Good God! Great Grid!

How will history speak of our current crop of drivers?

When Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in Monza yesterday afternoon, he completed his 40th Grand Prix victory - a tally that ranks him 5th in the history of the sport for race wins. One place above him is Ferrari's German magician Sebastian Vettel with 41 - tied with Ayrton Senna. One place below Hamilton is the imperious but currently wasted Spaniard Fernando Alonso with 32. 

So that's the fourth, fifth and sixth most successful drivers all currently on the race grid, and all with plenty more time to add a caveat of Grand Prix victories to their already bulging records (some may argue that Alonso's light is fading, but it would take a true cynic to deny his ability to seize the opportunity of success when it arises). Beyond these three megastars, former champions Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button also continue to plug away in Formula One, while nobody doubts the fantastic talents of Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa , Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo.

The best there has been?

Is this the most talented grid in Formula One history? There is definitely quality throughout the paddock, with a mixture of established pros and rising stars dicing it out on track. Some may sneer, and offer the likes of Pastor Maldonado as a rebuttal, but I'm referring to both the quantity of supremely skilled drivers, as well as the greatness by which they are regarded. 

However, it is only fair to say that time will tell. We have five champions on the grid, but one can envisage drivers like Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo going on to take the crown in future seasons. Perhaps in ten years people will look back at the current crop and judge a few more of the above names as legends of the sport. With that in mind, let's have a quick look down memory (or in my case, slightly rushed research) lane at some of the other contenders for the most star-studded grids in Formula One history.

1965 - Champion: Jim Clark (beating Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Dan Gurney) 

Jim Clark was integral to an iconic time in F1's history.

Let's start exactly half a century ago, a season of undeniably legendary drivers which was ultimately dominated by the Brits. Jim Clark won six races to take his second championship title, which he would inevitably have added to had it not been for his tragic death in 1968. Clark led home his fellow countrymen Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, the latter of whom made his Formula One debut during this season and cemented what was to come with his first race victory at the Italian Grand Prix. This terrific trio, perhaps, appropriately mirrors the current season's top crop. 

Further down the standings, the list of talented drivers just seems to continue endlessly. 1964 champion John Surtees returned with Ferrari, as well as Jack Brabham who was between his second and third titles. Furthermore, future champion Denny Hulme began his racing career in 1965 with the Brabham team, while another champ-to-be Jochen Rindt had his first full season in F1 in a Cooper. Other noteworthy names include Dan Gurney, Lorenzo Bandini, Jo Bonnier, Jo Siffert and Bruce McLaren. 

Truly, 1965 was a glorious year for F1. It's fair to mention that all seven of the champions listed above would finish in positions 1-7 in the standings for 1966, but 1965 gets the nod here purely for the strength of the entire field. 

1975 - Champion: Niki Lauda (beating Emerson Fittipaldi, Carlos Reutemann and James Hunt)

In an era of legends, it's arguable that Lauda outranks them all.

Ten years later, Formula One has cooked up another delicious batch of brilliance. Niki Lauda's "unbelievable year" saw him cruise to his first world title in a tremendous Ferrari which easily had the upper hand on the rest of the field. Nevertheless, Lauda had to triumph over some fine competitors to capitalise on his advantage. Emerson Fittipaldi was looking for a second consecutive title in his McLaren, and he began the season strongly before car troubles hampered his hopes.

Many observers fancied the chances of Brabham's skilful Argentinean Carlos Reutemann before the beginning of the year. Though never a champion, Reutemann was highly regarded throughout his Formula One career, and was agonisingly close to a title of his own when he missed out by one point in 1981. Brabham's projected dominance never failed to materialise.

This season also included James Hunt's famous victory for the Hesketh team, a performance that gave F1 a premonition of the amazing title-fight to come the following year. Carlos Pace also secured his historic Interlagos win, making this a tremendous year for tremendous stories. Other noteworthy drivers included champions Jody Scheckter, Mario Andretti and Alan Jones, as well as Clay Regazzoni, Jochen Mass, Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx.

1986 - Champion: Alain Prost (beating Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna)

Prost lines up against Mansell - whose tyre blowout would hand him the title.

This list couldn't possibly be complete without a season including Senna, Prost, Mansell and Piquet. It's difficult to argue that there has ever been a better top four than this. The proof of Prost's success is in both his statistics (four World Championships and 51 career victories) and the prestigious truth that he was the only driver who could challenge Senna at his most rampant. Nigel Mansell, as well as being a massively popular figure, was setting a new standard for British drivers (his tally of race victories was only recently toppled by Lewis Hamilton) and finished a devastatingly close second following the tyre failure that British fans try so desperately to forget.

Nelson Piquet was undeniably strong and still had a title in him, which he would take the following season. And finally, do we really need to say anything more about Ayrton Senna? Even before his three World Championships, Formula One was under no illusions as to the truly sensational young driver's future. To this day, it's difficult to find any rational motorsport fan who wouldn't include Ayrton Senna as one of the greatest drivers in the sport.

Such strength in these characters alone would warrant inclusion in this list, but this season deserves extra consideration for the addition of champions Keke Rosberg and Alan Jones, and the talents of Stefan Johansson, Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto. Perhaps unfairly, this season also gets further preference for the outrageously dramatic title decider in the Australian Grand Prix.

Any more?

Was '97 - with Schumi, Villeneuve, Damon and Mika - worth a shout?

These are just three examples of great eras in Formula One, but I'm sure that you, dear reader, may have other candidates you feel are worthy of mention. So feel free to comment on your pick from the list, or perhaps your own nomination for the greatest grid in F1 history. Go on! I bloody dare you!

Kimi is Ferrari's Safe Bet

Raikkonen will race for Ferrari in 2016

Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene seems to be aware that managing Kimi Raikkonen is a game of careful motivation and precise timing. Earlier in the season, the no-nonsense Italian suggested that Raikkonen was already in Ferrari's plans for the future, but that they did not want to offer him a new deal to ensure that complacency would not become an issue.

However, with speculation starting mount up and becoming Ferrari's big elephant in the room, Arrivabene and the team have relented and Raikkonen can guarantee himself one of the most prestigious seats on the grid for the upcoming season. While there may have been some possibility for the much-fancied Valtteri Bottas to slip into the famous red cockpit, the management have either deemed that too risky, too expensive or too soon.

Kimi's form - steady improvement?

Kimi's best result this season was 2nd in Bahrain

Part of the reason the whispers of replacement became murmurs was down to Raikkonen's under-par performances. This was more prominent last season, but it's difficult to ignore that despite the Finn scoring reasonable points all year, his new team-mate Sebastian Vettel has racked up over double his tally. Couple that with Vettel's two race victories, and there is a clear hierarchy in the Ferrari team.

Things came to a head in Austria after Kimi's worst performance of 2015. He qualified 18th and crashed out of the second corner of the race. Nevertheless, the signs that things would be OK for Kimi should have been apparent from Arrivabene's post-race comments, in which he refused to criticise his driver and reassured that the team would be taking a more holistic approach to Raikkonen's performance when deciding if he should remain with the team. Clearly, this sort of encouragement displays Arrivabene's desire to have Raikkonen at the team.

In the final race before the summer break, Raikkonen could have capped off a Ferrari 1-2 had it not been for engine troubles which led to him retiring. The team have mastered the psychology of keeping Kimi at the team, and it's producing increasingly good performances from the Finn.

Seb and Kimi - a match made in heaven

Ferrari have been happy with the positive relationship between their drivers.

In the run-up to the 2015 season there was a lot of debate as to how Vettel would cope with having a former World Champion to contend with as a team-mate. His fiery relationship with Mark Webber, and his mopey persona while Daniel Ricciardo dominated last season, added up to the image that Ferrari's new superstar may be difficult to work with.

Cut to August, and things appear to be appropriately rosy between the duo. Vettel and Raikkonen have built an amicable working relationship that has allowed both of them to score satisfying results across the season. With two former champions in the team, Ferrari will no doubt understand how valuable a commodity it is to have the two working beyond just themselves.

Would it be foolish to cash this in? Bringing in a less experienced driver with the potential to upstage Vettel would definitely make the situation more volatile and could affect results negatively. While Ferrari are just inching their way back into the picture as one of the top teams in the sport, perhaps it would be reckless to bring in a circus of biting retorts and vicious accusations to distract from the excellent progress they are making.

There's no rush

Speculation suggested that Bottas would replace Raikkonen

If this was the final opportunity to pick up some of the biggest talent on the grid, then you could call this decision a bit safe and unadventurous. But with Ferrari choosing to close their seats for 2016, there truly isn't much of an option for best young talent on the grid to move upwards.

Mercedes and Ferrari are probably the two outfits that would hold the most glamour to an upcoming star of F1, but both have confirmed their driver line-ups for next season. Williams and Red Bull are probably next up, and they do have potentially spare seats. However, neither of these teams quite have the same pull as Ferrari, both in current and historical contexts (albeit Williams runs Ferrari close). Arrivabene will feel he can prize any driver away from these teams, and it's easy to imagine that Bottas will want an option in his new Williams contract in preparation for the call from Ferrari in 2017.

The only possible way one of Ferrari's targets could suddenly become unreachable is if they take the unlikely step of joining a team that promises future glory, such as McLaren. However, with the disastrous results that has heralded for Fernando Alonso, it looks unlikely that anyone will take that chance.

Glad to have him

According to the recent GPDA survey (a survey I incomprehensibly analysed here) Kimi Raikkonen is the most popular driver in Formula One. It was quite likely that, had he not been retained by Ferrari, the Finn would have left the sport for good. With that in mind, it's personally relieving to know that Kimi will still be a part of the F1 world.

After all, how can you not love someone who, when asked what they think of Spa-Francorchamps one of the most historically wonderful circuits in F1, replies "It's quite nice".

F1 2012 – What will definitely without a doubt most certainly happen - Part 1

So the F1 season is just a few days away. This is the end of that dry spell we F1 fans have to endure; to suffer. It’s like that Proclaimers song. They walked 500 miles – well, this is our 500 miles. It’s what we go through to make what we love so much more exciting.

Anyway, to fill the gap a little bit I’ve done a prediction about what’s going to happen during the Formula One season. I’ve worked with scientists, philosophers, physicists, engineers and Paul Ross, and we’ve come up with a practically impenetrable solution as to what will occur during the 2012 F1 season. It starts in Australia...

Australia

Before the start of the weekend, Bernie Ecclestone announces that the race has been moved forward three hours to ‘boost European audiences’. As the teams arrive in the glistening Ozzie sun, panic ensues when it appears that Kimi Raikkonen has gone missing. Qualifying begins. Lewis Hamilton seems to have set an absolute blinder and is romping towards pole until Sebastian Vettel manages to pull out an extra second on the flabbergasted Brit.

Raikkonen re-appears just hours before the race is to begin on Sunday. “I was having a shit”, he explains. The race starts and Vettel clears away into the lead, much to the groans of literally everyone. Kamui Kobayashi banzais his way from 15^th to 4^th in just five laps before slamming into the back of Lewis Hamilton. Lewis later receives a penalty for dangerous driving. Meanwhile, Massa is brought in early for his stop to keep Alonso on-strategy. The Brazilian does not complain. Alonso, however, does because he could see Massa in his mirrors at one point and it “put him off”.

After half an hour, the light level is too low and the race is red-flagged. The grid stays populated for two hours as Bernie insists he is “hopeful of a restart”. It is only after he is informed that the sun has gone down and light won’t resume, that a result is declared. Vettel wins the race with Button and Rosberg alongside him on the podium. Vettel celebrates his victory by singing the Nokia Theme Tune on the podium.

Malaysia

Rumours begin to surface of a disagreement between Vettel and Webber. Both attend a press-conference insisting their relationship is fine, whilst holding cold stares against each other. Meanwhile, live television audiences watch on in horror as Eddie Jordan protests against his wardrobe budget cuts by wearing nothing at all during the race weekend. Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard remain undeterred (they’d seen it all before).

Vettel storms to pole, with the commentators calling his lap “The most incredible, unexpected thing ever”. The next day, the race is delayed by five minutes as the cars are left waiting for the starting lights. “I was having a shit”, Charlie Whiting later explained. The Hispania team, who announced a new package of upgrades to the car the previous weekend, watch on as their drivers are lapped 30 times within the first hour. 

Meanwhile at the front, Webber pulls off an extraordinary move to overtake Sebastian Vettel for the lead. However, Red Bull radio Webber to inform him that his driving was ‘dangerous’ and he ‘ought to give the position back’. He begrudgingly complies, and David Coulthard comments that it was a ‘sensible team order’. During the pit-stops, Lewis Hamilton gets on his limiter too late, and is 1mph over the speed limit upon pit-lane entry. He is consequently black-flagged. 

Vettel storms home to another victory. He claims that this was ‘his greatest victory ever’. Webber refuses to comment.

China

Before the race, Ross Brawn of Mercedes announces that the team have begun planning for next year, and this season is irrelevant. Regardless, Michael Schumacher still claims he is the best driver in the world ever and will be Champion this season. He qualifies in 16^th. Hamilton and Button appear to be dominating qualifying with superb times in Q1 and Q2. However, Sebastian Vettel pulls off another last-minute winner. “That is quite literally the best lap I’ve ever seen” shouts Martin Brundle, to a seething penniless Sky audience.

Problems persist at Williams as Mike Coughlan announces that he is retiring with immediate effect. The team reacts by saying that they will continue without anyone in the role of technical director. Meanwhile, McLaren rage as it is announced Jean Todt will be the guest steward for the race. He insists he will be fair before awarding Lewis Hamilton a five-place grid penalty for ‘unreasonably extravagant attire’.

The race is red-flagged after five laps as Kamui Kobayashi begins driving the wrong way down the track. He is radioed several times with angry bosses informing him he needs to pull over, but Kobayashi refuses, shouting “I got this one in the bag”. He eventually runs out of petrol and marshalls remove him from the track. The race restarts after a lengthy delay and Massa, who qualified just ahead of Alonso, if informed by guest steward Jean Todt that he has to give the position back to Alonso for a dangerous overtake. Massa accepts this with a smile.

Vettel cruises home three minutes ahead of the rest of the pack, to secure his third win of the season.

Bahrain

The teams all agree to a last minute boycott of the race. However, Bernie Ecclestone continues to insist that the race ‘will go ahead’. Come race day, TV audiences watch in their millions as Bernie Ecclestone, alone, runs around the track 50 times. Breathlessly, he explains “It was important that the race went ahead in some form”. Ecclestone awards himself 25 championship points.

Spain

An excited Pedro de la Rosa announces that the HRTs have installed a new package that will make the cars more competitive in time for his home race. A new, slimmer design does indeed improve the performance of the troubled team, but a lap into their qualifying campaign, the cars fall to bits on the track. “We thought taking the nuts and bolts out would be an aerodynamic advantage”, explains Luis Pérez-Sala.

In order to save on tyres, nine out of the ten drivers through to Q3 don’t set a final lap time. Only Vettel does, with commentators calling it a ‘spectacular moment’. Before the race, rumours begin to stir that the Pirelli tyres will only last five laps a set. This turns out to be accurate, leading to an exciting race of innumerable pit-stops. Despite this, Sergio Perez somehow runs his Sauber to the end of the race on just two sets of tyres.

Vettel has a collision with Button in the 33^rd lap, which results in Button spinning into the gravel and retiring from the race. “That bloody kid”, shouts Button who is sporting a streamlined goatee. Stewards are misinformed about the incident and, in a bout of confusion, penalise Lewis Hamilton.

Vettel battles past the fearless Perez to win another race. “I am amazing”, he cries before making Angry Birds noises.

Monaco

Monaco is, without doubt, the most glamorous venue for an F1 race. Because of this, the organisers agree to ban Eddie Jordan from the Grand Prix, citing “millions of pounds worth of damages to our image” as the reason.

Come the day of qualifying it appears that Daniel Ricciardo hasn’t slept following the F1 party on Friday evening, as he sits quietly in his car gently sipping Fosters. As there is a clause in the F1 Regulations that allows Australians to drink alcohol before and during races, Ricciardo is not stopped from going out onto the track. He sets an enormously quick time and places himself 7^th on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel secures pole position again, with Martin Brundle literally falling out of his seat in astonishment. The race begins and Michael Schumacher is overtaken by the two Caterhams and a Marussia in the first four laps. “I’ve still got it”, he later affirms. Meanwhile, Felipe Massa is driving a terrific race in 2nd and keeping Vettel under much pressure. However, on the last lap Ferrari inform him that he must move over in order to aid 4^th placed Fernando Alonso. He attempts to do so in Rascasse, and the difficult turn means he is hit in the back by Alonso. Massa is consequently fined his entire years wages for the incident. Vettel wins the race, and every broadcaster at the GP is thrown into the Red Bull swimming pool, including a furious David Coulthard who batters Christian Horner in anger. Adrian Newey later admits he perhaps should have spared Sir Frank Williams from such treatment.

Canada

Excitement builds when it is surprisingly revealed that Robert Kubica will be returning to F1 in this race with the Toro Rosso team. However, during Friday practice, Kubica taps the pit wall at 25mph whilst exiting the pitlane. He breaks thirty bones in his hands and arms, and is out for another year. “I’m confident I will return”, his computerized voicebox says. Meanwhile, there are further problems at Williams as the entire developmental team announces that it is retiring. Williams reveal that they will continue without replacing them.

On Saturday, the qualifying session goes ahead without Kimi Raikkonen who has gone missing again. He is later found crying in a rally car, yelling “I want to go back, I want to go back”. He misses the rest of the weekend. Fernando Alonso finally breaks Sebastian Vettel’s dominance of qualifying, as the stewards conveniently ignore him cutting the final chicane completely.

Vettel has a poor start to the race and Lewis Hamilton overtakes him into the first corner. Mark Webber then tries to come up the inside of his team-mate, but Vettel veers over to knock him off the track and out of the race. A furious Webber waits in his car until the pack comes around again, and in a fit of rage, hurls his boots at Sebastian Vettel. Instead, he accidentally hits Fernando Alonso, knocking him unconscious and handing the lead over to Lewis Hamilton. After the mess is cleared up by the safety car, Hamilton is penalised by the stewards for “straying a bit too close to the safety car”, and Vettel goes on to win the race. Webber later denies a rift between him and Vettel, stating “It’s just the sort of thing that happens when you’re on the track”.

Valencia

Absolutely nothing happens. Vettel wins.

Britain

On the Friday of the race weekend, Bernie Ecclestone reveals plans to boost the yearly F1 campaign up to 40 races. “Teams will cope”, he confidently states. He also announces in an interview with Martin Brundle that during the 2013 season, only race wins will be taken into consideration for the Championship standings. “But if you did that this season” Brundle responds, “Vettel would pretty much already be champion”. Ecclestone curtly retorts “Yes, but I would be second”.

The British crowd boo as Vettel once again storms to pole. The F1 world is beginning to get weary of his dominance, with Michael Schumacher commenting “There’s nothing worse in F1 than a German winning every race” before looking puzzled. Come race day, a surprise publicity stunt takes place ahead of the Olympics. Usain Bolt is given permission to take part in the race on foot. He is naturally left well behind most of the field at the beginning of the race, but he fights a real battle with the HRTs. This ends in disaster however, when Narain Karthikeyan accidentally runs into Usain Bolt whilst the Jamaican is overtaking him. Bolt 's injuries keep him out of the Olympics.

Further ahead, Paul Di Resta is knocked off the track by Kamui Kobayashi. This leads David Coulthard into an explosion of four-lettered rage, meaning Eddie Jordan and Jake Humphrey have to storm the commentary box and wrestle him away. He is suspended from broadcasting indefinitely.

Jenson Button, who started at the back of the field due to an engine failure in qualifying, wrestles his way to 2^nd, just behind Sebastian Vettel. He tries desperately to overtake the German, and he finally does just three laps before the end. The crowd goes wild. However, another engine blowout leaves him a few yards short of the finish line. “Get out and push Jenson”, shouts James Allen on 5Live. He does, and ends up with severe second-degree burns that leave him out of racing for a few weeks. Vettel wins.

Germany

Before the race weekend, Mercedes declare that Michael Schumacher has signed a new six-year contract with the team that will keep him racing into his 50s. They also reveal that they will be replacing Nico Rosberg (who has finished 6^th in every race so far) with Ralf Schumacher. Ross Brawn denies that Michael Schumacher is a major influence on his every decision, before painting the car completely red by hand.

Vettel once again hoards pole position and, expecting cheers from his adoring German fans, instead gets a healthy dose of nonchalance. Lewis Hamilton is banned from taking part in the race after the FIA adjudge that he ‘is not getting into the spirit of the race with that attitude’. Hamilton earlier commented that he preferred the British Grand Prix.

Vettel leads away to the sound of moans. Alonso and Massa have an extraordinary battle that lasts for around 25 laps. They continuously change position in a fight to win 2^nd place. Radio transmission suggests that Massa has begun ignoring team orders, and TV audiences are shocked when he responds “Get off, I’m not your dog”. During his mandatory pit-stop, the Ferrari mechanics “Forget” how to put tyres on, and this drops him down in 20^th. Vettel is unchallenged as he wins his 9^th race of the season. “Fruit Ninja!” he simply cries.

Part 2 never happened, unfortunately...

F1 2011: A Lovely Review

Aka: F1 2011: Why? God? Why?

This year was always going to be different. Despite the usual suspects lining up in the best cars, the goalposts had jumped to a different world. DRS and KERS, Pirelli tyres, new rules, a new Grand Prix and the promises for a great gamut of overtakes. Was it any better than 2010? Well, that’s very debatable. It certainly had its own story, but if you were forced by some oddly-specific maniac to sum it up in one word it’d have to be ‘Vettel’.

That’s really what it’s been about. Sebastian Vettel has dominated to the point of boring the F1 world with his unopposed brilliance. Landing on pole a record-breaking 15 times, and stepping on the top of the podium on 11 occasions, there was never any doubt that Vettel was going to run far away with the title. It wasn’t an exciting championship win – Vettel made a habit of pulling out ridiculous leads into the first lap of races, earning him an untouchable position before the Grand Prix had really begun.

While an exhibition of a driver’s excellence, this sort of victory is something that a viewer will struggle to enjoy. There was little in the way of overtaking or battling this year for Vettel (albeit he did pull off a couple of wonderful moves during the year – namely in Italy), so the ‘Championship fight’ was more of a marathon round the world Sunday Drive for the young German.

You can’t blame Vettel though. Clearly he had a car that was burning the eyes of other drivers through sheer jealousy, and Sebastian just knew how to use it. His teammate Mark Webber had the same machinery available to him, and in contrast had a whisper of a year. Somewhat consistently, he carved out 10 podium finishes during the year, including his race win at the season finale in Brazil, which helped him to third place in the Championship. However, when you look at what Vettel achieved over the year, Mark has to be seen as having underperformed. On the few occasions that Vettel faultered, Mark was rarely there to compensate and convert the fortune into victory.

It’s possible that Webber is still ruing the way in which his title hopes faded in 2010, angrily stomping around in his home and shouting at pictures of Vettel. Perhaps it’s affected his form significantly for this year. I mean, that’s speculation, but I’m going to run with it because it goes well with my next point. It’s thereby difficult to decipher how well other drivers have performed comparatively, as their cars were likely not up to the challenge this season.

However, we can say that Jenson Button has had a very good year, because I’m a fanbo… I mean, he’s put in some terrific drives over the season and looked much sharper and more consistent than McLaren buddy Lewis Hamilton. Button’s performance at Canada seeped enough class to last a season. It was utterly breathtaking.

After Jenson’s title win in 2009, many believed he’d had his moment in the sun and burnt himself out henceforth, but I think his fictional ‘Best of the Rest’ award has shown that with the right car, Jenson can be a challenger in the seasons ahead. He’s by no means the paciest driver on the grid, but he has a real intelligence and anticipation that gives him a cooler head than the feisty young boy racers of this generation. He’s been compared to Alain Prost, and I can see why (despite the fact I was barely alive when Alain Prost was racing).

What of Lewis though? He’s been hanging around the paddock with the face of a child who’s been told Father Christmas isn’t real. Such is the depression of Hamilton that he ended up taking it out on poor Felipe Massa, bumping him all over the track and just being a general bully. OK, that’s an over-dramatisation. I think the Hamilton-Massa saga (one of the most interesting subplots of the season) was partly down to the misfortune of them coincidentally ending up on the same bit of track. No-one can deny the over-aggression between the two though, and their seeming magnetism has been somewhat of a problem.

They apparently had a hug and patched things up yesterday. Well, good for them. Lewis really needs to clear his head of the demons that have persistently pecked at him over the year, and a fresh start with Massa is a good signal. He will hopefully be back to form over 2012 (and by that I mean going past people as opposed to going into them).

For Massa though, his days are numbered I feel. As much as I like to credit him as an excellent driver, he too seems to have suffered from missing out on a title. Since 2008, the old Felipe that had a vibrant streak capable of pushing him to the front of the pack has completely vanished. Instead, the Brazilian failed to finish in any position above fifth throughout the season. That’s undeniably shoddy, especially considering that Alonso conjured up numerous podiums and a race victory.

Ahh, Fernando. As much as he is the man I love to hate, I must admit I miss seeing him and his hairy eyebrows in a title fight. Clearly an unbelievably strong driver, Alonso has had another season in the relative abyss. It should be a dream for him to be at Ferrari. It seems the two were a match made in heaven, but the Scuderia has let the Spaniard down, and he will be getting slightly itchy feet again should the team fail to deliver once more.

I think that covers the top 6. There have been so many stories this year though. Mercedes has continued to be the best of the chasing pack, with Schumacher beginning to get into his stride a little more. Seven-time champion Schumi still fell behind his teammate Rosberg, but not without showing us the odd spark of class. His fight with Hamilton during the Italian Grand Prix just showed how much spirit the old dog still has, and it will be fascinating to see if he can continue to improve in his third comeback season, and indeed, if that season will be his last (again).

The disaster continued for Williams, which has been one of the most tragic sights in F1 (only topped by Eddie Jordan’s dress sense). Their results have been simply terrible. They amassed a pathetic 5 points over the year, and didn’t look up to task at all. For Rubens Barrichello, the team’s tumultuous year will probably see him forced into retirement. For Pastor Maldonado it’s… awkward. He replaced Nico Hulkenberg as a much maligned ‘pay-driver’. He had a super act to follow, with Hulkenberg looking solid in 2010 and delivering a hugely unexpected pole position at Brazil. However, the Venezuelan was poor, and did nothing to please those who doubt the fairness of the involvement of pay-drivers.

It was the debut season for a Brit (the first time since Lewis Hamilton’s maiden year in 2007). Paul di Resta may not have set the world alight in the same way Hamilton did, but he performed very capably with the Force India and was a strong number two for Adrian Sutil. His form dipped after a quality start to 2011, but Di Resta proved himself to be someone with, at least, a mellow future in F1. As for Sutil, it seems quite likely that he will be replaced for 2012. I don’t understand this, as Sutil has appeared to have taken Force India quite far in his six years at the team (two when they were Spyker). If Sutil is shafted, I can see him being an excellent replacement for any team in need of a driver.

It was a bad year for Robert Kubica. Injured weeks before the season started, the rehabilitation of his hand movements have taken longer than expected, and it seems that Renault are beginning to consider a future without Bobby. It would be an enormous shame if Kubica’s career is over. He’s easily one of the most talented drivers to have emerged over the past few years, and I had him down as a dead cert for a championship. In fact, more than that. A completely destroyed, mutilated cert. However, it may never be.

Other than that, they were all either new rubbish teams, or a bit boring, so I’m not going to go on about individual stories. What of the other big topics of the year? DRS for example has split the Formula One opinion base right down the middle (with little cracks to either side for when it made a good race or not). It has no doubt increased overtaking, but in an artificial way. Dull races have been somewhat livened up by the new system, but perhaps at a greater cost for F1. If a car is within the one second mark of the driver ahead for the whole race, he is going to get a massive advantage over the car behind him. It’s a small, yet significant, imbalance.

I’d be more inclined towards a ‘push-to-pass’ system. Everyone has a set amount of times they can use the DRS, and it’s not based on any relation to other cars. That way, the benefits of DRS can be utilised without incurring the potential unfairness of the system. KERS is fine, it does the job without causing much fuss and it seems to work as a constant defence mechanism without being too effective.

The tyres have been another big feature of the season. Pirelli promised that their tyres would degrade very quickly, and would make racing more exciting. Despite this, teams seem to have coped quite well with the Pirellis. The ‘cliff’ has not been quite as immediate as the company suggested, and at worst the teams have had to do a four-stop strategy. However, I think the tyres have made for interesting racing, and Pirelli have done a good job. I do wonder what direction they’ll go in next year – hopefully they’ll go for more aggression and degradation.

One more thing to comment on – the Indian Grand Prix. Contrary to most Tilke circuits, this one looked very exciting, and had the potential to throw up a classic. In the end, it was a bit of a letdown, with Vettel leading every single lap. However, I like the circuit and there seemed to be interest from the Indian F1 supporters. I think it will become a good mainstay for Grand Prix racing over the coming years, and hopefully Karun Chandhok won’t be cruelly snatched of his chance to race in his country.

That just about wraps things up. I’m going to end the year with my seasonal awards (which I literally made up as I wrote the preceding sentence).

DRIVER OF THE YEAR

Well, that’s too easy. SEBASTIAN VETTEL is a worthy champion, and a worthy winner of this award.

RACE OF THE YEAR

Canada was an absolute classic, that will be talked about for many seasons to come. Surely one of Button’s finest performances, coming from the very back of the pack to win the race in the last lap. Extraordinary. Jenson also wins DRIVE OF THE YEAR for that.

SURPRISE PACKAGE OF THE YEAR (TEAM)

Very tricky, because no team outside the big three stood out. SAUBER had some good races though, so I’ll (hesitantly) pick them.

SURPRISE PACKAGE OF THE YEAR (DRIVER)

PAUL DI RESTA was not expected to seem as comfortable as he did in his opening Grand Prix season. Di Resta also gets my ROOKIE OF THE YEAR award.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR (TEAM)

No doubt. WILLIAMS.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR (DRIVER)

I don’t want to continue the Williams hate. I would say Pastor Maldonado, but instead I’ll plum for FELIPE MASSA.

NUMPTY OF THE YEAR

Ok, I will give this one to PASTOR MALDONADO for his utterly stupid move on Lewis Hamilton during the Belgian Grand Prix qualifying.

BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR

MARTIN BRUNDLE has moved into the main commentary position seamlessly, with all the professionalism, clarity and sharp analysis you could hope for.

And finally… THE JB AWARD FOR DODGING THE LIMELIGHT

JAIME ALGUERSUARI. Doing enough to impress, but not enough to capture our attentions. Nice one Jaime.

My Hairpin Over Vettel

Say ‘Vettel’ out loud. Did you hear that echo? That echo that seemed to say ‘Schumacher’? It was a metaphor anyway. Don’t read too much into it if you didn’t. If you literally did though, then be careful, because you sound a bit mental. I was just sort of pointing out that there domination of the sport seemed similar. Go see a doctor, mate.

Anyway, Sebastian Vettel is just one point away from crowning himself World Champion for the second year running. Without doubt, absolute congratulations are in order for the German, who regardless of his advantages, has capitalised to etch himself into the annals of Formula One history. Well done Seba.

Now that’s over with, let’s be more brutally honest. There’s a good reason why some people, me included are still very lukewarm to the idea of Vettel as a Formula One great. It’s not because I don’t think he’s good enough, but rather because he’s never proved it to me. I’m not saying he won’t one day show me he is a truly skilful driver deserving of a place alongside the likes of Clark, Senna and Fittipaldi, but he’s not shown the signs of being so yet. That sounds odd to say about a man who has won 19 races in 76, but there’s a lot more to it than this.

My first point is rather obvious. Vettel has had the best car for two, maybe even three seasons running now. The Red Bull is an incredibly quick machine thanks to the crazy brains of Adrian Newey and Christian Horner, both of whom deserve unrelenting credit for their contribution to two big championship wins. They have produced a car that is capable of being about half a second quicker than any other on a hot lap, and that sort of advantage for a driver is an absolute dream.

I should point out that the above sentence is an estimate rather than a fact. It’s tricky to say how much the Red Bull’s advantage is down to driver and how much is down to the car, but I find it difficult to believe that Vettel is half a second quicker than the likes of Hamilton and Alonso purely through his own ability. You can accuse me of confirmation bias here but I think we have to be honest. Webber’s a great driver but he’s not particularly fast overall, and even he has found it fairly easy to outpace the others in qualifying.

My second point is that Vettel’s luck this year has been beyond belief. He has managed to dodge every single bit of misfortune that could’ve possibly befallen him. Not one pitstop has gone wrong, not one mechanical problem, not one set of tyres misjudged, not one safety car at the wrong time, not one first corner incident, not one car causing trouble when being overtaken, not one change of weather that didn’t suit him. It’s been absolutely crazy.

This may be down to the fact that Vettel is always leading into the first corner, I suppose, but even Schumacher in the dreary early noughties of F1 had a few mishaps to deal with during races. Vettel’s only struggles have been of his own making, such as when he fell off the track in Canada to allow Button the victory. With this in mind, it would have been absolutely criminal had Vettel not taken the title this season, given his blessings throughout the season.

Now I look upon the above seven paragraphs I must pause. I feel like I’m being overly harsh on a young man who has only taken his every chance in front of him, and seized them with a ferociously clinical style. Perhaps this is a totally pointless speculation when you consider the difficulties in judging the ability of a Formula One driver at any given time. I mean, what do we judge? Is it their ability in the best car? The worst car? At this point in time? Ten seasons ago? How do we do it?

I suppose the fact of the matter is Vettel has probably got the car of his dreams right now, but if we are to take in every attribute of a driver’s ability, then surely being in the right place at the right time is just as valuable? Perhaps Vettel isn’t as quick as Hamilton or Alonso. Maybe he would struggle with either of them as a team-mate, but in any case neither of them had the foresight to place themselves in Red Bull’s hands when it mattered.

Vettel’s patience with the Toro Rosso team is probably what has bought him this huge opportunity to win titles, and he’s taking them. Regardless of speed, judgement and everything else that a Formula One driver requires, if they aren’t putting themselves in the right places at the right times, then they won’t succeed. Schumacher may not have had the legacy he has today where it not for his faith in the Ferrari team. Hamilton would probably not be a former champion if he hadn’t cheekily told Ron Dennis he would drive for McLaren one day.

God, James Hunt probably could’ve given up about 30 times before he’d even made it to Formula One given his struggles in Formula 3000, but he persevered and that was a big part in his championship. We shouldn’t write Vettel off just because he has it easy now. It’s a long journey to get into the winning car, and Vettel has made it. Consequently, he deserves all the opportunities he gets.

Well, that was a strange writing process. There was no editorialising here (I’m too lazy for that shit), I genuinely thought I was going to decry Vettel’s championship merits in this one. But as I came to the halfway point I suddenly realised it was meaningless to him, his team and his supporters to make that case at all. Whether or not he’s up there with Clark, Senna and the rest is totally unimportant. Vettel can only play to his potential and that he is doing.

It’s fun to discuss what drivers would be like competing on a level playing field, and it’s easy to make educated guesses based on whether they overperformed or underperformed in their cars, but this sort of thing is facile when we talk about what a ‘great champion’ is. All you need to be a great champion is to be a champion. If you’ve done that, you deserved it. That’s what the system is there for.

There are great drivers who were never champions, and there were champions that were never great drivers, but the two entities don’t always aim towards the same thing. Maybe Vettel is a great driver. Maybe he isn’t. But he’ll always be a brilliant champion.

Strife in the Fast Lane

The word ‘tumultuous’ was invented for people like Lewis Hamilton. He’s the sort of sportsman who cannot go through a season in his career without a heap of controversy and incident being levelled upon his shoulders, but despite this he is still considered one of the best Formula One drivers on the grid. How does such a star lend himself to such inconsistency, you might ask (if you were talking to him)?

There’s been much written about Lewis’ recent chequered form. A lot of people say it’s a problem with his attitude, some say he lacks support, some say he’s just not that good a driver. Whatever the reasons for his lack of consistency, I think the truth is his dip has been marginal, at worst. This year was never going to be his year with the fantastically quick Red Bulls tearing up the field, but Lewis has consolidated a decent 168 points thus far, with a solitary win in China to his name.

As people point out though, he’s been outclassed this season by his team-mate Jenson Button, a perhaps less fancied driver amongst the Formula One ranks up until this season. I don’t think this would be a fair reflection on Button though, as in my opinion he’s a driver that just defines quality in each department. He’s pacy, a fighter, a tactician. To be behind Button is no disgrace at all.

Besides, Jenson has much more experience than Hamilton. His many years in fairly average cars such as the BAR and the Renault were a steep learning curve for Button, but going through such a school of hard knocks has clearly worked wonders for him. When his chance came in a competitive car, he was far readier than his team-mate at the time Rubens Barrichello, who had spent quite a few years playing the safe understudy role to Michael Schumacher. Still, this perhaps doesn’t explain why Hamilton has fallen behind his team-mate.

Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Lewis is currently going through a school of much harder knocks. It’s true that he’s never had to participate in a useless car for more than a few races at a time, but he’s always been in a fight for something, no matter what season it was, and he’s always been making mistakes along the way. It’s easy to forget though, that Hamilton’s career is still in relative infancy, and these mistakes will continue for a few years yet.

But that will come to be his advantage in the near future. If we look at Sebastian Vettel at the moment, he is enjoying the benefits of an absolutely amazing car. There’s nothing wrong with that particularly, but it’s quite incredible that practically no misfortune has befallen Vettel throughout the whole season.

You could say that’s great; that he isn’t making mistakes and he’s matured from his more petulant 2010, but I feel that he’s missing the sort of fight that characterizes Hamilton and Button. It’s rare that he isn’t leading races into the first corner, it’s rare that he gets overtaken and it’s rare that he has to deal with any problems during the race. The Red Bull won’t always be the best car on the field, rather like the McLaren wasn’t in 2008. But whereas Hamilton created the opportunity for the title that year, I have my doubts that Vettel will be able to do the same in the future.

So what about these many incidents that Hamilton’s been having? Why is his style reminiscent of bumper-karts at the moment? I think that this is just the nature of the beast. Hamilton’s style is to absolutely hammer every chance to overtake, and when he gets this right it’s completely spectacular. Nothing compares to it in modern day F1. However, when he’s off-form, this sort of style will take the unfortunate appearance of Hamilton just getting one thing wrong and thumping someone off the road.

That’s why I say Lewis’ dip in form is marginal – He’s only making the odd mistake when you consider how often he gets himself into a scrap on track. Just look at Monza. He spent 27 laps trying every trick in the book to get past Schumacher, and only our old German friend’s brilliant defending snuffed the opportunities out. If Hamilton had really lost his head, he would have ended up going into the back of Schumi’s Mercedes at some point.

So although it’s difficult to know why Hamilton is struggling at the moment, I think there’s no need to fear for him. He’s had a difficult year but he’ll have learned a lot. There was never really an inkling of hope that he’d win the title thanks to Christian Horner and Adrian Newey being Gods amongst men, but next year he’ll be more prepared than ever.