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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Barrichello set to leave KVRacing at the conclusion of 2012

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

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

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

Dodge pull out of NASCAR

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

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

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

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

COTA hits milestone

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

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

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

CEO wants to expand IndyCar calendar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can Kimi take his first win of 2012?

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

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

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

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

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

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