The Austin Grand Prix saw another Sebastian Vettel Grand Prix victory allowing him to take hold of the record of most consecutive wins in Formula 1 with 8 from Michael Schumacher (However Ascari recorded 9 but skipped the Indy 500 when it was part of the World Championship – but Seb could match that this weekend in Interlagos). This situation has arisen when after the summer break and the tyre change Red Bull broke the back of the leading teams who gave up and pored their resources into 2014 and the new regulations. Teams getting to it early and stealing a march on Red Bull could be the best chance of stopping the Milton Keynes squad steam rolling another year.
But with further details revealed of the punishments for next year we could see a heck of a lot of penalties handed out next season. With only 5 engines for the season (which now include KERS and the new ERS unit) teams will be up against it with 3,5 and 10 place penalties for having to replace parts on the engine and having to use a 6th resulting in starting from the pit lane – we could expect quite a queue of cars towards the end of the season if a manufacturer doesn’t get it quite right. Furthermore additional rumours have come out over the weekend that Renault want the Rev limit raised and Ferrari the maximum fuel increased – however Mercedes are happy for the rules to remain as is. Now one then assumes that Renault have the fuel efficiency sorted but are possibly down a little on power (or just want more) whereas Ferrari are the opposite. Mercedes aren’t necessarily in the lead they could just be more level between the two trade off’s. More fuel is not really a viable option as the tanks will already be designed and already in the mock up 2014 cars this late in November.
Finally a revised 2014 calendar was released/leaked over the race weekend with Korea and India out alongside the canning of Mexico and New Jersey leaving Russia and Austria as the new additions to make 19 races. It makes for pleasing reading as the Tilke dominance appears to be fading with a re-introduction of the A1 Ring (Now Red Bull Ring – although it was modified by Tilke to make the current layout) and the new Russian track. USA and Singapore are new-ish tracks but the track layouts weren’t handled by Tilke (I mean no one is criticising his experience on track safety or amazing architecture so its a no brainier to get Tilke in to design your buildings and give the track a once over). This leaves 2014 with 5 pure Tilke tracks plus Singapore and the USA alongside classic tracks from around the globe – a nice mix I’m sure you’ll agree especially since no-one minds a nice spin round Malaysia or China.
2014 F1 calendar (Expected)
16 March – Australia
30 March – Malaysia
6 April – Bahrain
20 April – China
11 May – Spain
25 May – Monaco
8 June – Canada
22 June – Austria
6 July – GB
20 July – Germany
27 July – Hungary;
24 August – Belgium
7 Sep Italy
21 Sep Singapore
5 Oct Japan
12 Oct Russia
26 Oct USA
2 Nov Brazil
16 Nov Abu Dhabi
source – http://www.jamesallenonf1.com
GP Campbell 