Tag: ferrari

All about Kimi Raikkonen moving to Ferrari

If you’ve been paying attention to the F1 Silly Season rumours, you’ve probably heard by now that Kimi Raikkonen has been linked to a move back to the Maranello based Scuderia Ferrari team.

This is according to a single report published by Finnish tabloid newspaper Ilta-Sanomat who say that the report is based on information from their “sources”.

Not much to go on to be honest.

There have been no official reports of such a move from either Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari or the Lotus team. Ferrari dismissed rumours earlier in August that a lucrative offer was made to lure the Finn back to the team. They have now again stated that the rumours of Raikkonen moving to the team are completely unfounded. If Ferrari were to take Raikkonen back they would effectively be admitting that they made a mistake by letting him go in 2009.

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier is still confident that he can keep Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus camp despite the fact that Raikkonen is reportedly still waiting for his latest pay cheque and the team is rumoured to be struggling financially.

If Kimi Raikkonen moves to Ferrari, he would have to play second fiddle to Fernando Alonso, which seems very unlikely. He would however join James Allison who served as Lotus’ Technical Director before moving to Ferrari earlier this year. Alonso has been rumoured to be in the sights of Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz despite Alonso’s long term contract with Ferrari.

Earlier, Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo were named as the top candidates for the Red Bull team but the silly season rumour mill is indeed working over time. And this whole game of F1 musical chairs was started by Mark Webber who announced his retirement from Formula One earlier this year.

Only time will tell and we will keep you updated on who will be moving where as soon as official announcements are made.

Where do you think Kimi Raikkonen should race in 2014? Should he stay with Lotus? Move to Red Bull, or re-fit his red overhauls for Ferrari? Let us know in the comments section below!

August 14, 2013
Silly Season Update – Red Bull drops another hint?

Red Bull have said that there is no pressure for them to put one of it’s young drivers into their car for 2014.

Rumours have been rampant the past month on who will replace Australian Mark Webber. The confirmed potential drivers on the shortlist are Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo and Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen. And as of the Hungarian grand prix race weekend Fernando Alonso also seems to be under consideration for the champion squad. However, it remains to be seen whether Alonso will be contractually available, whether Ferrari would let him go without too much of a fight and most importantly, whether or not the rumour is just a bit of political by-play from Alonso.

Even though the Toro Rosso team was set up with the aim of bringing young talent into the sport Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says that Ricciardo will not be selected if it is not in the best interest of the team. “Of course we want the strongest drivers in the cars that you possibly can,” said Horner.

It makes sense to plan for the future with a younger driver. But what Horner is saying makes more sense. Formula 1 is about now and having the best driver line-up ensures at the very least a chance of fighting amongst the front-end.

Daniel Ricciardo proved his prowess at the three-day Silverstone test. However, being in the thick of things against a triple world champion teammate, with every miniscule move scrutinised by the world’s sporting media is whole different prospect. Does Ricciardo have the talent to perform in the Red Bull? Almost certainly. Can Ricciardo cope with the pressure of racing for Formula 1’s premier team? Big question mark. Chances are that he could handle it without any problems but the doubt is there.

Contrastingly, having a driver of Raikkonen or Alonso’s calibre in the team is a guarantee. A guarantee of speed, consistency and knowing how to handle the world’s media.

It will also be more beneficial for Sebastian Vettel to have either Raikkonen or Alonso as his teammate. Though Vettel is a triple world champion he has hardly ever been pushed by a teammate for an extended period of time. Some suggest that for Vettel to be truly regarded as one of the greats he needs to beat the best drivers on the grid. With all things being equal, armed with the same car, would he be able to do that against Raikkonen or Alonso? No matter the answer of this question pairing Vettel with either one of these two is going to be one hell of an explosive ride.

Photos by Red Bull Racing Twitter Team.

August 1, 2013
James Allison heading for Ferrari this September

Ferrari has confirmed that former Lotus (and Renault) Technical Director, James Allison, will be joining the Maranello based team on the 1st of September this year.

Allison left his position with Lotus as their technical director earlier this year and there have been rumours linking him to a possible move to Ferrari. He now joins the team as their “Chassis Technical Director”.

As part of the deal, Pat Fry gets a nice promotion – moving up to Director of Engineering at the Ferrari team.

Both men will report to team principal, Stefano Domenicali.

James Allison is well known as one of the best designers in the Formula One paddock and could really make a change in their title hopes in the 2014 season. He previously worked for Ferrari during the early 2000’s during their dominant spell with Michael Schumacher and then moved on to Renault where Fernando Alonso won the 2005 and 2006 championships with him.

Photo of James Allison by Lotus F1 Team

Photo of Michael Schumacher by Rick Dikeman

July 29, 2013
F1 2013: Hungarian GP Race Review – Miracle man Hamilton routs the pack

Ten races into the 2013 Formula 1 season Lewis Hamilton has claimed his first win of the year and the first for his Mercedes team at the Hungarian grand prix.

Red Bull and Mercedes found themselves locked in the battle for pole position on Saturday. 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position from Sebastian Vettel’s grasp by a mere 0.038s. It couldn’t get any closer and it couldn’t have been a more perfect lap for the Brit. Regarded as a qualifying ace, Hamilton has played second fiddle to teammate Rosberg but if the tables were going to turn Hungary is where it would happen. On three occasions Hamilton had won the Hungarian GP. However, all of these victories were behind the wheel of a McLaren. This weekend Hamilton mentioned those who thought he was daft to make the move to Mercedes. He regards his first victory for Mercedes as one the most special of his sparkling career and though he may not say it, he will be enormously satisfied to have proved the non-believers wrong.

While Hamilton had it mostly his own way for all of the seventy laps of the race the battle for the podium positions was anything but straightforward.

Sebastian Vettel barely maintained second place off the starting line before he had to defend against a feisty Romain Grosjean in a somewhat pacier Lotus in the early stages of the race. Despite Grosjean’s best efforts however the notoriously difficult overtaking conditions around the Hungaroring meant he stayed behind the Red Bull driver.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso made his customary lightening start but could only gain one position to run fourth at the end of the first lap. The afternoon wasn’t one to remember for the Marenello based team as Alonso lacked the pace to fight amongst the frontrunners for the entire race. “We didn’t have the pace. We were too slow with the soft. We were too slow on the medium. We just had no pace,” said a frustrated Alonso.

There is no doubt that as a true championship winning driver Fernando Alonso can be expected to be fighting for this world title until the last possible moment. Questions have always been about how a driver will acclimatise to team, how he will adapt to the DNA of a new car. In Alonso and Ferrari’s situation it’s the opposite. The question is can Ferrari deliver a car that is worthy of Alonso; and if not how much longer can Fernando Alonso be expected to remain loyal to the prancing horse? Ferrari and Fernando Alonso were also fined 15,000 Euro for illegally using DRS three times while not within the prescribed one second range of the car in front.

This particular Sunday was all about Lewis Hamilton. Doubts about how Mercedes would fare of the new Pirelli tyres were on the forefront of most people’s minds. In the post qualifying press conference, despite being on pole position, Lewis Hamilton said that it would take ‘a miracle’ for him to win the Hungarian grand prix. However, as the race progressed it was evident that Hamilton was not going to face the immense level of tyre degradation the team had suffered at previous race weekends. Hamilton was the first of the frontrunners to enter the pitlane as he swopped his softs for the medium compound tyres on lap nine.

As Vettel encountered a slower Jenson Button after his first pit stop Lewis Hamilton edged the gap out to nearly ten seconds over the Red Bull driver. By the halfway mark of the race it was evident, due to Hamilton’s pace that the three time former winner of the Hungarian GP was not going to be caught.

It set up a fight between the two Red Bull’s and the two-stopping Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn had pitted thirteen laps earlier than Vettel and should have been a sitting duck for Vettel and his fresh rubber. Raikkonen, not a pushover by any stretch of the imagination, held off the German for second place. Raikkonen completed the longest stint of laps on the medium compound – 33 laps in total.

Mark Webber put in a fighting drive to recover from tenth on the grid to fourth on Sunday. Fernando Alonso held off Romain Grosjean for fifth in a typically determined drive. Grosjean pulled off a tremendous move around the outside of turn four to overtake Felipe Massa but was later struck with a harsh drive-through penalty for leaving the circuit and gaining an advantage. It went from bad to worse for Grosjean as he was hit with a 20 second post race penalty for a causing a collision with Jenson Button. Nevertheless, Grosjean retains his sixth place finish.

Jenson Button and Felipe Massa finished seventh and eighth respectively while the sister McLaren of Sergio Perez was ninth. Nico Rosberg’s late retirement from the race, which appeared to be engine related, gave Pastor Maldonado tenth place overall and Williams their first point of the 2013 season.

Lewis Hamilton ended his victory drought in great style by taking a dominant fourth victory at the Hugaroring. A first win for Mercedes will undoubtedly by cherished but what was more impressive about Hamilton’s drive was the sheer determination and hunger that practically oozed from the former champ. An on song Lewis Hamilton is a formidable opponent and if Hungary is anything to go by he is far from letting go of this championship without a fight.

Photo credits:

Lewis Hamilton – Photo via Mercedes F1 Twitter Team

Grosjean vs Vettel – Screen grab by F1 Madness Team

Alonso – Screen grab by F1 Madness Team

Raikkonen – Lotus F1 Twitter Team

July 28, 2013
Ferrari Fined 15 000 Euros for DRS Misuse

Ferrari have been fined 15 000 Euros for the illegal use of DRS during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso was able to use DRS on three occasions even though he was not within one second of the car in front of him at the detection point. According to AutoSport officials said in a statement that a setting error from the team was to blame, but the advantage gained was negligible.

It was found that the team did not change the DRS setting from the pre-race setting to the race setting.

There was a small advantage of less than a second gained by Alonso and the team argued that Alonso was unable to use DRS at other times during the race when he was permitted to do so.

The team is responsible for the setting on the ECU so the stewards decided to hand down the 15 000 Euro fine rather than penalizing the driver. This means that Alonso gets to keep his P5 finish.

July 28, 2013
F1 2013 Hungarian GP – Qualifying Report

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton secured his thirtieth career pole position as he set the fastest time in qualifying for the Hungarian grand prix.

The biggest casualty of the first session of qualifying was Force India’s Paul di Resta. The Scot seemed struggled throughout the first part of qualifying and sounded perplexed on the radio to his team. Some suggest that the new kevlar belted tyre may not be as well suited to the characteristics of the Force India as was the old steel-belt construction. Di Resta will start in 18th position.

The second part of qualifying, always a bit more frantic, saw drivers leaving the pitlane on scrubbed sets of the softer tyres. Mark Webber’s pitwall informed the Australian that he had suffered a kers failure making the Red Bull driver’s afternoon all the more difficult. Nevertheless, Webber was able to advance to the final part of qualifying.

For the majority of the second part of qualifying Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg appeared to be on course for the top ten. However, the track evolution and several drivers opting for a new set of softs saw the Sauber driver relegated to 12th place. McLaren’s Jenson Button missed out on advancing but teammate Sergio Perez, recovering from a crash in the final practice session, managed to scrape through.

Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo delivered another impressive qualifying performance and will start from 8th on the grid.As Mark Webber departed the scene without taking to the track in the final session of qualifying it was teammate Vettel who carried Red Bull’s hopes. However, by 0.038s Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position from the German. Hamilton has won the Hungarian grand prix on three previous occasions and is the only driver in the last eight years to win the race from pole (2007, 2012).

Lotus’ Romain Grosjean underlined the pace shown in the morning practice session with a third place starting position for tomorrow’s race. Nico Rosberg will start fourth – some four tenths off teammate Hamilton.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso quietly qualified fifth ahead of Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen in sixth. Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez* and Mark Webber** round out the top ten, respectively.

* Sergio Perez has opted for an alternate strategy by setting his fastest lap on the medium compound tyres.

** Mark Webber did not complete a lap in the final part of qualifying; this allows him his choice of tyre on which to start tomorrow’s race.

July 27, 2013
F1 2013 Hungarian GP – Free Practice 2 Report

The second free practice session for Sunday’s Hungarian GP was headed by Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

An incident free second free practice session was run in scorching conditions around the Hungaroring this afternoon. The track temperature reached a high of 45 degrees celcius and the Red Bulls’ pace was just as hot.

Where Mercedes is expected to hold the advantage over a single flying lap teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg could not get closer than half a second to Sebastian Vettel’s fastest time of 1:21:264.

The long runs didn’t swing it anyone else’s favour either. Mark Webber looked to be the quicker of the two Red Bull drivers on the medium compound tyres as the Australian set several laps within a tenth of each other. The soft compound tyre looks in the region of a second a lap faster than the white-walled medium tyre but the degradation level revealed a life-span of roughly eigth to ten laps.

Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen was the only question mark with regards to his one lap pace as the Finn encountered traffic on both attempts of setting a flying lap. However, the Iceman did pop in a time quickest enough for eight after three flying laps while Grosjean set his fastest time on his second flying lap. An indication perhaps that the Lotus is looking after the softer compound a bit better than their competition.

Ferrari looked to be struggling on the softer of the two compounds with a drop off of about two seconds being the result for both Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

As the checquered flag fell at the end of the second free practice session it was Red Bull who looked to have the best package both in quali and race trim. It’s up to the rest of the pack to find something overnight.

July 26, 2013
2013 Hungarian Grand Prix: Free Practice 1 Report

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time for FP1 at the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix. He came out on track with 30 minutes left in the session and set a time of 1:22.723. Mark Webber in the other RB9 finished the session in P2 with a 1:22.982. Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished the session in P3 and P4 respectively, 0.3s off the pace of Vettel’s time.

There was a very brief point where McLaren’s Jenson Button was in P1, but his time of 1:23.370 earned him sixth fastest of the session. The good news is that they do seem quicker at the Hungaroring.

The full time sheet is included below:

July 26, 2013
Hungarian Grand Prix Preview Quotes – Ferrari

Preview Quotes from Felipe Massa on behalf of Ferrari ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring where he suffered his nasty crash back in 2009.

Felipe Massa, Ferrari

“The Hungarian Grand Prix is a very special event for me, that brings back a lot of memories. Naturally, there are some negative memories from my [2009 Hungaroring] accident, but also positive ones in that I am here today, getting ready for Budapest, healthy and still racing. I love the fans in Hungary, as I actually have a lot more of them since my accident, so it’s somewhere I am always pleased to go back to and of course I hope I can have a good race there this weekend.

“It’s a short track, with a lot of corners one after the other with no long straights. Overtaking is difficult, with changes of direction all the time, which make it a fun track. So it’s an old style race track and Sunday afternoon can be tough, but I like going back to these old fashioned venues.

“For sure people say the characteristics of our car are not best suited to this circuit and that it will be tough for us to fight for the win here, but I am not sure this is an accurate assessment, because there have been other circuits where we expected our car to be very strong and it was not and vice versa. The important thing will be to get a good understanding of exactly how the car is reacting as quickly as possible. The circuit requires as much downforce as possible, because the speed down the straight is not so important here. You need a car that is very stable and that is kind to the tyres to avoid degradation. I think we can be competitive, so I’m hoping our weekend goes in the opposite way to what people are expecting.

“I expect the tyres will be critical again, especially in relation to temperature. They will perform very differently in qualifying and the race and I hope we can make the most of the high temperatures.”

July 24, 2013
F1 2013: Hungarian GP Preview – Qualifying king at the Hungaroring

After a three week gap the 2013 Formula 1 season restarts with the Hungarian grand prix.

In its own right the Hungarian GP has written its own part in Formula 1 history. The circuit has rewarded Damon Hill (1993), Fernando Alonso (2003) and very memorably Jenson Button (2006) with their first victories in Formula 1.

The first grand prix held at the Hungaroring was the first to be held behind the Iron Curtain. Formula 1 has been frequenting the Hungarian grand prix since 1986 and the Budapest located circuit is a guaranteed staple of a Formula 1 race calendar until 2016.

As a high downforce circuit the Hungaroring is famous for its tight and twisting nature. The dusty track surface confirms how little action the track sees which makes track evolution at the Hungaroring a crucial aspect for judging a qualifying effort. Throughout the 4.381 km lap the Hungaroring’s old-school layout is packed with fourteen corners.

The Hungaroring is technically demanding, bumpy and narrow, loved by drivers and adored by fans for its traditional atmosphere. The key to a good result here is a good grid slot. Having the fastest car will mean nothing if you’re stuck in the pack. In 1990 Thierry Boutsen in a sluggish Williams held off a much quicker Ayrton Senna to win the race. The chances of overtaking, even with DRS, are slim to none. No one knows the frustration of not being to overtake better than Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn has finished second at the Hungarian GP on four separate occasions.

The new tyres, tested during the three days of the young driver’s test at Silverstone last week, will be used this weekend in Hungary. The test was opened to current race drivers by the FIA to assist Pirelli. Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg pointed out that testing the new tyres wasn’t a “day and night” difference and that running on the new compounds for the first time in Hungary “will be fine too.” The 2013 Pirelli P Zero tyres have been matched with 2012 construction to enhance consistency and improve safety.

Pirelli’s initial conservative choice of the medium and hard compounds would’ve hampered teams such as Lotus and Ferrari who thrive on getting the softer tyre to its working temperature quicker and stretching the life of the tyre. However, coupled with high temperature, forecast at mid-thirties, Pirelli’s reversion to the medium and soft compound will play to the strengths of the two teams.

McLaren have won eleven of the twenty-seven Hungarian grands prix but victory this weekend is unlikely to be a possibility for the Woking based team. Jenson Button believes that the team are moving the right direction. “A win in 2013 is going to be difficult, but I actually think the team is working very well right now: in Germany, our tyre-usage, strategy and management of the race was as good as it’s ever been.”

Sebastian Vettel was the quickest of the drivers at the three day young driver’s test at Silverstone last week. He will no doubt want to continue in the same vein this weekend. Red Bull has never been very prolific at the Hungaroring and of the two it is only Mark Webber who has won here before. Then again, a few weeks ago Vettel hadn’t won the German GP either.

Mercedes have proven their prowess in qualifying which makes the likelihood of the Silver Arrows locking out the front-row of the grid, or getting a car on pole very good. Given the lack of overtaking on the circuit they will have a prime opportunity to control the race and win it. However, the unknown for Mercedes this weekend will be their performance on the new Pirelli tyres.

Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari hasn’t looked anything special in qualifying trim but his lightening starts can potentially transform fifth on the grid to second – a vital part to a successful race. The key to this weekend is having a car that can cope with the twisting demands of the Hungaroring. But even more so, qualifying and making a good start to the race can be the difference between winning or not.

July 24, 2013