs of recovery with BMW, but once BMW left them too they have been on a downhill and now the team has become a stepping stone of sorts for young drivers. Nico Rosberg has been with the team since 2006 and it is most likely that he will leave the team the next year as he is in negotiations with more than one team for 2010. They do have Nicolas Hülkenberg another impressive German who is currently leading the GP2 series and he is most likely to take Rosberg’s seat. Kazuki Nakajima is there because of the Toyota links and Williams will be in trouble if they manage to retain Rosberg and clearly Hülkenberg wants a race seat in 2010 and he will look for other options if Williams does not provide him a drive. Kamui Kobayashi another Ferrari backed driver could be the man who may replace Nakajima for 2010.

Renault

It would be great to see Renault still on the grid for 2010 and so far they seem to be committed but then after Honda’s last minute pull anything can happen and if they do pull out Flavio Briatore will buy the team and may try to do a Brawn but they will get Renault engines for 2010. If Alonso does not go to Ferrari then he will be Renault’s #1 driver for the next season but who will partner him will be very interesting as Renault does have a lot of options. If Renault is still there then Romain Grosjean is the man who will get the seat while if Alonso exits then Romain will be partnered by Heikki Kovalainen or one of the 2 Brazilian duos of Lucas Di Grassi or Bruno Senna. But this surely will be the end for Piquet.

BMW Sauber

Both Kubica and Heidfeld do not have a contract for 2010 and there is apparently a clause in the reserve driver Klien’s contract that BMW should provide him a race seat for 2010 so if that is serious then either Kubica or Heidfeld have to go. Already Heidfeld has said that he is talking to teams and it is most unlikely that for 2010 he will be retained while Kubica is most likely to be with the team for 2010 but who will be his teammate should be interesting as though the team will try to get Rosberg but it is most likely to be Klien.

Brawn GP

The team is yet to have an engine supplier for 2010 but Mercedes is keen to supply them and unless cost becomes an issue the team will most likely continue its partnership with the German manufacturer. The team should win both the titles for 2010 as Red Bull may have a realistic chance for the constructor’s championship but for the driver’s championship with both Vettel and Webber eating points of each other mean it does benefit Button and in the end he may win the title because of it. Rubens Barrichello is certain to leave to team and he is pissed with the team he believes that the team is intentionally causing him wins as they want Button to win the title and at his age well I don’t think any of the top teams would want his service. There was a talk that both Rosberg and Heidfeld are in talk with Brawn and they would be a solid addition to the team. Another long shot is having Anthony Davidson as a 2nd driver but then that is unlikely to happen unless the team has a financial crunch.

Red Bull Racing

The team is most likely to become another Mercedes customer team or even BMW may supply them in their quest to get back Vettel but Red Bull is most likely to change its drivers as both Vettel and Webber have done exceedingly well and the team would like to continue this partnership. The only worry for the team in the long run is that Vettel may go off to Ferrari as he has indicated that the Italian outfit is his dream team while Webber will most likely end his career with Red Bull.

Toyota

It will be great of the Japanese outfit to survive but with Glock as the only driver with a contract for 2010, it should be interesting to see who partners him and though Trulli is most likely to partner him, there is a chance of either Kazuki Nakajima or Kamui Kobayashi can also get into the team.

Toro Rosso

Another team which does not have a engine supplier for 2010 and they should retail Ferrari for the next year and Sebastien Buemi is most likely to race for them. He will be partnered by Jaime Alguersuari and there is an outside chance that he will switch seats for some races with Brendon Hartley.

Force India Mercedes

The team has signed a long term deal with Mercedes and this means that the team may have to accommodate a Mercedes driver for the next year. Adrian Sutil will retain his seat while teammate Giancarlo Fisichella should retire by the end of the year and will take a development role with the team. British driver Paul di Resta may partner him while Vitantonio Liuzzi also does claim that he too has a race seat. Karun Chandhok is an outside chance for the seat.

USF1 Cosworth

USF1 wanted American drivers for the team and though in all possibility there should be one of them but it is doubtful if the team will go with 2 inexperienced drivers as among the American drivers the only person with F1 experience is Scott Speed and his days in F1 did not go too well. It would be amazing if the team managed to get Danica Patrick in the team as she is infact the one of the most popular female athletes around and she is a marketing dream for the team. It will be great for F1 if she does make it while among the other who does have a chance. Others who will be considered will include Conor Daly, Marco Andretti and Kyle Busch.

Veterans like Rubens Barrichello and even those who have left F1 like Montoya or Jacques Villeneuve do have an outside chance but the ideal combination for the team will be Barrichello and Danica Patrick.

Campos Cosworth

The Spanish team has indicated that it would like to have an all Spanish line-up and so this means that it has a wide choice from the range of veterans like Pedro de la Rosa or Marc Gené to young hopefuls like Javier Villa and Roldán Rodríguez. So far if it is to be believed de la Rosa is confirmed as one of their drivers while he is most likely to be partnered by the Russian Vitaly Petrov, Mexican Sergio Pérez or even experience GP2 driver Giorgio Pantano. But one thing is certain is that though there is talk of Danica Patrick and USF1, Campos have signed in Natacha Gachnang as a reserve driver and she could be the only female driver anywhere close to the grid during the 2010 season.

Manor Cosworth

The only reason Manor is on the grid is due to due to its alleged links with Mosley. The team will be the most underfunded team and who drivers for it will be equally mysterious. Anthony Davidson should be the favourite to take the seat while he should be partnered by Adam Carroll or even guys like Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi have a chance of getting a drive. But don’t expect any miracles from this team for 2010.

The driver market is very open for 2010 and Alonso once again will play a crucial role but Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld will be the 2 most wanted drivers in the line-up.

The final possible line-up for 2010

Brawn: Jenson Button/ Nick Heidfeld
Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel/ Mark Webber
Toyota: Timo Glock/ Jarno Trulli
Ferrari: Fernando Alonso/ Felipe Massa
Williams: Nico Hulkenberg/Kamui Kobayashi
McLaren: Lewis Hamilton/Nico Rosberg
Renault: Romain Grosjean/Heikki Kovalainen
BMW-Sauber: Robert Kubica/Christian Klien
Toro Rosso: Sebastien Buemi/ Jaime Alguersuari
Force India: Adrian Sutil/Vitantonio Liuzzi
USF1: Rubens Barrichello/Danica Patrick
Campos: Pedro de la Rosa/Vitaly Petrov
Manor: Anthony Davidson/ Bruno Senna

2009 German GP: Webber wins his first race as the Bull Run continues

2009-07-12T22:56:00.001+05:30

Mark Webber after 132 race starts finally won his first race and it was a moment which he would cherish forever as not only did Webber proved that he can be as good as his phenomenally talented teammate Vettel but he also put his name down in the championship conquest for what could turn out to be a most exiting championship chase against Button. To make the day better his teammate Vettel came 2nd and Red Bull Racing for the 3rd time this year managed a 1-2 finish and closed in on the gap against Brawn GP.

Brawn though were expected to dominate on a track which would have suited them in the end had a race to forget as not only the expected rains screwed their strategy but also their pit decisions put them out of contention of podium finishes and instead gave their drivers 5th and 6th places. Though they do have a large lead, but Vettel and Webber are 2nd and 3rd in the drivers’ championship and with 8 more races to go, now it is realistic for them to hunt down Button for the title. Barrichello once again was upset with the team and has questioned its strategy and the way things are going it is unlikely that Barrichello will stay with Brawn post this season.

The German GP also sort of saw a Ferrari revival with Massa gaining an unexpected 3rd place finish and getting his first podium of the season. Massa is clearly the #1 driver for Ferrari and has proved that given a good car he is infact more reliable than Kimi in leading a championship team and with the rumours of Alonso coming to Ferrari in 2010 well Kimi should be a worried man as his performance during the last few race weekends have been very average and this could very well the end for the Finish driver.

Speaking of Alonso, he yet again managed a solid performance with a Renault which does not deserve to score points as he managed to come 7th while teammate Piquet continue to improve as he came 13th and at one stage looked like he had a chance for points. Though Alonso and Webber were the drivers of the race, German talent Rosberg managed to come in 4th after starting from 15th on the grid and was very consistent throughout the race and well this could have impressed the higher-ups in McLaren and BMW as if you do believe the German media, he is expected to land a drive in either one of them for the next season.

Lewis Hamilton came 18th while teammate Kovalainen came in 8th but the irony was that Lewis’s car had all the updates and he realistically had a chance to finish on podium but some over enthusiastic drive in the start effectively screwed his race and he had to just drive along and just let the others pass him as he was behind by well over a lap while Kovalainen managed to have a lucky start and at one stage was coming in 2nd but then due to some lacklustre driving he only could finish at 8 but any points is good for the team which is having one of its worst season ever.

Another home team the BMW though at no stage did look like it was seriously challenging for points but it was good to see the team near the top 10 rather than behind the grid and the car may not have yet found it’s sweet post but both Heidfeld and Kubica were pretty impressive while Toyota though had the package to be as fast as a Brawn or a RBR once again disappointed with Trulli coming in 17th while Glock came only 9th. It’s a pity to see Toyota with a good package struggling for points but had it had someone like Alonso driving for it, well they could be even challenging for wins by now.

There is something about Force India and Kimi as once again Kimi was involved in a racing incident which effectively ruined Sutil’s race and Force India’s dream of scoring F1 points. The team has really made improvements and it is clearly better than the other bottom placed team Toro Rosso and also the team has managed to give the likes of BMW, Renault and even McLaren at times a run for its money. We all just hope the team manages to score points by the time the season gets over.

It was a good German GP and though the crowd would have liked Vettel to win the race, but though Vettel may not be the Kaiser yet, he is one in the making and it was always good to see a prancing horse car once again on the podium. A few more races like this can give Brawn and Button some sleepless nights as Red Bull are on a accent and come the Hungarian GP Brawn may have to come up with something or else the Bulls may just run away leaving Brawn behind.

German GP Preview: Vettel’s date with destiny

2009-07-09T22:10:00.000+05:30

Sebastian Vettel did something to Jenson Button which one driver has managed to do and that is not only beat him on a dry race but also dominate the race to an extend that Button for the first time failed to reach the podium. Brawn GP fans may blame that the track and the conditions for their cat but again during their dominating win, they had no such crib and hailed Button’s win to Schumacher’s 2004 title victory. Well for all you know Button can still in that fashion but then in a few days his will face his most serious contender as for Vettel apart from Monza this could be a crucial race for his future ambitions of taking over as the new Kaiser and become the new Red Baron and a win in the historic Nürburgring could also bring back the interest in the championship and not on things outside the track which this season has overshadowed F1.

Though this track should favour the Brawn GP and Jenson knows this track pretty well to once again win this season but his teammate should be inspired after his podium finish and very importantly ahead of Button in his home grand prix and so expect Barrichello to re-launch his quest for not only the title but also the man who would be the Cinderella Man for Brawn GP. Red Bull after a stunning 1-2 finish in Silverstone should be strong for this race and though they may be very slightly behind Brawn but then that can be overcome by sound strategy and an inspirational drive from their drivers can put the Bulls once again on the podium and can also close the gap in the Constructors Championship.

Toyota seem to look like one team which can close in on the top 2 and though they are registered as a Japanese team and Fuji is their track but then they are the only team in the grid to have a base in Germany and with a German Timo Glock piloting the car for them expect huge support for the team which should expect both its drivers on points while the other car with a Toyota engine Williams also have a young German talent who has beaten Hamilton in the junior formula levels and had he been in a Williams teams in the late 80’s or early 90’s would have been fighting for a championship or could have even won one. Williams does not want to become another Lotus and they showed improvement in the last race and though there is no denial about their pace in practice but when it comes to racing situation Williams does lag behind Brawn GP, Red Bull & Toyota while they have been impressively ahead of McLaren and Ferrari but it will be a very good performance for the team if they manage to finish ahead of these 2 teams along with Renault as these 4 used to be the big 4 of F1 and also on BMW who famously dumped Williams and took over Sauber to form their own team.

Ferrari though they managed to get both their drivers to score points are still some way off winning pace leave alone podium finishes but they are slowly improving and the team has well given up on the season but the interesting thing to look for will be the driver battle as Massa has been the better driver of the 2 since mid-way last season and with the rumours of Alonso switching to Ferrari next season, Kimi needs a performance like the 2007 season to maintain his seat. In Germany you can always see the Tifosi in full strength and well it could be the legacy of Schumacher but then the next Schumacher’s performance could also count a lot.

McLaren’s season has become from bad to worse and after the British GP, well they looked even worse than Force India a private team which has a tie-up with McLaren and is more or less like a customer to it is actually faster than the works team. Also Mercedes would also want its official team to do well after the embarrassing performance of its team this season. Another German team BMW is having its worst season ever and after an amazing 2008 they continue on their nightmare of a season with rumours of Heidfeld leaving is also very high. For the sake of drivers scoring points would be something that the team would want to but then they also need a lot of luck and maybe even rain to help them out.

Alonso is the only reason Renault has score points this season and the best driver on the planet is yet again stuck with a car which is not at all helping him and though he has not denied the rumours of his eminent move to Ferrari but the question is only when and even if the Spaniard does not move next season his teammate Piquet should be going into every race when the axe will be on him and with the likes of French prodigy Romain Grosjean and Senna waiting in the wings, Piquet needs to do something which he has never done in his entire career and which is step a few levels up and race like a champion.

Force India continue on their accent up and though they have not scored points they have been pretty impressive and off-late looked faster than Toro Rosso and at times quicker than even outfits like BMW, Renault and yes even McLaren. Though their best bet of scoring points may have gone off but then don’t be too shocked if either of Fisi or Sutil managed to score points by the end of the season while sister team Red Bull challenging Brawn for both the titles it is a bit sad to see Toro Rosso after a decent start now languishing at the bottom and the same team last season was ahead of Honda, Red Bull, Williams and Force India. Hope the team does turn things very soon and this could be the best season to challenge the likes of BMW and Renault.

Rain is predicted for the race and though the track is expected to favour Brawn but even in conditions where the track will be moist and with a cool breeze around, it will not be Brawn’s liking and they would suffer from tyre heating issues and well if it also rains, well Red Bull can thank their stars and could continue to eat away Brawn’ early season advantage and pull off an impossible comeback.

Man or the Machine

2009-06-28T10:30:00.000+05:30

This has been a highly debated thing since the early 90’s where we always wanted to know how much of a difference does a driver make to the team and also how much does he needs from a car to go on and dominate the series.

Jensen Button was dominating the 2009 season till Silverstone where an inspired Vettel and his RBR car pulled off such a dominating performance that now suddenly Brawn’s dominating season may not be as dominating as one would expect and the Red Bull team can pose a very serious challenge to both the titles which just a week ago was all set to be won by Brawn without even sweating out much.

Button made in debut during the 2000 season for the Williams F1 team and though he was never pulled off a rookie performance like a Hamilton or a Jacques Villeneuve but still he was impressive enough was immediately touted as a potential world champion in the coming years. But then after 2 years in the Renault/Benetton teams he switched to the BAR team and inspite of a contract lock-up with the Williams team which he eventually got out from, he stuck with the BAR team which became Honda and finally it turned up as the Brawn GP team.

There was a stage when Button became from a potential champion to a very consistent F1 driver and at one stage BAR/Honda test driver Antony Davidson was said to be as good as Button but if nit for his looks and contacts he should have been in Button’s race seat and not Jenson Button!!!

Now Button’s performance this season is compared with the performance which Schumacher put during his championship winning 2004 season. Schumacher has proved that he could infact be the best possible driver ever to have raced in F1 but not only ending up owning every possible F1 record possible but also joining a languishing Ferrari and making it into the superpower that it is now. Prost and Senna were great drivers of the 80’s but they never were part of a team which was struggling to score points, they were always with the best.

How do you judge the driver’s skills unless they all have identical cars but then this is done at junior formula levels and by the time a driver enters F1, you know how much potential he will have. I am sure that everyone on the grid knows that Kazuki Nakajima is never a world champion potential and he is in F1 thanks to Toyota’s connection with Williams while teammate Rosberg can potentially be a world champion if he does have a good car.

There are drivers who are good and they also need a very good package to win races and world titles and these includes the likes of Kimi, Massa, Hamilton and even Button but then there are drivers who no matter how much bad the car can be, they still put up an astounding performance day in and day out and currently on the grid Alonso and Vettel does it. Alonso has proved once again this season that it is just not about the cars and he can pull off an amazing performance even with a poor car.

Sebastian Vettel is a once in a lifetime sort of talent and he has taken the Schumacher route to F1 and everyone still remembers his first win at Monza with the Toro Rosso team at rainy conditions where more experienced drivers were struggling for grip while Vettel having his first full season took an amazing win or his overtaking on Hamilton at last year’s Brazilian GP where Hamilton driving one of the best cars on the grid but Vettel on a Toro Rosso overtook him at the last lap to go with ease.

If it was strictly cars which make a difference then Rubens Barrichello should have won atleast one world championship now as he had a nearly identical car to Schumacher and now to Button. But then though how much ever he may crib about team orders and all, there has never been a whole season where he has consistently beaten either Schumacher or Button.

It is not only the cars but the drivers also matter but off late the car element has gone up so much that and though Jenson Button is a good driver, there are atleast half a dozen guys on the grid who are better than him but still thanks to a very good car he is able to put a dominating show whereas guys like Alonso is struggling to even score points.

It will be amazing if both Alonso and Vettel would join Ferrari by 2011 and if Ferrari can produce a car which is as good as anyone on the field then it would be amazing to watch 2 of the best drivers on the grid battle it out with an equal package and we can surely know that who is the best among the lot as right now if you forget the car and go by sheer driving skills, then Alonso and Vettel are surely on top of the grid by ease now.

2009 British GP: Bulls on Rampage as Vettel conquers Silverstone!

2009-06-21T20:06:00.001+05:30

Sebastian Vettel started his impossible championship quest against Jenson Button’s massive lead in what could be the last British GP at Silverstone. Vettel had a perfect weekend as he not only won the race but also managed a triple crown of getting his car on pole and also having the fastest lap of the race. Vettel showed total dominance as he was a good half a second faster than any other car of the field and even his teammate Webber who came 2nd was not fast enough to catch up with the young German who is tipped to be the future of F1.

Rubens Barrichello said before the race that he will try to win the British GP but though he managed to come 3rd and get the last podium place it was very important for him to come ahead of his teammate Button and prove that he is no way behind Button. Though this result does not see a major shift in the driver’s championship but it was important for Barrichello to close in the gap and also try to challenge Button for the world title. Brawn has to be a bit worried about the pace of Red Bull as though they may have a good enough lead to get Button to the driver’s championship, but the constructor’s title is still wide open and Red Bull is fast catching up and a few more races like this could make it neck and neck.

Ferrari had a very decent weekend as they are fast catching up with Toyota and trying to go after the 3rd spot among the constructors as Massa thanks to a very solid drive and good strategy managed to come 4th while teammate scored the last of the points by coming in 8th. Ferrari is still behind Brawn and Red Bull but they are definitely ahead of the rest of the pack and it is very important for them to get both the cars on points consistently.

Nico Rosberg had a very good race as he even had a chance of getting on to the podium but he had to fight for his 5th place with an inspired Button chasing him right through the end. His teammate Kazuki Nakajima though at one stage was as high as 4th but his strategy was not good enough for through the race and he could only come in 11th.

Trulli came in 7th for Toyota while Glock just could not upstage Kimi for the last championship points. Though it was disappointing for the Toyota team who at one stage of the season was as fast as the Brawn cars but now they are way behind not only Red Bull and Brawn but also Ferrari seems to have a slight edge over them and Williams seems to be catching up on them too.

It was a miserable race for the McLaren team as neither driver scored points or even remotely looked like challenging for them while Hamilton did provide some entertainment but have a scrap with the likes of Alonso and Kubica at the back of the field while teammate Heikki Kovalainen is classified last after having a racing incident where he and STR’s Bourdais both had to retire after that. It should also be noted that Williams have overtaken McLaren in the constructor’s title and now sitting in 5th while former champions Renault failed to score points but Alonso once again put up a determined show.

BMW had a race to forget as I think the best for the team is to give up on this season and just focus on the upcoming season while Toro Rosso must be happy having score some points early on in the season as they seem to be behind everyone else and even Force India seem to be pretty strong and this season they had a package which was faster than the likes of McLaren, BMW and Renault which is very impressive for the smallest team on the grid.

It was a very good race and hopefully this should not be the last race at this historic venue as over the years Silverstone has produced some brilliant moments and this year too it was a very impressive show by Vettel and Webber for Red Bull while Barrichello showed that ages does not matter. Hopefully Vettel and Barrichello can challenge Button for the title and we call hope that the 2009 season goes down the wire and we have a similar finish to the 2007 and 2008 seasons where the titles were decided at the last race.

British GP Preview: Will Button Conquer Silverstone?

2009-06-17T22:22:00.000+05:30

Jenson Button is having a Schumacher style season and so far this year his performance has been compared to the 2004 season in which Schumacher won 13 out of the 18 races. So far Button has won 6 out of 7 and no driver including his teammate Barrichello who drives a similar car has not come close to challenging him. Now with Silverstone having its last F1 race, Button could give it a fitting farewell by winning his 7th race of the season here but apart from some misfortune, Barrichello seems to be the only person who can stop him and winning ahead of Button at Silverstone will definitely hurt Button the most.

Though Red Bull and Ferrari showed an improvement in performance levels, but both the cars where no way close to Brawn GP and come this Sunday doesn’t expect them to upgrade its performance to the level of Brawn GP. Both RBR and Ferrari need a mix of luck, brilliant driving and a sound strategy to dislodge Brawn and Button from their winning ways. Vettel and Red Bull won in wet conditions in China and they should be praying that it should rain during the British GP during the weekend so that they can once again show their dominance during the wet weather conditions. Button of all the people knows how rain can turn a race topsy turvy as he won his first race thanks to rain.

With much news coming from outside the racing tracks, it is time for the teams to go and track and perform to the best as after 2 exciting seasons we are down to a season where one team is running away with both the titles and the second best team seems to be a few seconds off pace. Well Schumacher and Ferrari managed it in 2004 as they had the Tifosi to back them and this group of fans make up close to 70% of the viewers while Brawn’s Cinderella story at first seem to be heartbreaking and fresh is now fast becoming stale and unless the likes of Vettel and Red Bull start winning this could be the most boring F1 season ever. Also it would be good if the old guards of F1 like Ferrari, McLaren and Renault can also see the winner’s step.

Toyota seems to be back in form with Trulli coming in 4th while teammate Glock came in 8th. They at one stage seem to be the genuine challengers to Brawn GP but now if they can hold off the likes of Ferrari, Williams and the fast improving BMW team it would be a great result for them. Atleast finishing 3rd in the constructors’ championship looks achievable so far and it would be great for the team if they can actually pull it off.

Williams do need a miracle and unless Rosberg wins a race this season there is now way that he is going to stay with the team for the next season and with the likes of BMW, Renault and even McLaren expected to get stronger as the season proceeds, Williams needs these points to stay float or else they make join the likes of Lotus and Brabham in F1 history books.

McLaren after a horrific start to season needs points in Silverstone to salvage on what has become a nightmare of a season and they will target atleast a top 5 finish in the championship but will have to fight out the likes of Williams, Renault and BMW.

Alonso and Renault will be hoping for an improved performance and Alonso once again this season has proved to be the ultimate driver and if Renault can pull off something, even a podium finish is possible with Alonso behind the wheels while teammate Piquet will have to drive his best if at all he has to survive till the end of the season with the team.

STR and Force India will fight out who gets out of Q1 this time but STR seem to be the better of the 2 with both its driver scoring points but Force India has come dangerously close in scoring points this season and what better place than Silverstone to score it’s maiden point but with some updates coming in for the car expect the team to atleast challenge the STR cars.

Button should be the favourite to win the race but do expect Barrichello to challenge him while this could be the place where Vettel can start on his quest on mathematically challenging Button for the World Championship while Ferrari would want to prove that it is the best among the rest.

2009 Turkish GP: Button Clips Red Bull’s Wings!

2009-06-07T20:46:00.000+05:30

Jenson Button won his 6th race of the season and his 4th in a row to win the Turkish GP in a very comfortable fashion. Though he started from P2, a minor mistake by Vettel on the first lap allowed him to take the lead and show the true pace of Brawn which was much superior then Red Bull’s pace. Though on paper both Vettel and Red Bull may have an outside chance, it is unlikely that Button and Brawn are going to lose grip on both the Championships and they could well be on their way to celebrate both the titles by the 10th race of this season.

There was much talk about Ferrari’s revival but it was another race where the scarlet red team disappointed while Massa fought hard and came 6th, Kimi had a very poor race and instead of being in the points came a lacklustre 9th place. Ferrari has a lot to things ahead and with the British GP in just 2 weeks time plus all the out of track action with the battle between FIA and Ferrari led FOTA still on, a lot of interesting things will happen in the coming weeks.

Though Brawn is building up a lead with every other race, Red Bull is having their best season and not only they are 2nd in the constructors championships but both Vettel and Webber are 3rd and 4th in the driver’s championship and the way they are going about they will definitely go ahead of Barrichello and be in the top 3. It was again a very good race for them as both their drivers joined Button on the podium with Webber yet again on a 2nd while Vettel took an unlucky 3rd due to a weird 3 stop pit strategy.

Toyota bounced back nicely with Trulli coming in 4th while teammate Glock took the last point with his 8th place finish. This sure was an important result for the team while Williams too especially Rosberg pulled off a good result by coming in 5th though his pace continue to be a shell of his practice pace.

Kubica finally scored his first points of the season by coming in 7th and though he had a very quiet race, right now just scoring among points will do for him and BMW and he will be hoping that in the next few races they atleast have the pace to challenge the likes of Ferrari who is way off behind the likes of both Brawns and the RBR.

McLaren again had a very disappointed race with Hamilton and Kovalainen coming in 13th and 14th while Renault failed to score any points with Alonso coming in 10th while teammate Piquet yet again fails to inspire and could only come 16th.

The back runners STR and Force India had a poor time and they just could not challenge the front runners while a lot was expected from STR they struggled for pace while Sutil after managing come go to Q2 for the team along with Fisi struggled once again with Fisi retiring and what seems to be like another season without points for the team.

Button once again proved his superiority not only among his rivals but especially to his teammate Barrichello who now should be happy playing 2nd fiddle to him and just help the team on its way to the constructor’s title. Red Bull needs a little more pace to catch up with Brawn as they have run out of ideas to beat them on pit strategy while Ferrari needs a lot of thinking to do going into the British GP.

Turkey GP Preview: Will Istanbul bring about a Ferrari Renaissance?

2009-06-04T20:57:00.001+05:30

The last 3 years have seen Ferrari’s Massa dominate the Turkish GP and this season after how much the Ferrari has improved in the last few races, Turkey could be the place where the team could put down its foot and put one last stand to defend its constructors championship and also make life for Jenson Button miserable and give him a stiff challenge for his race towards the drivers title. Massa knows his way around the circuit well and the circuit will also suit the Ferrari’s and don’t be too surprised if Massa and Kimi pull off a Ferrari one-two.

Jenson Button has clearly proved that he is the best driver in Brawn GP and he has clearly proved that he is way better and quicker than teammate Barrichello, who may have a sense of déjà vu all over again as he once again has a teammate who is beating him race after race. This could also be the last opportunity for Barrichello to challenge Button and if he fails then Jenson will be backed to the hilt to win the drivers’ championship.

Vettel had a race to forget at Monaco and his Red Bull is expected to once again provide stiff challenge to both the Brawn’s and the Ferrari’s, but also expect his teammate Webber to do something spectacular as his long awaited first win is not too far off and this could be his best season to pull it off.

Hamilton was strong in Monaco till his crash in the qualifiers which effectively ruined his weekend but with no new off-track distractions, this could be the race for him to prove himself that he is a good driver who is not dependent only on his car. Though it may be tough for him to win the race, but if he is lucky enough a podium place is well on the cards while his teammate Heikki Kovalainen will once again try to use this as an opportunity to prove that he is as good as Hamilton and would like to outscore him once again.

Toyota and BMW had a miserable Monaco GP, while atleast Toyota has had a decent start to the season but with various rumours floating around about the future of the team, well this could be the season that they can pull off their best performance and anything less than a race win this season could see them off the grid for the 2010 season while BMW need a miracle to just score points. The irony of their situation was that though they at one stage last season had a realistic chance of challenging for both the titles, they continued to develop this season’s car and we all know how this season has so far been a nightmare and the best thing for the team is to forget the year and start focusing on the next season.

Williams and Renault both are capable of scoring points thanks to Rosberg and Alonso but they at the moment do not have the cars to even get a podium finish. Williams and Rosberg though seem to be the fastest in practice are not able to produce the same pace at the race but personally Rosberg if he continue to perform the way he does, he can land a seat with a top team while Alonso’s next move is dependent on Kimi’s impending retirement plans and even with a poor Renault he continues to fight it out and prove that he is infact the best complete driver on the grid. So far this season their teammates Nakajima and Piquet have been sitting at the bottom of the grid and though Nakajima will survive due to his Toyota connections but the future of Piquet looks very bleak.

STR is another team which expects a good result from Turkey and though the team has an identical chassis to its sister team RBR but this is a proof that drivers make a difference and though with a Ferrari powered engine, both the rookie Buemi and 4 time Champ Car winner Bourdais have been a bit consistent but given the track conditions it will be a great result for the team if both can score points.

Force India though nearly scored points in Monaco, from now on, the team is there to make up for the numbers and they could well the next Minardi as they continue to languish at the back of the grid while rivals STR is slowly building up a substantial lead over it.

You can expect a very exciting Turkish GP and you have the likes of Button, Vettel and Massa all favoured to win but I do feel that Ferrari will have an edge and this could be the best place to start of their winning habit once again.

India: The Future of F1?

2009-05-30T11:40:00.000+05:30

India has its very own F1 team, the first among Asian countries apart from Japan and also had Narain Karthikeyan as its first and only driver in F1 so far and with the Indian GP expected to join the FIA world championship calendar by 2011 things are looking good for the country. But all this has not happened in the last few years as Indian motorsports goes way back in time and it had a humble beginning in the industrial town of Coimbatore often called as the motorsport capital of India. It is in Coimbatore where the first open wheel racing was started in the mid 80’s and originally it had wealthy industrialist customizing their own cars and racing among themselves.

The dream of an Indian GP and India’s first F1 team began in the year 2007 when Vijay Mallya thru his Kingfisher Airlines decided to sponsor the Toyota F1 team and promised to bring F1 to India. Though the initially there was some talk in 2005 about the potential of either Hyderabad or Bangalore as possible venues but nothing materialised and it was in 2007 that Mallya after his takeover of Spyker F1 s along with Bernie Ecclestone had a provincial agreement with the Indian Olympic Association to bring F1 to India and Delhi was chosen as the venue and it is expected to hold its first race by 2011.

2005 will be the most important year for the country with relation to F1 as Narain Karthikeyan after years of competing in the British F3 and Formula Nippon series made in debut for the Jordan F1 team. Though he did nothing spectacular that year as Jordan was in a deep decline and he managed to score points by coming 4th in the controversial USGP as only 6 cars took the field. But he was consistent and proved that he can put some decent performances provided he had a decent car. But due to various sponsorship issues that happened to be his last year as a driver in F1 as the next two years he spend time testing for the Williams F1 team. Though he was in F1 for only a year but he proved that India can also produce F1 drivers and it is possible for an Indian to compete in the championships. Though none of the actual fans expected Narain to actually even score points during the 2005 season but the Indian press which at times does show blind patriotism over-hyped his team there and could be one of the factors which led to his decline.

When Vijay Mallya bough the Spyker team and renamed it as Force India, there was a buzz in the paddock that Narain Karthikeyan could well make his comeback with the new Indian team but Mallya felt Narain was too old for the long term future of the team and decided to bring in ex-Renault deriver Fisi and young German talent Sutil for the 2 seats. This was the end of Narain Karthikeyan’s F1 dreams and he right now competes in the A1GP and also made his Le Mans debut this year.

Though India is yet to have a proper systemic structure like other counties, it still able to produce drivers of International quality and currently two of its drivers Karun Chandhok who competes in GP2 series and Armaan Ebrahim who competes in the new launched FIA F2 World Championship are both touted as potential future F1 drivers. Karun has already tested the Red Bull Racing car and if he manages to have very good 2009 GP2 season, well he could either land a driver’s seat or even a testing role with the Force India or even the STR team.

The future for F1 is looking very good especially with expected Indian GP in 2011 and the Force India F1 team currently on the grid; all it needs is an Indian driver to score points in the Force India team to really have a big boom. Currently among global sporting events F1 is the most watched sport after Cricket and the English Premier League. Many cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi have sports pubs which show the races and you can lot of people in both Ferrari and also McLaren gear. These two apart from Force India are the most popular teams in India and it is very common to see F1 fans discussing who is superior between Ferrari and McLaren.

Things look bright but the media will play a crucial role and currently there is more than enough coverage for F1 but then with Cricket being the only major sport which gets the attention of the nation, F1 may never become the mass sport but it surely will become the favourite sport among the urban educated Indian people as they belong to the 25 to 35 age bracket and many of these fans even go to Singapore to Malaysia to watch the races. Only an Indian GP will tell the true story of how successful can F1 become in India.

2009 Monaco GP: Button and Brawn conquers the streets of Monaco

2009-05-24T20:03:00.000+05:30

Jenson Button won his 5th race of the reason and he is all set to pull off a Schumacher like performance and win the world championship. Partner in crime Rubens Barrichello came 2nd and well he could have lost his own plot for his quest for the world title. Brawn also extended its lead over its rivals Red Bull as the man who was expected to challenge Button for the world title Vettel had a horrible race and eventually crashed out thanks to a poor car.

While Brawn and Button demonstrated how their car can perform in all conditions, it was also a sort of revival for Ferrari as both Kimi and Massa scored points with Kimi getting the first podium for Ferrari by coming in 3rd while Massa came 4th. It was good to see Ferrari not only score points but also closing in the gap between them and Brawn GP. They could pose a very serious threat to Brawn’s dominance during the Turkish GP and though it may be too late to challenge them for the titles, they could still make them work hard for the win.

Mark Webber once again had a very consistent race and managed to come 5th while Rosberg did come 6th but it should be disappointing for the German driver as he is not able to match his practice drives during the actual race but he more consistent he performs, he may well be on his way to McLaren to partner Hamilton for the 2010 season. Alonso had a typical race with an underperforming Renault and had to work very hard for his 7th place while Bourdais took the last points available by coming in 8th in what could have been a drive which saved his seat for this season.

Yet again Force India came close in scoring a point but once again failed with Fisi coming in 9th and this well could have been the last opportunity for the team to score points but unless if another race is disrupted by rains well they may have to focus on how to score points the next season.

McLaren had a disastrous race and it is time they give up on this season and start rebuilding for the next season as Hamilton after starting from the back of the grid could come only 12th while his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen crashed out of the race. BMW continues to have a miserable season as Nick Heidfeld came 11th while Kubica did not even finish the race.

Toyota had a very disappointing race and we all hope they re-group for the next race as they need a race win as without it the boys in Japan may just pull the plug off their F1 program. Nelsinho Piquet will surely not be in Renault the next season while it is also very interesting to see when and who will replace him this season as he continues to have a miserable season though today’s crash was no fault of his for once.

A surprising thing about the race was that though there were a few crashed and 5 cars retiring during the race, not once the safety car was used and I am wondering when was the last time we did not have a safety car come in during the Monaco GP. This also helped Button to have a flawless victory.