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.