Breaking News: Tuesday 5th March 2013

by

This is a new section and due to our present site software will only send out a ‘posted notification’ on the first post of the day. However, it will be updated throughout the day as stories break.

FIA swoop on F1 drivers with surprise drugs tests 17:21 GMT

untitledTiming huh. I was chatting to a couple of well known twitter characters last night, following the Usher advertising a post I wrote in November about drug testing being a joke in F1. Today the FIA have demonstrated how speedily they can respond to a judgement. McLaren’s Sergio Perez received a very “early morning” visit and was requested to give a urine test before he had a day out in Geneva with big Ron.

Read more

Evidence mounts that the Renault engine mapping fiasco is hurting Red Bull and Lotus

by

A Quick look at how much each team managed to extract from 2013 pre-season testing

Team Total Testing Laps

1. Sauber 1161 laps
2. Mercedes 1095 laps
3. Ferrari 1068 laps
4. Red Bull Racing 1008 laps
5. McLaren 1008 laps
6. Caterham 985 laps
7. Sahara Force India 980 laps
8. Toro Rosso 960 laps
9. Marussia 798 laps
10. Lotus 770 laps
11. Williams – FW35 666 laps
12. Williams – FW34 305 laps

Driver Total Testing Laps

1. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 607 laps
2. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 572 laps
3. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Sauber-Ferrari 554 laps
4. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 553 laps
5. Sergio Perez Mexico McLaren-Mercedes 553 laps 
6. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Cosworth 550 laps
7. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 536 laps
8. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 523 laps
9. Charles Pic France Caterham-Renault 516 laps
10. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Renault 513 laps
11. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 513 laps
12. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 513 laps
13. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 505 laps
14. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 495 laps
15. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 495 laps
16. Giedo van der Garde Holland Caterham-Renault 469 laps
17. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 458 laps
18. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 455 laps
19. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 424 laps
20. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 259 laps
21. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Cosworth 253 laps *
22. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 249 laps
23. Luiz Razia Brazil Marussia-Cosworth 112 laps
24. James Rossiter Britain Force India-Mercedes 61 laps
25. Pedro de la Rosa Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 50 laps
26. Davide Valsecchi Italy Lotus-Renault 16 laps

Read more

Lewis Hamilton’s dog gets a pass, Vettel complains repeatedly about tyres, Are McLaren and Honda working together in secret

by

A dogs life

I know mechanics who bust their guts for their teams and have been unable to get paddock passes for their parents, however, Bernie has decided to issue one to Lewis’ dog Roscoe. A relieved Hamilton said, “Bernie was kind enough to allow him to have one, I’ve just got to get a picture of him…”

Lewis explains his life long attachment to the dogs and it would clearly be devastating should Roscoe be bared from the pit lane. “He’s my new best buddy,” Lewis grinned. “I’ve always wanted a dog and I grew up with dogs when I was really young, I had Labradors. My mum has five dogs and my dad has a dog as well and I’ve always wanted one myself but I’ve never really had the opportunity.”

Read more

TheJudge13 GP Predictor game for the 2013 season

by

untitled

I played this with some friends last year and we had a huge amount of fun from it. It is not as complicated as some of the fantasy team games – which are great if that’s your thing. Mrs Judge is not a mega F1 analyst – she is brilliant at attracting ‘interest’ from certain known individuals within the sport (say no more) and loves her F1 art – anyway she was in our league last year and did pretty well by making her selections about 5 days before the weekend (head scratching).

Charlie W has joined already and we’ll be getting a few F1 celebs to play along. Welcome also to regular TJ13 contributor DWilD.

You have to simply predict the pole position, fastest lap, person who will make up the most number of places during the race together with the order of race positions from 1-10.

Read more

Barcelona testing: Round up, Final afternoon’s picture montage

by

Barcelona Final Day: Times

Driver Car Best time Laps Diff
Rosberg Mercedes W04 1’20.130 131
Alonso Ferrari F138 1’20.494 120 0.364
Button McLaren MP4-28 1’21.444 122 1.314
Hulkenberg Sauber C32 1’21.541 118 1.411
Raikkonen Lotus E21 1’21.658 50 1.528
Di Resta Force India VJM06 1’21.664 112 1.534
Maldonado Williams FW35 1’22.415 42 2.285
Vettel Red Bull RB9 1’22.514 100 2.384
Bottas Williams FW35 1’22.524 31 2.394
Pic Caterham CT03 1’23.115 116 2.985
Bianchi Marussia MR02 1’23.167 62 3.037
Ricciardo Toro Rosso STR8 1’23.628 91 3.498
Chilton Marussia MR02 1’24.103 49 3.973

Testing summary in brief

Most importantly 7 drivers got over 100 laps in today and Chilton and Bianchi who split the day between them managed a combined 111 laps for the team.

Read more

Barcelona Final Test – Day 4 Morning Story

by

Lauda Watch: On the F1 show. He reckons Lewis and Nico are a better pairing than Webber and Vettel – thoughts TJ13 viewers?. Also according to Niki, Ross has changed his name from Brawn to Brown??? SKY: Good to see Anthony Davidson back on the screen. He really is quite excellent and Natalie Pinkerton appears to … Read more

Lotus big cock up, Marussia appoint Bianchi, Caterham raising money through reserve drivers, Barcelona Final Test day 3: morning story

by

Morning in pictures is not just gossip and sillyness – yes we have some fun, but there is news and technical close up pictures too with explanations of how the teams are changing the cars day to day.

For example, see pics and tweets from Grosjean which suggest Lotus have made a very big cock up. Some great technical pics from Somers – split pictures explaining the differences.

Read more

On This Day in F1: 02 March

by

On this day in F1 02 March, is brought to you by TheJudge13 Chief Editor: Cavallino Rampante

– Ferrari Break F1 Test Agreement
– Mosley Leaves UK over EU law
– Prost GP Buyer Controversy
– Schumacher Rocks and Rolls

2005 – Ferrari broke an F1 test agreement today, by amassing more than 50km of ‘shakedown’ mileage in a GP week. Debuting the new F2005 model at Mugello, Luca Badoer completed 317km — 267 more than allowed. Ferrari indicated that Badoer would continue at the privately-owned track tomorrow. In season testing was fully banned in 2009.

Read more

Razia out of Marussia, Niki Lauda CEO AirItalia, Hamilton gets religion, Sutil gives Hamilton the cold shoulder, Pirelli on the brink of leaving F1

by

Some short stories tonight, as I’m working on something else that needs a little time. Anyone who has 1 hour a week to join TJ13 team we have stuff for you to do. Contact me thejudge13@hotmail.co.uk

Razia Gone before he began

The word on Luiz is that his mob in Brazil have been hunting for the illicit stash they buried in the jungle but appear to have forgotten where it is. So his ride for Russian team Marussia, is most likely going elsewhere.

Logic would suggest Senna has more mula than the rest to bring to the party however he has said he would not drive for Marussia as he would lose all credibility. This feels like a slightly arrogant and illogical attitude.

Read more