So that's it!! The 2012 Formula One season is over. What an incredible way for the season to end with one of the most exciting race's of the season in my opinion. Where do I start?
Heading into the race RedBull Sebastian Vettel led Ferrari's Fernado Alonso by 13 points. Seb started the race from fourth on the grid with Alonso in 8th. Alonso made a cracking start while Vettel was caught up in an accident with the Williams of Bruno Senna which resulted in Senna going out of the race meanwhile Sebastian lost a lot a lot of place's while Alonso had manged to make to make his way up to third behind Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
Force India's Nico Hulkenborg made an incredible start and managed to overtook Alonso on a damped track to take third he then managed to overtake the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button and while other driver's pitted for intermediate tyres the Force India driver and Jenson Button gambled and stayed out on the dry tyres as track conditions began to worsen.
While the battle was hotting up at the front Sebastian Vettel was working his way back up through the field. He had a great battle with his team mate Mark Webber.
Meanwhile Kimi Raikkonen was endured a very difficult day at the office as he ran wide at one point and ended up exiting the confines of the circuit but managed to stay calm and return to the track. The ICEMAN kept his cool and yes I know that sounds extremely cheesy but it's true as he collected a single point coming home in 10th place.
It was an unfortunate day for Lewis Hamilton, who driving in his last race for McLaren before he moves to Mercedes next season had started on pole position and looked on target to take his second win in the space of a week was involved in an incident with Nico Hulkenborg as they were challenging each other for the lead of the race into turn one. The pair collided and as a result Lewis was forced to retire from the race.
As a result of that incident Nico was handed drive through penalty as he was deemed to have caused the crash. So with Lews failing to finish the race, through no fault of his own Kimi Raikkonen finished the season in third in the championship completing an incredible comeback season in F1 after two years away.
The ICEMAN was the only driver to complete every single race this season and with his point's finish in Brazil he only finished outside the points once this season and that was in China where he had been challenging Nico Rosberg for the lead of the race. Kimi finished on the podium an incredible 8 time's this season and that included a win at the Abu Dhabi GrandPrix. He consistent results not only allowed him to finish in third in the championship but it also helped his Lotus F1 Team to finish in fourth place in the Constructors championship.
So with Sebastian Vettel, incurring numerous problem's Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was in the box seat for the championship, however unfortunately for the Spaniard it wasn't to be. Vettel and RedBull recovered extremely well to finish the race in 6th place and with Fernado needing to win the race to secure the championship if Vettel was 6th or lower it was a tough task for the Scuderia and unfortunately for the Italian team they were unable to win the race and Alonso eventually finished second behind Jenson Button and ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa who took a very emotional 3rd place on the podium in front of his home crowd.
The result meant that Sebastian wins this year's championship by just three points. Now it's a fantastic achievement for Seb who becomes the youngest ever triple world champion and I'm not taking anything away from him, however, in my opinion it was unfair of the the Brazilian TV director to cut away from the podium celebration's to show a shot of the RedBull garage particularly as the Felipe was on the podium in his home race but I just feel it took away the fantastic drive by Jenson Button who won the race.
It was a great race for Mercedes Michael Schumacher, who competing in his last ever GrandPrix finished the race in the points in 7th place. I also thought that it was great to see that before the race started he pitted and was given a massive flag that he drapped over his car that said THANK YOU and it blew in the wind as he drove around to take up his grid slot.
It was an unfortunate end to a great season for the Williams team as neither Pator Maldonado nor Bruno Senna managed to finish the race, however in my opinion the team can head into the winter break with their heads held high, in their first season with renewed Renault involvement the team secured a fantastic first win for Pastor Maldonado at the Spanish GrandPrix, the team's first win since the 2004 Brazilian GrandPrix. The team finsihed 8th in the Constructors Championship with 76 points.
In what could have very well ben their last ever Formula One GrandPrix the HRT driver's of Narain Kartikeyan and Pedro Dela Rosa did a great job to finish the race and bring their car's home in 17th and 18th respectively.
It was also a fantastic race for the Caterham F1 Team, who have been battling Marussia F1 all season to be the best of the three 'new team's in F1. The team based in Leafield UK, their was delight as they managed to bring their cars home in 11th for Petrov ahead of the Marussia of Charles Pic and 14th for Kovalainen ahed of Timo Glcok in the second Marussia who finished in 16th place to take 10th place in the Constructors Championship and as a result they have secured a cash and commercial boost for the team.
So at the end of an epic 2012 Formula One season, all that is left for me to say is a MASSIVE THANK YOU of my own to all of you who have read my blog since January. I have absolutely loved sharing my thoughts on this F1 season and I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have writing it.
From next season I will have a new blog as part of a new website that I hope you will all join me on. I will of course be posting details of the new site in due course. But in the mean time as I say THANK YOU!!
THAT HAS BEEN THE 2012 FORMULA ONE SEASON!! MAY 2013 BRING US EVEN MORE EXCITEMENT!!
Sunday, 25 November 2012
BREAKING NEWS from Brazil RedBull renamed in 2013
Ok so here's some breaking news from Brazil ahead of this afternoon's season finale in Sao Paulo. RedBull Racing have confirmed an expansion of their technical partnership with Nissan's luxury brand Infiniti that will run until 2016.
The team's technical director Adrian Newey also announced that as part of the deal the two company's will work together to develop a Kinetic Energy Saving system that they hope will be developed by 2014.
Infiniti are part owned by Renault who supply RedBull Racing with their F1 engines. The two company's first came together at the start of last season and as part of the new agreement the team is to be renamed Infiniti RedBull Racing.
In my opinion, this great for Formula One as we now have a new manufacturer involved on a much larger scale in the sport, which as I said when Lotus announced their link up with Coca Cola earlier this week it's great to see that company's are not afraid of getting involved in the sport or indeed increasing their involvement in the sport in Infiniti's case despite the current economic climate and I believe that this a great endorsement for the sport.
Saturday, 24 November 2012
McLaren lockout as Alonso struggles ahead of title decider
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton took pole position ahead of team-mate Jesnon Button for tomorrow's Formula One finale in Brazil. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel was out qualified by team mate Mark Webber and will start the race from 4th on the grid. Meanwhile Fernando Alonso was out qualified for the second race in a row by his team-mate Felipe Massa and he will start the race in 8th place and is hoping for a wet race.
According to reports on Sky Sports F1HD Force India's Paul Di Resta is set to take a five place grid penalty and will therefore start the race from 16th on the grid. It was a frustrating session for the Lotus team as Kimi Raikkonen, following his engine blow up this morning could only qualify in 9th place while team-mate Romain Grosjean was involved in an incident with the HRT of Pedro Dela Rosa. And incident which is currently under investigation by the race stewards.
So in my opinion we are in for an incredible race tomorrow. There are so many questions that need to be answered will it rain and as I write this, it is raining in the Sao Paulo Paddock. The other big question mark is who is going to win the championship? Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso? Eddie Jordan is predicting that the title will swing Alonso's way and in fairness to EJ he has been pretty spot in with his predictions this season.
In his final qualifying session before he retires from Formula One Michael Schumacher could only manage 14th on the grid, however the German has always been a rain specialist so anything can happen, he could pick up points tomorrow. He is in a Sauber sandwich with Sergio Perez starting 13th and Kamui Kobayashi starting 15th in what could be the Japanese driver's final race in Formula One.
Meanwhile down at the back of the grod the battle for 10th in the Constructor's championship hotted up as both Caterham driver's out qualified the two Marussia's and the HRT cars. Both Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov could be on the way out as the team announced on Friday that they had signed Charles Pic from Marussia.
In what could be the team's last ever GrandPrix, HRT'S Pedro Dela Rosa and Narain Kartikeyan will start the race from the last row of the grid.
So who do I think will win the championship? Well firstly I think Lewis will win the race for McLaren and could possible have Jenson Button finishing in 2nd for a team one -two. I believe however that the championship could go Alosno's way as he and Ferrari appeared to have gambled qualifying performance for the team's race pace.
So we are only 71 laps away from crowning a triple world championship but who will it be?
BREAKING NEWS from Sao Paulo: Williams Pastor Maldonado handed a ten place grid penalty for missing the weigh bridge, as a result Fernando Alonso moves up to 7th on the grid.
According to reports on Sky Sports F1HD Force India's Paul Di Resta is set to take a five place grid penalty and will therefore start the race from 16th on the grid. It was a frustrating session for the Lotus team as Kimi Raikkonen, following his engine blow up this morning could only qualify in 9th place while team-mate Romain Grosjean was involved in an incident with the HRT of Pedro Dela Rosa. And incident which is currently under investigation by the race stewards.
So in my opinion we are in for an incredible race tomorrow. There are so many questions that need to be answered will it rain and as I write this, it is raining in the Sao Paulo Paddock. The other big question mark is who is going to win the championship? Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso? Eddie Jordan is predicting that the title will swing Alonso's way and in fairness to EJ he has been pretty spot in with his predictions this season.
In his final qualifying session before he retires from Formula One Michael Schumacher could only manage 14th on the grid, however the German has always been a rain specialist so anything can happen, he could pick up points tomorrow. He is in a Sauber sandwich with Sergio Perez starting 13th and Kamui Kobayashi starting 15th in what could be the Japanese driver's final race in Formula One.
Meanwhile down at the back of the grod the battle for 10th in the Constructor's championship hotted up as both Caterham driver's out qualified the two Marussia's and the HRT cars. Both Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov could be on the way out as the team announced on Friday that they had signed Charles Pic from Marussia.
In what could be the team's last ever GrandPrix, HRT'S Pedro Dela Rosa and Narain Kartikeyan will start the race from the last row of the grid.
So who do I think will win the championship? Well firstly I think Lewis will win the race for McLaren and could possible have Jenson Button finishing in 2nd for a team one -two. I believe however that the championship could go Alosno's way as he and Ferrari appeared to have gambled qualifying performance for the team's race pace.
So we are only 71 laps away from crowning a triple world championship but who will it be?
BREAKING NEWS from Sao Paulo: Williams Pastor Maldonado handed a ten place grid penalty for missing the weigh bridge, as a result Fernando Alonso moves up to 7th on the grid.
Final Practice session of 2012
So here we are, the final free practice session of this incredible 2012 F1 season is underway in Sao Paul Brazil. The latest weather forecast for tomorrow's race is that there will be a sprinkling of rain instead of torrential down pours however this is Interlagos and as always the weather here is unpredictable.
Kimi Raikkonen who had engine problems yesterday has just had a massive engine blow up. So all of Lotus' Romain Grosjean will have to work extra hard to give the team feedback ahead of qualifying. It is the worst possible preparation for Kimi ahead of qualifying as he is locked in a fierce battle with Lewis Hamilton to finish third in the championship behind Alonso and Vettel.
Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton are currently topping the time sheets for McLaren with Sebastian Vettel third, however he is on a very fast lap and is set go fastest, however he goes second. Mark Webber has just done a lap and gone 4th quickest. With 31 minutes to go Fernando Alonso has just posted the 9th fastest time.
Lotus confirm via Twitter that Kimi's engine suffered a loss of pressure resulting in the failure. His session is over.
Felipe Massa has just gone from 10th to 6th. With 27 minutes to go Button remains fastest with Vettel second and Hamilton 3rd. Massa is 4th with Webber 6th.
Sky F1 point out that Kimi Raikkonen is something of a Sao Paulo specialist and that if anyone can recover from problems the ICEMAN can. They say that he has finished in the top six here in his last seven outing's including one win. Lotus confirm the engine is ready to go...they just need Kimi's car back lol:)
Schumacher narrowly misses a spinning Bruno Senna. Nico Rosberg has completed a lap and is currently 5th. Vettel pushing haed as he runs wide.
The RedBull's are back in the pits. The track is very quiet with 12 minutes to go, With 7 minutes left the RedBull's are back on track. Hulkenberg just goes fastest for Force India. Button is now fastest with Di Resta second Grosjean now goes 2nd. Webber is on a lap for RedBull and goes 2nd with five minutes to go. Alonso just goes 6th. Vettel returns to the pits and his session appears to be done. He is in 10th. Senna goes 11th.
Vettel's session is not over excuse me, he is back on track and goes second behind Button, Webber is third with Hamilton 4th.
So Jenson Button has topped the time sheets in FP3 ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton was 4th fastest with Romain Grosjean 5th. Fernando Alonso was 8th for Ferrari and will in my opinion be a little disappointed with his morning however qualifying will be all to play for.
Kimi Raikkonen who had engine problems yesterday has just had a massive engine blow up. So all of Lotus' Romain Grosjean will have to work extra hard to give the team feedback ahead of qualifying. It is the worst possible preparation for Kimi ahead of qualifying as he is locked in a fierce battle with Lewis Hamilton to finish third in the championship behind Alonso and Vettel.
Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton are currently topping the time sheets for McLaren with Sebastian Vettel third, however he is on a very fast lap and is set go fastest, however he goes second. Mark Webber has just done a lap and gone 4th quickest. With 31 minutes to go Fernando Alonso has just posted the 9th fastest time.
Lotus confirm via Twitter that Kimi's engine suffered a loss of pressure resulting in the failure. His session is over.
Felipe Massa has just gone from 10th to 6th. With 27 minutes to go Button remains fastest with Vettel second and Hamilton 3rd. Massa is 4th with Webber 6th.
Sky F1 point out that Kimi Raikkonen is something of a Sao Paulo specialist and that if anyone can recover from problems the ICEMAN can. They say that he has finished in the top six here in his last seven outing's including one win. Lotus confirm the engine is ready to go...they just need Kimi's car back lol:)
Schumacher narrowly misses a spinning Bruno Senna. Nico Rosberg has completed a lap and is currently 5th. Vettel pushing haed as he runs wide.
The RedBull's are back in the pits. The track is very quiet with 12 minutes to go, With 7 minutes left the RedBull's are back on track. Hulkenberg just goes fastest for Force India. Button is now fastest with Di Resta second Grosjean now goes 2nd. Webber is on a lap for RedBull and goes 2nd with five minutes to go. Alonso just goes 6th. Vettel returns to the pits and his session appears to be done. He is in 10th. Senna goes 11th.
Vettel's session is not over excuse me, he is back on track and goes second behind Button, Webber is third with Hamilton 4th.
So Jenson Button has topped the time sheets in FP3 ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton was 4th fastest with Romain Grosjean 5th. Fernando Alonso was 8th for Ferrari and will in my opinion be a little disappointed with his morning however qualifying will be all to play for.
Friday, 23 November 2012
Hamilton fastest again in FP2
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was once again the man to beat as the McLaren driver topped the the time-sheets during Friday Practice two in preparation for Sunday's season finale in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The Brit finished the day, just ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Ferrari's Felipe Massa finished ahead of team mate Fernando Alonso who is locked in a title battle with Sebastian Vettel. The Ferrari pair finished the day 4th and 5th respectively.
The two Ferrari's were followed by the Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher in 6th and Nico Rosberg in 7th place. Jenson Button finished the session in 8th place. Meanwhile Romain Grosjean was 9th for Lotus while he team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was down in 12th place following his problem's this morning.
It is going to be extremely interesting to see what happens in qualifying tomorrow and with rain expected on Sunday for race day anything could happen. Fernando Alonso is the clear outsider to take the title, however he just has to look back to Kimi Raikkonen's championship year in 2007 when he arrived in Brazil he was in third place in the championship and finished the season as F1 champion. So it is extremely possible for Alonso to win the title.
The championship is still up for grabs, however Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton are battling over 3rd place to be 'best of the rest'. Kimi is currently 16 points ahead of Lewis so if Lewis wins on Sunday Kimi would have to finish 5th or higher in order to finish the season in 3rd place in the Driver's Championship.
So we shall have to wait and see what happens tomorrow and Sunday.
The Brit finished the day, just ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Ferrari's Felipe Massa finished ahead of team mate Fernando Alonso who is locked in a title battle with Sebastian Vettel. The Ferrari pair finished the day 4th and 5th respectively.
The two Ferrari's were followed by the Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher in 6th and Nico Rosberg in 7th place. Jenson Button finished the session in 8th place. Meanwhile Romain Grosjean was 9th for Lotus while he team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was down in 12th place following his problem's this morning.
It is going to be extremely interesting to see what happens in qualifying tomorrow and with rain expected on Sunday for race day anything could happen. Fernando Alonso is the clear outsider to take the title, however he just has to look back to Kimi Raikkonen's championship year in 2007 when he arrived in Brazil he was in third place in the championship and finished the season as F1 champion. So it is extremely possible for Alonso to win the title.
The championship is still up for grabs, however Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton are battling over 3rd place to be 'best of the rest'. Kimi is currently 16 points ahead of Lewis so if Lewis wins on Sunday Kimi would have to finish 5th or higher in order to finish the season in 3rd place in the Driver's Championship.
So we shall have to wait and see what happens tomorrow and Sunday.
Lewis fastest as Sauber and Caterham announce driver's
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, topped the time sheets in First Practice ahead of this weekend's final GrandPrix in Sao Paulo. The Brit finished the session just one thousands of a second ahead the RedBull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Jenson Button was fourth fastest in the second McLaren with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa fifth and sixth for Ferrari.
Romain Grosjean was 7th fastest for Lotus with team mate Kimi Raikkonen down the order in 16th place with an engine issue. The team changed his spark plugs however this did not solve his issue. So I believe that the Iceman will be forced into taking a ten place grid penalty which after great reliabilty on Kimi's side of the garage Would come as a disaster for the Iceman as he is locked in a very tight battle with Lewis Hamilton for third in the Driver's championship.
It was a big day on the driver front with Sauber confirming that Mexican Estabam Guttierez will join Nico Hulkenborg as Sergio Perez' team-mate. This news will come as a blow for Kamui Kobayashi as it leaves him without a drive for next season. Now there is still hope for the Japanese driver as Force India are yet to confirm their line-up and Caterham and Marussia have a seat available.
It is unclear what the situation is with HRT as they may not be on the grid next year. In other driver related news the Caterham F1 Team announced that they have signed Marussia's Charles Pic as one of their driver's for next season however they have not confirmed who he will be replacing.
I will be back this evening with an update from second practice.
Romain Grosjean was 7th fastest for Lotus with team mate Kimi Raikkonen down the order in 16th place with an engine issue. The team changed his spark plugs however this did not solve his issue. So I believe that the Iceman will be forced into taking a ten place grid penalty which after great reliabilty on Kimi's side of the garage Would come as a disaster for the Iceman as he is locked in a very tight battle with Lewis Hamilton for third in the Driver's championship.
It was a big day on the driver front with Sauber confirming that Mexican Estabam Guttierez will join Nico Hulkenborg as Sergio Perez' team-mate. This news will come as a blow for Kamui Kobayashi as it leaves him without a drive for next season. Now there is still hope for the Japanese driver as Force India are yet to confirm their line-up and Caterham and Marussia have a seat available.
It is unclear what the situation is with HRT as they may not be on the grid next year. In other driver related news the Caterham F1 Team announced that they have signed Marussia's Charles Pic as one of their driver's for next season however they have not confirmed who he will be replacing.
I will be back this evening with an update from second practice.
Thursday, 22 November 2012
Hamilton could return to McLaren...in the future!!
Speaking to the media ahead of his final race for McLaren this weekend in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Lewis Hamilton has refused to rule out a return to the Woking based team in the future. Hamilton will join Nico Rosberg at Mercedes AMG next season, replacing the retiring Michael Schumacher.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Lewis said that he likens his move to Mercedes as 'going traveling for a while'. He also said that he would always consider McLaren his home. Hamilton joined McLaren's F1 team in 2007 after being brought through the motor racing ranks with McLaren's backing since the 1990's.
He came extremely close to winning the championship in his debut season however narrowly missed out to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. In 2008, with Alonso having returned to Renault, Hamilton won the championship and to date that is his only championship win. He joins Mercedes at a great time in my opinion, as the team will be going through a transition period with Schumacher retiring and the fact that Lewis Has worked with Mercedes on the engine side since he entered F1 he knows the engine and how it works.
He has also worked with Mercedes vice president of motorsport Norbert Haug who was part of McLaren's operation until 2010 when Mercedes bought Brawn GP. Next season will be the first year however that he will work with team boss Ross Brawn so it is going to be very interesting to see how that relationship develops.
When Lewis was racing in the junior category he was team-mates with Nico Rosberg and they get on extremely well. Now it is going to be interesting to see what the dynamic between the two will be like. Since joining the team in 2010, Nico has consistently beaten Michael Schumacher so it is going to be interesting to see if Hamilton can hit the crowd running and stamp his authority on the team from the word go?
Another thing that I think will be very interesting is the identity of Lewis' race engineer. When Schumacher joined Mercedes he inherited Jenson Button's race engineer Andrew Shovlin, so I think it would be extremely interesting to see if Lewis gets Shov (as he is known) as his engineer.
Interestingly enough in Formula One it is not very common for engineers to follow driver's from team to team, this practice is more come in my opinion in the US in IndyCar and NASCAR. However there has been an exception this season in Formula One with Lotus team as Kimi Raikkonen's pld race engineer from when he was with McLaren, Mark Slade is now his race engineer at Lotus.
Do I think that Lewis will return to McLaren one day? I doubt it. The reason for this is because if he happens to be extremely successful at Mercedes over the next years (the duration of his contract) he won't want to go back to McLaren.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Lewis said that he likens his move to Mercedes as 'going traveling for a while'. He also said that he would always consider McLaren his home. Hamilton joined McLaren's F1 team in 2007 after being brought through the motor racing ranks with McLaren's backing since the 1990's.
He came extremely close to winning the championship in his debut season however narrowly missed out to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. In 2008, with Alonso having returned to Renault, Hamilton won the championship and to date that is his only championship win. He joins Mercedes at a great time in my opinion, as the team will be going through a transition period with Schumacher retiring and the fact that Lewis Has worked with Mercedes on the engine side since he entered F1 he knows the engine and how it works.
He has also worked with Mercedes vice president of motorsport Norbert Haug who was part of McLaren's operation until 2010 when Mercedes bought Brawn GP. Next season will be the first year however that he will work with team boss Ross Brawn so it is going to be very interesting to see how that relationship develops.
When Lewis was racing in the junior category he was team-mates with Nico Rosberg and they get on extremely well. Now it is going to be interesting to see what the dynamic between the two will be like. Since joining the team in 2010, Nico has consistently beaten Michael Schumacher so it is going to be interesting to see if Hamilton can hit the crowd running and stamp his authority on the team from the word go?
Another thing that I think will be very interesting is the identity of Lewis' race engineer. When Schumacher joined Mercedes he inherited Jenson Button's race engineer Andrew Shovlin, so I think it would be extremely interesting to see if Lewis gets Shov (as he is known) as his engineer.
Interestingly enough in Formula One it is not very common for engineers to follow driver's from team to team, this practice is more come in my opinion in the US in IndyCar and NASCAR. However there has been an exception this season in Formula One with Lotus team as Kimi Raikkonen's pld race engineer from when he was with McLaren, Mark Slade is now his race engineer at Lotus.
Do I think that Lewis will return to McLaren one day? I doubt it. The reason for this is because if he happens to be extremely successful at Mercedes over the next years (the duration of his contract) he won't want to go back to McLaren.
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