Guess who's back?!

Like you didn't know already. Yep, that's right Iceman himself is back in Formula 1!

Kimi Raikkonen is back in 2012, he'll be racing in the newly named  Lotus (Renault) team.

Kimi in his new 'get up' i bet he'd like some ice-cream and coke to celebrate?

Click here to watch Kimi's first interview about why he signed for Lotus Renault. 

The question now is, who will be his team mate? 
No one really knows if Robert Kubica will be be fit enough to race next year and as far as i'm aware he's yet to test an F1 car but it's always going to be a possibility until LRGP make a decision on who they are going to pair with Kimi.
The options? Well now there's a choice! The most obvious being Vitaly Petrov, who did sign a contract with the team covering his 2012 race seat, however in true F1 style they can always let him go for a better offer.  
The better offer? Bruno Senna is on the list after proving himself in the latter half of this season, replacing Nick Heidfeld, has he done enough but more importantly has he got more sponsors and money than Vitaly has?! 
Other choices for the team to consider is Romain Grosjean, GP2 and GP2 Asia series 2011 champion, who is reserve driver for the team and ready to prove he's got what it takes for his second stint in Formula 1 after a fairly dismal effort in 2009. 
Of course they could always spring a surprise on everyone and sign one of the many talented young guns but the likely hood of that is very small.

Recent signings:

On Sunday, after a few weeks of speculation, Marussia Virgin Racing confirmed they had signed GP2 driver Charles Pic, letting go of Jerome D'Ambrosio.
Jerome coming into the season as a rookie for MVR, a young team that stays mostly at the back of the grid, showed the world his talent and his competitiveness against experienced team mate Timo Glock. 
I hope we get to see more of him in the future and that he get's snapped up for a seat because i think he has, like most of the younger generation drivers, a lot of talent that needs to be showcased.

It was also announced last week that experienced driver Pedro de la Rosa will drive for HRT next year for yet another return to Formula 1 for the 40 year old whose first race was in 1999 for Arrows.

Future signings:

There's a limited number of race seats that are currently be negotiated, this is where it get's a bit confusing.
Although Team Lotus (Caterham) signed a deal with Jarno Trulli, it has come to light that that may not have included racing, so there's a possibility that Red Bull young driver, Daniel Ricciardo could move out from his HRT seat to the newly named Caterham due to the Red Bull Racing KERS deal with the young team for next season, it's already known that staying at the team is Heikki Kovalainen.
This would mean there's a seat at HRT or the Spanish National Team, where they look set to make it a full Spanish team which means they could sign GP2 racer Dani Clos.

So, apart from Lotus (Caterham) and HRT, there's still Williams and Force India to decide on their driver line up for 2012. 
In Williams rookie Pastor Maldonado was classed as the 'money bag' for the team, he didn't have the greatest season with the team, in fact Williams had their worst season to date.
Rubens Barichello would like to retain his seat with Williams and make it his 20th season in Formula 1.
As much as i want to see younger drivers with fresh talent making it onto the grid, i'm with every other fan and would love to see Rubens race for a 20th season! 
Over at Force India there's two seats that could possibly be up for grabs, although rookie Paul di Resta did a brilliant job this season, it would be stupid to see the team give him up. Adrian Sutil, who had a very impressive drive at the weekend in Brazil is in doubt as to whether he'll still be at the team in 2012, he's had links to Williams in recent weeks. Force India have a tough decision as reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg is also fighting for a seat with the team, he's got talent we saw that last year when he at Williams so it's down to the team who offers the best bet.


Toro Rosso is also up in air however they are most likely to either keep Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi, or replace one of them with either Formula Renault 3.5 runner up Jean Eric Vergne or Daniel Ricciardo. 
Both Jaime and Sebastien have had an all mighty inter-team battle to prove they have the talent to stay with the team for next season, they've pushed themselves and each other hard and in my own opinion i'd like to see them both stay at the team and continuing helping improve the team as a whole.

As far as i'm aware teams like Sauber who haven't officially confirmed but are set to keep their drivers.

And that's it, all the other seats have been snapped up by the same drivers as this season!

Brazil low down...

Sao Paulo; a place of history, a place where everyone feels that little bit closer to the legendary racer Ayrton Senna, a place where dreams become reality, championships are decided, tears are shed and excitement is felt.

The last Grand Prix of the season has been and gone.

Although the championship was ultimately over in Japan, there were battles still to be fought for constructor’s points.

Sunday morning’s main focus was on whether it was going to rain, at what time and deciding what setup and strategy was going to work best for the race.

The race started in the warm Brazilian sunshine, everyone started on the quicker soft tyres and the race was go!

Lap 1, both Ferrari’s got off to a good start along with Vettel who started like he has started every race this season - instant pace, something he’s perfected.

Home racer Rubens Barichello had a very poor start falling from 10^th to 19^th, a sad sight for fans to see as it’s in doubt as to whether he has a race seat next year or not.

All 24 cars managed to get to Lap 9 with no need of a safety car all race, it was Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna that had a racing incident on Lap 10 causing Schumacher to pit after a puncture for another lot of soft tyres.

Fernando Alonso pulled out another almighty over take on Lap 11 - when he overtakes he does it in impressive style, meanwhile Sebastian Vettel is made aware of a gearbox problem over his team radio and Bruno Senna get’s given a driving through for his incident earlier, not the sight any of the Brazilian fans wanted to see.

After several messages over the radio to Vettel about his “serious” gear box problem, on Lap 30 his team mate Mark Webber takes 1^st place, where he stayed for the rest of the race to claim his first (and what will be the last) win of the season for the Red Bull team.

With gear box issues being a reoccurring feature during the length of the race, eventually Lewis Hamilton’s gave up the ghost and he retired on Lap 48, joining retirees Timo Glock on Lap 21 due to a failed pit stop and unsafe release, with the team later being fined, and Pastor Maldonado who unfortunately summed up his season by crashing into the barrier on Lap 26. Tonio Liuzzi was the last retirement on Lap 61.

Force India driver Adrian Sutil had a belter of a race, making impressive over takes past Nico Rosberg for the 6^th place battle, while team mate Paul di Resta finished best of the rookies in 8^th.

The ultimate pass from Jenson Button on Lap 62 saw him take 2^nd from Fernando Alonso, where they both remained for the rest of the race. As the GP came to an end, Mark Webber was on the podium in 1^st - a well-deserved win by the Australian, joining him was Sebastian Vettel in 2^nd and Jenson in 3^rd. 

FASTEST LAP : Mark Webber: 1:15.324

Results: 

The podium:

Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button (from @redbullracing) 

Apart fron the Ayrton Senna tribute helmets, Sebastian Vettel's was my favourite helmet of the weekend,  "Cheers Maz" you mysterious RBR employee!

And a last thanks to the class of 2011 for giving us a great season of racing... (including Nick Heidfeld, Karun Chandhok and the other reserves) along with all the teams and everyone who works in F1!

The curtains have no been drawn and focus turns to 2012. 

If, like me, you can't wait till March for you F1 fix, then Red Bull are hosting a 'Red Bull home run' event in Milton Keynes on December 10th. Welcoming home Kinky Kylie after her last ever race, oh and Sebastian, Mark, DC and all the team will be there too! 

As the sun set's the cars come out

In the hazy Abu Dhabi sunset the engines began to roar up and the nervous wait for the five red lights began. 

It started with a shocker on Lap 1 as Sebastian Vettel suffered a puncture coming out of Turn 1 as Lewis Hamilton then lead the way Vettel looked on as the pack drove away. His race was over before it really began, very different from last year’s celebration scenes and his first retirement since Korea 2010.

From then on the battle for 1^st was between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, while Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button suffered KERS problems throughout the race, making way for Mark Webber to battle with the 2009 champion for 3^rd position.

Lap 18, Jerome D’Ambrosio was the second driver to retire the pits because of a mechanical failure, shortly followed by Sebastien Buemi on Lap 19 due to hydraulic problems.

McLaren continued to be on top form with pit stops compared to Red Bull and a bad stop for Webber cost him the fight for the front.

Lap 33 and Williams rookie Pastor Maldonado served a drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags and was under investigation again after ignoring them for a second time.

Lap 48 and Daniel Ricciardo was the last of the retirements while Heikki Kovalainen takes over a second out of Renault driver Bruno Senna’s time, who ended the race in 16^th - not the results the team are looking for.

Webber pitted at the last opportunity possible for Hard compound tyres and took 4^th place ahead of Felipe Massa while the podium saw Fernando Alonso in a McLaren sandwich - 1^st place went to Lewis Hamilton, 2^nd Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button 3^rd.

 Fastest Lap: Mark Webber: 1: 42.612

Lewis Hamilton crosses the finish line.

The podium (L-R) Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button.

The cars under the flood lit lights and Abu Dhabi sunset. 

Last but not least, Jenson and his Movember making it's F1 appearance...

See you for the last race of the season at a track that holds so many great, exciting memories - Interlagos, Brazil!!

(Side Note: Sorry for the lack of updates and briefness of this post, have been ill and no focus to write blog posts)

Emotional farewell

I'll start by saying what i am about to write will do today's and indeed this weekends MotoGP only a fraction of justice, and it might be a little lengthy.

Everyone entered the Valencia paddock this weekend with a heavy heart, a hole in the family. Marco Simoncelli had a big personality, a feisty riding style but most of all he touched everyone in the MotoGP community. Whether you support a particular rider or not MotoGP riders deserve respect, it's dangerous, they push the limits, they risk their lives but as most of the riders said 'we wouldn't live without it'. 

If there was one thing Super Sic would have wanted it would be to continue racing and that's exactly what they did. 

The Honda Gresini team set up Marco's box with his bike and helmet one last time.

In tribute to Sic, his father Paolo Simoncelli suggested earlier in the week that instead of a minutes silence that there should be a minutes noise of revving engines as that's what Marco would have liked. 

After warm up's had finished 125's, Moto2 and the MotoGP bikes took a tribute lap around the circuit all following the 58 bike which good friend and '93 champion Kevin Schwantz was riding. 

Kevin Schwatz lining up after the tribute lap.

Following the lap the MotoGP bikes lined up behind Marco Simoncelli's bike along with the 125's and Moto2's staying on their bikes behind. The MotoGP riders all lined up facing the 58 with two minutes of firecrackers being let off.

A beautiful moment for everyone involved and if you missed it you can watch it on motogp.com

125's

In the last ever 125 race it was the only title decider race of the day which was resolved early on when Johann Zarco of France crashed out the race in tricky, drizzly conditions on Lap 3, handing the 125 title over to rival Nico Terol.

Terol took the race fairly easy from there until gaining places with a battle between fellow Spaniards Marverick Vinales and Hector Faubel. 

The young rookie Vinales scored his fourth win of his debut season with Terol in second and Faubel in 3rd.

Congratulations Nico Terol!

Moto2

After suffering a high impact crash last time out in Sepang, Marc Marquez was deemed unfit to race after suffering double vision, and unless short of a miracle wasn't going to race. 

Inevitably this meant that the Moto2 crown was handed over to Stefan Bradl which he won during qualifying when Marquez was officially unable to put in a fast lap to qualify for the race. 

With unpredictable and wet conditions the qualifying was wrapped up in the first 15 minutes or so and Stefan Bradl began celebrating with his team and congratulating Marc Marquez and his team on a great championship battle, although we would have all loved to have seen the last battle. 

Qualifying on pole was Michele Pirro and second was Gresini team mate Yuki Takahashi - a fitting tribute for the team in memory of Marco.

The race started under doubtful conditions with patches of rain making a lot of riders crash out, including  most of the brits. 

Those who went down including freshly crowned champion Stefan Bradl, shorty after Yuki Takahashi also crashed out, a sight nobody wanted to see, he's ok but under observation in Hospital. 

Meanwhile at the front Pirro lead his Gresini bike to his first victory, followed by Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) 

Not the usual's we see on the podium but a deserved win for Pirro and the team, for Marco. 

The Moto2 Gresini bike with "Race You Life" tribute to Marco.

 Pirro pointing to Marco in the sky - this one's for you.

The Moto2 new World Champion on the podium with his own tribute to Super Sic. 

MotoGP

A very tough weekend for all the riders, Jorge Lorenzo (who did attend the race) and Colin Edwards (resting at home in Texas after the Sepang crash where he was heavily injured) were unable to race.

The race started with a Turn 1 crash where Bautista went down and 'skittled' Randy De Puniet, Nick Hayden and Valentino Rossi and himself into the gravel trap. 

A disappointing result for Rossi who was a close friend to Simoncelli and i imagine would have loved to tribute him by pushing for his first podium of the season. 

It wasn't to be and Casey Stoner rode of into the distance leaving Dovi, Pedrosa and Spies to battle it out for 2nd. 

Battling right through till the last laps when rain started and Pedrosa backed right off, Stoner going wide, leaving Spies to bring back top spot. It looked like he was going to cross the line in first when Stoner (running in 2nd) gained speed and good a good exit on to the finish straight and took first from Spies with half a wheels length between them. 

Behind Spies was Dovizioso and on the last lap rookie of the year Cal Crutchlow took 4th from Pedrosa, the best result for the Brit all season. 

How close it was between Ben Spies and Casey Stoner.

The rookie battle - Karel Abraham and Cal Crutchlow 

 The podium - Ben Spies, Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso

This weekend was the last MotoGP weekend for Honda Gresini rider Hiroshi Aoyama  and MotoGP legend Loris Capirossi

 Good luck in World Superbikes Hiro, it ended on the hardest weekend for MotoGP and the Honda Gresini team but everyone wishes you well in you next bike adventure!

And a very happy retirement for Loris! Grazie for the memories, 22 seasons of MotoGP and i'm not sure it's going to be quite the same without you on the grid, you're a legend on an off the track. Spend time with your family and enjoy but don't forget to pop back to say hi!!

Finally a final farewell to Marco Simoncelli, i hope you enjoyed this weekend after all it was all about you, we'll miss you so so much and you will never be forgotten.

Ride in Paradise Super Sic #58

Ciao Marco

"Incredible India"

I haven't been able to write about the Grand Prix but a little low down...
There was lot's of these moments...

Not forgetting the 'bring your handbags to work day'

Sorry for the GIF heavy post but these three sum up the race. 

Of course it wouldn't have been a Vettel win if we hadn't seen at least one of these...

However the weekend was over-shadowed and India fell silent for a minute to remember Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli.

One last note, All the grid wore 58's and DW stickers along with other tribute's but this has to be my favourite helmet of the weekend: Jarno Trulli's Marco Simoncelli 58 

See you in the Emirates for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.