Round up and 2013 British GP Preview

Since the last post, we have seen a number of events take place. In the non-F1 motorsport category we had the BTCC both at Oulton Park (dry on the whole) and then Croft Circuit (dry to start but got very wet by the end), MotoGP (Lorenzo extended his win streak) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which tragically saw Allan Simonsen of Denmark die as a result of his injuries sustained in the first 10 minutes of the race. Coincidentally, the Number 2 Audi, driven by former F1 driver Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen of Denmark and Loic Duval won the race with both a dane and a driver named Allan - a fitting tribute to the driver of the #95 Aston Martin.

In F1 news there was also a Mercedes / Pirelli International Tribunal which took place in Paris - but ran over to a second day before the announcement of a ban from the Young Drivers Test and a reprimand. This has apparently led to both Red Bull and Ferrari wanting to take the rules into their own hands and boycott the YDT in order to get more track time with their regular drivers in the 2013 car.

Along with many other teams, Mercedes AMG Petronas is based in the UK and is therefore the British GP is a home race for them - the perfect way to put the past few weeks of test gate behind them!

For the first time in a long time (if ever) there will be tickets available at the circuit for this weekend's race, the reduced British success and ticket prices reducing crowds along with the slightly earlier race date.

Talking of race dates, Sebastian Vettel is yet to win in July, so this could be a chance for him to add to his 2009 win, on 21st June. This has been a very good circuit for Red Bull so expect both Vettel and Mark Webber to be close to or in the Top 3 at least.

Ferrari appear to enjoy winning in odd years at Silverstone (at least in the last 10 years), with their last four wins being in 2003 (Rubens Barrichello after a lunatic ran out onto the track!), 2004 (Michael Schumacher, but this was almost a given in a near perfect first 13 races), 2007 (Kimi Raikkonen) and 2011 (Fernando Alonso).

McLaren will be hoping to put their non-score in Canada behind them for this race, as the more open Silverstone circuit could be better for their car and give a chance to get close to matching or beating Jenson Button's 5th place in China, especially if the weather misbehaves itself like 2012!

Another UK based team under pressure is Williams, who despite taking third place in qualifying with Valtteri Bottas just didn't have the pace to keep him even ahead of the McLarens - they are still looking for their first point of 2013 in what will be an important double header before the Hungarian GP and Summer break - they are celebrating their 600th race this weekend and would dearly love a decent result to mark the occasion.

After two relatively disappointing races for Lotus, they will be looking to get back into the upper half of the points as they were with Kimi Raikkonen for four of the first five races.

Unlike Williams and Lotus, the last two races have been impressive for both Toro Rosso and Force India, both of whom look to beat their best ever points totals* before the end of October at this rate.

*Toro Rosso's best is 41 in 2010, but with 39 in 2008 this would have been 107 on the current system - so the total of 41 is what I am talking about here as 107 would be unlikely without lots of big scores

Canada was a disasterous weekend for Sauber - at the circuit where Robert Kubica won for them (as BMW Sauber) in 2008, Hulkenberg had contact with Van Der Garde in the Caterham and Gutierrez crashed late on and resulted in the previously discussed crane incident.

As for Caterham and Marussia, it seemed to be status quo with Marussia edging ahead before they both head into one of their home races (in the latter's case it is their only home race) - who will come out on top after both recently conducted straight line tests?

All will be revealed this weekend - with FP1 and FP2 coverage being an hour later, but otherwise the rest is virtually the same.

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Formula 1 in 2013 so far

After a two year gap, I have decided that now is the time to resume blogging (even though I'd barely started last time!). A lot has happened in that time: Sebastian Vettel has become a Triple World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen has returned, Michael Schumacher has retired again (collecting just one podium in three years), Fernando Alonso suffered another marginal defeat in 2012 and Lewis Hamilton is no longer with McLaren. And BBC no longer has the UK television coverage to itself, until 2018 at the earliest.

Prior to Winter Testing, the general consensus was that many teams, including Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes, had all made gains by developing their 2012 car, whereas McLaren were confident that their significant changes over the Winter had made a difference.

However, come the first test it was clear that McLaren were struggling and the teams that had evolved their 2012 cars chose the right path.

A few tests later (one was covered on Sky Sports F1) and the teams arrived in Melbourne for the first race of the season.

Red Bull locked out the front row, however Mark Webber had one of his slow starts, leaving the door open for a number of significant drivers to pass him before Turn 1.

On different strategies, Kimi Raikkonen, who duly won, impressed along with Adrian Sutil, on his return after a year away, probably due to the GBH charge brought against him after an incident in China. However Sauber might have been able to score points with Nico Hulkenberg from 11th had the fuel system problem not occurred between qualifying and the race.

The first race indicated that while Red Bull had the outright one lap pace, along with Mercedes, the race pace was severely compromised for the RB9 by extracting 100% in qualifying, whereas Lotus didn't have the speed over a single lap but its E21 appeared to be very kind on its tyres, along with Force India's VJM06, which outpaced McLaren's MP4-28 all weekend. Towards the back, Marussia had comfortably outpaced and outraced Caterham, who had beaten them in their various guises for the last three years. Both teams had new line ups for 2013, with Pic (moving from Marussia) and Van Der Garde in the CT03, as well as Bianchi (a last minute replacement for Luiz Razia, whose sponsorship money failed to materialise) and Chilton in the MR02.

Heading to Kuala Lumpur, Mercedes believed that despite the mechanical problem for Nico Rosberg in Australia, their W04 made them a lot more competitive than 2012, with Lewis Hamilton finishing 5th and Nico keeping up while he was still in the race.

This showed in Malaysia, as Mercedes were clearly the second fastest team there behind Red Bull, where Webber had made an excellent start for a change! In contrast, Fernando Alonso made a good start, but any chance of points disappeared when his front wing fell off at the start of the second lap, leaving him in the gravel trap - the drying track conditions could have given him a decent chance of a podium. On around lap 35, the order was Webber was ahead of Vettel, with the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fighting over 3rd place.

However, any hopes of their driver pairs scrapping until the end were called off after Vettel broke the Multi 21 message given to him to take the lead, where he stayed, and Ross Brawn told the Mercedes drivers to hold station.

This left Vettel on top with 40 points after two races, with Kimi, Fernando and Lewis starting to emerge.

The third race in China was quite different to the first two races: Lewis Hamilton took pole for Mercedes, but the higher tyre wear rate left him vulnerable to Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. The RB9s of Vettel and Webber were unable to make the podium - Webber's weekend was ruined right from the offset, from the Malaysian GP controversy to a Qualifying breakdown and then a tangle with Vergne in a Toro Rosso left him unable to finish the race. As for McLaren, Jenson Button managed to muscle a fifth place, but Sergio Perez was still outside the points.

Then the F1 circus moved to Bahrain. After a pole position for Nico Rosberg and a broken suspension for Lewis Hamilton (relegating him to 9th after a grid penalty), a 2012 podium repeat and a near podium for Paul Di Resta were the main stories, as lower down the points a McLaren tussle between their drivers, Perez  coming out on top for 6th. At the back, Caterham managed to turn the tables on Marussia after drafting in Heikki Kovalainen for FP1 to help sort the car out.

In Spain, Mercedes took a front row lockout but they soon slipped back with tyre trouble. Fernando Alonso  capitalised to win at home with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa completing the podium. It proved another disappointing race for McLaren, who barely made the points in 8th and 9th, and Williams who again failed to score, one year on from the 2012 win for Pastor Maldonado.

Appearing to have aced the last sector in Spain, Mercedes were the pre-race favourites in Monaco. It worked for them in qualifying, taking a second consecutive front row lockout and a fourth straight pole position. Sure enough, Nico Rosberg dominated the entire weekend and won in style, but not without the news of a three day Pirelli 1000km tyre test with Mercedes (the International Tribunal meeting takes place tomorrow), but Lewis Hamilton slipped back in the race during a Safety Car period behind the two Red Bulls. McLaren had a stronger showing but Ferrari and Lotus both struggled around the tight street circuit, the latter were lucky to score points after Perez and Raikkonen touched at Nouvelle Chicane.

In addition to the Safety Car periods there was also a Red Flag after Max Chilton sent Pastor Maldonado into the wall at Tabac, wrapping the tyre barrier around his car.

After a number of compromised races, Adrian Sutil returned to the points in an impressive 5th, ahead of Jenson Button in 6th.

The main talking point heading into the Canadian GP weekend was undoubtedly the Pirelli tyre test Mercedes had conducted after the Spanish GP, but rain in qualifying ended the Mercedes pole run by less than a tenth of a second as Vettel took pole for the third year in a row in Canada, and Valtteri Bottas impressed for Williams in third.

In the race, Vettel made a typical getaway and with the lower tyre degradation managed to hold the lead, barring a few laps during pitstops. Bottas fell back outside the points, where McLaren ended up for the first time since the 2009 Abu Dhabi GP. A late crash for Esteban Gutierrez brought out a crane, which ran over and fatally injured Mark Robinson, a Canadian marshal. He became the first F1 death for over 12 years and this overshadowed the weekend where Vettel broke his Canadian GP curse.

After 7 Races, the top 4 order is Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton as it was in 2012. In the constructors, Red Bull lead Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus. Force India are holding McLaren off for 5th place for now.

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