Sauber

Being Number One

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Being Number One is brought to you by TJ13 Courtroom Reporter & Crime Analyst: Adam Macdonald People in F1 land have been focussing on the now “undisputed” no.1 at Red Bull and what this means for F1 as a whole. However, it is forgotten that this is the case in many of the other teams as well, … Read more

On This Day in F1: 29 March

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On this day in F1 – 29 March, brought to you by TheJudge13 chronicler Bart De Pauw – 1998: Braking systems controversy in Brazil Following an overwhelming McLaren dominance in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix where Häkkinen and Coulthard sealed a commanding one-two and lapped the entire field, Ferrari in the build up to the … Read more

On Track Review : Malaysia Qualifying 2013

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Brought to you by TheJudge13 ‘on track correspondent’: James Parker Heat, humidity and tyre degradation are the three things that look set to dominate tomorrow’s proceedings for the Malaysia Grand Prix. In what was a hugely intriguing Qualifying session today, which saw RedBull struggle, the unpredictable nature of the famous Malaysian weather once again struck … Read more

Race Review – Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia

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Race Reviews are brought to you by our on track reporter James Parker Kimi Put’s Out Red Bull’s Barbeque The start of the 2013 Formula 1 season began in scintillating style. Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, took the chequered flag for his 20th victory in the sport ahead of the chasing Fernando Alonso and a “struggling” … Read more

F1 Melbourne 2013 Review: FP1 and FP2 most reminiscent of Mr. Noah

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Top times of the day Pos   Driver Team Tine Diff   Laps 1 Vettel Red Bull 1’25.908 33 2 Webber Red Bull 1’26.172 0.264 31 3 Rosberg Mercedes 1’26.322 0.414 26 4 Raikkonen Lotus 1’26.361 0.453 38 5 Grosjean Lotus 1’26.680 0.772 32 6 Alonso Ferrari 1’26.748 0.840 35 7 Hamilton Mercedes 1’26.772 0.864 … Read more

Pre Season Testing – What Have We Learnt?

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Barcelona was the last time Formula 1 cars are driven in anger until Albert Park in around 10 days time, and whilst the past week or so was a case of smoke and mirrors (to be expected) there was quite a lot to be learnt once you dug up under the surface. Some teams struggled, whilst others prospered, and it creates a very interesting picture ahead of the first race of the season. So without further ado, let’s grab a spade and see what we can uncover.

Mercedes W04

The stand out performers from the second test had to be Mercedes. Yes I will be the first to admit, I was one of the big detractors over the winter period, criticising their management structure and how they were so drastically reorganising the team so close to the start of the season. But if the past few weeks are to go by, the W04 does seem to be a very competent car indeed. Whether showing front running pace for the majority of testing has shown the team’s hand far too soon is another matter, but when Rosberg went 1.6 seconds faster than his Qualifying time last year in Barcelona, it shows progress has been very good over the winter at Brackley.

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Day 3 Barcelona pre-season test: Sutil’s first F1 drive for 452 days, Romain is ‘born again’, Sauber secret ducting, Webber’s personal parking place, Red Bull doesn’t improve your manhood

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Barcelon pre-season test 1: Day 3
Driver Car Best time Laps Diff T
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari F138 1’21.875 97 S
2. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber C32 1’22.160 91 0.285 S
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus E21 1’22.188 119 0.313 S
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes W04 1’22.611 108 0.736 M
5. Pastor Maldonado Williams FW35 1’22.675 79 0.800 S
6. Valtteri Bottas Williams FW35 1’22.826 68 0.951 S
7. Jenson Button McLaren MP4-28 1’22.840 71 0.965 H
8. Adrian Sutil Force India VJM06 1’22.877 78 1.002 S
9. Mark Webber Red Bull RB9 1’23.024 108 1.149 M
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso STR8 1’23.366 106 1.491 S
11. Max Chilton Marussia MR02 1’25.690 58 3.815 S
12. Giedo VD Garde Caterham CT03 1’26.177 93 4.302 S

Not big on testing times, but Jenson on the hard tyre looks good. Sutil may be a little disappointing but its been a while and Caterham bottom of the pile again. TJ13 believes and stated for some time Marussia will overtake Caterham in 2013 and those colours are still nailed to the mast.

Tony F is AWOL and has apparently just spent £70m on 2 footballers for QPR (acquisition fee and wages over the life of their contracts). His tweets are mostly Air Asia and QPR related too.

Red Bull

I don’t know what this tells us about the team but Red Bull tweeted today, “Most obvious sign of changeover from Seb to Mark? Car’s parked on other side of the garage today… “.

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Wolff wishes to clear the air, Big Foot or The Hulk, Pirelli reveals tyres for 1st 4 races, Ecclestone and the ‘appearing’ evidence

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Toto Wolff sets matters straight

In an interview for Formula1.com Toto Wolff talks about expectations at Mercedes.

“As they (Mercedes) know I have put my neck on the line they know that I have no room for failure. Not only have I taken a personal risk by leaving Williams – where I have enjoyed working – but there is also a financial and economic side to it. There is a huge amount of trust on both sides and I am very happy having joined.”

I’m not really sure what Toto is inferring here, “You cannot run a Formula 1 operation in the UK out of Germany. It is not only a difference in mentality – there is definitely a difference (laughs) – but it is also about physically being there.

Running a company from a distance never really works, so the question is either you run it full time or you don’t. And if you don’t, then you rely on management. In the past I have done that, but it was not the role Mercedes had envisioned for me.”

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Grosjean attitude win at all costs, Petrov confident of Caterham drive, Mercedes and Ferrari pass crash tests, Ferrari wind tunnel progreses, Kimi approves of 2013 DRS rules, Kimi says drivers do not make teams better, Maldonado most penalties in 2012

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Grosjean attitude win at all costs: Romain Grosjean thinks he is ready to take a more mature approach to Formula One. He did of course have an abortive start to his career at the scandal ridden Renault in 2009, the young Frenchman gained a second chance with Lotus in 2012.

He clearly proved himself to be a very quick driver with 3 podiums by the middle of 2012, but as we know became the focus for media vilification following the dramatic events at the start of the Belgian GP – for which he received a race ban for Monza.

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Koby support website, Aabar buy Torro Rosso, Wurz no HRT saviour, Mastercard to follow Coca Cola,

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Post Qualifying:

McLaren now have more 1-2 grid positions than any other team in F1 – 62 in total. 1st pole in Interlagos since 2000. Seems like the car likes the Pirelli hard-medium tyre, as in Austin.

Hamilton: “Pole! What a great feeling! It’s been a fantastic weekend so far. We don’t yet know for certain what the weather conditions will be like tomorrow, but I hope that both Jenson and I will be able to push for victory. I’ve usually started from fourth grid position at Interlagos, and it hasn’t always given me much success. Before qualifying, I told Martin that I really didn’t want to start fourth this time. All in all, I’m very proud and happy that I got pole.

“Jenson and I are in the best possible starting positions for tomorrow. However, if it’s wet, the lead car is the always the first to aquaplane or hit the puddles, so, even if we both get good starts, we’ll still need to be cautious. Equally, however, I don’t want to drop back at the start because it would then be very difficult to see in all the spray. We haven’t had a one-two in a race for quite a long time [Canada 2010], so it would be a great positive for the team if we could achieve it tomorrow. It would be my perfect farewell, in fact.”

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