2013 United States Grand Prix review

Vettel won again but the race was still interesting in many ways. The most interesting things for me were Räikkönen's replacement Heikki Kovalainen and the young rookie Valtteri Bottas.

Williams has had one of the worst season of the teams history. Pastor Maldonado has scored only one point this season and now Bottas was 8th at the USGP. That was good news not only for Williams but for the young Finn as well. He really showed that he is able to overtake when the car has what it takes to compete.

Right at the start he overtook Kovalainen and then later Esteban Gutierrez in a high speed chase.

I was very impressed with Bottas! And yes I have said many times that he is a pro driver waiting for his chance.

Have also promised that I will stop talking about him until he actually does something. That didn't take long when I made that promise in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago.

Heikki Kovalainen was a big disappointment right from the start, but when I heard that the problems was because of his KERS, front wing/lack of down force and tire temperatures I understood that it wasn't his fault. I really thought at first that he is a bit rusty but don't think so anymore. His speed in the practice sessions and qualifying was very similar to Kimi Räikkönen so it can't be that bad.

Even Davide Valsecchi who at first said that Kovalainen was a bad choice changed his mind about him.

It takes a racing driver to see how good Kovalainen was performing. But all in all I was still very disappointed with his results. I really wanted to see him higher up fighting with the other top drivers.

Both of the Ferrari's were very slow. Even Alonso had problems keeping Nico Hulkenberg behind him but that is also because Hulkenberg is an awesome driver and not just the lack of Ferrari's speed.

Then I thought that I should mention the name of Romain Grosjean who drove almost like Räikkönen would have driven. It was probably a big relief for Team Lotus when they weren't sure if their two drivers could bring same kind of points home as Räikkönen usually does.

Mika Salo asked Eric Boullier before the race if Grosjean could fight for 2nd place. Boullier answered right away by saying "No, no, no. The Red Bulls will be first and second". It seems that the result was a bit better than even he could have expected. At least when we talk about Grosjean. In Kovalainen's case everything was wrong. Even the first "normal" pit stop was 2 seconds slower than Grosjeans. What was taking so long guys?

And like I always do at the end of the reviews - Here are the guesses from the preview and the actual results:

Pole position: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull - CORRECT

Race:

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull - CORRECT
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - ONLY WRONG GUESS IN THE TOP3. LH WAS 4TH AND GROSJEAN WAS 2ND.
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull - CORRECT

Fastest lap: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull - CORRECT

Surprise: Heikki Kovalainen seems to be a mystery to many but I believe that he will be higher up than Grosjean. This guy is better than many may think. Keep an eye on him if you haven't already done that.

He has been good in the practice sessions so far and is performing stronger than his teammate.

He performed better in the long runs than Grosjean at the practice sessions but then after that everything started going downhill for the former Caterham pilot. I really hoped that he wouldn't retire from the race and he didn't but the problems that he had were almost the same thing.

The biggest surprise for me was the new speed found in the Williams cars. Unfortunately only Bottas could take advantage of the new setups. Maldonado was held up in the qualifying session by Max Chilton and Esteban Gutierrez. Maldonado's position was 18th when Bottas was 9th.

Maldonado had earlier even complained that Williams has been favoring Bottas and making his (Maldonado's) time there more difficult on purpose.

That is a stupid thing to say because Williams needs every point they can get. Valtteri Bottas said that he is going to fight for some more points next weekend at Interlagos. Let's hope that will happen.

Tomorrow I will post the 2013 Brazilian GP preview which is the last preview of the season.

Let's talk a bit more about the rumors

Earlier I wrote about the summer break rumors. So of course there is more! So what else is there that I didn't already talk about? I shall list them below in no particular order and start talking.

1. Lotus finance problems and Infinity Racing coming to the rescue.
2. Bernie Ecclestone gave Lotus money from his own pocket.
3. Pastor Maldonado will join Lotus next year and bring money with him.
4. Lotus took a step forward, got some new parts and they will dominate the rest of the season.
5. Alonso is going back to his old team which is called Lotus nowadays.
6. F1 will not go to Russia next year after all?
7. The Indian GP is also out?
8. Räikkönen's news about going back to Ferrari was just a negotiation tactic.
9. Vettel is moving to Ferrari.
10. Kovalainen's comeback.
11. Sauber's money issues.

Lotus wants to keep Räikkönen for the next season and it sounds very realistic that he would stay. Let's think about the reasons again: less PR and more time for himself, he is clearly the king of the team and the car can fight for high positions. But for how long? What if they don't have enough money?

The Lotus team has said in many interviews that they have everything under control but why doesn't Räikkönen get his salary in time or at all? Why are they promising him money that they clearly don't have?

Räikkönen has been nice enough to let them pay him later. Last year he admitted that he got his salary eventually but very late. They have gotten a lot of sponsors but still the money isn't enough. Now they will probably get Infinity Racing to help them out. I really hope so for their sake because if they don't then they can kiss Räikkönen good bye. I don't think that he likes to wait for his money all the time and listen to their promises that they can't keep.

Maybe Infinity Racing comes to the rescue and wants to buy half of the team? Maybe Lotus will be some day known as Infinity Racing? It wouldn't be a big surprise for me.

I read from a German F1 site called Motorsport-Total that last season they (Lotus) got help from non other than Bernie Ecclestone himself. He paid their debts from his own pocket just to keep them in the series. The problems are much worse than expected. It might even happen that Kimi makes a contract with Lotus but they can't even participate next year because of the finance problems. 

Don't be a fool Kimi! Please go ahed and choose Red Bull. They have the best car and so much money that they own two F1 teams and one F1 track! No other team can say the same.

If Kimi would decide to go to Red Bull anyway then Lotus has a backup plan - pay drivers!

Pastor Maldonado doesn't want to stay at Williams if the car is this bad. I mean the last year's car was faster than this year's. Usually the next car is faster than the older one.

Kobayashi, Kovalainen and Maldonado are the biggest candidates to join Lotus according to some papers and magazines. In my opinion they are not taking Kovalainen cause he doesn't have any sponsors that bring money to the team like Maldonado. Actually Kobayashi doesn't have sponsors either but he has money that he collected from his fans. I heard that he got about 1 million dollars and Maldonado's sponsors have more so that gives the advantage back to Maldonado. Let's wait and see what happens.

Some people (including the Lotus team) believe that Lotus is going to start winning races from now on. Grosjean even said that his maiden victory is just around the corner. I think that Kimi might win one or two races this year but they will not win the championship. It will be Sebastian Vettel again which would be very boring.

If Lotus becomes better and Ferrari doesn't then guess who would be interested to go back to his old team? Mr. Fernando Alonso Diaz of course.. or so the rumor says. Maybe if he gets canned from Ferrari but I don't believe this.

Some people say that Kovalainen has been negotiating with Ferrari. Actually he did last year but Ferrari decided to give Massa another chance. Have they negotiated further? Who knows? Kovalainen and Alonso used to be on the same team back in 2006 when Kovalainen was the test driver for Renault. They came along very well and are now friends. It would be nice to see him at Ferrari but I don't believe this either. He will probably replace van der Garde at Caterham next year and that's it.

If you wanna know more about Ferrari then the newest rumor is that Kimi's "Ferrari deal" was just a negotiation tactic. I think it was Kimi's own managers who started spreading this rumor. Or maybe Ferrari spread this rumor themselves to keep Alonso on his toes. You never know.

Vettel is moving to Ferrari. Nobody believed this right? Why would he change to a weaker team?

Sounds a bit stupid but did you know that Schumacher switched to Ferrari in 1996 even though he was in a winning car? He won 2 championships with Benetton and went to Ferrari even though they didn't have the same speed as his old team. Michael Schumacher predicted that this team is going to be good again in the future and he was so right about that. The team had won their last championship in 1979 and Michael won with them in the year 2000. It took 4 years but it was worth it because he won 5 championships in a row.

What else is there to talk about? The Indian GP running out of money but they will be back in 2015.

The Russian GP is also in the papers right now. They say that they are fighting for money and may not even get to host the GP. I think that they are going to sort it all out. No problems there.

Sauber is now also having money issues even though Gutierrez is bringing money in to the team.

It looks like they are forced to sell a part of the team or everything. We shall wait and see what happens with all of these things I just rambled about..

F1 rumors are always a part of the summer break

Every year when the summer break starts the rumors can be heard everywhere.
So what are the biggest rumors this summer?

Before the summer break everybody were talking about Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Räikkönen fighting for the Red Bull seat which was very realistic. Red Bull even said that they are the only choices.

Now the rumors are far from realistic but maybe some of them have a little bit truth in them. Let's begin.

This year I have heard that Kimi has been connected to Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus. It would be stupid to even say any other teams cause Kimi wouldn't be interested. So they are saying that Lotus has money issues, Red Bull is not sure if they want two champions in the same team and Ferrari wants Kimi back but he doesn't like Luca di Montezemolo that much anymore. Some even say that Kimi already has a contract with Ferrari.

The Ferrari news came this week and every day I have heard something new about this. The situation right know looks like this:

• Ferrari got angry with Alonso when he criticized the car/team. Just like Prost did in the early 90's.
• Alonso's manager has been talking to Red Bull. 
• Ferrari has also heard that Alonso has in fact talked with Red Bull several times in 2008 and 2009 and Red Bull refused to take him. I can talk more about that later.
• Alonso's motivation is not the same as last year because he wants a car like Red Bull. He actually said that the best birthday present would be "to have a car like the other drivers".
• 2010 and 2012 could have been easy for Alonso when he had such a big lead in the points but he somehow lost it all even though it look like a sure thing. Ferrari isn't happy.
• Kimi on the other hand is the driver who was the underdog but still won the drivers world championship in 2007. In fact Alonso was the man that Kimi won that year and now they have the "loser" driving for them.
• Ferrari never wanted to get rid of Kimi in 2009. I mean why would they kick out Kimi in the middle of the contract who won a championship for them instead of Felipe Massa? Santander and Alonso wanted Kimi out of the team cause he was a bigger threat and still is.
• Now the Ferrari team is realizing that Alonso not winning championships is not worth it even though Santander is paying for it all.
• Alonso had an agreement with Ferrari over 10 years ago when he drove for Minardi that some day he would drive for them (Ferrari). They had planned how and what would happen before that. Alonso didn't do what they asked him to and got a deal with Renault and then with McLaren. Ferrari felt backstabbed and now they think that Alonso is not a team player.
• The rumors also say that Massa is going to leave and he is being replaced by Hulkenberg, Kobayashi or Kovalainen.

That was everything I remember hearing this week about Ferrari. Almost everything is probably bulls**t but there can still be a bit truth in the mix.

The Red Bull and Alonso news started when his manager went to see them (like I said earlier). I also mentioned earlier that Alonso had talked to Red Bull already in 2008 about the 2009 season. He asked for a lot of money and promised to make them a winning team. They refused to pay him and got Vettel from Toro Rosso instead. Then they became competitive without Alonso and he gave them a new offer. Less money and he wants to switch teams in the middle of the 2009 season. They refused again.

Alonso is famous of arguing with his teams so maybe Red Bull didn't want him because of that?

• When Alonso was about to leave Renault he accused them of sabotage cause he made a deal with McLaren.
• At McLaren he said that they made him the number two driver and that the rookie Hamilton was number one. He also sabotaged Hamilton's qualifying on purpose in Hungary.
• Then he went back to Renault and at the same time looked for other F1 seats.
• Let's not forget the "crashgate" incident which ruined the career of Nelson Piquet jr. The argument was: did Alonso know about it or not? Alonso denied everything and his bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds took the blame. See a video about it from this link.

The stupidest rumor yet was when Lewis Hamilton's father Anthony was talking to someone at Red Bull. Then people started saying that Hamilton is switching from Mercedes to Red Bull. Later I heard that Lewis was going to Ferrari.. Apparently he had said that every driver wants to drive for Ferrari at least ones. Hamilton's father had also been to Maranello??

Let's just stop before this gets to much out of hand shall we...

2013 Hungarian GP Preview

OK F1 fans! The wait is almost over. In one week it's time for the Hungarian Grand Prix. A track where it's hard to overtake and also a place were surprises are more than welcome. 

We all remember one of the biggest surprises - Jenson Button's first victory back in 2006 with Honda. It was a very exiting GP and in my opinion the excitement started when Räikkönen retired from the lead. Liuzzi (as a backmarker) braked to fast in front of him and Kimi smashed his silver arrow into his back almost flying over him.  

Later Renault had a bad pitstop with Alonso therefor he lost a wheel and needed to retire. Alonso did not retire very often back then because Renault was a very good and reliable car just like Red Bull is today.

Fisichella and Schumacher could have had a good race but they spun of the track ruining it.

Another driver who could have ruined his GP but didn't - Pedro de la Rosa! He was second which was his best result ever. Pedro had replaced Montoya after he had made his last mistake with McLaren by crashing into Räikkönen in the American Grand Prix. Now in 2013 Montoya is racing in Nascar.

The 2006 Hungarian GP was also Robert Kubica's first race in F1. I knew right away that this guy is going to be a star! Unfortunately he is not driving in F1 anymore because of the rally accident in 2011. Kubica scored his first 2 points in his first GP but was disqualified after his car failed to meet post-race minimum weight requirements. 

But in the end we all remember this face! (picture below)

Last but not least a "few" words about the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Which drivers are usually good in this race? -Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton.. and maybe Jenson Button if there is surprises but let's focus on Lewis and Kimi.

2001 - Kimi was 7th with Sauber which was pretty ok with that car.

2002 - Kimi was 4th leaving him just barely outside of the podium.

2003 - Kimi was 2nd after starting from 7th on the grid.

2004 - Kimi retired after having electrical problems with his McLaren

2005 - Kimi takes the checkered flag 35,5 seconds faster than Schumacher and wins!

2006 - Kimi retires from first position overtaking nervous back-markers on a very slippery track.

2007 - Lewis wins in Hungary for the first time! And guess who was 2nd? Kimi!

2008 - Kimi was 3rd when Heikki Kovalainen took his only victory with McLaren.

2009 - Lewis wins again and guess who is 2nd this time? Kimi again!

2010 - Lewis had gearbox issues and Kimi had left F1 in the end of 2009.

2011 - Lewis was fourth when his team mate Jenson Button took another victory in Hungary.

2012 - Lewis wins for the third time in Hungary and after coming back to F1 Kimi is again 2nd only 1 second behind Lewis. The press asked Kimi if the victory was possible if there had been one more lap? Kimi answered "Yes but there wasn't and I didn't win". Lewis said to Kimi "You guys (Lotus) were really fast!"

Not much have changed after last year. The cars are pretty much the same only Lewis is driving for Mercedes which isn't as good as McLaren was last season.

My guess is..

1 - Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus

2 - Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

3 - Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Fastest Lap - Fernando Alonso

Possible surprises - I believe McLaren will remind us that they are still in this sport.

Bonus - 2012 Hungarian GP Race Edit (F1.com)