The 2013 Spanish Grand Prix

I had intended on posting my recap of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix last night. But after writing it, something didn’t feel right. In fact Formula 1 doesn’t feel right lately and as a ravenous fan of the sport, I’ve been struggling.

Maybe it’s just one of those seasons – it happens. But maybe it’s part of a larger problem with the sport and this is just the beginning? I’ve been rattling my brain, trying to figure out when the racing stopped.

After a 3 week hiatus, I had hoped the teams would’ve been able to regroup back at their respective bases, that McLaren would’ve had the chance to dial in their sluggish MP4-28 and that Pirelli would’ve fixed their damn tires. None of that seems to have happened and what we were left with was another mediocre race at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Before I tumble any further down the slope, praises are in order for Fernando Alonso, who’s now 4th on the all time winning list, surpassing Nigel Mansell. His drive on Sunday really was that of a consummate professional. A bulletproof strategy by Ferrari and a clean race by Alonso secured the team’s second win of the season and damn do I respect them for it.

Even his teammate Felipe Massa continued to show flashes of his former brilliance and clinched a well deserved 3rd place finish. Right now my money is on Ferrari as the team to beat.

Despite parting ways with their technical director earlier in the week, Lotus didn’t skip a beat. Kimi Raikkonen has found a home on the podium in 2013. At this point it seems ridiculous that he would ever consider a move to Red Bull in 2014. Then again it’s still early and anything can happen.

Where Lotus, Ferrari and even Force India have excelled is with their understanding of Pirelli’s hellacious tires. They’ve been a bone of contention amongst teams and fans of the sport alike. In a contract year it would seem insane for Pirelli to produce such an inferior product and more insane still that they wouldn’t offer any sort of explanation. It’s no wonder Paul Hembery deactivated his Twitter account late last season, after being lambasted by fans.

However bad Pirelli’s tires are in 2013, what’s been arguably worse is the racing or lack thereof. Formula 1 has reached a turning point where drivers are no longer pushing from start to finish. Instead they’ve adopted a more conservative strategy – one that saw Lewis Hamilton telling his engineers “I can’t drive any slower”. This is motor racing but somewhere along the way, Formula 1 seems to have forgotten that.

Everyone’s playing the blame game. Drivers are blaming team orders, teams are blaming Pirelli and the FIA, but all the outcry seems lost in what has become a rather staged piece of entertainment. What’s most interesting is how the sport has managed to convince us all that what we’re watching is indeed great racing. The off track soap opera is entertaining as ever, most notably the team drama at Red Bull. But for all of the sport’s technical advances, we’re still seeing drivers struggle to push because of a lack of tires or fuel. Maybe the races are too long? Something tells me it would make no difference to shorten them.

In the days following the Spanish Grand Prix we’ve heard plenty of public bellyaching from Red Bull. Things have gotten so loud that Pirelli made the decision to produce a longer lasting compound for the Canadian Grand Prix in June. We’ve also heard Jenson Button admit that he’s embarrassed by his McLaren team and their MP4-28′s performance.

It’s been a difficult season for the Woking boys and one that may see the exit of Martin Whitmarsh as Team Principal – there have already been rumors of his possible resignation around the paddock. Then there’s Mercedes who look great in qualifying, but have struggled on race day. Both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg quickly fell into obscurity by the end of Sunday’s race. One thing’s become abundantly clear – if the tires are to blame then we may see a massive shift throughout the field in Montreal.

Many would argue with me but Formula 1 is in a slump right now. Maybe the lack of exciting venues is to blame and we’ll see the energy reignited in Monaco next week. However at some point you just have to say screw the tires, the cars and the excuses and go out and race.

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

The 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

Apologies for the lack of updates on A Class lately. Things have been pretty busy and after a fairly uninspiring Chinese Grand Prix, I decided to reserve my Formula 1 discussion for after the Bahrain Grand Prix. Lets get straight to it.

When it comes to the Bahrain Grand Prix, the political situation has long overshadowed the race itself. With the kingdom’s citizens at odds with the ruling Al Khalifa family, many have questioned the relevance of having the race at all. In typical Bernie fashion, the Don of Formula 1 was quoted saying the government was “stupid” to hold the race. It’s no secret that from a sponsorship standpoint, the Bahrain Grand Prix is one of the most lucrative on the World Championship calender.

As it turns out, Sunday’s race ended up being one of the most exciting of 2013 with lots of great battles throughout the field.

Mercedes continued to look quick at the start of this weekend with a great showing in qualifying. Nico Rosberg secured his second career pole with teammate Lewis Hamilton in P4. Hamilton ultimately suffered a 5 grid spot penalty for a gearbox change following free practice. On Sunday things didn’t fare so well for Mercedes as both drivers struggled to maintain pace.

The opening laps provided for some of the most exciting wheel-to-wheel racing at the start of any Grand Prix in recent years, with Rosberg fending off Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso – who exchanged places for P2. However once DRS was enabled, Vettel made his move and created a lead which he held for the remainder of the race.  Rosberg’s pace continued to falter, but he displayed a level of aggression we haven’t seen from him in the past. Ultimately the driver finished 9th.

Things fared slightly better for Hamilton who was quoted after the race saying the car went from “terrible” to “amazing”. Hamilton also had some nice duels with his former McLaren teammate Jenson Button and Sergio Perez. He finished 5th overall and has stayed consistent in the points since the start of the season.

Lotus have come out fighting in 2013 and amid rumors of the team’s struggles to secure more funding to keep Kimi Raikkonen next season, have produced an excellent car in the E21. Raikkonen struggled in qualifying and started P9. Things fared better on Sunday and with the car’s excellent tire management, he was able to secure a podium finish placing 2nd.

His teammate Romain Grosjean also struggled in qualifying, starting in P11, but made it count in the race. Grosjean finished 3rd after some interesting battles throughout the field. It’s amazing to see the success Lotus has achieved in such a short time. The team’s engineers have certainly discovered the secret to maintaining Pirelli’s unforgiving tires. It’s no secret that Raikkonen is one of the most popular drivers on the market for 2014, with Red Bull rumored to be courting him for Mark Webber’s seat. Ultimately he’s a major factor in Lotus’s newfound success over the last couple of seasons.

Things didn’t go well for Ferrari this weekend. After a great qualifying session for both drivers on Saturday, a series of mechanical maladies saw Fernando Alonso finishing 8th and his teammate Felipe Massa out of the points in 14th. Ferrari have gotten off to a much more successful start in 2013 with the highly competitive F138. However a broken wing on Alsonso’s car forced the driver to do without DRS in most of the race, while Massa experienced numerous tire issues. Both drives made an unnecessary amount of pit stops which ultimately cost them.

With an admittedly sluggish car, McLaren’s only goal for the weekend was to score points. As the teams head back to Europe for a 3 week break, McLaren will essentially rebuild their car in the hopes of being more competitive in Spain. For the second race weekend in a row, Sergio Perez was unable to break into Q3 with his teammate Jenson Button settling for P10 at the start of Sunday’s race. McLaren haven’t had the pace all season, however Button has managed better results than his teammate, who has been harshly criticized in recent weeks.

After scoring just 2 World Championship points in the first 3 races of the season, the pressure was on Perez to deliver in Bahrain. Some unusually aggressive driving saw him in an exciting and nerve wracking battle with his teammate. Button was unhappy with the advances by Perez which calls in to question some of his earlier comments with regards to Red Bull’s team orders debacle. When it comes to tire management their may be no better driver in Formula 1 than Button, ultimately he finished 10th on Sunday with Perez in a more successful 6th. McLaren have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks as they’ll not like being without a podium finish for much longer. Expect to see a very different MP4-28 in Spain.

At the end of the day it was Sebastian Vettel who stood at the top of the podium. In typical fashion Vettel got an early lead and dominated the remainder of the race. Vettle has become increasingly outspoken in the last couple of weeks, with regards to Red Bull’s team orders in Malaysia. At the start of the Chinese Grand Prix, he virtually did a 180 from his previous comments about overtaking his teammate and said he would do it again. The bad blood has continued to flow in the Red Bull paddock with Mark Webber suffering a dismal weekend in China, then being forced to use his teammates engine maps in Bahrain. Red Bull continue to maintain that they support both drivers equally but that is becoming increasingly harder to believe.

Webber celebrated his 200th Grand Prix in Bahrain with a small cake cutting ceremony at which neither Vettel or Helmut Marko were in attendance. The politics within the team seem to be boiling over as Marko was seen telling Niki Lauda not to be nice to Webber. At this point it seems highly unlikely that Webber with continue with Red Bull in 2014. It’s been reported the Australian is scheduled to meet with team owner Dietrich Mateschitz later this week at Red Bull’s headquarters. The meeting will presumably be about his future, as he continues to deny rumors about a a move to Porsche next year.

It was a departure from the usual procession in Bahrain with plenty of wheel-to-wheel racing across the field. The World Championship is still wide open and anything can happen after the teams get a chance to regroup in Europe. It’s hard to believe Formula 1 is already headed to Spain next with the Monaco Grand Prix just a month away!

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

A Team Divided At Red Bull Racing

I wanted to elaborate a bit more on the events that unfolded at yesterday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The race recap covered the overall event, but the team orders involving Red Bull are worthy of another look. I’ve been discussing it a lot on Twitter over the last 24 hours and you can read more of that here.

In many ways yesterday’s Grand Prix served as a study into the pros and cons of team orders in Formula 1. On one hand you have Mercedes, who used them to keep their drivers from racing one another and risking valuable points in the World Championship. On the other hand you have Red Bull who used them so ineffectively that it’s created a massive rift on their team. I won’t elaborate too much on Mercedes as the situation is more straight forward. I can understand why Ross Brawn wanted to keep his drivers from racing one another, but I can’t understand what difference it would’ve made to let Nico Rosberg overtake Lewis Hamilton. The decision goes against the team’s philosophy that both drivers are equals, in which case it shouldn’t have mattered who finished ahead. After Hamilton’s humbling podium speech, the team should have no problem getting past this one, if they haven’t already.

The greater problem lies within Red Bull Racing. After being told explicitly by team bosses to hold position, Sebastian Vettel decided to take matters into his own hands and perform a risky passing maneuver on his teammate and the race leader Mark Webber. The pass had come after both drivers were instructed to power down their engines and bring the cars home safely. Unfortunately for Webber it meant losing out on his first win since last year’s British Grand Prix.

While the media has done their best to perpetuate the situation to far greater depths, it does create some serious problems for Red Bull as a team. In one corner you have Mark Webber,  a workhorse of a driver who produces consistent results and rarely finishes outside of the points. At most other teams, Webber would be a clear number 1 driver. In the other corner is a proven World Champion in Sebastian Vettel with 3 titles to his name.

Many have taken Vettel’s side and made the argument that the German displays the qualities needed to win championships. His ruthlessness isn’t unlike some of his predecessors, including Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. But at what point does a driver believe he’s bigger than the team that supports him? Despite Schumacher’s cunning and Senna’s sheer aggression, they knew their places within their respective teams and in a sport like Formula 1, no driver is bigger than his team. Vettel’s actions on Sunday say otherwise. By ignoring the team’s orders he showed a lack of respect and everyone watching, that he knows what’s best for himself and potentially his team. Irrational decisions can be made in the heat of the moment and it’s only after the fact that we allow ourselves to consider different perspectives. However, it won’t be easy for Vettel to come back from this. Not only has he put himself in a difficult position, he’s put Red Bull in a difficult position with Mark Webber.

If the World Championship comes down to the line at the end of the season, can Red Bull expect Webber to offer support, if his own championship bid is obsolete? The Australian has reached a point in his career where the opportunities of winning a championship of his own are numbered. 2013 could be his last realistic possibility to do so. Nothing is certain in Formula 1 and if this were to be Webber’s last season with Red Bull, then he would have no greater opportunity than right now. At age 36, this could even be his last season in Formula 1. If that were the case, he’d have nothing to lose and that will certainly affect his willingness to be a team player during crunch time. Red Bull understands this and it could prove to be a major downfall, as they seek to add a fourth consecutive World Constructor’s Championship to their legacy.

After the events that unfolded in Malaysia, Sebastian Vettel has not only further alienated himself from Webber, but potentially his team as well. Even his biggest supporter, Helmut Marko wasn’t pleased with Vettel’s lack of compliance to the team’s orders. Time heals all wounds but some take longer than others. We’re already a month into the Formula 1 season and Vettel may have run out of opportunities to connect with his teammate. The rivalry between both Red Bull drivers has been fierce since day 1, but as Webber stated yesterday, Vettel has protection within the team. While penalizing him isn’t necessarily the answer, Red Bull owe it to themselves to make a move in Webber’s favor or they risk loosing one of their greatest allies on the track. However, that ship may have already sailed.

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

The 2013 Infinity Red Bull Racing RB9

Earlier today Red Bull held an event at their Milton Keynes base to unveil the 2013 RB9.

Teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were on hand to present the RB9 to the media.

In the offseason Webber came under harsh criticism from Vettel’s mentor Helmut Marko. It’s no secret there’s been an underlying tension in the Red Bull Paddock the last couple of seasons. Webber’s contract is up at the end of 2013 and it will be interesting to see if he continues with the team.

The RB9 sports a slightly different livery to reflect the team’s relationship with title sponsor Infinity.

The car was described as an “evolution” by its designer Adrian Newey. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise as most teams will be using last year’s cars as building blocks. The biggest changes will come in 2014, as the new technical regulations come into play.

The front and rear wings will be different come race day as the current ones are just for show.

Red Bull hope to secure their 4th consecutive World Driver’s and Constuctor’s Championships in 2013 with the RB9.

Photos courtesy of Red Bull.

The United States Grand Prix

Hats off to the state of Texas and Circuit of the Americas. They pulled this one off in stunning fashion.

Formula 1 was stateside for the first time since 2007 and what a race it was. If the nearly 115,000 fans at today’s race was any indication of things to come, then Formula 1 has a great future in America.

McLaren finally showed up this weekend with a decent car for Lewis Hamilton and it was a 1-on-1 battle with Sebastian Vettel for most of the race.

With 14 laps to go, Hamilton used his DRS to overtake Vettel and held the lead to the end. In typical fashion, Vettel was quick to throw a temper tantrum and media bash Narain Karthikeyan for getting in his way.

Red Bull were however able to secure their 3rd consecutive Constructor’s Championship, which went virtually unnoticed until being brought up by Vettel during the podium interviews.

Joining Hamilton and Vettel on the podium was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Predictably, Alonso struggled with the F2012 all weekend but managed to make it work on race day. He’s indebted to Hamilton who’s kept his (slim) Driver’s Championship hopes alive for another week. Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa pulled off another stellar drive finishing 4th.

Ferrari made a bold move changing Massa’s gearbox in order to receive a 5 grid spot penalty, that would allow Massa to start on the clean side of the track. The gamble paid off.

Michael Schumacher spent most of the race trying to send drivers off the track, a throwback to his Ferrari days. Neither he or his teammate Nico Rosberg scored points for Mercedes (again). Somewhere Lewis Hamilton is laying in bed wondering if he has indeed made the worst decision of his career to leave McLaren. What’s done is done and it was a bittersweet victory for the driver and his team today in Austin.

Formula 1 has massive potential in the United States and it’s all going to come down to how the sport is marketed to an American audience. A big part of that will lie on the shoulders of NBC Sports, who are in charge broadcasting duties next year. However, today it was the city of Austin who welcomed Formula 1 with open arms and did so in big Texas fashion.

Another season of Formula 1 is almost in the books. The Brazilian finale at Interlagos is next week. Alonso better pray for a miracle because it’s going to be a tough one.

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

When In Texas…

A special Red Bull greeting from your friends at Ferrari.

Photo courtesy of alo_oficial.

The Grand Prix Of Japan

Sebastian Vettel became the first driver of 2012 to win 2 races in a row at today’s Japanese Grand Prix. Now just 4 points behind Fernando Alonso, Vettel is well on his way to clinching his 3rd WDC in a row.

After blowing a tire in turn 1 at the start of the race, Alsonso was forced to retire, scoring no points and quickly loosing sight of his lead in the WDC.

His teammate Felipe Massa had a stellar driver and finished 2nd, earning his first podium in 2 years. Today’s success was just the boost Massa needed and may have secured him another year at Ferrari.

To the delight of the Japanese fans, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi finished 3rd, his first podium in Formula 1. Similarly to Massa, Kobayashi is said to be fighting for his seat at Sauber next season. There’s no doubt today’s results have helped his standing with the team, especially with the looming departure of Sergio Perez.

The wounds of Lewis Hamilton’s departure are still fresh at McLaren. The team appeared out of sorts all weekend with both cars finishing 4th and 5th.

Hamilton made a comeback after starting 9th, but it wasn’t the type of driving we’ve seen from him or Jenson Button in the last 4 races. Button managed a great start and worked his way up to 3rd from 8th, but was unable to hold off Massa or keep up with Kobayashi in the closing laps. Reliability issues may still be affecting the team as Button complained of the gear box on separate occasions.

It was another tough weekend at Mercedes. After announcing his second retirement on Thursday, Michael Schumacher struggled and put the car in the wall during Friday practice. His teammate Nico Rosberg retired in turn 2 just after the start of the race. With a mediocre car and the strange hiring of Nikki Lauda as Mercedes’s Brackley “informant”, the team have a very long way to go. If history serves me correct, Ross Brawn has the tendency to follow his driver off the team. I wonder just how “good” the relationship is between Brawn and Mercedes. The Lauda hire makes no sense from a strategic perspective. One only needs to look at his time with Jaguar.

Lotus’s Romain Grosjean is the center of more controversy after making contact with Mark Webber in turn 2. He suffered a 10 second pit stop penalty, something I’ve not seen in all my time watching Formula 1. While there was plenty of chaos at the start of the race, it seems like Grosjean will never learn.

I hate to see Vettel win with such ease, especially after a clear advantage over the rest of the grid. It’ll be interesting to see how the remaining 5 races pan out. Ferrari and McLaren need to get their acts together if they have any hopes of retaining the WCC. Red Bull is on a mission.

The ever hilarious Grand Prix of Korea is next weekend. Hopefully they cleaned out the hospitality fridges from last year.

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

The Grand Prix Of Singapore

The Grand Prix of Singapore. Just sounds exotic doesn’t it? Let me start off by saying that I like so much of what this race offers. It being the only night race on the Formula 1 calender is enough to make it stand out as a truly unique event. The Marina Bay Circuit is a fickle one and with the added equatorial heat, a true challenge for the drivers. If anything, the Grand Prix of Singapore makes me want to see more night races. Rosso corsa never looked better and blue flames from the car’s exhausts looks spectacular under the lights.

However, Sunday’s race left much to be desired. Rather than my usually long winded Formula 1 summary, a few thoughts.

Sebeastian Vettel appeared emotional on the podium after winning on Sunday.

Shockingly, it’s been a rare sight to see Vettel holding 1st place trophies in 2012. Maybe he was overcome by victory after a long draught? Maybe he was worried about Eddie Jordan conducting the post race interview? His light up helmet was fantastic though.

Say what you will about Felipe Massa, the man can still drive. Those of you watching the race will recall a particular move against Bruno Senna that could’ve ended in tears. Instead it proved to be one of the few highlights of the race. It was the precision, speed and danger of Formula 1 in a nutshell. Despite his best efforts, Massa probably completed his last Singapore Grand Prix with the Scuderia.

Michael Schumacher showed his age after using Jean-Éric Vergne as a barrier following the first safety car. Some have questioned Schumacher’s relevance in the sport, but as things stand he’s still out pacing and out performing Nico Rosberg. Imagine what he could do in a better car?

McLaren can’t seem to get it right can they? For all the great qualifying sessions and performances of the last few races, they have yet to see both drivers finish the same race since the August break. This week the bad luck followed Lewis Hamilton, who suffered a gearbox failure after 22 laps.

The team’s radio transmission alluded to this being a problem they were already aware of. I would assume rather than suffer a 5 grid spot penalty for a gearbox change, the team decided to take their chances with Hamilton in pole. It was a big gamble that didn’t pay off. Hamilton can’t seem to win these days and that mishap could’ve been the final nail in McLaren’s coffin. He should do himself a favor and make a decision already.

It’s that time of the season when reliability is crucial and I suspect it’ll play a major role in determining the WCC and WDC in the coming months. Suzuka is less than 2 weeks away.

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

The Grand Prix Of Belgium

One thing you can be sure of at the Belgian Grand Prix; it’s never going to be a boring race.

After a mixed starting grid, a spectacular crash determined much of Sunday’s Grand Prix. If you’ve been reading the British or Italian newspapers then you’ll have already seen a call for Romain Grosjean’s head.

In the opening seconds of the race the Lotus driver made contact with Lewis Hamilton, causing a chain reaction that saw Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi as part of the collateral damage. Alonso’s weekend was over, as were Sauber’s and Hamilton’s, who was already dealing with more heavy criticism.

Shortly before the race Hamilton posted telemetry charts of his and Jenson Button’s cars to his Twitter account. This was after a Saturday evening spent Tweeting his frustrations about a bad qualifying session earlier. Many of the Tweets were quickly deleted with Hamilton left to explain himself. It’s obvious the McLaren contract negotiations are far from complete and the weekend’s events certainly haven’t given him any advantage.

After the crash, the race carried on and despite the lack of Hamilton or Alonso on track, it ended up being a fantastic one to watch. Jenson Button was the star of the show in his MP4-27, which clearly outpaced the rest of the grid. Button maintained the lead for every lap from start to finish and secured his second win of the season. This came after his first pole since 2009 and a long stint of bad drives in 2012.

Sebastian Vettel also had one of his best drives of the season. After qualifying 11th, Vettel managed to secure second place after battling with both Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher. Despite all the excitement of the day, the highlight was some pristine racing between Raikkonen and Schumacher.

It was F1 wheel-to-wheel at its best as the drivers battled for 3rd, ending in a spectacular pass by Raikkonen in Eau Rouge.

The talk following the race was how the FIA would handle Grosjean’s punishment and the driver was eventually handed a race suspension. A lot of people have varying opinions on the matter and while I think Grosjean’s driving was overly aggressive and at times moronic, he should not have been suspended for a race. This event marks more inconsistent governing by the FIA who seem to enjoy making examples out of drivers, rather than making fair calls. They explicitly said in their report that the crash “eliminated leading championship contenders from the race”. If this isn’t playing favorites, I don’t know what is. Something also tells me that had it been back marker drivers involved and not the championship leader, Grosjean would still be racing at Monza.

Understandably, the backlash from the British and Italian presses have been harsh, putting additional pressure on the FIA to make the situation “right”. At the end of the day, crashing is part of professional motor sports and it’s something all the drivers understand. If the FIA wants to single out a driver, why not go after Pastor Maldonado? The Williams driver has had more incidents this year and evaded the kind of harsh punishment that Grosjean was handed.

Always leave it to Spa for a great race each and every year. It’s no wonder it’s one of the most popular tracks on the F1 calendar. The talk is already shifting to the Italian Grand Prix, which is now less than a week away. The circus will be at Monza this Friday with the Tifosi in full swing!

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

In The Key Of V8

On a recent American press tour, Red Bull Racing stopped by the Hudson River for a V8 rendition of the National Anthem.

While the V8 can’t hit some of the high notes its larger predecessors could, it still sounds a hell of a lot better than 90%  of what you’ll get at a regular season NBA game.

Then again, Jim Cornelison makes a compelling argument for the more traditional rendition.

Epic.

Videos courtesy of Red Bull & FOX.