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What Alonso and Vettel Need To Do To Win The 2012 World Championship

November 20, 2012 in F1 2012, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel

F1 Constructors Championship Trophy

(Photo credit: Cristiano Betta)

2012 Has provided us with a brilliant and unpredictable year of racing, and to the delight of Formula 1 fans everywhere, the 2012 World Championship will be decided at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo this weekend. 

After running away from the rest of the field, there are only two title contenders left; reigning champion Sebastian Vettel and two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, both of which are desperate and determined to win their third World Championship this year.

So what do Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso need to achieve on Sunday to take their third World Championship? Thankfully the Telegraph have done the hard work for us F1 fans, so here are the stats.  Read the rest of this entry →

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Were Ferrari Right To Break Felipe Massa’s Gearbox Seal?

November 20, 2012 in F1 2012, Ferrari, United States Grand Prix

Qualifying - Felipe Massa - Car 6 - F2012 - Me...

(Photo credit: dawvon)

Ferrari are no strangers to controversy, they’ve no issues with stunting Felipe Massa’s performance if he ever does better than Alonso it will help Fernando Alonso, but was breaking Massa’s gearbox seal at the US Grand Prix a step too far?

The issue was all down to the huge difference in grip between the two sides of the track; while the right hand side offered bucket loads of grip, the left hand side, which was much dirtier, offered less grip meaning it wouldn’t be easy to make a brilliant start at the beginning of the race.

On Saturday Felipe Massa was due to start the race in 6th, while Alonso qualified in 8th, meaning he would start from the dirty side of the track. The team were so concerned about how ‘dirty’ the left hand side of the track was, they clearly thought it could really hamper their chances at winning the 2012 World Championship.

In a move that Dick Dastardly would be proud of, they decided to break the seal on Massa’s gearbox, meaning the Brazilian would take a five place grid penalty. He would now start the race in 11th, meaning Alonso would be boosted up the grid by one place and would now start from the clean side of the grid in 7th place.  Read the rest of this entry →

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Is The 2012 Formula 1 World Championship Already Wrapped Up?

October 31, 2012 in F1 2012, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel

Formula One 2010 Rd.16 Japanese GP: Sebastian ...

Formula One 2010 Rd.16 Japanese GP: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) at autograph session on Thursday. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A question many fans will be asking themselves at the moment, either willing Sebastian Vettel on to take his third consecutive World Championship, or wondering what on earth Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso can pull out of the bag to stop him.

As the Formula 1 circus heads into Abu Dhabi, Vettel has a 13 pint lead on the World Championship and is looking on course to take his third consecutive title, so main rival Fernando Alonso is going to have to pull something special out of the bag to stop him.

How Vettel can win

The most obvious answer is for him to just keep doing what he’s doing now, which is dominating. In India he equalled Ayrton Senna’s record for leading every lap in three races, he’s not giving anyone else a look in.

The remaining three races look to benefit Red Bull as they’ve reigned supreme in Abu Dhabi and Brazil in recent years. Sandwiched between the two is the inaugural American GP, which has a first sector that looks like it will favour the Red Bulls. The huge back straight however, will benefit the Mercedes powered cars as they have the longest straight line speed, though you wouldn’t have known that watching Senna overtake Rosberg in India last weekend.

How Alonso can win

For the first part of the year while we were seeing a different winner each race, Alonso was consistently picking up points allowing him to lead the Championship. As Red Bull got over their start of the season woes, they became more confident and felt more at home in the car and it’s showing. Read the rest of this entry →

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Italian newspaper claims Alonso was at loggerheads with Ferrari at Indian Grand Prix

October 30, 2012 in DRS, F1, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, FIA, Formula 1, Grand Prixs, Indian Grand Prix, Teams & Drivers

By Ryan Bayona (Fernando Alonso) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) or CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsWith the grid swiftly moving on to the middle east for this weekend’s Abu Dhabi grand prix, there has been little time for the teams to celebrate, make excuses or to lick wounds in the wake of the Indian grand prix. This is understandable; it’s a new event demanding a new start and a clear focus.

One team which you would expect to be licking their wounds more than most is Ferrari. Their main man Fernando Alonso fell further behind in the title race, seemingly powerless to stop the charging bull that is Sebastian Vettel. The pressure put on Ferrari as a result of sunday’s (and previous) grand prix has been massive. When you have one of the largest car groups in the world as a parent company (Fiat), a reputation as a premium sports and F1 car maker to protect, and a passionate country behind you, this pressure is entirely comprehensible. That pressure almost became too much this weekend.

That is, at least, according to Italian newspaper La stampa. Read the rest of this entry →

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Indian Grand Prix: How can Alonso beat Vettel?

October 27, 2012 in DRS, F1, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Formula 1, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, McLaren, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel

By Nic Redhead (Flickr: Fernando Alonso) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

After qualifying for the Indian Grand Prix, it is certainly advantage Sebastian Vettel in the championship race. Qualifying on pole with a single scorching lap in Q3, Vettel confirmed Red Bull’s qualifying pace and delivered a stark warning to his nearest rival, Fernando Alonso. Despite appearing to have the second best pace of the leading constructors throughout the three practice sessions behind Red Bull, Ferrari found themselves behind McLaren too, leaving Alonso in 5th position. With no grid penalties this time around to help him, the Spaniard now has 3 cars between himself and Vettel, none of which are going to aid him in pursuing the German.

The question that the Ferrari management, strategists and mechanics will be asking in their debriefing is “how can Alonso beat Vettel?” Unfortunately, the answer will be, “he can’t”. Almost certainly the words “damage limitation” will be muttered in Italian too.

Vettel holds such a monopoly over the rest of the field now in terms of qualifying pace that it doesn’t necessarily matter if he doesn’t have the fastest pace on race day. Vettel will have a rear-gunner right behind him, in the form of the supposedly non-yielding Mark Webber. Even the most uninformed of pundits would be able to detect that that interview on Thursday was just fighting talk, and that he’ll be supporting Vettel. With his help, just like in Korea and Japan, Vettel can easily deploy the tactics which proved so formidable in 2011.

Read the rest of this entry →

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Indian GP qualifying: It all feels very last year…

October 27, 2012 in Bruno Senna, Caterham, F1, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, FIA, Force India, Formula 1, Grand Prixs, HRT, Jenson Button, Kamui Kobayashi, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Lotus, Mark Webber, Marussia, McLaren, Mercedes, Michael Schumacher, Narain Karthikeyan, Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado, Paul di Resta, Red Bull Racing, Romain Grosjean, Sauber, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez, Teams & Drivers, Toro Rosso, Williams

After this morning’s qualifying session for the Indian Grand Prix, most fans would be forgiven for thinking that they had been transported back in time. Just as in Korea and Japan, Red Bull dominated in a fashion reminiscent to 2011, securing another 1-2 result and confirming that, in qualifying trim at least, they are indeed in a league of their own.

Unlike Korea, it was Sebastian Vettel who took top spot, with Webber following closely behind. Their commanding performance crushed McLaren and, most importantly for the drivers championship, Ferrari, who could only manage 3-4 and 5-6 respectively. The result will be of particular concern for Fernando Alonso in fifth, who has three cars between him and Vettel. Read the rest of this entry →

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2013 Line up excitement has already begun!

July 10, 2012 in F1 2013, Ferrari, Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing

On the back of his win at Silverstone, Red Bull Racing announced today that they had re-signed Mark Webber for the 2013 season, despite claiming they were in no hurry to talk about contracts.

Webber has been with the team for seven years now and understandably feels comfortable at the team, with their performance this year (although not as dominant as last year) it’s hard to see why Webber would even contemplate leaving. With Sebastian Vettel signed with the team until the end of 2014, Red Bull Racing’s line up will remain unchanged for the 2013 season.

An interview with Mark Webber, released by Red Bull themselves, revealed that the Australian driver had been in talks with Ferrari, which raises one very interesting question;

Who will replace Felipe Massa? Read the rest of this entry →

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Why The French and Belgian Grand Prix Shouldn’t Alternate

March 8, 2012 in F1, F1 2012, Fernando Alonso, Formula 1, Mark Webber

Belgian Grand Prix, Spa, Eau Rouge.

I’m not even sure that I need to do a blog post on this, any Formula 1 fan will recognise the Belgian Grand Prix, held at Spa, is one of (if not) the best track on the calendar. Why oh why would we want to see it alternate with another track? Read the rest of this entry →

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Ferrari: Di Montezemolo Is Not A Happy Bunny

March 7, 2012 in F1, F1 2012, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Formula 1

Earlier this week Pat Fry spoke about how unhappy the team were with their performance in pre-season testing, now it’s the turn of Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo to have his say and he is not a happy bunny. Read the rest of this entry →

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Ferrari: Incredible Actors Or Genuinely In Trouble?

March 5, 2012 in F1, F1 2012, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Formula 1

Over the past few days Ferrari have been claiming their car is no where near as good as it should be. I can’t help but think back to this time last year when McLaren did the same, however come the Australian Grand Prix their performance was great.

Ferrari F1 2012 Car

As Tom Breeze said on the Niawm Facebook Page;

Oscar winning performance or real issues for them? – Tom Breeze

 

Read the rest of this entry →

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