There has been a raft of activity recently around the new FIA Formula E series, set to debut in 2014 and JA on F1 has recently interviewed Alejandro Agag, promoter of Formula E. Agag says the new zero emission motor sport championship is targeting a reverse calendar to F1, which will see the series start in September and end in June. Also recently the series announced that Bangkok, Thailand is a candidate for one of the two remaining slots on the 2014 calendar. The city is close to a Formula 1 night race and Formula E is dealing with the More…
[Updated]In the aftermath of the decision by Pirelli to make some changes to the 2013 tyres from round 7 in Canada onwards, there has been a backlash from those teams whose cars were working well on the tyres. Lotus boss Eric Boullier and now Ferrari’s Horse Whisperer column have attacked the change and Red Bull in particular for lobbying behind the scenes and in the media for a change in tyres. Pirelli is caught in the middle and whatever changes it makes from here onwards it will be perceived by some fans as having affected the outcome of the championship. More…
Honda will return to Formula 1 as an engine supplier with McLaren in 2015 to revive their famous partnership which brought domination of the sport in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Japanese company had its own team between 2006 and 2008, but during that time, it managed just one win – the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix with Jenson Button – and the manufacturer ended the project at the end of 2008, as the global economic crisis struck. However, Honda has been lured back to the sport by a change in the engine regulations from 2014, with 1.6 litre More…
Ferrari won the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday without the majority of the new parts that the technicians had brought to Barcelona to update the car and only some of them were tried on Friday in practice. Alonso and Massa found a good balance on Friday and felt that they had a good chance for the race and didn’t want to upset that. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the issue wasn’t that the new pieces failed to match expectations, it was rather that the rain in the morning limited the opportunities to evaluate them properly and the priority was to More…
This race may come to be viewed as a tipping point in the ongoing debate about whether the high degradation Pirelli tyres are good for F1 or not, as two of the three drivers on the podium did a four stop strategy. Pirelli has indicated that they have been “too aggressive” with the construction of the 2013 tyres and will make changes from the seventh round, Montreal, onwards. However against this backdrop, the strategy battle at the heart of this race was fascinating. And it showed that the teams who came out on top were the ones who had the More…
The sudden announcement by Pirelli that they are to change the tyre specifications from the seventh round of the world championship onwards will inevitably raise many questions: who will it favour, what are the implications for the racing? With no testing available – a significant part of the reason why Pirelli has struggled to get the tyres right this year – they will have to use a construction solution that has been proven to work in the past, rather than try something new. JA on F1 technical adviser Mark Gillan was chief operations engineer at Williams until the end of More…
[Updated] The chorus of disapproval from affected teams, as well as calls from media and fans to do something about the high degradation tyres has led Pirelli to announce today that it is to make construction changes to its tyres from the Canadian Grand Prix in June onwards. The Italian company blamed the lack of adequate winter testing in suitable climates for producing products this year that have fallen short of the standard required. They admitted in a statement this afternoon that they underestimated the demands of the current F1 cars on the tyres. Pirelli is conducting meetings at its More…
The Spanish Grand Prix threw up a few interesting comparisons from last year to this, not least in the relative pace of the cars and the improvement in speed of the pit stops. At one end of the spectrum the Mercedes was 2.3 seconds faster in qualifying than in 2012, while the Williams was a second slower than Pastor Maldonado’s pole time from last year. But in the pits there has also been progress; Ferrari set the fastest stop on Sunday, a clear second faster than its best time last year (when it was again fastest) thanks to the many More…
Britain’s Jenson Button has described McLaren’s current form as “embarrassing” following the Spanish Grand Prix where he finished eighth, one place ahead of team mate Sergio Perez. McLaren, who won the final race of last season with what was considered to be the fastest car on the grid, made major changes to their machine for 2013, while their rivals took an evolutionary approach. As a result, they have dropped down the grid and currently lie sixth in the constructors’ championship, 102 points behind leaders Red Bull while Button is best placed in the drivers’ standings 64 behind leader Sebastian Vettel. More…
All 22 Formula 1 drivers came together on the grid ahead of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix to support the United Nations’ Global Road Safety Week, which aims to draw attention to the need to protect pedestrians on the world’s roads. More than 5,000 pedestrians are killed on roads across the world every week, according to the World Health Organisation. These fatalities make up a large percentage of the 1.3m killed on the roads every year. The aim of the campaign is to give pedestrians a voice when traffic safety is concerned so the UN launched “Long, Short Walk”, an initiative More…
Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz says Formula 1 is “no longer about the racing” after tyre management played a huge role in the outcome of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. A remarkable 77 pit stops were made during the 66-lap race with several drivers being told to lift off in certain corners to protect the high-degrading Pirelli tyres. In an interview with Autosport, Mateschitz said his two drivers – Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber – were not able to push their Red Bull to the limit without ruining the tyres. Mateschitz said: “Everyone knows what happens here. This has nothing to More…
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel says he does not like the plan to give drivers penalty points, which could see them being handed a one race ban. Under the new proposed system, stewards would hand out penalty points – similar to road users getting points on their driving licence – in addition to existing punishments, such as drive-through penalties, for misdemeanours on track. Stewards will be free to choose the number of points handed out, although they will be given an advisory level to work from. Should a driver accumulate 12 points over a 12-month period, they would received a one More…
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso delighted his home fans and got his title challenge back on track with an impressive victory in a Spanish Grand Prix which saw battles all the way down the field. Kimi Raikkonen scored his fourth podium in five races for Lotus to close the gap on Red Bull’s championship leader Sebastian Vettel while Felipe Massa made it onto the rostrum for the first time this season with an accomplished drive in his Ferrari. Paul di Resta produced another strong drive to finish seventh for Force India while McLaren’s Jenson Button made up for a bad start to More…
Mercedes shareholder and executive director of Mercedes F1 Toto Wolff says team principal Ross Brawn is in charge of his own destiny and will decide his own future at the Brackley-based team. The management structure of the team, which tasted World Championship success in the form of Brawn GP in 2009 and oversaw the early years of the team’s reincarnation as Mercedes, is going through a transition. Following the arrival of Wolff and also Niki Lauda as non-executive chairman of the team, Nick Fry stepped down from his role as CEO in March, while there is much speculation that Paddy More…
Caterham has made a film entitled “Access All Areas” which gives a behind the scenes look at a day in the life of a Formula 1 team as well as revealing their upgraded 2013 car for the first time. Tony Fernandes’ team headed to France’s Magny Cours circuit to shoot the film, with race drivers Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde on hand to drive the car. It follows the team from waking up in the morning and heading to the venue to the drivers suiting up and heading out on track to test the car. Caterham has raced More…
Lotus F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen said today in Barcelona that the sudden departure of technical director James Allison would not affect the team’s performance. Allison quit the team yesterday to be replaced by Nick Chester. There are no firm indications of where he is heading, but there is a strong suspicion that it is Ferrari, as they seek to build a brains trust at Maranello to mount a sustained challenge for the championships over the coming years. Fernando Alonso was cagey in the FIA press conference today when the subject of Allison came up; his body language suggesting that it More…
The Formula 1 teams have voted against bringing back in-season testing, after a meeting of the Sporting Working Group yesterday. Ferrari, which owns a test track on its doorstep at Maranello as well as the circuit of Mugello in Tuscany, which hosted a test last summer, was keen to see a return of testing and proposed various ideas including some aimed at opportunities to bring new drivers on. But in a vote yesterday, only the Ferrari engined teams for 2014 supported the return of testing, the majority were against it, these did not include Toro Rosso but did include Marussia, More…
Ferrari has decided to cut production of its high-performance road cars by at least 4% this year, despite an increase in sales, as the Italian luxury car manufacturer seeks to preserve the exclusivity of its brand. In 2012, Ferrari sold 7,318 cars but chairman Luca di Montezemolo said the company would look to reduce that figure to below 7,000 vehicles while still aiming to increase profits. Despite the global economic outlook remaining uncertain, Ferrari has seen a growth in revenue of 4% to 551m euros (£433m) in the first quarter of this year. Net profit was 54.7m euros (£46.3m). Ferrari More…
The Lotus F1 team has today announced that technical director James Allison is to leave the team and that Nick Chester has succeeded him as technical director. While Chester’s credentials for the role are unquestionably strong, the loss of an innovator like James Allison is a blow to the team, which has made great progress in the last two years on a significantly lower budget than the other front running teams. Allison is much in demand among the top F1 teams in an engineering arms race as F1 heads to a new formula from 2014 onwards. Under Allison Lotus has More…
The Formula 1 engineers have a love/hate relationship with Circuit de Catalunya; it is the track they know the best from the pre-season testing that has been held there for many years, but it is an enigmatic circuit, always changing with temperature and wind conditions. A car, which flies in the morning, can be uncompetitive in the afternoon, without anything being changed on the car itself. As the first European race of the season it is also a track where teams bring their first major technical update package to the car, which will have taken 10-12 weeks of wind tunnel More…
It has been interesting to note the comments from readers in response to Jenson Button’s point that the team radio extracts of conversations between drivers and teams can lead to a skewed view of what is really happening within a team. Team radio in the live broadcast coverage has been around for a while, but its’s noticeable as a commentator how much more frequently it is employed this season. And without it the drama of Button’s tussle with team mate Sergio Perez in Bahrain or the Red Bull driver’s clash in Malaysia would have been a lesser experience for the More…
JA on F1 technical adviser and former Williams chief engineer Mark Gillan thinks that Mercedes will be hurt by Pirelli’s decision to make a small tweak to the hard tyre compound. Last week the Italian tyre manufacturer said it will change the hard tyre, rather than the soft as expected, to be closer in specification to the 2012 tyre, which would make it more durable. It will likely have a larger working range, so will be more versatile, and Gillan adds that the move will help every other team on the grid except for Mercedes. “Pirelli specified at beginning of season More…
Caterham reserve driver Alexander Rossi will get his first taste of the team’s 2013 Formula 1 challenger when he takes to the wheel in Friday’s first practice for the Canadian Grand Prix. The American was expected to drive the car on Friday morning in Bahrain, but a combination of Heikki Kovalainen returning to the team in a reserve role and Rossi getting a drive for the team’s GP2 outfit meant it didn’t happen. “Obviously the weekends that I’m not doing GP2 I’ll be looking to be drive the F1 car in Friday practice sessions and that will start in Montreal,” More…
The lack of on-track testing in modern Formula 1 means teams rely more heavily on one particular tool – their simulator. It’s essentially a super-advanced computer game and a hydraulically controlled F1 chassis which replicates the experience of driving on-track. And thanks to Red Bull, you could be one of the few people in the world to have the opportunity to have a session in one with guidance from a team expert. It’s part of an initiative to support the reigning world champion’s charity Wings for Life, which funds worldwide research into spinal injury. The charity wants companies and groups More…
Ticket sales for this year’s British Grand Prix are down on this time last year, according to the circuit’s managing director Richard Phillips. There are a number of factors to blame for the slow take up of tickets this year, including lack of British winners in 2013 as well as bad memories and bad publicity hanging over from last year’s event, where torrential rain led to chaos; many fans were asked not to attend on Saturday in order that the operators could repair the circuit’s car parks for race day. Around 400 public events were cancelled in the UK that More…
Rising star James Calado’s chances of making the move up to Formula 1 have been boosted by a deal to be managed by Nicolas Todt, whose All Road Management group manages Felipe Massa, Pastor Maldonado and Jules Bianchi. Nicolas is the son of FIA president Jean Todt and also a shareholder in ART Grand Prix, a front running team in GP2 and other categories. Calado is currently driving for ART GP in the GP2 series. Calado, 23, competed with current Williams F1 driver Valterri Bottas for the GP3 title two seasons ago and last year won two races in his More…
This month we ran a competition called “Performance Reinvented”, in conjunction with Shell, giving three lucky winners the chance to do some performance driving with former F1 racer Gimmi Bruni, get into a proper F1 Simulator and to get a ride with Ferrari test driver Giancarlo Fisichella at the launch event of the new Shell V Power Nitro + fuel at London’s Battersea Power Station. We’ve already heard from Rich Gibbons. Here are the other two guest blogs, from long time JA on F1 poster “Hero was Senna” (Carlo Carluccio) and Robin Middleton. Guest Blog by “Hero was Senna” When More…
F1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that the automatic $10m prizemoney payments made to the “new” teams which entered F1 in 2010 are to end. From now on only the top ten teams will receive money each season. This makes the battle for 10th place in the constructors’ championship more intense than ever, with Caterham and Marussia vying for the final position. Currently Marussia holds 10th place due to Jules Bianchi’s 13th place in Malaysia. When former FIA president Max Mosley pressed for the new teams to enter the sport, Ecclestone agreed to pay them each More…
Former Marussia F1 aero test driver Maria de Villota has been speaking this weekend of her new life, following her life threatening accident at Duxford almost a year ago. De Villota was doing straight line aero tests on the runway at the former WWII airbase when she crashed into the open tailgate of a truck which was parked near the team’s temporary pit awning. Formula 1 held its breath as she underwent a series of vital operations at Adenbrokes Hospital in nearby Cambridge. She suffered a severe head injury, lost her right eye and required 104 stitches in her face. More…
After weeks of speculation, Pirelli has today announced that it is changing one of the F1 tyres in its range from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards. The hard tyre will be changed to be closer in specification to the 2012 tyre, which would make it more durable. It will likely have a larger working range, so will be more versatile. It was the preferred race tyre in Bahrain at the weekend for most teams. This is a surprise change in some ways, as there was speculation that the soft tyre would be the one to face changes. It proved troublesome More…
While they work behind the scenes on their car ahead of the start of the European season, Mercedes is aiming to be three times faster than the opposition when it comes to the increasingly important area of transferring data from the car at the race track to the factory and back again. And a new deal announced today could ultimately lead to F1 teams taking smaller numbers of staff to the race track in future. Mercedes has become the first F1 team to follow the lead of Formula One Management, which signed a deal last year with Tata Communications, for More…
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is confident Jenson Button and Sergio Perez will be able to move on after the team mates clashed several times in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Perez, who joined McLaren from Sauber this season, has had a lacklustre start to the season, prompting Whitmarsh to tell him earlier this week that he needs to “toughen up” and “use his elbows” – and in Bahrain, the Mexican did just that. The 23-year-old boldly overtook Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to show signs of the spark which attracted McLaren to him in the first place. More…
Paul di Resta has sent out a message to his Force India team: “Give me a faster car and I’ll get a podium. The Scot drove an impressive race in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, leading at one point and spending much of the grand prix in the top three. However Di Resta was passed by the Lotus of Romain Grosjean, who was on fresher option tyres, in the closing stages and had to settle for fourth. Despite just missing out on the first podium finish of his career, Di Resta told JA on F1 after the race that the team More…
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel became the first driver to win two races this season with an impressive victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix – but behind him, there were countless battles all the way down the field. Kimi Raikkonen bounced back from a disappointing qualifying, which saw him start eighth, to finish second ahead of Lotus team mate Romain Grosjean who secured his first podium of the season. Paul di Resta produced one of the best drives of his career, running in third place in the Force India and on course for his first F1 podium before losing out to More…
Sebastian Vettel pulled off two key overtakes and managed his tyres to perfection to get early control of the Bahrain Grand Prix and take an easy victory, ahead of impressive drives through the field from Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. It was the same podium as last year’s race, with Vettel again starting on the front row and the Lotus cars being forced to come through the field. After losing his second place to Fernando Alonso at the start of the race, the World Championship leader scythed past the Ferrari in the midfield esses section and promptly set about taking More…
One of the biggest surprises in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix was the performance of the Lotus cars, with Kimi Raikkonen 9th fastest and Romain Grosjean 11th. They were the pace setters on Friday, set the fourth fastest time in Saturday morning practice and Raikkonen set a competitive Q2 time in 1m 33.146, the third fastest time in that session. So what happened? According to Lotus’ Trackside Operations Director, Alan Permane, the result is something of a mystery. They believed – and many other teams agreed with the view – that Raikkonen could win this race, based More…
Nico Rosberg made it two Mercedes pole positions in as many weeks as he produced a sensational final lap to take the spoils in Bahrain, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. It was the second pole position of his career and means that Mercedes and Red Bull have both taken half the pole positions this season. But the race could be a different story. After being off the ultimate pace throughout the weekend’s practice sessions Rosberg showed his speed from the outset of qualifying, although he only topped the times in Q3. And after coming close already this year More…
There has been something of a phoney war going on this week with Fernando Alonso mischievously tweeting a photo of himself having dinner with Red Bull’s Mark Webber in Dubai. In the light of the climate of antagonism between Webber and team mate Sebastian Vettel after the team orders debacle in Malaysia, the photo assumed a different significance and that was exacerbated when it was mysteriously taken down. There is nothing unusual about them having dinner together; they do it regularly. However, both drivers are celebrating 200 Grands Prix and on Thursday and ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, More…
Lewis Hamilton says that Mercedes’ positive start to the season, with a pole and two podiums, is much better than he expected, but believes there is a lot more to come from the Brackley team. Pre-season Hamilton had managed expectations carefully, not wanting to over promise and under deliver given how poor Mercedes were in the second half of 2012. However he is right there in the championship with the group of title contenders, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso, on 40 points. On the eve of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Hamilton has been speaking extensively about the work More…
The organiser of the Bahrain Grand Prix said today that the F1 personnel attending the race this weekend will be safe and claimed that 77% of the Bahraini people wanted the race to go ahead. I had a chance to interview Zayed Al-Zayani, Chairman of Bahrain International Circuit this afternoon for BBC Radio 5 Live and asked him if he could guarantee the safety of F1 people,” Absolutely,” he said, “They have always been safe here and I think this year won’t be any different.” Last year four Force India staff members were caught in a firebomb incident on the More…
This weekend’s Bahrain promises to be another tense race and is likely to be decided on race strategy, if last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix and last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix are anything to go by. And one important detail to note is that Pirelli has changed the tyre specification for this weekend from the soft compound tyres which proved short-lived in China, to mediums, which have been used in every race so far. Alongside this tyre is the hard compound, which was used in Malaysia. Due to lead times and logistics, this decision will have been made before the Chinese More…
Caterham F1 Team has announced a restructuring of its drivers with former racer Heikki Kovalainen coming back into the team, initially to drive in Friday morning practices at Grands Prix and to give technical feedback on Caterham’s new technical package due in Barcelona. Reserve driver Alexander Rossi will move over to race in GP2 for Caterham Racing, taking the seat of Ma Qing Hua. Kovalainen raced for Caterham for three seasons, but left the team at the end of 2012 as it took on two young drivers with budgets, Charles Pic and Guido van der Garde. Kovalainen’s presence will increase More…
The UBS Chinese Grand Prix was another tense race and the outcome was once again decided by race strategy. What made it particularly interesting was that there were different approaches among the leading teams, forced by the disparate performance levels of the soft and medium Pirelli tyres. Team strategists had to find a way to do the fastest race, which meant spending the least amount of time on the weaker tyre and running in clear air as much as possible. Here, with the help and input of several team strategists as well as JA on F1 technical adviser Mark Gillan, More…
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel is targeting a return to the podium after narrowly missing out in the Chinese Grand Prix. And a glance at the drivers’ championship table shows that, without the extra seven points he gained controversially by taking the win in Malaysia despite team orders not to, he would now by second behind Kimi Raikkonen with arch rival Fernando Alonso just two points behind him, having recovered from his retirement in the Sepang. Knowing that they didn’t have the pace in Shanghai, the Red Bull driver chose a different strategy to the Ferraris, Lotus and Mercedes which More…
Thanks to everyone who took part in our first major competition of 2013: the Shell “Performance Reinvented” competition. The prize was a big day out at a spectacular venue in London on April 18th, which three lucky JA on F1 readers will attend; with a variety of activities including performance driving with none other than Ferrari reserve driver Giancarlo Fisichella and attending a major event hosted by former BBC F1 frontman Jake Humphrey. Entrants were asked to define what “Performance Reinvented” means to them in 150 words. The winners are listed below, together with their entries. They will be contacted More…
It’s tough times for McLaren at the moment: Sergio Perez has yet to get his season started while Jenson Button says his team still lack the pace to compete with the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus despite scoring his best result of the season in China. The 2009 world champion battled to ninth place in Australia and then failed to finish in Malaysia, after earlier being on target for a top six finish. But in China, buoyed by some new upgrades and a brave strategy, he finished fifth. In each case McLaren has gambled on strategy, because More…
Tyres were once again the talk of the Formula 1 paddock in China as teams chose to sit out much of qualifying to save rubber while in the race, those who started on the soft tyre were forced to pit as early as lap six because their rubber fell off the cliff. Jenson Button had to ask whether to fight another driver mid race as lap time consistency was more of a priority. The performance difference between the two compounds also prompted a mix of strategies, with the front seven cars starting the race on the soft tyres, while the More…
The 2013 Chinese Grand Prix delivered an entertaining race which saw a third different winner in three races this season and plenty of impressive performances all the way down the field. Ferrari’s double world champion Fernando Alonso took an impressive victory, building on a fantastic start to take his 31st career win. Kimi Raikkonen felt he could have challenged for the win in the Lotus had it not been for a glitch at the start and damage to his nose following a collision with McLaren’s Sergio Perez. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton couldn’t match his scintillating qualifying pace in the race but did his More…
Fernando Alonso won the Chinese Grand Prix for Ferrari, the third different race winning driver and car combination in three races this season, with Kimi Raikkonen finishing second, where he started and Lewis Hamilton holding off a hard charging Sebastian Vettel for third. It was Alonso’s 31st career victory, equalling Nigel Mansell for fourth in the all-time winners list and his second in China. Vettel retained the drivers’ championship lead, three points ahead of Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton, but it tightened up; just 12 points separate the top four drivers, all World Champions. Ferrari closed to within five points of More…
Lewis Hamilton took the first pole position of his Mercedes career in China with Kimi Raikkonen throwing down the gauntlet in second place and Fernando Alonso third. Mark Webber stopped on track in Q2 with a fuel shortage issue and was sent to the back of the grid by stewards. Given the tyre management abilities of Lotus, Raikkonen is in a strong position, although he has questioned whether the Lotus has the pace to win tomorrow. Whether he can make one less stop than his rivals and turn it to his advantage, time will tell. More likely it will mean More…
Ferrari finished the Friday practice session in first and third places with Felipe Massa setting the fastest time and team mate Alonso third. The pair were split by the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen, with Nico Rosberg fourth ahead of Mark Webber. It looks like it could be a competitive race, with qualifying certain to be important, but race strategy likely to be the decisive factor, with managing the difference between the soft and medium tyre the key to it. Mercedes had been the clear pace setters on the medium tyres in the morning and at the start of the second More…
Double world champion Fernando Alonso says he does not regret the decision not to pit for a new front wing which ultimately caused his retirement in the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver, 31, broke his front wing when he made contact with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel at turn two at Sepang. With the track drying out after a rain shower, the team took the decision not to pit after the first lap in the hope they could keep going and change the wing when they changed tyres. However, the wing gave way and became trapped underneath the car on More…
Nico Rosberg says he is confident that there is no number one and no number two at Mercedes despite being asked to hold position behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Malaysia. Rosberg, 27, was quicker than Hamilton, 28, in the closing stages in Sepang and asked if he could overtake the 2008 world champion. However team principal Ross Brawn refused his request citing that Hamilton had been asked to back off due to concerns over fuel consumption. Hamilton went on to finish third, scoring his first podium for the team and saying after the race that Rosberg deserved to be on More…
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel says Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber did not “deserve” to win the Malaysian Grand Prix and that his decision to ignore team orders was “indirectly” paying Webber back for a lack of support in the past. Webber, 36, was leading Vettel, 25, last time out in Sepang when the team ordered both drivers to hold position after the final pit stops. However, Vettel chose to ignore the order and past his team-mate with 13 laps to go to take victory. Vettel was quoted on Wednesday as saying he will never apologise for winning but it’s More…
The teams are gathering for the Chinese Grand Prix and inevitably the focus of attention at the start of this weekend will be the Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. But it could move on pretty quickly. In the run up to the event there have been some messages placed in the media setting out a few markers; there will no longer be team orders as in Malaysia, Red Bull mechanics are celebrating their record 2.05 second pit stop in Sepang and Helmut Marko says he never meant to criticise Mark Webber before the season. The Sepang incident More…
After the dramas of the first two Grands Prix, the tenth running of the Chinese Grand Prix should provide another very open contest, with strategic decisions likely to be the deciding factor once again. After the high temperatures and high tyre degradation of Malaysia, Shanghai will see a less extreme picture, as far as tyre wear is concerned. Whereas Sepang was all about managing the rear tyres, Shanghai is all about getting the front tyres at the optimum temperature for qualifying and then managing them in the race. The first sector of the lap features a series of slow corners; More…
Today we announce the first major JA on F1 competition of 2013. We’ve done some pretty cool ones over the years, giving many fans the chance to get closer to the sport. This one is particularly intriguing. In conjunction with our friends at Shell, it’s your chance to take part in a very special event in Central London on April 18th, hosted by former BBC F1 frontman Jake Humphrey and featuring a chance for you to do some driving in high performance cars in a dramatic setting, with Ferrari test drivers, including Giancarlo Fisichella. You will also get a chance More…
JA on F1 technical adviser and former Williams chief engineer Mark Gillan believes it will take McLaren quite some time to fix problems with their 2013 car. The Woking-based team ended last year with the fastest car, but decided to go for a significant change, rather than evolve the 2012 design. They have been well off the pace in the first two races of the season, with ride issues among their problems. The team has just four points, 62 less than championship leaders Red Bull, with Jenson Button and Sergio Perez scoring a ninth place each. However Button was on More…
Lotus technical director James Allison believes the team’s car has genuine pace in the dry and will continue to race at the front of the field in the upcoming races. Kimi Raikkonen produced a scintillating drive to take victory, his second for the team, in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Raikkonen was seventh last time out in the rain-hit Malaysian Grand Prix, one place behind team-mate Romain Grosjean, but Allison told the latest edition of the JA on F1 podcast that the car still showed front-running pace in dry conditions. “We didn’t have a great race at Sepang More…
This season I have been working with a new producer on BBC Radio 5 Live, who comes to the sport for the first time. She has worked extensively on athletics, football and other sports, but sees F1 through fresh eyes. Likewise in my work with Australian TV Network 10, the 27 hour live spectacular they put on for their home race was staffed by people for whom Melbourne is a once a year touch point with F1. The result is that I’ve come to see the sport anew, particularly the way that the key players communicate with the media. F1 More…
Welcome to the second JA on F1 podcast, perfectly timed for you to download and enjoy over the Easter Holiday period. In a packed edition we hear from the ever-popular Kimi Raikkonen, winner of the first race of the season, on what he thinks of his fans, what he does on his days off and that infamous radio call to “leave me alone” in Abu Dhabi. We get the inside track on Lotus’s sensational start to the season from to the man behind that famous win in Melbourne, Lotus technical director James Allison. He also explains what it is like More…
At the distance of a week and with plenty of reaction from the key players to sift through, it is a good moment now to consider what human motives lay behind the two dramas we saw at the end of the Malaysian Grand Prix, involving the observation and non-observation of team orders within the Mercedes and Red Bull teams. There have been all sorts of speculative stories about what happens next and the long term consequences, especially with regards to the Webber/Vettel relationship; the German paper Bild ran a story saying that Webber would leave the team at the end More…
Williams F1 has today confirmed the recent paddock speculation that Claire Williams has become Deputy Team Principal, with the objective of succeeding her father one day. Claire has worked within the F1 team for over ten years, starting out as a junior in the media department, rising to become head of communications and more recently a director and head of the commercial side of the team and of Investor Relations. She is the third person to be lined up as Sir Frank’s successor in the last few years; Adam Parr was anointed heir, but Williams realised his fractious relationship with More…
The Malaysian Grand Prix provided some extraordinary talking points with the dispute between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber the main focus. Although this was primarily a dispute over trust and team orders, some curious race strategy decisions created the circumstances for the Red Bull drama and the Mercedes team orders, as we shall see. Pre-race considerations After the practice sessions the feeling among team strategists was that tyre degradation would be very high, while wear was expected to mean that medium tyres would last 15 laps with the hard lasting 18 laps. But the decisive data would be the degradation More…
It is clear that the Malaysian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel’s 103rd F1 race, will prove a turning point in his career. Vettel admitted on Sunday night in the post race press conference that he will be looked upon as the “black sheep” after he ignored team orders and passed Mark Webber in the closing stages of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix, when the Australian thought the race had been called off by the Red Bull team. Interestingly, had they finished with Webber ahead, they would now be level on 33 points in the drivers’ table. And the way Red Bull works, More…
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso blamed “extremely bad luck” for his second lap retirement in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. The double world champion, who was competing in his 200th race, moved up a place to second at the start but broke his front wing when he tapped leader Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull at turn two. With conditions still a few laps away from being suitable for dry weather tyres, the team decided to keep Alonso, 31, out on track to avoid having to make two stops in four laps. It was a mistake; the loads on the wing were too More…
The Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang is notorious for delivering entertaining races and this year’s event was no different. Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel disobeyed his own team to battle past Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber and snatch his first victory of the season at Sepang and 27th of his career. Webber drove brilliantly to rise from fifth on the grid to take the lead before turning his engine down and getting overtaken by his team-mate in the closing stages. Mercedes showed they had made impressive progress since last season with Lewis Hamilton securing his first podium for his new More…
Sebastian Vettel has won a tense Malaysian Grand Prix after edging out Red Bull team mate Mark Webber with a close move late in the race, after Webber had been told to turn down his engine and drive to the finish. As Vettel attacked on lap 46 of 56, the pair almost collided several times, but the German squeezed through for the win. Vettel apologised to Webber, but the Australian did not say that he accepted it, instead commenting that Red Bull management “protects” Vettel. Team boss Christian Horner meanwhile confirmed that Vettel had “taken things into his own hands” More…
Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that he attempted last summer to broker a move for Lewis Hamilton to form a superteam with Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull, but that it foundered on Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz’s loyalty to Mark Webber. “Sebastian wouldn’t have cared if Lewis had signed for the team,’ Ecclestone told the Mail on Sunday. “Dietrich is a very honest, straightforward guy and told Mark the door was open for him to stay. That was good of him.” Webber at the time was considering an offer from Ferrari to partner his friend Fernando Alonso, but in the end More…
For Sebastian Vettel the Malaysian weather played in to his hands as he took a sensational pole position in changeable conditions for the second Grand Prix of 2013, almost a second ahead of Ferrari duo Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. It was the fourth Grand Prix in a row that Massa has outqualified his team mate Alonso, stretching back to Austin last season. Alonso bristled in the official press conference at suggestions that this is a problem for him, pointing out that Massa has always been a strong reference point for him, despite his problems of the last few years. More…
Kimi Raikkonen, the winner of the Australian Grand Prix, eradicated any doubts that his Melbourne performance was due to exceptional weather and track conditions by topping the time sheets in Sepang on Day 1 of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend. With track temperatures over 30 degrees, the 33 year old Finn edged out Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull and Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, but the margins were tight; just 9/100ths of a second separated first and third. Lotus’ technical director James Allison confirmed that only Raikkonen had the new updates on his car today, with Romain Grosjean thus disadvantaged. Lotus has a More…
It’s been one of the worst starts to a season for the McLaren team, but there is defiance from within the ranks that sticking with the 2013 design is a better path than reverting to the old car, which won the last two races of 2012. Speaking in the Sepang paddock this afternoon, Jenson Button said that they would stick with the Plan A and work with the 2013 design. It meant that they would be able to “take more risks” than their rivals because they are chasing results. “It’s better to stick to the plan and develop and improve More…
Before the season started, JA on F1 Technical Adviser Mark Gillan observed in the first podcast of the season that the key to success in 2013 would be thermal tyre management. And the first Grand Prix in Melbourne proved it, with Red Bull able to dominate qualifying, but losing performance in the race, while Lotus went the other way. So what was happening? And will it happen again this weekend in Malaysia? The key with the Pirelli tyres is to get the fronts warmed up evenly with the rears for a single lap in qualifying. But with the same set More…
This weekend the F1 teams move to Sepang, Malaysia for the second round of the championship. After the stunning victory of Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus in Melbourne, all of the leading teams will have gone away to look at how they can work on their car to help the strategy. The goal will be to try to emulate Lotus’ ability to run at a strong pace while using one less set of tyres (and therefore one less pit stop) than the opposition. The conditions in Melbourne were cool. Last year Lotus was stronger in hot conditions, like Malaysia and Bahrain. More…
The Australian Grand Prix got the new season off to a great start, with seven different leaders – a modern day record – and a fascinating strategic battle between Lotus, Ferrari and Red Bull. There were many talking points from the race and things to analyse closely; Lotus’ confidence in opting for two stops; how Red Bull managed to lose a race for which they had qualified in pole position by over a second; how strategy cost Massa a podium finish; why Mercedes switched Hamilton’s plan half way through the race and some desperate moves by McLaren to try to More…
Innovation in F1 is not limited to new technology on the cars or in communications devices, it even extends to the clothing worn by mechanics in the pit lane. And this weekend in the heat of Malaysia it should come into its own. A new material developed from high-tech sportswear used by top tennis stars and other athletes is now helping to keep race mechanics cool and less tired when working in the pit lane in intense temperatures. Human Performance Engineering, a company set up by Nick Harris, the man who trained top drivers like Mark Webber, David Coulthard and More…
Force India’s Adrian Sutil has set his sights on a maiden podium in Formula 1 after twice leading the Australian Grand Prix before finishing seventh on his return to the sport. The German, 30, missed the 2012 season after being convicted of grievous bodily harm following an incident with Lotus F1 co-owner Eric Lux in Shanghai 2011. However, Sutil was given another chance by a team whom he drove for between 2007-11, beating off competition from Jules Bianchi for the seat alongside Paul di Resta. And the German, who only had three days of testing, delivered a brilliant performance to More…
Ferrari believe they have a car capable of challenging for the world championship after taking the lead in the constructors’ standings following the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. A radio message to Fernando Alonso from his engineer said: “Ci Siamo” (“We are there”) after the Spaniard finished second, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa. That would suggest the Italian team feel they have a good chance of the title this year starting from this baseline which is much stronger than that of last year at this point in the season. While Kimi Raikkonen More…
Britain’s Jenson Button says his new McLaren is not capable of winning a grand prix in its current spec after he trailed home ninth in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The 2009 world champion, who had tasted victory at Albert Park in three of the last four years before Sunday’s race, lacked the pace to contend with the likes of Lotus, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen went on to take victory for Lotus, ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel while Button took ninth and his team-mate Sergio Perez finished outside More…
In a race which saw five different leaders, Kimi Raikkonen managed a two-stop strategy to perfection to come out on top and secure his 20th career victory in the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park. Fernando Alonso was the best of the three-stoppers, maximising his strategy to take second while Sebastian Vettel could not match his qualifying pace but dug deep to rescue what could prove a crucial third place. Felipe Massa is back with a bang, outqalifying team mate Alonso and challenging for a podium, while Lewis Hamilton failed to make a two-stop strategy work, but battled hard More…
Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus sent out a powerful message to rivals by managing a two-stop strategy to perfection and taking a thrilling victory in Melbourne, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. And to rub it in, Raikkonen set the fastest lap of the race at the end, showing that he had more life left in his tyres. In a race that saw seven different leaders and the majority of the field running a three-stop programme, Raikkonen was able to make one less stop in the Lotus E21, that is well-known for its gentleness on the tyres. He worked his More…
The 2013 F1 season is already unique in that it has got underway without an agreement binding in the teams, the FIA and the commercial rights holder. Bernie Ecclestone has individual commercial deals with all the teams, except Marussia, but the hold up was agreeing terms with FIA president Jean Todt. However after a series of meetings recently between the two most powerful men in the sport, Todt told the Financial Times this weekend that the issues have been sorted and the FIA will sign the new Concorde Agreement, “I think we have all the ingredients to allow the FIA More…
The decisive parts of Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix has been postponed until tomorrow morning at 11am Melbourne time (midnight UK time) after heavy rain caused major delays and brought the session to an end following the first phase of qualifying. It’s an unusual move by the race stewards, but not unprecedented. Qualifying was delayed in the same way at Suzuka twice in the last decade, the last time in 2010. THe forecast is for partly cloudy, and temperatures of 18 degrees. Having already been delayed by twenty minutes, Q1 got underway in very wet conditions and claimed a More…
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel set the pace on the first day of the season in Melbourne. The German was the only driver to set a time under 1m 26s and his best time was set on the third lap on his supersoft tyres, having been forced to abort the first lap on the final sector due to traffic. This suggests that there was more to come. Vettel’s Red Bull team mate Mark Webber was second, with Nico Rosberg third for Mercedes. However Rosberg ended the session walking back to the paddock after a gearbox problem stopped his car on More…
Mexican driver Sergio Perez says he’s not feeling the pressure ahead of McLaren debut in Australia this weekend as he sets his sights on winning the world championship. Perez, 23, scored three podiums last season, and just missed out on victory in Malaysia, which prompted McLaren to sign him as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton. Despite only having two seasons under his belt before stepping into a front-running car, Perez told the latest edition of the JA on F1 podcast that he’s unfazed. “Every time you come to a big team, you’re going to replace a big name driver,” said More…
Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn believes his outfit have the best driver line-up in Formula 1 in Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. The Brackley-based team signed Hamilton to replace seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher alongside Rosberg. Though the car struggled to score points towards the end of last season, Mercedes have shown good pace in testing. Rosberg set the fastest time of winter testing in Barcelona, with Hamilton clocking the third best. And Brawn believes Rosberg, who made his debut for Williams in 2006, has stepped up his performances after spending three years as Schumacher’s team-mate. “If we are honest, More…
Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) and the McLaren Group have announced a new initiative which will use the science behind Formula 1 to help encourage young people to take an interest in science at school. The programme is part of GSK’s Scientists in Sport campaign, which will be unveiled this week at the Big Bang national science fair (14-17 March). It aims to inspire 11-14 year olds to continue studying science as research suggests not enough roles in science technology, engineering and maths occupations are being filled. Together with McLaren, GSK are running a competition called “The Fast Forward Challenge” where More…
Double world champion Fernando Alonso says his Ferrari team will require perfection if they are to win the World Championship. The Italian team last won the constructors’ title in 2008, and the drivers’ – with Kimi Raikkonen – in 2007. Last season, Alonso lead the championship for much of the season, despite having a car which lacked the pace of its immediate rivals, however, he ultimately lost out to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel by three points at the finale in Brazil. The team look to be in better shape ahead of the new season but Alonso, 31, says they need More…
McLaren and Vodafone will end their long-running title sponsorship deal at the end of the season. During the partnership, which began in 2007 and was worth $75m per year according to the Financial Times, the team won 34 races and the 2008 drivers’ world championship with Lewis Hamilton. In a statement ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, McLaren said they would announce a replacement for their title sponsor for 2014 after the conclusion of the season on 2 December. McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “We’re immensely proud that, having been set a number of ambitious challenges by Vodafone More…
The 2013 F1 season kicks off this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Testing indicates that it will be close, but also that managing tyre degradation will be of paramount importance. So here is our guide to the considerations the teams will make when deciding the all important strategy for qualifying and the race. Track characteristics Albert Park Circuit; 5.303 kilometres. Race distance: 58 laps = 307.574 kilometres; 16 corners in total, none particularly fast. Aerodynamic setup – Medium/high downforce. Top speed 318km/h (with Drag Reduction System on rear wing) – 308km/h without. Full throttle – 65% of More…
Welcome to the first JA on F1 podcast of 2013. As last year, we will be coming out every month throughout the F1 season, going behind the scenes of this fascinating sport, providing in depth analysis and behind the scenes insight, talking to the big names and introducing a wide cast of characters. In this season build-up edition we have a packed podcast, as we head towards Melbourne: * Mercedes set the pace as testing came to a close. But are they genuine contenders? And who is looking good? Former Williams chief engineer Mark Gillan, now JA on F1 Technical More…
The promoters of the new Formula E series have released details of eight city centre races that will form the basis of the new zero emission motor sport championship next season. And we want to hear your thoughts on the initial designs for the new car. The host cities are London, Rome, Los Angeles, Miami, Beijing, Putrajaya (Malaysia), Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. The London event will be particularly exciting as it is believed to be based around the Olympic Park in Stratford. Two more venues are expected to join the calendar before it is finalised in September. The More…
Lady Virginia Williams, wife of Williams F1 Team founder Sir Frank, has died at the age of 66 after a battle with cancer. According to a statement from the team, “Lady Virginia, or ‘Ginny’ as she was better known, died peacefully at the family home last night surrounded by Frank and the rest of the Williams family. Ginny had been bravely battling cancer for the past two and a half years. Ginny will always be an integral part of Williams’ history and success, and today we pay tribute to a much loved member of the Williams family who will be More…
There has been a lot of speculation in recent days about Honda and McLaren reviving the famous partnership, which brought domination of F1 in the later 1980s and early 1990s. It began towards the end of last season, but has grown in intensity recently. This is probably due to the fact that attention is now focussing on the major engine changes in 2014 and McLaren has every reason to want to move away from Mercedes, despite having an option to use their new generation hybrid engines in 2014 and 2015. In the last few years Mercedes has withdrawn as a More…
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has told his rivals that he is better prepared ahead of the new season than last year – and he believes this year will be stronger. The double world champion led the championship for much of 2012, despite having an inferior car to the Red Bull and McLaren, but missed out to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel by three points. But after training hard during the winter and showing good pace in winter testing, setting the second fastest time on the final day in Barcelona, Alonso has high hopes for this season. “Last year was the best year More…
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel says the Pirelli tyres lack consistency and admits his disappointment with his Red Bull team’s final days of testing. The Milton-Keynes based team managed 158 laps over the weekend, compared to the 248 Mercedes managed. High degradation with Pirelli’s new 2013-spec tyres has been an issue for all the teams so far this year and Vettel, who has won the title for the last three years, said the lack of mileage has meant the team didn’t quite gather all the data they had hoped for with regards the tyres. “We haven’t been able to tick More…
Caterham’s Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde have declared themselves happy with the 2013 car’s progress after the final test before the season opener in Melbourne. While last year’s driver line-up of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov had seven years of Formula 1 experience between them, Pic and van der Garde have just one. Caterham, meanwhile, have yet to score a point since joining the sport in 2010. But last month team principal Cyril Abiteboul said he believed the fresh line-up would revitalise the team for their fourth season. And after the last of three winter tests, both drivers More…
Caterham have strengthened their technical team by appointing Hari Roberts as the team’s head of aerodynamics. Roberts, who has worked for Jordan, Renault and Lotus, has aerodynamics, trackside and simulation experience. Caterham have finished 10th in the constructors’ championship each year since joining the sport in 2010, and have failed to score a point, however, Roberts’ recruitment is a sign of a continued push to close the gap to the midfield. Roberts will work closely with technical director Mark Smith, who he worked with at Jordan and Renault, and performance director John Iley. Smith said: “He gives us more senior More…
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes made a firm statement of intent today as they finally ran the Pirelli soft tyre and dominated the penultimate day of pre-season testing in Barcelona. Having been the only team to not yet run the yellow banded soft tyre, the F1 paddock would not have anticipated that Hamilton would shave over a second off the fastest time that we have seen in Barcelona so far this year. Mercedes themselves believed their gain to be closer to half a second, so their improvement will be thought provoking for their rival teams. Mercedes’ tyre difficulties have always appeared More…
Jules Bianchi was passed over by Sahara Force India in favour of Adrian Sutil, but has managed to grab a seat on the F1 grid with Marussia. The Banbury based team had announced Luis Razia, but clearly difficulties with his funding have meant that he has not been able to take up his place behind the wheel in testing and Bianchi’s manager Nicolas Todt has swerved his client into the seat. Bianchi will drive the car today and tomorrow in testing at Barcelona. This year’s Marussia doesn’t look like a bad car, certainly it could be ahead of the Caterham, More…
Fernando Alonso
Kimi Räikkönen
Felipe Massa
Sebastian Vettel
Mark Webber Nico Rosberg
Paul di Resta Jenson Button
Sergio Perez Daniel Ricciardo Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton Felipe Massa Mark Webber
Romain Grosjean Paul di Resta Nico Rosberg Jenson Button Sergio Perez Daniel Ricciardo Adrian Sutil Nico Hulkenberg Jean-Eric Vergne Esteban Gutierrez Valtteri Bottas
Pastor Maldonado Jules Bianchi Charles Pic
Giedo van der Garde Max Chilton
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