At the same time, Kovalainen is testing the new Caterham CT01 in Jerez and believes that it is a big step closer to the midfield cars than was his 2011 model. The Caterham has full use of KERS for the first time and this alone is worth around 4/10ths of a second per lap.

“Just looking the timesheets we’re closer than we’ve been before. We’ve done proper running, we haven’t done any show runs, so fingers crossed,” said the Finn in Jerez.

The move to IMG, which will provide contractual negotiation, legal services and PR and marketing expertise, will see Kovalainen being predominantly looked after by Martin Anayi, who also manages three time World Champion Jackie Stewart. “He is a very talented and marketable driver who has competed at the top level since 2007. We are looking forward to assisting and supporting him to achieve further success both on and off the track.” Said Anayi, a senior executive in IMG Motorsport.

Kovalainen will also be joining Danica Patrick, the only female winner in the IndyCar Series and current competitor in Nascar, at the management firm.

The Finn found much success early in his career as he was supported by the Renault Driver Development programme. During this time he won the World Series by Nissan title followed by runner-up in GP2 in 2005. Kovalainen will be hoping that this next step in his career will allow him to lead Caterham F1 as their first driver. “With the team we have assembled, it will allow me to concentrate on my driving and put even more time into working with the engineers and dedicate myself completely to leading the team to win its first point in F1,” added Kovalainen.

The interview runs just under 7 minutes. We spoke about painful memories of his uncle Ayrton’s time at Williams, the Williams team in transition with new technical staff, his thoughts on where his move leaves Rubens Barrichello and his plans for pre-season testing.

Bruno also takes a look forward to the 2012 F1 season and the state of the competition with changes on rules on exhausts.

Throughout the season you can follow our F1 adventures on BBC Radio 5 Live on Twitter on @5liveF1. And good news for readers in the USA, you’ll be able to listen to our coverage on Sirius this season.

If you have problems with the Soundcloud player below, you can access the audio content via this LINK

Bruno Senna Interview 5Live 1 by JA on F1

It was drizzling and quite greasy when we were out there, but you still get a feel for the flow of the track and the exciting new sequence of corners, starting with the astonishing new Abbey curve.

This video is the first onboard lap showing the new corners at racing speeds, with a live commentary for JA on F1 users by Martin himself.

Early next week you will be able to see a full in-depth track guide with Martin and I talking you through the new corners here on JA on F1.

Enjoy!

Schumacher: Not giving up (Darren Heath)

The 41 year old began the season with a sixth place finish in Bahrain, but struggled to tenth place in Australia, a week later, and retired after just nine laps in Malaysia with a wheel nut problem.

However, the Mercedes GP driver said today in Shanghai that he was pleased with his start to the season and expects to be challenging for the title.

“Indeed yes I do [think I’m still in with a chance of the title] because if you take the points system and you see that like Fernando, he had a retirement in Malaysia [and] for whatever reason it can happen to all of us.

“I had mine in Malaysia and at one point of the season it will hit the guys fighting for the championship. So if we have a quick enough development speed, there is no reason why we cannot fight for championship,” said Schumacher.

“There is such a long season ahead and development is so important. We all know how quickly the rate of development is. I’m pretty sure we have potential to develop this car. It’s far from thinking this season is over for Nico [Rosberg] and even for myself.”

“I’ve been around long enough to know about what I call the wave of emotion,” he continued. “In winter everyone was very emotional and supportive, that was the wave, and then there is a natural falling off.”

Schumacher sits tenth in the championship standings, 30 points behind championship leader Felipe Massa and hasn’t yet got onto the level of his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

However, this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix provides happy memories for the German as he scored his most recent Formula 1 victory at the circuit and the 91st of his career in 2006 before he retired from the sport.

In classic Schumacher style, he prefers to focus on the challenge ahead rather than dwell on the disappointment of the last three races.

“Whether you’re the reason for it or whether it’s just a natural happening, is not important. The results have not been as great as some people have expected, even myself, but the competition is high. So it is natural I don’t have the same positive feeling from the media.

“I know exactly what I’ve been doing, I know what’s going on and I have no reason to be disappointed. I still feel very happy, whether people like it or not.”

I spoke to Ross Brawn after Melbourne about Schumacher’s “rehabilitation” to the sharp edge of F1 competition and he seemed to think that it was on target, in terms of the pace and consistency he had been able to show when things were going normally. He seemed to be pretty proud that Schumacher’s performances so far vindicate his decision last summer to hire Rosberg – perhaps Schumacher’s performances say more about Rosberg than they do about the Great Man.

It was another race where the start was decisive. That move by Vettel was the key. Webber finished second, with Nico Rosberg third. Robert Kubica had another strong performance, jumping up to fourth place at the start, as in Melbourne and holding that place until the finish. And Adrian Sutil underlined Force India’s credentials with a strong drive to fifth place.

Of the big names who started at the back of the field after misjudging qualifying, Lewis Hamilton got the best result in sixth. He made up 8 places at the start. Hamilton had another swashbuckling afternoon with some strong overtaking manoeuvres. He was warned by the stewards about his driving after he weaved several times to break the tow and shake off Vitalt Petrov, who proved quite tough to pass; the first time Hamilton passed him, Petrov passed him right back again, using the Renault’s impressive straight line speed, which allowed him to compete with the McLaren.

Vettel would now be dominating the championship with 75 points on the board were it not for poor reliability on the Red Bull car in Bahrain and Melbourne and this win will come as a great relief to the team.

A 1-2 finish on a day when both McLaren and Ferrari scored minor placings boosted both Vettel and Red Bull’s championship positions. Vettel is now joint second with 37 points, two points off the lead, while the team leapt from fifth to third in the constructors’ table.

The German got a good start from third place on the grid and hauled past Nico Rosberg to challenge Webber into Turn 1. The Australian covered him initially but then opened the door in the braking zone and Vettel eased through.

“I had a good start and got the tow from Mark, I took the chance I had in Turn 1, ” said Vettel. “We both pushed, we had to fight and we had respect for each other. After that it was a question of getting away from our competitors.

“What a day. We had a magnificent car and the key was to pace yourself. It’s a good result after two races where we didn’t finish where we want to be.”

Webber put a brave face on his loss, but said that the team “blew everyone away” today and praised the spirit of the Red Bull team.

The rain which had tormented the teams in qualifying failed to materialise on race day and it was a race where teams had to decide the right tyre strategy for dry conditions. Complicating the situation was the fact that the track was green at the start after all the rain on Saturday, increasing the tyre degradation.

Starting from the back of the grid, Lewis Hamilton and the two Ferraris opted to run a long first stint on the hard tyres, whereas most drivers went for the soft tyres and a shorter first stint. The drivers on soft tyres pitted from around lap 20 onwards, with the Red Bulls getting 24 and 25 laps out of their tyres.

Jenson Button started on softs and made another very early call for tyres on lap 10, because he wasn’t making the progress through the field that Hamilton was. But this time it was the wrong call, as he was forced to do 46 laps on the hard tyres. Towards the end he was really struggling as the Ferraris of Massa and Alonso caught him.

Fernando Alonso lost the championship lead to team mate Felipe Massa after he retired in the final laps when his engine let go. It was the third Ferrari engine problem along with both Saubers. Both Ferraris had required some work in parc ferme on the engines’ pneumatic system.

Alonso had an impressive race, considering that he also had a gear selection problem from the early stages of the race. He went to lap 37 on the hard tyres and around 30 laps into the race he was able to match the lap times of Vettel who had recently pitted for new hard tyres.

Michael Schumacher, who got a great start and went from 8th to 6th, retired on lap 10, with a loose wheel nut while his nemesis from Melbourne, Jaime Alguersuari, scored his first F1 points in 10th place.

Virgin Racing got its first finish, with Lucas di Grassi despite having a fuel tank which isn’t large enough, by leaning the engine out. While both Hispania cars made it to the finish, along with Jarno Trulli’s Lotus.

MALAYSIAN GP, Sepang, 56 laps
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 4.8s
3. Rosberg Mercedes + 13.5s
4. Kubica Renault + 18.5s
5. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 21.0s
6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 23.4s
7. Massa Ferrari + 27.0s
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 37.9s
9. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m10.6s
10. Hulkenberg Williams + 1m13.3s
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m18.9s
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Alonso Ferrari + 2 laps
14. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
15. Chandhok Hispania-Cosworth + 3 laps
16. Senna Hispania-Cosworth + 4 laps
17. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 5 laps

I would argue that the decade ends with a stronger cast of drivers than we had at the start. I’m really excited about the array of talent in F1 now, with three out and out aces, one potential ace and some very strong back ups.

1. Michael Schumacher – There can be no doubt about this at all. Schumacher moved the Art of the F1 driver on in the noughties and set the benchmark everyone else has to follow. He has an exceptional talent but doesn’t rely on it, instead put in so much effort to the details of winning. The outstanding driver of the decade with five world titles in the noughties to add to his two from the nineties. He contributed heavily to the rebirth of Ferrari and then he caps off the decade with a dramatic decision to make a comeback. His career will span three decades; a phenomenon.

2. Fernando Alonso – Twenty-one times a Grand Prix winner, many of them in a car which was not the fastest and two hard fought world titles makes Alonso a truly great champion. Alonso is fast and relentless. All the F1 engineers will tell you that there is no better race driver out there today. But it could and should have been three titles; his season at McLaren ended with him just a point off the world title, but common sense tells you that McLaren should have managed that situation better.

3. Lewis Hamilton – A world championship in his second season and proved a match for Alonso, the benchmark driver in the sport, in his first year, few drivers in history have made an impact on the sport like Hamilton. Like the two drivers ahead of him in the list he polarises opinion, but he’s already proved his credentials as a rare talent and a ferocious competitor. Has 11 victories and 17 poles from his 52 GPs and I think he improved immeasurably during a tough 2009 so he’s now a far better driver than he was when he clinched his title. Alonso vs Hamilton vs Schumacher in 2010 is the fight everyone wants to see – it’s box office gold dust

4. Kimi Raikkonen – A favourite with many fans, who claim his weaknesses, such as poor communication, are in fact strengths. Easily as talented as any of the drivers he raced against, he let himself down by not trying on occasions. That said he performed heroics in the second half of 2009 in a truly awful car. One world championship, 18 Grand Prix wins and 16 poles tells of a pretty good career, but most savvy observers will say it could have been many more if Mercedes’ reliability and his own attitude had been better at times.

5. Felipe Massa - Eleven wins and 28 podiums so far for this likeable and very fast driver. On the cusp of making that difficult transition from a number two driver to a number one during 2008 and early 2009 and was still improving when he had that terrible accident at Budapest. Massa is admirable for keeping his head down after a dodgy debut and making himself into a really good driver.

6. Juan Pablo Montoya – I have to admit that I loved Montoya as a Grand Prix driver. He was fast, fearless, outspoken and always terrific to watch. He reminded me of Nigel Mansell in many ways. He took the fight to Schumacher on numerous occasions and had some no holds barred scraps with Raikkonen. He scored seven wins, 13 poles and 30 podiums for Williams and McLaren and was unlucky not to have hooked into a world championship.

7. Rubens Barrichello - Eleven race victories in the noughties with Ferrari and Brawn and an evergreen presence on the grid. On his day he could beat anyone, including the great Schumacher, but he also had off days. Kept Jenson Button more than honest during their time together at Honda and Brawn.

8. Jenson Button – Always had the talent, just needed a good car to show what he could do. We got an idea of what he could do in 2004 when he and BAR took the fight to Schumacher, with 10 podiums and then he took that unlikely win in 2006 at Budapest. This year Jenson got his just desserts in a terrific car, winning six races and the world championship.

9. David Coulthard – He had a long and distinguished career, spanning two decades. He won seven of his 13 Grands Prix in the noughties, but only had a couple of really good years, 2000 and 2001. He struggled in the days of single lap qualifying, which held him back because he usually put in really strong race performances. But a major presence nevertheless.

10. Sebastian Vettel – Only two and a bit seasons into his career he has established himself as a front runner and looks like he could become a real star. Five career wins and runner up this year, the key question now is has he learned from his mistakes and can he go on to be a dominant driver? I think he showed in Silverstone and Suzuka this year that he has what it takes.

Happy New Year to all the readers of JA on F1 and a sincere thank you to the half a million plus visitors who have come to the site during 2009, for spreading the word and contributing such interesting and inspiring comments.

The competition runs until next week and the winners will be announced on Tuesday 24th. For those who missed it first time around – anyone who names the same top five drivers of the season, in the same order as me will get a free signed copy of my review of the 2009 season, ” F1 2009: A revolutionary year”.

There’s a limited print run of these books and, as one reader pointed out, with Brawn’s name and colour scheme set to disappear due to the Mercedes takeover, this book, with their car on the cover, will be a bit of a collectors’ item.

It’s generally agreed that this is a really hard year to judge who did the best job. To help you out with your choices. Autosport.com released the results of the team principals’ vote and their collective top five is as follows:

1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Jenson Button
3. Lewis Hamilton
4. Fernando Alonso
5. Rubens Barrichello

Meanwhile the authoritative Mark Hughes, my old buddy who used to help me and Martin Brundle in the commentary box, has gone for this top five:
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Jenson Button
3. Sebastian Vettel
4. Mark Webber
5. Robert Kubica

Kubica? Not many have gone with him. Interesting.

Good luck!

The book is the story of the 2009 season told through the eyes of the James Allen on F1 blog, with updates and extra editorial from me.

It has the behind the scenes insights into all the big stories of the year from the F1 breakaway threat and the Renault crash scandal to Ferrari’s swoop for Fernando Alonso. There is plenty of my personal perspective here too; from the colour and drama of the race weekends themselves, to travelling Easyjet to a Grand Prix with Ross Brawn and sitting opposite Max Mosley as he calmly said that “F1 can survive without Ferrari”.

I’ve called it “F1′s revolutionary year” because it was the year when the established order was turned on its head as top teams lost their grip on success and backmarkers came through to beat them. Off track it was the year when the teams united in revolt against the governing body and established a new structure for the F1 of the future.

It’s been a breathtaking year and I think this book sums it up well.

It’s a large format paperback with 250 pages of stories and it features photography by my favourite F1 snapper Darren Heath.

I’m delighted that world champion team owner Ross Brawn has agreed to write the foreword.

I’ve loved blogging this season and building up a large and thriving community of people passionate about F1, who offer intelligent observation in their comments. We will be sending out a free copy to the ten readers who have left the most comments during the course of the season (we already know who those 10 people are, by the way)

It’s a limited print run so, for those of you who have been with me the whole way through the year, I hope you will find this a cool collectable. We will produce one every year and you can build the series.

For those who have only discovered the blog recently, I hope you will want to find out what you missed earlier in the year. It will be a good book to dip into over Christmas.

The book will be priced at £9-99 and should be available in many bookshops and through Amazon from 27 November. We have our own fulfilment here on the site and our distribution partner, CPI, are taking pre-orders. I will personally sign any book ordered through the JA on F1 website.

Just click through the advert on the right side of the homepage to pre-order your copy.

Hope you find it a good read and please be sure to give me your feedback!

Here’s some footage from the same two seater F1 event, which I have edited up to give an idea of what the spectacle will look like on TV next weekend.

The event is set to be the first F1 race to start in daylight and go into the night.

I’ve also got some data on the track, from one of the teams. This gives you a bit of an idea what kind of track it is in terms of fuel consumption and race strategy.

It looks like the fuel consumption will be around 2.59 kg/lap, which is not that high. Although it’s a long lap, the high temperature brings the number down a bit.

The fuel effect is also just above average at 0.32s per 10 Kilos of fuel – in other words every extra 10 kilos you carry will slow you down by 0.32s. The numbers are quite similar to Malaysia but with a slightly lower fuel effect. They also compare to Bahrain, but with a lower engine power effect.

It looks like the pit lane exit will be the decider when teams come to choose their strategies and you will see a lot of action on Friday as drivers try to work out how long it takes to negotiate the pit lane exit tunnel. The end of the pit lane speed limit is before the cars enter of the tunnel, so the drivers will be chancing their arms to find out how fast you can go through there. It will be dusty to start with..

There is no crane in the tunnel, by the way, but there is a trapdoor in the wall through which marshals can quickly recover any crashed cars.

If the loss time from coming into the pits is anything more than about 12 seconds then it looks like this will be a two stop race.

Thanks to everyone who took part and I’m sure we will do this again soon.

The prize is a signed copy of my biography of Michael Schumacher, The Edge of Greatness.

I’m very proud to say that we had lots of really good estimates with over 30 comments being within five hundredths of a second – it’s even more competitive than the F1 grid itself! It shows that we have a very knowledgeable and well informed readership here.

Pujan was close with 0.470s, Ronnie Mirza guessed 0.454, Raunaq went for 0.487, Juan had 0.486, Roberto 0.485, as did EGC.

The actual figure was 0.475s and the winner, I believe, is Richard Dreyer, comment number 265, who guessed 0.478s.

If he would email his address to editor@jamesallenonf1.com I will make sure that a signed copy of the book gets to him. Well done, Richard!