Alonso Fastest As Red Bull Suffer Electrical Issue

Fernando Alonso has made progress in the new Ferrari after a week of uncertainty surrounding the new Ferrari F2012, setting the fastest time in the morning session on the final day of the Jerez test. With Mercedes not taking part in the final day and HRT leaving after Day 2, all of the cars on track today are 2012-spec.

The day started pretty much the same as the rest of the week with Lotus being one of the first cars out on a timed lap, this time in Romain Grosjean who was eager to capitalize on yesterday after the Frenchman finished as the fastest driver in a 2012-spec car behind the Mercedes of Rosberg.

However it wasn’t long before Fernando Alonso set Ferrari’s fastest time all week with a 01:19.289, which he improved on shortly after with a 01:18.877 just as the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton slotted into 2nd place in the McLaren.

There have been two red flag periods in the morning session, the first being a very short delay as debris was cleared off the track early on. The second was caused by the Williams of Bruno Senna as he came to a halt on track, ironically at the exit of the Senna chicane named after his Uncle. With Senna completing 98 laps throughout the morning session, many believe the Brazilian ran out of fuel after a long run.

Probably the biggest news from Jerez this morning is of the trouble Red Bull seem to having with their car, which has resulted in World Champion Sebastian Vettel being unable to set a time as of yet. The team have confirmed they are experiencing electrical issues with Vettel’s RB8, and are aiming to get him out on track soon with the intention to complete long runs this afternoon.

Jean-Eric Vergne is currently 2nd in the Toro Rosso after a very productive final day, with a 01:19.597. The Frenchman has sung the praises of the new Toro Rosso STR7, with the team confident heading into the new season.

Nico Hulkenberg has this morning made his track debut in the Force India VJM05, after yesterday being unable to make his scheduled track appearance due to Bianchi’s crash. Jarno Trulli has also made his track debut for 2012 this morning for Caterham, continuing their testing of KERs as it appears on their cars for the first time this season. 

Bruno Senna Confirmed At Williams

Brazilian Formula 1 driver Bruno Senna has been officially confirmed as team-mate to Pastor Maldonado at Williams for the coming 2012 season, leaving Rubens Barrichello seemingly without a drive. 

Bruno Senna began his F1 career with HRT in 2010, racing alongside three different team-mates through what was a vey tough debut season. In 2011 he eventfully replaced Nick Heidfeld at Renault, with Heidfeld initially replacing the injured Robert Kubica at the start of the season. 

Bruno, the nephew of the great Ayrton Senna, was then left without a drive for 2012 when Renault (later rebranded as Lotus for the 2012 season) signed 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen and reigning GP2 Champion Romain Grosjean, leaving both their 2011 drivers searching for a drive for 2012. 

Initially it was believed Adrian Sutil was poised to become the second Williams driver, but coupled with his court case and a potential lack of funds, Petrov or Senna became the two likely drivers ready to pounce. With Vitaly Petrov rumored with a link to potentially replacing Jarno Trulli at Caterham or at least becoming their new reserve driver, Bruno Senna emerged as the definite candidate. 

Bruno Senna brought long-time sponsor Embratel with him to Williams, sealing the deal with the cash strapped team who are currently recovering from their worst season in their long and colorful career. With this in mind, Senna is adamant that money and his numerous sponsors weren’t the main factors that secured him the drive, contrary to many who believed Senna wouldn’t have got the job if he had no sponsors and no money to bring to the team. 

Williams have carried the Senna name on their cars since that fateful 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, but for the first time in 17 years the Senna name is returning to race for Williams in 2012.  

Frentzen Says Age Has Caught Up With Schumacher

Former F1 race winner, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, has spoken out about fellow countryman Michael Schumacher’s current form in the sport recently, stating that age has caught up with him. 

Frentzen and Schumacher had a very tense relationship during their time together in the sport, which dates back to the Mercedes Junior Programme in Germany. The two came together during the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix where Schumacher exited the pit-lane and simply drove Frentzen off the track, many believing Schumacher knew exactly where Frentzen was.

Whilst Michael Schumacher went on and became seven-time World Champion, Frentzen settled for only three Grands Prix wins and 18 podiums throughout his career and retired from the sport in 2003. Whilst Schumacher returned to the sport in 2010, Frentzen admitted he never really missed F1 after his retirement, even though he has raced in DTM and Le Mans since.

“As you grow older, you tend to hesitate and become indecisive whether or not to push and take risks,” he told IANS, “You lose precious tenths of a second. I think, Michael is at that stage in his career. I think, I took the wrong decisions while Michael took the right ones. In 1994, I joined Sauber and later that year, I had an offer from Williams as a replacement for Ayrton Senna who died in a crash. I rejected the offer as Sauber had given me a break into F1. But when I eventually joined Williams in 1997, things had changed in the team. I had some good races and bad, but after I retired in 2003, I have never really missed Formula One, but have raced on and off in other series.”

With Michael Schumacher admitted he is set for a hard winter testing program with Mercedes, he’ll be hoping for a more successful 2012 after a less than successful return to Formula 1.

Jos Verstappen Hits Out At Michael Schumacher

Former Dutch Formula One driver, Jos Verstappen, has hit out at seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher today after he once again accused the German of using banned electronic aids during his maiden Championship winning season in 1994.

Verstappen was Schumacher’s team-mate during the majority of 1994 and only managed to achieve ten points during his ten starts for the team in comparison to Schumacher’s 92 points even though the German was disqualified twice during the season at the British and Belgian Grands Prix.

“People think I’m looking for an excuse,” Verstappen told NuSport today, “I just know that his car was different to my car. I kept thinking: this can’t be done! I braked at the limit and went as hard as possible into the corners. Schumacher was able to do things and not to me. There was something wrong. There were electronic aids. They will never admit it, but I am convinced. I later asked Flavio Briatore, who had brought me to Benetton and was then the team manager. He said, ‘Let’s not talk about it.’ So I know enough now.” 

Michael Schumacher went on to become the 1994 World Champion after beating the Williams of Damon Hill by just one point, the season culminating in a controversial collision between the two at the final race of the season at the Australian Grand Prix. Many believed Schumacher turned in on the Brit, resulting in both retiring and Schumacher becoming Champion by default, reminiscent of the Senna Vs Prost years.

Jos Verstappen was replaced at Benetton towards the end of the 1994 season by British driver Johnny Herbert who went on to win two races for the team the following season whilst Schumacher stormed to his second consecutive World Title.

McLaren Deny Future Honda Deal

In answer to the speculation that McLaren were seeking a Honda engine partnership for 2014, they have denied these allegations stating that they are fully committed to their Mercedes future, even though McLaren are now among the Mercedes works team and Force India to share the Mercedes engine partnership.

McLaren have also denied concerns that becoming simply a Mercedes customer team will affect their results, whereas Red Bull now have a complete works backing from Renault which will undeniably boost their teams reliability as they haven’t suffered an engine related failure since last years Korean Grand Prix when Sebastian Vettel had a violent engine blowout.

McLaren have also stipulated that although they are pleased with Mercedes’ improvement as a whole, they still enjoy beating their partners on track, as well as relating to their “formidable technical partnership’ of which they enjoy greatly. 

As formidable as their current Mercedes partnership maybe, it is undeniable that their Honda partnership of the late 80s to the early 90s was more successful and formidable as they completely annihilated the opposition throughout the 1988 season, winning all of the races bar the 1988 Italian Grand Prix and becoming World Champions four times back-to-back!

Either way McLaren will be hoping for a much stronger 2012 season as they hunt down the seemingly unstoppable force of Red Bull. 

Robert Kubica Will Not Start 2012 Season

Polish Formula One star, Robert Kubica, will not be fit for the opening round of the 2012 Formula One season as he further recovers from his injuries sustained in a ferocious rally incident in February of this year, an accident that caused him to suffer partial amputation of his forearm and numerous fractures.

It has been the centre of Renault’s affairs for the entire 2011 season, whether Kubica will be fit to lead the team in 2012 or not. However today Kubica informed the team that he simply won’t be ready for the Australian Grand Prix in March 2012 thus forcing the team to look elsewhere for a replacement driver. Vitaly Petrov is confirmed with the team until at least the end of 2012, however it is the No. 2 seat that needs filling for next season, and there seems to be no end of drivers willing to jump in Kubica’s vacancy.

Currently the No. 2 spot is taken by Bruno Senna, nephew of the great Ayrton Senna, however 2011 GP2 Champion Romain Grosjean is also knocking on the proverbial door, trying to ignite his second chance in Formula 1 and it does look promising for the Frenchman who replaced the controversial Nelson Piquet Jr. at Renault in 2009 before being replaced by Vitaly Petrov.

Even though Robert Kubica won’t be on the grid for the beginning of the 2012 season, he has been promised a test car and that a dedicated crew will be waiting for him when he is finally ready to return to the track. There is even reports that Kubica’s management are currently holding talks with the Renault team about renewing his contract after 2012, thus canceling him out of an imminent switch to Ferrari in place of the fading Felipe Massa.

Robert Kubica has so far only won one race at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, a year after his shocking crash at the same track. Luckily for him and the whole F1 Paddock, Kubica came out of the car unscathed save for a sprained ankle and concussion which forced him to miss the next race, a certain Sebastian Vettel taking his place.

Hopefully Robert Kubica can return to the sport soon and add to his total of Grands Prix wins and who knows, he could even become the first Polish Formula One World Champion!

McLaren Seeking 2014 Honda Engine Deal

It was reported today by a German magazine that the McLaren Formula One team are possibly seeking an engine deal with Honda in time for the 2014 season, this comes a few years after Honda pulled out of Formula One along with fellow teams Toyota and BMW.

This announcement would take place after 2012 when their engine partnership with Mercedes comes to an end, a partnership that has lasted for 16 years and has accomplished numerous success with drivers such as Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton winning races and championships with them.

McLaren were partners with the Japanese manufacturer from 1988 to 1992, and in those years they became World Constructors’ Champions a stunning four times, three with Ayrton Senna and one with Alain Prost. It was this period of the teams history when the bitter rivalry between Senna and Prost ignited, resulting in some of the most controversial events of Formula One’s history. 

When their ties with Honda ended in 1993, Ford came onboard and was replaced a year later by Peugeot before McLaren finally partnered themselves with Mercedes. As long as McLaren have had engines supplied by the German manufacturer, they have only ever been World Constructors’ Champions once, that being in 1998 when Mika Hakkinen won the first of his two championships.

However, in 2009 Mercedes sold their stake in the McLaren team when they bought 2009 World Champions Brawn GP, becoming what is now the silver arrows of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. As well as this Mercedes also power the Force India team, a partnership that has been ongoing since 2009 after Force India stopped using Ferrari engines. 

Honda left the sport in 2008 after taking over the British American Racing (BAR) team in 2006, and for three years raced with the same two drivers of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, winning only one race in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix with Button. However in the winter of 2008 it was announced that due to financial difficulties Honda had left the sport, leaving Button and Barrichello without a drive for 2009. However ex-Honda team principal, Ross Brawn, took over and created the Brawn GP team which went on and became surprise 2009 World Drivers’ and Constructors‘ Champions (ironically supplied by Mercedes engines)!.

McLaren were unable to comment on these speculations today.

Button’s “Multi-Year Deal” Only Three Years Long

It was announced during the Indian Grand Prix weekend by McLaren Team Principal, Martin Whitmarsh, that Jenson Button’s Multi-Year Contract is only 3 years long, much shorter than many expected.

In an interview with the BBC during last weekends Indian Grand Prix, Martin Whitmarsh sung the praises of the 2009 World Champion before adding, “Hopefully we’ll have another three exciting years with him!”. This sparks confusion within the F1 Paddock as many expected the deal to be at least four years long! It is hard to imagine Button retiring at the end of 2014, so where will the Brit end up? Will he leave McLaren for Ferrari or Red Bull or even another top team at the time? Or will he decide life at McLaren is still too good to prompt him to leave? With Jenson Button’s current run of form it is hard to see him leaving McLaren anytime soon, and the pressure he is adding to that of Lewis Hamilton means we could well be seeing a repetition of the highly exciting Senna Vs Prost years of the late 80s, early 90s.

Could Jenson Button secure a 2nd World Championship in his time with McLaren? With the way he has driven these last two years it is certainly a possibility if McLaren can design a car worthy of contending for a Championship against the likes of Adrian Newey’s Red Bull’s. Time will tell, and the next few years in F1 are shaping up to be extremely exciting!

Vettel Wins Disappointingly Farcical Korean Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel has won what has turned out to be a disappointingly farcical Korean Grand Prix as the DRS has yet again dominated a race in which drivers failed to pass unless assisted by the talentless device.

After such an exciting Qualifying session yesterday, we looked set for a stunning race and after the first 4 corners, it seemed the promise had become reality as drivers scuttled around trying to avoid each other as places were swapped at will. Button dropped down from 3rd to 5th as he drove wide on the exit of Turn 4 and Massa launched an attack on Webber up to 3rd place momentarily before loosing out to the Aussie into Turn 4. Hamilton, however, lost out to World Champion Sebastian Vettel on Lap 1 and soon after all focus turned to the DRS and who was within a second of the driver ahead to gain the advantage. 

And that was unfortunately how the race was practically run, with Hamilton struggling to use the DRS to pass Vettel and later on in the race Webber failing to use the DRS to pass Hamilton. The ability of KERs cancelled out any advantage of using the DRS, and apart from Vitaly Petrov slamming into the back of Michael Schumacher (due to too much use of DRS be it noted!) that brought out the Safety Car, the race was pretty much a stale mate, something that should never be the case in Motor Sport!

Mark Webber did gain 2nd place for a slit second heading into Turn 1, but that one moment of skill from the Aussie was immediately cancelled out by Hamilton who had the DRS advantage heading down the long straight and retrieved his position back from Webber.

Meanwhile whilst all of this gadget aided racing was going on Sebastian Vettel was romping away in the lead, and eventually won the race a dominant 12 seconds ahead of eventual 2nd placed man Lewis Hamilton who managed to crack a smile during the podium ceremony.

Maybe I’m being too cynical and not accepting the new breed of F1 racing that has been born this last season, but it’s plainly obvious now that overtaking has become something of a formality and not something a driver can look back on and think “What a hard fought move! I worked hard for that!”. I’ve always thought that all of these gadgets should be forgotten about and that manual gearsticks should be brought back into the sport thus forcing drivers to work harder in the cockpit, and also forcing drivers to sometimes miss a gear which would then lead to a passing possibility un-aided by artificial “Mario Kart” like gadgets. It worked in the 70s, 80s and early 90s and in those days passing was common place with drivers working extremely hard in the cockpit, take a look at Ayrton Senna fighting his McLaren around the streets of Monaco in 1990 on YouTube and you’ll see what I mean.

Negativity aside, Vettel drove a superior race and it’s a shame such a dominant race should be marred by such farcical racing due to these false and unsporting gadgets. Yes the likes of IndyCar have a push-to-pass gadget but its use is much more free. The drivers get a fixed amount of times they can use the device which gives them a boost reminiscent of DRS and they can use it wherever they wish on the track. But once it’s all used up, you’re vulnerable to the car behind who might well have a couple of push-to-passes remaining. Maybe F1 should employ this gadget and get rid of DRS and KERs. Either way it’s not a promising future for F1, which seems to have gone full circle from the use of active suspension and traction control in the mid to late 90s and early 00s to the banning of such devices, F-Ducts last year and now DRS and KERs. What ever next to aid passing I shudder to imagine.

Anyway, next up is the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, and fingers crossed we can have a less DRS dominated race!

Race Classification:

The Korean Grand Prix
Korea Auto Valley, Yongam, Korea;
55 laps; 305.909km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h30:01.994
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    12.019
 3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    12.477
 4.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    14.694
 5.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    15.689
 6.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    25.133
 7.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    49.538
 8.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    54.053
 9.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:02.762
10.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +  1:08.602
11.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +  1:11.229
12.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +  1:33.068
13.  Senna         Renault                    +     1 lap
14.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
15.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
16.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
17.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
18.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +     1 lap
19.  Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth               +     1 lap
20.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +     1 lap
21.  Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:39.605

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth            31
Petrov        Renault                      17
Schumacher    Mercedes                     16

Button Signs New McLaren Multi-Year Contract

It has been announced today that 2009 British Formula One World Champion, Jenson Button, has signed a new Multi-Year Contract to stay at the Woking based McLaren team.

It has been a top discussion in the last few months as to where Button will end up after this season, as his current contract runs out at the end of this season. It had been rumored that he had hopes of signing for Ferrari as team-mate with Alonso in 2013, but that was always going to be a difficult step for Button, as team-mate to Alonso at Ferrari would be no better as being team-mate to Schumacher at Ferrari in the late 90s as Eddie Irvine found out.

Jenson Button has had his most successful season with McLaren this year, and is currently lying 2nd in the drivers table 124 points behind World Champion-to-be Sebastian Vettel and is 17 points ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton has never before been beaten by a team-mate at McLaren and Button looks set to be the first driver to do that, with Hamilton’s slightly erratic driving in the past season, Button has driven his usual smooth way and come out on top winning the Canadian and Hungarian Grand Prix, both being races where Hamilton was in the wars for one thing or another.

There is no doubt that if McLaren can build a car worthy of challenging the Red Bulls next season, then Button could well be a title contender with the way he has been driving this season. His last run of results alone have shown that Hamilton is not currently the top dog at McLaren, with Button finishing 1st in Hungary, 3rd in Belgium, 2nd in Italy and 2nd in Singapore whereas Hamilton has finished 4th in Hungary, retired in Belgium, 4th in Italy and 5th in Singapore. Some might say both are far overdue for a win in the latter stages of this season, but Button is the driver who is currently looking closest to winning a race, however both McLaren drivers have never won at Suzuka before, creating even more of an urge for both to perform this weekend and knock Vettel off the top step of the podium (not literally in Hamilton’s terms)!

McLaren, however as a team, have had a highly successful career at the Suzuka circuit, winning many races and World Championships here, including Prost in 1989 and Senna in 1990 (under very controversial circumstances) and Hakkinen in 1998 and 1999.

Either way, Jenson Button has now confirmed his allegiance with McLaren, and hopefully they can build him a car that will allow him to take the fight to the Red Bulls next season and add a second title to his list. The same goes to Hamilton, however first he has to go a race weekend without meeting the FIA for all the wrong reasons! Negativity on that side of things aside, if McLaren produce a fast car in 2012/13 then watch out for Hamilton and Button who could turn out to be the new Prost and Senna of F1!