Hamilton Recovers From Missed Running To Lead Mercedes 1-2 In Second Practice

Lewis Hamilton recovered from his morning difficulties to take the top spot during the second Free Practice session ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

The Briton, who is favourite for the Championship, stopped after just four minutes in the morning session, with a problem that was later identified as a sensor failure. Despite the lost time, he threw in his challenge for pole position in the afternoon by grabbing the top time, 0.157 ahead of his team-mate, Nico Rosberg.

Fernando Alonso, who was the quickest man in the opening session, was the next man down the order, taking third for Ferrari. While Alonso’s day was pretty straight forward, Kimi Raikkonen in the sister car suffered a gearbox issue in the pitlane. The Finn was lining up in the pitlane to do a practice start with Alonso waiting behind him, however, the ’07 Champion simply couldn’t engage first gear. Ferrari mechanics ran up to him and rolled him back to the garage and he was back out on track after a fifteen minute stint in the garage. He finished the session in seventh.

Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Red Bull and seems to be in a much stronger position that they appeared to be in pre-season testing. Daniel Ricciardo, in the other RB10, was sixth at his home Grand Prix. “Friday was good – we got a lot of laps done,” Ricciardo said post-session. “The guys are happy. The performance doesn’t seem as slow as we thought”.

Jenson Button was in between the Red Bull’s and finished in fifth, looking like McLaren could be running with a much improved car. Valtteri Bottas was eighth for Williams, who finished surprisingly low as their pre-season pace suggested that they would be right behind, if not ahead of, Mercedes. Indeed, Felipe Massa finished a low 12th, in contrast to the third and fourth that Bottas and Massa secured in the opening session respectively.

Kevin Magnussen was ninth for McLaren and doing a good job with familiarising himself with the car, with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg filling out the top ten. The German spun under braking with five minutes left on the clock and beached his VJM-07. At the same time, ironically, Romain Grosjean suffered some sort of brakes failure and spun into the gravel at turn six, and he too became beached in the gravel. He finished the day down in a miserable eighteenth.

Jean-Eric Vergne was eleventh for Toro Rosso and had a straight-forward day, especially in comparison to his rookie team-mate who spent more time acting as a rolling roadblock and not checking his mirrors – at one point forcing Hamilton to stand on the brakes as the Russian weaved in front of him on an off-lap. The Russian, 19, is the youngest driver on the grid and also the first man to go straight from GP3 to Formula One. He ended the day in sixteenth.

Sergio Perez was twelfth for Force India, followed by the Sauber duo of Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez who finished a tenth apart in fourteenth and fifteenth respectively. Jules Bianchi finished seventeenth for Marussia and got a solid day running under his belt. Like Bianchi, his team-mate Max Chilton set 29 laps. In stark contrast, Marussia’s rivals, Caterham, failed to run a single lap: Marcus Ericsson discovered a hydraulics issue on his installation lap while Kamui Kobayashi’s car had its engine removed following a fuel issue in Free Practice 1. This leaves Ericsson’s lap total from today at two laps, with no laps for Kobayashi.

Pastor Maldonado was twenty-second, and last, as his technical issues from the morning session spilled over into the afternoon and left the Venezuelan watching his mechanics tinkering with his car.

Session results:

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Nico Rosberg
3. Fernando Alonso
4. Sebastian Vettel
5. Jenson Button
6. Daniel Ricciardo
7. Kimi Raikkonen
8. Valtteri Bottas
9. Kevin Magnussen
10. Nico Hulkenberg
11. Jean-Eric Vergne
12. Felipe Massa
13. Sergio Perez
14. Adrian Sutil
15. Esteban Gutierrez
16. Daniil Kvyat
17. Jules Bianchi
18. Romain Grosjean
19. Max Chilton
20. Marcus Ericsson (NT)
21. Kamui Kobayashi (NT)
22. Pastor Maldonado (NT)

Alonso Leads Opening Practice Session

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso got the ball rolling for Ferrari as he topped the timesheets in the opening practice session of 2014. The Spaniard set a fast lap relatively early on and kept his position on top of the table as the other drivers focused on getting some solid laps done. The main talking lies with Lewis Hamilton and Lotus, both of whom failed to do just that.

Lewis Hamilton was the cause of the first yellow flag of the season, stopping his slightly smoking Mercedes just after the Turn 10 chicane after just four minutes. It was later found that an oil pressure sensor alarm turned the engine off as a precaution and Hamilton, the pre-season title favourite, failed to restart the engine. His one lap was enough to place him nineteenth of twenty-two after the hour and a half.

Lotus’ problems came to light in the other end of the session; with ten minutes to go Pastor Maldonado was finally suited and booted and emerged on track. However, after passing turn 10 his cockpit started smoking and he lost power. Remarkably he made it back to the pitlane, including an off-road adventure between turns 13 and 14, and this ended Lotus’ FP1 running. Romain Grosjean was limited to the pitlane and didn’t even sit in the cockpit, as he sat at the back of the garage staring longingly at the screens.

Due to Mercedes’ dominance in pre-season testing, it was surprising to see Ferrari take the top spot. Alonso’s 1.31.840 was about six-tenths clear of McLaren’s Jenson Button, who was also impressive to finish that high up. Williams strengthened their promising position when Valtteri Bottas took third ahead of Felipe Massa. It’s a promising sign for the team who will be aiming for a double podium this Sunday.

Daniel Ricciardo was the first of the Red Bull’s to brace the track at his home Grand Prix and he ended the session a respectable fifth. His team-mate stayed put until much longer, due to the fact that Red Bull still had the car in pieces when the green light came on at the start of the session. Vettel’s running was enough to finish seventh and raise questions as to the real pace of the defending World Champion, whose pre-season test predicted a much lower placing in Australia.

Nico Rosberg, whose pre-season track time spelled the opposite, was caught between the Red Bulls in sixth. His running was smooth and he completed 17 laps, ending the session eight-tenths behind Alonso. McLaren’s rookie Kevin Magnussen was impressive on his debut – merely half a second down on his far more experienced team-mate. He finished the session eighth, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne, the latter ending the session in the gravel after out-braking himself.

The Force India duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez were eleventh and twelfth for the Silverstone based outfit who looked stronger during pre-season running. They’ll be happy, at least, that they had a faultless session and have both cars for FP2. Daniil Kvyat cut the grass at turn 1 during a particularly violent trip off-track when he carried too much speed into the first corner, mere seconds before his team-mate and Kimi Raikkonen followed him off. His first F1 practice session ended with him thirteenth, ahead of Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil.

Jules Bianchi narrowly avoided a spin between turns 13 and 14 while team-mate Max Chilton clattered into a trolley in the Marussia garage when he botched his pit-entry. Luckily nobody was injured. Next door at Caterham, neither man had running as Marcus Ericsson suffered an electrical problem and  a fuel issue was discovered on Kamui Kobayashi’s car.

Free Practice 1 standings:

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Jenson Button
3. Valtteri Bottas
4. Felipe Massa
5. Daniel Ricciardo
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Sebastian Vettel
8. Kevin Magnussen
9. Kimi Raikkonen
10. Jean-Eric Vergne
11. Nico Hulkenberg
12. Sergio Perez
13. Daniil Kvyat
14. Esteban Gutierrez
15. Adrian Sutil
16. Jules Bianchi
17. Max Chilton
18. Marcus Ericsson
19. Lewis Hamilton
20. Kamui Kobayashi
21. Pastor Maldonado
22. Romain Grosjean

Image courtesy Scuderia Ferrari. 

Hamilton Cements Mercedes’ Strength As Testing Draws To A Close

Hamilton cemented Mercedes’ strength on the final day of testing
(c) Mercedes AMG F1 Team

Lewis Hamilton finished pre-season testing by giving Mercedes their third day on top of the order. The Briton recovered from a slow start at the hands of a gearbox issue to take the fastest lap by six-tenths of a second.

After his trouble yesterday where he failed to complete a single lap, Sebastian Vettel was the first man to grace the track this morning, and was also the first to cause a red flag – the first of eight throughout the day. The team blame a brakes failure for his spin into the gravel at turn 1 three hours into the morning. His car was collected by the recovery truck and shipped back to the Red Bull garage where it stayed in the garage until the afternoon session. He eventually got out on track but his tally of 77 laps could only get him up to ninth on the time sheets – and five seconds off Hamilton’s best lap.

Hamilton’s day got off to a slow start as Mercedes nursed a gearbox issue which restrained them to the garage until twenty minutes before the lunch break. However his running didn’t last long as he had done a mere five laps before Romain Grosjean ground to a halt on the back straight and prompted the second red flag – and an early lunch.

Bottas was second fastest for Williams
(c) Williams F1 Team

Hamilton was the first back on track and was keen to make up for his lost time, but Jenson Button threw a spanner in the works when his McLaren stopped at the same place as Grosjean after just eight minutes. This caused the third red flag. Fifteen minutes later and the green flag was shown, prompting a keen Hamilton and Kobayashi to take to the track immediately.

Running continued for an hour before Grosjean’s E22 came to a smoky end on the side of the track. The recovery teams had plenty of practice and so the green flags were out pretty quickly. This time it was Bottas and Gutierrez to take to the track for Williams and Sauber respectively. Hamilton eventually re-emerged and jumped to second in the timesheet, behind Bottas, before a fourth red flag. This time it was Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India which had stopped on track at turn 3.

The VJM-07 was shipped back to the garage and the track went green for ten minutes until Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari pulled over after the back straight. His car was cleared and returned to the track relatively quickly, but the Spaniard had only just grabbed second place when Bottas pulled over on the start/finish straight. Once his car was cleared, it was the turn of Esteban Gutierrez to cause a stoppage when his Sauber stopped out on track. His team explained that it was simply a fuel system test, meaning they basically ran out of fuel on purpose.

Jean-Eric Vergne was one of the few men not to cause a stoppage today and his reward was fifth overall for Toro Rosso. Chilton’s Marussia also had a good day’s running with 61 laps under his belt. After Marussia missed the first test and had limited track time during the second test, three consecutive days of running will be more than welcome.

It still seems to be an uphill battle for the Renault teams, however, with three of the four Renault-powered teams (Lotus, Red Bull and Caterham) occupying the bottom spaces. With twelve days of testing completed, it is very much advantage Mercedes. Any last-minute work will have to be done before the Australian Grand Prix, which kicks off with Free Practice 1 in twelve days.

Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1.33.278	69 laps
Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1.33.987	108 laps
Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1.34.280	74 laps
Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1.35.577	74 laps
Jean-Eric Vergnne	Toro Rosso	1.35.701	74 laps
Adrian Sutil	Sauber	1.36.467	91 laps
Max Chilton	Marussia	1.36.835	61 laps
Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber	1.37.303	86 laps
Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1.37.468	77 laps
Jenson Button	McLaren	1.38.391	22 laps
Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham	1.38.391	106 laps
Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1.39.302	32 laps

Perez Stays Quickest While Red Bull Show Signs Of Recovering

Sergio Perez stayed on top for Force India as pre-season testing continued at the Bahrain International Circuit. After topping the first day of the third test by a big margin, Perez marginally beat Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to the top spot on the time sheets. Perez’s 108 laps in the VJM-07 was the second most of any driver while Alonso clocked up an impressive 122 laps of the Sakhir circuit.

However the talking point lay with those in third place overall; Daniel Ricciardo and his Red Bull who managed a solid 66 laps given the problems they had faced thus far. His run was completely smooth and the team say they were also able to use the laps to clock up some pit stop practices and aerodynamic evaluations.

Felipe Massa clocked up 103 laps on his way to fourth overall for Williams. The Brazilian’s run was flawless as he too practiced race simulations and pit stops. In fifth was Jenson Button whose day got off to a slow start when his MP4-29 ground to a halt on his twentieth lap. The team retired the car to repair it and it wasn’t until the last hour that Button re-emerged. His former team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, also ran into difficulties when a gearbox issue forced the team to call it a day after 89 laps.

Marussia had an extremely important day on track yesterday when they completed 75 laps. Having missed the first pre-season test, the team were blighted with issues during the second test which severely hampered their track time. Bianchi managed to clock up an un-interrupted 75 laps today; an extremely positive omen for the outfit.

Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus had a fiery end to his day and Lotus being Lotus took it in their stride and tweeted, “Sufficient char-grilling to render us out for the rest of today”, and this gave them a grand total of 31 laps. Marcus Ericsson also had a smokey exit to his day when the Caterham slowed out of turn four. His 55 laps until that point had given the team some information and this will be some consolation for the team.

Sergio Perez	Force India	1.35.570	108 laps
Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1.35.634	122 laps
Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1.35.743	66 laps
Felipe Massa	Williams	1.36.707	103 laps
Jenson Button	McLaren	1.36.901	52 laps
Jules Bianchi	Marussia	1.38.092	75 laps
Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1.39.041	89 laps
Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	1.39.636	61 laps
Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber	1.39.976	106 laps
Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1.41.613	31 laps
Marcus Ericsson	Caterham	1.42.516	55 laps

Image courtesy Sahara Force India Formula One Team. 

Hulkenberg Strong As RBR’s Woes Continue

Image via Force India on Twitter

Force India returnee Nico Hulkenberg led the way as the second of three pre-season tests got underway today at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The first day of testing got off to a slow start due to a shortage of marshals which delayed the start time. The shortened day eventually got underway but not for long as Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari ejected a cloud of smoke and prompted a red flag. Nonetheless the Spaniard’s car returned to the paddock under its own steam and was soon back on track as the green flag flew again.

Ferrari weren’t the only team prompting a red flag with Toro Rosso suffering an oil leak in the morning. The car, piloted by the team’s rookie Daniil Kvyat, was stitched up and sent back out on track before breaking down in the afternoon and causing another stoppage. Red Bull’s woes continued when Sebastian Vettel ground to a halt in the latter part of the day as his RB10 was smoking. Vettel took matters into his own hands, grabbing a fire extinguisher and spraying the rear of the car before beginning his trek back to the drawing board.

His countryman, Nico Hulkenberg, was on the other end of the spectrum however, with the smoothest running of any team today – no spins, no failures, no spontaneous combustions. His 78 lap run was as smooth as a fresh Pirelli and his fastest time of 1.36.880 put him firmly 0.999s clear of Alonso who completed 74 laps en route to second in the timesheets. Williams, who set the benchmark in the opening test, were robbed of their smooth sailing when a fuel system problem restricted Felipe Massa’s track time to a mere five laps. He finished the day tenth overall with no lap time recorded.

Another man who failed to set a lap time was Jules Bianchi in the Marussia who set three installation laps (exiting the pits, circling the circuit and re-entering the pits before crossing the start/finish straight) amid an IT configuration issue. Marussia’s rivals Caterham had a much more productive day with their Dutch driver Robin Frijns completing 68 laps of the Bahraini circuit and setting a lap time almost five seconds shy of Hulkenberg’s table-topping lap.

Adrian Sutil spun his Sauber en route to sixth overall; the German’s tally of 82 laps being the highest lap count of all drivers today – one lap more than Danish rookie Kevin Magussen set for McLaren which left him fourth at the end of day one. Hamilton, who drove for McLaren between 2007 and 2012, was third after clocking up 74 laps. His time was marginally slower than that of Fernando Alonso.

Testing resumes tomorrow and will run until Saturday. The season kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix on March 16th – only three and a half weeks away. Not that anyone is keeping count or anything…

Here’s today’s results:

Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1.36.880	78 laps
Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1.37.879	64 laps
Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1.37.908	74 laps
Kevin Magnussen	McLaren	1.38.295	81 laps
Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1.40.224	14 laps
Adrian Sutil	Sauber	1.40.443	82 laps
Robin Frijns	Caterham	1.42.590	68 laps
Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1.44.346	5 laps
Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1.44.832	8 laps
Felipe Massa	Williams	—	5 laps
Jules Bianchi	Marussia	—	3 laps

Massa Fastest As Jerez Test Draws To A Close

Felipe Massa was the fastest man in the fourth and final day of pre-season testing at the Circuito de Jerez.

The Williams driver set a fastest lap time of 1.28.229 on the rain affected circuit, clocking up 86 laps in the process. His closest rival was his former team-mate, Fernando Alonso, whose prancing horse was nine-tenths shy of Massa’s best. Alonso set 115 laps throughout the course of the day which was the most of anybody.

Daniel Juncadella was in the driving seat at Force India. The Spanish reserve driver ran an impressive 81 laps, putting him third overall on the timesheets. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren’s Danish rookie, was fourth overall, having led yesterday’s test. His 110 laps, double his total from yesterday, were interrupted in the final minutes when he stuck the nose of the MP4-29 into the barriers. Daniil Kvyat simultaneously spun his STR9, leaving his total amount of laps at a mere nine.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth down the order with 41 laps under his belt, ahead of Jules Bianchi who took the new Marussia out for the first time this season. The Frenchman set an below-average 25 laps en route to a 1.32.222 lap time. Adrian Sutil was next down the order with 69 laps for Sauber. His C33 was remarkably off pace today, with Sutil’s best lap time over eight seconds behind that set by Massa. Sutil spun the car too, but caused no damage.

Nico Rosberg had the morning shift in the MGP-04, lapping Jerez 91 times. His 1.36.951, set in the wet morning conditions, were six seconds behind that set by his team-mate in the dry afternoon running.Kamui Kobayashi finished the day ninth overall for Caterham, his 54 laps giving him a lap time fifteen seconds behind the Ferrari up front. He was followed by Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo, the latter who had another disastrous day in the RB10 whose mechanical woes look to be far from over.

Felipe Massa	Williams	1.28.229	86 laps
Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1.29.145	115 laps
Daniel Juncadella	Force India	1.29.457	81 laps
Kevin Magnussen	McLaren	1.30.806	110 laps
Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1.30.822	41 laps
Jules Bianchi	Marussia	1.32.222	25 laps
Adrian Sutil	Sauber	1.36.517	69 laps
Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1.36.951	91 laps
Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham	1.43.193	54 laps
Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1.44.016	9 laps
Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1.45.374	7 laps

Photo via Felipe Massa. 

Ferrari Unveil The F14-T

Ferrari have unveiled their 2014 title contender, the F14-T, at Maranello this afternoon.

The new machine was released through the humble medium of the internet, with Ferrari simply launching images of the new car on their website. The F14-T, to be driven by Fernando Alonso and Ferrari returnee Kimi Raikkonen, looks largely similar to the 2013 model, except with a much lowered nose section which all cars must have.

Ferrari are the fifth team to release their new car, following on from Force India, Williams, McLaren and Lotus. You can see the other cars here.

The name of the car was selected by fans, with 33% of fans choosing F14-T. A further 31% voted for F166 Turbo, 19% voting for F14 Scuderia, F14 Maranello getting 12% of the votes and F616 coming in fifth with 5%.

The new cars will take to the track in Jerez next week for the first of three pre-season tests. McLaren and Lotus won’t be in attendance, however, as Lotus announced they would skip the test while McLaren was forced to skip it after failing the mandatory pre-season crash tests.

Day Nine: Ferrari

On the ninth day of Christmas, Ben Sweeney gave to me… Ferrari

Drivers: Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa
Championship position: 3rd
Best finish: 1st (Alonso, China and Spain)

Ferrari were one of four teams retaining their 2012 line-up, (the others being Lotus, Red Bull and Toro Rosso). Indeed it was also with mixed approval that Ferrari kept their line up as many felt that Felipe Massa’s time at the team was up. However, a strong second half to the 2012 season kept the Brazilian at the team, knowing that he would have to impress in 2013 if he was to be with the Scuderia in 2014.

Massa was off to a good start in the inter-team battle by out-qualifying his team-mate at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Massa lined up fourth ahead of Alonso in fifth but the duo progressed at the start, moving to second and third respectively. Despite their earlier strong performance which kept them tail-gating race-leader Sebastian Vettel, prolonging his second pit-stop saw Massa slip down the order to his eventual finishing position of fourth, while Alonso passed Vettel for the lead but was then himself passed by Kimi Raikkonen, eventually ending the race in second.

While Alonso took the race win in Malaysia in 2012, 2013 saw no such fortune for the Spaniard who made contact with the rear of Vettel’s Red Bull and dropped from the race on Lap 2 when he defied calls from his team to box to replace his damaged front wing, which was now trailing the ground and sending a spectacular shower of sparks back at the Red Bull of Mark Webber. Soon after passing the pitlane entrance, the front wing buckled and fell under his car, disabling control of the Ferrari and sending Alonso into the gravel. In the other Ferrari, Massa dropped from a starting position of second, down to fifth by the end of the race.

As if to make up for his Sepang disappointment, Alonso was the man to beat on race day in Shanghai, stealing the lead from pole-man Lewis Hamilton and re-taking the lead from Sebastian Vettel following a round of pit-stops, he went on to take the win. Massa, who had started fifth, dropped one place to sixth. To say Felipe dropped down the order in Bahrain would be an understatement. However, his fall from sixth to fifteenth was solely down to awfully bad luck and two Pirelli tyre failures. Alonso also dropped down the order mid-race when he started third and finished in an unimpressive eighth.

Alonso, once again, seemed determined to make up for the poor race in Bahrain with a fantastic race in Catalunya. Having been denied a home victory in 2012 by Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, he was doubly motivated to take the top spot at the Barcelona circuit, and that he did. Starting fifth, Alonso became the lowest-starting winner at Catalunya while Massa also moved up the order to finish third and claim his first podium since the Japanese Grand Prix last year.

However, Massa’s return to the podium would not be repeated in Monaco – far from it in fact. A huge shunt at the first corner for the Brazilian during the third practice session on Saturday morning meant he missed the Qualifying session while the team continued repairs on his car. Due to various penalties and a non-Qualifying Jules Bianchi, Massa eventually started 21st. However, on lap 28 he crashed again in a mirror image to his FP3 shunt – hitting the Armco barrier in the run up to turn 1 and then sliding sideways into the TecPro barrier. This crash caused the first Safety Car of the season to slow the grid while the Medical Car treated Massa track-side. Alonso finished seventh and post-race complained to Race Stewards about Sergio Perez’s crazy driving which forced him off-track at the Nouvelle Chicane.

Massa crashed again in Canada, sliding into the barriers at turn 3 during Q2 which saw him start 16th. Alonso started sixth. Both drivers had impressive races to progress to second for Alonso and eighth for Massa. It was another disastrous weekend for Massa in Silverstone who, for the third consecutive weekend, crashed the Ferrari. His fortune was no more improved om race-day suffering yet another Pirelli delamination but still made it to sixth in the race. Alonso stole the last podium place from Kimi Raikkonen in the closing stages of the race.

Germany was the fourth consecutive weekend of trouble for Massa who spun out of the race in a bizarre incident during the opening laps. Alonso jumped from a mediocre ninth in Qualifying to fourth before the end of the race. Finally, in Hungary, Alonso started and finished fifth while Massa dropped from seventh to eighth. Mid-race, Felipe was overtaken by Lotus’ Romain Grosjean at turn 4 which earned the Frenchman a drive-through penalty for overtaking off-track limits. Massa post-race slammed the stewards decision, defending Grosjean and calling the penalty ‘ridiculous’.

Coming back from the summer break, Alonso took second on the podium while Massa narrowly avoided being t-boned by a brakes-less Kimi Raikkonen en route to finishing seventh. At the team’s home race, Massa out-qualified Alonso and gave the tifosi something to cheer about when a rapid start saw him challenging for the lead into the first corner. Meanwhile, Alonso was battling Red Bull’s Mark Webber and pulled off the move of the season when he took the Aussie on the outside of the Variante della Roggia chicane. He then passed Massa and finished second, while Massa finished behind Webber in fourth.

On the Tuesday after the race, Massa announced that he was to leave the Scuderia after eight years. Raikkonen was announced as his replacement on the Wednesday. Alonso and Massa had pretty straight forward races in Singapore, the former finishing second with the latter crossing the line sixth. After the race, however, Alonso was called to the stewards for stopping to give Mark Webber a lift back to Parc Ferme, as the Aussie’s car had broken down in the final laps. The move was deemed to be illegal – Alonso stopping on track and Webber re-joining the track without stewards permission – and both were handed a reprimand.

Alonso finished sixth while battling Hamilton in Korea, while Massa dropped three places from qualifying and ended the race in ninth. Massa once again out-qualified his team-mate in Japan and once again dropped behind him in the race: Massa started fifth and finished tenth while Alonso started eighth and finished fourth. Alonso’s points finish set the record for most points ever recorded. He failed to score any points, however, at the next race in India – narrowly missing out on tenth place when stuck behind Daniel Ricciardo. Massa, now fighting for his future in F1, finished fifth to bring home some points for his team.

In the later stages of the Abu Dhabi, Alonso was battling Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne for position out of the pitlane. Vergne took the racing line while Alonso went for a rapidly closing gap, forcing Alonso over the track bordering kerbs. The double World Champion eventually took the place, but in doing so pulled a huge 25Gs which caused him to be hospitalised for precautionary tests post-race. Massa was also forced to go off-track to avoid colliding with the slowing Vergne. Alonso eventually finished fifth while Massa took eighth.

In Austin, Massa qualified far down the grid in fifteenth but he started thirteenth due to various penalties handed out to drivers ahead of him. His race wasn’t a particularly memorable performance and he finished twelfth. Alonso, who had started sixth, moved up one place to fifth in an otherwise uneventful race for the Scuderia. Post-race it was announced that Massa would be bringing his experienced head to Williams in 2014.

And so to the final race of the season. Massa qualified ninth at his last home-race in the Ferrari red while Alonso took third. There were no heroic charges through the field to the podium for Massa as he finished seventh in his final race for Ferrari, while Alonso finished third – admitting that he would have moved aside for his team-mate had he made it to fourth.

In some cases through bad luck and in other cases through poor driving, Massa has suffered a pretty poor first half to the season. He failed to keep his seat at Ferrari in the second half of the season, but as an improved driver this was probably more to the availability of Kimi Raikkonen, rather than a burning desire to be rid of Massa. Meanwhile, Alonso must be feeling frustrated at the fourth continuous season where Ferrari have failed to provide him with a car that could give him a good shot at winning the Championship. He’ll face some strong opposition in the form of a Finn next season, and will be looking for a strong car. Another poor season by Championship standards, and I imagine that Alonso will be looking for a seat elsewhere.

Image courtesy Ferrari F1 Team.

Vettel Leads Red Bull 1-2 In Curtain Closing Brazilian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel has taken his ninth consecutive victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix after a fantastic drive and was him joined on the podium by his outgoing team-mate Mark Webber and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. His performance wasn’t flawless as he battled with backmarkers and last-second pit stops, but it was good enough to win the race with a huge margin.

Surprisingly, Vettel lost the lead into the first corner, allowing Nico Rosberg to move up into the lead of the race while Hamilton battled Alonso for third. Massa had a strong start and was right behind Mark out of turn three, while Heikki Kovalainen bogged down on the grid and was seventeenth at the end of lap 1, having taken eleventh in Qualifying.

Rosberg fought hard to keep Vettel behind him but inevitably lost it on the start/finish straight at the beginning of lap 2, while Alonso passed Hamilton for third. Webber took strong pace out of the third corner to out-drag Hamilton to turn four and pull a stunning overtake on the Mercedes. Webber’s 2014 replacement was trying his hardest to get past the Lotus of Romain Grosjean – but didn’t have to wait long as Grosjean’s engine blew up as he went to cross the line for lap four, becoming the first retirement of the race.

Adrian Sutil was unhappy with Sergio Perez who seemed to force him off track at turn five, but stewards deemed the move to have been legal. Bottas began battling Vergne at the same time and was to trade positions with the Frenchman several times before using DRS to good effect and passing the Toro Rosso into turn 1. Slightly further up the gird, old sparring partners Massa and Hamilton were fighting tooth and nail for fifth when Massa was handed a drive-through penalty for crossing the white lines of the pitlane entrance. It was a blow for Massa who stayed out for as long as possible, seemingly to slow Hamilton into traffic and limit the damage of the drive-through.

Hamilton was now up to fifth but would not be there for long. Valtteri Bottas tried to pass Hamilton into turn five but the Briton moved across the Finn and made contact with the Williams. Bottas’ wheel went airborne and he retired on the spot, while Hamilton crawled around the track with a puncture and was then handed a drive-through for the incident. The Red Bulls anticipated a Safety Car and boxed both men. However, they were unready when Vettel came into the pits which saw Vettel held up, as well as Webber who was forced to park up behind the pit box as the team scrambled for the correct tires. Vettel’s eleven second lead was halved by the incident, but was saved as Alonso jumped Webber in the pits, forcing the Aussie to retake the Ferrari.

Charles Pic was the third man to retire from the race, running off track with a suspected suspension issue. He parked his stricken Caterham on the run-off area in turn six, which is sloped, leaving marshalls trying to push the heavy Caterham to a safer area for several laps. On track, Maldonado was fending off Jean-Eric Vergne and completely closed the gap into turn 1, forcing the Frenchman off the track and spinning his Williams.

The much expected rain would have been the only wet spell during a race all season but despite very slight drizzle for most of the race, a full downpour never materialized and drivers could keep using the dry Pirelli compounds. The wet weather could also have thrown a spanner in the works for Vettel, but he remained unchallenged. He crossed the line to win the Brazilian Grand Prix, the second time he has done it, while Webber finished second in his final race, and Alonso took third.

Final Standings: 

1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Mark Webber
3. Fernando Alonso
4. Jenson Button
5. Nico Rosberg
6. Sergio Perez
7. Felipe Massa
8. Nico Hulkenberg
9. Lewis Hamilton
10. Daniel Ricciardo
11. Paul di Resta
12. Esteban Gutierrez
13. Adrian Sutil
14. Heikki Kovalainen
15. Jean-Eric Vergne
16. Pastor Maldonado
17. Jules Bianchi
18. Giedo van der Garde
19. Max Chilton

• Romain Grosjean – Engine Failure
• Valtteri Bottas – Collision Damage
• Charles Pic – Suspension

Vettel Unstoppable En Route To Pole In Brazil

Sebastian Vettel blew the other drivers out of the water as he breezed to pole position in the Brazilian Grand Prix, seven tenths clear of Nico Rosberg who will share the front row with Vettel. Fernando Alonso had his best Qualifying of the session and will start third tomorrow, ahead of Mark Webber who will be fourth on the grid for his final F1 race. Lewis Hamilton was fifth ahead of Romain Grosjean while both Toro Rosso drivers made it to Q3 and subsequently qualified seventh and eighth. Felipe Massa qualified ninth for his last race with Ferrari while Nico Hulkenberg took tenth for Sauber.

Heikki Kovalainen narrowly missed out on a space in the top ten and instead took eleventh, while Paul di Resta beat Valtteri Bottas to twelfth. The McLaren duo of Sergio Perez and Jenson Button were fourteenth and fifteenth to round out a poor season, with Checo slamming his car into the barriers at the end of Q2. Adrian Sutil was sixteenth while Pastor Maldonado was the first man to drop out of Q1. He was joined in the knock-out zone by Esteban Gutierrez who is followed by Charles Pic, Giedo van der Garde and the Marussia duo of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.

Vettel’s ominous speed could be cut should the race tomorrow start in heavy rain. If not, Vettel seems set to win his ninth consecutive Grand Prix, and equal Alberto Ascari’s record from the 50s.