As the threat of the off-season looms news and developments are bubbling to the surface rapidly with each passing weekend. Even as the end of the last race out in South Korea more of the cogs began to slide into place in the increasingly dynamic world over the driver market. However one of the highest profile stories doesn't even centre around the coming season, instead looking further ahead to the 2014 season, when the new engine regulations come into effect. Because Ferrari have been reportedly linked to that German bloke for that season, interestingly no-one seemed to tell Luca Di Montezemelo this who is rather denying any of it. On the other side of the fence the Red Bull team are also denying the idea that Vettel will be heading to join Alonso in the Ferrari garage. Of course the idea of this slightly laughable as it is a direct contradiction with the way things work in the Italian team, as there is a rigid driver hierarchy with a strictly defined number one. Having two number ones in the squad would - despite being fun for the audience - cause a massive headache for Dominicali.
Elsewhere Nico Hulkenberg has been confirmed as making the jump across to Sauber from Force India, which causes a problem for Kobayashi, as it is rumoured that Gutierrez from the GP2 series will fill the second seat. In turn a door then opens at Force India, which could possibly go to a former driver in the form of Adrian Sutil. The rest of the grid is a complete enigma as a very large list of drivers has been added to the potential hat, through the young driver testing selections so very few seats are completely safe further down the pack. The likes of Van Der Garde and Chilton have initially been linked with Catherham and Marussia respectively - as well as other names, Lotus have lined up three drivers despite their line up seeming secure.
Away from the driver pairings, there is also news going into 2013 season for the calendar, as the most recent street track to be added to the season in New Jersey has been postponed due to preparation difficulties. I would assume that the track is matches up with the requirements for American open wheel racing, but not F1. Therefore things may need to be modified to accept the lower, faster cars - therefore we shall have to wait until 2014 at the earliest for the second race in the US, we shall have to see if that means Valencia gets to come back or not. But on the subject of tracks it is time for the Indian GP back for it's second running.
The Track
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| credit to the FIA for the map |
In other places descents have been used make the entrances to corners more challenging, mainly at the start of the second half of the circuit, coming down from the peak of the previous corner to pick out a difficult braking point. Balancing the right amount of speed to maximise the first apex but not compromise the secondary corners. In the virtual version of the lap I've used for this weekend the actual elevation changes have not been mapped to their full extent, but there are still many places where some additional elevation would have been very helpful. Some the synchronised chicanes are a little flat, but all circuits have niggly little flaws - even the mighty Spa has that depressingly rehashed final chicane.
Furthermore the track demonstrates some rather unique features, elements specifically designed to counter the problems in recent years with overtaking in the sport. The primary solution implemented is the widening of the braking zones and apex areas at the key corners of the lap. This aims to give the drivers more possible lines through the corner, limiting the effectivness of selecting the defensive line on approach. Simply running the car down the inside of the track won't help too much, as extra space opens up, adding space to the inside, and conversely improving the under-cut effect of taking an outside-in through to the exit of the corner. The second feature of the track is the compound corners in the second half, not quite the flowing nature of a traditional track, but achieving something similar technically. Corners that feed into chicanes, and a really long banked almost circular turn where the line is slightly pinched on the exit.
Overall the second half of the lap, is much better designed and refined than the similar concept in Korea, the corners flow much better and for a new track are actually quite enjoyable. An insight I was not able to provide this time last season as I had never driven at the point of the début race then, but actually navigating it in the blogmobile has been good. Which means this is time for the video back once more in glorious full 1080p HD - sometimes the power I wield could be considered to be overkill but it is way too much fun. So to curtail another psychotic episode here is the track video for the Indian GP.
What to expect
On the crest of some significant momentum over the past few races it is hard to look past Red Bull for the top step of the podium and qualifying timesheets in particular this weekend. Ferrari need to hit back as the resurgence of that German bloke because if not the title once more is heading back in that direction. Then there is McLaren, who will likely have the pace to challenge the speed of the blue cars out at the front of the pack, more so in the race than in qualifying perhaps, but in the overall game of winning the main championship their hopes have faded away. Especially since Hamilton had two races effected by mechanical difficulties, only scoring one point in the past two races, and Button was taken out in Korea.
Behind them a slight divide is growing, back to Lotus and Mercedes carving out a division all of their own, Raikkonen has settled into a regular position behind the top teams only gaining positions when one of them dropped out. This does rather thin out his chances of taking the championship on his return, despite sitting in third on the table behind Alonso and Vettel. The Silver Arrows however are slipping further back, being swamped by the mid-field teams, struggling to break into the top ten in recent events.
This leads us onto the rest of the middle of the grid, where Sauber, Williams and Force India all seem to be on very comparable pace, intensifying the competition for points on Sunday. Korea also saw the final team in this group getting very involved in this as well, Toro Rosso as in previous years have made some significant relative progress towards the end of the season. Something that might be a consequence of the other teams around them directing their attention to the coming season and allowing the margins to close up. Can't complain their it does improve the racing in the middle of the pack, and back in Korea, that was where the only battles of the race were taking place as it was arguably dull everywhere else.
Overall the second half of the lap, is much better designed and refined than the similar concept in Korea, the corners flow much better and for a new track are actually quite enjoyable. An insight I was not able to provide this time last season as I had never driven at the point of the début race then, but actually navigating it in the blogmobile has been good. Which means this is time for the video back once more in glorious full 1080p HD - sometimes the power I wield could be considered to be overkill but it is way too much fun. So to curtail another psychotic episode here is the track video for the Indian GP.
On the crest of some significant momentum over the past few races it is hard to look past Red Bull for the top step of the podium and qualifying timesheets in particular this weekend. Ferrari need to hit back as the resurgence of that German bloke because if not the title once more is heading back in that direction. Then there is McLaren, who will likely have the pace to challenge the speed of the blue cars out at the front of the pack, more so in the race than in qualifying perhaps, but in the overall game of winning the main championship their hopes have faded away. Especially since Hamilton had two races effected by mechanical difficulties, only scoring one point in the past two races, and Button was taken out in Korea.
Behind them a slight divide is growing, back to Lotus and Mercedes carving out a division all of their own, Raikkonen has settled into a regular position behind the top teams only gaining positions when one of them dropped out. This does rather thin out his chances of taking the championship on his return, despite sitting in third on the table behind Alonso and Vettel. The Silver Arrows however are slipping further back, being swamped by the mid-field teams, struggling to break into the top ten in recent events.
This leads us onto the rest of the middle of the grid, where Sauber, Williams and Force India all seem to be on very comparable pace, intensifying the competition for points on Sunday. Korea also saw the final team in this group getting very involved in this as well, Toro Rosso as in previous years have made some significant relative progress towards the end of the season. Something that might be a consequence of the other teams around them directing their attention to the coming season and allowing the margins to close up. Can't complain their it does improve the racing in the middle of the pack, and back in Korea, that was where the only battles of the race were taking place as it was arguably dull everywhere else.
Right at the back of the grid, everything seems to have returned to normal, after Marussia had a little spurt a couple of races ago to the point where they even took the lead in the bottom division battle at Singapore. However Caterham have gained the upper hand, but retaking the championship position would require one hell of a crazy race, and a crazy race would be much appreciated frankly. I've recently seen the first of the V8 supercar races from Surfers Paradise - and that was a complete demonstration of madness in racing form. Two red flag aborted starts due to mayhem, including one car barrel rolling into the fence. Incidently the race did also showcase the really high quality of the Australian broadcasting, something that SKY could learn from, heck even the BBC could take a few notes. Just in case anyone missed it here is the race posted on youtube - featuring a lot of ex-F1 drivers including Squadron-Leader Heidfeld doing a rather good job (best viewed in youtube directly):
The blog predictions
Back to the main proceedings and it is time to release the dodgy and permanently unsuccessful series of predictions because I can.
- Vettel
- Hamilton
- Webber
- Alonso
- Button
- Massa
- Raikkonen
- Di Resta
- Kobayashi
- Grosjean
Qualifying
- Red Bull: Vettel
- McLaren: Hamilton
- Ferrari: Alonso
- Lotus: Raikkonen
- Sauber: Perez
- Williams: Maldonado
- Force India: Hulkenberg
- Toro Rosso: Ricciardo
- Caterham: Kovalainen
- Marussia: Glock
- HRT: De La Rosa
Anyone who has managed to stay with this rather long post, can have some moral bonus points - and perhaps this is time to draw it to a close - the Indian GP may not be too inspiring as a race, I personally can't remember last season's race. Although that might have something to do with the fact that the iPlayer took ages to upload the event as I was at rehearsal being evil, at the time of the actual race. Consequently I was left with the highlights edition - which frankly was not too grand as they usually aren't. Hopefully this weekend will be a lot more entertaining as the track has bedded in now and most of the drivers have has one race under their belt to get used to managing the wider overtaking zones and interesting corners. So on that note this is farewell from me here at blog HQ.
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