On The Podium

 BARCELONA - 2nd pre season tests The second pre season testing at Barcelona got completed. Again there's not much to infer from it. The first 3 days were dry and testing went on as usual, but the last day was plagued by rain. Here are the lap times for day1 of test 2: 1  Rosberg Mercedes  1m22.616s 2  Raikkonen Lotus  1m22.623s  +0.007 3  Alonso Ferrari  1m22.952s  +0.336 4  Vettel Red Bull  1m22.965s  +0.349 5  Maldonado Williams  1m23.733s  +1.117 Vettel set the quickest lap time by lunch break, and went even quicker later on as he shaved a few fractions of his earlier set time. But he was quickly beaten by Rosberg who was on a flying lap. Raikkonen managed a few laps and missed out on P1 by 7 thousandths of a second! But that was good enough for ...

Author's note : Its a bit too late to post an article on Jerez tests, when the second test at Barcelona has already begun, but I think that's okay. And just to hint you: Jerez is pronounced 'Hur-ez', just a note cause I kept pronouncing it the wrong way (until I saw Ted Kravitz, from Sky F1 do the correct pronunciation) and happened to get embarrassed when I had to use that word in front of a crowd. Jerez Testing The first pre season testing just finished. And just like last year, Lotus, Ferrari, RedBull Racing, McLaren and Mercedes looked pretty good. In fact, include the Force India and the sauber who looked to be contending for the top 3 lap times. So, what exactly did happen the last time when many cars looked pretty quick? Oh yea, 7 different winners in 7 races from 5 different teams. There's nothing that stops it from happening again.. A few conclusions that can be taken out of this first test.  Firstly, this isn't the first time Mer...

Finally! Winter testing is right around the corner, to be precise, 10 days! Off season is the most boring time for an F1 fan,  motorsport journalists and for the usual F1 media (Sky F1, BBC F1, RTL..), and 2013 off season hasn't been any different. Yes, we did have Cricket and the Australian Open keeping us engaged, though only for a while. What really got us engaged, were the sudden 11th hour changes to the team personnel!  Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes. Sergio Perez to McLaren, Valtteri Bottas to  replace Bruno Senna, and Nico Hulkenberg to Sauber. But wait.. this is what we already know! Whats new? Many many rumors, and lots insights into the F1 3013 Paddock. Just to make it easier, I'll put them into bullets. Starting from "news" to  " 11th hour changes".  So, whats up F1? Pirelli launched the 2013 tyres on 23rd January - The Italian tyre manufacturer and the tyre provider for F1 2013, Pirelli launched what they call 'revolutionized' ...

The 2013 Formula one season officially kicks off on 15th March at Melbourne, but the pre season testing is something like a month ahead. That's the time where most of the constructors launch their season challengers. The first testing will be at Jerez and the second at Barcelona. Testing basically helps re-modify the cars for the first race of the season. Of course, not that nothing's tested when the cars are deigned, but Jerez will be the first taste of a track for the new car. So here are the Launch dates for different constructors. McLaren MP4-28 - Jan 31st Force India - 1st Feb Sauber C32 - 2nd Feb RedBull RB9 - Feb 3rd Mercedes F1W04 - 4th feb ToroRosso STR8 - 4th Feb Williams FW35 - 19th Feb Scuderia Ferrari F2013 - early Feb Lotus Renault E21 - Late January

Happy New Year! and Happy New season of F1. It's off season now, but not for too long! Its just about another 20 days when Catalunya will roar with the sound of sweet V8's, for the last time, before the official season starts. The drivers of most teams are confirmed, the date of release of cars are confirmed, the F1 2013 calendar is confirmed (19 races), and of course, the FIA has set the new rules. 2013 Pirelli 'Orange side walled' tyres Seasons 2010 and 2011 have been 2 pages of the book 'Tales of Sebastian Vettel and F1'. Every grand prix there was this one blue car in the front, and on the 55th or 60th lap there was this same car which came back trailing behind it, another 23 cars. 1..2..3.. grands prix, fine. Seeing this repeating itself 11 times in 1 season was jejune and flat. And this was probably why F1 lost many of its viewers. Then came 2012, it was like going back to the 80's where you get to see what real open four wheel car race is all...

Rules for the sport, rules for cars, rules for punishment, and rules for what not in F1?  This is a sport where the rules change every season. So if you don't know them properly, you'll have further rules to follow while taking the penalty. (Like Charles Pic's FIA community service in 2012!) So, what does the all mighty FIA have in store for the next season? Change of the animal's name for the noses? or change aero flow again? Too many questions. But only a few answers..  Unlike 2012, where the FIA banned the off throttle blown diffusers, and made it mandatory for all teams to change the looks of an ideal F1 car's nose, which were major changes, for 2013 the FIA made lesser and more minor tweaks. But major of the minor are - Firstly (and according to me the most major change) is lowering the platypus noses of 2012. Its high time the FIA made F1 more comfortable to watch.  Secondly, drivers will be able to use DRS only in specified DRS zones even during practice ...

20, 19, no its 20, its probably 19. After the 2nd US Grand Prix at New Jersey was decided   not to be held in 2013 because  organizers "didn't quite know what they were doing", the F1 calendar has been a big question mark. There have been a couple of replacement options such as  Austria's RedBull Ring A1 track - but Bernie ruled it out because the area didn't have many hotels around it. Turkey was hinted to be back  in the game, but unfortunately,  talking didn't do the thing and the contract wasn't signed. So that rules out another possibility of a 20 race season. I thought Valencia would be there for rescue, but as for now, there hasn't been any talks. At least not that anybody's heard of! Another issue: Where is the German Grand Prix going to be held? Troubled Nurburgring or Hockenheim? Spokespersons have indicated that it's the Nurburgring in 2013, but until the official FIA confirmation is released, nothing is too certain.  Despite all p...