Ferrari

Fernando – “Impossible to repeat my performance ever again”, Haug leaves Mercedes, Bianchi to Force India, Force India Ferrari engines 2014, Perez thinks he can be F1 champion, Support Kamui donations dramatically slow, Marko – Ferrari never get Vettel

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Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

Alonso on all things F1: Yesterday Fernando was in the spanish city of Santander and here are the highlights of an interview he gave as reported in as.com.

“It will be impossible to start 2013 worse than this year, but Red Bull will still be favorites to start well. At the end of the year they found six or eight tenths on us and we must recover that in only two months. But the starting point will be better than last year, which is not difficult. There is always room for improvement, there are always things you can evolve. With the experience and technological capability that we have today, there are many factors that can be improved. But the driver is also important.”

This is true, and despite being Ferrari the team will be closer at the start of testing in Jerez in under 2 months time. My translating skills are not the best so I’ll paraphrase the next bit.

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McLaren record breaking year, Ecclestone says 19 races 2013, Todt referees Ecclestone-Ferrari spat, Webber calls for more European races, Texas pays Austin organisers $29m, Mercedes W03 – a space ship

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Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

thejudge13 archive: I was reminded yesterday by Kevin McCauley that there are new readers coming to the site all the time. There are some articles I have written since the launch of the site nearly 13 weeks ago that they may not be aware of. A lot of the articles though are part of the daily news I’m afraid, hence why I have put a search bar on the right hand side.

If you type “Mallya” into the search bar for example – all the articles that have that string “Mallya” within them (main body not just headings) will be presented for you. However, every few days I’ll put a complete feature from the past just above “On this day in F1” for those of you who missed them. Today’s archive article, “F1: Breeding ground for road car technology? No chance“.

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Vettel cuts it fine and Kimi…Vodka and Telecoms to Sposnor F1, Winter F1 testing shortened, India ‘best event’, Bargain price for 2013’s 20th race, Webber hospitalised, Kubica finished in F1, F1 art

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2 days left to vote: Win 2 hospitality passes to Silverstone 2013 and vote for thejudge13 at the Silverstone Media Awards: “Best F1 Blogger” category. Here’s where to vote, Facebook users www.facebook.com/SilverstoneCircuits. Non-Facebook users (Link). Voting closes 12:00 hrs on 11 December, 2012.

Vettel cuts it close & Kimi…: The FIA rules state that to be the World Drivers Champion, the driver must attend the end of season prize giving ceremony and receive in person the trophy. Well, Vettel almost missed the FIA’s end of season FIA prize giving gala.

DPA news agency reports that the Red Bull driver actually landed at the airport in Istanbul only to discover he did not have his passport, and initially he was refused entry into Turkey. For those of us who travel by air and can’t understand how this can happen because we have to show passports to board a commercial flight, Vettel arrived on a private jet and had the trauma of having to wait over an hour at the airport.

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Ecclestone de Montezemolo spat deepens, Pirelli want a long contract, Silverstone lost £1m, Austrian GP? Tyre stats for 2012

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Ecclestone Responds to Il Padrino: Bernie Ecclestone has responded via the BBC to Luca de Montezemolo’s comments about his age and competence. “The one thing he is correct about is my age – there is no doubt about that. I can’t do anything about that. I’m 82 years old and that’s how it is.”

He alludes to the Italian teams bosses apparent rudeness being a result of his recent foray into Italian politics. “I suppose it’s the same sort of thing that’s happened to him recently in politics, where people have been quite rude about him.

Amusingly Ecclestone turns the tables on Luca and suggests his memory is faulty too. “He says he doesn’t remember what he says very often. Luca is not as old as me. I’m sure in his case it is nothing to do with his age because he’s always been the same. At least he’s consistent. God knows what’s going to happen when he’s 82”.

The fatherly advice from Ecclestone continues, “No, Luca is a lovely guy, I’m probably as a big a supporter of him as anybody. I am a big admirer of Luca’s and I’m sorry for all the trouble he’s had with politics recently. He should never have got involved in the first place.”

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Bernie on flag-gate, McLaren MP12-4C wins car of the year, Brawn Ferrari return, BIC wants winter testing, F1 in schools – India, FIA statement on Ferrari letter

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Note from the editor: It’s happening I’m afraid – today is the first day I’m scratching around for stories 🙁 Following comments from readers about the difficulty of finding new stories on the page during a 2nd or subsequent return to thejduge13 in the day, I think for now – if I add to an existing story, I’ll put for example, UPDATE 11:44 GMT, and each new story for the day will appear at the bottom just above “On this day in F1″ – would that help.

I am constrained by the software I use and my at the moment inability to write code to tailor it. Hopefully if we could do well and even get a mention in the Silverstone awards, some investment may then flow and can help with this.

Register with thejudge13 for email notification of new articles. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

Silverstone Media Awards: Many thejudge13 readers are outside the UK (65%) and I’ve had a few enquiries as to whether they are eligible to vote. The answer is yes and all you need to do is leave your name and an email address to vote on Silverstone’s website – the links are below.

Last years winner was a polish blog called F1 talks. (Link)

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Drivers of 2012, Ferrari get biggest FOM payout,Raikkonen like Lauda?, #BOTTAS and F1 social media, Turkey 2013, Kamui in GP2, Bernie back in team ownership, Kimi goes snowmobile racing

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Register with thejudge13 for email notification of new articles. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

Silverstone Media Awards: Many thejudge13 readers are outside the UK (65%) and I’ve had a few enquiries as to whether they are eligible to vote. The answer is yes and all you need to do is leave your name and an email address to vote on Silverstone’s website – the links are below.

Last years winner was a polish blog called F1 talks. (Link)

If you enjoy thejudge13 site, please take the 2 minutes to vote for it. I am committed to an advert free site, because all these pop ups drive me crazy but I do want to develop the site and an award like this will help me in two ways. I am looking to syndicate articles to International publications (mostly local media) where they have no local F1 knowledge and rely on Reuters news feeds to educate their readers.

Of course I would be paid for this syndication but the funds received will go towards taking thejudge13 onward and upward. One of the things I am looking at is a podcast for 2013. Much of the current media produced F1 audio/visual material is quite starchy and I believe there is room for a weekly discussion programme of a more relaxed nature – with regular expert fans and guests.

I am presently talking to a well know F1 media individual about this, but there will be a cost attached. Getting sponsorship is easier when you’ve won an award. So please take a couple of minutes to help thejudge13 in turn help you get even more from F1 in 2013.

31 people by last night have clicked through on the link previously provided, so here’s how Silverstone tell you to vote.

Fans can cast their votes now via Silverstone Circuit’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SilverstoneCircuits. Voting closes 12:00hrs on 11 December, 2012. To vote from a mobile visit http://www.silverstone.co.uk/silverstone-media-awards-2012/

Ferrari ask FIA for clarification: 11:00 GMT just received this tweet – “Ferrari asked, in a letter, a clarification from the FIA ​​about the overtaking of VET/VER during the 4th round of the Brazilian Grand Prix”. It was in Italian, my best translation efforts.

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Ferrari consider appeal – I’m considering becoming King of England – but the rules prevent both of us from acting upon our musings

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Register with thejudge13 for email notification of new articles. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

Silverstone Media Awards: Many thejudge13 readers are outside the UK (65%) and I’ve had a few enquiries as to whether they are eligible to vote. The answer is yes and all you need to do is leave your name and an email address to vote on Silverstone’s website – the links are below.

Last years winner was a polish blog called F1 talks. http://www.f1talks.pl

If you enjoy thejudge13 site, please take the 2 minutes to vote for it. I am committed to an advert free site, because all these pop ups drive me crazy but I do want to develop the site and an award like this will help me in two ways. I am looking to syndicate articles to International publications (mostly local media) where they have no local F1 knowledge and rely on Reuters news feeds to educate their readers.

Of course I would be paid for this syndication but the funds received will go towards taking thejudge13 onward and upward. One of the things I am looking at is a podcast for 2013. Much of the current media produced F1 audio/visual material is quite starchy and I believe there is room for a weekly discussion programme of a more relaxed nature – with regular expert fans and guests.

I am presently talking to a well know F1 media individual about this, but there will be a cost attached. Getting sponsorship is easier when you’ve won an award. So please take a couple of minutes to help thejudge13 in turn help you get even more from F1 in 2013.

31 people so far have clicked through on the link previously provided, so here’s how Silverstone tell you to vote.

Fans can cast their votes now via Silverstone Circuit’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SilverstoneCircuits. Voting closes 12:00hrs on 11 December, 2012. To vote from a mobile visit http://www.silverstone.co.uk/silverstone-media-awards-2012/

A Post race review and change of champion: I had decided this debate had run its course, particularly because even though I’ve complained all season about Race management issues, even IF Vettel is guilty, the infringement was missed by the stewards and the matter is similar to debating whether a penalty should have been awarded in a crucial football (soccer for the US) match.

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Renault do a huge U-turn

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A bizarre mentality

thejudge13 reported on October 9th what I considered a rather strange story emanating from Renault. Here’s an excerpt from that day;

“Apparently Renault has said it will not provide any more teams with engines as it has 3 customers already. So Marussia and HRT needn’t bother knocking on the door of the Renault Chateau huh? The reason given by Jean-Francois Caubet, Managing Director of Renault Sport is that – (paraphrased) these 2 teams are rubbish and its bad for Renault’s image.

He tells Ferrari and Mercedes they need to do their fair share and supply 4 teams like Renault does now. This Gallic thinking is seriously flawed, because one would imagine the research and development costs are so high, building a few extra units for a couple more teams would share the cost around better for everyone”.

I then made a few disparaging comments about Jean-Francois and his possible drinking habits. Of course on November 6th, we then reported the ‘retirement’ of Jean-Francois Caubet and the appointment of his successor, Renault Sport’s president Jean-Michel Jalinier. However, Jean-Francois’ departure was overshadowed by the same day appointment of Renault Sport protoge Cyril Abiteboul as Tony Fernandes replacement at Caterham.

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Interlagos: Race review

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Predictable unpredictability

I have no intention of producing a detailed lap by lap, stop by stop report – the BBC and others have the resources to do that better than I do. Yet what has happened to F1 in the past few years? 6 of the last 8 WDC’s have been decided on the last race of the season.

This is the antithesis of what preceded when I almost stopped watching the sport after the borefest of Ferrari dominance from 1999-2005. Madmax Moseley changed something, and it was definitely for the better. My guess it was the beginning of engine restrictions in 2005 and then everything flowed from there.

@F1photographer was mocking those of us who have spent all week checking out weather forecast reports – because 1 hour before the race it was sunny. Having searched for and studied websites I didn’t know existed like some saddo trying to glean 3-4 day forecasts for the weekend, I didn’t take kindly to the picture man’s sneers. For example, The Brazilian ‘National Institute for space research’ is a most interesting proposition and a great read for those who suffer the ignominy of insomnia.

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Rules and Opportunism: Ferrari in Austin

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US Grand Prix attracts controversy

You have to smile. Why does the US Grand Prix attract regulatory controversy so. If you’ve been reading thejudge13 you’ll know during the build up to Austin we’ve reflected on the 2002 race where Schumacher fixed the finish and have regularly made reference to the 6 team race in 2005.

So Ferrari break a seal on Massa’s gear box giving him a 5 place grid penalty which moves Alonso forward 1 slot on the grid. The Spaniard of course qualified 9th and has already benefited from the Grosjean 5 place grid penalty. Much is being made about the penalty from starting off the racing line and at the time of writing this, the race has not begun.

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