F1 back on track...Well not quiet!!

So today saw the eagerly awaited return of on track action as the Formula One circus rolled into SPA, Belgium after the five week Summer break. It was set to be fascinating day of practice that was until the heaven's opened up this morning and led to limited track action in FP1.

The yellow flag's came out during the session as Felipe Massa's engine blew just as it came to a close. It was extremely unfortunate for the many fan's who had travelled o the circuit for practice. Following first practice the condition's became terrible and there was no on track action.

At the end of the day RedBull announced that they had to change Mark Webber's gearbox which will come as a blow to the Aussie as he will receive a five place grid penalty. The RedBull driver is currently second in the championship standing's 40 point's behind Fernando Alonso and only two points ahead of team mate Sebastien Vettel.

I can't wait to see how Mark gets on in SPA he overtook Alonso in spectacular fashion going through Eau Rouge at last year's race so he is going to need a repeat performance this year to ensure that he can stay ahead of Vettel and try and close the gap to Fernando Alonso. As I have mentioned previously, heading into this weekend's race from 2nd to 5th are only separated by eight points.

The Lotus team announced that they will not run their new Double DRS device on Sunday due to the lack of running on Friday.  I believe that they will really see a benefit from the device at next weekend's Italian GrandPric in Monza. I believe however, that with the other update's that the team have brought to the race this weekend will compensate for not using the Double DRS and I am certainly hoping that the team will be able to to sort out their qualifying performances.

In my opinion, SPA along with Monza are two of the only really traditional high speed cicruit's left in Formula One. SPA has a great mix of high speed corners and straight's along with slow corner's including the famous bus stop chicane which in wet conditions can be extremely tricky for the drivers.

Petrov could quit Formula One

Russian driver Vitaly Petrov could quit Formula One at the end of this season. That's the claim of his manager Oksana Kosachenko. Petrov replaced the ousted Jarno Trulli at the Caterham team and has expressed interest in staying in Formula One beyond this year.

The Caterham team have yet to announce their 2013 driver plans. Heikki Kovalainen is expected to stay with the team for a fourth season, however the Finn is looking to see some improvement in the team's performance. Petrov may have some competition from Caterham's test driver Giedo Van Der Garde and American Alexander Rossi who is expected to be driving the Caterham car in Friday practice for the American GrandPrix.

Another key factor in Petrov's decision will be his sponsorship situation as it has become more difficult in recent years for driver's to raise sponsorship money. His manager has also stated that he needs to get some more support from Russian fans. So we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Petrov made his F1 debut with the Renault team in 2010 and scored his first and to date only podium at last year's Australian GrandPrix.

In other driver related news if as expected Felipe Massa loses his Ferrari drive we could see him racing in the American IndyCar Series in 2013 alongside former F1 driver's Rubens Barrichello, Takuma Sato and Justin Wilson.

Former F1 driver and London 2012 Paralympian Alex Zanardi has announced that he would love the opportunity to race in the Indianapolis 500. The two time CART champion lost both his legs in a near fatal accident during a race in 2001. It would be absolutely brilliant to see Alex Zanardi racing at the Indianapolis 500 so watch this space.

Kimi excited to return to SPA

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen says that he is looking forward to racing in SPA this weekend and is hoping that he will be able to give the Lotus team their first win of the season. Kimi has had great success in SPA winning the in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

The King of SPA as he has become known says that the circuit is Belgium is his favourite F1 venue. So far this season, the Finn has been on the podium five times and has finished every race bar one either on the podium or in the points.

The Lotus team are currently third in the Constructor's Championship and Kimi is currently fifth in the driver's championship while Romain is in eighth..

Massa will NOT race for Ferrari next year according to reports in Italy

Felipe Massa will not be racing for Ferrari next year according to reports in the Italian media. According to some of the reports Ferrari have apparently allowed their option on Massa for 2013 to lapse. Massa has said that if he can not drive for Ferrari next season he will leave Formula One.

I think Felipe Massa should move to America and get a drive in IndyCar alongside fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello. There has been no word on Massa's future with Ferrari so this is all speculation. He really needs to up his game for the remaining 9 races of the season.

I think it be very difficult for Felipe to get on to the podium this season as the action has been extremely competitive this season. So far this year his team mate fernando Alonso has had three wins and is currently leading the championship whereas Felipe Massa's last podium came at the 2010 Korean GrandPrix when he finished third.

So we'll have to wait and see what happens at the end of the season.

8 point's separate 2nd to 5th heading to Spa this weekend

So this weekend sees the eagerly awaited return of competitive Formula One action as the team's head to Spa for the Belgian GrandPrix. It has been very quiet in relation to Formula One news over the last five week's with the manadatory two week factory shutdown. However in other sports we've had the excitement of the London 2012 Olympic Games and just last weekend we had the return of the Premiership in England.

All the team's will have update's this weekend. The Lotus team will be debuting their new double DRS system so they will be hoping to be competitive from the word go.

The weekend's race is going to be extremely exciting due to the fact that Mark Webber who is second in the championship is only eight points ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in fifth. Meanwhile in the Constructors championship Lotus are only one point behind McLaren who are in second place. Lotus are also 3 points ahead of Ferrari.

With two races in the next two week's the Belgian GrandPrix is going to be a crucial race for the team's and driver's and could very well give us an indicator as to the direction of this years Driver's championship as we head to Singapore toward the end of September.

Enstone Expect driver's to stay in 2013

The Lotus F1 team are confident that both Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean will remain at the team in 2013. There has been a lot speculation surrounding Kimi Raikkonen during the season linking the Finn with a return to Ferrari, however the 2007 champion who is back in F1 after two years away from F1 has a contract with the Lotus team for 2013 and his boss Eric Bouiller is fully confident that he will be with the team next year.

Romain Grosjean who is also back in F1 after a two year break has endured a difficult comeback year however he has been on the podium three time's and is expected to be at the team next season. I fully expect both driver's to be at the team next season as they have been the most consistent pairing this season.

The Lotus team have scored 106 points in the last five races, the most out of any other team on the grid and have yet to record a in this season. The team are only one point behind McLaren who are second in the championship.

At next weekend's Belgian GrandPrix, the team will use their double DRS system and that will be great to watch as they driver's come out of Eau Rouge. It could prove to be a race that Kimi Raikkonen will win provided the team can sor out their qualifying performance. Kimi has four wins at SPA to his name and I have my fingers and toes crossed that he will be able to win the race.

The team have certainly sorted out the power steering issues that Kimi has had this season. Kimi is in a great position in the championship just 46 points behind Alonso with 225 points still to play for. He has  a new race engineer in Mark Slade who he worked with during his time at McLaren and that is certainly working as Kimi has been on the podium five times this season and finished every single race.

In my last post I said I would reveal which five driver's have completed every lap this season. They are Kimi Raikkonen for Lotus, Nico Rosberg Mercedes, Mark Webber RedBull Racing, Fernando Alonso Ferrari and Jenson Button McLaren.

The wait is almost over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The wait is nearly over, after suffering from F1 withdrawl for the last month we have just one week until the return of Formula One. Not only that but we have to race's back to back, SPA and Monza, two of my favourite circuit's. 

Not much has happened over the Summer break, the biggest 'NEWS' story is the fact that Caterham F1 have officially moved into their new HQ in Leafield Technology Centre in the UK and are well equipped in my opinion for a strong end to this season. I hate to mention it but I must, the last two Formula One team's that occupied the Leafield site Arrows F1 and Super Aguri F1 went out of business however there is no way that Caterham will go that way as Tony Fernandes has done a superb job with the team.

So next weekend we move to SPA for the Belgian GrandPrix where the weather is always unpredictable and will almost certainly play a part in the weekend. Going into this race I think that the Lotus team are one of the most consistent team's this season so far scoring 106 points from the last five races including Hungary. And with the King of SPA coming back looking to to add a fifth win to his crown we could very well see our 8th different winner this year. I for one certainly believe that the team are capable of winning in SPA. We don't have long to wait to find out.

The other big talking point over the Summer break has been the fact that Lewis Hamilton has yet to agree terms with McLaren on a new deal with the team. The main sticking point for the 2008 champion is the trophy issue. But I'm sure a deal will be reached.

The Michael Schumacher saga of Will he, Won't he stay? continues with the continued speculation linking Mercedes to a swoop for Hamilton should Shumacher call it quits, Paul Di Resta has also been linked with that seat.

Before I sign off on the latest entry, I read today that so far this season only five driver's have completed every single race this season...I will reveal tomorrow who those driver's are...

Barrichello set to leave KVRacing at the conclusion of 2012

Rubens Barrichello has announced that he will be leaving IndyCar team KVRacing at the end of the 2012 season. In ten races with the team the Brazilian has only managed to finish in the top ten on 5 occasions. 

Barrichello was let go by the Williams F1 team at the end of last season in favour of fellow Brazilian Bruno Senna, and he is determined to gain a competitive drive with a Honda powered outfit.

It will be extremely interesting to see what happens. I certainly believe that Rubens could very well be in contention for IndyCar's coveted Rookie of the Year award.

Dodge pull out of NASCAR

American manufacturer Dodge have announced that they are to pull the plug on their NASCAR programme at the end of this season. The news comes as The Penske team have moved to Ford for the 2013 season. The withdrawl of Dodge means that there will be three manufacturer's competing in the 2013 Sprint Cup series. Toyota, Ford and Chevrolet have all begun testing their cars for next year.

It had been thought that IndyCar team owner Michael Andretti was interested in starting a NASCAR team with the help of Dodge, however that is not the case. I believe that it's a great decision that Michael Andretti has decided not to run a NASCAR team because his IndyCar team are doing extremely well this season and I think that had he set up a nascar team it would have taken a while for the team to be competitive and I fully believe that the IndyCar team may have suffered as a result.

Having said that, Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi have had great success in both IndyCar and NASCAR so there was no reason why Andretti wouldn't have been a success too however according to a report I read recently it was going to cost an estimated $5 million to set up the team.

In my opinion with the current economic climate it would have been difficult to put sponsorship together to run a team unless he managed to get a top driver to the team, as I mentioned in a previous post about Danica Patrick, thinking about it now it would have been extremely unlikely that Danica would have raced for Andretti in NASCAR.

COTA hits milestone

The Circuit of the America's hit a milestone yesterday as the first layer of tarmac has been laid for November's first trip to the Austin circuit. I believe that this is fantastic news and authorities in Texas have done a fantastic job getting the circuit ready.

They have also done a brilliant job in marketing the event with the race nearly sold out despite there being just over three months before the race takes place. It has been a year since David Coulthard hit the track in Austin when the circuit was nothing more then sand and gravel and now it is taking shape nicely.

The process of laying the tarmac is known as Marrying the circuit. I can't wait to see how the race goes. I have no doubt that it will be a massive success.

CEO wants to expand IndyCar calendar

IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard has said that he would like to see the series expand it's calendar to at least 19 races in a season. The 2012 season has three races left and Bernard believes that if there were more races it would help the driver's and sponsors to get more attention.

The series currently has three race's out side of the US, it has two race's in Canada, and a race in Brazil.   The team's were due to go to China for a race this year, however the promoter of the event pulled the plug.

I think it would be fantastic for the sport to have more then 15 races. I mean if you look at Formula One for example, it is limited to 20 race's however IndyCar does not have this restriction. Up until last year Japan had a race on the calendar at Twin Ring Motegi, however due to the fact that this year there is more then one engine supplier in the championship the team's don't travel to Japan because last year Honda were the sole engine supplier to the Indy Racing League so the team's travelled to Motegi because Honda own the circuit.

Bernard has said that the series are considering racing in Germany in the future, however the sport is looking to expand in America first. I think it would be fantastic if the sport had a number of race's in Europe as it has a very big fan base in Europe. The old CART Champ Car series travelled to Brands Hatch in England in 2003 for a round of the championship. When Champ Car was incorporated into the IndyCar Series in 2009 and at the time their had been suggestions that the sport would keep a number of European event's from Champ Car, however this has not happened.

Dixon wins in Mid-Ohio as Power closes in on title

Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon took an emphatic victory at Mid Ohio. He finished just over three seconds ahead of championship leader Will Power who extended his lead at the top of the championship with four race's to go.

It was a disastrous race for Dixon's team-mate reigning champion Dario Franchitti who finished the race in 17th place. It is going to be a mammoth task for Dario to win the championship this year as he is currently 108 points behind Will Power.

So despite the fact that Dario probably won't win the championship he can be happy with the fact that he won this year's Indianapolis 500, his fourth Indy title in 5 years. He won in 2007 for Andretti Green Racing before moving to NASCAR in 2008 before coming back to Indy with Target winning the 500 in 2009, 2010, 2011 and again this year.

I believe that he will come back a stronger driver in 2013 which is his final year of his contract with Target Chip Ganassi Racing. I believe however that Dario will continue racing in IndyCar as long as he  is still competitive as during his time with Chip they have become on of IndyCar's most successful partnerships in the sport's history.

Can Kimi take his first win of 2012?

Ok so the F1 Summer break has just begun, however as I mentioned in my last post the team's and driver's may be on holiday but I am continuing with the blog over the break. The next race of 2012 is SPA in Belgium. This is by far my favourite circuit on the F1 calendar. Eau Rouge is also my favourite corner in F1.

SPA is not just my favourite track but it is also a certain ICEMAN's favourite circuit. Kimi Raikkonen is coming back so Eau Rouge better watch out. I fully believe that if Kimi and Lotus can have a trouble free weekend and if he qualify's well he's in with a massive chance to take Lotus' first win.

Kimi won in SPA in 2004, 2005, 2007 and in his final year with Ferrari in 2009 in a car they was by Ferrari's standards a major under achiever. And with the Lotus E20 set for some more upgrades in SPA I see absolutely no reason why Kimi won't be on the top step come the end of the race. Especially coming off the back of such a great result in Hungary at the weekend. Kimi came within a second of winning the race and pulled off the best and most daring overtaking manoeuvre of 2012 so far in my opinion.

Lotus have gone from strength to strength this season and so much so that Kimi is seen as a serious challenger for the 2012 driver's title. Going into  the Summer break he is 48 point's behind leader Fernando Alonso but only 8 point's behind second placed man Mark Webber. Equally Lotus are 3rd in the Constructors standing's just one point behind McLaren in second and three point's ahead of Ferrari. Their current position is above heir 4th place target for the year.

The team's challenge has been bolstered by the fact that both their driver's Kimi and Romain have been scoring points week in week out and in Hungary the team scored their second double podium of the season and were easily the fastest car in the race.

So with Ferrari misfiring with Felipe Massa at the moment Lotus have a huge opportunity.