Hungarian Grand Prix 2013 - Report

For the second time in succession, my visit to a Formula One Grand Prix is hardly one I would want to repeat exactly as it occurred.

Whereas it was the rain and mud at Silverstone last year, this time around it was the unbearable heat at the Hungaroring that took away some of the enjoyment of the spectator experience. From Friday to Sunday, temperatures in Budapest seldom dipped below 30°C (86°F), even in the evenings, with race day reportedly reaching a maximum of around 38°C (100°F).

Needless to say, such searing heat made travelling to and from the circuit – which involved a half-hour bus ride to the village of Mogyorod and a further twenty or so minute walk from there to the circuit entrance – an utter nightmare.

Once my girlfriend and I were seated in the grandstand, perched just at the exit of the final corner, things weren’t quite so bad, and the on-track action was a welcome distraction from the constant quest to avoid dehydration and sunburn.

The race itself was an entertaining affair, surprisingly so for a track that has produced some real snore-fests in the past. As much as I dislike DRS, I will admit that, at a circuit like the Hungaroring, the system works well as it makes overtaking possible (albeit still challenging) as opposed to virtually unthinkable.

The temperatures also meant preserving the revised Pirelli rubber was a challenge as well, with a three-stop strategy turning out to be the quickest for most drivers despite the time lost in the pits being increased by a pit-lane speed limit reduction.

On that basis, few would have predicted a victory for Lewis Hamilton, even after the Brit took a fourth pole position of the season by just under half a tenth from Sebastian Vettel. But, with some excellent overtaking and a modicum of good fortune, Hamilton was able to secure his first win for his new employers Mercedes in fine style.

Despite some jostling at the first corner, the top three remained in grid order at the start, with Hamilton at the head of a leading trio which also comprised Vettel’s Red Bull and Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.

The pivotal moment of the race proved to be just after Hamilton’s first pit stop at the end of lap 9. The 2008 champion resumed just behind his compatriot Jenson Button, but was able to quickly pass with a decisive move into the first corner on lap 11.

Vettel on the other hand lost 13 seconds to Hamilton whilst stuck behind Button until lap 24, who was one of a number of drivers top to opt for a long first stint on prime tyres. It was a deficit that the championship leader would be powerless to reduce by any significant margin.

Hamilton meanwhile made two characteristically bold passes on the sister Red Bull of Mark Webber after each of his remaining pit-stops – on both occasions at the unorthodox location of turn 3 – en route to his fourth victory at the Hungaroing and the 22^nd of his career, drawing him level with fellow British champion Damon Hill.

Taking the runner-up spot wasn’t either of the Red Bull drivers but Kimi Raikkonen. If not for starting down in sixth position, which led to the Finn getting stuck behind the slower Ferrari of Felipe Massa in the first stint and the first part of the second, Raikkonen may even have beaten Hamilton to the win with his two-stop strategy.

Instead, it was another case of what may have been for the Lotus driver, whose consistent pace once he cleared Massa put him in the position to overhaul the other Ferrari of Fernando Alonso and both Red Bull drivers as they made their third stops in the closing stages.

Raikkonen held on with his worn tyres to narrowly take the runner-up spot after a dramatic tussle with Vettel during the final couple of laps, with Webber several seconds further back in fourth.

Finishing a distant fifth place was Alonso, who never had the pace to fight for a podium finish and was left to fend off Grosjean at the flag. The result meant that the Spaniard dropped behind Raikkonen in the standings, with Vettel extending his advantage to 38 points.

Grosjean had an eventful race, firstly making minor contact with Button whilst trying to follow Vettel through during the second stint and later getting a drive-through penalty for passing Massa by leaving the circuit at turn 4 after his second pit-stop.

The stewards handed Grosjean a 20-second time penalty after the race for causing a collision with Button, but this didn’t affect his finishing position of sixth.

McLaren did well to get both cars in the points once more with a pair of two-stop strategies for Button and Sergio Perez, who finished seventh and ninth respectively. Splitting the pair was Massa, whose race was compromised on the very first lap by contact with Nico Rosberg.

After a bruising first lap that saw Rosberg drop from fourth on the grid all the way down to twelfth, the German did well to recover to ninth place before a late engine failure halted his progress.

That allowed Pastor Maldonado, who drove faultlessly all afternoon, to end the points drought for his Williams team and cross the line in tenth place.

Nico Hulkenberg finished eleventh, costing himself a chance at points with a drive-through penalty for pit-lane speeding, ahead of the Toro Rosso teammates Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo. The latter made a fourth successive Q3 appearance with eighth on the grid, but slipped down the order as his two-stop strategy failed to pay dividends.

The only remaining finishers were the perennial tail-enders, with Caterham’s Giedo van der Garde turning in a particularly impressive performance to finish a creditable fourteenth.

The race had an unusually high rate of attrition, with both Force India drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Gutierrez suffering mechanical failure as well as Rosberg.

F1 now begins its four-week long summer break, with the drivers and all the other team personnel taking a well-earned rest before the next race at Spa in late August.

Despite the well-documented difficulties in his personal life, Hamilton’s victory will surely beg the question of whether the Mercedes driver can be considered a bona fide title threat for the remainder of the year.

When you consider that the next two circuits on the calendar are high-speed venues which are not traditionally Red Bull’s forte, and that there are still 225 points to play for, Vettel’s advantage atop the championship table looks far from insurmountable.

Hamilton has taken the last three pole positions, ought to have won at Silverstone (only to be thwarted by his Pirelli rubber letting him down) and took honours in Hungary. If he can bank some strong finishes at Spa and Monza as well, he could well find himself in the hunt.

Raikkonen too can take heart in some strong performances from Lotus lately, even if a second victory of the season is now a little overdue. Alonso on the other hand, after the race, joked that the best 32^nd birthday present he could have had would have been “someone else’s car”.

Needless to say, such comments didn’t go down well at Maranello but were indicative of just how far Ferrari has fallen away from the pace of its three chief competitors. Alonso’s commanding home victory at Spain must by now feel like a distant memory.

The forthcoming arrival of former Lotus technical director James Allison at the Scuderia may be a morale booster, but is unlikely to make any real impact on this year’s car.

It’s not too late for Ferrari to turn the situation around, but time is running out to ensure that Alonso isn’t frozen out of what has the potential to be a thrilling four-way title fight.

Hungarian Grand Prix 2013 - Preview

This weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix marks the halfway stage of this year's Formula One season and the final opportunity for the teams and drivers to make an impression on the championship standings before the month-long summer break that follows.

A regular fixture on the calendar since 1986, the Hungaroring presents a real challenge before the drivers with its tight, twisty nature. Sometimes described as "Monaco without the barriers", the 2.7 mile circuit is characterised by a never-ending supply of slow and medium speed corners which rigorously test a car's front-end grip, traction and balance.

A good grid slot at Hungary is key, as overtaking remains next to impossible at the circuit despite the lengthening of the start/finish straight in 2003 and the addition of a DRS zone along it to help facilitate passing into the first corner. A second zone has been placed along the short stretch leading towards the second corner, but will likely have no impact either.

With weather conditions expected to be sweltering (reportedly as high as 37°C or 99°F), immense strain will be placed on the soft and medium compound tyres Pirelli are supplying. The Italian firm originally intended to bring the hard compound, but revised this choice after criticism that such an allocation would be overly conservative. The hot weather could mean they come to regret that decision yet, though.

Furthermore, this weekend marks the debut of the revised specification tyres, which feature this year's compounds combined with last year's constriction, following a successful three-day test last week at Silverstone. The fact that this new rubber is expected to degrade somewhat less may sound ominous for the title battle, but such pessimism would be misplaced.

After the unfortunate pit-lane accident last time out at the Nurburgring which hospitalised FOM cameraman Paul Allen, the FIA has pushed through certain new pit-lane safety measures. Crucial among these is a reduction in the pit-lane speed limit from 100km/h (62mph) to 80km/h (50mph).

This measure will increase the time taken to complete a pit-stop, and thus the disadvantage of making an extra stop in comparison to one's rivals. As this places a further premium on tyre preservation, those teams that have looked after their rubber well in 2013 - namely Ferrari, Lotus and Force India - stand to benefit.

That could be exactly what is required to breathe life into the title fight, with Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in need of some big results to get back on terms with championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

That said, the fact that overtaking is so difficult at the Hungaroring could in fact lead to a scenario similar to what we saw at Monaco - where those that qualified at the head of the field were able to control the race from the front, and the faster race cars unable to move forward.

That could bring Mercedes into play at Hungary, although both Silver Arrows would probably have to be on the front row to give either Lewis Hamilton - a three times winner at the Hungaroring - or Nico Rosberg a realistic chance of victory given the pace of the Red Bulls.

As well as Vettel, Mark Webber has to be regarded as a strong contender for the win given his strong form in the last couple of races since he announced his upcoming departure from F1; the Aussie took to the top step of the podium at the Hungaroring back in 2010 and is surely overdue his first win of the season.

Raikkonen is another former winner who should be right in the hunt, particularly if the Lotus can get by with one stop fewer than the Mercedes or Red Bull, but a strong grid position will be vital. It will also be fascinating to see if Romain Grosjean can maintain his form from the Nurburgring and challenge for a second successive podium finish.

The high temperatures could be just what Ferrari need to ensure Alonso starts from a decent grid position, in which case a podium finish should be well within reach for the Spaniard. Felipe Massa on the other hand urgently needs to have an error-free weekend and prove once more to his bosses he can be a reliable points-gatherer for the Scuderia.

McLaren have won five of the last six Grands Prix held in Hungary, but there's little evidence to suggest a major upturn in the Woking outfit's form is close at hand. Another solid, points scoring weekend will be all that Jenson Button, who memorably took his first win in the former communist state back in 2006, and Sergio Perez can hope to aspire to.

Qualifying Prediction
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Webber, 4. Rosberg, 5. Alonso, 6. Raikkonen, 7. Grosjean, 8. Sutil, 9. Di Resta, 10. Ricciardo

Race Prediction
1. Webber, 2. Alonso, 3. Vettel, 4. Raikkonen, 5. Grosjean, 6. Hamilton, 7. Sutil, 8. Button, 9. Ricciardo, 10. Rosberg

For the reasons stated above, Webber is my pick for the weekend - and you can bet Red Bull won't bother issuing any kind of team orders if it does boil down to a Webber-Vettel duel for the lead. The warm temperatures should favour Alonso, and although qualifying in fifth will harm his victory prospects, he will still have the pace to overhaul Vettel and finish second.

Raikkonen will finish right on the reigning champion's tail, with Grosjean a few seconds back ahead of pole-sitter Hamilton, who will lose ground by being forced to make an additional stop. Adrian Sutil will collect some more solid points for Force India ahead of Button, Red Bull hopeful Daniel Ricciardo and an embattled Rosberg. Massa will qualify and finish outside of the top ten in another disappointing weekend.

Rallying's loss is Rallycrossing's gain

Six months ago, it was far from crazy to think that the WRC could be on the verge of a new dawn. With Sebastien Loeb - the man who had made the championship his own for the past nine seasons - on his way out, a new era of close competition between Citroen and newcomers Volkswagen seemed at hand.

Here we are in July however, with seven of thirteen rallies completed, and Sebastien Ogier has established a virtually unassailable 64 point lead in what has transpired to be a damp squib of a contest.

It was clear from the outset that the Ogier-Volkswagen combination was going to be potent, but few anticipated just how little time it would take for the sport's new kids on the block to not only surpass, but dominate a post-Loeb Citroen team with their Polo R contender.

The fact that Loeb, who has only been present at three rallies this year, is the best-placed Citroen driver in the WRC points standings tells you all you need to know about how Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo have failed to step up to the challenge presented before them by Ogier.

Ironically, had Loeb opted to remain in rallying full-time for another season, chances are we'd be enjoying a nail-biting dual for supremacy between two of the best drivers the sport has ever seen. Instead, "the other" Sebastien has simply taken over where his predecessor left off.

Such domination has been detrimental to spectator and media interest in rallying over the last decade, and that sad trend will most likely continue if Ogier can't be seriously threatened by any of his rivals - perhaps to the point where WRC will cease to exist in its current form.

But, for each an every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction - where rallying, easily the most popular form of motorsport besides Formula One in the UK ten years ago thanks to British stars Colin McRae and Richard Burns, is fading from the public consciousness, rallycross is gaining rapid momentum.

Rallycross saw its popularity peak in the UK during the late 80s and early 90s, immediately after the spectacular Group B cars, banned from rallying on safety grounds, became staple fixtures at famous rallycross venues such as Lydden Hill and Brands Hatch.

The likes of Martin Schanche and Kenneth Hansen became some of the most respected names in motorsport with their success, thanks in large part to the high quality TV coverage enjoyed by rallycross in the UK during this period.

As the 90s progressed however, TV companies began to neglect rallycross in the face of increasing competition from other forms of motorsport, in particular touring car racing - in essence, rallycross on all-tarmac tracks, but with larger grids and more manufacturer involvement.

The decline of rallying has nonetheless opened up something of a vacuum in the motorsport world in recent years, a vacuum into which rallycross is expanding after a lengthy spell in the doldrums. The epicentre of this renaissance is the USA, a market in which the sport was hitherto unknown.

Few people outside of North America are likely to have heard of the "X Games", a sporting competition organised by US sports broadcaster ESPN which features "extreme" sports like motocross and skateboarding. In 2010, the decision to add rallycross to the event was taken.

It should come as little surprise that the US has warmed to rallycross. Short, action-packed races contested by a small pack of extremely fast cars may be just what the new generation of American motor racing fans are crying out for. NASCAR, a series whose races routinely exceed three hours, had best take note.

The popularity of the X Games rallycross competition spawned the four-round Global RallyCross (GRC) championship in 2011 (something of a misnomer when you consider every round was held in the US), which has attracted US talent such as Travis Pastrana, Tanner Foust and "gymkhana" star Ken Block, arguably the face of the new generation of rallycross.

Most striking of all however was the presence of the two time WRC champion Marcus Gronholm. The Finn's presence created a surge of renewed interest in rallycross in Europe, leading his old adversary Loeb to enter - and win - the 2012 X Games rallycross event in between his rally commitments.

The 2012 GRC, of which the X Games was a part, expanded to six rounds, and despite being still firmly based in the US attracted a large contingent of international drivers who took part at various stages in addition to Gronholm and Loeb.

2013 has been the first season that GRC has lived up to its name, adding rounds in Brazil, Germany and Spain (the last of which was ultimately cancelled due to bad weather) to its established roster of US oval venues and the X Games.

More big names from other motorsport disciplines, including DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom, ex-F1 pilots Scott Speed and Nelson Piquet Jr., and Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice have tried their hand at rallycross, broadening the sport's appeal further.

The presence of WRC champion Petter Solberg, who lost his Ford seat at the end of last year, has also given a timely boost to the European Rallycross championship, whose increasing popularity is reflected by a live TV deal with satellite channel Motors TV. It's not quite the BBC coverage UK fans once enjoyed, but it's better than nothing.

Kris Meeke will become the latest rally driver to try his hand at rallycross as he enters the French round of the European championship next month. Once regarded as Britain's next big rallying star, a lack of funds has blighted the Ulsterman's career recently, denying him the chance to compete full-time for Prodrive in the WRC last year.

Though Meeke insists he remains focused on rallying, if his rallycross debut goes to plan, he would be well-advised to put his rally aspirations to one side. After all, the WRC is in an extremely difficult position, whilst the advances of rallycross show no sign of abating on either side of the Atlantic.

The Silly Season 2013

Though many paddock observers saw it coming, the recent announcement of Mark Webber's impending retirement from Formula One has inevitably intensified rumours over which drivers may be heading where next year, bringing an earlier than usual start to 'The Silly Season'.

Webber's departure for Porsche's endurance racing programme means there will be at least one top-line drive up for grabs. If Felipe Massa, who has been struggling for form in recent races, is ditched by Ferrari, there could be two vacancies among the top teams, which could prompt a major re-shuffle of the grid.

It appears that Kimi Raikkonen heads Red Bull's wish list of drivers who could partner Sebastian Vettel at the moment, with the Milton Keynes outfit apparently eager to have a proven and reliable points-gatherer at the helm of their second car.

However, questions have to be asked of whether it is really in the team's best interests to have someone as threatening to Vettel's de facto number one status as Raikkonen is likely to be. It's highly improbable, after all, that the Finn is going to be any more sympathetic to obeying team orders than Webber has been.

Besides, there's no guarantee Raikkonen would choose to forsake Lotus in favour of Red Bull. The "Iceman" is said to enjoy the atmosphere at Enstone, and would no doubt balk at the thought of the media commitments Red Bull would like to have him fulfil.

What's more, if Lotus can maintain the kind of form they showed at the Nurburgring, where both Raikkonen and teammate Romain Grosjean challenged for the win, the odds are that Kimi will opt to stay put.

Should Raikkonen indeed spurn Red Bull, that would, by the team's own admission, essentially leave them with a choice between Toro Rosso teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. It's fairly marginal, but the evidence so far leans towards the former despite the higher points haul of the latter during their time as teammates.

This can be explained by the fact that, while both Ricciardo and Vergne have had a roughly even amount of stand-out drives, it just so happens that, largely down to circumstances, Vergne has been able to finish slightly further up the points on those occasions.

Ricciardo's greater consistency, particularly in qualifying, is reflected in the fact that the Aussie has out-qualified Vergne in 22 of a possible 29 races, and can boast six Q3 appearances (including in each of the last three Grands Prix) against the Frenchman's two.

Either way, you have to question the point of Red Bull's links with Toro Rosso, as well as its young driver programme more broadly, if they pass up both Ricciardo and Vergne in favour of the man who will be the elder statesman of the F1 grid in 2014.

Should that be the case, there will be of course be a seat at Lotus that needs filling. While the team is bullish over its prospects of retaining Raikkonen, they would be well advised to consider who they may like to replace the Finn should they find themselves unable to convince him to stay.

Nico Hulkenberg is virtually certain to be on the market as a result of Sauber breaking his contract through non-payment, and would surely be an attractive prospect to Lotus if they were in need of a replacement for Raikkonen, though the German is likely to also be on Ferrari's radar.

A potential link-up with Ferrari was regarded to be the main motivation for what can now be considered perhaps an ill-judged move from Force India to Sauber, while, as has become traditional for this time of year, Massa is under pressure to retain his drive.

Conversely to last year, when the Brazilian raised his game after an abysmal start to the year, Massa's form has taken a dive at a critical phase of the season, with his early spin into retirement at the Nurburgring the latest in a sequence of costly errors during the last few races.

It's not too late for Massa to turn his situation around, as last year proved, but Ferrari ought to consider who they may like to replace Alonso as their number one driver in the longer term. Hulkenberg is one option to slot in alongside the Spaniard next year, and would probably be at least as competitive as Massa as well as considerably cheaper.

Another contender is Marussia's Jules Bianchi, who is a member of Ferrari's young driver academy and has already built a sound reputation for himself despite the inadequacy of the machinery at his disposal. Ferrari would nonetheless be a gigantic step up for the Frenchman, and a couple of seasons with a midfield team would do him no harm.

Should Massa be dispensed of by Ferrari, he could potentially find refuge at Lotus, although such a move would probably hinge upon Raikkonen moving to Red Bull - Romain Grosjean seems likely to retain his seat if he can maintain the kind of form that saw him finish on the podium at the Nurburgring, particularly when you consider his links to team principal Eric Boullier.

Even then, there's no guarantee Lotus would opt for Massa over a more exciting young talent like Hulkenberg or Paul Di Resta. That means, if he does lose his Ferrari seat, Felipe could find himself in the cold with both McLaren and Mercedes having their existing drivers under contract for next year.

Sauber, whose financial troubles have been the subject of much speculation recently, announced this morning that their immediate future has been guaranteed by an investment by a number of Russian companies, which inevitably will mean a Russian driver at the wheel of one of the Swiss cars.

It seems that man, as one may have assumed, will not be former Renault and Caterham driver Vitaly Petrov. Instead, the investors' preferred candidate is the 17-year-old Formula Renault 3.5 driver Sergey Sirotkin, who stands to become the youngest ever man to start an F1 race if he does indeed take to the grid in March.

It is however hard to see Sirotkin, who is currently only in his third full season of car racing, being able to handle the pressure of motorsport's pinnacle at such a tender age. It could transpire to be a terrible waste of potential for a driver whose results so far suggest that he has what it takes to become Russia's first Grand Prix winner.

Regardless, with Esteban Gutierrez unlikely to be dropped from the team unless his Mexican sponsorship money dries out, it would be Hulkenberg who would get the axe to make way for Sirotkin. If the German is unable to secure a drive at either Ferrari or Lotus, he would be left in a difficult position.

A vacancy at his former Force India team is only likely to appear if Di Resta is snapped up by a larger team, with both he and Adrian Sutil having performed well so far. Williams meanwhile are unlikely to drop either Valtteri Bottas, who has impressed this year, or Pastor Maldonado, whose Venezuelan state oil money is too valuable to lose.

Toro Rosso will be a closed shop for Hulkenberg as well, with Ricciardo and Vergne both likely to stay on for a third season if neither is promoted to a Red Bull drive, and Formula Renault 3.5 driver Antonio Felix da Costa first in line to step in to any vacancy that may open up at Faenza.

Caterham have Charles Pic under contract for next year, but Giedo van der Garde's drive could come under threat from one of a number of similarly well-financed drivers. One possibility is GP2 driver Felipe Nasr, who is fighting for the title this season in just his second year in the category. The Brazilian could also slot into a Marussia seat if Bianchi departs for pastures new.

Alas, the driver market will remain largely up the in air until two key decisions are made: one by Kimi Raikkonen, and the other by the upper management at Ferrari; careers could be made or broken in the next few months based upon what the outcomes of those decisions are.

Rossi: There's life left in "The Doctor" yet

Had you suggested, after Valentino Rossi's triumph at the Malaysian Grand Prix back in October 2010, that it would take the better part of three years for him to win his next MotoGP race, chances are you would have been laughed out of the room.

Yet, before the Italian rider's unexpected triumph at the Dutch TT at Assen almost two weeks ago, it seemed as if Rossi's sixth victory at Sepang would go down in history as his 79th and last in the top tier of motorcycle racing.

Regardless of whether you're a fan of the man they call "The Doctor", you can't deny that Rossi returning to the top step of the podium comes as positive news for the championship - not only because it injects some much needed variety in the Spanish hegemony that has prevailed recently, but also because of the headlines it has generated.

Rossi is to motorcycle racing is essentially what Roger Federer is to tennis. It's the familiar sporting tale of the experienced star striving to fend off the inexorable advances of the next generation; there's always a certain romance when someone like Rossi is able to rekindle some of the old magic and stick it to the upstarts.

Rossi has returned to the factory Yamaha team this season, for whom he previously won the MotoGP title in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009, after two years of what can only be described as profuse struggle at Ducati.

Few doubted that the Rossi-Ducati partnership - a match made in heaven for Italian fans - would be a success when it was announced in the summer of 2010. After all, Casey Stoner, the man whom Rossi would replace, had been winning races aboard the red machine that year, while Rossi was still more or less at the peak of his powers.

With just three podium finishes to show for his two seasons at Ducati however, it came as no surprise when it was announced last summer that Rossi would be departing the team and returning to Yamaha to race alongside his old nemesis Jorge Lorenzo.

The pair had been teammates at Yamaha from 2008 to 2010, and some close on-track battles, most notably Rossi's breathtaking last corner lunge on Lorenzo at Catalunya in 2009, led to an increasingly acrimonious relationship between the pair that was said to be part of the reason for Valentino's move to Ducati.

Lorenzo has since won the title himself on two occasions - firstly in 2010, after Rossi's challenge was derailed by a practice crash at Mugello that ruled him out of four races, and again last year after a closely fought battle with Honda rider Dani Pedrosa.

In 2008, it was Lorenzo, at the time the reigning 250cc champion, who had everything to prove whilst Rossi was the undisputed number one. Five years on, and it's the seven-times champion that has been forced to re-establish his credentials with Lorenzo now considered by many the best in the business.

A competitive second place behind Lorenzo at the season-opener in Qatar was just about as good a start as Rossi fans could have hoped for after two years away from Yamaha. On that basis, few would have foreseen that the rider of the #46 would be absent from the podium for the next five races.

Two fourth places, a sixth, a twelfth after falling in the damp at Le Mans and a retirement as a result of a first-lap crash on home soil at Mugello left Rossi languishing in fifth place in the standings, 63 points away from leader Pedrosa and one place behind satellite Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow.

Even those, myself included, that before the season started had expected Rossi to give Lorenzo a serious run for his money were beginning to find themselves questioning whether the 34-year old's star was irreversibly on the wane. Time was certainly running out for "The Doctor" to diagnose the cause of his competitive illness.

The turning point came a week before the Dutch TT, when Rossi claimed to have made a "breakthrough" during a test session at Aragon. The Italian explained that with the help of some set-up changes, he had been able to rediscover the "feel" in his braking, a lack of which had been previously holding him back.

Additionally, the fact that Lorenzo broke his collarbone during practice for the Assen race meant that there be one less bike standing between him and the top step of the podium, and that Rossi would become the sole focal point for Yamaha's efforts for the weekend.

As it turned out, Lorenzo incredibly took the start of the race and finished in a superb fifth place in spite of his injuries. But, the day without doubt belonged to Rossi, who took a victory every bit as convincing as those MotoGP fans witnessed during his early-to-mid 2000s heyday.

The burning question now is whether Rossi can replicate a similar performance this weekend at the the German Sachsenring circuit. If he genuinely turned a corner during testing at Aragon, there's no reason to think why not, and the fact that Lorenzo will once again not be at full fitness makes the race another golden opportunity for Rossi.

His Assen victory - the 80th premier class win of his career - has cut the gap between him and the championship lead to 51 points. With eleven races still to run, and thus a total of 275 points left up for grabs, that's far from an insurmountable deficit.

At 34 years of age however, Rossi isn't getting any younger. Realistically, 2013 is likely to be his last real stab at championship glory. The odds are of course stacked firmly against Rossi, with bookmakers still offering up to 50/1 for him to pip Pedrosa, Lorenzo and rookie sensation Marc Marquez to the post.

Just imagine the publicity MotoGP would enjoy if Rossi could overcome those odds to take an eighth premier class title. It would be just what "The Doctor" ordered...

German Grand Prix 2013 - Round-up

Though I’m no fan of the current Pirelli-DRS era of Formula One, Sunday’s German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring must rank among the best dry races fans have enjoyed since the sport’s rule makers chose such a route.

Of course, anything would have been an improvement on the previous weekend’s debacle at Silverstone, but it was nonetheless refreshing to see just how quickly Pirelli and the teams were able to rescue F1 from the brink of disaster.

Threats of a GPDA boycott soon subsided as it became increasingly clear that the modifications made by Pirelli – namely a return to last year’s Kevlar belts in place of the hitherto used steel belts – were sufficient to prevent a repeat of the terrifying blowouts that marred the British Grand Prix.

However, events on track were sadly overshadowed to a degree by the injuries sustained by an FOM cameraman, who was struck at high speed by Mark Webber’s detached wheel in the pit-lane and sustained a broken collarbone and ribs as a result.

Mercedes and Red Bull were the pacesetters in qualifying as per usual, with Lewis Hamilton taking a second successive pole position from home favourite Sebastian Vettel and Webber, whose race would be derailed almost from the off as a result of the aforementioned incident.

That meant, with Hamilton slipping backwards from the outset, it was left to the resurgent Lotus team to provide Vettel with his only real threat to a long overdue maiden home victory.

In particular, the race marked a return to form for Romain Grosjean, who before last weekend had failed to score points since his third place in Bahrain. Indeed, after his incident-strewn Monaco weekend, there was even suggestion of Lotus team principal Eric Boullier beginning to lose patience with his protégé.

Grosjean responded in the best possible fashion by leading the chasing pack behind Vettel after the first round of pit-stops; at one stage it even looked as if the Franco-Swiss was staring down the barrel of a shock victory as Grosjean began to steadily close the gap to the reigning world champion.

The Lotus driver’s chances were effectively ended by a Safety Car period just before half distance, which was scrambled when Jules Bianchi’s Marussia, whose Cosworth engine had just spectacularly expired in a plume of smoke, began to roll backwards down the hill preceding the final chicane.

This meant that virtually the entire field took the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres, negating the advantage that Grosjean had gained by extending his first stint longer than his rivals.

As Vettel began to extend his lead over Grosjean after the Safety Car pulled in, hopes of a Lotus victory began to rest upon the shoulders of Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn was running in third at this stage, but assumed the lead when Vettel and Grosjean made their third pit-stops.

Raikkonen held a lead of around 14 seconds at this stage, giving Lotus the option of instructing their man to go the distance on his existing set of prime tyres and later fend off a faster Vettel equipped with fresher tyres.

Instead, the Enstone outfit brought in their driver for a fresh set of options with 12 laps to go, with Raikkonen four seconds away from leader Vettel once he had dispatched the slower Grosjean for second place.

Though Raikkonen was able to reduce Vettel’s advantage to one second, he was never quite close enough to attempt an overtake, leaving the German driver to take a fourth win of the season - his 30th in total - and extend his points lead over Fernando Alonso to a comfortable 34.

Raikkonen, who once again seemed rather unconvinced by his team’s chosen strategy, and Grosjean completed the top three in a replica of the Bahrain podium, the trio all finishing within six seconds at the finish line after a thoroughly entertaining race.

Missing out on the podium by a couple of seconds was Alonso, with Ferrari once again lacking qualifying pace (to the extent that the Scuderia sent out both drivers in Q3 with prime tyres) but showing very solid race pace.

While Alonso battled his way from eighth on the grid to fourth, Felipe Massa was an early retirement after a spin under braking for the first corner. It was another elementary mistake from a driver who, after a bright start to the year, is once more under pressure to retain his seat for 2014.

Alonso lost crucial time early on stuck behind the slower Mercedes of Hamilton, who never looked in contention for a podium as the Brit suffered with a return of the tyre degradation woes that have dogged the Brackley outfit for much of the year.

A last lap pass on compatriot Jenson Button gave Hamilton fifth place, while Nico Rosberg could manage no better than a disappointing ninth having started eleventh on the grid as a result of Mercedes failing to anticipate improving track conditions in Q2.

After two point-free weekends, McLaren did well to haul both cars into the points, with Button and Sergio Perez finishing sixth and eighth with two-stop strategies. The former was convinced he would have clung on to fifth if not for the lapped Caterham drivers getting in his way in the closing stages.

Splitting the McLarens at the finish was Webber, who despite being helped enormously by the Safety Car showed some eye-catching pace in his recovery from last place. Still, a seventh place was hardly consolation for a wasted victory opportunity at the circuit where the Red Bull driver secured a memorable debut win four years ago.

Nico Hulkenberg gave the cash-strapped Sauber team something to smile about after securing tenth place with a late pass on former teammate Paul Di Resta. If rumours about ‘Hulk’ not receiving his pay check as a result of his team’s dire financial straits are to be believed, it could be one of his last appearances for Sauber this year.

Also worthy of mention is Daniel Ricciardo, who hauled his recalcitrant Toro Rosso onto the third row of the grid in qualifying for the second race in succession; while the Australian was powerless to prevent himself sliding out of the points on Sunday, he seems to have re-established superiority over teammate Jean-Eric Vergne as he bids to join Vettel at Red Bull next year.

Whoever gets the nod to replace Webber alongside Vettel, chances are they will be driving car number two next year –his costly gearbox gremlin at aside, Sebastian has been in the thick of the fight for the win at the last four Grands Prix and is without doubt the form driver as the season hits the halfway mark.

Adrian Newey’s RB9 is now by far the best all-round package on the grid, and the question is to what extent Mercedes, Lotus and Ferrari are willing to plough resources into trying to catch Red Bull with the new turbo regulations looming ever closer on the horizon.

The upcoming young driver test at Silverstone, which for two of the three days will essentially be a regular test for race drivers, will be a crucial opportunity for Red Bull’s rivals to unlock the required performance to make a true contest of the remainder of the season.

The next race at the Hungaroring in three weeks’ time – where I shall be a keen trackside spectator as I venture to a Grand Prix outside these shores for the first time – will therefore provide us with a useful barometer as to just how competitive we can expect this year’s title run-in to be.