Silly Season 2013/14

[LionKing]

There have also been no opportunities this year for Alonso to show his magic, I can't think of a single wet weekend.

but there were 3 wet qualies and it was Vettel who put his car to pole each time.

[sennafan24]

There have also been no opportunities this year for Alonso to show his magic, I can't think of a single wet weekend.

but there were 3 wet qualies and it was Vettel who put his car to pole each time.

Valid point, but I would speculate he was on about Wet during the race, even though he did specify "weekend".

It is kind of the same with Button not being able to flex his impressive strategy skills in mixed conditions, if the situation does not present itself, the skills can not be showcased. There have been no wet races for Alonso to show his magic.

I get the general point, Alonso has not been as impressive in 2013 as he was in 2012 so far, but I do not think anyone should be so cut and dry to say he is being simply outraced by the likes of Vettel and Kimi. The Ferrari is not up to scratch with the Lotus, Red Bull and Mercedes on a consistent basis.

[JimClarkFan]

There have also been no opportunities this year for Alonso to show his magic, I can't think of a single wet weekend.

but there were 3 wet qualies and it was Vettel who put his car to pole each time.

Further proof that my memory is going - what races were those? I haven't missed a race this season and I can't remember

[myurr]

It has also given Horner the chance to put a bit of fear into Vettel; i.e., Kimi may not be his teammate of choice, but it could be worse.

I'm inclined to file this all away as just talk. The only thing preventing me from doing so is that Alonso is proven to make hasty, emotion-driven decisions when frustrated. That, and the response from Ferrari seems a bit less assured than we're accustomed to hearing from them. Still, if I had to rank drivers according to how likely they are to accept a talented teammate, Vettel and Alonso would share the bottom of the list.

I think I've worked it out from Alonso's perspective. This isn't about the 2014 race seat for him, he's committed to Ferrari for that year. It's about making sure that Red Bull know he may be available in 2015/16, depending on whether Ferrari deliver against their performance clauses in his contract. So on the chance they don't deliver he's saying to Red Bull whoever you sign for next year, don't sign them on for more than a year, two at most.

All the rest has just been the usual F1 PR rubbish that swirls around, especially where Horner is concerned, some aimed at destabilising one team or another, some to give Ferrari a little bit of a kick.

[Bob Brown]

It has also given Horner the chance to put a bit of fear into Vettel; i.e., Kimi may not be his teammate of choice, but it could be worse.

I'm inclined to file this all away as just talk. The only thing preventing me from doing so is that Alonso is proven to make hasty, emotion-driven decisions when frustrated. That, and the response from Ferrari seems a bit less assured than we're accustomed to hearing from them. Still, if I had to rank drivers according to how likely they are to accept a talented teammate, Vettel and Alonso would share the bottom of the list.

I think I've worked it out from Alonso's perspective. This isn't about the 2014 race seat for him, he's committed to Ferrari for that year. It's about making sure that Red Bull know he may be available in 2015/16, depending on whether Ferrari deliver against their performance clauses in his contract. So on the chance they don't deliver he's saying to Red Bull whoever you sign for next year, don't sign them on for more than a year, two at most.

All the rest has just been the usual F1 PR rubbish that swirls around, especially where Horner is concerned, some aimed at destabilising one team or another, some to give Ferrari a little bit of a kick.

Yup! That is what I think too. And both Kimi and Riccardo fits the 1-2 years contract too. They could even just dump Riccardo there for 1 year and put Da Costa in STR, and if Riccardo is terrible, RBR can have an Alonso/Da Costa team at RBR......2 drivers, with the same manager, should make things easier to control.

And Kimi's basically been on a year-by-year contract basis with Lotus, so if he doesn't like it at RBR, pretty sure Lotus will take him back unless Grosjean or Hulkenberg suddenly becomes WDC in that 1 year.

[scuderiafan]

It is better than last year, but it is still the 4th best car currently and relatively speaking still not as good as the front runners. Mercedes, Lotus and Red Bull are definitely better.

There have also been no opportunities this year for Alonso to show his magic, I can't think of a single wet weekend.

I have no reason to believe that it isn't entirely Ferrari's fault.

I'm not so sure about Lotus. This year seems like a Red Bull/Merc shoot out, with guest appearances by Ferrari or Lotus each weekend.

[Boudica]

I get the general point, Alonso has not been as impressive in 2013 as he was in 2012 so far, but I do not think anyone should be so cut and dry to say he is being simply outraced by the likes of Vettel and Kimi. The Ferrari is not up to scratch with the Lotus, Red Bull and Mercedes on a consistent basis.

Vettel has been very impressive this season, the most of any driver. He hasn't really made any mistakes and keeps on finishing high, his lowest finish is a 4th place. Of course the Red Bull is also the most consistent car. Ferrari had the best package at the beginning of the season, but they didn't take advantage of that. There have been quite a few wet sessions, but Ferrari is just not as good in the wet as last season, this season they have been suffering from the issues as Lotus in heating their tyres in the wet.
Of course qualifying has been an issue for Ferrari, but often when you look at FP3 times and Ferrari's times in Q1 and Q2 you expect them to do slightly better. This was especially true in the first part of the season when Ferrari was one of the best packages. But come Q3 they were often outqualified by a Lotus, who also tends to struggle in qualifying. Alonso has been out qualified by Massa a few times.
Thing have gone wrong here and there, in Malaysia Alonso drove directly into Webber and broke his front wing, the team should have pitted him and they didn't. In Bahrain Alonso had the DRS problem, which is obviously not his fault. In Monaco Alonso was anonymous. In Silverstone Massa was a bit ahead of Alonso and looked a bit stronger until he had the puncture.
Alonso has less points this season, compared to last season were he had a worse car in the beginning of the year. But Alonso had such a great season last year that it would always be impossible to keep up that kind of form, and the dynamics this season is different. Since Silverstone Ferrari seems to be going backwards, basically the last 3 races. Alonso has done a good job in the last two races, but Ferrai are just not as competitive.The whole team didn't capitalize on their opportunities in the first part of the season where they had the better package.

Mercedes is the opposite of Ferrari, since Monaco the only race where they have struggled with tyres and gone backwards was at Germany. They were not as strong at the start of the season but they have been improving a lot, and they still had good races before Monaco as well at the start of the season, in Malaysia and China. Lewis did look a bit lost at certain races. Lewis needed a bit of time to adapt to the team in the first part of the season he wasn't at his strongest in the first part of the season. But he has been really getting there since Canada. Of course Mercedes gains a big advantage because they are so good in qualifying.
Lotus is a bit more all over the place they started off good in Australia. But they struggled in the wet in Malaysia, Kimi's car was hit at the start and he had a fairly anonymous race. This was his worst race of the season. In Monaco Lotus were not able to do much they couldn't qualify out in front and their pace wasn't as good, the indecent with Perez didn't help. Lotus also had a bit of a slump Canada and Silverstone. They were not fast in those races. In Canada Kimi had big brake issues during the race, and a fuel consumption issue and a problem with his pitstop. In Silverstone Lotus could have gotten a good result despite being off the pace, but made a wrong strategic call. This is a recurring issue with Lotus they always seem like they could have done something more if it was not for their strategies. They often have some of the strongest race pace, but at the same time they often dont seems as fast as others, like Ferrari it is difficult when you are not likely to qualify in the front row. Contrary to Ferrari the new tyres seems to be working quite well for them. And Kimi hasn't done much wrong during the season.

All four of the top drivers are so close together there is really very little in actual fact setting them apart. It is really small things and mostly dependent on small situations in the races here and there. But Vettel has really been the stand out driver so far, he hasn't made any mistakes his only races where he was a bit off was in China and Hungary and he still got 4th and 3rd out of those races, he is having a stellar season. Behind him is Kimi who has scored in all of the races, and who really has only had one bad race, where he didn't do much and he still finished 7th in that race. Lewis needed a bit of adapting but he has been great since Silverstone and he hasn't really made any big mistakes. That leaves Alonso, he is doing a great job as always but compared to other drivers his performances has not been as impressive as the others. While Ferrari have not been up to scratch in 4 races, other teams have also had a similar amount of races where they were not up to scratch. The only team who has been fast in every single race is Red Bull. It would be almost impossible for Alonso to keep the form from 2012 going, there where also more circumstances that played to Alonso's advantage last year. Of course it is only the middle of the season, Alonso could still do great in the second part. But he has seemed a bit more subdued then the others at times this season, perhaps a part of it is just his frustration with Ferrari. It could also explain why Alonso wishes to get his name out there, in regards to speculation of the Red Bull seat.

[Boudica]

According to Alonso's manager he has a contract with Santander with no out clauses. He has to drive for the team which they sponsor, and they are happy to sponsor Ferrari even if they dont win. The only way out of Alonso's contract would be if it was brought out, which would cost an astronomical amount.
http://www.prensa.com/uhora/deportes/al ... der/192931

But Alonso and Vettel would be the most entertaining for the fans. Kimi and Alonso would properly get very similar results, but Alonso and Vettel's persona would yield much more fireworks.


In the Finnish press they are reporting a potentially very interesting deal with Kimi. Jukka Mildh who works with Nico Rosberg and who was previously a manager for Mika Salo, reported that Red Bull and Kimi might be working on a 10 year deal/ partnership. The deal includes, Kimi being a representative for Red Bull after he retires from F1. Perhaps a bit like Pastrana were Kimi can do motocross, WRC, Nascar and whatever else. Red Bull has always been involved with Kimi in some fashion. He was sponsored by them at the beginning of his career and whilst he was driving for Ferrari, they sponsored him in WRC and even now they are sponsoring his motocross team. Kimi's persona and image is well inline with the image that Red Bull likes to project. If there is any truth about this rumour then it might also explain why the negotiations is taking so long.
http://yle.fi/urheilu/mildh_tallipaikka ... si/6753978

Red Bull seems to be extracting the maximum amount of PR from the available second seat. The speculation will keep people busy, but in the end I could easily just see them going for Ricciardo.

[Ra8]

This is getting silly... Kimi to Ferrari.

http://www.f1pulse.com/news/2013073174/ ... am-in-2014

[Hail22]

This is getting silly... Kimi to Ferrari.

http://www.f1pulse.com/news/2013073174/ ... am-in-2014

Welcome to the silly season, this will continue to happen until an "official" announcement is made by Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Ferrari or Lotus F1.

Red Bull as per the previous post are loving this...any PR is good PR for Red Bull as it gives them more exposure!

[CBeck113]

While I really believe that the Alonso side of this is a normal "bridge the summer break" story which has been blown out of proportion, I do see them wanting Kimi, but more to replace Massa.
1) This insures that RB doesn't get Kimi, weakinging them directly
2) Backup for Fred, if he really doesn't want to wait for a title-winning car and jumps to RB (would Santaner go too?!?)
3) Better to have two very fast drivers when you introduce a new design (2014 regs)
4) Simple political batte between RB & Ferrari in which Ferrari has little to lose (except maybe Fred)
Interesting to watch, and to write about for the next four weeks....

[sennafan24]

That leaves Alonso, he is doing a great job as always but compared to other drivers his performances has not been as impressive as the others. While Ferrari have not been up to scratch in 4 races, other teams have also had a similar amount of races where they were not up to scratch. The only team who has been fast in every single race is Red Bull. It would be almost impossible for Alonso to keep the form from 2012 going, there where also more circumstances that played to Alonso's advantage last year.

So that would give Vettel the most situations to impress right?

I actually agree with your post for the most part. Vettel has made few mistakes on track and has been strong the vast majority of weekends. Germany was probably his best performance.

Lewis has been strong and consistent also after a slow start, I was worried when Nico was outperforming him earlier in the season, but he seems to put that right since Canada. I think it gets understated that Lewis faces the best teammate out of the big 4.

Kimi is a bit more quiet and less obvious then those two, but has also been strong and consistent. Although, Romain has shown he can maybe be a bit more competitive in recent races.

If someone said Alonso has been the least impressive, I would not argue that strongly in his defense.

[SectorOne]

There have also been no opportunities this year for Alonso to show his magic, I can't think of a single wet weekend.

but there were 3 wet qualies and it was Vettel who put his car to pole each time.

Further proof that my memory is going - what races were those? I haven't missed a race this season and I can't remember

Aus, Mal and Can.

[xDama]

This is getting silly... Kimi to Ferrari.

http://www.f1pulse.com/news/2013073174/ ... am-in-2014

Haha :')

Raikkonen quit F1 due to Ferrari. He recently said his time with Ferrari was the worst of his F1 career. They even dumped him, so they could get Alonso a year earlier. Even if they'd offer him 30mil/year, he' still refuse.

[raymondu999]

There have also been no opportunities this year for Alonso to show his magic, I can't think of a single wet weekend.

but there were 3 wet qualies and it was Vettel who put his car to pole each time.

Further proof that my memory is going - what races were those? I haven't missed a race this season and I can't remember

Damp Melbourne Q3, wet in Canada and Malaysia