This Week: The 2012 season begins

This week sees the end of Janurary (today) and the start of 2012 international motorsport season. The first Moto GP test stasrted today in Sepang and Yamaha have hit the ground runniung with Lorenzo topping the time sheets with a lap of 2.01:657 on the new 1000cc Yamaha competitor. Honda have also launched strong with Pedrosa only .4 of a second behind. Whereas Casey Stoner had to sit the day out with back problems which are belived to be minor and he should start his campaign very soon. 3rd and 4th spots were taken by the Yamahas of Cal Crutchlow and Ben Spies respectively while Cals Tech III team-mate was in 6th.

The much anticipated GP12 from Ducati finally had to break cover (as it wasn’t shown at all at wrooom!) and Rossi revealed the bike early on over twitter:

https://twitter.com/#!/ValeYellow46/status/163911316661223424/photo/1/large

Its a rather prototype looking machine but the Italian still set the 5th fast time at the test with an encouraging 2.02:392.

The leading CRT was Colin Edwards (no surprise there) and the Forward Racing entrant could only manage a 2.08:240 on the new format of Moto GP bikes first head to head against the manufacturers. How much the gap will come down remains to be seen as testing can always be a little mis-leading and even if the bikes were full blooded Moto GP bikes, they are still new entrants so we expect them to pick up pace as the tests continue.

On four wheels there is movement too as McLaren, Force India, Ferrari, Lotus, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Sauber will join Caterham in showing their new cars ahead of the first test in Jerez on the 7th of Feburary. While Merecedes and HRT (alledgedly) are waiting till the second test (21st Feb) and Marussia the final test (1st March) before running their 2012 cars, there is still no word from Williams as to when their new techincal team will show or run their cars.

Caterham Break Cover as Marussia Hide

Gentlemen start your launches! The Caterham (formerly Team Lotus) CT-01 has been shown online and today in print (F1 Magazine) and features a rather strange nose. Its the first car from the Norfolk team to feature KERS as well as what they describe as “aggresive” aerodynamics. It certainly looks a lot more innovative than previous cars and sports the same livery as last year without the massive words Caterham on the sidepods:

 

 

 

On the otherhand Marussia have announced they wont be at the first test at all in Jerez and will show up to the second test (the 1st in Barcelona) to run the 2011 car primarily for Charles Pic to get some mileage and we’d expect little running from Timo Glock. It could be viewed nowadays that they couldn’t get a well funded 3rd driver to cover some expenses and split some more track time between him and Pic.

Caterham CT-01

Looking Ahead: Marussia

How time flies, it doesn’t seem that long ago that we were having a look at the 2011 season that had just finished and analyising the results. But with the first car launch less than 2 weeks away and testing following hot on the heels of that its time to take a look at each time and what they are aiming for in 2012.

Marussia Cosworth
2011: 12th Place
2012 Drivers:
Timo Glock
Charles Pic

 

The team formally known as Virgin were beaten by HRT again in 2011 to finish last in the constructors title and are still a long way off batteling to become a category 2 team (requires a top 10 finish in 2 out of 3 years) never mind claiming points. As Marussia now there is little left of the previous team, a move to banbury and Pat Symmonds has joined as a technical director/consultant for the team to design this years car. For the Russian team lets hope it sees a marked improvement from the CFD only VR-01 and MVR-02 cars. The team has however kept Timo Glock and brough in another pay driver rookie in the shape of Frenchman Charles Pic.

While the team does have a deal with McLaren to use certain technologies and some wind tunnel time they will not be running KERS next year while Caterham and HRT are believed to be running the system, leaving them as the only team without the energy recovery system next year. They really have to start closing the gap to Caterham and the rest of the field, but surely the minimum aim is to beat HRT and not finish last in the constructors championship!

2012 Prediction: 11th

The Senna name returns to Williams

 

Williams have confirmed Bruno Senna will drive for Williams next year alongside Pastor Maldonado. He will be the lead driver with the most amount of experience in the team and has impressed in the simulator but according to internet rumours he is backed by a massive amount of sponsorship from Embratel (seen on his shirt) and Gilette to the tune of 15 million euros.

I am pleased Bruno will get a chance of a full season in a proper F1 team and it would be great to see him do well but he does still have to prove his race pace.

2012 Moto GP Entry List

Over the weekend the 2012 Moto GP entry list was announced and the 21 strong list did confirm a few things, including the number of CRT bikes taking part (9) and all the riders for next season:

Provisional 2012 MotoGP Entry List

1 Casey Stoner AUS Honda Team (HONDA)
4 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Yamaha Tech 3 (YAMAHA)
5 Colin Edwards USA Forward Racing (SUTER) *
6 Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda Motogp (HONDA)
8 Hector Barbera SPA Pramac Racing Team (DUCATI)
9 Danilo Petrucci ITA Ioda Racing Project (IODA) *
11 Ben Spies USA Yamaha Factory Racing (YAMAHA)
13 Anthony West AUS Speed Master (ART) *
14 Randy De Puniet FRA Aspar Team Motogp (ART) *
17 Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (DUCATI)
19 Alvaro Bautista SPA Honda Gresini (HONDA)
20 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aspar Team Motogp (ART) *
22 Ivan Silva SPA BQR (BQR-FTR) *
26 Dani Pedrosa SPA Honda Team (HONDA)
35 Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Tech 3 (YAMAHA)
46 Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Team (DUCATI)
51 Michele Pirro ITA Honda Gresini (FTR) *
68 Yonny Hernandez CO BQR (BQR-FTR) *
69 Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (DUCATI)
77 James Ellison GBR Paul Bird Racing (ART) *
99 Jorge Lorenzo SPA Yamaha Factory Racing (YAMAHA)

* CRT (Claiming Rule Team)

ART is the Aprilla CRT bike which is the most controversial of the entries as it is under debate whether a motorcycle manufacturer should be allowed to enter under these rules. It remains to be seen how competetive they will be, but hopefully they wont be completly at the back and will develop as the season goes along.

 

This week we’re expecting a quiet one after the Wrooom! event for Ferrari and Ducati beefed up news stories. We are expecting some news from Sky about coverage and thats about it.

The Italian experiment ends at Ferrari

This week sees the annual wrooom! event which sees Ferrari and Ducati team up to launch their 2012 season, however this year the traditional unvieling of the Ducati is absent. However it is interesting to note that Ferrai have announced two new appointments to their technical team. The first is former Bridgestone Technical Director, Hirohide Hamashima who is help the scuderia with understanding tyre issues which plagued the 2011 challenger and the second is Steve Clark from Mercedes to become track engineer. It is a further move away from the national flavour the team took on post Ross Brawn and sees them returning to hiring internationally reconised personel.

Yesterday at wrooom! we saw the Ducati riders in focus with Rossi admitting a title challenge is still unlikely this year. Today we expect Luca Montezemelo to be disliking the new engines and wanting 3rd cars.

Plenty of fish in the sea in 2012

With around a month to the first test of 2012 and only 73 days until the lights go out in Melbourne the 2012 season is fast approaching however there are still drivers trying to work out where they will spend their 2012 season. With the return of Kimi Raikkonen, Pedro De La Rosa, Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg it has been increasingly hard year for rookies to bag a place in the top flight. Charles Pic managed to get the rookie deal at Marussia (Virgin) for a year and it will be interesting to see if he lasts any longer than that. Jean Eric Vergne bagged a place at STR, the Red Bull junior team as they axed both their current drivers. There’s offically only a spot left at Willams and HRT, but rumours continue to circle around Jarno Trulli at Caterham. Here’s a run down of whos out of a seat and what may happen to them in the year ahead:

Rubens Barichello – 39
2011 Season – Williams
322 Starts
The most experienced F1 driver ever is still in with a shout at Williams and is a credible candidate to drive the team forward, the retirement of Patrick Head could also play in his favour as it is rumoured the two didn’t see eye to eye. A proven race winner Rubinho could be stability Williams need in their line up as they have changed a massive amount of back room staff.
My Guess: Retirement 😦 / Touring Cars

Adrian Sutil – 28
2011 Season – Force India
90 Starts
Adrian had a tough start to 2011 and was out paced by his rookie team mate Paul Di Resta, however in the second half of the season he came alive and has really shown some speed and delievered his best drives to date. Hes been with Force India since they bought out Spyker and surely was one of the most settled drivers on the grid. Hes really shown good speed this year but isnt rated for his engineering ability, however those Ferrari rumours are interesting.
My Guess: Williams / 3rd driver spot lower down the field

Sebastien Buemi – 23
2011 Season – Scuderia Toro Rosso
55 Starts
After 3 full seasons with Toro Rosso, Sebastien has failed to make the grade and move on up to the main team. At only 23 however he remains very young and could prove an attractive option to someone who wants a long term drive investment. However he has been matched by Alguersuari recently and is rated as a solid if not ultimately fast driver.
My Guess: 3rd Driver spot at Red Bull followed by Indy Car

Jaime Alguersuari – 21
2011 Season – Scuderia Toro Rosso
46 Starts
The youngest ever driver in F1 may of had a case of too much too soon as he finds himself without a drive for 2012. The spaniard has shown glimpses of greatness with some great drives but is as likely to perform averagely as he is amazingly. The same goes however that at 21 with 46 starts he does have some credentials that could interest teams up and down the grid. It is interesting that Red Bull have thrown out both their development drivers and not kept Alguersuari on as a yard stick for Ricciardo or Vergne next year.
My Guess: 3rd Driver at HRT followed by replacing Pedro De La Rosa mid season

Bruno Senna – 28
2011 Season – Renault (Half a Season)
23 Starts
An interesting season from Bruno in which he demonstrated raw pace in qualifying but failed to deliever in races as the Renault tailed off dramatically in the second half of the season. Its a shame he didnt get the nod in place of Kubica as I think we would of seen Bruno stay on if given a full season. He does now have budget for racing thanks to Brazilian support and THAT surname to go with the promise of great speed.
My Guess: 3rd Driver Role Somewhere

Vitaly Petrov – 27
2011 Season – Renault
38 Starts
Possibly damaged by his outburst or being beaten by Senna in qualifying the rocket from russia finds himself without a seat for next year despite his deep deep pockets. He does have a podium to his name but no-one is really sure how good he currently is, he was a bit 50/50 against Kubica in his rookie season but comfortably matched Heidfeld at the start of the year. Despite being 27 and having two seasons under him he’s still shown some short sightedness when it comes to Michael Schumachers Mercedes or Malaysian drainage gullys.
My Guess: 2nd Seat at HRT thanks to those Roubles

Nick Heidfeld – 34
2011 Season – Renault
183 Starts
The German Veteran “Quick Nick” Heidfeld found himself drafted into replace Robert Kubica after being passed on by Sauber for 2011. The German has raced for a large number of teams on the gird and has come so close on many occasions to that elusive victory. He’s turning into something of a super sub for F1 teams but is rumoured to develop the car in a direction that does not suit other drivers at all. Chopped by Renault mid way through the season wasn’t a good sign despite getting to the podium early on.
My Guess: DTM with a few final super sub appearances somewhere

Jerome D’Ambrosio – 26
2011 Season – Virgin
19 Starts
Jerome arguably performed better than his predescessor againsts Timo Glock but again Virgin have opted for the chopping block and replaced their rookie driver. Hard to know what standard of driver he is as he regulary was behind his more experienced team mate and was often picked off by the HRT’s.
My Guess: 3rd driver at Lotus (Renault)

Vitantonio Liuzzi – 30
2011 Season – HRT
80 Starts
Luizzi looked all washed up at the end of 2010 when he was replaced at Force India, but found a spot at the struggling HRT team. The team have already signed Pedro De La Rosa but without much/any sponsorship to race the team may have to opt for money over talent especially when there is so much talent on the gird with money. He does have a contract with the team but it remains to be seen if they can hold onto him as he is a better driver than the team deserves.
My Guess: HRT or bust

Karun Chandok – 27
2011 Season – Team Lotus (Fridays & 1 race)
11 Starts
Karun was gifted chances to drive in the 2011 season for Team Lotus on fridays (where he promptly stuck it in the wall) and his big day out in Germany (where he spun more than washing machine) which lead to the team not putting him in the car for India as planned. Im not sure he impressed in 2010 at HRT but he really did some damage to his career in 2011 at Team Lotus. Really nice guy, great pundit but possibly slightly below the grade for F1.
My Guess: 3rd driver for Caterham (Team Lotus) then onto sports cars

Jules Bianchi – 22
2011 Season – GP2 (3rd Place) & Ferrari Test Driver
0 Starts
Its bizare that number 11 on our list of f1 drivers is the first rookie and the first driver that didn’t race in 2011 in F1! Jules Bianchi is a Ferrari prodigy who is the first golden kid of their driver development program. However the team is using its historical Sauber seat for Sergio Perez (if you dont believe hes a Ferrari boy, Perez and Bianchi tested a 2009 Ferrari against each other in September). He has done two consecutive seasons in GP2 finishing 3rd so he really could use serious F1 miles. With the extra young drivers test he will get a few more miles and be useful to Ferrari for that.
My Guess: 3rd Driver Spot at Force India for Fridays & maybe a Scuderia spot later in the season if Massa doesn’t shape up

Lucas Di Grassi – 27
2011 Season – Pirelli Tire Tester
18 Starts
Virgins original Rookie dump hasn’t been heard from much since claiming a spot as the Pirelli test driver in 2011, he has shown speed with a solid junior career and has even more miles under his belt now. But with the competition so fierce I dont expect to see him next year – even if I think he deserves a second shot.
My Guess: More tire testing

 

Those are just the front runners for seats there are some drivers such as Bottas/Rossi/Gueterez who are getting Friday roles with teams next year but aren’t in the frame for next year. Its hard to think that 10 active drivers from 2011 are currently without a seat for next year but its a cruel sport and your only as good as your last performance.

2011 Drivers Rankings Pt 2.

1 Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull Renault – WDC: 1st
Only off the podium twice, most poles ever, only one word for it: Domination.

2 Jenson Button – McLaren Mercedes – WDC: 2nd
Had a stormer of a season taking some of the best drives EVER for race wins including Canada and Hungary. He won his first dry race for the Woking team and beat his team mate after loosing out last year with some pretty rotten luck. Jenson may have arrived properly in 2009 with that Brawn year, but he showed us this year that he is truely top drawer. Next few season will be seeing where he ranks in the all time greats not if he belongs there. He could however still sort out his qualifying.

3 Fernando Alonso – Ferrari – WDC: 4th
The Ferrari this year was not the Scuderia’s finest hour in car development – plagued by wind tunnel issues and a failure to get the blown diffuser working properly killed off the prancing horse. Fernando however shook ever drop from that carcass and even brough home a victory in Britian with that bizzare one weekend only rule change thing. You’ve got to wonder when Fernando will bring the title home to Marranello not if. But he also seemed to keep getting overtaken by the best overtakes of the year which edged him down to 3rd – just about.

4 Heikki Kovalainen – Team Lotus Renault – WDC: 22nd
Its hard to argue that anyone else outdrove their car more this year. Getting into Q2 and mixing it with Williams’s and Renaults all season Heikki has really rebuilt his reputation. If Lotus (Caterham in 2012) provide another step we’d hop down the bookies and bet your house on Heikki scoring the first ever points for the 2010 new teams next year.

5 Nico Rosberg – Mercedes – WDC: 7th
He won the Mercedes inter-team battle again and brought the car home consistantly as well as lead a race. Could of used a podium to really tick all the boxes but the second half of the season was pure points with the exception of Monza. Was always the quicker in quali and handed the safe strategy so was occasionally beaten by a schumi gamble but we really want to see the car up their with the big 3 next year to see how really good Nico is.

6 Lewis Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes – WDC: 5th
While he managed to win 3 races he kept ploughing through the sidepods of Felipe Massa all season and was beaten for the first time ever by his team mate. He was still quick in qualifying as always but embaressed constantly come race day. He’d be wise picking up a few lessons from a certain young scot about how to handle media around the grid however when the old Lewis showed up, boy did he show up in a Kimi Raikkonen esque performance swing race to race. Needs to improve because he knows he can do better.

7 Adrain Sutil – Force India Mercedes – WDC: 9th
Its a cruel irony that after racing every season for Force India the year he finally gets a christmas present from the spare parts department and gets into the top 10 in the championship he loses his seat. There have been some great drives, especially in the second half of the season. His team mate kept him honest but he prevailed and probably out-drove the car here and there. Unfortunatly he is famous for being fast but not technical at all so needs a good team mate, im not sure anywhere left would suit him. Maybe Caterham?

8 Mark Webber – Red Bull Renault – WDC:3rd
Mark Webber finishes 3rd for the second season in a row, but this year he managed only one win as he struggled with the tires and converting poles to wins. Great race craft including some stunning overtakes means he gets another crack next year boyed by that win in Brazil. But it was decimation in the inner team battle with a car that cruised to the championship.

9 Michael Schumacher – Mercedes – WDC: 8th
Kept his team mate much more honest this year but is still struggling to find some raw qualifying pace but has proved this year he still has some great race craft now he’s blown the cobwebs off. Both drivers from Mercedes are screaming out for a better car, if Schumi could get it right on Saturdays and Mercedes get the downforce numbers in tunnel we could see the old miester on the steps come sunday! A great race in Canada almost saw him on the podium if it were not for DRS, also some great battles up and down the field this year.

10 Paul Di Resta – Force India Mercedes – WDC: 13th
Opening his career with 2 points finishes will do no driver any harm, but Britain Paul Di Resta has had a sterling rookie year. He had some learning to do but despite people raving about Adrian Sutil (me included) Paul actually matched him for points in the second half of the season. Happy to play the team game he usually took the more adventerous tactics and generally has been a credit to himself. There are good things to come, and its looking like he may be a team leader next year as the man with the most recent experience.

11 Vitantonio Luizzi – HRT Cosworth – WDC: 23rd
Chucked by Force India he found himself at the back of the gird with the slowest car. The car failed to make pre-season testing and then promptly failed to qualify for the first race as it was outside the 107% rule all weekend. From then on the team was on the up and up, new fangled with things like developments (!) and an improving technical team pushed Luizzi along to finish above both team mates and both Virgins leaving HRT 11th in the Constructors championship. A stunning result and its hard to know what more the team could of wanted.

12 Kamui Kobayashi – Sauber Ferrari – WDC: 12th
It was a great start for the Japanese superstars second full season in the top flight, however the car was suited to more conservative strategies that dont play to Kamui’s strengths and then there was a bizzare slump in form which left him without points for 7 races. But the team turned it around and a 10th and 9th place in the last two races saw off the threat of STR in the constructors. I’d love to see him pilot a works Ferrari, surely a great partner to Alonso???

13 Jamie Alguesuari – Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari – WDC: 14th
A better 2nd full season from the spanish youngester saw him really bring home the beef for the team in the second half of the season. He struggled with the tires at the start of the campaign and didn’t score any points until Canada in round 7. Since then the young bull lead his team mate 26 points to 15. Unfortunatly it wasn’t enough to impress Helmut Marko and he has been dumped for next year along with his team mate.

14. Nick Heidfeld – Renault – WDC: 11th
A last minute call up for the German journeyman saw him take the seat of former team mate Robert Kubica at Renault ahead of Bruno Senna. Like some other returnees his pace in qualifying left a lot to be desired but he used his experience to bring home a podium as well as a haul of points. He was only out-scored by 3 points by his team mate, however he collected all his points in 11 races and then was booted out from the team rather publically. After this the car balance went and the team may rue the day they opted for some cash and youth over experience with such an unsual car.