FORMULA 1 - 2012

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Senna calm about his future

Bruno Senna hopes a strong finish to the end of the season will help him to secure a seat for the 2013 campaign.

Although Senna has failed to come close to emulating Pastor Maldonado's race victory at the Spanish Grand Prix, he finds himself only eight points behind the Venezuelan in the Drivers' Championship.

Maldonado's win in Barcelona though has earned him a lot of credit and many believe Williams will keep him next year with Senna losing his seat to reserve driver Valtteri Bottas.

Despite the speculation, Senna feels he can retain his seat if he performs well in the final four races of 2012.

"I just need to keep focusing on doing my job," he told Sky Sport News on a Williams 'open day' at Silverstone.

"I've had some bad luck recently which has put me on the backfoot in terms of results, but I've had many strong races and I just need to keep on with that and hopefully that will result in a seat for next year."

He added: "The most important thing is the result on the race track," responded Senna. "If you get results, your future is normally in better shape.

"[staying in] Formula 1 is my objective and I'll keep pushing to make sure I stay."

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Massa has kerb named after him

Felipe Massa has had a kerb at the Buddh International Circuit named after him, but for all the wrong reasons.

The inaugural Indian GP last year was Massa's 150th grand prix start, but the Ferrari driver will remember the race for making a couple of wrong moves.

The Brazilian hit the high kerb on the inside of Turn 8, breaking his right-front suspension and sending him into the barriers during qualifying and he was again at it on the Sunday as too much kissing of the other side of the kerb caused damage to his left-front suspension and forced him to retire.

Massa immediately urged authorities to make sure that they look at the area ahead of the 2012 race and the race officials have heeded those calls.

They have not only dubbed it the "Massa kerb", but Turns 6-7 and 8-9 have been extended from 5m width to 15m.

"We have added additional sausage kerbs to deter the drivers even more," a BIC official told the Times Of India.

"Last year there were questions raised by Ferrari but Massa's broken suspension had nothing to do with the kerbs."

Another change at the BIC will see astroturf lining to provide additional safety to run-off areas at Turns 2-3 and 7-8.

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Button: No tension at McLaren

Jenson Button has dismissed suggestions that his relationship with Lewis Hamilton has turned frosty over the past few weeks.

There have been several media reports claiming that there is tension in the McLaren camp following Hamilton's announcement that he will leave the Woking squad for Mercedes next year.

The situation wasn't helped by Hamilton's latest Twitter gaffe when he accused Button of "unfollowing" him on the social networking site only to be forced to backtrack when his team-mate said he never "followed" him.

Although he admits that they are not "close friends" and feels Hamilton is making a mistake by leaving McLaren, Button has rejected claims that their relationship has deteriorated in recent weeks.

"It is amazing how opinionated people are with this team and none of it is true," he is quoted as saying in The Guardian.

"The atmosphere in the team is fantastic. As far as I can see with Lewis, he is focused and wants to win races. Nothing has changed, it is just the view of a few people with a wide audience and they need to get their facts straight."

He added: "He has chosen to go his own way at the end of the year. It is his decision, although I personally don't think it is the right decision.

"We are not close friends. We work together and have a good working relationship. If we think there is something wrong with the car we will work on it."

Hamilton's hopes of leaving McLaren with a second World Championship appear to be all over bar the shouting after he could only finish 10th at the Korean GP.

The result left him 62 points behind leader Sebastian Vettel, but Button insists McLaren will continue to push for wins in the final four races of the season.

"The team will give Lewis everything they can because Lewis can give the team chances of winning races, as I can," he said.

"The team care about the drivers, but also they care about winning. There will not be any change in this team at all in the way we go racing with two drivers."

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Sauber still eyeing fifth

Sauber are looking to carry the momentum they have into the final four races of the year as they look to reach their goal of fifth in the Constructors' Championship.

Some would say it's been a successful season for the Hinwil-based squad as Sergio Perez appeared on the podium three times already this campaign with team-mate Kamui Kobayashi scoring his maiden top-three finish in Japan.

The team, though, are eyeing fifth in the Constructors' standings and with only 20 points the difference to Mercedes, team principal Monisha Kaltenborn says she has "confidence" in the whole squad that they can reach that goal.

"With four podium places and now 116 World Championship points, we can certainly be proud of our achievements so far as a private team," she said.

"Of course there have been races where things didn't go to plan and we forfeited valuable points. Our car, the Sauber C31-Ferrari, is a great success and has proved competitive on virtually any kind of circuit.

"Some describe it as one of the best cars on the grid. Now it's a matter of carrying the impetus forward into the remaining four races. Our ambitious goal remains to finish fifth in the Constructors' World Championship. And I have the utmost confidence both in our team at Hinwil and in the crew at the track along with our two drivers, Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez."

Kaltenborn has recently gone where no other woman has gone before in Formula One as she was appointed the first female team principal.

The 41-year-old says she was "well prepared" for the move.

"I'm very happy at the confidence that Peter Sauber has placed in me," she said.

"I grew into this role step by step, of course. I had been head of the company's legal department since 2000, in 2001 I joined the Board of Management, in 2010 I became CEO, and since the end of 2011 I've held a third of the company's stakeholding.

"Peter Sauber's withdrawal from the day-to-day running of the business has been on the cards for a long time, so this latest step was well prepared. I'm acutely aware of what it means to carry the responsibility for this company, which has been around for over 40 years and involved in Formula One for almost 20 years."

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Horner: Seb will be at RBR in 2014

The claim and counterclaims in the Sebastian Vettel to Ferrari saga continue with Red Bull the latest to deny the reports.

BBC Sport on Monday stated that Vettel to Ferrari for the 2014 season is a done deal with Felipe Massa set to be a stop-gap for next year.

According to the report, 'sources inside Ferrari say they have signed a contract with Vettel, 25, with an option to join in 2014 depending on their results'.

It added that Fernando Alonso 'sanctioned' Vettel's arrival having reportedly 'vetoed the idea of Lewis Hamilton joining the team earlier this year'.

However, the Italian outfit were quick to deny the report with Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo insisting he doesn't "want two roosters in the hen-house" as it "creates instability in the team".

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has now also dismissed suggestions that they could lose the two-time World Champion to Ferrari in a year's time.

"Sebastian Vettel, without a shadow of doubt, will be part of the Red Bull Racing team in 2014," he told BBC Sport.

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Ferrari would welcome Porsche to F1

Luca di Montezemolo has admitted he would welcome Porsche to formula one.

The VW-brand has played down the latest rumours about a V6-powered grand prix foray on the back of its forthcoming return to Le Mans, but Ferrari president Montezemolo said: "I feel great respect for Porsche, who I consider the main rival of many of our cars.

"Competition is always welcome, especially when you're sure you will win," the Italian is quoted by Spain's AS newspaper.

But even with Porsche rejecting the latest speculation, the German newspaper Kolner Express said all the signs are pointing towards a 2016 foray for the famous sports car maker.

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Trulli turned down F1 commentary role for 2013

Jarno Trulli turned down an offer to return to formula one in 2013 -- in the commentary box.

That is the claim of the German-language Speed Week, reporting that the veteran of 256 grands prix, who lost his Caterham seat ahead of this season, was sounded out by new Italian broadcaster Sky to travel to next year's 20 races as a television pundit.

But the report said Trulli, 38, turned down the punditry offer because he wants to return to competitive action in 2013.

Another option for Sky was 1997 world champion and French-Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, but the former Williams and Sauber driver said no because he reportedly "doesn't want to travel that much".

Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, the former Red Bull, Force India and HRT driver, is the latest candidate, Speed Week added.

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HRT boss says de la Rosa 'will drive for us in 2013'

Pedro de la Rosa is definitely staying at HRT in 2013, the Spanish team's boss Luis Perez-Sala has announced.

"Pedro de la Rosa will drive for us in 2013," he is quoted by the German language Speed Week.

The Spanish veteran's current teammate is Narain Karthikeyan, but the Indian has been linked with a possible switch to Indycar.

Speed Week said the presence of Karthikeyan, 35, has not brought the expected flood of Indian sponsors to HRT.

The report named the team's Chinese reserve driver Ma Qing Hua as a candidate to replace him.

But on Sky television last weekend, former McLaren driver Martin Brundle suggested the 24-year-old is "not ready" to make his grand prix debut yet.

Speed Week said Spaniard Dani Clos - another HRT 'Friday' driver this year - would be a leading contender if he had more sponsorship.

Jaime Alguersuari is another candidate, with Speed Week saying the former Toro Rosso driver and Pirelli tester has "put together an enticing sponsor package" for 2013.

And Brundle said Caterham's reserve driver Giedo van der Garde could also be in the running, saying the Dutchman has done "a good job in GP2 and apparently has some sponsorship behind him".

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Vettel's father to race at Hockenheim

Sebastian Vettel's father is making a racing comeback, the German newspaper Bild reports.

Norbert Vettel, 53, is a carpenter by trade but in the past contested hill-climb events and got his son - now the reigning double world champion and new 2012 title leader - into a go-kart at the age of 3 and a half.

Bild said he will race in the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup race at Hockenheim this weekend.

"It's my first start after an 18 year break!" Vettel snr is quoted as saying.

"I used to do hill races, but there were no opponents on the track, just the clock. So I just want to stay humble and not finish last."

MIKA: Vettels father is Anthony Hopkins!?

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Maldonado says his mission is to put Williams back on top

Pastor Maldonado declares returning Williams to the top of the Formula 1 hierarchy the 'mission' he aims to complete before contemplating leaving the team.

The Venezuelan won earlier this year at Barcelona, but then went on an eight-race point-less streak which was only ended at Suzuka.

After claiming that eighth in Japan Maldonado was happy keeping his options open for 2013, saying there was "a chance to go to other teams" but that he was "considering remaining" at Williams.

He says that doubt was simply due to not having agreed a new deal with Williams, and insisted that he not only wants to remain with the Grove-based team but dreams of returning them to their former glories.

"It is my mission to put Williams at the top. Before I leave, I really hope to win the championship with this team," Maldonado said during a media event at Silverstone on Wednesday, when he drove Williams's 1996 challenger, the FW18.

"For sure I'd really like to stay. I've had two wonderful years with the team, [and] I won my first race after just over one year at Barcelona, where we showed we are a great team.

"Apart from the last race, which was really difficult for us, I think we are doing quite well and improving every time, so it looking quite good for the team next year."

Asked why his answers had been less decisive in Japan, Maldonado replied: "I don't want to say I will stay because we don't know 100 per cent. In F1 things can change immediately.

"I don't have the confirmation at the moment, but for sure I'd really like to stay. I really appreciated the team giving me a great responsibility as the No.1 driver in the No.1 car, and I think I did pretty well."

Asked about his struggles to score in the aftermath of his Catalunya victory, Maldonado said he had been caught in a vicious circle of mistakes, reliability woes and stewarding decisions.

"The season has been up and down," he admitted. "I lived a difficult moment, getting everything together - I did a few mistakes, [but] at the same time stewards were quite strong with me and I was also unlucky.

"If you remember Singapore I was going for the podium and we had a car failure, but that happens.

"It was a circle but it has passed. It isn't easy to accept to accept you are doing some mistakes but you need to look forward and just push even harder."

Maldonado attributed the team's lack of performance in Korea to struggling with the specific conditions, and said he was confident the team would react over the last four races.

"It's difficult to say [why Williams has lost ground]," he added. "I'm 100 per cent sure the conditions [in Korea] weren't great for our car. We were not balanced to that track.

"We know where the problems are though. If you look three races ago we were near the top. We are ready to react in order to be competitive in the next races."

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Damon Hill to demo Red Bull RB6 at Barcelona circuit

Former Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill will get behind the wheel of grand prix machinery again when he drives the Red Bull RB6 this weekend.

The Briton will take to the Barcelona circuit in the 2010 championship-winning car as part of the Red Bull Racing Show Run during the World Series by Renault event at the Spanish track.

Hill, the 1996 world champion, scored 21 of his 22 grand prix victories in Renault-powered machinery.

Four-time champion Alain Prost had driven the car in the previous event at Paul Ricard.

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Ralf Schumacher may also retire at end of 2012

The motorsport world could be set to bid farewell another member of the Schumacher family, as Ralf Schumacher, the former Williams and Toyota Formula One driver, and younger brother to Michael has opened the door to retirement as he looks to finish this year’s German touring car ‘DTM’ series almost dead last.

The 37-year-old, whose more famous brother Michael is returning to retirement at the end of this year’s F1 calendar, also drives for Mercedes’ works team, but in the F1 context.

“I’m going to do the last race and then think about what my future looks like,” Schumacher is quoted by the Kolner Express newspaper ahead of this weekend’s Hockenheim finale.

He is third to last in the 2012 DTM standings, having scored just 8 points compared to teammate Jamie Green’s 109.

Ralf Schumacher won 6 grands prix during his 182 grand prix career between 1997 and 2007.

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COULTHARD RETIRES FROM DTM:

David Coulthard has called time on his premier motor racing career.

The former McLaren and Red Bull driver, now 41, switched to the top German touring car category DTM after his 247-grand prix career ended a few years ago.

He is also now a commentator for the BBC's coverage of formula one.

In a statement issued by Mercedes, it was announced he will retire from DTM after this weekend's Hockenheim finale.

"The weekend will be my final opportunity to compete at this level as I will stop racing in the DTM to concentrate on my developing off-track businesses and of course my family," said Coulthard.

Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher has clarified that he will also completely retire from premier motor racing after his F1 comeback concludes next month in Brazil.

"Formula one offers the maximum in terms of emotion, speed, and complete work," he told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Any other kind of car would not give me the same emotions. I am stopping here completely."

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Formula 1 teams pushing to avoid tyre 'shock' in 2013 season

Formula 1 teams are pushing to ensure there will be no repeat of the 'shock' they faced in dealing with tyres at the start of this season, after getting hold of Pirelli's 2013 specifications for the first time.

Pirelli has made its final decision on the modificationsit is making to next year's rubber following the recent conclusion of its private testing programme.

This information has been provided to the teams, so they can incorporate that knowledge into the designs of next year's cars.

The company is modifying both the compounds and constructions of its products for next year in a bid to ensure the racing is kept exciting.

It is also revising the tyres so that teams do not face as difficult a time as they had in 2012 of getting the rubber into the right operating window.

On the back of Pirelli submitting its 2013 data, F1 team engineers have conceded that they did not react as well as they should have to the changes made for 2012, which is why they will be taking matters much more seriously this time out.

McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe told AUTOSPORT: "Certainly it was a bit of a shock to the system for all the teams this year - and we have learned from that.

"What we had this year relative to last year was quite a big surprise to everybody, but the data [supplied beforehand] did not really indicate that; so we will really have to see.

"The data tells you certain hard facts, like the weight and shape, and these are things you can use in development. But in terms of how the compounds behave in their life there isn't really data about that, these are things you discover when you use them. We will be working hard on that."

Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan said: "We still haven't got all the information about what is happening for next year, but we are definitely paying closer attention to what is happening."

When asked by AUTOSPORT if teams had underestimated the changes made for 2012, he said: "Probably. I don't think anybody, certainly from our side, would have thought the season would have progressed and evolved as it has done - which made for exciting racing."

Although Pirelli is reluctant to offer a detailed explanation yet of the changes it is making to its tyres, Lowe says that as well as a revised shape, the rubber will weigh more in 2013.

"They [the tyres] are quite a bit heavier, which was a surprise to me," he said. "Considering the changes are not supposed to be very substantial, which to me would indicate not a big weight change, there is quite a big weight change."

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said about the situation: "We have started explaining to the teams and they are getting that information now.

"We do a lot of indoor testing and data creation to help them run their models. We put that data on a central server so they have access in real time together. They get it at the same time, so nobody has an advantage and that is being supplied to a timetable now.

"We are making some changes to the tyres – and it will have a difference particularly on aero. The tyre will also behave dynamically different."

The lack of understanding that teams had of the tyres at the start of this season led to an unpredictable start to the campaign, with seven different winners from the first seven races.

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MERCEDES NOT WRITING OFF 2012 FORMULA 1 SEASON YET:

Mercedes is not yet ready to write off the rest of the season in favour of focusing its resources on to its 2013 challenger.

Although the German car manufacturer has almost no chance of closing down the 119-points gapto Lotus in the constructors' championship, it does face a battle to hold offSauber, which is just 20 points behind.

That is why team principal Ross Brawn has said that the outfit needs to both keep pushing for this year, while not wasting effort that could be put to better use ensuring its 2013 challenger is a step forward.

"We need a balanced approach I think," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT about how it was splitting efforts between this year and next season.

"Our chassis team are designing next year's car and there are certain directions they want to confirm. The aero changes you saw on Friday morning [in Korea] with the rear wing [double-DRS] are primarily for next year. So there is a mix.

"We don't want to sacrifice the remainder of this year while working for next year, but there is a strong aspect [of looking to 2013].

"At Suzuka we had two rear different suspension geometries, and we had some other fundamental differences, so we are plugging those things into the programme. But we still want to have a respectable performance for the rest of the year."

Although Mercedes has struggled for results in recent races - having not scored any points since the Singapore Grand Prix - Brawn thinks that venues coming up should suit its car better.

"I think these next few tracks coming up, although we don't know about Austin, will tend to come a bit towards the nature of our car," he said.

"There are still some things we want to try with the car in the last four races, particularly for next year."

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F1 SET FOR 19 RACES NEXT SEASON AS NEW JERSEY IS FORCED TO POSTPONE THE RACE:

The 2013 F1 calendar looks set to feature just 19 races after organisers of the inaugural New Jersey Grand Prix were forced to postpone the race to 2014 due to delays over building.

F1 insiders suggest that the selling of the race to potential partners in the riverside track project has also proved difficult and that the organisers are regrouping in order to secure the funding to ensure a successful 2014 event.

“We are going to be racing at Port Imperial, unfortunately just not as soon as we hoped and expected,” said the promoter, Leo Hindery, Jr. “We promised Governor Christie, the Towns, the sport and its international fans the best possible experience, and unfortunately we need additional time to ensure that happens.

“We remain 100% committed to the Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial and the race could have no better partner and friend than the CEO of Formula One, Bernie Ecclestone,” said Mr. Hindery. “We benefit greatly from his experience and counsel and from his support.”

This news has been coming for some time. F1′s CEO Bernie Ecclestone had flagged up some problems last month and now says that the promoter ran out of time ahead of the June date next season, but he is keen to see the race take place in 2014. Much of the F1 community hopes that the race against the backdrop of the New York City skyline will make it onto the calendar,

“They’ve run out of time,” Ecclestone told the Guardian. “There’s all sorts of things, and they didn’t quite think it all through. They’ve had a wake-up call but the wake-up call came too late. They couldn’t get everything ready in time. That’s the bottom line.”

The 2014 calendar is also due to feature the inaugural Russian Grand Prix at Sochi, on a circuit built from the Winter Olympic facilities due to be used for the Games in February 2014.

F1 in the USA was however boosted this week with the news that NBC is to carry coverage of the Grands Prix.

NBC is one of the oldest and best established of the US TV networks and will offer some of the races on its main network and some on its free to air cable offering. This should open the sport up to the US audience.

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VIDEO: HOW TO MAKE KIMI RAIKKONEN SIGN A CONTRACT:

During his first Formula 1 career Kimi Raikkonen’s dislike for sponsor and media engagements was almost as well-chronicled as his achievements on the track.

But second time round, and with perhaps a greater freedom and desire to go in his own direction, the 2007 world champion has become involved in something very different with a clothing company from his homeland in Finland.

Makia Clothing has signed the Lotus driver to be the ‘face’ of its new motorsport range and to launch the partnership has got the 33-year-old to star in a viral video campaign.

played on the fact that the Finn’s F1 future for 2013 isn’t completely confirmed by asking ‘what will Kimi do next?’ with a promise that a new contract would be revealed this week.

The contract in question was his deal to be the face of Makia’s new racing range, but rather than announce the signing via a dry press release, the company got Raikkonen to do some more acting in a spoof kidnap plot in which he is taken by some heavies, wearing black hood and all, to a remote caravan where he is blackmailed to sign up for Makia before being sent on foot back to Monaco.

With 420,000 views on YouTube already the clip has already clearly found an audience, with Raikkonen’s fan base one of the largest in F1.

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MOVER AND SHAKER? THOUGHTS ON THE SEBASTIAN VETTEL TO FERRARI RUMOUR:

It's almost like all of F1's juicy driver stories over recent times had been saved up somewhere private far from our view, with us all being oblivious of the fact. And now its container has got over-full, suddenly exploding the stories in every direction. For years it seemed not much was doing in the driver market. No one was moving, not among the front teams anyway, and there didn't even seem much prospect of it. But now we're being spoiled. No sooner had Lewis Hamilton dropped a bombshell by confirming that he will indeed be leaving McLaren for Mercedes for next year, with the reverberations still being felt the BBC reminded us earlier this week that, according to sources, Sebastian Vettel has a deal in place to join Ferrari for 2014.

It’s a rumour that’s been about for a while, since around the time of the Monaco race this year indeed, so it's not clear what new was in the BBC's report (perhaps its success over calling Lewis to Mercedes went to its head a little). No sooner had BBC reported this than Ferrari President Luca Montezemolo was pouring cold water on the idea, but also without completely ruling it out. And apparently the story comes from ‘well-informed sources’ close to the Scuderia.

On the face of it though, Vettel to Ferrari doesn't make a great deal of sense. For one thing, Red Bull has been the sport's technical standard bearers consistently over recent times, being ahead of the pack for much of the previous four years, much more so than Ferrari. So, competitiveness-wise it would appear a risk to give that up for Ferrari, whatever the usual lure of the Scuderia. And if that wasn't enough Seb would all the while experience a very public comparison with the mighty Fernando Alonso, and on his home turf.

Further, outwardly at least, one cannot sense any obvious reason for Seb on a personal level to leave the Milton Keynes outfit. Sebastian Vettel appears the perfect final link in the Red Bull chain, a driver who somehow seems an ideal fit in the collective he's part of, possibly more so even than Alonso is at Ferrari. And in any case Red Bull is convinced it has Seb under (performance-related) lock and key for 2014 anyway. Seb himself is being rather quiet on the subject.

My instinct however is that, given the persistence of this rumour, the alleged seniority of its source plus that Felipe Massa has been signed for an additional year only in what, with all due respect to Felipe, has a strong whiff of a year's stop-gap move, there is something behind all of this. Plus it all has a rather 'crazy enough to be true' quality - like Lewis to Mercedes the concept doesn't have the characteristics of something invented out of thin air.

But my instinct is also that the something in question is much more likely to be some kind of option for 2014, and one that Seb can wriggle out of if necessary, rather than a firm contract. Indeed, James Allen's sources close to Ferrari say this, and indeed even say that the agreement's not necessarily for 2014 either.

In many ways establishing this sort of agreement would make sense for Seb. For one thing, it would increase Seb’s ability to extract money from Red Bull in future contract negotiations. Also, new engine regulations are on the way in for 2014, but Bernie Ecclestone (for various reasons) is trying to block the change, and if he does succeed in blocking them then it’s thought that Renault could well pull out of the sport, thus leaving Red Bull scratching around for an engine supplier. If Seb is anything he is very smart, so as a smart cookie he could well be hedging his bets on this. In any case, assuming that Seb's side has worded whatever the agreement is with sufficient care so not to commit him to Ferrari against his will then it's difficult to see what he has to lose by all of this.

And thinking more broadly about what Seb's motivations might be, perhaps Seb is experiencing something akin to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In other words, now that he's won everything there is to win in F1 he's beginning to think about loftier matters: such as legacy, self-actualisation etc etc. Even though Seb's records are stellar, there are plenty who persist in placing a 'yeah but he did it in a dominant car' asterisk next to it all (as Jackie Stewart did recently). Is he therefore keen to 'flee the nest' from Red Bull and prove himself elsewhere? And if so where better to do it but alongside the driver who is by common consensus the best in the sport right now, and on his own patch? Remember that Seb, more than many F1 drivers, seems to be particularly minded of legacy. Many consider the potential move to be career suicide, but many thought the same when Ayrton Senna joined McLaren to partner Alain Prost (and indeed when Jenson Button joined the Woking team to partner Lewis Hamilton). And while I absolutely do not under-estimate Fernando Alonso, I also suspect that Seb in comparison with him as his team mate would get much closer to him than many think.

To be honest though, I’m struggling to believe that the Seb to Ferrari switch will happen in the end, mainly because of what Montezemolo calls ‘two roosters in the same hen-house’; it's fairly likely that Alonso and Vettel would not co-exist very peaceably. Would Ferrari want the strife which seems an inevitable by-product of such a driver pairing? Would they also risk defying the wishes of its star player Fernando Alonso, and potentially those of sponsor Santander, and with it disrupt the careful 'plan' for Ferrari-Santander-Alonso supremacy? Ferrari in any case historically have invariably reacted better to building a team around a 'number one' driver (see Schumacher, Lauda, Ascari, and now Alonso) rather than having two drivers squaring off. And as we saw in 2007 Alonso doesn't always react well to intra-team warfare.

Of course, in recent years past both Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen found out that the Scuderia is not afraid to make its own arrangements when it comes to making sure it'll be in a strong position in its drivers' line up in future years, regardless of the current lead driver's wishes, but this scenario is different. Alonso is under contract to 2016 and committed to a long term spell with the team (which Schumacher wasn't) and the team is happy with him (and it wasn't with Raikkonen). Nevertheless, part of this rumour is that Alonso has given his blessing to Seb joining him.

And if it does happen, what does it mean for Seb's current employers? Somehow, it's very hard to imagine Red Bull without Seb, him seeming a fixture there rather akin to Jim Clark at Lotus. And the stakes of Seb leaving may be high to Red Bull. Without wishing to be pejorative, while you'd likely bet everything you own on McLaren or Ferrari being in the sport in 15 years' time in the case of Red Bull most of us wouldn't be nearly as sure. After all, Red Bull does not go racing as its raison d'être, it goes racing as part of a global company's marketing activities. And the experience of Benetton after Michael Schumacher departed, another team owned by a company as part of its marketing who traumatically lost its linchpin driving talent who'd delivered unprecedented success, may be worrying. The team splintered and went into decline, the parent company apparently losing interest, before departing the sport altogether. Is there a risk of Red Bull post-Vettel experiencing similar? It's not beyond possibility, and as things stand the other drivers in F1 of similar quality to Seb, who may have plugged the gap nicely, seem now committed elsewhere for the foreseeable future. And there are currently no obvious new Sebs on the Red Bull young driver conveyor belt. If nothing else, the Red Bull team's transition to life beyond its talisman would need to be handled carefully. But as long as it has Adrian Newey on its pay roll you'd think it has a reasonable chance.

But all this threatens getting too far ahead of ourselves. Will Vettel to Ferrari happen? Ultimately, my instinct as mentioned is probably not. But certainly I would not dismiss this idea. And also just remember that everyone was similarly disbelieving when the Lewis to Mercedes rumour was first reported. In F1, never say never.

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LOOKING BACK TO 1997: AN UNDERRATED CLASSIC:

An F1 season in which grids and races were tight and we'd enter weekends with no idea who would be on top; it could have literally been anyone from more than half of the grid. It was also a season with a close championship battle. And one in which tyres would often fall apart quickly and would have to be nursed through a race stint.

No, it's not now. It's fifteen years ago: the year of 1997.

When classic seasons in F1 history are discussed I often think that 1997 is curiously rarely-mentioned. It was an underrated classic. While much of F1 in the 1990s was characterised by only a small number of likely winners at any given moment, and often one team dominating, 1997 represented something of a renaissance. Perhaps part of the season's not getting the credit it deserves owes something to its being poorly served by statistics. For all of its competitiveness, it can only claim to six different winners (from four teams) in 17 races. But with cards falling the other way it could easily have boasted anything up to double those numbers.

In this year Williams Renault was the dominant force, but the Schumacher-Ferrari double act, joined this year for the first time by Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, was getting into its stride and more than capable of making a thorough pest of itself. Then there was McLaren who, with Mercedes engines, was finally emerging from its post-Senna/post-Honda trough and was an increasingly consistent front runner as the year went on. Benetton and Jordan were both credible contenders for wins on occasion.

And further was the variable brought in by the Bridgestone tyres. For the first time since 1991 Goodyear had opposition in supplying F1 teams, and it could be argued that for the first time since 1984 (when Michelin left the sport) Goodyear had a serious threat to its pedestal position. If anything the Bridgestone was the superior tyre, certainly the more durable. And in this its debut season it could only count midfield runners at best among its customers: Prost (née Ligier, just bought by Alain), Stewart (also in its debut season) and the like; but the Bridgestones could, on occasion, bring these guys right to the sharp end. Heck, even Arrows nearly won a race on them. And Goodyear in response sometimes got its sums wrong, the resultant gumball rubber meant that 'blistering' and subsequent pace variation returned to the F1 parlance with a vengeance.

A few stats that do the 1997 year's competitiveness justice is that in eight of the 17 rounds the top 10 qualified within a second of each other, and in Austria no fewer than 14 cars made it within this mark. And the year's qualifying sessions were as nature intended: four sets of tyres each to use within an hour's session on low fuel. No 'saving tyres for the race' entered into it.

And if we take all those drivers who qualified on pole during the year, their lowest qualifying slots of the season read thus: Heinz-Harald Frentzen 8th, Jacques Villeneuve 9th, Michael Schumacher 9th, Jean Alesi 15th, Mika Hakkinen 17th, Gerhard Berger 18th. And in none of those cases did they have a technical problem, or face an ill-timed rain shower, or anything else like that. In each case they simply were not quick enough.

But the drivers' title battle became a game for two players: Jacques Villeneuve in the Williams versus Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari. And in many ways it was the perfect clash of personalities: the downbeat, unspun, outspoken Canadian taken to wearing baggy overalls up against the upright, industrious, almost computer-like Schumi. Some likened it to the famous James Hunt versus Niki Lauda rivalry of the 1970s. And it may seem odd to contemporary ears, some five drivers' titles later for the Schumacher/Ferrari partnership, that Schumi was the neutral's favourite for much of the year. He was very much seen as the plucky underdog taking on the guy in the superior car, at this point Ferrari had gone 18 years without a driver's title and 14 years without a title of any description, and to top it all off it was the company's 50th anniversary. Schumi was also helped by an extraordinary interview Villeneuve gave mid-season, which included some comments on Olivier Panis's recent leg break injury and the other drivers' reaction to it, that struck many as insensitive.

It was a season of incredible ebb and flow between the two, with neither being on top for long, and as soon as it seemed one had a decisive advantage there would be an astonishing switch of fortunes. But, strangely even with the year's competitiveness, rarely were the two in direct battle with each other on track during a race that season. Indeed, never in 1997 did Villeneuve and Schumacher share a podium.

Not that anyone expected it to be that way at the season outset. Most had grown well-used to single-team domination, usually by Williams, and following on from the Grove team's clean sweep in 1996 few expected 1997 to be much different. Further, Jacques Villeneuve was most onlookers' clear championship favourite. He impressed most in his debut F1 season the previous year (entering as Indycar champion) by winning four times and taking the title battle down to the final race, all the while becoming stronger as the year progressed. He was highly-rated in this period, much more than the diminished driver towards the end of his career was to become. And the guy who'd beaten him to the 1996 title, his team mate Damon Hill, had been shown the door by Williams for 1997 somewhat surprisingly (and even more surprisingly surfaced at the middling Arrows team). Some said that the decision by Sir Frank to get rid had been made as long ago as 1995, when Hill was enduring a particularly deep performance trough. The guy selected to replace him was young German Heinz-Harald Frentzen, someone with a big reputation, and many at this point were repeating (what turned out to be a myth) that Frentzen was quicker than Schumacher when they were sportscar team mates at Mercedes, almost by rote. If 1997 taught us anything it was that Frentzen's reputation outstripped his abilities somewhat, and he was never in title contention.

And as the year kicked off in Melbourne it indeed looked like 1997 would be a Williams, and in particular a Villeneuve, benefit. Around the Albert Park track he looked spectacular and his best qualifying time was some 1.7 seconds under anyone else's quickest, which just so happened to be provided by his team mate. The quickest non-Williams was not within two seconds of Jacques's best. But, within a few metres of the Melbourne race start we received our first indication that 1997 was going to be a season very different from those we had grown used to.

Villeneuve didn't get the best of starts, but then Eddie Irvine, Schumacher's Ferrari team mate, for reasons best known to himself sought to outbrake the entire field it seemed down the inside of turn one. He only succeeded in wiping Villeneuve, Johnny Herbert and himself out of the race. Thus scratch the guy who'd been expected to win at ease. Frentzen took up the lead and for most of the way looked perfectly capable of stepping in to win in Villeneuve's absence, even though he was on a two-stop strategy and most behind intended to stop just once; on strategy Williams' hand was forced by marginal brakes. But Frentzen's second stop was botched which left him in third place behind David Coulthard's McLaren - now thrust into the lead - and Schumacher's Ferrari. Schumi got out of the way with a late 'splash and dash' fuel stop (it was a design flaw on that year's Ferrari that its fuel tank was on the small side, making it close to running dry when on a one-stopper), but then Frentzen's marginal brake discs bit him, a front disc exploded late on and pitched Frentzen out. This all left Coulthard to canter to the win unchallenged, thus ending McLaren's win drought which had extended all the way back to Ayrton Senna's final race triumph in 1993. Schumi salvaged second.

Normal service appeared to be resumed in the next two rounds, in Brazil and Argentina. Villeneuve won both, though rode his luck a little on either occasion. At Brazil he slid off at the first turn, which necessitated a nose change, but was rescued by a red flag that had nothing to do with him and allowed him to take his pole position on the re-start. And at Argentina he held off many quicker cars; Olivier Panis's Prost probably would have won had it lasted, one of the Jordans might have won had one of them, driven by Ralf Schuamcher (Michael's younger sibling making his F1 debut season) not contrived to drive into the other, driven by Giancarlo Fisichella. And Eddie Irvine was right on Villeneuve's gearbox in the late laps. Still, the points for Jacques were all the same and Villeneuve now led the championship by ten points, and it wasn't obvious where a challenge to him was going to come from. Coulthard hadn't scored since his Melbourne win, Schumacher had only scored two points since that opening race, and Frentzen hadn't got off the scoring mark at all.

But then the challenge emerged, and it came from Maranello. Schumacher finished second at Imola (behind Frentzen) on a day that Villeneuve's gearbox halted him, and then Schumi won brilliantly by routing the field on a day that the rain came down at Monaco (with Rubens Barrichello's Stewart a scarcely believable second). In that race both Williams, unfathomably, started on slick tyres and with full dry chassis settings. And both ended up in the barriers. All of a sudden, Schumi was leading the drivers' table.

Next up was the Spanish round, in Barcelona, and it was witness to probably Villeneuve's best drive of the season. As mentioned, 1997 was a year of a tyre war, Bridgestone's product seemed superior to Goodyear's, and in Barcelona Goodyear seriously got its sums wrong in trying to react. Without careful handling the Goodyear tyres on offer in Spain would blister rapidly, and on race day possibly only Villeneuve of those running those tyres understood what was required of them. He treated the first few laps of every stint as a sort of 'go slow', putting an initial gentle heat cycle through the rubber, and as a consequence got life out of them for much longer than most of the other Goodyear runners who dived in out of the pitlane for new tyres like they thought it was the object of the exercise. Villeneuve won with a fine drive of considerable restraint. In second place was the Bridgestone-booted Panis who'd climbed from 12th on the grid as the Goodyear runners faltered. Indeed, he again may have won, but lost a lot of time behind Mika Salo's Tyrrell early on and then lost more time late on when Irvine didn't want to be lapped. There was much muttering that this was Ferrari employing team tactics to help Schumi (who was not far behind Panis in fourth) but if that was its intention then it backfired as it only served to deny Panis an opportunity to take points from Villeneuve.

So, Jacques led the championship once more. And if anyone thought that he and Williams were now going to reassert themselves they were rapidly dissuaded of the notion. There was yet another decisive pro-Schumi swing. In Canada, the next race, Villeneuve started the 'wall of champions' fable by clouting it on lap two, putting him out, and Schumi won for the second time that year. Though he did have a large slice of good luck as Coulthard lost the win by making a precautionary late stop for new tyres, only to fall victim to a clutch problem that didn't let him re-join, just as a red flag for an accident for Panis ended the race early. Sadly, Panis broke both legs in the smash, which put him out for most of the remainder of the year and thus deprived us all of a consistent leading challenger (indeed, Panis was third in the drivers' table at this point).

Schumacher therefore led Villeneuve in the table by seven points, and after the next round in Magny-Cours in France this lead astonishingly was extended to 14. Schumi won from pole, Villeneuve qualified and finished fourth, and rarely figured.

At this point there was a lot of head scratching in the F1 firmament. Just what was going on? How could Villeneuve and Williams be missing out so badly? Particularly to Schumacher and Ferrari who nobody, least of all themslves, reckoned would be equipped for a championship battle this year? Well, a lot of it was that the Williams team and its drivers were making mistakes, not finishing as many races as it should, and the Schumi, Brawn et al collective was perfectly capable of taking advantage as well as of making up some of the performance gap to the Adrian Newey-penned Williams car. Indeed, Brawn concurs that the team's mid-season form owed more to the failings of others than to them per se: 'The mid-season purple patch did take us a little by surprise and, looking back, I think that was because it was that Williams were getting something wrong...There was definitely progress made by default of others rather than our own major steps forward.'

It could have got even worse for Williams at Silverstone, before a big helping of good fortune helped swing things back towards them a little. Villeneuve took the pole and led from the off there, with Schumi on his tail and the rest, stuck behind Coulthard's hobbled McLaren, being left behind. But then Jacques had a disastrous 33.1 second stop which left him in seventh place and Schumi apparently cantering to another win. However Schumacher then succumbed to his first, and only, mechanical retirement of the year when a wheel bearing failed. Villeneuve slowly made his way back up the order, letting things come to him as those ahead on one-stop strategies peeled into the pits. However, once all the stops were done there was still one car between him and victory: Mika Hakkinen's McLaren, who'd looked rapid all weekend. We were set for a titanic crescendo in the late laps as Villeneuve, needing victory, shadowed Hakkinen who had his long-overdue debut win close to his grasp. Some opined the Jean Alesi in third place was the most likely victor as neither Villeneuve nor Hakkinen would likely give way when Jacques's inevitable move came. But it resolved itself when with just seven laps left Hakkinen's Mercedes engine unstitched itself. This though was just the start of McLaren being a contender for the win just about everywhere in the second part of the season, especially in Hakkinen's hands. Fortunately for those around them the car often didn't have the reliability to match its pace. But for the moment all Jacques cared about was that he'd taken a chunk out of his deficit to Schumacher, now down to four points.

Next up was Hockenheim, then a curious track made up essentially of long straights separated by chicanes. And this weekend the championship front-runners stepped aside somewhat, as Gerhard Berger in the Benetton and Fischella's Jordan set the pace. The race was resolved in Berger's favour, a popular win for the veteran who was just back from an enforced lay off with a sinus problem and it was also only three weeks since the death of his father. Schumacher claimed second after Fisichella was stopped by a cruel late puncture. But Villeneuve again didn't finish, and indeed he didn't figure much on the quick track and eventually was scared off the road when Jarno Trulli (Panis's Prost replacement) threatened to pass. Schumi's lead was thus back up to ten.

Things soon looked even better for Schumi, as at the following round in Hungary Ferrari appeared armed with a new 'B-spec' lightweight chassis, and Schumi stuck it on the pole. But the race amounted to another 'Goodyear special' as its tyres deteriorated swiftly without careful nursing. Schumi was quickly caught out by this and one Damon Hill, always quick around the Hungaroring, with Bridgestone tyres booted to his Arrows quickly moved into a decisive lead. Indeed, a win which probably would have been F1's biggest shock ever looked certain as with three laps left he was upwards of 30 seconds clear of Villenueve in second. But then it seemed reality sharply cut in. A washer worth only a few pence got loose in the Arrows and caused a hydraulic leak. This effected everything on the car - throttle, gear changes etc etc - and left Hill to struggle on as best he could, but at a much reduced pace. Villeneuve was able to pass on the final lap, and Hill somehow got to the finish in second. Schumacher while all this was going on battled with blistering tyres to claim fourth, and we were given the frankly surreal sight late on of him having to fend off the much-quicker, as Bridgestone-shod, Shinji Nakano.

There then followed a concerted period in which Williams had the upper hand on the Scuderia. The 'lightweight' Ferrari never seemed quite as effective as the previous spec (though the team maintained that the spec-change was mere coincidence) and often found itself with a few cars, in the tight field, between it and the front-running Villeneuve. Jacques took pole in Spa and looked unstoppable, but on race day Spa's famously volatile weather saved Schumi. It rained hard for a short period just before the start, and Schumi, having started on intermediates when nearly everyone else went for full wets, routed the field early on when the track was perfidious and established a lead of close to a minute that never looked like being usurped. Villeneuve, again getting it wrong in the wet, trailed in fifth, behind Fisichella, Frentzen and Herbert.

Next was Ferrari's home round at Monza. The long straights didn't suit the Ferrari whose engine was a little behind on the grunt stakes, and when Schumi started in ninth compared with Villeneuve's fourth it looked like Jacques could count on pulling back some of the 11 point deficit to Schumi. He did, but only by one: Villeneuve finished fifth and Schumi sixth. It was an extraordinary race which was certainly close but at no point did anyone look remotely likely to make a pass (the problems of 'dirty air' in F1 were really beginning to make themselves felt). The onlooking Nigel Roebuck commented that it was like watching 'a high speed metronome'. Position therefore was dictated by the start and how much fuel you had on board, and come the end of lap one the result was pretty much pre-ordained aside from any unreliability. Coulthard won eventually, from Alesi and Frentzen.

But in the nick of time Villeneuve's season clicked into gear. He won the next two rounds and even better for him Schumacher scored just a single point in the same period. Firstly in Austria Jacques faced down 1997's latest amazing interloper performance, this time from Jarno Trulli in the Prost, who took the lead early on and took command of the race like he was born to do it. Villeneuve eventually usurped him (and Trulli dropped out before the end with a cruel engine failure), and Schumi could only manage sixth after incurring a penalty for passing Frentzen under yellows. Then in the curiously-titled Luxembourg Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in Germany Villeneuve won again, though helped by a massive slab of luck when the McLarens who had disappeared out ahead with Hakkinen first both stopped within a lap of each other with engine failures. Schumi, meanwhile, didn't last beyond lap two having been clouted by his flying brother Ralf at the first corner.

So, with two rounds left Villeneuve led Schumi by nine points, and with Ferrari beleaguered most assumed that the destination of the drivers' title was set. But we should have known better; a couple more twists awaited.

Everyone pitched up at Suzuka in Japan and found quickly that Ferrari hadn't given up on the title, as the team appeared with a revised machine, which seemed to stretch the wording of chassis flexing rules (some things never change). In any case, the red cars were bang on the pace and, moreover, Villeneuve then blasted a hole in his own foot in practice. In Imola and Monza earlier in the year Villeneuve had neglected to slow for yellow flags in practice sessions, and thus was on a suspended one-race ban (his final warning in other words). And in Suzuka he somehow contrived to do exactly the same again, thus the outcome was inevitable and Villeneuve it seemed couldn't count on any points from the Japanese round. Williams appealed the decision, primarily it seemed so Villeneuve could race pending appeal and thus influence the race however he could.

So it came to pass in the race that Villeneuve, having led from pole from Schumi in second, sought to back up the field hoping that with cars around Schumi anything could happen. But his plans were foiled, first by Eddie Irvine, a Suzuka specialist, who managed to sail past Villeneuve and disappear into the distance. Then Schumacher got ahead of Villeneuve at the first stops, and Irvine was given the 'phone call', letting Schumi past then slowing to 'back up' Villeneuve disastrously. Schumi won, Villeneuve only got fifth and he had to discount the points for it as Williams as expected withdrew his race ban appeal after the chequered flag.

Thus Schumi and Jacques went to the final round only a point apart, and with Schumi ahead. The showdown was at the curious location of Jerez in Spain (that Alonso-mania had yet to happen ensured a sparse crowd); Renault was about to pull out of the sport and thus requested a European round for its send-off and Jerez was a late replacement after Estoril in Portugal was deemed unsuitable on safety grounds. And in qualifying the tight, unbelievable 1997 season reached its crescendo. Villeneuve, Schumacher and Frentzen set exactly the same best qualifying time at the front, and thus their starting slots (in that order) were dictated by the order in which they set their mark.

Therefore Villeneuve and Schumi were perfectly poised, starting on the front row and the winner taking it all. And when Schumi got the much better start and quickly led by a few seconds many thought that would be that. Villeneuve however got back on Schumi's tail helped by Frentzen staying out longer before his first pit stop and backing Schumi into Villeneuve. But then the gap stretched out again when Norberto Fontana's Sauber took a while to get out of Villeneuve's way when being lapped (Sauber used Ferrari engines and Fontana later was to claim that Ferrari team principal Jean Todt had ordered him to impede Villeneuve). Thus, Schumi remained ahead after the final stops and it seemed little could stop him.

But then Villeneuve scampered quickly onto Schumacher's tail once again. And almost immediately he targeted his car for the inside of Schumacher at the Dry Sack hairpin, outbraking him from what seemed a mile back. It looked like he had him clean, but then Schumi it appeared simply aimed his car at Villeneuve on the way through, seemingly in a moment of panic. But the biter got bitten, and Schumi found himself beached in a gravel trap with Villeneuve, his car damaged, able to continue.

It wasn't clear why Villeneuve had got so close in the first place. Brawn said Schumi was simply taking it easy on new tyres so not to suffer blistering towards the end, and hadn't expected Villeneuve's attack to come so soon. Schumi's team mate Eddie Irvine typically was more blunt: 'Michael really screwed up because he got overconfident. He did his final pit stop, he thought "I'm there". So he backed off, partly also because he was scared of blistering his tyres, but he let Jacques get too close. If there is one driver you don't want to allow to get too close it's Jacques...That move also for me deserved the world championship. There is not another driver on the grid who would have come from that far back to make that move. Because one thing Jacques did have was big balls.' It emerged years later too that Schumi wouldn't have made it to the end anyway due to a terminal water leak, so may have been minded not to let Villeneuve finish either.

Whatever the case, Villeneuve now only needed to finish sixth to be world champion, and he struggled on with hobbled machinery to come third in the end, with Mika Hakkinen taking his first ever win in what looked an arranged outcome between Williams and McLaren.

As one journalist noted, the story was just like that of a spaghetti western - the guy who we all thought was the baddie had it fact shown himself at the last to be the good guy after all (and vice versa). And the move was doubly-bad for Schumacher as it shed new light on the clash with Damon Hill at Adelaide that had settled the title in his favour three years earlier. Many had given him the benefit of the doubt then but in light of the Jerez evidence did not any longer.

But the closing of the 1997 season meant the end of an era in many ways. For one, Williams, the sport's standard bearers for many a year, was never quite the same again. Adrian Newey had left the team before the season start to join McLaren after a spell of 'gardening leave', and its engine supplier Renault pulled out of the sport at the season end. Particularly due to the first part, Williams was never again the sport's dominant force: some wins followed, but no titles, nor even much of a threat of them, and indeed there was no wins at all for the team in the next three seasons. And for Villeneuve there was no more victories: he stayed at Williams for another year before making the disastrous career move of joining BAR, where his fortunes entered a downward spiral. Don't let anyone tell you that F1 is predictable.

And for 1998 things returned to as we'd got used to. Much of 1997's close order could be explained by relative rule stability, going back to the raft of technical changes which followed Ayrton Senna's death in 1994. In that situation teams behind can over time learn the lessons of what is making the front runners quick, and adapt accordingly, and of course the front runners' learning curves are shallower. But in 1998 there awaited fundamental changes forcing everyone back to base camp, with the introduction of a narrower track and grooved tyres (for reasons I've never fully understood). This succeeded only in splitting the field apart once more.

Thus 1997 stands rather alone in this era, something of an oasis in a desert if you will. It was a close, unpredictable and exciting season, and refreshing especially because such a high proportion of the field were credible competitors for strong results and even for wins. And it's credible competitors that make a sport healthy. The 1997 year was indeed a classic.

[Bcrowell]

Where can I watch a replay on the web? This is my first year watching and I have only been able to catch a handfull of races. I would love to go back and follow the past races.

[MIKA27]

  On 10/28/2012 at 2:05 PM, TroutKiller said:

Where can I watch a replay on the web? This is my first year watching and I have only been able to catch a handfull of races. I would love to go back and follow the past races.

There's not a great deal of options to watch replays in full. Youtube is pretty unpredictable and alot of the international sites do not support other external countries. BBCiPlayer would be good but not sure if it supports your country?

Additionally, you can always download these races in full as a Torrent however we all know that is illegal piracy and we do not condone that sort of behaviour...

[MIKA27]

VETTEL TAKES DOMINANT INDIAN GP VICTORY BUT ALONSO WON'T LET HIM GO:

Sebastian Vettel cruised to a dominant victory in the Indian Grand Prix to increase his lead in the World Championship ahead of Fernando Alonso, with Mark Webber in third.

The title is now a two horse race between Vettel and Alonso with three races to go.

In a fairly uneventful race, Vettel survived a late scare with a floor stay to take his fourth consecutive race victory and extend his Championship lead to 13 points over Alonso.

Vettel’s car began to produce sparks due to a loose skid block in the final dozen laps, giving Alonso some false hope, but the German managed to cope with the problem and even set his fastest lap on the final lap of the race.

Vettel lead every lap of the race, for the third race in succession – equalling a record of Ayrton Senna’s from the late 1980s. That stat tells you everything you need to know about the momentum Vettel and Red Bull enjoy, but Fernando Alonso limited the damage with a dogged drive to second place and says he is even more confident now of winning the world title. With three races to go the gap is just 13 points.

“I’m very pleased with today’s result,” said Vettel. “I pushed hard early on to open a gap. With hard tyres Ferrari and McLaren were very strong.

“I don’t know about (sparking like Hell), there were a lot of cars throwing sparks, there was nothing I was told was a problem or that I could feel.”

Up until lap 20 it had looked to be another one-two for Red Bull, but a KERS issue for Webber allowed Alonso to close up and pass the Australian, to minimise the points lost to the race winner. The two had been in a tight battle in the second phase of the Grand Prix and a resilient Webber had initially managed to put a gap between the two, but it was to be undone by the Ferrari’s much superior straight line speed in the extended DRS-zone.

“It was a fight all race through, because we could not lose more points, we are still convinced we can win this (win the title),” said Alonso. “Today is a Red Bull day again, but our day has to arrive in Brazil.

“Seb won four consecutively but before long this will finish and so when it does we must take the opportunity. We remain optimistic. Today was a KERS problem for Mark, the same can happen to Seb, so we must be ready. I remain 100 per cent confident that we will fight for this championship, and we will win it.”

Webber subsequently came under pressure from Lewis Hamilton, but the McLaren ran out of laps to make it on to the podium. McLaren’s rapid pit-stops reached new levels today when the crew were able to change all four tyres and the steering wheel for Hamilton in just 3.3 seconds.

Vettel has been unbeatable all weekend and he was never seriously troubled as he took his 26th career victory and provided an impressive stat; no other driver has led a lap in India in its two year history.

Prior to the race Red Bull knew that their start was key, even more so than normal, as the very long back straight could leave them susceptible to the McLaren’s and Ferrari’s when DRS was enabled. However, the Red Bull duo pulled away with ease during the first phase of the race.

Behind, both Jenson Button and Alonso managed to jump Hamilton in the first lap after they drove three abreast down the back straight and through the following two turns. But Alonso quickly took second place with the use of DRS on the fourth lap and Hamilton made the same move just two laps later. Button maintained fifth position for the remainder of the race, losing time to those ahead after being held up by a long running Romain Grosjean. Button went on to set the fastest lap of the race , even though he was the first of the leading cars to pit; seven laps before Vettel.

Vettel was able to make his first stint last very long on the option tyre and spent, giving himself the chance to look after his RB8 and cruise to the flag.

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen took sixth and seventh place respectively after a race long battle. Massa had shown good pace in the first phase of the race, hassling Button for fifth place but he could not sustain the pressure on the prime tyre. Raikkonen did get past the Ferrari; he pitted one lap earlier and passed him, only to be quickly overtaken again in the DRS-zone.

Nico Hulkenberg, Grosjean and Bruno Senna completed the top ten and each had a strong race. Senna, in particular, scored a much needed point as he showed the kind of pace that we saw in free practice, passing Nico Rosberg late in the race. He spent much of the race in a battle with team mate Pastor Maldonado, only for the Venezuelan to receive a puncture after being tagged by Kamui Kobayashi.

Maldonado was one of three drivers to receive a puncture during the Grand Prix, with Jean-Eric Vergne and Michael Schumacher also having punctures through similar incidents.

INDIAN GRAND PRIX, Buddh International Circuit, 60 laps

1. Vettel Red Bull 1h31:10.744

2. Alonso Ferrari + 9.437

3. Webber Red Bull + 13.217

4. Hamilton McLaren + 13.909

5. Button McLaren + 26.266

6. Massa Ferrari + 44.674

7. Raikkonen Lotus + 45.227

8. Hulkenberg Force India + 54.998

9. Grosjean Lotus + 56.103

10. Senna Williams + 1:14.975

11. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:21.694

12. Di Resta Force India + 1:22.815

13. Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 1:26.064

14. Kobayashi Sauber + 1:26.495

15. Vergne Toro Rosso + 1 lap

16. Maldonado Williams + 1 lap

17. Petrov Caterham + 1 lap

18. Kovalainen Caterham + 1 lap

19. Pic Marussia + 1 lap

20. Glock Marussia + 2 laps

21. Karthikeyan HRT + 2 laps

22. Schumacher Mercedes + 5 laps

[MIKA27]

F1 RULE MAKING SET TO CHANGE:

One of the outcomes of last Monday’s meeting in Paris between the FIA, Bernie Ecclestone and the F1 teams was that the structure by which the rules are made is set to change, with a new structure called the “F1 Strategy Group” set to play a pivotal role.

The new group, a separate entity from the F1 Commission, will comprise three bodies, each holding six seats; the commercial rights holder, the FIA and the teams.

Of these teams five will be permanent members and one will rotate. The five permanent members are Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Williams. The rotating seat will be occupied by the highest placed team in the previous year’s championship, so next year it would be Lotus, for example.

This F1 Strategy Group will decide on all future technical and sporting regulations. It will take advice from qualified engineers on technical matters, but will make the ultimate decisions, replacing the Technical and Sporting Working Groups.

Although Mercedes boss Ross Brawn said today that the Concorde Agreement is ready to sign, there is some disquiet among the teams who are disenfranchised by this new Strategy group, who have no say over the future rules in their sport.

There is concern, for example, that long term the group could decide to bring in customer cars, threatening the business model of the middle and lower ranking teams.

Sources suggest that Ferrari has given up its historic right of veto over rule changes, but does have the casting vote in the new F1 Strategy Group.

This could prove important if the Group were divided over an issue where there was disagreement between the FIA and the commercial rights holder, for example.

The discussions were aimed at moving forward to the signature of a new Concorde Agreement, starting in January,

“From the teams’ perspective there is nothing holding it up,” Brawn said on Thursday in India. “In the end there was general consensus on what we are doing. It was a fairly constructive meeting.

“It is between the commercial rights holder and the FIA – and that is where they have to sort out their detail and iron out any difficulties.”

Meanwhile the FIA is understood to be in line to receive a larger annual share of the revenues of the sport from the commercial rights holder and also to receive a higher entry fee from teams. Although figures of €500,000 basic entry plus €7,000 per point were mooted, it seems that the figure in dollars is closer to the final outcome.

*Bernie Ecclestone has said tonight that he will contest in court a claim from Bayern LB for £320 million for alleged loss of earnings related to the 2006 sale of F1 to CVC.

The sale has already led to Bayern LB’s chief risk officer Gerhard Gribkowsky being jailed for eight years for tax evasion, bribery and a breach of fiduciary duty, relating to a payment he received from Ecclestone, which the F1 boss says was a blackmail payment not a bribe.

“They have asked our lawyers in Germany if they could have $400m back. I didn’t respond. There’s no point is there? They will sue. If they win, they get paid. If they lose, it will cost them. That’s all,” said Ecclestone in the paddock in India.

“A massive percentage of these actions that take place, people settle. They don’t want the trouble. The very reason I gave Gribkowsky money was to stop the problem and aggravation which would have gone on for years.”

Following Gribkowsky’s conviction, prosecutors in Germany are still weighing up whether or not to pursue Ecclestone.

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F1 TEAMS USING OWN CAMERAS IN INGENIOUS WAYS:

If you watch free practice sessions on Fridays at Grands Prix, you could be forgiven for thinking that there are a lot of onboard cameras on the cars. And you’d be half right.

But they are not all TV cameras, placed there by Formula One Management. The teams are allowed special dispensation to place their own cameras on the cars during practice to show how their latest updates are working.

Most of the teams do it, but Red Bull have an infrared or thermographic camera, mounted on the right side of the engine cover, which can film the exhaust gas flow as it exits the exhausts and passes down into the diffuser, measuring and observing the Coanda effect.

It’s not obvious, it looks like a slightly more bulbous version of the standard FOM camera mounting, but it’s providing vital information on the way the highly sophisticated exhaust blows.

FOM rules prohibit the use of video cameras in the circuit from non-TV rights holders, but there is a dispensation for teams on Friday mornings so they can gather data.

Some teams use a simple GoPro, camera, like Mercedes did Friday, with a GoPro mounted on the left side of the rear wing endplate during FP1, pointing at the rear bodywork of the car.

It all goes to show the lengths that teams will go to to fine tune details of their innovations.

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Kimi pays heavy price

Kimi Raikkonen admits the decision to change his set-up for qualifying cost him dearly during the Indian Grand Prix.

The Finn was right in the Red Bull-McLaren mix during the final practice session on Saturday morning but he decided to change his set-up for qualifying.

It was a decision that backfired as he only managed to qualify in seventh place. The knock-on effect saw him stuck behind the Ferrari of Felipe Massa the whole race and he eventually finished P7.

"I had a very good car today but I just couldn't do anything with it as I was not able to pass on the straight," he said. It was quite disappointing but that's how it goes. We put ourselves in that position yesterday with the set-up we chose for qualifying and we paid the price today.

"We had the speed but not in the right place and when you are behind someone there's not much you can do. Hopefully in the next race we can be a bit more smart and use our race speed to take some more Championship points."