2013 Grid so far

RedBull Racing - Sebastian Vettel
                             Mark Webber

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes - Jenson Button
                                                   Sergio Perez

Scuderia Ferrari - Fernando Alonso
                             Nico Hulkenberg?

Lotus F1 Team - Kimi Raikkonen
                           Romain Grosjean

Mercedes Benz AMG - Nico Rosberg
                                      Lewis Hamilton

Sahara Force India F1 - Paul Di Resta
                                       Felipe Massa?

Sauber F1 - Kamui Kobayashi
                    Michael Schumacher?

Scuderia Toro Rosso - Daniel Ricciardo?
                                     Jean Eric Vergne?

Williams Renault F1 - Pastor Maldonado
                                    Valterri Bottas?

Marussia F1 - Timo Glock
                       Charles Pic? Max Chilton?

Caterham F1 - Heikki Kovalainen
                        Bruno Senna?

HRT - Pedro Dela Rosa
            Dani Clos?

Driver's with question marks yet to be confirmed

Should McLaren switch their attention to Button?

So with Lewis Hamilton heading to pastures new next season, should McLaren put all their weight behind Jenson Button for the rest of the season? With six race's left this season Jenson is currently in 6th in the Driver's championship 75 points behind leader Fernando Alonso. Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton is in fourth place, 52 points behind Alonso.

If I was the team principal of McLaren I wouldn't like the prospect of losing the 2012 F1 Champion to Mercedes next season and with it the No.1 on the car. Lewis Hamilton is still mathematically in the running for this year's championship.

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports Martin Whitmarsh said that despite Hamilton's decision to leave the team McLaren are still 100% behind Lewis in his bid for a second Driver's title, the team however should be concentrating on overhauling RedBull's 36 point advantage in the Constructor's championship as the Woking based squad haven't won this championship since 1998.

From 2013, JB will be the out right team leader at McLaren and in my opinion he will be looking to end his 2012 campaign the way he started it on a high with a win, he will be looking to repeat his 2011 success in Japan next weekend. The Suzuka circuit is a favourite among an awful lot of the driver's on the grid.

Recently JB stated that he was not willing to help Hamilton in his championship bid however having spoke to Martin Whitmarsh his stance may have changed although with Hamilton leaving at the end of the season I don't see the sense in JB helping him.

Jenson has shown that given the car he can dominate at the front SPA this year was a prime example of that.

Lotus targeting second

So with only six race's left in 2012 the Lotus team head to Japan next weekend on the back of a frustrating weekend. Despite a hefty points haul where Kimi finished 6th and Romain finished 7th the team had been hoping for more. Kimi said recent that he felt that the team could fall behind the like's of Ferrari, McLaren and RedBull as the season comes to a close if the team can't keep up with the development race.

Next weekend's Japanese GrandPrix will see the Enstone based team bring a heavily updated package for the event that they hope will enable Kimi and Romain to challenge for the win. So far this season the team have picked up eight podium finishes and Kimi has scored points in every race bar one and finds himself in third in the championship just 16 points behind second placed man Sebastian Vettel while Romain sits in 8th place.

Speaking to the the official Formula One website, Eric Boullier believes that to finish second the driver's championship would be a great result for the team in an ideal world. Asked about the team's line-up for 2013, he stated that it will remain pretty much the same and that with Kimi he has a two year contract with "an option' to me that says that Kimi is tied to the team for 2013 and that the team then have an option on him for 2014.

I would be delighted if Kimi can win a race this year it would cap a remarkable comeback season for the Finn. In an ideal world it would be amazing if could take the win in Japan next weekend and if not Japan in Korea the following week.

We will have to wait and see what happens. Kimi loves the Japanese GrandPrix and he performs very well there. So all Lotus have to o is give him a car that will enable him to challenge for the win or the podium. Overtaking in Suzuka is very difficult and the weather is unpredictable so a good qualifying position is crucial so fingers crossed Lotus will be able to get the most out of qualifying.

XIX Entertainment contacted us

Mercedes boss Ross Brawn has confirmed that XIX Entertainment, Lewis Hamilton's Management team made initial contact with the team about the possibility of a drive with the Brackley based team. Speaking to BBC Sport, Brawn said that they knew Hamilton's contract was up at the end of this year and discussion really took off and led to Friday's announcement that the Brit would be replacing 7 time's world champion Michael Schumacher.

Brawn also confirmed that Hamilton joins Mercedes with equal status to Nico Rosberg. He revealed that Lewis never asked for number one status and that the offer of number one was never on the cards.

I find it extremely interesting that Hamilton is joining Mercedes because by the results so far this season McLaren would have been his best bet for the championship, however I understand where he is coming from, he was looking for a new challenge and was extremely impressed with the project that Mercedes are embarking on over the next three years.

If for what ever reason the move doesn't work out the way either party wanted Hamilton can use it as a learning curve. In my opinion, he is taking a massive risk by joining Mercedes. However when you look at it, Mercedes or Brawn as they were known as then have won the both the Driver's and Constructor's championship's more recently then McLaren. The team won both championships with Jenson Button in 2009 whereas McLaren's last Driver's title came back in 2008 with Hamilton and their last Costructor's championship win came in 1998.

It is also very ironic, because as it turns out the likelihood is that Lewis' race engineer at Mercedes will be Andrew Shovlan, who was Jenson's engineer when he won the championship.

It remains to be seen if Hamilton has made the right choice and only time will tell as to whether or not it is the right move. However with XIX Entertainment approaching Merc, it is my opinion that they felt that Lewis would have greater freedom when it came to image and commercial rights. McLaren are traditionally very strict when it comes personal driver endorsements.

It is believed that Hamilton's new Mercedes contract is worth in the region of £15 million a year over three years so on top of commercial sponsorship in my opinion Hamilton could be earning as much as £20 million a year with Mercedes.

Interestingly enough on the day that Hamilton's move to Mercedes and Sergio Perez's move to McLaren were announced the McLaren chairman Ron Dennis was at the Paris Motor Show at the launch of McLaren Automotive's replacement for the McLaren F1 the McLaren P1, therefore removing himself from the hype surrounding Hamilton's move to Mercedes. But as Ron has said himself his main involvement as Chairman of the McLaren Group is now with McLaren Automotive, the company's road car division.

He would have been involved in the discussions with Hamilton however as Martin Whitmarsh is the F1 team principal I suspect that he had the final say in the signing of Sergio Perez as Hamilton's replacement.

As I understand it, Jenson Button was also involved in the decision to sign Sergio Perez from Sauber, as he along with his manageer Richard Goddard is involved in the management of a number of young drivers coming through the lower motorsport categories.

I have no doubt that will hear Ron Dennis' view on Hamilton's move and the signing of Perez as BBC F1's Lee McKenzie interviewed him on stage at the Paris Motor Show.

The 2013 Autosport International Show at the NEC in Birmingham in January which I am hoping to attend is set to be very interesting as I am sure that Mercedes will take it as an opportunity for Lewis to make an appearance at the event.

In any case Thursday at Suzaka will be a very interesting day in particular the driver's press conference and equally the team principal's press conference on Friday. We will have Hamilton, Perez and Schumacher at the press conference so it is going to be very interesting to wtach.

Confusion over Massa's Ferrari future

It would be appear that there is a lot of confusion surrounding the future of Felipe Massa. Earlier this season it was expected that Massa would be replaced at Ferrari by Sauber's Sergio Perez, however Ferrari president Luca Di Motezemelo shot himself in the foot in my opinion as he said that Sergio who part of Ferari's young driver academy after saying that the young Mexican was not ready to step up to a big team like Ferrari.

The Ferrari president will be rueing that he made those comments as it was announced on Friday that McLaren have signed Sergio to replace Lewis Hamilton from next season. The signing of Perez is in my opinion a major coup for McLaren as Segio has shown so many times this season that he is quick and in Jenson Button they already have an extremely experienced driver who will do a great job in stepping up to the role of team leader.

I fully expect McLaren to be challenging for next year's world championship's as soon as the light's go out in Melbourne on St Patrick's Day.

So with Perez no longer an option for Ferrari, the question is who are they going to get to replace Massa? Well there is always the option of retaining the Brazilian for another year and then trying to swoop for  Sebastian Vettel in 2014, however it would appear that the team's mind has more less been made up to let Massa go as during the Summer Mark Webber revealed that he had received an offer from Ferrari for next season, however the Aussie decided to stick with RedBull.

The BBC's Chief F1 writer Andrew Benson revealed yesterday that he believed having spoken to a source extremely close to Ferrari that Massa is out and the young German of Nico Hulkenberg is in, however in the same breathe he said that another equally close source said that Massa is set to continue with the team.

I for one, expect that Ferrari president Luca Di Motezemelo to announce Fernando Alonso's team-mate tomorrow (Monday).

Here is what I believe is going to happen, Nico Hulkenberg is going to replace Massa at Ferrari with Massa moving to Force India while Michael Schumacher will sign a one year deal to replace Sergio Perez at Sauber having driven for Sauber in Sports cars before moving to F1 with Jordan in 1991.

Meanwhile in my opinion, the Lotus pairing of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean will remain the same as I believe that the team would be very foolish to get rid either driver particularly Kimi as he is currently in the title fight with six races to go.

Major twist in Hamilton's move to Mercedes

The ink has barely dried on Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes contract and this morning just 24 hours after he announced his move to Mercedes from McLaren for 2013, Formula One website pitpass.com are reporting that Bernie Ecclestone has said that the proposed switch from 2.4 litre V8 engines to 1.6 litre V6 turbo charged power plants scheduled to be introduced from 2014 is to be scrapped.

The news if it is true will come as a hammer blow to Lewis Hamilton as one of the major factors in his move to Mercedesis the fact that the team build their own engine's one of only two team's to do so. The other being Ferrari.

It remains to be seen whether or not there is any truth to this story but if there is I for one believe it would be a good thing for Formula One as nearly every year the FIA bring in radical new rule changes to the sport. For example this year, team's had to run the 'Stepped nose' on their cars. During the World Motorsport Council meeting yesterday it was confirmed that team's will be allowed to hide these noses from next season.

In my opinion there needs to be some consistency in the Technical regulations and designers should not be punished for their innovation. I am of course referring to the fact that the Double DRS device developed by Mercedes has been banned from next season. Formula One is meant to be the pinnacle of motor racing and with all the developments being stifled by what I believe is an over governed and regulated motor racing body the series is in great danger of becoming stale in my opinion.

So we will have to see if this story develops over the coming months

Mercedes confirm Niki Lauda appointment

The Mercedes Benz AMG team have officially confirmed that Triple World Champion Niki Lauda has been appointed to the position of Non Executive Chariman of the Mercedes Board of Directors. The news came in the same press release that saw Mercedes confirm Lewis Hamilton as Nico Rosberg's team mate.

Niki Lauda held similar position's at Ferrari and later Jaguar Racing.

Ferrari set to confirm Massa

So with the confirmation today that Sergio Perez will replace the Mercedes bound Lewis Hamiton at McLaren. Ferrari have no realistic options. Kimi Raikkonen is set to stay at Lotus and why would he leave a team where he has established himself and has had an incredible return to Formula One.

Heikki Kovalainen has apparently held talks with Ferrari about replacing Felipe Massa. However I believe that he could replace Perez at Sauber and possibly Alexander Rossi could replace him at Caterham which would be a fantastic marketing prospect for Caterham with two races scheduled for the US next season.

So it would appear that Felipe Massa has received a reprieve from Ferrari. The Brazilian driver has had a terrible season by his standards and so far this season he has only scored 51 points compared to his team mate who is leading the championship with 194 points.

I believe that Ferrari will be kicking themselves by not signing Perez while they had the chance. Granted a Formula One driver contract is not worth the paper it;'s written on however a McLaren contract is a lot more difficult to get out of.

News Just In:

According to Formula One website GPupdate.net former world champion Niki Lauda is set to join the Mercedes Board of Directors as a Non Executive Director. A position he has previously held with Ferrari and the former Jaguar Racing team. This story is yet to be confirmed so we will have to wait and see what happens.

Lauda currently heads up German F1 coverage on RTL so we shall watch this space.

F1's worst kept secret confirmed as Hamilton replaces Schumacher for 2013.

Well it has finally been made official as news broke this morning that after 5 years driving for the team and 13 years associated with them Lewis Hamilton is leaving McLaren for Mercedes at the end of this season. Hamilton has signed a three year contract to race alongside Nico Rosberg. McLaren have announced that Sauber's Sergio Perez will partner Jesnon Button at the Woking based squad next season.

The news that Hamilton has joined Mercedes for next season has come as no surprise to me as I believe  that it was time for the Brit to leave McLaren. So McLaren will have to alter the way they work for the rest of the season in relation to the development of next season's car as they won't want Hamilton taking  information across to Mercedes.

The news also affectively forces Michaeal Schumacher out of Formula One as Hamilton will be replacing him. I can understand why Hamilton decided to move, Mercedes are a factory backed team and unlike McLaren they build their own engines which could be crucial as Formula One switch to 1.6 litre V6 turbo charged engines.

I believe that McLaren have signed a fantastic driver to replace Hamilton in the form of Sergio Perez and I firmly believe that he will fit in extremely well at the team. He will also get on very well with Jenson Button. It also means that Jenson can start moulding the team around him as Hamilton did during his time at McLaren.

With official confirmation of Hamilton's move there will be a domino effect down as team's will begin to confirm their line-ups. Also with Perez signing for McLaren, Ferrari have been caught on the hop as Perez was a member of the team's young driver programme.

Hamilton joined McLaren in 2007 after dominating the GP2 series Formula One's feeder championship. During his time at McLaren Hamilton has won 20 races, been on the podium 48 times, and has been on pole position 24 times and narrowly missed out on winning the championship in his first season to Kimi Raikkonen. He went on to win the championship in 2008.

Commenting on his new signing, Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn who only yesterday said that they were still in talks with Michael Schumacher over his future said that he believes that in Lewis and Nico they have the perfect dynamic in the team.

In relation to Michael Schumacher, his future is uncertain, Sauber owner, Peter Sauber said recently that he would be willing to offer Schumacher a drive if he became available, however as I have mentioned previously Schuamcher will be 44 years old before the start of next season so whether or not Suchmacher would want to rejoin Peter Sauber who he raced for in sports cars before his F1 career is yet to be seen.

However I believe that it is more then likely he will leave the sport.

Bangkok set for 2014 night race

Formula One look's set to add another street circuit to it's calendar with the news that Thailand are close to agreeing to host the sports second race under the lights from 2014. In confirming the news the Sports authority in Thailand said that no contract is in place and that an official agreement is yet to be announced but they are confident that the event will go ahead.

This will be Formula One's second night race as Singapore made it's debut as FORMULA One's first ever night race in 2008. The news that Thailand is to be added to the calendar doesn't surprise me at all as the sport has a massive fan base in Asia, with races already held in Singapore, China, Korea and Japan.

The question is what race will make way for it? In my opinion, Formula One can't afford to lose another European event because in recent years it has become a truly global sport with no real base as Europe traditionally had the most number of race's. As of next season we will only have 6 races in Europe and for a sport steeped in history we can't afford to lose circuits like SPA, Monza and Silverstone as they are all iconic venues that are at the heart of Formula One.

Silverstone is a case in point as no fewer then seven of the eleven team's involved in F1 are based in and around the circuit and anyway the race is secure until a least 2017.

Under the Concorde Agreement which all the  team's must sign up to the Formula One season can have no more then 20 races in the year. Now as a massive fan of Formula One in my opinion this should be amended in order to allow at least 23 races on the calendar. Now I know what are thinking that team's are already stretched as it is and with sport trying to cut costs rather then increase them where's the sense in that?

Well my answer to that is in 2014 Formula One switches from 2.4 litre V8 engines to 1.6 litre turbo charged V6 engines so team's are already spending insane amounts of money for something that they are not 100 percent happy.

In my opinion the Formula One season should start earlier and we could maybe have three back to back fly away race's. If I was to sort a calendar out for 2014 it would look something like this:

February 23rd - Australia
March 2nd - Malaysia
March 16th - China
March 30th - Bahrain
April 13th - Barcelona
April 20th - Monaco
May 4th - America - New Jersey (Night Race)
May 11th - Canada
May 25th - Hungary
June 1st - Belgium
June 15th - Britain
June 29th - Italy
July 13th - Brazil
July 27th - China
September 7th - Korea
September 14th - Japan
September 28th - Thailand (Night Race)
October 12th - USA - Texas
October 26th - India
November 9th - Argentina
November 23rd - Singapore (Night Race)

If I had to choose a calendar for Formula One in 214 it would look something like this. (Please note that this calendar is completely fictional and is something I did for fun)

Hamilton decision due tomorrow

It has been reported today that Lewis Hamilton's Formula One future will be announced tomorrow, it is now expected that the British driver will confirm that he will be staying at McLaren in 2013. The news comes as Ross Brawn refused to confirm or deny that his Mercedes team are interested in Hamilton's services.

The Mercedes team boss also said that discussions with Michael Schumacher over his future are on going and that any announcement regrading the German won't be made until some time in October, with the news that Hamilton could confirm his plans tomorrow the changes of him leaving McLaren appear to have disappeared.

However in my opinion this could all be a smoke screen. If Hamilton makes an announcement he could simply be confirming that he won't be driving for McLaren next season and that wouldn't necessarily mean that he would be moving to Mercedes. The Lotus team have yet to announce their line-up for next season however I believe that Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean will be staying at the team in 2013.

So by this time tomorrow we may finally after months of speculation discover what is happening with Hamilton. We shall see what happens. In any case, I believe it would be wrong for Hamilton to tie himself to McLaren as it is very rare in this era of Formula One for a driver to stay at one team for their entire career.

For example, in 2007 Fernando Alonso shocked everyone in the F1 world by signing for McLaren for 2007 season having just won his second driver's title with the then Renault team, He spent a year with McLaren, ironically as Hamilton's team-mate (We all know how that played out) before returning to Renault in 2008 and 2009 before heading to Ferrari. So it is certainly not uncommon for a driver to leave a team only to return after a year or too. So that is always an option for Hamilton. But we shall see what news tomorrow brings.

USA given the green light

Fantastic news came from Austin, Texas today as Charlie Whiting Formula One's race director visited the Circuit of America's to conduct the FIA's final track inspection. Whiting has given the circuit his and more importantly the FIA's seal of approval so despite all the doubt surrounding the circuit Formula One IS heading back to the USA!!!!!!!!!!!

When talking about the circuit Whiting described turn as "Awesome'. He fully expected the team's and driver's to be delighted with the new circuit in Austin. I can't wait to see the new circuit in Austin and I expect it to be a massive success as the organizers of the race have done an incredible job to the circuit ready.

The race takes place on November 18 and could very well be the scene of the Championship decider but we will have to wait and see what happens.

Japanese GrandPrix Preview

Circuit Length: 3.6135miles (5.807KM)

Race Distance: 307.471KM

Total Number of Laps: 53

Lap Record: Kimi Raikkonen – 1:31.540s (2005)

So I know it’s a little early as we have only just had the Singapore GrandPrix but I thought that I would do a preview of the next race – The Japnaese GrandPrix in Suzaka. This circuit is unique to Formula One in that it is the race on the calendar that features a figure of eight layout. I absolutely love the Japanese GrandPrix in my opinion it is one of  the highligt’s of the Formula One season. For years it was known for settling epic champiomship deciders the 1999 season stands out for me in particular when Mika Hakkinen beat Eddie Irvine to the title by a single point.

The weather in Japan for the GrandPrix is usually unpreidctable and last year’s race was a mararthon ue to the weather however McLaren’s Jenson Button domintaed to win the race and he will be hoping that he can have a repeat performance this season.

Kimi Raikkonen returns to a circuit where he has always done well and with the Lotus team expected to bring a massive upgrade package for the event he could be challenging for hid first win in Formula One since his return.

The Japanese fan’s are extremely passionate about Formula One and this goes back to the day’s of Senna and Prost in the late 1980’s. From the start/finish straight the driver’s fly down to turn one taking it flatout as turn one doubles up into turn two turn’s 3,4,5,6 and 7 all follow in quick succession as left, right, left combinations.

From turn 7, the driver’s then take the loop of the Dunlop Curve and fly towards turn eight known as the Degner Curve here is a perfect overtaking oppoerunity as mistakes can be made as theire is potential for driver’s to run wide by carrying too much speed into turn nine heading under the flyover driver’s pick up more speed as they head towards the heaving braking zones of turn ten and the tricky left handed hairpin, this is another excellent opportunity to overtake during the race because driver’s will tend to lock up heading into this turn unless they have the perfect race set up. Driver’s will be able to deploy KERS to complete a successful overtake through turn 11.

Turn 12 is another sweeping loop that will be taken flat out as the driver’s line –up for turns 13 and 14 known as the Spoon Curve this is another great overtaking opportunity and in some case cars have been known to run wide here too. From Spoon Curve the driver’s will head down the back straight, the perfect place to pull an overtaking manouver and they will get the added speed of The DRS as this is most likely to be the seocnd DRS detection zone.

Turn 15 is another great overtaking area as the cars will be flat out before the extremely heavy braking zone of the final chicane again of turns 16 and 17 again another great overtaking opportunity before they deploy the last of their KERS through turn 18 before activating the DRS once more done the main staaight to complete the lap.

McLaren prepared to match Mercedes

It would appear that McLaren have not given up on retaining Lewis Hamilton with reports that the Woking based team are set to match Mercedes offer in order to secure Hamilton's signature. The news comes as Mercedes are set to hold a board meeting in Stuttgart tomorrow afternoon where it is expected  that a decision on the team's future and their 2013 driver line up could be decided.

The term's of the Mercedes contract have not been disclosed however it is thought that the team are offering Hamilton greater freedom in relation to endorsements. It has been reported that McLaren have increased their offer to Hamilton from £10 million to £12 million in line with what Mercedes are offering.

I believe that once the Mercedes meeting is concluded there will be a domino effect in the driver market. Michael Schumacher holds the key to the look of the 2013 grid. Should Schumacher retire and be replaced by Hamilton, there will be a vacancy at McLaren alongside Jenson Button. Over at Ferrari there is the potential for a vacancy as Felipe Massa is under intense pressure as the 2012 season draws to a close.

Should Ferrari as expected release Massa, there are a number of driver's who could be in the frame for the seat alongside Fernando Alonso. For example, former Force India driver Adrian Sutil who was released by the Silverstone based team at the end of last year is apparently on the look out for a return to F1 and could be a good fit for Ferrari.

Meanwhile McLaren could make a swoop for Sauber's Sergio Perez who has been extremely impressive so far this season. The young Mexican who is part of Ferrari's young driver programme is cruelly not contracted to the Italian team and this would allow McLaren to sign him on a long term deal. So the question remains who would Ferrari go for? Well there is the possibility of the team trying to sign Paul Di Resta from Force India, however any deal could be problematic as Ferrari are apparently lining up Sebastian Vettel for 2014.

Another option for McLaren is Paul Di Resta who as I said in a previous post is now represented by Jenson Button's manager Richard Goddard. That would prove a good move for the Woking team as they would be dealing with one management company.

So if Perez stays at Sauber next season, Felipe Massa could go to Force India replacing Paul Di Resta as he would a lot of experience to the team and would be a good partner for Nico Hulkenberg. Over at Lotus it is is highly likely that the Enstone squad are going to retain Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean who have proven to be one of the best lineup's this season that has resulted in Kimi being in third in the championship with Romain 8th while the team are in a solid fourth place in the Constructor's championship.

So here is what I think will be the possible driver- lineups for 2013:

RedBull Racing: 1. Sebastian Vettel 2. Mark Webber CONFIRMED

McLaren Mercedes: 3. Lewis Hamilton? Sergio Perez? Paul Di Resta? Heikki Kovalainen 4. Jenson Button CONFIRMED

Ferrari: 5. Fernando Alonso CONFIRMED 6. Felipe Massa? Paul Di Resta? Jules Bianchi?

Lotus: 7. Kimi Raikkonen LIKELY 8. Romain Grosjean LIKELY

Mercedes AMG: 9. Nico Rosberg CONFIRMED 10. Michael Scumacher? Lewis Hamilton? Paul Di Resta?

Sauber F1: 11: Sergio Perez? Felip Massa? 12. Kamui Kobayashi?

Force India: 14: Paul Di Resta? Felipe Massa? 15. Nico Hulkenberg?

Williams F1: 16: Pastor Maldonado? 17. Bruno Senna? Valterri Bottas?

Toro Rosso: 18. Daniel Ricciardo? 19. Jean Eric Vergne?

Marussia F1 Team: 20. Timo Glock? 21. Charles Pic? Max Chilton?

Caterham F1 Team: 22. Heikki Kovalainen? 23. Vitaly Petrov? Alexander Rossi? Giedo Van Der Garde?

HRT: 24. Pedro Dela Rosa? 25. Narain Karthikeyan?

In a twist to the Lewis Hamilton Mercedes story The Times in the UK are reporting  that triple world champion Niki Lauda has reportedly been offered a senior role within the Mercedes team should Hamilton decide to join the team. Lauda has previously worked for Ferrari and during the 1990's and also worked with the High Perfomance Division of the Ford Motor Company before being installed as Team Principal of Jaguar Racing in 2001 replacing the sacked Bobby Rahal.

So we shall have to wait and see what happens in the next couple of days. I will of course keep you all posted on any developments.

Hamilton has a lot to consider when deciding his future

Following his third retirement of the season during yesterday's Singapore GrandPrix I believe that Lewis Hamilton has an awful lot to think about when deciding his future plans. The 2008 World Champion has been linked with a move to Mercedes for months now and a decision is apparently due on Wednesday.

Lewis has been affiliated with the McLaren team since he was 13 years of age and has been in Formula One with them since his debut in 2007. When he originally signed for McLaren in 2007 the economic landscape was completely different to how it is now. Next season McLaren will have to pay £8 million for their supply of Mercedes engines so that is another cost for them.

Since joining McLaren in 2007, Hamilton has finished 2nd, 1st, 5th, 4th and 5th in the Driver's Championship. As it stands with 6 races to go in 2012 he lies in 4th place 52 points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso. He has two offers on the table one on a reduced salary from McLaren and the other on a substantially higher salary then McLaren are offering.

It is not just about the money however, when you compare the statistics, McLaren last won the Constructor's Champion in 1998 and last won the Driver's title with Lewis in 2008 whereas Mercedes won both the Driver's and Constructor's championship in 2009 with Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton's current team mate.

As it stands with six race's to go, Lewis is on target to finish ahead of Jenson in the championship however that will come as little relief to McLaren as they are mainly interested in the Constructors championship if they are not in a position to win the driver's championship.

Another factor to consider is the point that Jenson Button made following the Italian GrandPrix that he was not willing to play a supporting role to Lewis Hamilton this season as he believes that the team should keep their equal status amongst the driver's if neither of them are no longer in the hunt for the championship. A fact that he has apparently made very clear to team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

If Lewis Hamilton is looking for number one driver status, in my opinion he should switch to Mercedes because based on pure results alone he would arguably be in a position to beat Nico Rosberg in a straight fight in an equal car.

Lewis Hamilton is represented in F1 by Simon Fuller and his management company XIX Entertainment and with Formula One heading back to the US for two race's next season a move to Mercedes in my opinion would be ideal as he would be the perfect person to help Mercedes market their brand in the US he would also unlike at McLaren be free to align himself with personal sponsorship.

McLaren made an exception for Hamilton a number of years ago when they allowed him to team up with Reebok, however traditionally McLaren's main focus has always been on their own sponsors and they have always ensured that their driver's are committed to them.

Mercedes also have to look a what they have at the moment, they have Nico Rosberg, a young star with a bright future in F1 who already this season has delivered Mercedes their first win since they returned to Formula One as a fully fledged manufacturer in 2010 and then they also have Michael Schumacher, the seven time's world champion who came out of retirement in 2010 and who since his return to the sport has been comprehensively beaten year on year by Nico Rosberg. He has failed to show the signs that brought him success with Ferrari and Ross Brawn, some may say that it's down to the car however with the same car Nico Rosberg has won a race and been on the podium numerous times with Mercedes over the last three seasons whereas Schumacher has only the single podium he achieved in Valencia this season when he finished in third.

Another key factor that the team must consider is the fact that before next season comes around on 17th March Michael Schumacher will have turned 44 years old, and I don't care how fit a driver is at that driving a Formula One car at over  200 miles per hour his reactions can't be a sharp as they once were. This was evident during yesterday's race in Singapore where Schumacher collided with Jean Eric Vergne taking them both out following thee accident his race engineer asked over the radio 'What happened there?' following an investigation by the race stewards Schumacher was handed a 10 place grid penalty for the next race in Japan.

In my opinion, Michael should take a long look in the mirror and decide is it really worth me continuing? He has won seven world championships, and is the most successful driver in the history of the sport and it is highly unlikely that anyone will ever come close to matching or even beating that feat.

The team must also consider their current position in the Constructor's championship, as it stands they currently lie in 5th place on 136 points, 95 points behind Lotus who are in fourth.

I understand that Michael Schumacher is still held in very high regard in Germany and there would undoubtedly be a back lash if he was to  be replaced by Lewis Hamilton, however, in my opinion, Mercedes need to look at the bigger picture, if the team want to be successful in Formula One they need to have the best driver's currently available to them and I believe that with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg who were team mate's in the lower formulae they would have one of the strongest driver line-ups on the grid.

If however, Schumacher is intent on staying involved in Formula One Mercedes can always do with him what RedBull have down with DC and that is to make him a driver consultant as Ross Brawn has said that there could be room for him in management should he decide to retire from racing, however if still wanted to drive the car he could take part in demonstration runs as DC does with RedBull.

During his first stint in Formula One, Schumacher gained the reputation of being a dirty driver and this is a reputation that in my opinion since his comeback he has retained and the incident yesterday is a prime example. So far this season out of the 14 races we've had Schumacher has failed to finish 50 percent of them, now granted some of them were as a result of car failures however he has been involved in a number of crashes most notably in Barcelona and in Singapore.

Only 6 races in Europe next season

The 2013 Formula One calendar was released over the weekend and I was extremely surprised to see that it features only six European events. It is quiet sad that we are losing a lot of great races in Europe. For example, the Turkish GrandPrix was a fantastic venue with it's incredible turn eight. In recent year's we have also lost the French GrandPrix in Magny Cours and the A1 Ring in Austria.

Where it is disappointing to see the sport lose these iconic track's, I understand the need for the sport to branch out into new market's. However now we only have three manufacturers involved in the sport and only two 'works' teams, in Mercedes and Ferrari.

This year we make our first trip to North America since 2007 with the United State's GrandPrix taking place at the purpose built Circuit of the America's facility in Austin, Texas. I have absolutely no doubt what so ever that the GrandPrix in Texas will be a resounding success particularly as they have former World Champion Mario Andretti helping to promote the event.

Next year also sees Valencia lose it's spot on the calendar as it is replace provisionally by the American GrandPrix at the New Jersey Street circuit with the Manhattan skyline as the back drop. From next season onwards Barcelona and Valencia will alternate in hosting the Spanish GrandPrix this means that there will be no European GrandPrix next season.

With the introduction of New Jersey next season, there will be five street circuits so that makes up a quarter of the race's in 2013. So next season looks set to be a spectacular year already and we have just earned about the calendar. We are still to find out the driver movements for 2013 and that could potentially be made clearer on Wednesday as both Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have reportedly called press conferences for some time on that day so I may have news about the line-ups and future plans of Mercedes by then.

It's all to play for with six races to go!!

So with the conclusion of the Singapore GrandPrix, there are now just six race's left in the 2012 season. I firmly believe that the championship is still wide open. Fernando Alonso maybe 29 point's clear of Vettel heading to Japan but another DNF for Alonso in Japan or indeed Vettel would blow the championship wide open again.

The name of the game this season in my opinion has been consistency and reliability. RedBull have shown this season that unlike the last two year's their car this year is far from bullet proof with both cars failing to finish in Italy it was crack in the Bull's armor. Meanwhile at McLaren Jenson Button failed to finish in Monza and in Singapore on Sunday Lewis Hamilton who qualified on pole failed to finish the race gifting Sebastian Vettel his second win of the season.

Even Championship leader Fernando Alonso has had his fair share of issues this season, Ok he may be leading the championship but he hasn't shown the dominance that he had in Germany earlier this season and his has been unlucky in some race's SPA for example where he failed to finish through no fault of his own.

There is one driver however who has throughout the season been driving the wheels of a car that has proven difficult to drive in some races. I am talking about the Iceman, Kimi Raikkonen, who after two years away from the sport has been consistent all season scoring points at every race bar one and has featured on the podium 6 times this season and managed to stay in third place in the championship as the team's head to Japan.

Now in my opinion the media have completely overlooked Kimi this season and they tend to tatrget him because he is not interested in the politics and games in the sports and I believe that this upsets the media because oh no shock horror Kimi doesn't conform to the way an F1 driver should act. When Kimi won the championship in 2007 his win was extremely popular and at times seemed very unlikely to happen however going into the find round in the championship he was in third in the championship and came out on top.

Kimi is a fan of the Japanese GrandPrix and has performed extremely well there during his F1 career.
Heading there in two week's time Kimi is third in the championship 7 points ahead of Hamilton and 16 behind Vettel. He is also 45 points behind leader Fernando Alonso with 150 points still to play for.

Lotus are yet to win a grandPrix this season, however I firmly believe that the win can come in Japan in two week's as they will be bringing their new Double DRS device to the race and they believe that this will help them to gain an advantage over heir rivals.

In my opinion we are in for an epic conclusion to the 2012 Formula One season and with three race's in the next five week's I would stronger advice you not to miss any of the action and if you do don't forget that for all the latest views and reviews the blog will be here.

Vettel wins as Hamilton retires

RedBull's Sebastian Vettel took only his second win of the 2012 season in an eventful Singapore GrandPrix. The German started the race from third on the grid just behind Lewis Hamilton and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado, however he made a clean getaway and soon found himself in second place behind Hamilton and ahead of Jenson Button.

Vettel showed good pace throughout the race and eventually won the race after Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire with a gearbox failure. Vettel was joined on the podium by Jenson button and championship leader Fernando Alonso who is 29 points clear of Vettel at the top the standing's.

However there is a possibility that the result may change as following one of the safety car periods Vettel broke away from Button and then applied the brakes extremely hard that nearly caused Button to crash into the back of him. In my opinion Vettel Brake tested Button but we will have to wait and see what the stewards have to say as the incident is under investigation. 

It was another great race for Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus. The Finn qualified in 12th place and managed to bring his car home in 6th place with Romain Grosjean finishing in 7th giving the team a good haul of points. Kimi maintain's his 100% finishing record this season and also held onto third in the driver's championship just 16 points behind Vettel as the team's head for Suzuka a track the Iceman has alway's done well at.

It was a disappointing race for Michael Schumacher and Mercedess as the German caused a massive collision with the Toro Rosso of Jean Eric Vergne resulting in both cars being forced to retire.

So with six race's to go in the championship the battle looks set to go down to the wire and the final race in Brazil because despite the fact he still leads Alonso hasn't won a race since Germany. It is going to be extremely interesting to see what happens next time out in Japan and reports in Singapore this weekend suggest that Mercedes will announce on Wednesday their plans for the future which could end the speculation about driver line-ups for next season. So watch this space.

Hamilton on pole under the lights

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton took pole position for tomorrow's Singapore GrandPrix, Formula One's only night race. The Brit, currently second in the championship will start just ahead of the Williams driver of Pastoe Maldonado who surprised everyone by putting his car on the front row. RedBull's Sebastian Vettel could only manage to qualify in third place after topping the timesheets in all of the free practice sessions.

Meanwhile Championship leader Fernando Alosno will start from 5th place on the grid just behind a slightly disappointed Jenson Button who is fourth. Further down the grid it was a disappointing session for Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus as the Finn missed out on Q3 and will start the race from 12th on the grid.

This was an unfortunate turn of events as Kimi is currently third in the championship only a point behind Hamilton so this is the last thing that he would have either wanted or expected however the race tomorrow is a completely different story.

It is going to be extremely interesting to see what happens at the start of the race as it is a very short run down to turn one and there is a very high possibility of a first corner incident and the safety car being called out. So we shall have to wait and see what happens under the Singapore night sky, whatever happens, we are in for a cracker

Three from three for Vettel

Sebastian Vettel showed that he is certainly one to watch this afternoon for pole position for the Singapore GrandPrix as the RedBull driver topped the timesheet's for the third session in a row. He finished just ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. The big surprise of the session was the pace set by the Force India of Nico Hulkenborg as he finished the morning in fourth place.

Kim Raikkonen and Lotus seem to have recovered well from the problems they encountered yesterday as the Finn was 5th fastest in the E20. So that is a good indicator for Qualifying. While one side of the RedBull garage were happy with their morning's work the other side had a lucky escape as Mark Webber hit the barrier hard with his rear tyre that could have resulted in a broken rear suspension, fortunately for the Aussie he escaped with just a flat tyre, however he is now down a set of tyres heading into quali.

Despite his problems Mark finished the session in 11th place splitting Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button. There appears to be no threat of rain for qualifying and the final practice session was dry so that  is a great sign as running qualifying under the light's in the rain would in my opinion be insane.

There was some great news for the Singapore event organizers as they have just secured a new contract to host the race until the 2017. This is another piece of the jigsaw puzzle in place as it was provisionally on calendar yesterday when the 2013 listing's were released.

So stay tuned to BJF12012 for the latest action and reaction from Qualifying in Singapore.

Raikkonen fears Lotus have lost ground

Kimi Raikkonen believes that his Lotus team will struggle at this weekend's Singapore GrandPrix. The Finnish driver had problems in second practice as he had a hydraulic issue. At the end of the session the  Iceman and his team mate Romain Grosjean were 2 seconds off the pace of RedBull's Sebastian Vettel.

Kimi now fears that his Lotus team have fallen behind Ferrari, RedBull and McLaren in the development race. The team struggled for pace in SPA and Monza however Kimi finds himself in third place in the Driver's championship just a single point behind Lewis Hamilton and Lotus are in a very comfortable fourth place in the Constructor's championship.

Kimi's comments come despite the fact that the team have brought a new floor and rear wing to the GrandPrix this weekend. The team have delayed the introduction of their version of the Double DRS device that was meant to make an appearance in Monza last time out however it will not appear until the Japanese GrandPrix on 7th October.

Despite his comments, Kimi hopes that the team will be happier with how they perform during tomorrow's on track action.

Do I believe they will be challenging for the win this weekend? No unfortunately I don't think they will be however at the race it may be a different story although anything can happen in F1, the last race in Monza is a prime example of how thing's can change as both RedBull driver's failed to finish the race as did Jenson Button.

I am confident however that Kimi will be able to continue his consistent run of points scoring this weekend provided that the car's issues from today are sorted out.

Vettel fastest in FP2 as Lotus encounter problems

RedBull's Sebastian Vettel was once again fastest in FP2 for this weekend's Singapore GrnadPrix. The reigning world champion finished the session just ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button. It is going to be an extremely interesting final practice session tomorrow and qualifying as it appears that the battle for the win this weekend will be between McLaren and RedBull.

It was an unfortunate session for Lotus and Kimi Raikkonen as the Finn encountered hydraulic issues with just over five minutes to go in the session. He finished the session in 12th place.

The team will be able to sort out the problem in with the car before qualifying tomorrow. So it is going to very interesting to see how the team's get on tomorrow as the weather is due

Vettel fastest as night fall in Singapore

RedBull's Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time during Friday Practice one for this weekend's Singapore GrandPrix. Lewis Hamilton was second for McLaren while championship leader Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest in his Ferrari. Mark Webber, who this weekend has a new helmet was in 5th place for RedBull. The Milton Keynes based team will be hoping to recover from their double DNF last time out in Monza.

Jenson Button was third fastest for McLaren just behind Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Kimi Raikkonen was in 12th place for Lotus. Friday Practice is a slow start to the weekend and is usually not an indicator as to where the team's are. We will have to wait and see what happens during P2

Provisional 2013 F1 calendar revealed by the FIA

The FIA have revealed the provisional date's for the 2013 Formula One World Championship. Next year's championship is set to start on St Patrick's Day 17th September down under in Melbourne, Australia. There are question mark's over a number of races New Jersey, Korea, Germany and Singapore still have to confirm their contract's with Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One's commercial right's holder.

Next season's Formula One season is set to be the longest in the sport's history as although there will be the same number of races as this season it will just a month before Christmas. So the provisional calendar is:

March 17         Australia (Melbourne)
March 24         Malaysia (Sepang)
April 14         China (Shanghai)
April 21         Bahrain (Sakhir)
May 12           Spain (Barcelona)
May 26           Monaco (Monte Carlo)
June 9           Canada (Montreal)
June 16          America (New Jersey) *
June 30          Britain (Silverstone)
July 21          Germany (Nurburgring)*
July 28          Hungary (Hungaroring)
September 1      Belgium (Spa)
September 8      Italy (Monza)
September 22     Singapore (Marina Bay) *
October 6        Japan (Suzuka)
October 13       Korea (Yeongam) *
October 27       India (Buddh International Circuit)
November 3       Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)
November 17      United States (Austin)
November 24      Brazil (Interlagos)
 

Races with a star are yet to have their place confirmed

My thoughts about Jake's BBC exit

So with the announcement yesterday that Jake Humphrey is leaving the BBC at the end of the F1 season the big question on every BBC F1 fan is who will replace him as the host of the station's coverage? This year, the Beeb are showing ten races live and it is not yet clear what form their coverage will take next season.

For this season James Allen joined the BBC's 5 Live F1 coverage as lead commentator taking over from David Croft with Jenny Goew taking over as pitlane reporter on Friday's replacing Natalie Pickham. Ben Edwards took over from Martin Brundle.

With the Beeb looking to cut costs, it would make no sense what so ever for them to bring in an outsider to replace Jake Humphrey particularly as Lee has the experience and critically the knowledge of Formula One and is more then capable to take the reigns of the broadcasters F1 coverage having done so on an number of occasions.

The BBC wouldn't have to replace Lee in the pitlane as they already have Gary Anderson working alongside her in the pitlane and that is a position that Jenny Goew could take up. Le is very known and very highly regarded in the F1 paddock as she also represents a number of driver's outside the sport in a PR capacity.

She is the ideal candidate to take over from Jake who it is rumored had a falling out with his BBC bosses. The report came about after it emerged that his tweets which were a regularly feature on the BBC'S F1 website disappeared shortly after the announcement was made. It is not yet known what Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard's plans are for next season however I am sure that we shall find out soon enough.

Jake has four LIVE races left with the BBC starting with this weekend's Singapore GrandPrix and I firmly believe that he will go out on a massive high after a fantastic career at the BBC and at the helm of BBC's F1 coverage.

Williams to announce line-up at the end of the season

The Williams F1 team look set to announce their driver line-up for next season at the end of the current campaign. There has been a lot of speculation over the futures of Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado. Pastor brought the team their first win since 2004 at this year's Spanish GrandPrix back in May however since then he has failed to score a single point and has been involved in a number of  different on track incidents.

Bruno Senna on the other hand has scored points in seven races this season and has shown consistency throughout the season. Williams boss Toto Wolff has said that he will discuss the driver line up with Sir Frank Williams at the conclusion of the season. Williams test and reserve driver Valteri Bottas has been tipped to take one of the Williams seats next season.

Maldonado brings a lot of sponsorship money to the team as his backed by the Venezuelan government owned oil company PDVSA. So if Bottas is to take one of the seats he will have to bring a substantial amount of sponsorship money with him.

If Bottas replaces Senna I believe that Williams should have equal drivers as in my opinion Maldonado isn't ready to lead the team.

So it is going to be extremely interesting to see what happens as a number of team's are going to look different next season as a number of driver's look set to be on the move.

Shock as Jake Humphrey announces BBC F1 exit

I was absolutely shocked this morning to hear the news that Jake Humphrey is leaving BBC's F1 team. Jake who is currently in Singapore to present live coverage of this weekend's race live on the BBC has hosted the BBC F1 coverage since the corporation won the right's to cover Formula One in 2009 from ITV.

However from this season onwards the national broadcaster lost it's exclusive deal to show Formula One live in the United Kingdom and have been forced to share the coverage with Sky Sports. The Beeb were hit very hard by the news that Sky would be taking all live races this year. As a result BBC Sport lost key personnel to Sky as Martin Brundle, Ted Kravitz, Natalie Pickham, Anthony Davidson and David Croft all moved across to Sky.

Jake, who started his career with the BBC in Children's TV has been with the corporation for ten years and is heading to BT as the telecommunications has won the right's to host premiership footbal next season so Jake will be the host of their coverage. He and his his wife Harriott are expecting their first child later this year.

Jake literally leaves very big shoes to fill haha, however I believe that Lee McKenzie, The Beeb's pitlane reporter will take over as the host of the BBC's F1 coverage. It certainly makes sense as she has an awful lot of experience presenting the F1 show when Jake has been unavailable and so in my opinion the best person for the job.

Lee has been involved in Formula One for many years and her father Bob is a very well known F1 writer.

The BBC have done a fantastic job with the team they have in place this year considering the money that Sky have put into their coverage.

They have decimated Sky in the rating's for the races that they both shown live.

Hamilton calls speculation over his future rubbish

Lewis Hamilton has spoken publicly about his future for the first time since he was linked with a move to Mercedes at the end of this season. The McLaren driver who is out of contract with the Woking based squad at the end of season. He said today that the rumors surrounding his future are rubbish and he has decided what he is going to do next season and is concentrated solely on the task at hand and that is winning this year's championship with McLaren.

It is going to be extremely interesting to se what happens in the next couple of day's but I believe that by what he is saying he will be staying at McLaren next season and should Schumacher decide to retire from the sport, Mercedes may slot Paul Di Resta into the seat alongside Nico Rosberg.

However should Hamilton leave the team there is speculation that Sergio Perez has been lined up to replace the Brit as he has major backing from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and the Telemex telecommunications group and according to reports Vodafone, McLaren's title sponsor are keen to use Telemex to get into the Latin American market.

It has also been speculated that the money that Carlos Slim and Sergio Perez bring to McLaren would be used to pay the reported £8 million pounds that McLaren will have to pay for the supply of Mercedes engines. In my opinion that would leave Vodafone and Telemex to share the cost of paying Sergio Perez's salary at McLaren.

I have to stress that this is all purely speculation as nothing has been announced regarding the driver line-ups for next season.

Singapore GrandPrix Preview

Next weekend sees Formula One start the long haul run in to the end of the 2012 Formula One season as the team's head to Singapore for the only night race of the season. The event, held in the heart of down town Singapore is in my opinion the jewel in the flyaway race crown. The circuit is a favourite amongst the team's and drivers.

The team's and driver's won't have to adapt to the local time as they work off European time throughout their time in Singapore. During it's short history on the Formula One calendar it has been marred in controversy. At the 2008 event Renault's Nelson Piquet Jnr deliberately crashed his car to allow team mate Fernando Alonso to win the race under instruction from team management.

As a result of that team boss Flavio Briatore and Technical Director Pat Symonds werehanded life time bans from the sport which were later reduced. Pat Symonds is now working as a technical consultant to the Marussia F1 team.

Meanwhile Flavio Briatore is no longer directly involved in the sport however he is still involved behind the scene's with RedBull's Mark Webber.

I believe that this year's race is going to be a fascinating event because the top of the championship is extremely tight. Last year's winner Sebastian Vettel is under an awful lot of pressure to bounce back and get his season back on track as firstly he has only won a single race this season and that was in Bahrain back in April. So he will be looking to bounce back after failing to finish last time out in Monza.

There is always a fantastic atmosphere at the Singapore GrandPrix and this year's race will be no different as Fernando Alonso is currently at the top of the championship on 179 points, 37 points ahead of second placed Lewis Hamilton.

It is going to be extremely interesting to see how Kimi Raikkonen does on his return to Singapore as the Iceman is only a single point behind Hamilton in third place in the championship despite not yet winning a race this season. The Finn is hoping that he'll be able to return his Lotus to the podium next weekend.

The last time Kimi raced in Singapore in 2009 he finished the race in 10th place. So it is going to be extremely interesting to see how he and everyone else get on.

Perez in the frame for McLaren seat

So with the news today that Mercedes look set to confirm Lewis Hamilton next week the big question is who will replace him at McLaren? Heikki Kovalainen has been linked with a return to the Woking squad however it emerged yesterday that his management team have held talks with Ferrari about next season.

The latest report to emerge today is that Sauber's Sergio Perez could be set replace Hamilton at McLaren. If this is true, McLaren would have to weigh up their options as to whether or not it would be worth signing Perez from a financial point of view. The reason for this is because Perez is part of Ferrari's Young Driver Academy so any McLaren deal would have to be signed off by Ferrari and I doubt they would be willing to release their star young driver to their main rival.

From a commercial point of view it would make perfect sense for the team as Perez is sponsored by the Telemex Telecommunications company and it is widely believed that McLaren's title sponsor are extremely keen to enter the Latin American market.

Another stumbling block for McLaren would be the fact that they would also have to pay Sauber a hefty compensation package as the Swiss team would be losing their star driver so in affect the team would be paying double.

So I believe that McLaren are pushing like crazy to retain Hamilton for next season. However if Hamilton is determined to leave the team you can be assured that he and his management team at XIX Entertainment will do all they can to get him into Mercedes.

Mercedes set to confirm Hamilton next week

Today's Daily Mail reports that Mercedes are closing in on securing Lewis Hamilton's service's for next season with an announcement due in the build - up to next weekend's Singapore GrandPrix. If the story is true, it will end months of speculation relating to Lewis Hamilton's future as the Briton is out of contract at the end of this season.

The story goes on to say that the prospect of working with Ross Brawn who's Brawn GP team won the 2009 Driver's and Constructor's championship's with Jenson Button before selling the team to Mercedes at the end of 2009.

Not only that, the fact that in 2014 Formula One will change to V6 turbo charged engine's and it is believed that it will be beneficial for a driver to be with a 'work's' team like Mercedes or Ferrari and Renault are also in a good position however they will be supplying Lotus, Caterham and RedBull Racing.

I believe that if the deal goes ahead it is a great opportunity for Hamilton for the long term however in my opinion he could find it difficult to adjust to a new team next year particularly as there are very few technical change's in store for next season as the big change's will come in 2014. So far this season McLaren have won five races whereas Mercedes have only won a single race this year.

So it will be very interesting to see what happens in the next couple of day's.

Kovalainen linked with a switch to Ferrari for 2013

Finnish television station MTV3 are reporting today that Heikki Kovalainen's management have held talks with Ferrari in relation to replacing Felipe Massa next season. The reports comes just day's after Kovalainen was linked with a move back to McLaren to replace Lewis Hamilton who is set to switch to Mercedes if the speculation is true.

Kovalainen is currently in his third year driving for the Caterham F1 team and it is thought that he is looking to get a drive with a more competitive team for next season. There are potential drive's available at Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes.

The Finn made his debut with Renault in 2007 and moved across to Mclaren in 2008 as he and Alonso switched seat's with Alonso heading back to Renault. So it is going to very interesting to se what happens with the driver line ups next season.

I certainly believe that Felipe Massa will not be a Ferrari driver next season. Speaking to Sky Sports News yesterday Luca Di Montezemelo told the channel that Sergio Perez is too young and inexperienced for the a Ferrari drive. That in my opinion is the clearest indication that the Italian team are looking to replace Massa.

So there is going to be some driver musical chairs at the end of the season so that is going to be extremely interesting to see what happens.

RIP Professor Watkins...An inspiration and Formula One legend

I was shocked and saddened this evening to hear the news that Professor Sid Watkins passed away at a London hospital this evening. The 84 year old neurosurgeon was the Formula One medical delegate for many years and helped save the lives of countless Formula One driver's. He was also extremely close to the great Ayrton Senna and was one of the first people on the scene following the Brazilian's fatal crash at the San Marino GrandPrix in 1994.

Sid Watkins was a true legend and inspiration to everyone in Formula One and was instrumental in the implementation of the safety features that Formula One boasts. Sid Watkins last appearance at a GrandPrix was very recent, as he attended the 2012 British GrandPrix where he was interviewed by David Coulthard and Lee McKenzie for BBC F1.

He also helped introduce the Head And Neck Safety device into Formula One. My thought's are with his family and everyone in the Formula One community, the sport has lost a true legend and inspiration. He has left a lasting legacy with Formula One. Rest In Peace Professor Sid Watkins

Is Hamilton playing a dangerous game?

So the latest news according to Sky Sports is that Lewis Hamilton will be staying at McLaren in 2013. The Briton, who won the Italian GrandPrix on Sunday told Sky Sports News that "the team are incredible' he also stated that he was 'looking forward to the future'. Despite these statements we are no closer to discovering what he is going to do next year.

If I was Ron Dennis or Martin Whitmarsh I would be getting very impatient with Lewis and I would give him a deadline to decide his future. In Spa Lewis tweeted his telemetry comparison to Jenson and complained. The team weren't happy about it however they took no action against the driver.

Again if I was part of the management of a team who are obsessed with their public image and watch what everyone says to the media I would have been very annoyed with that situation. The team did sit Hamilton down to discuss the problem.

In my opinion, Hamilton is testing the team and I believe that Ron Dennis may be getting a little fed up that his star driver has so far failed to sign a new agreement with the team. The media in the UK believe that Lewis will not sign a new McLaren deal due to his body language over the weekend and following his victory on Sunday. However I believe that they are over analyzing the situation.

As for Martin Whitmarsh's apparent comments yesterday where he reportedly said that the team 'have no plan B' should hamilton decide to leave. However there are a number of different driver's potentially available one of which as I mentioned earlier today could be Paul Di Resta.

So we shall have to wait a while longer to see how this plays out.

Kovalainen could return to McLaren

Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen could be set to replace Lewis Hamilton at McLaren next season, that is according to a report in today's Daily Mail. With speculation rife that Hamilton is set to join Mercedes next season, it is reported that Kovalainen, who drove for the team from 2008 to 2009 could be set to return to the Woking based squad.

The Finn picked up his first victory with the team at the 2008 Hungarian Grandprix and despite the fact he is with Caterham, in my opinion a move back to McLaren would be more beneficial to him and it would also be a great move for McLaren as it would restore a sense of harmony within the team.

As for Caterham, they have a number of driver's that would be perfect replacements for Heikki. They have American Alexander Rossi for example, who would be ideal as next year we will have two Granprix next ear.

According to the report he is one of three driver's on McLaren's short list should Hamilto leave the team. Sergio Perez and and Paul Di Resta are also apparently on the list. The problem with Perez is the fact that he is part of Ferrari's Young driver Academy and it is extremely unlikely that the Italian team would release him to join McLaren.

During the Italian GrandPrix weekend, Scotland's Paul Di Resta announced that he has a new manager Richard Goddard who also represents Jenson Button so Di Resta could be lining up a move to McLaren and it would be an ideal situation for McLaren as they would be dealing with one management team.

In my opinion, Lewis Hamilton should just announce what his plan's are instead of waiting as it would put an end to all the speculation.

The Briton took an emphatic victory at the weekend in Monza, however I think too much has been read into his reaction of winning the race. He won the race. it was a great performance but it is obvious to me that he is not enjoying his time at McLaren for whatever reason.

Magny Cours comes to life as F1 returns to France

Formula One returns to the Magny Cours circuit in France this week for the first since 2008 as three team's tack to the track for the 2012 Young Driver test programme. Force India, Ferrari and Mercedes AMG will all have driver's in action over the next four day's. Jules Bianchi will be in action for Ferrari, putting the F2012 through it's test programme before switching to Force India. The Frenchman is part of Ferrari's young driver programme and is also Force India's test and reserve driver.

Britain's Sam Bird will be testing a major upgrade package on the Mercedes AMG ahead of the Singapore GrandPrix in two week's time.

It is going to be interesting to see how the test goes. I believe that instead of running the young driver test programme team's should be allowed to trade the young driver test for a full day's testing for their race driver's to iron out any potential problems they may have.

For example, it would be ideal for McLaren as Jenson Button to us as he had a suspected fuel pick up problem and also for the two RedBull driver's who failed to finish the race and that was RedBull's first double retirement since Korea 2010

Driver speculation goes into overdrive as the silly season continues

So with Lewis Hamilton's under stated reaction to winning the Italian GrandPrix yesterday the British media firmly believe that he is eyeing the exit door at McLaren, a team he has been associated with for the past fourteen years. It is widely believed that Hamilton has signed a contract to drive alongside Nico Rosberg at Mercedes AMG next season.

There were some interesting developments over the weekend as it was confirmed that Scot Paul Di Resta has a new manager in the form of Richard Goddard who also happens to be Jenson Button's manager. It is widely thought that Di Resta is looking to leave Force India in order to further his career in a more competitive car for the 2013 season and McLaren would be a sensible option for the Scot shcould Hamilton leave as firstly the team have been very strong and secondly his new manager has been dealing with McLaren with JB since 2010 so we will have to see what happens.

There has been a twist in the Mercedes seat situation however as Sky F1 commentator David Croft believes that Michael Schumacher could make a sensational return to Ferrari to partner Fernando Alonso should Massa lose his drive.

In my opinion it would be absolutely crazy for the Scuderia to be considering Schumacher as he has had his time in Formula One and should retire. If he wants to continue in the sport he could as Ross Brawn suggested take up a management role within the Brackley based squad.

So with 7 races to go this season there is still a lot to be resolved not just in the championship but also relating to driver's. We can expect the driver market to be sorted in the next couple of week's.

Let the long haul leg begin!!

So yesterday's Italian GrandPrix was a great way to round off the European leg of Formula One 2012. I don't know about you but I feel like the European season has just flown by. We have had an incredible roller-coaster ride around Europe. Starting with Spain in May we had probably one of the biggest surprises of the season when William's Pastor Maldonando not only put the car on pole but followed that up with a superb win. Bringing Williams their first win since 2004.

The Spanish GrandPrix also saw our 5 different winner in the first five races of the season. At the end of the race was unfortunate for Williams as a massive fire broke out at the back of their garage. This resulted in all of the team's pulling together and showing the outside world that despite the on track rivalries off track if a team is need others help out. It was great to see that there were very few serious injuries sustained by anyone involved. Following on from Spain we headed to the street's of Monte Carlo for the Monaco GrandPrix the jewel in Formula One's crown.

The question on everyone's lips was would we have a 6th different winner. RedBull's Mark Webber responded with an incredible light's to flag victory. The Aussie started on pole as he was promoted following Michael Schumacher's 5 place grid penalty. at this point in the season Mark was leading the championship and was stamping his authority within the RedBull team.

Following on from Monaco we headed to North America and break from Europe for our first of two trip's there this year. The Canadian GrandPrix would prove to be another great race with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton becoming our 7th different winner of the season followed home by the Lotus of Romain Grosjean who picked up his second podium of the season. Sauber's Sergio Perez also scored a fantastic third place finish for the Suaber team.

We have had a sensational season so far and in my opinion this will continue as he head into the long haul part of the season. During the European season the Lotus team have in my opinion along with Sauber have been the stand out team as the have scored point's consistently. Kimi Raikkonen, after his 5th place in Monza yesterday now finds himself in 3rd place in the Driver's standing's just a single point behind Italian race winner Lewis Hamilton and the Finn in his comeback year has yet to win a race this season however that race win will happen.

So after Canada we headed back to Europe for European GrandPrix at the Valencia street circuit. RedBull's Sebastian Vettel looked certain to collect his second win of the season, however disaster struck as his car came to a halt and he was forced to retire with an alternator failure, this allowed Ferrari's Fernando Alonso to come through to the delight of his home fan's to take his second win of the season.

Alonso was joined on the podium by Kimi Raikkonen who collected his 3rd podium of his comeback season and Micheal Schumcher who was o the podium for the first time since his return to F1 in 2010.

So the season was certainly shaping up to be a cracker and it was beginning to look like RedBull were really struggling with their car. At this stage in last year's championship Vettel was running away at the front and had one six of the opening eight. This year he had only one a single race by the same point this year. So following on from Valencia we headed to Silverstone for the British GandPrix. Mark Webber pulled off a fantastic pass on Fernando Alonso to claim his second win of the 2012 season.

So where Vettel was starting to falter, Mark was beginning to pull away from his team mate. So following Silverstone we headed to Hockenheim for the German GrandPrix where Ferrari's Fernando Alonso became the first driver to win three race's this season. Kimi Raikkonen joined Alonso and Jenson Button on the podium for his 4th podium of the season.

Following on from Germany it was time to go to Hungary where Lewis Hamilton put on a dominant performance to take his second win of the season. he was followed in second place by Kimi Raikkonen who came extremely close to taking the Lotus Team's first win since their return to Formula One. He was joined on the podium by team mate Romain Grosjean giving the Enstone based team their second double podium of the season.

This season was becoming one of the greatest in Formula One history and I know that is said every year but it is true this year. So heading to the Belgian GrandPrix Fernando Alonso was still leading the championship and it was set to a fantastic race with Kimi being tipped to take the win as he won there in 2009, his last outing at the famous circuit. However unfortunately for the Finn the win never materialized he pulled off a fantastic overtake on Michael Schumacher into Eau Rouge. Fernando Alonso failed to finish the race for the first time this year, as he, Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, and the Sauber's of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were all involved in a first corner crash which was deemed to have been caused by Romain Grosjean as a result of that he received a one race ban for yesterday's Italian GrandPrix.

The race was won by Jenson Button who took his first win since the opening round of the season in Australia back in March. The McLaren driver has really struggled this year however he started the race from pole and dominated proceeding's finishing 13 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen who collected podium number 6 of the year.

So yesterday we headed to Monza for the Italian GrandPrix the final race in Europe. This race would turn out to be one of the most eventful of the season and the result has blown the championship wide open. Lewis Hamilton started the race from pole position with Jenson Button starting second.

Hamilton moves up to second in the championship just 37 point's off Fernando Alonso with 7 races to go this season.

In two week's time we head to Singapore for Formula One's only night race and it always proves to be a fantastic race.

Hamilton wins as RedBull falter

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton picked up his second win in three race's as he dominated today's Italian GrandPrix in Monza. The Briton started on Pole alongside team mate Jenson Button and made a fantastic start.

Meanwhile Fernando Alonso made a fantastic start from 10th on the grid. he would go on to finish the race on the podium in third place to extend his lead in the championship to 38 point's. Lewis Hamilton's win puts the McLaren driver into second place in the championship with 7 races to go.

I was delighted to see that there was no first corner incident at this year's. There was a massive accident at the start f last year's race. I think that the steward's gave the driver's a good talking to following the horrific crash at the start of last week's race in SPA that wiped out 6 driver's and resulted in Romain Grosjean being banned for today's race.

It was a fantastic race for the Sauber team as Sergio Perez took a fantastic second place finish ahead of Fernando Alonso and just behind Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen, who started the race from 7th on the grid admitted after the race that the race was his toughest of the season however the Iceman drove a brilliant race to finish 5th and moves up to third in the driver's championship ahead of the two RedBull driver's.

It was very disappointing race for Jenson Button, who after a fantastic pole and win at last week's Belgian GrandPrix failed to finish the race. His car ground to a halt at the side of the circuit with a suspected fuel pick up problem.

It was a terrible race for the RedBull team as firstly Sebastian Vettel was handed a drive through penalty for pushing Alonso off the track. The reigning world champion suffered an alternator failure and retired from the race. Just two lap's later team-mate Mark Webber was forced to retire due to problem's with his tyre's due to safety concerns.

So the 2012 European season comes to an end with Alonso still leading however after Alonso it is extremely tight at the top with just 10 points separating Lewis Hamilton in second and Mark Webber in 5th with just seven races remaining this season.

Hamilton on Pole as Alonso and Webber struggle

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton led a front row lock out for tomorrow's Italian GrandPrix in Monza. Jenson Button will start the race from second. It was a great day for one side of the Ferrari garage as Felipe Massa qualified in third place in front of the team's adoring home fan's. Michael Schumacher surprised everyone by putting his car in 4th on the grid.

There were a few shocks in store however as RedBull's Mark Webber failed  to make it out of Q2 and will start tomorrow's race from 11th. The Australian had a KERS issue. His team mate Sebastian Vettel will start from 5th following Paul Di Resta's five place gird penalty for a gearbox change. The Scot did a fantastic job by placing his Force India in 4th place but will start from 9th place.

Kimi Raikkonen will start the race from 7th on the grid. It was a nightmare session for Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who suffered yet another mechanical failure when his rear bar broke on his final run in Q3. The championship leader will start from 10th on the grid.

So we are in for another cracking race weekend and with a very short run up to the first corner and very heavy braking zone into the chicane there will more then likely be a first corner incident so driver's at the front will be hoping to make great starts.

Hamilton fastest as Di Resta receives penalty

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton started this morning as he finished yesterday by topping the time sheets in FP3. The Brit finished the session just 0.001s ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who put his technical issues from yesterday behind him to set the second fastest time. Force India's Paul Di Resta was third however the Scot will receive a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox.

Felipe Massa was fourth in the second Ferrari while Nico Rosberg put his Mercedes in 6th. It was another trouble free run for Lotus and Kimi Raikkonen as he finished the session in 8th place. It is going to be an extremely interesting and I believe a very close qualifying hour.

Sebastian Vettel and RedBull endured a difficult session as the reigning world champion stopped out on track with a suspected technical issue and finished the session in 12th place, his team mate Mark Webber didn't much better as he finishef just ahead of Vettel in 11th.

The qualifying session gets underway at 1PM Irish time and will bring you an update on all the action later today.

McLaren 1 - 2 in FP2 as Alonso has problems

The McLaren's of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button led the way in Friday's second practice session ahead of Sunday's Italian GrandPrix in Monza. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso's day ended early as he appeared to have a gearbox failure. This followed on from this morning's engine failure for the Spaniard. However the engine failure will not affect his weekend as he was using an old engine. Despite his problem's he finished the day in 3rd place.

The most consistent driver of the session was Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen who set some very competitive time's during his race simulations.  

Mercedes ran today's second practice with one hand behind their back's as both driver's suffered DRS failure's. Despite this, Nico Rosberg finished the session 5th while Michael Schumacher finished the session in 10th place.

Kimi Raikkonen finished the session in 6th place just behind Nico Rosberg. Meanwhile team mate Jerome D'Ambrosio finished the session in 12th place, the Belgian driver making his first F1 appearance since the Brazilian GrandPrix last year he finished the session just ahead of RedBull's Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber finished the session 11th in the second RedBull.

So all in all the session didn't give us an indication of what is going to happen in qualifying tomorrow. It is going to be a real lottery. I will once again bring you all the news and results from qualifying tomorrow afternoon.

Further speculation over Schumacher's F1 future

Michael Schumacher's future in Formula One took another twist today when his Mercedes AMG team boss Ross Brawn hinted that Schumacher could take up a management position with the Brackley based squad.

The news in my opinion is the strongest indication from the team that the seven times world champion is set to retire at the end of the season. The German's three year comeback contract with Mercedes expires at the end of the year and since returning to F1 in 2010 Schumacher has endured a very difficult  time picking up only one podium when he finished third at the European GrandPrix in Valencia earlier this season.

Kimi Raikkonen has so far collected 6 podium's in his comeback season. There are sections in the media and some Schumacher fan's that will say that Kimi is younger then Schumacher and that is why he is doing a better job however I believe that Schumacher had his chance in Formula One and dominated the sport for so many years and in my opinion his return to Formula One was ill advised.

As to who will potentially replace Schumacher, obviously the speculation is that Lewis is joining the team from McLaren, however this has so far been denied. The other possible replacement for Schumacher is Paul Di Resta who currently drive's for the Mercedes powered Sahara Force India team and has very strong links to Mercedes as he drove for them in the German Touring Car Championship.

Every year at this time of the season the conclusion of the European leg of the championship the Formula One 'Silly Season Specualtion' goes into overdrive with the majority of rumour's coming to nothing.

Confusion over Hamilton's F1 future

There appears to an awful lot of confusion surrounding McLaren's Lewis Hamilton's Formula One future. The 2008 champion is in the final year of his McLaren contract and has yet to agree terms on a new McLaren contract. Earlier this week BBC F1 pundit Eddie Jordan told the BBC that he believed Hamilton was on the move.

When asked about where he would driving during today's driver press conference ahead of this weekend's Italian GrandPrix, the Briton said he didn't know where he'd be driving next season. However according to Sky Sports Hamilton is advanced talks with McLaren over a contract extension.

Earlier this season McLaren CEO Ron Dennis said that any new deal for Hamilton would have accept a pay cut.

However, should Hamilton leave McLaren to head to Mercedes Scot Paul Di Resta has been tipped to replace him at the Woking based team next season. Of course this is all speculation. We will have to wait and see what happens. I believe that there will be very little change at the top team's next season. RedBull are retaining their current pairing of Webber and Vettel, Lotus are likely to continue with Raikkonen and Grosjean although Grosjean could be under pressure depending on how his replacement Jerome D'Ambrosio gets on in Italy this weekend.

I believe that he will be solidly in the points for the team on his F1 return. The race is set to be an extremely hot race which could suit the Lotus team. We will have to wait and see what happens over the course of the weekend. We will get our first indicator of where the team's are after practice tomorrow morning.

I will keep you posted with all the update's from Monza over the course of the weekend.

Hamilton on the move according to Eddie Jordan

BBC F1 pundit Eddie Jordan believes that Lewis Hamilton is on his way out of McLaren and is heading to Mercedes alongside Nico Rosberg as Michael Schumacher is expected to retire from Formula One for a second and final time.

Jordan believes that representatives from XIX Entertainment and Mercedes CEO Nick Fry have taken place however the team and XIX Entertainment's representatives have denied that talks have taken place.

Hamilton has a long standing relationship with McLaren and began driving for the F1 team in 2007 and came extremely close to winning the championship in his first year however he came back stronger in 2008 to claim the title. I firmly believe that Hamilton may leave the team as he has been very vocal in his criticism of the team recently.

So I believe that it could be a fresh start for Hamilton to move to Mercedes as the team claimed their first win since they bought Brawn GP in 2010 this season when Nico Rosberg the Chinese GrandPrix. The German and Hamilton have a very good relationship having been team-mate's during their time in junior motorsports categories.

We will just have to wait and see what happens

We are set for another classic

As the European leg of the 2012 F1 season comes to an end in Monza, Italy this weekend I fully believe that will be on for another incredible weekend of racing. The race is a crucial one for all the top team's. RedBull Racing are currently street's ahead in the Constructors championship, however they are by no means assured victory in that title.

The current momentum is with McLaren as they have won the last two races in Hungary and Belgium and as we head to Monza, there are four team's who could potentially be in the running for the win. RedBull, whose last win came in Silverstone, will be extremely eager to get back to winning ay's this weekend.

Ferrari will be looking to win in front of their home crowd as the Italian media and Ferrari fan's will expect nothing less. We also have the possibility that we could find out the 2013 driver line-up for the Scuderia. Alonso is assured his place, however Felipe Massa's future at the team is a lot less certain as he has had a very difficult season scoring only 35 points so far this season compared to Alonso's 164 points.

Ferrari usually announce their line-up over the course of the Italian GrandPrix weekend or shortly after it so we shall have to wait and see what happens.

McLaren will be looking to continue their success with a third race win in a row. The team are still reeling after Lewis Hamilton leaked confidential team information on Twitter to vent his anger over a wing issue on his car at the Belgian GrandPrix he has since apologized for his comments while team mate Jenson Button was saddened by Hamilton's comments.

I feel that this could be start of a rift between the two driver's as just before the GrandPrix in SPA when asked if he would support Hamilton, Button said that he was going to fight for the championship for as long as he could and until it became mathematically impossible for him to win it. He then proceeded to take his first pole position for McLaren and wen on to in the race. He is now only 16 point's behind Hamilton in the championship. So I definitely think that there is a bit of tension behind the scenes at the team. Bearing in mind the fact that Hamilton is yet to sign a contract extension with McLaren

The Lotus team will be looking to continue their run of podium finishes as they have scored four podium's in the last three race's three of which have come from Kimi Raikkonen who finds himself in 4th in the championship just 9 point's off second placed man Sebastian Vettel so what better way to celebrate the end of the European leg of the season by taking his first win since returning to F1 this year and bringing his team their first win under the Lotus name. I for one, certainly believe that it can happen this weekend.

Alonso declares himself fit for Monza

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso took to Twitter yesterday to confirm that he is fully fit to take part in this weekend's Italian GrandPrix in Monza following his horrendous crash in SPA at the weekend. The Spaniard currently leads the Driver's Championship by 24 points from RedBull's Sebastian Vettel with eight races left this season.

Following the crash Alonso complained of a sore back and a sore shoulder, however it is great that he is fit for the race this weekend. We will have to wait and see what happens this weekend and it will be interesting to see if Alonso can regain the momentum that he has had so far this season.

The Ferrari pilot is the only driver to have won three race's this season in what is arguably an under performing Ferrari car.

D'Ambrosio replaces Grosjean for Monza

The Lotus team confirmed today what everyone expected that their test and reserve driver Jerome D'Ambrosio will take Romain Grosjean's place for this weekend's Italian GrandPrix as a result of Grosjean's race ban for causing the massive crash at the start of the Belgian GrandPrix.

The team's decision to slot D'Ambrosio into Grosjean's seat was the most logical one as the Belgian driver has a season of F1 competition under his belt having raced for the Marussia F1 team in 2011, he also tested this year's Lotus car during a preseason test in Mugello in March.

So we don't have long to wait to see how he performs alongside Kimi Raikkonen. I think it would be fantastic to see him score some points and it would be an added bonus to the team if he and Kimi are once again able to challenge for the podium if not the race win.

In other Lotus related team news, their technical director James Allison has confirmed that the team will not run their Double DRS system until the Japanese GrandPrix in October. Only time will tell as to whether or not this was a good decision or not. The team had been scheduled to run the device in Belgium however due to poor weather on Friday for practice they decided against it.

Cockpit safety debate reignited after near miss

The debate over cockpit safety in Formula One has been reignited following the horrendous crash involving Fernado Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi at the start of yesterday's Belgian GrandPrix in SPA which resulted in Romain Grosjean being suspended for this weekend's Italian GrandPrix.

During the accident, Grosjean's car flew over the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso narrowly missing the Spaniards head but destroying the top of the cockpit of his car. After the race a visibly shook Alonso admitted that he was extremely lucky to escape the accident without serious injury.

The resulting collision has reopened the debate about cockpit safety in open wheel racing. There have been further calls for there to be closed cockpit's in Formula One. Following Maria De Villota's testing crash earlier this year which resulted in the Spanish Marussia test driver losing her right eye the FIA immediately began safety test's on a fighter jet style canopy for Formula One.

The canopy idea however, has ignited safety fears among the F1 community as their are concerns as to how the canopy would work if a car landed upside down following a crash.

In my opinion it is the perfect opportunity for Formula One and the IndyCar Series to come together and find a common solution to the safety of drivers. The Head and Neck Safety device which is now mandatory for all driver's competing in top level Motorsport doesn't go far enough in my opinion. At last year's IndyCar finale in Las Vegas Britain's Dan Wheldon was tragically killed following a horrendous crash.

There must be some way of introducing a canopy style device over a cockpit which could automatically  detach from a car as a result of a car turning over. F1 engineers and designs are extremely clever people and the F1 technical group should be able to come together to find a solution to the cockpit safety issue.