Formula 1 2013 drivers & teams

 Red Bull (headquarters in  )

 1. Sebastian Vettel   2. Mark Webber 

 Ferrari 

 3. Fernando Alonso   4. Felipe Massa

 McLaren Mercedes 

 5. Jenson Button   6. Sergio Pérez 

 Lotus Renault 

 7. Kimi Raikkonen   8. Romain Grosjean 

 Mercedes (headquarters in  ) 

 9. Nico Rosberg   10. Lewis Hamilton 

 Sauber Ferrari

 11. Nico Hulkenberg    12. Esteban Gutiérrez

 Sahara Force India (headquarters in  )

 14. Paul Di Resta   15. Adrian Sutil

 Williams

 16. Pastor Maldonado   17.Valtteri Bottas

 Toro Rosso Ferrari
 18. Jean-Eric Vergne   19. Daniel Ricciardo

  Caterham
 20. Charles Pic   21. Giedo van der Garde

 Marussia (headquarters in  )

 22. Jules Bianchi   23. Max Chilton

car numbers, some details and statistics. 5 rookies

Red Bull 

1. Sebastian Vettel (born 3-7-1987 Heppenheim, Germany) 101 GP, debut: Usa 2007 

2. Mark Webber (27-8-76 Queanbeyan, Australia) 196 GP, Australia 2002 

Ferrari 

3. Fernando Alonso (29-7-81 Oviedo, Spain) 197 GP, Australia 2001

4. Felipe Massa (25-4-81 Sao Paulo, Brazil) 172 GP, Australia 2002

McLaren Mercedes

5. Jenson Button (19-1-80 Frome, England, UK) 228 GP, Australia 2000 

6. Sergio Perez (26-1-90 Guadalajara, Mexico) 37 GP, Australia 2011

Lotus

7. Kimi Raikkonen (17-10-79 Espoo, Finland) 176 GP, Australia 2001

8. Romain Grosjean (17-4-86 Geneve, Switzerland, french passport) 26 GP, Europe 2009

Mercedes

9. Nico Rosberg (27-6-85 Wiesbaden, Germany) 128 GP, Bahrain 2006

10. Lewis Hamilton (7-1-85 Stevenage, England, UK) 110 GP, Australia 2007 

Sauber

11. Nico Hulkenberg (19-8-87 Emmerich, Germany) 39 GP, Bahrain 2010

12. Esteban Gutierrez (5-8-91 Monterrey, Mexico) 0 GP (debut Australia 2013)

Force India

14. Paul Di Resta (16-4-86 Uphall, Scotland, UK) 39 GP, Australia 2011

15. Adrian Sutil (11-1-83 Starnberg, Germany) 90 GP, Australia 2007

Williams

16. Pastor Maldonado (9-3-85 Maracay, Venezuela) 39 GP, Australia 2011

17. Valtteri Bottas (28-8-89 Nastola, Finland) 0 GP (debut Australia 2013)

Toro Rosso

18. Jean-Eric Vergne (25-4-90 Pontoise, France) 20 GP, Australia 2012

19. Daniel Ricciardo (1-7-89 Perth, Australia) 31 GP, Great Britain 2011

Caterham

20. Charles Pic (15-2-90 Montelimar, France) 20 GP, Australia 2012

21. Giedo van der Garde (25-4-85 Rhenen, Holland) 0 GP (debut Australia 2013)

Marussia

22. Jules Bianchi (3-8-89 Nice, France) 0 GP (debut Australia 2013)

23. Max Chilton (21-4-91 Reigate, England, UK) 0 GP (debut Australia 2013)

McLaren Milan store

MILAN - Again the shop (concessionario Milano). Now red, McLaren mp4-12c. No rain above us :) ...let's see if it's a good sign

Formula 1 2012 tops & flops

WORLD - Better to forget some GP :) 

the highlights, best and worst moments of the F1 season.

highs 

1) Alonso
definitely the best driver this year (on a car, Ferrari, that was never the fastest during the season), also the moral winner of the championship. Great races recovering positions, the best race the Europe GP in Valencia, from the 11th.
He retired in Spa and Suzuka, neither of which were his fault (Grosjean and Raikkonen) and those costed him the title.

2) Schumacher
pole position in Monaco, but a penalty (from the previous race) meant he started from the third row. It won't count in the record books, but for one minute and 14.301 glorious seconds, a 43-year-old man was the fastest driver in F1. And on the toughest, most demanding circuit on the calendar, Montecarlo.
It was a high point in a season of lows, but for one scintillating lap Schumacher showed us a flash of the brilliance that took him to 7 world championships.
He retired (until the next time).

3) the McLaren day (1 May) in Budapest, Hungary, with that beautiful woman... (see post).
the Eni models @ Hungaroring.
The Hungarian girls.

4) Maryna Linchuk and the swimming pool with the girls for the Red Bull party in Valencia (Europe GP). The only thing we like about Red Bull.

5) the Shell hostesses @ Spa-Francorchamps.

6) the American girls in Austin, Texas, wearing boots.

7) the East European girlfriend of Alonso. One for me please, thank you.

8) after the storm in Malaysia, me telling Natalie Pinkham: "loved to hear your sighs and see you wet". Lol.

9) Every year, this year even more, the 90the anniversary. Monza. It's Monza, baby. Me losing my pass and a driver taking me inside the paddock. All the people saying hello, 'cause they thought I'm a driver.

10) Raikkonen 

at Interlagos in Brazil, he slid off the track then tried to rejoin by heading up a service road, only to be confronted by a locked gate he thought would be open.
And the "Leave me alone. I know what I'm doing" told the team @ Abu Dhabi.
Hilarious.

-) a mention for the world record as fastest pit stop by McLaren (2"31 in Germany), but our season was quite disappoiting, with poor pit stops and reliability of the car. It started great, with a double in Australia and then other podiums, so we thought we could even easily win the championships, an illusion.
Better the new cartoons Tooned.

lows

1) Grosjean
the Frenchman suffered a destructive rush of blood to the head during the first lap of races as he tried to make up places by barging others out of the way. He surpassed himself at Spa, Belgium (biggest crash), where he clattered Hamilton’s McLaren, took out title leader Alonso and nearly took off the Spaniard’s head as his Lotus vaulted the Ferrari’s cockpit, a very bad accident. Grosjean was given a one race ban (Italy, Monza), but that didn’t calm his rivals’ nerves whenever he was in the immediate vicinity (and they also tried to stay away from him, see in Korea). It's the Spaniard who paid the biggest penalty, it cost him the championship.

2) Hamilton
After a terrible 2011, some good wins (as Button), but now it was time we don't like him anymore.
The $93 million. And freedom in enhancing his earnings through personal sponsorship. After weeks of rumours, the transfer from McLaren to Mercedes was announced.McLaren's sponsors-promotions are a too hard work eh...

Twitter gate.
The wonderful thing about Twitter is that it gives stars a chance to reveal more of their personality to fans in a direct way.
The terrible thing about Twitter is that it gives stars a chance to reveal more of their personality to fans in a direct way.
Lewis Hamilton has made a tool of himself on several occasions with several missives he probably shouldn't have pressed the 'tweet' button on.
First the 'confidential data' tweet at Spa, then the 'I can't believe Jenson unfollowed me' tweet, followed soon by the 'oh it's okay, he never did follow me' tweet (and not showing a great respect for Button), plus a couple of others over the year.
It's surprising McLaren sponsor Vodafone didn't come up with some way of leveraging this...
Oh, from 2014, Vodafone leaves McLaren.

3) Vettel
I don't want to say he's a bad driver 'cause he isn't, but there are two feelings about him. That he drives the best car (often sounding like an irregular car) and that sometimes he's not punished (for example when he changes his line (direction) more than one time, to keep the rivals behind).
He was punished at Hockenheim, Germany, when he overtook Button out of the track. And in Abu Dhabi, when he didn't have enough fuel (the same for Hamilton in Barcelona).

3) Maldonado
he said he can drive as no one else in Monaco... Result: out at the start.
He caused some accidents, in Valencia he hit Hamilton, who had to retire.
Similar to Grosjean. Not a compliment.

4) the fat models and women @ Monaco GP (see the post). The ugly ones in India.

5) Mazzoni che pensa che PSY del Gangnam Style sia il primo ministro sudcoreano. E una marea di altre boiate. Credevamo di liberarcene col 2013, ma ci piace troppo...

6) Kobayashi
they talk about his 3rd place in Japan, but we remember more the mechanicas he crashed into, at a pit stop (he had to pay). It looked like bowling. He was looking for money on the internet to race in 2013... He's not racing.

-) last year it was Kubica, now a mention for Marussia's test driver Maria de Villota, who lost an eye in a crash.

more to add soon

Jerez F1 tests

JEREZ - video, new McLaren 2013. Music: call me number 5 by Paul Weller from Woking as McLaren.
feat. barbecues, lol

new McLaren 2013

WOKING - Very nice presentation with old cars, for McLaren's 50th anniversary. 

highlights video

new McLaren 2013 presentation

WOKING - Exclusive preview :). Yesterday the team announced McLaren is to unveil its 2013 car on January 31, the first one doing it. You can join the event here. 

The Mercedes-powered MP4-28, which will be driven by Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, will be launched at a currently unspecified location in the United Kingdom.

Vettel to be punished

INTERLAGOS - What a perfect end of season: thieves are thieves. Vettel overtaking with yellow flags @ Brazil GP.
We are no Ferrari fans but Italy is Italy and in Formula 1 there's no real hate. We're impartial, Alonso is a great driver and deserves to be world champion. Rules are rules for everybody, Red Bull often don't respect them...
Vettel is successful thanks to Newey and loose Formula 1 rules... This year they already didn't punish him in some occasion (engines @ Hockenheim, Suzuka qualifying, changing line more than one time with Schumacher, etc.)
If he's not getting the penalty, Formula 1 is a joke.

USA GP, Red Bull champions of bluff

AUSTIN - Texas race. Right one: favourite gridgirl :).
Red Bull is always irregular and even a dog would be able to drive it. Period.
At least this time we didn't hear Vettel's ridiculous screaming.
He's successful thanks to Newey and loose Formula 1 rules...
the brand of a drink winning championships is the mirror of our society... posterity will laugh at us.
"Bernie says" (Ecclestone): soon 3 USA GPs, one in California too.

video: see previous post

GUFI RAI, FINITA LA PACCHIA

Commentatori Rai assurdi come al solito.
Secondo Mazzoni, da 12° (posizione di partenza di Button) a 14° sono 6 posizioni perse. Gli risponde Jenson con una gran gara in rimonta fino a 5°.
Capelli legge il pensiero di Hamilton. (sbagliato, ovvio). Si lancia in supposizioni su cosa vorrebbe Lewis... che Vettel trovi difficoltà in un doppiaggio, e secondo Capelli poi se le ritrova Hamilton. Ri-sbagliato, perchè Lewis guadagna.
Questi sono sempre anti-McLaren. Vettel ha Hamilton nel culo e "quasi si fa avvicinare"...
Il rincoglionito manco s'era accorto che Massa su Raikkonen era il replay.
Cosa vanno sul posto a fare se non per vacanze pagate. Lo commenta meglio il mio pesce rosso (muto).
Se non altro, stavolta non abbiamo sentito gli urletti del cazzo di Vettel, ridicolo. Macchina sempre irregolare che anche un cane saprebbe guidare.
Gufi maledetti, finita la pacchia.

Abu Dhabi GP

ABU DHABI - I wonder how one can be enthusiastic for overtaking a car, in this era of DRS (and KERS), also driving a superior car as Red Bull, always irregular. I'm referring to Vettel on Button.

The usual idiot Grosjean hit Perez from behind, and Perez got a penalty...
They say McLaren is having many problems on purpose so to get Hamilton used to Mercedes next year, lol.

more to add soon

Un'occhiata alla Rai dopo tanto tempo: "il campione del mondo Lewis Hamilton partirà dalla pitlane"... mah.
chiaro Vettel: "damaged front wing", la Rai "non coglie"... (verbo a loro appropriato...)
qui Mazzoni ci cova… (sempre stato anti-Hamilton, ora anti-Perez, colpito da dietro dal solito Grosjean) …oggi in pessima forma, pure Ettore ha preso la mazzonite.
La “macchina col muso giallo” sta “perdendo posizioni sul computer” …no... (si sarà forse fermata ai box? no).
Difficile entusiasmarsi per un sorpasso in epoca di DRS (e KERS), pure guidando una macchina (sempre irregolare) superiore alle altre... (mi riferisco a Vettel su Button).
simpatici pure alla Ferrari... ("Button si è addormentato" in diretta mondiale... loro invece hanno un addormentato perenne, Massa... ennesima manovra da disgraziato, testacoda in mezzo alla pista per raddrizarsi, in mezzo al fumo delle gomme senza poter vedere macchine che sfrecciavano).
Alla Rai si stanno preparando a gufare McLaren 2013, ma PURTROPPO non ci saranno... ci mancheranno.

Halloween

happy Halloween!

McLaren store, Milan

MILAN - concessionario McLaren...Milan, England. 

holy place... it's like visiting a church for a prayer to help Jenson :) 

(Button was here at the launch)
The Formula 1 car was of Ayrton Senna

blind Grosjean

MOKPO - Here's a recent photo of the Lotus french driver Grosjean, a disaster, after all the acccident he caused. This time it was kamikaze Kobayashi hitting Button, retired. 

this was the start of the Korean GP, there's a driver alone... the cars stayed away from him ahahaha
At a certain point, Grosjean suddenly went off track, almost hitting the wall... he's got some problem.
Similar crap drivers during the season were Maldonado, Bruno Senna and Raikkonen

McLaren Tooned cartoons

WOKING - McLaren Animation's first production - 'Tooned' - is a new CGI-animated series that has been targeted to generate new levels of audience engagement and brand loyalty. It features McLaren's two Formula 1 World Champions, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, who voiced their own characters, as well as the acclaimed British actor and comedian Alexander Armstrong. 

episodes 1, 2, 3 

1) Wheel Nuts 

2) Slicks 

3) Track To The Future 

4) Beyond The Limit 

5) Lift Story 

6) Gone With The Wind 

7) The Rising Son
8) Lecture Circuit
9) Strictly Bollywood
10) Photo Finnish

childish Hamilton tweets

MOKPO - Lewis Hamilton on Twitter (after the tweeting incident with McLaren's telemetry), once again making a fool of himself... grow up, little kid. 

A taxi for Lewis! time to go...

Perez new McLaren driver, bye bye Hamilton

WOKING - Breaking news: I knew... as announced weeks ago: bye bye Lewis... (he chose Mercedes, he's too interested in money only).
"Speedy Gonzalez" Perez new McLaren driver (quite unexpected, thought he was going to race for Ferrari...)
Too many mistakes by Hamilton, especially last year with slow Massa, and blaming the team when it was his fault, and recently the Twitter-gate...

will be an excuse to eat Mexican food ;)

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is delighted to announce that it has signed 22-year-old Mexican Sergio Perez to a multi-year deal from the start of the 2013 season.

In just two short years, Sergio has made a stunning impression on Formula 1, taking a string of hugely impressive giant-killing podium finishes while combining a deft turn of speed with considerable maturity, and showcasing the potential ability to become one of the biggest stars in global motorsport.

Sergio’s new deal means that he will begin a driving partnership with 2009 world champion Jenson Button. The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team’s new driver line-up offers the perfect blend of youth and experience – a combination from which both sides of the garage will be set to benefit.

While Sergio’s career with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes will begin in earnest in Melbourne next year, his future team remains absolutely committed to fighting for, and providing every opportunity to both Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to contest, the 2012 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships.

Sergio Perez said:

“I’m thrilled and delighted to have become a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver. The McLaren name is one of the greatest in the history of Formula 1. For more than 40 years McLaren has been a team that every racing driver has aspired to drive for – I was brought up on the great stories of Ayrton Senna's many world championship triumphs for McLaren – and I'm truly honoured that they've chosen me to partner Jenson from 2013 onwards.

“I've spent the 2012 season working very hard to demonstrate my potential, but I've always remained humble and focused. I am, and always will be, extremely grateful to Peter [Sauber] and everybody at the Sauber Formula 1 team for their belief in me, and for giving me the chance to race in Formula 1.

“In fact, they gave me the perfect opportunity to demonstrate what I can do – and I'm now equally grateful to Martin [Whitmarsh] and everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for giving me the chance to take this next very big step in my career.

“I'm under no illusion that it is indeed a very big step – as it would be for any driver – but I'm ready for it. So, while I'm still fully focused on doing my best for Sauber for the remainder of this season, I'm already massively looking forward to working with everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, and with Jenson, who's someone I’ve long admired as a brilliant driver and a great champion.

“I'd like to thank Carlos Slim Jr, who has helped me since I was 14 years old, without whom I wouldn't be where I am today. Our journey together over the past eight years has been an incredible one, and I'll do everything in my power to deliver with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes the results that he and I have been working so hard and so long to achieve together.

“As I say, I've worked very hard to get to this stage in my career, and I'm now massively looking forward to this next even more exciting stage. It's fantastic that all the sacrifices I've made are now paying off. For example, I remember very clearly the first day I left my family, when I was 15, to live in Germany to race in Formula BMW. It was tough for me - I was sleeping in a restaurant at that time - but the dream of one day becoming a Formula 1 driver kept me going through those difficult days.

“Finally, I'd like to thank my beloved family, who've encouraged me at every turn, and last but far from least the people of Mexico, my home country, whose magnificent support I'll do my very best to reward with future successes with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.”

Martin Whitmarsh (Team Principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) said:

“On behalf of everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, I’m delighted to welcome Sergio on board. His performances throughout 2012 have convinced us that he's an extremely exciting prospect for the future.

“It was a string of giant-killing performances, a trio of podiums and a brilliant fastest lap in this year’s Monaco Grand Prix that showed us that Sergio lacks nothing in terms of speed and commitment. We've been monitoring his progress carefully for some months - and, now that he's become part of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, our task will be to refine and develop his abilities as his career progresses over the coming years.

“Uniting Sergio alongside Jenson will give us a very broad base of driver ability. Jenson is one of motorsport’s greatest ambassadors, and his unique blend of prodigious speed and canny race-craft makes him formidably well-armed to fight for victory on any grand prix circuit in the world. While Sergio is still developing his palette of skills, we're convinced that he's not only talented and quick, but also that he's willing and eager to learn.

“He's perfectly poised to develop into a world championship challenger. His addition to the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team provides us with the perfect two-pronged driver line-up for the new season.

“Finally, it's entirely appropriate that I should take this opportunity to pass on our thanks to Lewis [Hamilton]. He wrote a huge chapter of his life and career with us, and was, and always will be, a fine member of an exclusive club: the McLaren world champions' club.

“It goes without saying that we all wish him well for the future, just as it also goes without saying that we hope and believe that Sergio, too, will become a member of that exclusive club before too long."