F1 Madness

Latest

  • Virtual lap preview – Australia, Albert Park Circuit

    Virtual lap preview – Australia, Albert Park Circuit

  • F1 2013: Teammate Battle

    F1 2013: Teammate Battle

    By definition winning the Formula 1 driver’s world title indicates that, by the end of the season, one of the drivers had outdone his twenty-one counterparts. However, the first man to be beaten is always the teammate.

    Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel v Mark Webber

    Chances are if you beat Sebastian Vettel you’re likely to be close to the championship lead. With several memorable victories Webber has undoubtedly proven that he possesses great talent. However, raking in the big points consistently hasn’t been Webber’s forte. For the Australian to beat his world champion teammate AussieGrit will need to deliver the best season of his career.

    Ferrari: Felipe Massa v Fernando Alonso

    Felipe Massa ended off the 2012 season in the best form he had for quite some time. But if Massa had a solid end to the season Fernando Alonso arguably had the best season of his F1 career. Given their performance in relation to each other it remains highly unlikely that Massa will be able to outrace Alonso for a significant amount of time.

    McLaren: Sergio Perez v Jenson Button

    Sergio Perez has talent, but it is raw talent. McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh even Ron Dennis will try to mould him into a complete racing driver but it will be up to Checo to refine his racing craft.  Since joining McLaren Jenson Button has looked supremely at ease save for a few spells of irregular results. Checo Perez has the speed to beat his teammate but JB has speed, guile and a settled team around him.

    Lotus: Romain Grosjean v Kimi Raikkonen

    Romain Grosjean survived his woeful season to be re-signed by Lotus. Too many incidents has coloured opinion on Grosjean and objective number one for the Frenchman has to be a composed approach to racing. Only then can he consider a tactic on how to beat Kimi Raikkonen. For Raikkonen it will be business as usual; get in the car, drive it fast. He’s not really bothered about beating the guy on the other side of the garage – it’s just about racing as fast as he possibly can. Grosjean may have a slight advantage in qualifying but if the E21 is up to it in 2013 Raikkonen is not going to be an easy man to beat.

    Mercedes: Nico Rosberg v Lewis Hamilton

    Nico Rosberg’s Formula 1 career has been relatively solid but far from spectacular. His first and only victory, to date, in China finally got the monkey off his back but a solitary win won’t mean much when it’s measured against the prolific Lewis Hamilton. For Hamilton there’s a great urge to take Mercedes to the top of the podium and that will be his solitary focus this season. He’s unlikely to be troubled by Nico Rosberg.

    Williams: Pastor Maldonado v Valtteri Bottas

    Venezuelan Maldonado toned down his kamikaze racing style in the second half of the 2012 season but wasn’t pushed by teammate Bruno Senna. It should be different in 2013 with Valterri Bottas. Much has been made of the Finn’s speed in the paddock but he will need to hit the ground running if he is to outperform his teammate.

    Sauber: Nico Hulkenberg v Esteban Guiterrez

    Nico Hulkenberg had a strong comeback with Force India in 2012 but starts this season on a level playing field with Guiterrez. It’s never easy stepping into a new car or a new team. While Hulkenberg should outdo Guiterrez the young Mexican will be especially keen to shake the ‘pay driver’ label.

    Force India: Paul di Resta v Adrian Sutil?

    Scotsman Paul di Resta will drive the VJM06 alongside Adrian Sutil. As is the case for several drivers, this season will be about more than beating their respective teammates, it will be about survival.

    For Daniel Ricciardo & Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso), Charles Pic & Giedo van der Garde(Caterham), Max Chilton & Jules Bianchi (Marussia) beating the teammate will be as important as ensuring a place in Formula 1. As these lower ranked teams, perhaps with the exception of Toro Rosso, struggle to survive these drivers have to be aware that there is always another driver around the corner with a bigger cheque.

     

    Follow @F1_Madness on Twitter for live commentary on race weekends and like our Facebook page to join SA’s awesome F1 fan community.

     

  • Formula One 2013 Season Preview: The Test of Time

    Formula One 2013 Season Preview: The Test of Time

    The ‘waiting game’ is a funny phenomenon. Firstly, as die-hard F1 fans, enduring the break between seasons is no fun and games. It is a tedious and lengthy process that tests even the most patient.

    Logic suggests that as the start of the season draws closer the restlessness should begin to ebb away and be replaced by a growing anticipation. This is an attractive thought but it doesn’t have much truth to it. What does happen is that the closer that first free practice session in Australia gets the more the levels of anxious excitement seem to amplify. And with less than one week to go the expectation and sheer excitement will surely reach fever pitch.

    All that happened in Barcelona is not an absolute predictor of things to come. Nevertheless, the final pre-season test at last gave some indication about what to expect in Australia. Lewis Hamilton’s impression after the first test at Jerez was that his new team would struggle to win a race this season. Since then some things have changed, for the better. A real sense of optimism has replaced the doubt in Hamilton’s mind and the Brit now believes that the Silver Arrows has a real shot at winning some races. The change of heart came after Hamilton ended one Saturday’s running on top of the timing sheets seven tenths clear of second-placed Felipe Massa. LH may have been up to some good old mind games in Jerez but he seems genuinely excited about the Mercedes’ ‘turnaround.’ “I think we definitely will be able to win a race at some point during the season,” said Hamilton.

    After signing with Marussia just one month ago Luiz Razia would have been dreaming of sitting on the grid in Australia among twenty-one of the world’s best drivers. However the Brazilian racer lost his drive after a sponsor failed to make scheduled payment to the team. In his place Marussia opted for Ferrari Academy driver Jules Bianchi. The Frenchman is untried but has potential and his link to Ferrari as Formula 1 stands on the cusp of massive engine changes could see Marussia aligning itself to be a customer of the Italian team in 2014.

    With Bianchi climbing into the Marussia cockpit, Adrian Sutil will partner Paul di Resta at Force India for the 2013 season. The German left the F1 paddock under controversial circumstances at the end of 2011 and will have to step up his performances if he wants a future in the sport beyond this season. Sutil, who snatched the drive from Jules Bianchi, will be seen as a conservative choice but the team know exactly what they are getting in the German -a proven record of scoring minor points relatively consistently, meaning solid but unspectacular.

    The general feeling in the paddock is that Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull should be favourites to win in Australia but the defending champion doesn’t share the same view. “We didn’t tick all the boxes that we would have liked to and the last two days were not as good as we would have expected,” said Vettel.

    As the paddock leans toward favouring Red Bull, Ferrari thinks that there will be some shocks in Australia. The reason for Ferrari’s prediction has to do with several teams’ difficulty in managing the tyres and the high rate of degradation that has already been experienced by a variety of drivers. It is interesting and telling that Ferrari is the first team to deliberately raise the issue of tyre wear.

    The final day of testing concluded with Nico Rosberg heading the log as most other teams focused on high fuel running. The next time the cars fire up will be in Australia. The wait is nearly over.

    Follow @F1_Madness on Twitter for live commentary on race weekends and like our Facebook page to join SA’s awesome F1 fan community.

  • Cutaway Insights – Episode 1: Pitot – Sauber F1 Team

  • F1 Testing in Barcelona

    Formula One and @F1_Madness fan, Laura Rocchigiani (@Yzzzma) was lucky enough to go to Barcelona and watch the pre-season F1 testing live. She sent us a few of her photos of the f1 cars heading around the testing track and we must say we are very envious and most impressed!