Team Orders in F1

The words ‘Team Orders’ is always looked at with disdain when it comes to Formula One. Team order controversies have plagued F1 for the past two decades and will probably be never forgotten by the hardcore F1 fans. Be it Rob Smedley’s infamous ‘Fernando is faster than you’ message to Felipe Massa at Hockenheim in 2010, or Rubens Barrichello moving aside just before the finish line to let Michael Schumacher win in Austria in 2002, or Red Bull’s ‘Multi 21’ controversy in 2013, Team Orders have always left a negative mark on the sport.

But why should there team orders in the first place? If you are fast enough you do not need help to pass someone. Unfortunately it is not as simple as that. The only top driver that comes to my mind in the last two decades to not insist on team orders is probably Lewis Hamilton. World champions including Schumacher, Alonso and Vettel have always been pro team orders and if you look at the stats, they have won 15 of the last 20 world championships.

To my knowledge and in the modern context, I don’t think any driver signs with a team as No. 2 driver. Every driver signs on believing they will get equal opportunities but for some reason or the other this is not always the case. Drivers like Eddie Irvine, Massa and Mark Webber were great talents, but putting in a winning performance every race weekend was not possible, compared to their team-mates. Drivers like Schumacher, Alonso and Vettel are so relentless and determined that most often than not their teammates automatically become the No. 2 driver in the team. Their whole approach is completely different, one that breeds confidence, passion and the ability to lead a team. There are few drivers built like this and I am waiting to see who from the next generation of drivers can take this on.

Williams F1 team is probably one of the greatest teams in the history of the sport, along with Ferrari and McLaren. Frank Williams has been one team owner who has always been against team orders and it has definitely cost the team not only many race wins, but world championship as well. However Frank Williams has stuck to his guns and we can see from last weekend’s British Grand Prix that nothing has changed.

While Williams continue to defend their decision to not let Valteri Bottas pass Massa, one can only imagine what might have been if he had been let past and surged ahead. What was clear was that Bottas was clearly the faster driver and at three to four tenths of a lap quicker it was possible for him to have pulled away while Massa held back the Mercedes drivers. Williams not only refused to let Bottas through, but also did not try an alternative strategy like bringing him earlier, say lap 14-15 to see what he was capable of. Williams could have been a little more aggressive and proactive in trying different scenarios. One option was the ‘Red Bull option’, where they allowed Daniel Ricciardo to pass Daniil Kvyat in Monaco to see if he could pass cars in front. When it was clear he could not, Red Bull asked both drivers to swap places again putting Kvyat back ahead. If Bottas was not able to pull away then they could ask him to let Massa back ahead again.

Personally I am not a fan of team orders but I think in the highly competitive world of F1 it is a necessity in certain cases. Ever since they lifted the ban on team orders, the teams have had the opportunity to do it with more ease. No driver wants to be told to let his teammate ahead, but in the higher interest of the team sometimes it has to be done.       

Teams are on F1 for one thing and one thing only – to win the World Championship, Constructors first and then Drivers. I am not saying teams should always play the team orders card, but there will be 2-3 races a year where if used strategically, team orders can benefit the team.

So what do you think, team orders or no team orders?

Brilliant Sebastian Vettel and the Boos!!

It is just a matter of time before Sebastian Vettel is crowned 2013 Formula One World Champion which will be for the fourth consecutive time. Vettel was driving on another planet at the Singapore GP as he demolished his rivals. It is very rare to see a car and driver in perfect sync with each but I think that is exactly what Vettel and his RBR managed to achieve this weekend. He has always been quick but for at least 30% of the race he was a whopping 2 seconds faster than the entire field, which is an unbelievable feat that has not been seen in F1 for over 20 years.

One thing that has emerged in the last couple of races is that the battle for 2nd is proving to be the most interesting part of the race. Not taking anything away from Vettel, but there are 6-7 drivers who are so close and battling for position, which is more fun. They all qualify within 2-3 tenths off each other and its anyone's game after. Fernando Alonso has finished in 2nd place in the last three races and this is mainly due to his starts and his aggressive first couple of laps. If you actually look at the first few laps of any race there are only two drivers who are really aggressive on a regular basis, Vettel and Alonso. Even if Vettel loses the lead off the start line he will manage to get it back by the end of the first or second lap. Alonso similarly jumps atleast 3-4 place in the opening laps. This then helps them in controlling the outcome to their race.

Now let's come to the topic that is becoming a regular occurrence at the podium ceremony. Vettel is clearly getting booed at every race and now it's becoming a fashion of sorts to boo him. Many people including RBR Team Boss Christian Horner and others say it is not sporting and shows lack of respect. Vettel did not show any sort of sportsmanship or respect when the whole Multi 21 episode happened so not sure why they should use words like sportsmanship and respect when he did not follow the same. Most of the booing is a result of Multi 21 when Vettel disobeyed team orders and overtook Webber in Malaysia.

Alonso also got booed when Felipe Massa let him through in Hockenheim 2010 but thats just how the sport goes. My opinion is very simple, don't preach or tell the F1 fans what to do - people want to boo let them, people want to cheer let them. The more you harp on the booing the more it will get. And hey if you look at a sport like Football it is a regular occurrence. If the booing goes on I am not sure it will help Red Bull in the long run, but hey as long as they keep winning not sure they will have a problem. But am sure it must be disturbing for the team and a big task ahead for the Red Bull PR and Marketing team to make him more likeable. I am sure many people disagree with me but this is my view.

On that note I do believe Vettel has driven brilliantly to totally deserve this year's world championship. I do not think he was a deserving 2012 winner but this year he has been flawless. I expect him to be crowned 2013 F1 Champion at the Indian GP. So now bring on 2014!!

Why Raikkonen to Ferrari spells doom for the Italian Team!!

#Ferrari are all set to confirm 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen as a replacement for Felipe Massa today. #Raikkonen will partner double world champion Fernando Alonso in what will easily be the strongest driver line-up in Formula One since the early 1990s. In my view this is a huge mistake on the part of Ferrari and I do not see anything good coming out of it. I also strongly believe Alonso will not stay at Ferrari post 2015.

#Alonso has had the best years of his career in Ferrari over the last 4 years even though he has failed to win the championship, albeit coming close in both 2010 and 2012. He has given all for the team and driven over the limits of the car. The only thing that has stopped Alonso from winning the titles in both years has not been Sebastian Vettel, but Ferrari itself. For him take the battle to the last race of both 2010 and 2012 was nothing short of miraculous as the car was maybe third best or second best at times. What has amazed me is Ferrari have had the same problem for 4 years, correlation problems with their wind tunnels. They have never managed to constantly improve the car over the year, but rather improve it in 2-3 races. This move by Ferrari will not impress Alonso and I feel this will dent his motivation as well. He might have made some comments over the last few months but it was only to motivate the team.

Raikkonen arriving at Ferrari will have many many benefits but somehow think the negatives will outweigh the positives. Raikkonen brings in wealth of experience and with big regulation changes for next year it will be good for the team. Raikkonen will push Alonso to the limit, thereby making him even better. One thing that will definitely help Alonso raise his qualifying game will be Raikkonen. The biggest gain will be what Ferrari looking to achieve with this pairing, the Constructors Title. This has eluded them since the Schumacher era and this will be the main focus for next year. But at what cost, Alonso??

The biggest problem Ferrari will face is both drivers taking points off each other. This will make things a lot easier for Vettel again, with his new team-mate not good enough as yet to pose any problems. Race strategies will also be compromised.

I feel that Ferrari should have gone with  a driver like Nico Hulkenberg, young and super quick and will definitely push Alonso but not hamper him. Ferrari's problem stem from the top and thats what they have to fix. They need Flavio Briatore or Ross Brawn at the helm, guys who are totally efficient and leave nothing to chance. Not sure Stefano Domenciali is the man to the lead them to the next title. And when things erupt between Alonso and Raikkonen, he is definitely not going to be the man to handle it and neither is Ferrari boss Luca di Montzemolo.

So next year Ferrari will have Rory Bryne, Pat Fry, James Allison and Nicholas Tombazis working on the the 2014 challenger that will be driven by Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. On paper it sounds most exciting and I can see media talking about it all through winter to the first race in Melbourne. I for one am not jumping up and about can see Vettel taking title No. 5 next year!!    

Forget F1!! MotoGP is where all the action is

F1 is easily the most popular form of Motorsport in the world and I don't think anyone can discount that. But if anyone watched last weekend's MotoGP from Silverstone you will know why MotoGP has suddenly the in thing with riders putting everything on the line to fight for the championship. I am not sure that there is any competitive sport in the world where competitors participate despite having broken collarbones, dislocated shoulders, broken legs, hands etc. This year in MotoGP the three leading contenders are so desperate to win the championship that they are willing to ride at all costs, putting their bodies on the line.

MotoGP has always been competitive, like any other racing category, with two guys always fighting it out for the championship. The last 6 years has seen Stoner vs Rossi, Rossi vs Lorenzo, Stoner vs Lorenzo and Lorenzo vs Pedrosa. But this year the interest in MotoGP has gone up ten fold because of one man, Marc Marquez. The 20 year old Spaniard is in his rookie season in MotoGP and has gone on to not only exceed expectations but is currently leading the riders championship by 30 points, with 6 races to go.

Marc Marquez battled for the 2011 Moto 2 (level below MotoGP) championship but eventually lost out to current LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl, after not participating in the last two rounds. Marquez decided to stay in Moto 2 for another year rather than move to MotoGP with an average team. His second season in Moto 2 gave him the experience and maturity he needed as he won the title with 9 wins and only 3 races off the podium. He has had to fight from last on the grid in quite a few races and this has helped him improve greatly.

This year's MotoGP title was always going to be between Lorenzo and Pedrosa but Marquez has been brilliant in almost every weekend. Race by race he has improved greatly and is now totally comfortable on his Honda. Most people expected him to crash regularly but it is actually his more experienced rivals that have done so. He took full advantage of injuries to his rivals to win 4 races in a row and lead the championship. Injury or no injury Marquez slides the bike all through the race and it is always great to see a rookie kicking ass!!

Which brings us back to the Silverstone MotoGP race. Marquez drove out of his skin to put his HRC on pole after Lorenzo also put in one of the greatest laps of his career. Marquez then dislocated his shoulder in Sunday morning warm-up and looked very doubtful for the race. The medical team managed to the 'pop the shoulder back in' and he was confirmed to race an hour before the start. After Lorenzo jumped him at the start they stayed together for the whole race. Marquez got ahead with 3 laps to go before Lorenzo got him back. The last lap saw one of the greatest finishes ever with 4 lead changes before Lorenzo got Marquez in the second last corner to take a brilliant win. The Yamaha team have been struggling to find pace behind the Honda's so Lorenzo's win makes it even more special.

Lorenzo broke his collar bone earlier in the year at Assen and rode after putting a steel plate in there. He crashed again the following week damaging the steel plate. Pedrosa also got injured but raced despite being injured. The three title contenders are willing to put everything on the line to win this year and with 6 races to go it is all to play for. In my view if I had a MotoGP race and F1 race at the same time, this year it is MotoGP for me.    

Red Bull Confirms Ricciardo to partner Vettel in 2014!!

As confirmed last week Daniel Ricciardo will partner Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull Racing for the 2014 season. Great opportunity for Ricciardo but lets just hope he does a Lewsi Hamilton (2007) and not become a Grosjean (playing support to Raikkonen). See my last week's post below:

In a few days Red Bull Racing will confirm Daniel Ricciardo as Mark Webber's replacement and the one to partner 3-time (almost 4) World Champion Sebastian Vettel in the 2014 F1 Championship. Personally I think this is a great move by RBR even though many people would have wanted Kimi Raikkonen to partner Vettel. The 4-man think tank of Dietrich Mateschitz, Helmut Marko, Adrian Newey and Christian Horner have decided to go with stability rather upsetting an already proven formula. Let's face it Kimi is one of the fastest drivers on the grid today along with Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton but don't think he will be what RBR want.

One of the main reasons for Vettel and RBR's success is the fact that Vettel has been faster than Webber but not by that much, meaning Webber always brought in the valuable Constructor points. This is something Massa has never been able to do. At the same time the team concentrated more on Vettel making him the defacto Number 1 in the team. While Ricciardo is quick and one to look out for, he will play the role Webber played and at the same time be groomed to take over once Vettel moves to Ferrari (which is inevitable). This will also ensure stability in the team.

Kimi coming in to the team would mean that not only would he start taking points off Vettel but come in the way of the Championship as well. I also don't see Kimi moving over for team orders or helping Vettel win a championship.

The most important part of this move is for Red Bull to prove that their driver program is reaping rewards. Since Vettel was promoted from Toro Rosso to RBR in 2009 none of the other drivers have managed to make an impact leave alone stay in F1 as part of their Red Bull Junior program. This would show that the Red Bull program is still capable of delivering top class drivers.

Ricciardo has rapidly moved up the motorsport ladder over the last couple of years. He won the Formula Renault 2.0 championship in only his third year of single-seater racing before winning the British Formula 3 Championship the following year. He moved on to the highly competitive Formula Renault 3.5 series next and lost out in the final round by just 2 points. He joined HRT for the second half of 2011 before moving to Toro Rosso. He has impressed this year which has resulted in being called up to RBR.

This is a great opportunity and am sure he will grab it with both hands. It might take him 5-6 races  to get up to speed but will give Vettel a run for his money after that. Good to see teams investing in young drivers rather than going for established stars.

So expect an announcement as early as Thursday on this.

Let the Silly Season Begin!!

We are half way through the 2013 F1 season and its that time of the season again - Silly Season!! What is Silly Season you might ask and to make it quite simple, that time of the year when you hear the most silly rumors regarding drivers and teams. This year the main topic for SS is the fight between Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo for the coveted Red Bull Racing seat alongside one Mr. Sebastian Vettel. Another topic which has been going one for the last 4 years in a row is the 'Who will replace Felipe Massa' at Ferrari conversation. But all this has been blown away by Fernando Alonso's manager Luis Abad being seen talking to Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

So let's start with that. Alonso is clearly one frustrated man who has outdriven the car year after year in a quest to win his first F1 title with Ferrari. But year after year the team has let him down. If you actually look at his last 4 years with Ferrari the team has always had a problem developing the car mid-season. What I don;t understand is how year after year a team like Ferrari can have wind tunnel correlation issues. They develop new parts, test it in the simulator, it looks good and when they test it out, the car goes even slower. Having this problem one year is understandable but year after year is unacceptable for a team like Ferrari and Alonso has clearly had enough of this. This is clearly one of the main reasons why Alonso is losing his patience.

The second part and one which might make sense to why Alonso is looking out is the all important 2014 season. With V6 Turbo engines its back to the drawing board for all engine manufacturers. Early reports suggest Mercedes will have the best unit with Renault not far behind and Ferrari a distant third. This might also be the reason why Alonso is looking to get out. But let's face Alonso is going nowhere!! He has the team built around him and with good reason. Would this have caused damage in his relationship with Ferrari? For sure but they need him as much as he needs them

The latest rumour also sees Raikkonen coming back to Ferrari which I don't see happening. One of the main reasons Massa is still there is that they need him to sell their cars in the South American region. This is why they have had a South American driver for the past 13 years. It can't be for his car development or helping Alonso as he is not exactly setting the world on fire in both departments. If Massa does leave I really hope someone like Nico Hulkenberg gets the seat as he will be a great asset to the team. He is quick, mature and has enough years of experience under him.

While the temptation of Raikkonen will be hard to resist for RBR, I do think they will go with Ricciardo. He will be the perfect team-mate for Vettel, fast but a good second driver, and possibly groomed to take over from Vettel in 2016.

With regard to Lotus I do feel they will look more closely at Nico Hulkenberg, if Raikkonen remains or not. Not only will be push Raikkonen but will be a good leader as well. At the same time they will need a bigger name to keep partners happy.

I feel Sahara Force India lost out a but when they lost Hulkenberg this year. They are a good team with good drivers but they need a charismatic and fast leader to take them forward. Di Resta is really quick but has never been able to dominate his team-mates so will never be the outright leader of the team. So amongst the top 5 teams this is how it will look next year in my opinion.

Red Bull Racing: Sebastian Vettel & Daniel Ricciardo/Kimi Raikkonen
Scuderia Ferrari: Fernando Alonso & Felipe Massa
AMG Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg
Lotus Renault: Kimi Raikkonen/Romain Grosjean/Nico Hulkenberg
McLaren Mercedes: Jenson Button & Sergio Perez     

And the Sports Blog returns!! Football season is right around the corner..

So will not waste any time talking about how I plan to regularly blog again but that's exactly what I plan to do. Will do things a  little differently and start with Football this time. League football starts again this weekend with the English Premier League and La Liga (Spanish League) set to kick off. The Bundesliga (German League) and Ligue 1 (French League) kicked off last week with the Serie A (Italian League) kicking off the following weekend.

The summer break is normally famous for two things - Gossip and Rumours about which player is going where!! This summer's headliners have been Wayne Rooney, Luiz Suarez and Gareth Bale. Its less than a month to go before the transfer window closes so we will have all out answers by then. Rooney to Chelsea will be mega and you can be assured Mourinho will take him to new heights, which may be a good thing for Rooney. Suarez going to Real Madrid makes sense but not sure how he will benefit going to Arsenal. Bale to Real is a question of when rather than if.

If you look at all the summer transfers one thing that is evident this year is the fact that not many players are keen for a move to the EPL. Not sure whether it is just money or the team. The Ligue 1 got both Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao, two of the best strikers in the world. La Liga got Neymar, Bundesliga got Thiago Alcantra and Serie A got Gonzalo Higuain. So why isn't any player keen to play in the EPL, which is easily one of the best competitive leagues in the world??

With the EPL kicking off this weekend it will be a 5 way battle with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham fighting it out. With 3 new managers and Arsene Wenger and Andre Villa-Boas this league promises to be a thriller. If Arsenal cannot make big signings in the next two weeks they will definitely not challenge for a top 3 spot.

While most people are putting their money on Chelsea, I feel the team is too young and will need more time to mature. Yes I know Jose Mourinho us back but still feel it will still be the battle of the Manchesters with Chelsea close behind and Arsenal and Tottenham fighting it out for the last Champions League place. Liverpool don't look strong enough and I feel Brendan Rodgers could be out this year if results don't match expectations. So what do you guys say?? Who is winning this one??