In the round-up: Pedro de la Rosa is pessimistic about the potential for a successor to HRT.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
De la Rosa: “No volver?â?í a haber nunca un equipo espa?â??ol” (Marca, Spanish)
Pedro de la Rosa says he doesn’t think there will ever be a Spanish F1 team following the failure of HRT.
Pirelli: Teams ready for aggressive tyres (Autosport)
Pirelli chief technical officer Maurizio Boicchi: “What we would like to do in 2013 is to come back to be a little bit more aggressive in our compound choice in order to introduce more pit stops and strategy for the teams.”
Ferrari president di Montezemolo plans to remain head of race team (AutoWeek)
“The Ferrari boss, who met [Italian president Mario] Monti before Thursday’s annual end-of-season address, acknowledged Thursday that it would be hard to combine the two roles, but said it’s possible. ‘I did it when I was president of Fiat and (Italian employers’ federation) Confindustria,’ he said. ‘The first three tears were really hard, I don’t know how I did it. But I managed to. For me, Ferrari remains fundamental.'”
Nigel Roebuck’s top 10 (MotorSport)
The top four’s the same as mine but Felipe Massa at number ten?
Car Trekking: When Patrick Stewart met Stirling Moss (BBC)
Trailer for a new programme.
Tweets
Training for 2013. From 700 meters to the top of the 2000 meter mountain with snow shoes… pic.twitter.com/jniceu32
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) December 23, 2012
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
@Younger-Hamii spotted an unfortunate trend for Hamilton’s British fans who don’t have Sky:
- Out of all the race winners this season, Hamilton is the only driver not to have won a race the BBC have shown live, coupled with this fact here are his results in the races the BBC have shown live:
- Who will be the Next new champion?
China – 3rd
Spain – 8th
Monaco – 5th
Valencia – DNF
Silverstone – 8th
Spa – DNF
Singapore – DNF
Korea – 10th
Abu Dhabi – DNF
Brazil – DNF
@Younger-Hamii
From the forum
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Andrew, Richpeam WasiF1 and Willian Ceolin!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
Four years ago we debated whether any of the drivers on the grid at the time would beat Michael Schumacher’s tally of wins and world championships.
There were a lot of mentions for Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, but just a few for Germany’s emerging new star who had just won his first race:
Image © HRT F1 Team
verstappen (@verstappen)
24th December 2012, 0:26
Tears or years for Luca?
Pamphlet (@pamphlet)
24th December 2012, 0:33
Roebuck’s list has far more glaring issues than Massa being at #10:
* Hamilton being below Alonso
* Button at #5
* Di Resta at #9
Massa may have been poor in the first few races, but he outperformed Alonso after Italy. Definitely enough for a top 10 finish.
Postreader
24th December 2012, 0:44
“Glaring issues” or “waaah, he’s against my opinion”?
Hairs (@hairs)
24th December 2012, 2:21
“waaah”
matt90 (@matt90)
24th December 2012, 3:04
To be fair, 2 of those 3 do seem quite difficult to justify for me.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
24th December 2012, 8:52
I think Massa deserves a spot in the top ten because of the way he managed to turn his season around and find some speed that has been missing since about 2008. As for Button, he did finish the season fifth overall with three wins and three podiums, so fifth place is understandable if not totally justified. But ranking Paul di Resta ninth overall is the one that I don’t get. He had one decent result – a fourth – in a season when he was easily upstaged by Hulkenberg. I myself wouldn’t have ranked di Resta any higher than fourteenth overall, and that’s only because he finished the season fourteenth.
MJ4
24th December 2012, 9:47
While Massa had how many? Two, or at most three.
Two third places in a year with 8 different winners, as a driver for a top team.
Just because his final races made a big contrast with the pathetic suffering seen during the rest of the season does not merit a top ten ranking.
If his next season is like the last couple of races, no one will have a word against him making the top 5 in end-of-year lists.
But do not get carried away about someone who could have easily won a poll on “The driver most deserving of losing his seat during the 2012 season”.
foleyger (@foleyger)
24th December 2012, 12:17
What is so glaring about Hamilton being below Alonso? Alonso was clearly the best driver this year
woogle (@sgp01)
25th December 2012, 19:33
put your claws in everyone is entitled to an opinion, merry christmas ppl
uan (@uan)
24th December 2012, 0:44
Very interesting to read the comments on whether (and which) Schumacher records might be broken. It seems after 4 years there’s much more contentiousness around people’s views on Hamilton and Alonso. It’s also interesting how much it seems feelings about Vettel have changed, from “he’s a great talent but unlikely to be on a great team” to now, where many feel “he’s a mediocre talent fortunate to be on a great team.” :)
dragoll (@dragoll)
24th December 2012, 4:13
@uan I agree wholeheartedly.
At the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, Vettel became the youngest driver in history to win a Formula One Grand Prix.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Vettel#2008
Not bad considering he did that in a Toro Rosso…
I remember when VET first entered F1, and yes he made mistakes, like taking Webber off under the safety car in Fuji, but he was extremely gifted at the time…
I also remember Webber finished 5th at his home GP, on debut in a Minardi… Maybe Webber isn’t too bad for a #2 driver after all, and considering that Vettel gets the better of Webber over a season, maybe Vettel is a little better than people are giving him credit for.
Perspective is easy, you just need to look at the whole picture, not just a snippet, even if people think 1 year is an entire picture.
RAMBOII
24th December 2012, 13:01
Indeed. People tend to forget he was running third in Fuji at that point. As do people tend to forget that Hamilton was reprimanded for his braking behind the SC, wich indirectly caused the incident.
David-A (@david-a)
24th December 2012, 16:46
Thank goodness that crash happened. Kimi inherited 3rd, and took the world title by 1 point for Ferrari :)
F1Yankee (@f1yankee)
24th December 2012, 0:47
i’m pretty sure that racing legends show is compulsory viewing! looks like i’ll have to get creative in order to watch it, tho.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
24th December 2012, 0:49
I should hope not – trying to create a “Spanish” team was the problem with HRT in the first place. Adrian Campos fundamentally over-estimated the private and public demand for a “national” team in Spain. He sought to capitalise on the popularity of Fernando Alonso, but did not realise that other Spanish drivers like Jaime Alguersuari received very little support in comparison. And from that point on, it seemed that every decision was intended to make the team Spanish, which led to them establishing a base in a country with no infrastructure and no resources to draw on.
DaveF1 (@davef1)
24th December 2012, 11:21
Makes you wonder if Alonso is Spain’s first and last F1 star.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th December 2012, 11:35
there’s quite a difference between basing a team in Spain and having racers from spain though. I pretty much agree with @prisoner-monkeys on this, having a team in spain, far away from any existing F1 or even racing infrastructure is just not viable even if the money was there (if Ferrari has trouble getting some people to move to their facilities in Italy, how hard can it be to get them to a no-one in spain?). In comparison basing USF1 in the NASCAR heartland was a far more senisble idea.
Aetost (@aetost)
24th December 2012, 12:34
@prisoner-monkeys While I agree with your points about infrastructure and resources, these were not HRT’s main problems. Their problem was that they were penniless. Even if they had access to the world’s greatest engineers and facilities, it wouldn’t make any difference, since they had no money to use them. Also, in an era of globalization, this point is moot. After all, HRT used an Italian chassis, a British drive-train and, for a while, German headquarters. Yes, having everything under one roof helps, but with enough money and proper organization, it is not necessary. Also, had HRT not been a “Spanish” team, it may have never competed in F1. After all, it was Spanish money that paid most of the bills during their 3 year stint.
Brace (@brace)
24th December 2012, 1:18
Beyond the top 4 drivers this year, that were undeniably a class or more above the rest of the field, case can be made for either of the remaining 20 to make up the 5-10 positions. Ok, not anyone can be 5th :) , but obviously, anyone can be part of the top 10.
Massa’s season was rather disappointing but then again, it’s hard to think of any other driver outside of Nigel’s top 10 who without doubt did better then Felipe.
Perez had few notable drives and also a very good quali in Spa, but he had many poor ones too.
In the end Felipe finished just 57 points behind Webber, so he can’t be that bad. Especially since Felipe gave a place to Fernando 3 times, so it would have been even less than that.
sennaboy3 (@sennaboy3)
24th December 2012, 1:23
Respect. Roebuck. Enough. Said. The man is the greatest F1 journalist alive still.
Jubameister
26th December 2012, 8:02
But he probably cant see to the back of the grid anymore. Having drivers like Massa or Rosberg in top10 is just wrong.
Lateralus (@lateralus)
24th December 2012, 2:13
I’m not sure I’d put Felipe as high as #10, but I agree with his reasoning for doing so.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
24th December 2012, 4:27
Happy Birthday to @Andrew, @Richpeam and @WillianCeolin.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th December 2012, 11:35
Indeed, and don’t forget to add: a very happy birthday to @wasif1 too!
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
24th December 2012, 17:21
Oh dear I forgot about him.
Joey Zyla (@)
24th December 2012, 6:08
Collantine believes that his opinion is always “right” as he has displayed with his reaction to Nigel Roebuck’s list.
I do not intend to make you sad, Keith, but that does not make his list “wrong” because it is different than yours.
alexf1man (@alexf1man)
24th December 2012, 8:13
I noticed this trend when Hamilton retired in Brazil, but didn’t make a comment… looks like he won’t win the British GP again for a while…
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
24th December 2012, 12:32
If only the live races counted towards the championship, the final result would have looked like this:
1 ALO 144 (all podiums bar China and Belgium)
2 VET 136 (5 podiums inc 2 victories)
3 WEB 112 (inc 2 wins and 2nd)
4 BUT 105 (inc 2 wins and 2 2nds)
5 RAI 104 (14th in China, 9th in Monaco, 10th in Brazil all included)
6 ROS 67 (win in China and 2nd in Monaco both count)
7 MAS 67
8 HUL 45 (4 top 6 finishes count)
9 GRO 40 (none of his podiums count)
10 MAL 39 (win in Spain and 5th in Abu Dhabi both count)
11 HAM 34 (none of his wins count, only 5 points in final 7 races)
12 SCH 33 (podium in Valencia counts)
13 DIR 27 (4th in Singapore counts)
14 KOB 21 (podium in Japan doesn’t count)
15 SEN 14
16 VER 12 (3 of his 4 8th places count)
17 RIC 7 (3 of his 4 9th places count)
18 PER 3 (only 9th in Europe and 10th in Singapore)
19 PET 0 (11th in Brazil counts)
20 GLO 0
21 PIC 0
22 KOV 0
23 KAR 0
24 DLR 0
(d’Ambrosio would not feature as Italy was not live)
Going into Brazil, Vettel would have led Alonso by 2 points, with Raikkonen being 25 behind Vettel but out of contention due to Vettel’s higher number of 4th place finishes.
Besides Hamilton, the other big ‘anomaly’ is Perez (who loses all of his podiums) – would McLaren have signed him in this case?
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
24th December 2012, 12:33
And one of Perez’s points only came after a penalty for Webber!
infy (@infy)
24th December 2012, 9:35
“9. Paul di Resta
Even after a great result, like sixth place in Bahrain or that fine fourth in Singapore, di Resta invariably comes across like the recent recipient of bad news, such as not being snapped up by a top team. This is unfortunate, for Paul is talented and sooner or later bound to drive for one of them. For much of the season he was on par with his Force India team-mate, before being shaded in the late races. He drives with innate class and his day will surely come – acknowledged, one hopes, with a smile.”
This guy makes it sound like Di Resta is destined to drive for one of the top teams, as if it is his birth right.
Sure he can keep the car on the road, but compared to other drivers and his team mate, he’s nothing special. Resta who has been in the team for a while, was beaten convincingly by a team mate who was new to the team. If they were in winning cars and winning more points, the difference in points really stands out. Multiplied by 4.5, Hulk would be sitting with 283.5 and Resta would only have 207 points… Thats a huge difference.
The only reason I could see a team principle selecting Di Resta over someone like Hulk would be:
1) Almost guaranteed exposure and pre and post race interviews with he British broadcasters (BBC and Sky).
2) He’s british and so Mclaren might take him.
thespuditron (@)
24th December 2012, 9:56
I might be missing something here, but where did you get the “multiplied by 4.5” from?
infy (@infy)
24th December 2012, 10:06
I did that to get Hulks 2012 points to the level of the WDC so that we could see how large the difference would be if they were challenging for the same value of points.
mhop (@mhop)
24th December 2012, 15:09
@infy
Your points multiplication “statistic” is simply ridiculous. If the closing laps in Sao Paolo had gone differently di Resta would have outscored Hulkenberg in 2012. A huge difference between teammates??
The short term memories of some of the blowhards on here never ceases to amaze me. Di Resta out performed and out raced Hulkenberg for 2/3rds of the season. Unfortunately for him, his dip in form coincided with Force India’s most competitive period: the last six races.
infy (@infy)
24th December 2012, 15:27
would-have-should-have, but didnt.
David-A (@david-a)
24th December 2012, 16:34
@mhop –
I can’t agree with that at all, since Di Resta crashed. If we remove that mistake, he scores a few points. But if we remove Hulkenberg’s mistake earlier in the race, he gets 25 points for winning the race.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
24th December 2012, 10:28
@infy
Di Resta makes it sound like di Resta is destined to drive for one of the top teams, as if it is his birth right. Go back and read any of his comments after qualifying this year, particularly if he didn’t make it into Q3 (and defiantely if Hulkenberg did) – you’ll see that something came up at the most inopportune moments that cruelly robbed him of the opportunity to set a representative lap time. It’s never anyone’s fault, of course; a niggling mechanical issue here, getting impeded by a slower car there, or (and I think this might be di Resta’s favourite excuse) changes in the ambient temperature and/or prevailing weather conditions that mean the Pirellis are no longer performing at their peak. Fate and circumstance always seem to intervene to make di Resta look bad so often that you could be forgiven for thinking that putting the number 13 on his car might actually improve his fortunes. All of this came to a head in Austin when he explained away his poor qualifying performance by paying himself a massive compliment:
Watching on-board videos from di Resta, he’s not like Hamilton in his aggression … but nor is he at the opposite end of the scale, like Jenson Button. Of the two, he’s probably more like Hamilton than Button, if only just, but I for one would not call his driving style “smooth”, much less “quite smooth”. Combined with his comments that McLaren took Sergio Perez to replace Hamilton because he was “more marketable” than di Resta (McLaren have never confirmed they even looked at him; if anything, Martin Whitmarsh has implied that they were more interested in Nico Hulkenberg), it would appear that di Resta’s intention is to try and make himself out to be the ideal choice for McLaren because a similar driving style to Jenson Button would help with car development.
Between making excuses for his poor performance, trying to set himself up for a drive with a bigger team, and his passive-aggressive character assassination of drivers who get promoted before him, it’s a wonder Paul di Resta has enough time to actually race in the car he has. Given the results he’s been getting, one could make the case that he’s too distracted by his future to concern himself with the present. If he really wants to drive for a front-running team, then perhaps he should stop worrying about next year and instead focus on this year, and actually achieve some results that might get the attention of a front-running team. Because at the current rate, the only way he’s going to wind up racing for McLaren or Ferrari or Red Bull is if they have to do what McLaren did at the end of 2007 and take the next-best alternative because their preferred option is not available.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th December 2012, 11:37
Ha, its clear you don’t rate DiResta as high as some of the British media do (I agree that there are other drivers who deserve being in that top 10 more than him)
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
24th December 2012, 12:17
I’ve said it before, and doubtless I’ll say it again – I think that attitude is important. And I don’t like Paul di Resta’s attitude. When a driver misses out on Q3 by a fraction of a second, I like it when he says “I came into Turn 8 too quickly, missed the apex and then got on the power too quickly coming out and spun the tyres up; that’s why I missed out on Q3”. Conversely, I don’t like it when he says “I was just about to set a good lap, but then the track temperature rose by half a degree and suddenly we were running in conditions that we hadn’t seen all weekend, and I couldn’t get the tyres to work. I drove a perfect lap, but it just wasn’t good enough, and that’s why I missed out on Q3”, particularly when the replay shows that the driver missed the apex of Turn 8 and spun his wheels up coming out of it.
@HoHum (@hohum)
24th December 2012, 16:34
The truth ?! what a quaint concept.
davidnotcoulthard
24th December 2012, 10:12
@Pedro de la Rosa
Surely you can go to Germany and ask (beg?) VW to create “SEAT F1 Team”, right?
@HoHum (@hohum)
24th December 2012, 16:29
” more pit stops and strategy for the teams”
And less car on car racing for the fans !
CNSZU
24th December 2012, 16:58
Is Nico Rosberg serious when he claims that a picturesque mountain hike is “training” for 2013? Isn’t that what the gym is for?
Brace (@brace)
24th December 2012, 17:53
I’m pretty sure real hiking is far better than walking on a treadmill in a gym.
TED BELL
24th December 2012, 17:10
HRT
What a complete waste of time and money. First off they were just plain lousy. A team with absoluetly no chance of doing a single thing in Formula One. From their early on circus carnival paint theme to the promise of a all conquering Spanish based team, these guys simply should have never been allowed to race in F1. This futile effort will go down in the ranks as one of the all time worst teams period. They should have been banned when they first showed up with that checker board paintwork. Formula One is about becoming the best not who can be the remain the worst. Formula One is for the best because of them…NOW
Girts (@girts)
24th December 2012, 17:40
I’m not sure if we really need a Spanish F1 team, just like I don’t think that we necessarily need a British team or a German team in F1. I wouldn’t support a Latvian F1 team just because the people there possessed the same nationality as I do. I’d rather share the values of my favourite team.
I watch F1 on the German TV and the focus on German drivers is what I don’t like most about their broadcasts. And I’m tired of you’re-praising-Hamilton-just-because-you’re-British-and-he’s-British comments on the web, too. F1 needs new teams a lot but they don’t have to be national teams.