Brazilian Grand Prix 2013 - Report

If Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix can be summarised in one word, it would be 'anti-climax'. The combination of an 'old-school' venue and the threat of rain seemed to offer the greatest prospect of a winner other than the all-conquering Sebastian Vettel for quite some time, but, in the event, nobody else was strong enough to deny the quadruple world champion an incredible 13th race victory of the season and a ninth in succession.

It's been the story of the entire year. As late as July's Hungarian Grand Prix, the last time somebody other than Vettel won a race, the majority of pundits (including myself) were still predicting a close title battle. But, just as the rain failed to fall on Sunday, at the right time at least, Red Bull's rivals have failed to make a contest of the latter half of the year and thus have left the way clear for Vettel to equal the historic achievements of Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari.

At least the first few laps of the grand finale were entertaining as Nico Rosberg, who shared the front row with pole-sitter Vettel, managed to vault into the lead at the first corner. Meanwhile, the second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton managed to move up into third place ahead of a fast-starting Fernando Alonso, who found his path blocked by an uncharacteristically tardy Vettel.

Rosberg's reign at the front of the field was to be short-lived, however, as Vettel managed to get a far better exit from the final corner on the first lap and had already edged ahead of his compatriot by the time the pair had crossed the start/finish line. Rosberg was forced to concede the position as they headed into the Senna 'S', and, by the time Vettel completed the second lap, he was already 1.4 seconds clear.

After another lap, Rosberg had dropped a further 1.2 seconds to Vettel and now had Alonso, who dispatched Hamilton at the same point at which Vettel grabbed the lead, looming large in his mirrors. By this stage, Mark Webber had already relieved Hamilton of fourth place with a bold manoeuvre around the outside of the Ferradura corner.

Rosberg, whose car was ostensibly set up for the wet of qualifying rather than the dry conditions prevailing on Sunday, then began to quickly fall backwards - Alonso charged past the ailing Mercedes driver into second place at the Descida do Lago corner on lap four, followed by Webber at the start of lap seven, Hamilton on lap 11 and Felipe Massa on lap 15.

Once clear of Rosberg, Webber wasted no time whatsoever cruising towards Alonso, who had no answer to the pace of the Australian and found himself demoted to third place at the start of lap 13. At the first round of pit-stops, however, Alonso managed to get second place back, forcing the Red Bull driver to repeat his earlier pass on lap 26 before pulling away and securing another Red Bull one-two.

By this stage, Vettel had already made his first stop and was a little over 10 seconds clear of his teammate. With no rain forthcoming, that was essentially it as far as the battle for the lead was concerned, although a slow second stop for Vettel, caused by the Red Bull mechanics not having his tyres ready when he arrived at his pit box, did erode his advantage to a degree.

Team principal Christian Horner later explained that the mix-up was due to Vettel stopping earlier than planned to cover himself in the event of an appearance by the Safety Car. This was a genuine concern after a rather strange collision between Lewis Hamilton and a lapped Valtteri Bottas on lap 47 at the Descida do Lago corner, the pair clashing under braking as the latter tried to un-lap himself.

The net result was instant retirement for Bottas and a puncture for Hamilton, who had been running comfortably in fourth place. The Briton managed to return to the pits with relatively little damage, but was later handed a drive-through penalty for being deemed to have caused the incident, costing him even more time and dropping him outside of the points.

Another man to experience the wrath of the stewards was Felipe Massa, who had been battling Hamilton hard for fourth during the second stint prior to serving a drive-through penalty on lap 34. The Brazilian had repeatedly crossed a white line at the final, flat-out corner marking the pit-lane entry, something which the drivers had reportedly been warned against doing prior to the race. 

Without the penalty, Massa would have stood on the podium at his home Grand Prix as Alonso admitted after the race that he would have pulled over to let his teammate taste the champagne for the final time as a Ferrari driver had he been in a position to do so. What's more, Ferrari would have snatched the runner-up spot in the constructors' standings, but in the event Mercedes hung on by six points.

These mishaps allowed Jenson Button to come through and take an unlikely fourth place, a superb effort from an unpromising grid slot of 14th. The McLaren driver had already climbed up to seventh by the time of his first pit-stop, at which stage he was able to leapfrog a struggling Rosberg before capitalising on the misfortunes of Hamilton and Massa to secure McLaren's best finishing position of what has proven to be an embarrassingly poor season for the Woking-based team.

Rosberg wasn't far behind the Brit at the finish in fifth place, ahead of Sergio Perez, who came home an excellent sixth place in his last outing for McLaren. The Mexican had started all the way down in 19th after a shunt in qualifying, but made up no fewer than 13 positions during the race in another drive that leads one to question whether McLaren were right to drop him for next year.

An irate Massa was next up in seventh place after his penalty, ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, who had a fairly uneventful run to eighth place, and a recovering Hamilton. Daniel Ricciardo took the final point of the season in his final race with Toro Rosso before stepping up to join Vettel at Red Bull, staving off a marauding pack consisting of Paul Di Resta, in what may be his last F1 race, Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil.

In a decidedly sub-par showing, Heikki Kovalainen finished only 14th in his second appearance for Lotus as a stand-in for the absent Kimi Raikkonen. The fact Kovalainen failed to make any contribution whatsoever to the Enstone-based team's points tally must be a bitter pill to swallow for Lotus reserve Davide Valsecchi, who was spurned precisely because the team wanted an experienced hand to help them in the crucial battle for constructors' points.

Ultimately, any hopes of Lotus overhauling Ferrari or even Mercedes in the constructors' standings went up in smoke along with Romain Grosjean's engine at the end of the third lap, a disappointing end to what has been an extraordinary season for the Frenchman.

Further back, Pastor Maldonado spun after making contact with Jean-Eric Vergne in the closing stages, the Frenchman taking 15th place ahead of the Venezuelan in his final outing for Williams before a widely anticipated move to Lotus. Rounding off the finishers were Jules Bianchi, Giedo van der Garde and Max Chilton, who holds the distinction of being the only driver to finish every single race this year, whilst Charles Pic, who suffered a late suspension failure, was the only other retirement of the race.

Without the assistance of the weather, neither Pic nor van der Garde had any realistic hope of taking the pivotal 13th place that would have seen Caterham surpass rivals Marussia, who are set to receive a welcome cash bonus for finishing in the top 10 constructors' standings for the first time in their history thanks to Bianchi's 13th place finish all the way back in Malaysia.

Sunday's race was undoubtedly a race of 'lasts': it was the last race for Webber as an F1 driver before he moves on to Porsche's endurance racing programme; for Massa as a Ferrari driver before he joins Williams; for Vodafone as a major sponsor, for Cosworth as an engine supplier (again), and, of course, for the current breed of 2.4 litre normally aspirated V8 engines.

The end of the V8 era that commenced back in 2006 also marks the close of an era where aerodynamic efficiency has been the main determinant of a team's competitiveness. Next year, engine performance, much as it was during the V10 era, will be a far more significant differentiating factor - not even Adrian Newey's design genius will rescue Red Bull if Renault's power-train isn't up to scratch.

Unreliability, which has played very little part in F1 in recent years, could influence proceedings far more often next year, too, whilst the fact next year's cars are said to be tougher to drive could also help to shake things up. In short, 2014 is very much a step into the unknown, and a shuffling of the competitive order would come as a huge breath of fresh air to the many fans who have grown weary of Vettel re-writing the record books this year. 

Brazilian Grand Prix 2013 - Preview

This weekend's race at the legendary Interlagos circuit in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo will bring down the curtain on what has been a memorable, if not always thrilling season of Grand Prix racing.

After a string of fairly tame races in which Sebastian Vettel has utterly crushed his adversaries, Formula One fans will be looking to Interlagos, which has a history of throwing up unpredictable results, to provide a sorely needed dramatic finale to the 2013 season.

Many a title has been decided at Interlagos - not least of all last year, when Vettel fought his way through the pack to secure the points needed for his third title crown after an early spin. Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso also know what it's like to win titles in Brazil, as does Felipe Massa - even if it was only for 30 seconds for the undoubted home crowd hero at that unforgettable finale five years ago.

The track itself is a far cry from the series of 'Tilkedromes' F1 has visited in recent months, featuring fast, flowing corners and myriad overtaking opportunities. Despite having been shortened from eight to 4.3 kilometres, Interlagos remains one of the most physically demanding circuits for the drivers; its bumpy nature and high altitude also make it one of the more testing races on the calendar for the cars.

Pirelli have opted for the same tyre allocation seen a week ago in Texas - the medium and hard compounds - as well as some experimental rubber for next year to be used in practice. However, the weather forecast firmly suggests that the intermediate and wet tyres will be getting a fair bit of mileage this weekend, and a long overdue first wet race of the year would certainly do much to spice up the action.

After all, it's probably only the weather that will be able to stand between Vettel and a ninth consecutive win that would see him match Alberto Ascari's 60-year-old record and Michael Schumacher's benchmark of 13 wins in a season, set in 2004. Vettel was just untouchable at Austin, and although the Interlagos circuit is quite a different kettle of fish, the Red Bull's degree of superiority over the rest will undoubtedly tell in dry conditions.

In the wet, however, all bets would be off - and there is no shortage of drivers who will have their eye on the top step of the podium should the heavens open on Sunday morning. Chief among them will be a certain Mark Webber, who will be participating in his 215th and final Grand Prix on Sunday.

His career started with a fairytale result at Melbourne in 2002, when he finished an improbable fifth place for Minardi in a race of extreme attrition, so why can't it end with a fairytale victory too? A 10th and final victory would be a fitting tribute to the career to perhaps the most popular man in the paddock in recent years - his honesty, dry sense of humour and integrity will be sorely missed.

Equally fitting would be for Romain Grosjean to take the first win of his career, which would be the icing on the cake of what has been a superb latter half of the season for the Frenchman. This time a year ago, Grosjean's future was looking decidedly uncertain, but after some tremendous performances, most notably his flawless run to second place a week ago, he is rightly being hailed as a likely future world champion.

Fernando Alonso won't have a prayer of winning the race without the help of the weather gods, but if the rain does indeed arrive he'll be eager to erase the memories of a fairly dismal run of form, equally laying down a marker for incoming teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Lewis Hamilton meanwhile, having won only the one race at Hungary to Nico Rosberg's two, will be determined to deploy his wet weather skills to even the score at Mercedes.

Not only that, but positions in both the drivers' and constructors' tables are still up for grabs. Just six points separate Hamilton and Webber in the battle for third place behind Vettel and Alonso, who is now safe in second, whilst the runner-up spot in the constructors' - and all the cash that comes with it - is still just about within reach for Ferrari, who lie 15 points adrift of Mercedes, as well as Lotus, who are a further 18 points down.

Looking further down the order, there are several men in the midfield fighting for their careers as the driver market continues to take shape. With the Quantum money still not forthcoming at Lotus, it appears the well-heeled Pastor Maldonado is destined for the vacant seat alongside Grosjean at Enstone next season instead of Nico Hulkenberg, who is now believed to be closing on a deal to return to Force India.

With Adrian Sutil dropping a particularly unsubtle hint that he has already signed a fresh deal to remain at Force India next season, that could leave Paul Di Resta in the cold. The Scot has been linked with an IndyCar drive, particularly as cousin and four-time series champion Dario Franchitti has recently been forced to retire from injury, but nonetheless insists his main focus is on remaining in F1.

If Force India do indeed plump for an all-German line up of Hulkenberg and Sutil, that will leave little option for Sergio Perez, who was recently dumped by McLaren in favour of newcomer Kevin Magnussen, but to return to Sauber. His team-mate, depending on all sorts of financial complexities, would either be fellow Mexican Esteban Gutierrez, who looks to have done enough to warrant a second year subject to funding, or Russian novice Sergey Sirotkin - though paddock gossip suggests this deal may have now fallen through.

Brazil is also the last chance for Caterham to wrest back 10th place in the constructors' from arch-rivals Marussia, just as they did this time last year in a drama-filled wet finale at Interlagos. To do so, either Charles Pic or Giedo van der Garde must finish in 13th place, which would be virtually impossible without some major assistance from the weather.

Were either to manage the feat, however, it would do their chances of staying with the team next year no end of good, particularly as Heikki Kovalainen continues to advertise his services at the wheel of the second Lotus this weekend. Over at Marussia, the signs are pointing to an unchanged line-up now that, Magnussen, who had been thought of as a potential replacement for Max Chilton, has been given the nod at McLaren.

Qualifying Predictions
1. Vettel, 2. Webber, 3. Grosjean, 4. Hamilton, 5. Rosberg, 6. Hulkenberg, 7. Massa, 8. Alonso, 9. Kovalainen, 10. Bottas

Race Predictions
1. Grosjean, 2. Alonso, 3. Hamilton, 4. Hulkenberg, 5. Massa, 6. Kovalainen, 7. Button, 8. Sutil, 9. Bottas, 10. Vergne

After weeks of boring predictions, I've decided that, this weekend, rain is going to wreak carnage, hence my rather left-field prediction. After both Red Bulls collide with each other whilst dicing for the lead, Grosjean will come through to take a popular first win, with Alonso and Hamilton joining the Frenchman on the podium. Hulkenberg will star once again, just missing out on his first podium finish, with Massa coming home fifth in his final outing for Ferrari.

Kovalainen will bank a very handy 8 points for Lotus to go with Grosjean's bumper haul of 25, with Jenson Button rounding off a miserable season with an steady run to seventh. The remaining points finishers will be made up of Sutil, Bottas and Vergne, with numerous other casualties during the race including Rosberg, Perez, Maldonado, Di Resta and Gutierrez. Well, I can hope, can't I?

United States Grand Prix 2013 - Report

After taking an eighth successive Grand Prix victory at Austin yesterday, Sebastian Vettel uttered some very poignant words to his team via his in-car radio.

Just before doing his now customary celebration of a post-race doughnut, Vettel appeared to get somewhat emotional on the team radio after taking the chequered flag, saying: "We have to remember these days; we have to enjoy them while they last."

Those words indicate that the 26-year-old is not taking any of his phenomenal recent success for granted. For him, every victory is to be savoured, as if it could well be his last; his lack of complacency is incredible for somebody who has become so used to standing atop the podium.

A winning margin of just over six seconds may seem meagre by his recent standards, but Vettel was just as in control of proceedings at the Circuit of the Americas he had been at Abu Dhabi, where he won by a crushing 30 seconds, two weeks earlier. With just about every team aiming for a one-stop strategy, tyre preservation limited the rate at which Vettel was at liberty to gallop into the distance.

Vettel managed to eke 27 laps out of the set of medium tyres on which he qualified on pole position on Saturday and escaped from nearest pursuer Romain Grosjean to the tune of eight seconds during the first stint. The Frenchman, from third on the grid, surged around the outside of front row starter Mark Webber at the first corner, but was powerless to keep Vettel in check.

Lewis Hamilton, from fifth on the grid, also managed to jump Webber at the start, but it soon became clear that the Brit was holding up the second Red Bull. Webber seized third position back from Hamilton with a bold outside pass at turn 12 and proceeded to catch up with second place man Grosjean.

The Lotus driver however was in no mood to relinquish what would be his best finish of the season, having been denied the runner-up spot behind Vettel at Germany, Japan and Korea. Webber piled on the pressure on Grosjean after his one and only pit-stop on lap 28, Grosjean coming in the following lap, but after several laps of frustration he decided to drop back to cool his tyres.

With around 10 laps remaining, Webber renewed his assault on Grosjean in a bid to snatch Red Bull's third one-two finish in four races, but some sublime defending by Grosjean meant that Webber would have to be content with third place in his penultimate race as an F1 driver.

It was the latest in a long line of impressive drives by Grosjean, who has scored more points than anyone in the last five races besides Vettel. Lotus team principal Eric Boullier was full of praise for his charge after the race, and on recent evidence it's difficult to argue with his claim that Grosjean is now among the sport's top three or four drivers.

Hamilton was never in the frame for a podium finish after being demoted by Webber, but a new chassis for this weekend undoubtedly came as a boost after two lacklustre showings at India and Abu Dhabi. The Brit came under some pressure from Fernando Alonso in the closing stages, but hung on to claim fourth place and consolidate second in the constructors' standings for Mercedes.

Alonso had his best qualifying effort for some time with sixth on the grid, but lost time behind Sergio Perez, who vaulted ahead at the first corner, during the first stint. The Spaniard managed to leapfrog the McLaren driver at the pit-stops, before catching up with Nico Hulkenberg, who had started fourth but dropped behind Hamilton at the start, late in the race.

The inevitable pass came on lap 45 at the first corner, but after Alonso dropped back from the tail of Hamilton, Hulkenberg closed in once more on the two-time champion. At the start of the final lap, Hulkenberg made an opportunistic lunge on Alonso at the first corner, but the move failed to come off and he had to settle for sixth place.

In seventh was Perez after an assured performance from the Mexican which will inevitably raise the question of whether McLaren were somewhat rash in their decision to drop him for next year in favour of rookie Kevin Magnussen. Behind him came Williams driver Valterri Bottas, who was one of the stars of the weekend after qualifying and finishing in the top ten to score the first F1 points of his career.

Rounding out the top ten were two drivers who, on this occasion, were out-classed by their teammates - Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button. Both surprisingly failed to make it into Q3, starting 12th and 15th respectively (the latter after a three place grid penalty for overtaking under red flags during a practice session), but succeeded in battling their way up to ninth and tenth places.

Button however only secured the final points-paying position on the penultimate lap of the race as he passed Daniel Ricciardo at the first corner, the Australian coming home 11th. The sister Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne finished 12th on the road, but was docked 20 seconds for causing a late collision with Esteban Gutierrez, dropping the Frenchman to 16th.

That handed 12th place to Felipe Massa, one of the few drivers to make two pit-stops during the race; the Brazilian was another driver to qualify outside of the top ten and appeared rather out of sorts for much of the race. Next up at the finish was Gutierrez, and Lotus substitute Heikki Kovalainen, who had an eventful time in his first race since last year's season-closing Brazilian Grand Prix.

The weekend got off to an auspicious start for the 32-year-old as he made the Q3 cut and qualified a respectable eighth, but things went downhill thereafter. Kovalainen made a poor start, dropping to 12th at the end of the first lap, before clawing back some of the lost ground with an earlier pit stop. He slumped back to 14th at the finish line, however, after having to make a second stop for a fresh nose due to an unspecified problem that was costing him downforce.

Paul Di Resta had a difficult race, having to stop twice en route to a subdued 15th place, though he fared better than teammate Adrian Sutil, who became the first (and only) casualty of the race after first lap contact with Pastor Maldonado put the German, who was unequivocal about who was to blame,  in the barriers.

Maldonado, who accused his Williams team of sabotaging his car after qualifying down in 17th, had to pit soon after to replace his damaged nose when shown the black-and-orange flag. The Venezuelan finished where he started, a lap down, ahead of the four 'Class B' cars, who were led home on this occasion by Marussia's Jules Bianchi.

Unfortunately, the second ever F1 race at the Circuit of the Americas was not a terribly exciting affair. The race day attendance reportedly was over 110,000, a robust figure by any standards, but that comes after a thrilling contest between Vettel and Hamilton last year. What's more, some 40 percent of the fans were Mexican, no doubt encouraged to make the trip across the border by the presence of Messrs Perez and Gutierrez.

The lack of action can mostly be put down to the conservative tyre choice made by Pirelli - not because it allowed the drivers to go flat out, but because it meant that the drivers were managing their rubber virtually throughout to achieve the holy grail of a one-stop strategy. Whilst there were a few good battles for position, in most cases the driver that made the pass simply drove into the distance.

There seems to be a fear in the paddock that next year's new technical regulations will create more scenarios like we saw at Austin, as the drivers will be forced to manage their engines throughout. Let's hope, then, that the teams and governing body are able to find a solution to ensure that races of the kind seen yesterday do not become the norm.

United States Grand Prix 2013 - Preview

This weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Formula One’s second visit to the state-of-the-art Circuit of the Americas facility, marks the penultimate round of this year’s championship.

Though the widespread consensus is that the inaugural trip to the Texan city of Austin last year was a success, the F1 fraternity is under no illusions that cracking the US market is anything other than a long-term project. The commercial benefits of doing so are obvious, but the acid test will be whether the same enthusiasm for the sport we saw in 2012 exists five or 10 years down the line.

The circuit itself was also given rave reviews by drivers and fans alike. The flowing first sector, ultra-long back straight and technical final sector make it one of the most varied circuits on the calendar, as well as one of the most demanding on the cars, while the steep approach to the first corner makes the venue immediately recognisable, unlike some of the other ‘Tilkedromes’ on the F1 calendar.

Tyre wear is unlikely to be too great a concern as Pirelli have chosen to bring their two hardest tyre compounds, the medium and hard, whilst the presence of two DRS zones – one along the back straight and the other along the start/finish straight – should ensure overtaking doesn’t prove too difficult either.

This week has been a roller-coaster ride of driver market speculation and announcements for both this year and next. The most shocking news, revealed on Monday evening and confirmed by the team on Thursday, was that Kevin Magnussen will be making his F1 debut next season alongside Jenson Button at McLaren, with Sergio Perez being ditched after just a single season at Woking.

It’s been a difficult year for Perez, but I can’t help feel dispensing of his services after such little opportunity to show what he’s made of is a tad unfair. While he hasn’t beaten Button as regularly as he would have liked, the Mexican has turned in some rather impressive performances this year – most notably at India, where he battled his way up to fifth.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago for The Sideline Agenda on why I felt the beleaguered Perez should be given another season to prove his worth, but clearly McLaren believe Magnussen to be a better long-term prospect. With next year likely to be a transitional year for the team before they re-join forces with engine suppliers Honda in 2015, they clearly feel the time is right to give the Dane some mileage.

It will nevertheless be a baptism of fire for Magnussen, this year’s Formula Renault 3.5 champion and a member of McLaren’s young driver programme. With McLaren eyeing up Fernando Alonso for 2015, there’s every chance Magnussen could find himself out of favour this time next year if the results aren’t up to scratch. Proving himself at a lower team may have been a more sensible option, but you can hardly blame him for accepting the offer he’s been made.

Perez meanwhile stands a good chance of remaining on the grid for next season thanks to his Telmex backing; his options include a return to Sauber, Force India and Lotus, who are still yet to confirm who will be driving alongside Romain Grosjean next season. The fact that Kimi Raikkonen has opted to miss the final two races of the year to undergo back surgery is the latest twist in this long-running saga.

It had been thought, after the previous race at Abu Dhabi, that an agreement between Raikkonen and incoming investors Quantum Motorsports had been struck that would pay the Finn the salary he was owed and guarantee his attendance at the final two races. You could therefore infer that, as Raikkonen has opted to have surgery now rather than after the end of the season, the promised money never showed.

That in turn would suggest that the Quantum deal that would put Nico Hulkenberg in the second Lotus next year is still far from a foregone conclusion. In fact, the German turned down the opportunity to replace Raikkonen for the last two races as he felt that, without a guarantee of a 2014 race seat, leaving Sauber early was too big a risk to take.

Instead, Lotus have recruited Heikki Kovalainen as Raikkonen’s stand-in, though only after Michael Schumacher turned down an offer from the team to temporarily come out retirement. This means Kovalainen gets his first race outing since being dropped by Caterham, for whom he has done several Friday practice sessions this year, at the end of last season.

This comes a major snub for Lotus reserve Davide Valsecchi, who would have the chance to set the record straight about being the only GP2 champion (besides the recently crowned Fabio Leimer) to have never started an F1 race. Lotus justified their choice by saying they needed somebody experienced to help the team during a crucial battle for constructors’ points, but it does rather throw into question the point of bothering to have a reserve driver.

The other news from the week was the confirmation of what had already been suspected by the F1 paddock for some time – that Felipe Massa is going to Williams to replace Pastor Maldonado. It’s a move that makes sense for both parties: Williams has the biggest potential of the smaller teams to allow Massa to land some big results, whilst the Grove-based outfit need an experienced hand to help them claw their way back up the field next year.

Understandably, little attention has been paid in the build-up to this weekend’s race to what actually might happen on-track, but Sebastian Vettel has to be regarded as favourite to make it eight wins in a row. It’s also worth noting that Austin is one of the few circuits at which he has not yet won a race (Lewis Hamilton beat him in a straight contest last year), something the German will be eager to put right.

As for the fight for the remaining steps on the podium, expect Mark Webber to be right in the mix, as well as de facto Lotus number one Grosjean and one or both of the Mercedes drivers. Hamilton has been rather outgunned by teammate Nico Rosberg at the last two races, but it emerged yesterday that the Brit’s chassis had cracks in it, which undoubtedly will have hindered his performance. It will be interesting to see if he can regain the initiative with a fresh chassis this weekend.

Ferrari have failed to take a podium since Fernando Alonso finished a distant second to Vettel at Singapore, and the chances of them doing so this weekend appear slim unless several of their competitors hit trouble. The team’s main focus is likely to be on holding rivals Lotus at bay in the fight for third place in the constructors’ standings, though they remain within shouting distance of Mercedes, who currently hold second place.

In light of the recent deluge of driver market news, several men arrive at Austin with something of a point to prove, not least of all Perez at what is in essence his home race. Others under pressure include Perez’s countryman Esteban Gutierrez and both Force India drivers, with not one but two well-funded Latin Americans now linked to a drive at Silverstone next year.

Kovalainen meanwhile will be keen to take advantage of this rare opportunity in the limelight and put himself in contention for a full-time return to Caterham next year; both Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde will be feeling the heat if the Finn is able to exceed expectations this weekend and at the season finale at Interlagos a week later.

Qualifying Prediction

1. Vettel, 2. Webber, 3. Hamilton, 4. Grosjean, 5. Rosberg, 6. Massa, 7. Hulkenberg, 8. Alonso, 9. Kovalainen, 10. Perez

Race Prediction

1. Vettel, 2. Grosjean, 3. Webber, 4. Hamilton, 5. Alonso, 6. Hulkenberg, 7. Massa, 8. Kovalainen, 9. Perez, 10. Sutil

I know, I know, I’ve put Vettel for the win yet again – but can you really blame me? He has been doing rather a lot of winning lately, after all. Joining #DerFinger (as the Mercedes official Twitter account refers to him) on the podium will be Grosjean and Webber, with Hamilton having his best result for a while thanks to his new chassis but still missing out on his first visit to the rostrum since Spa. Alonso meanwhile will come home in fifth place, once again being out-qualified by teammate Massa but making up for it in the race, Hulkenberg separating the pair at the finish.

Kovalainen will give Lotus four valuable points for finishing a solid eighth in his first outing for Enstone since 2007, with the out-of-favour Perez and the dependable Sutil rounding out the point-scorers. No sign of Rosberg, who is due some bad luck after two consecutive podiums, while Button will have another first-lap altercation with one his competitors which will prevent him from scoring points.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2013 - Report

Since Sebastian Vettel took his fourth title last weekend at India, there's been plenty of debate as to just where the 26-year-old stands relative to the other greats of Formula One. Following another crushing victory at Abu Dhabi - his seventh in a row and 11th of the year in total - one particular statistic helps to shed some light on this debate.

Now with 36 wins to his name behind the wheel of a Red Bull, Vettel has won more races with the Milton Keynes-based team than the legendary Ayrton Senna did at McLaren. That makes the Vettel-Red Bull partnership the second most successful of all-time, second only to the mighty Schumacher-Ferrari axis that produced an incredible 72 wins.

Just like during the height of the Schumacher era, Vettel's domination has not made for scintillating viewing, and Abu Dhabi must rank as one of the dullest races of the year. Whilst Singapore at least saw a great deal of intrigue in the final dozen or so laps as differing tyre strategies converged, at Abu Dhabi the first four finishers were in no real doubt from the halfway stage onwards.

As for the identity of the winner, that was more or less decided at the first corner as pole-sitter Mark Webber bogged down as the lights went out and allowed Vettel into an early lead at the first corner, Nico Rosberg also sweeping around the outside of the Aussie to grab second.

Vettel promptly proceeded to escape the rest of the field at his usual terrifying rate - by lap five, the gap to Rosberg was as many seconds. By lap 10, when Rosberg made his first pit-stop, the Red Bull driver's advantage stood at 11 seconds, and by lap 20, Vettel's lead had swelled to an unassailable 23 seconds.

Not only this, but Vettel was able to preserve his tyres far more effectively than his pursuers, dispensing of his option tyres a full four laps later than Rosberg. He duly re-joined the circuit still in the lead of the race as a result; any victory ambitions Vettel's rivals may have harboured had by now vanished just as surely as the sun did beneath the horizon at mid-distance.

Attention turned to the battle for second, as Webber, who pitted two laps sooner than Rosberg, began to reel in the Mercedes driver during the second stint. The inevitable pass came on lap 20 at turn 11, one of many DRS-assisted overtaking manoeuvres seen throughout the race.

Despite his earlier first stop, Webber also made his prime tyres last longer than Rosberg, thus ending any realistic hope the Mercedes had of preventing Red Bull from taking a second one-two in the space of three races. Indeed, in the closing stages, Rosberg had a charging Romain Grosjean to contend with.

Grosjean had passed the sister Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton at the start to take fourth, but was unable to remain in touch with Rosberg and Webber ahead. The Lotus driver did nonetheless show a handy turn of pace at the end of the race, but simply ran out of laps in which to catch Rosberg. Grosjean thus had to be content with fourth whilst the German secured a second straight podium finish.

It was a wretched evening for Hamilton, whose race was ruined during the second stint as he became stuck behind the yet-to-stop Esteban Gutierrez for some 10 laps. Once the Mexican pitted, Hamilton had lost touch with the top four and was among the first drivers to pit for a second time.

This put him behind the one-stopping Paul Di Resta, and by the time Hamilton had caught the Force India driver, he had seemingly run out of grip with which to challenge his fellow Briton. This allowed Fernando Alonso, equipped with relatively new option tyres, to close rapidly and pass both Hamilton and Di Resta in the final few laps to claim fifth place.

Ferrari initially appeared to be attempting to get both its cars home with just one pit-stop as both Alonso and Massa went for long first stints on their option tyres, pitting on laps 16 and 18 respectively, but as the second stint wore on it became clear that a second visit to the pits was needed.

At this stage, Massa was holding up Alonso, who had started three places lower than his teammate in 10th, and was in no mood to yield to the Spaniard. This prompted Ferrari to bring in the Brazilian earlier than anticipated for medium tyres, preventing him from challenging the option-shod Alonso and consigning him to eighth place behind Di Resta and Hamilton.

The point-scorers were completed by McLaren's Sergio Perez, who enjoyed a trouble-free run to ninth position, and the second Force India of Adrian Sutil, who at one stage was under scrutiny from the stewards for exceeding track limits.

During a battle with Pastor Maldonado, Sutil was forced off the road by the Williams driver and cut the chicane at turn 11/12, gaining an sizeable advantage in the process. Maldonado meanwhile veered back towards the apex of the corner despite running wide, losing a position to Perez. Sutil escaped without penalty.

Alonso also was under investigation for passing Jean-Eric Vergne by leaving the track at the fast sweeping turn 4 as he exited the pit-lane, but was cleared of any wrongdoing by the stewards after the race.

Maldonado eventually came home 11th, missing out on doubling the Williams team's points haul for the year by one position, ahead of Jenson Button who endured another miserable outing. The McLaren driver made contact with Di Resta at the start, which necessitated an early pit-stop for a new front wing; Button never really looked like hauling himself back into points-scoring contention thereafter.

13th place went to Gutierrez, who finished one place ahead of Sauber teammate Nico Hulkenberg who was denied another points finish when he received a drive-through penalty for an unsafe pit-stop release. Next up was Valtteri Bottas in the second Williams, whose unusual strategy allowed him to run in the top 10 before a late second stop dropped him down to 15th at the chequered flag.

Both Toro Rosso drivers had a race to forget, finishing down in 16th and 17th. Daniel Ricciardo had started a creditable ninth but plummeted to 16th after a dreadful start and was never in the hunt for points from then on. Vergne meanwhile attempted to pull off a one-stop strategy which he was forced to abandon after 'falling off the cliff' in the closing stages.

The four 'Class B' cars rounded off the list of finishers, Giedo van der Garde making up for his recent first-lap collisions with a fairly decisive 'win' over Caterham teammate Charles Pic. The Dutchman even survived a collision with Kimi Raikkonen, who had to start from the back after being thrown out of qualifying for a technical infringement, at the the first corner.

The Finn wasn't so fortunate however, and was forced to park his Lotus there and then. For a while, it seemed that may have been the last F1 fans would see of Raikkonen this year amid claims that he hasn't been paid by Lotus all season, but an agreement has now been reached that will see the 'Iceman' complete the final two Grands Prix of the year.

There are no such tensions in the Red Bull camp, whose relationship with Vettel looks as healthy as ever. But, rumours are abound that the team's star designer Adrian Newey could be lured away from the sport and towards yacht racing in the not-too-distant future; such a move coming to fruition would certainly come as a blow to Red Bull.

But, losing Newey would not have as large an impact as next year's sweeping rule changes will have. Whilst the Milton Keynes team are hardly likely to suffer the same dramatic fall from grace Ferrari experienced in 2005, there's a strong chance we'll see a shake-up in the competitive order.

And if Vettel can still win races in such domineering style as he did at Abu Dhabi behind the wheel of a car that's not the class of the field, nobody will be able to dispute his status as one of the greatest ever.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2013 - Preview

Sebastian Vettel may have wrapped up his fourth successive world title with three races to spare, but there's still plenty at stake for teams and drivers alike as this year's Formula One campaign nears its conclusion.

This weekend's race takes place at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, yet another of Hermann Tilke's creations. Though it's fair to say that the track layout has hardly inspired the drivers, its spectacular backdrop, eclipsed only by Monaco, and unique status as a 'twilight' Grand Prix lends the place a certain aura absent from the majority of the sport's Eastern venues.

Not only that, Abu Dhabi has thrown up some memorable races in its relatively brief history since it hosted its first Grand Prix back in 2009. Chief among those is that unforgettable evening that saw Vettel clinch his first title - which seems far longer ago than three years - and last year's first post-comeback race win for a certain Kimi Raikkonen.

The circuit itself demands strong top speed, featuring two mammoth straights, and good traction out of the many slow and medium-speed corners the drivers are faced with. Two DRS zones along the aforementioned straights make overtaking straightforward at Abu Dhabi, whilst the medium and soft compound tyres seen at India will be making their return with wear expected to be less of an issue this weekend given the lower temperatures of an evening race.

Sebastian Vettel may now have put the championship out of reach of his rivals, but anybody hoping that this means the German will lift his foot from the throttle pedal will be severely disappointed. The Red Bull driver is an aficionado for statistics, and will match two important records if he's able to win the remaining three races of the year.

The first would be to match his compatriot Michael Schumacher's amazing record of winning 13 Grands Prix in a season. Admittedly, the Ferrari driver had one less race during the 2004 season in which to achieve this, but matching it would nonetheless be symbolic of Vettel's relentless ascendancy in the F1 record books.

The second would be to match a far older record, that of Alberto Ascari's nine successive Grand Prix victories set back in 1953. Vettel currently stands on six wins on the trot, enough to put him joint third in the list alongside the great Jim Clark and one behind Schumacher, who won seven in a row in 2004.

Given how dominant the Red Bull has become in this latter half of the season, you'd have to be brave indeed to bet against Vettel winning the final three races and matching both of the above.

On the evidence of the Indian Grand Prix, the man most likely to stop Vettel is his own teammate Mark Webber, who is still in search of that elusive first victory of the year. Qualifying fourth on prime tyres at India seemed to put Webber in a strong position to challenge for honours, but a poor start compromised his strategy before alternator failure denied him what would have been second place.

Seeing the Australian stand atop an F1 podium one more time before he switches to endurance racing would surely be something nearly every fan would love to see, but you get the feeling Vettel would have to hit some kind of misfortune between now and the chequered flag at Interlagos in order for it to happen.

As for the rest, chasing victory is hardly likely to be on their minds, with the battle for second in the constructors' standings paramount.

Following a strong second place for Nico Rosberg and sixth for Lewis Hamilton at India, Mercedes have surpassed Ferrari and look to have a good chance of consolidating their position this weekend despite the distraction of speculation over team principal Ross Brawn's future. Hamilton tends to go well at Abu Dhabi, having won in 2011 and retiring from the lead in both 2009 and 2012, whilst the character of the circuit ought to suit the Silver Arrows better than most venues.

Ferrari meanwhile are on the back foot after a bruising race for Fernando Alonso at India, Felipe Massa's fourth place preventing them from losing too much ground to Mercedes. Given that the team have not looked like finishing on the podium in the last three races, the Scuderia will need a hefty dose of luck to get them back ahead of their rivals at Brackley this weekend.

Lotus have also had their fair share of the headlines in recent days as the team's relationship with the outgoing Raikkonen deteriorated following events at India, where the Finn was sworn at for not letting faster teammate Romain Grosjean by. Having missed the media day on Thursday, Raikkonen did turn up on Friday to compete in practice, but his presence at the final two Grands Prix is hardly guaranteed.

Grosjean, who topped first practice this morning, will doubtless be eyeing up a fourth straight podium finish after somehow pulling third place out of the bag at India having started way down in 17th (the largest position gain for any driver all year), whilst Raikkonen will be looking to put another disappointing weekend behind him and get himself back on terms with the ascending star that is his teammate.

Sergio Perez did much to silence his critics with a fine drive to fifth at India, and given that McLaren are now comfortable top-ten contenders, the Mexican will be aiming for another decent haul of points to try and secure his drive at the Woking-based team for next year.

Someone else whose future is still undecided is Nico Hulkenberg, who is still without a drive for next year despite the miraculous run of form he has enjoyed since Monza. The latest reports suggest that, with the investment funds from the Quantum Motorsports group not forthcoming, 'Hulk' could be set to lose out to Pastor Maldonado in his bid to bag a Lotus drive.

The rest of the driver market looks to be on hold until Lotus finally reach a decision over who will partner Grosjean next season, with Force India, Sauber and Williams as well as Caterham and Marussia all ostensibly waiting to see who will be available before finalising their respective line-ups.

The latest rumours point towards Max Chilton potentially moving to Force India alongside Adrian Sutil, with Formula Renault 3.5 champion Kevin Magnussen slotting in the Brit's place at Marussia. This would leave Paul Di Resta in the cold, meaning the Scot has to prove to his team that his talent is sufficient to outweigh the lure of Chilton's cash.

Qualifying Prediction
1. Vettel, 2. Hamilton, 3. Webber, 4. Grosjean, 5. Rosberg, 6. Alonso, 7. Raikkonen, 8. Hulkenberg, 9. Massa, 10. Perez

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

Another prediction, another Vettel victory - don't give me that look! Webber will be a (not so) close second, with Grosjean making another appearance on the podium and replicating the top three of Suzuka. Hamilton will be in the mix but ultimately unable to fend off the Lotus, Rosberg making it two Mercedes cars in the top five.

Alonso will manage no more than sixth, Ferrari losing further ground in the battle with Mercedes, with Hulkenberg taking the result he ought to have at India before he was sidelined by mechanical failure. Perez will beat teammate Button once more, the ever-dependable Adrian Sutil rounding out the points-scorers in tenth place.