Tag: ferrari

Ferrari and 15000 fans pay tribute to Felipe Massa

Over 15000 fans were at Mugello this weekend to pay tribute to Felipe Massa ahead of his final two races for the Scuderia before he is replaced next season by Kimi Raikkonen.

Massa who has been with Ferrari since 2006, partnering Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, has had 136 outings for the team which includes 11 race wins.

During the farewell event – held at the same track where Massa had his first F1 test with Sauber back in 2001, Massa was given a 1.2 metre trophy inscribed with each of his eleven race wins.

Speaking at the gala event, Massa said that he is truly going to miss the Ferrari family and the friends he has made over the years.

“I’ve been lucky, I have had a great career with Ferrari, longer than I had ever dreamed of at the start,” Massa said. “When I began racing in go-karts as a kid, I had a red Ferrari suit and it’s always been the team I supported. Even when Senna was at McLaren and Piquet at Williams, I was cheering for Ferrari!

“We began our relationship in 2001 and I have raced for them for eight seasons, which is a very important part of my life. I have so many friends at Ferrari and I will miss them, as I will also miss the nice days I spent at the factory in Maranello. I am happy with the way my time with the Prancing Horse turned out.”

Massa reminisced about the memories he will take away with him but said that the wins, particularly in Brazil when the title slipped through his fingers, will stay with him for the longest.

“These are memories that will stay with me always, just like so many other beautiful moments spent together, starting with the wins. For example, I think back to the wins at Interlagos, because for a Brazilian, to win your home race is something amazing. Sure, the dream just slipped out of my grasp, namely winning the world title in front of my home crowd, but that wasn’t the race where I lost the 2008 title: when you finish second by a point the key moment could have come at so many different places and I’m thinking of Singapore for example, or Budapest, or others still…”

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo spoke of Massa with great praise and thanks. “Felipe has been a true Ferrari man and he will always be part of our history,” he said. “For all the Grands Prix he drove for us, for the wins, the pole positions and for those few seconds when he was world champion that day in Brazil, before that overtaking move that always seemed a bit strange to me,” he continued. “We spent some great times together, while some others were more difficult, such as the accident in Budapest.

“These have been very busy years and today, I wanted to thank him publicly, having already done so privately, just the two of us,” he continued. “I think the decision to go our separate ways is the right one, both for us and for him. It’s time for a change and also to find new motivation. I wish Felipe every success, starting with the last two races of this championship. As for the rest of his Formula 1 career, I wish him the very best, but naturally, behind a Ferrari and anyway, I am sure we will get many chances to meet up again, because life is long and he will always be part of our family. When one has a mutually agreed separation, in the best interests of both parties, it can be done calmly in a friendly and constructive manner, and that has been the case this time.”

Photo credit: Massa photo by Ferrari

November 11, 2013
F1 2013: Abu Dhabi GP Review – Juggernaut Vettel Crushes Competition

It isn’t only Kimi Raikkonen who knows what he’s doing around the Yas Marina circuit. Sebastian Vettel delivered yet another dominant display to take victory by half a minute at the 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Mark Webber secured pole position with a stonker of a lap from Vettel on Saturday and if one driver had the ability to challenge the four time champ it was the Australian; or so it appeared. A controversial weekend for the Lotus team got significantly worse as Raikkonen, who qualified fifth overall, was relegated to the back of the starting grid. The Lotus failed a floor deflection test after the qualifying session.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton secured the second row of the grid in their quest for second overall in the constructor’s championship. Contrastingly, Fernando Alonso endured a difficult session in which he failed to advance to the third part of qualifying. Felipe Massa, supposedly on the verge of signing a 2014 deal with Williams, managed to squeak through to the top ten shoot-out.

Nevertheless, race day is the one that counts and seeing as Vettel has put together a near perfect season there was no reason to suspect he would not ace the start of this race either. He did exactly that as he swooped into the lead of the race as the red lights extinguished and never looked back. A Singapore-style domination ensued and Vettel was more than a minute ahead of sixth place by lap 35. Alonso was the sixth placed man.

There was to be no repeat of 2012 for Raikkonen as the Finn suffered damage to his steering in a collision with Giedo van der Garde’s Caterham in Turn One. Raikkonen was the only retirement in the race but insisted that he had no regrets about the decision not to start from the pitlane after his exclusion from qualifying. “I went to the inside and then somehow managed to touch with a Caterham,” Raikkonen explained. “We didn’t touch hard but I think the angle was very unlucky and it broke the steering.” It was also revealed that Raikkonen’s management and Lotus team owner Gerard Lopez had reached a provisional agreement to settle their financial issues. The agreement will see the Finn race at the final two races of the season.

Without a care in the world, Vettel was in a class of one with an untouchable pace of 1.5 to 2 seconds faster than anyone else. The most frightening thing was that Vettel was hardly pushing to the limit of what the Red Bull is capable of. The competition must shudder to think what the Red Bull would truly be able to pull out if it was under pressure.

As Vettel disappeared down the road quicker than the sun could set, the dice for second remained close all the way to the chequered flag. Rosberg ran second for the first quarter of the race ahead of Mark Webber who was suffering with a slight KERS issue. By the 20th lap however, AussieGrit was on it once more and took second place from Rosberg. Romain Grosjean kept both the Mercedes and Red Bull honest throughout the race but was unable to mount a challenge for the remaining steps of the podium.

Hamilton endured a difficult afternoon after qualifying on the second row of the grid. The Brit fell back into the field and admitted after the race that he had to do a better job to match teammate Rosberg. “Clearly with Nico’s result the car’s better than what I’m able to bring home with it,” said Hamilton. “Same old … different day. It’s the same every race. It can’t be other people’s fault. Nico’s been getting great points for the team. I just need to work harder to try to do the same.”

Several incidents throughout the race required the stewards’ attention but only Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release in the pitlane. Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado were under investigation for exceeding the track limits as was Alonso. The incident involving Sutil and Maldonado was chalked up to a racing incident, but Alonso’s off track excursion was reserved for judgement after the race. The Spaniard switched to the soft compound tyres on lap 44 and rejoined the circuit alongside Jean-Eric Vergne. However, Alonso was outside of the track limits, as indicated by the white lines, when he made the pass on the Toro Rosso driver. Alonso was quoted post race as saying that Vergne should have given him more space. The stewards agreed with Alonso and no penalty was imposed.

As Vettel, Webber and Rosberg wrapped up the podium ahead of Grosjean, Alonso’s last dash on the soft compound tyres earned him the fastest lap and fifth overall. Paul di Resta resisted pressure from Hamilton in the closing stages of the race to finish sixth. Hamilton managed seventh place on the day as Felipe Massa, who enjoyed a long stint ahead of his teammate, brought his Ferrari home in eighth place. Sergio Perez snatched ninth place from Sutil on the final lap as they rounded out the points paying positions.

The untouchable Sebastian Vettel celebrated his seventh consecutive victory with several donuts. Vettel was fined 25 000 Euros in India for celebrating his fourth world title in the same manner but didn’t receive the same punishment this time as he returned the car to parc ferme.

Vettel’s race engineer, Rocky, instructed the German to bring the car back to the pits to which Vettel responded : “Let me quote: Yeah, yeah, yeah I know what I’m doing.” It seems he most certainly does.

November 3, 2013
Wonderful Webber on Pole in Abu Dhabi

Red Bull’s Mark Webber put in a scintillating flying lap in Q3 to take pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

With both the Red Bulls on the back foot through Q1 and Q2, they seemed to have found some extra pace in Q3 to lock out the front row with Mark Webber in P1 with a 1:39.957 and Sebastian Vettel in P2 with a 1:40.075. Vettel who wasn’t very far behind is team mate made a mistake at the exit of T1 on his flying lap by running wide onto the astro-turf and lost a bit of time there.

The Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locked out the second row of the grid in P3 (1:40.419) and P4 (1:40.501) respectively. Both Rosberg and Hamilton were in the top two in Q1 and Q2 and were faster than both the Red Bulls. But they were no match for the Red Bulls who seemed to have found a bit of extra pace in Q3. Hamilton’s final Q3 run did not end the way he wanted it as he had an over steer moment coming out of the T13 chicane. He ran wide over the kerbs and spun. “Something gave way on the right side of the car. I got out of the chicane and something snapped on the car” said Hamilton.

Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen will line up 5th on the grid alongside Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg who had another strong qualifying session in 6th. The other Lotus of Romain Grosjean will start in P7 with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in P8. McLaren’s Sergio Perez (P9) and and Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo (P10) round up the top 10.

It was another bad qualifying for Fernando Alonso who could only manage P11. It is the first time in the 2013 season where Alonso did not go through to Q3. “A difficult weekend for us. We are not competitive. My laps were not clean. We will see what we can do with a fresh set of tyres in the race” said Alonso. McLaren’s Jenson Button was the other big name that did not appear in Q3. Button, whos qualified in P13, was left feeling rather frustrated with his performance saying that everything for them today was a challenge. “We were maxed out on front wing from the word go. There’s nothing much we could do” said Button after being knocked out at the end of Q2.

Below is the full timing sheet from the 2013 Fomrula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

November 2, 2013
F1 2013: Practice 3 Report – Abu Dhabi GP

Sebastian Vettel headed the timing sheets of the third free practice session ahead of the Abu Dhabi grand prix.

The newly crowned four time world champion was followed by teammate Mark Webber as Red Bull again locked out the top two positions in the standings. The session got underway with a track temperature of 47 degrees Celcius; three degrees warmer than Friday’s first free practice session.

Several drivers including Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso endured several off track excursions during the session but sustained no damage. Marussia’s Jules Bianchi was as fortunate as contact with the barrier brought a slightly premature end to his session. However, the Ferrari of Alonso looked a handful as the Spaniard was shown sawing away at the wheel of the car as the coaxed it through the corners around Yas Marina circuit.

Pastor Maldonado and Valterri Bottas ran the Williams with a revised exhaust system and both driver’s provided encouraging feedback. The system is a reversion to an ‘old-style’ system which sees the exhaust exit to top of the body work.

The qualifying simulation, run on the yellow walled soft tyres, revealed an average gain of 1,7 seconds but several drivers were able to gain more than two seconds during their run. Nevertheless, we are of course unaware of the different fuel levels that are being run by teams in practice sessions.

The Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton appeared as the best of the rest behind the Red Bulls. Interestingly, Mark Webber set the quickest first and second sector while Vettel came out tops in the final sector of the lap. Abu Dhabi has never been a happy hunting ground for the Aussie but Webber may yet prove Vettel’s stiffest competition in qualifying later on this afternoon.

November 2, 2013
Raikkonen Nearly Boycotts Abu Dhabi GP

Kimi Raikkonen has confirmed that he had to be convinced to attend the final three races of the season including this weekend’s Abu Dhabi grand prix.

The Finn was nowhere in sight of the Yas Marina paddock by Thursday raising speculation about the reason for the 2007 champion’s absence. Although many believed that Raikkonen’s non-appearance was a result of the tension caused by a coarse radio message from trackside operations director Alan Permane during the Indian GP. While what transpired in India played some part it wasn’t the only reason Raikkonen was contemplating not driving at all.

“It’s a small part of it,” Raikkonen told Sky Sport. “Those things shouldn’t happen but unfortunately it happened and that’s not really the issue. It’s the other stuff and obviously all the things come together in the end.

“It’s easy to say that’s the reason why I didn’t almost come, it’s not that simple. Sometimes it’s not very nice when you hear that you don’t have the interests of the team [first] and then you’ve been paid zero euros the whole year.”

It isn’t often that Raikkonen is bothered by anything and it’s an even more rare occurrence for him to talk about behind-the-scenes issues; it says a lot that the 2007 champion has spoken out in the manner that he has.

Since the Indian GP the Lotus PR machine has been working overtime to calm the waters. An interview with team owner Gerard Lopez was posted on Lotus’ official webpage chock full of praise for Raikkonen; quite a turnaround from Singapore where Lopez branded the driver as “ungrateful.”

Raikkonen has further confirmed that he is willing to skip the races in Texas and Brazil if the issues are not resolved.

It is quite difficult to fathom why Lotus’ demeanour towards Raikkonen has taken such a dramatic turn. Surely some gratitude should be shown towards the driver that is consistently delivering points and doing so despite not earning a red cent from them.

November 1, 2013
Vettel On Top in FP2 in Abu Dhabi

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheets at the end of the second free practice session at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The young German set the pace this evening in Abu Dhabi with a 1:41.335 with his team mate Mark Webber P2 with a 1:41.490, 0.155s slower than Vettel. What was also encouraging for Red Bull was the very good long run pace they had on the primes and on the soft option tyre.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished the session in P3 with a 1:41.690, 0.355s off the pace of Vettel. Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen finished P4 with a 1:41.728 and Nico Rosberg ended his session in P5 with a 1:41.758. Raikkonen was very strong on his long run pace this session, his team mate Romain Grosjean who finished FP1 in P1 finished FP2 in P12.

McLaren’s Sergio Perez received some very encouraging news towards the end of the session from his race engineer Andy Latham telling him that they were very similar on pace to Mercedes and they were quicker than Ferrari. Checo ended the session in P6. Jenson Button trailed a very different setup by running a very shallow rear wing. The proof of which reflected in the speed traps where he was quickest.

Ferrari seemed to be struggling for pace in the session. Fernando Alonso ended the session in P8 and his team mate Felipe Massa finished in P10. They’re long run pace seemed to be there about, but nothing close to Lotus or Mercedes. It looks like its going to be a difficult weekend for them.

The full time sheet for the session is included below:

November 1, 2013
F1 2013: Race Preview – Amazing Abu Dhabi

Less than twelve months ago Sebastian Vettel stood on the cusp of becoming a three-time world champion ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. One year later Vettel returns as a four-time champion and no less hungry for victory that the first time he rolled out onto a Formula 1 starting grid.

The only twilight race on the F1 calendar is unquestionably one of the most stunning venues of the season. Set against the fabulous backdrop of the setting Arabian sun the cars hardly look more spectacular at any other stage of the season. Even though the Yas Marina circuit still feels like a fairly recent addition to the calendar, the 2013 grand prix will be the fifth visit to the east coast of Abu Dhabi.

Similar to the Indian GP, Pirelli will provide the medium and soft compound tyres to the teams. The Budhh International circuit rendered the yellow walled soft tyre extremely fragile but in Abu Dhabi is expected to have a significantly longer lifespan. “The way that the track temperature falls in Abu Dhabi obviously has an effect on both wear and degradation, meaning that teams are able to do longer runs even on the softer compound later in the race,” said Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery.

It is an important time of the season for those drivers who still need to secure a 2014 seat. Despite being linked to several front-running teams it seems as if Nico Hulkenberg will not be jumping into a leading car, at least not in 2014. The immensely talented Hulkenberg has been linked with a move to Lotus with the German having supposedly signed a provisional agreement during the Japanese GP weekend. However, recent rumbling suggest that this agreement has been scrapped because the team cannot afford Hulkenberg. Instead Pastor Maldonado, and his PDVSA sponsor, look set to snatch the Lotus seat.

Nevertheless, Hulkenberg will be focusing on the task at hand this weekend and getting the best possible position by the end of the fifty-five lap race. The Yas Marina circuit should play to the strengths of the Sauber.

The first sector is relatively short and punctuated with several medium speed corners and bolstered with turns two and three acting as the two high-speed corners in the sector. The middle sector mainly distinguished by long straights with low-speed corners in the mix to provide some challenge to the drivers. The final sector of the 5.554km long lap is an unyielding series slow to medium speed corners which require the utmost precision. “The track is pretty tricky and technical, especially the last sector which has a lot of twisty, 90-degree corners. It’s easy to get it wrong and overdo it in qualifying,” said Nico Hulkenberg.

Red Bull has already sewn up both driver’s and constructor’s titles for 2013 but the battle for second and third place rages on. Whilst second place in the constructor’s standings for Ferrari holds an important psychological connotation, Lotus’ quest for the top three is purely financially motivated. Reports about financial trouble have hounded the Enstone based team throughout the season and the supposedly ‘done deal’ with Quantam (formerly Infinity) has allegedly hit a snag in recent times.

While several important stories develop behind the scenes it is on the track where the attention will be focused this weekend. Fernando Alonso is due a better result than he has been able to achieve in the last few races. It will be a difficult task however since the Ferrari doesn’t have a great record around Abu Dhabi. In addition, Alonso has appeared to be slightly dejected at the last few race meetings but Ferrari has dismissed talks about tension between the team and the Spaniard.

A team that cannot talk away the tension amidst their ranks is Lotus. Alan Permane’s now infamous race message to Kimi Raikkonen has been well publicised and met with a vast amount of criticism. Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has released a subsequent statement apologising for the message and the team will undoubtedly want to focus on fighting for a better position in the constructor’s championship.

There is nothing to suggest that Sebastian Vettel won’t be the odds on favourite to yet again occupy the top step of the podium. But just maybe the stars are aligning for someone else. However the cards fall for the Abu Dhabi GP, a cracking race is surely in prospect.

October 30, 2013
F1 2013: Indian GP Review – Super Seb Achieves Greatness

The Indian grand prix has found itself in the privileged position of crowning Sebastian Vettel as the 2013 driver’s world champion.

There are few greater moments in this majestic sport than seeing a driver crowned champion. Whether you are a fan of Sebastian Vettel or not seems irrelevant in the face of this massive achievement. Only Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher and now Sebastian Vettel has won four consecutive world titles. It not only deserves recognition but tremendous respect.

The Budhh International circuit played host to the third Indian GP and tyre strategy dominated the headlines from the first free practice session on Friday. It was evident early on that the yellow walled soft compound tyres were extremely fragile and would, presumably, dictate the rest of the weekend. Unsurprisingly, Saturday’s qualifying session saw a split in tyre strategy with several drivers opting to set their fastest time in Q3 on the medium tyre. Mark Webber emerged as the best of those on the alternate strategy with fourth place and seemed in the pound seats for Sunday’s race. The untouchable Sebastian Vettel went about his business and wrapped up yet another pole position ahead of the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

The dicey option tyres were given the short prognosis of lasting a maximum of six to seven laps. Sebastian Vettel made his customary break in the first lap of the race and by the end of it was leading Felipe Massa by 3.5 seconds.

Not wanting to risk anything on the perilous Pirelli rubber Vettel dived into the pits on the second lap and fitted the medium compound tyres for his second stint. The German dropped into masses of traffic and seventeenth place overall. This was the moment that those who started on the more durable tyre were expected to craft a sizeable gap over the number one Red Bull. But Sebastian Vettel is never one to be outdone not by rivals and certainly not by strategy. He scythed his way through the pack and by the end of the twentieth lap he was right on the gearbox of Sergio Perez’s third placed McLaren.

The only man who could mathematically stop Vettel from winning the title was Fernando Alonso. However, the Ferrari driver’s race got off to a disastrous start as collisions with Mark Webber and Jenson Button demanded a front-wing change. The Spaniard never recovered from his early set back and ended the race in eleventh place. Teammate Felipe Massa enjoyed a far better outing and led the Indian GP for a spell before pitting for fresh rubber. The Brazilian ultimately finished a solid fourth place. Sergio Perez provided a boost for McLaren with a fifth place finish after pulling off a great overtake on Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton finished a quiet race in sixth place for Mercedes.

Raikkonen, after having made a late race pitstop, finished seventh whilst struggling with overheating brakes in the beginning of the race and fuel issues towards the closing stages. Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil came home eighth and ninth at Force India’s home race as Daniel Ricciardo secured the final point on offer for Toro Rosso.

The podium finishers looked as if they would include both Red Bull drivers but an alternator failure felled Mark Webber and promoted Nico Rosberg to second overall. The German’s second place finish was his and Mercedes’ first of the season. Rosberg’s other visits to the podium this season have all been victories. Romain Grosjean delivered a stunning drive to recover from 17th place in qualifying. The Frenchman and his ever improving consistency netted him third place over all; but not without some controversy for his Lotus team.

Lotus tried to play the long game with Kimi Raikkonen’s tyre strategy by suggesting a more than 50 lap stint on the medium tyre. Pirelli had advised teams that a thirty-five lap stint was potentially the most tyres would be able to stand and although some drivers pushed a bit further than the 35 lap limit Lotus’ pitwall thought they would the exception to the rule. The appalling strategy called failed, as it did in China, and Raikkonen was left defenseless and losing nearly two and a half seconds per lap. It smacks again of Lotus being a team who are not able to handle complicated strategy calls in the heat of the moment.

Logic suggests that as soon as Raikkonen starting losing chunks of time, around lap 40 to 45 with a nineteen second gap over Massa and Hamilton, the call to pit should have been made. Raikkonen’s tyres were shot by the time Grosjean caught up to the back of the Lotus nevertheless the Finn’s racer’s heart demanded that he fight for his position; and fight for the place against Grosjean he did.

Alan Permane, head of trackside operations for Lotus, revealed the less than cordial feelings the team has for Raikkonen with vulgar radio message: “Kimi, get out of the f&^$ing way.” Raikkonen responded by asking the team not to shout at him. Raikkonen has also responded by driving without being payed for the majority of the season, paying his own traveling costs, and with 183 of Lotus’ 285 constructor’s points. Since Raikkonen put pen to paper to join Ferrari in 2014 Lotus’ attitude toward the Finn has taken a significant turn. Snide comments in the press about Raikkonen being “ungrateful” were a small insight to this shift. However, this radio message painted the picture a lot more clearly. Permane revealed after the race that he was “disappointed” that Raikkonen had chosen to fight for position. Perhaps his disappointment could be better served by aiming it at the strategic calls made by the team.

In the end, the day belonged to the incomparable Sebastian Vettel. Four times a world champion Vettel has earned the respect of the motorsport world with a sublimely flawless racing craft that is second to none. Success in Formula 1 demands the perfect blend of man and machine and Vettel has flawlessly delivered his end of the deal.

Personally, he has handled the jeering of the crowds with great character; professionally he has blown away any suggestion that he is anything less than pure class. Vettel thrilled the Indian crowd with several donuts on the start/finish straight but in truth he has thrilled motorsport fans with a superlative talent that knows no bounds. At only 26 years old Sebastian Vettel has entered into Formula 1 immortality.

October 27, 2013
Indian GP Preview: History Beckons In India

The Formula 1 paddock heads to one the most unique countries on the planet as India hosts its third F1 race.

From the culture to the people to the food India stands out as one of the most distinctive venues on the F1 calendar. The possibility of hosting an Indian GP has been in the works from as early as 1997 and after years of negotiating New Delhi was announced in 2007 as a future Formula 1 race host. The first Indian GP was received with much fanfare and praise as it made its debut in 2010.

The Budhh International Circuit is similar to Korea’s Yeongam circuit despite not being as technical in nature. The steep uphill climb and the blind apex into turn three is the highlight of the first sector which is otherwise dominated by power hungry straights. The second sector progresses with a mixture of medium to high speed corners which is capped with a short, slow speed final sector. The elevation changes may not be evident on television but provide a challenge to drivers with off camber and blind entries to some of the turns.

A significant weekend in the history of Formula 1 lies in prospect as Sebastian Vettel bids to become a four time consecutive world champion. Irrespective of what rival Fernando Alonso can do in his Ferrari this weekend Vettel will only need fifth place to clinch the 2013 title. However, ten points seems like a decidedly unspectacular way for the German to win his fourth title and at the very least he will want to occupy one of the steps on the podium if not the winner’s step. Only Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher have previously achieved four consecutive titles.

Lotus’ E21 has shown improved pace since the introduction of the longer wheelbase car. However, if Kimi Raikkonen has any designs on troubling the front of the race this weekend he must deliver an improved performance in qualifying. “Hopefully we finally get it right in qualifying as the last five qualifying sessions have not been that great for me. If we don’t, it’s going to be a difficult Sunday afternoon, although of course we’ll keep pushing. If we do get it right, then we can really go for it,” said Raikkonen.

Race after race has seen Fernando Alonso and Ferrari lose the opportunity of fighting for the title. What is more, the lackluster Ferrari pace has slowly but surely led to Alonso’s unflustered nature becoming a tad more edgy of late. A few statements here and there by the Spaniard have revealed his slightly despondent attitude regarding his position in the standings. The Scuderia’s sole aim is to beat Mercedes and Lotus to second place in the constructor’s title and they will have to summon something special if they are to re-ignite Alonso’s once unyielding determination.

Regardless of who the winner at the end of the Indian GP is, the day will undoubtedly belong to Sebastian Vettel. It doesn’t seem that long ago that a bright-eyed, eager nineteen year old German meandered into the pitlane, completely unknown and on the cusp of completely re-writing Formula 1 history.

October 23, 2013
Domenicali Plays Down Ferrari Team Orders Issue

Ferrari Team Principal, Stefano Dominicali played down the team order instruction that was ignored by Felipe Massa during the Japanese Grand Prix

The Brazillian ignored the team order which was given to him in a coded message by his race engineer, Rob Smedley. The instruction, “multi-function strategy A, now please”, was a apparently a coded message to allow Alonso through.

Massa, however, chose to ignore the message and carried on racing. Alonso eventually passed him using DRS on the run down to Turn 1.

“At the end of the day Fernando overtook him on the track. For sure Felipe is trying to be as quick as possible and I understand his feelings. He will find the team totally supporting him up until the end of the season with no problem” said Dominicali.

After the race, Massa had this to say: “But I was happy today. It was unfortunate for the race the drive through and what has happened in the race. It was not over any instruction, he overtook me on the track.”

With Massa leaving Ferrari at the season, and with him declaring that he will be racing for himself, there’s not much the team can really do. Although he may have been given a serious dressing down after the race.

October 14, 2013