Is it time that F1 moved on?

There is only two Grand Prix on the Formula 1 calendar that have taken place each year, yet even these two Grand Prix, the British and Italian Grand Prix, haven't been raced on the same track each Grand Prix. For example, in 1980, the Italian Grand Prix was held at Imola instead of Monza, and the British Grand Prix has been to Silverstone, Aintree and Brands Hatch. 

A lot of changes have taken place in the life of Formula 1, from the 7 Grand Prix that were held in 1950, Formula 1's first season, to the 20 Grand Prix we saw in 2012. With new tracks popping up everywhere, some tracks will have to give way.

Now if I were Mr. Ecclestone, I would be pushing like crazy to keep races like the British, Italian

With new races popping up all over the world, some Grand
Prix will have to give way, but which ones?

and Belgian Grand Prix, instead of Monaco, Korean and Singapore Grand Prix, even if I wouldn't be making as much money. Since when was Formula 1 about making money instead of racing fast cars? It's just not right. 

Some people might be surprised by the fact I want the Monaco Grand Prix off the calendar, and no it's not because Ferrari haven't won it since 2001, it's just simply not a good track. I'll admit that it shows the courage and bravery of the drivers by seeing them so close to the barriers but why should F1 bother going to a track where the drivers can't show how good they are at overtaking? What we got was one driver bombing down the inside and praying that the other driver didn't turn in on them, yup, I'm on about Pérez.

So basically, if I was Bernie Ecclestone making a quick calendar for 2014 I'd have it look something like this.

1. Melbourne, Australia.
2. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
3. Catalunya, Spain.
4. Monza, Italy.
5. Silverstone, Britain.
6. Hockenheim, Germany.
7. Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.
8. Montréal, Canada.
9. Austin, USA.
10. São Paulo, Brazil.
11. Sochi, Russia.
12. Suzuka, Japan.

If all goes to plan, we could see a Grand Prix in South Wales
in a few years.

Okay, so this is considerably short calendar, but to help fill it out, I would attempt to bring back the likes of the French Grand Prix, or try to get F1 to explode in unexplored lands, such as the Welsh Grand Prix (it could happen in a few years, honest!), or perhaps jet off to countries like Finland (could you imagine a Formula 1 race in the snow?), Venezuela, Mexico, and the Netherlands to give the rest of the F1 grid a home Grand Prix.

Of course, due to the way the world works, my calendar would look a lot different. 

I think it's pretty obvious why F1 travels to some countries - $$$.

Jumping the gun...

Before we know it, another rumour will spread about a Formula 1 driver jumping from one team to another, and this is what I'm going to do in this post. No, not create rumours, but try to predict them with my reasons why.

INFINITY RED BULL RACING

This month Sebastian Vettel extended his contract with Red Bull to the end of 2015, a season before Fernando Alonso's contract ends. Even though a contract is just a piece of paper and can be destroyed in a matter of seconds (remember Luiz Razia? the guy who Chilton replaced at Marussia) I honestly can't see the Triple World Champion and the Spanish Warrior being teammates. Alonso is the number 1 driver at Ferrari, and he will of course   be able to have his say on the matter. Some stories have suggested a
possible replacement of Mark Webber by Kimi Räikkönen. I feel that this deal could easily go down, with Räikkönen arguably racing at the best level of his career. Would the Iceman turn down a deal which gives him an almost guaranteed championship winning car? I honestly doubt it, and this would either allow Vettel to become known as a legend if he gets the better of the Finn, or show that Adrian Newey is the guy behind the German's three world titles. It's unlikely, but Red Bull's relationship with Kimi in WRC could also have a role to play.

SCUDERIA FERRARI

Ferrari love Fernando Alonso, and I can't see the Spaniard recently revealed that he wants to finish his career with the Italian squad. His current contract with the team will end at the end of 2016, making him 35. If he hasn't got a title with the team by then and has lost his racing spirit, I can't see it being renewed. As much as I love Felipe Massa, and even with his return to form, I think it's about time that Ferrari move on. Perhaps the Brazilian might get one more season but I'm going to assume he doesn't and try to guess his replacement - Kamui Kobayashi. Imagine what a great team that would be? The 26 year old is currently racing for Ferrari in the WEC, and it would be wrong to say that he can't overtake. A lack of money is the reason why Kobayashi isn't driving in Formula 1 this year, but thanks to donations from his fans and sponsors, he could have enough cash and talent to move from the Ferrari 458 to the Scuderia's 2014 contender. Almost a month ago, Kobayashi drove the Ferrari F10 at Fiorano as part of a test.

"You know when you've been KK'd" - MARTIN BRUNDLE

VODAFONE MCLAREN MERCEDES

Now, Jenson Button isn't stupid. I think we all know that he isn't about to jump to a different team because the car is poor - At this stage last season Button had a total of 45 points, he currently has 25. The Brit has had to battle with much bigger problems in the past and one of his biggest challenges, Lewis Hamilton, is no longer a teammate. Button will have faith in the team to upgrade the car, and at the same time mold it into his style of racing if he can keep the No.1 status from his teammate. In 2012, Sergio Pérez signed a 'multi year' contract with McLaren, and I'll be surprised if he leaves the team as he is challenging Jenson Button for the team leadership every know and then (Bahrain 2013). However, the problem is that 'Checo' suddenly vanished from his excellent performances in the second half of 2012, and if that happened with McLaren I don't think he'd be able to stay as low key, especially now that the car isn't quite up to it. So to summarize, no changes at the McLaren base.

LOTUS F1 TEAM

Romain Grosjean currently has a 1/3 of his teammate's points (as of the Canadian Grand Prix), and the majority of which came from one Grand Prix. If I was Éric Boullier I would be searching for two new drivers, this is why I've decided to choose Felipe Massa and Jean-Éric Vergne. With the Brazilian's experience and Vergne who continues to impress me more and more, race by race, the team could be onto something. Massa's performance is almost back to it's best in my opinion, and when the final dust has been blown away, we could see some 2008 Felipe back. Let's just hope that Rob Smedley also moves with him to boost his motivation from the pit wall. At the Canadian Grand Prix, Vergne took his best qualifying and race result (7th and 6th). With a decent car from the Lotus team, I don't see why he can't go a few spots better.

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS FORMULA 1 TEAM

With hopes of a boost in performance when the 2014 rules come into play, I can't see Nico Rosberg or Lewis Hamilton switching teams, even if they do have a terrible season this year. The team will have the winter to sort out Hamilton's brakes to how he likes them (if they don't do that during this season), and Rosberg has now had two race wins. I think that the pair are in a similar position to Button and Pérez, they just need to hope that their teams can supply a better car for 2014.

SAUBER F1 TEAM

Nico Hülkenberg hasn't had the results he expected after Sauber's podiums in 2012. Regardless, you cannot question the German's skill, as he has won the team's 5 points. Adrian Sutil had a decent start with Force India, and minus the races between the Australian and Monaco Grand Prix, he hasn't had a bad comeback so far. I feel that the German would do well at Sauber, with his experience helping to achieve the car that both Nico and himself will need to fight with in 2014.

SAHARA FORCE INDIA

As much as I think that Paul di Resta deserves a top seat, I don't think he'll get one in 2014. It's clear that he has pace and talent, but he only seems to shine at certain circuits, and compared to say, Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton, the Scot just isn't quite there - in other words, he's good, but not good enough, a bit like Mark Webber. Yes he's good enough to win races, but he's not good enough to win a title. That's what makes the difference between Vettel and Webber. Unless Paul can make it onto the podium this season, it'll be another year in the orange, green and white car. Jules Bianchi has exploded onto the Formula 1 grid. He's absolutely dominated his teammate Max Chilton so far, and he's not far off the gearboxes of the Williams and the Toro Rossos in some qualifying sessions. There's no doubt that Bianchi will eventually make his way to Ferrari but I still feel that the Scuderia would like more experience from the Frenchman. Last year, Bianchi won Felipe Massa's Desafio das Estrellas in his Force India test driver overalls, can you see the link?

WILLIAMS F1 TEAM

Let's say that Pastor Maldonado doesn't receive funding from the Venezuelan government next year. Without his money, I think Williams will be off to find someone else. Valtteri Bottas gave a glimpse of what Williams could achieve if the correct circumstances arrive at the Canadian Grand Prix in qualifying. As for the Finn's partner I have no idea. We could see a return of Bruno Senna (who is currently racing in the WEC series), or another pay-driver

could come to the F1 scene. I doubt we'll see another rookie being snapped up by Williams as this would leave them with a lack of experience to help upgrade the car - don't get me wrong Bottas will know details about the car, but who would know more, Pedro de la Rosa, or a driver who has been in F1 for one season. If Maldonado does receive money from Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan President, I'm confident that Maldonado will continue as a Williams driver, regardless of how many points he earns the team this season.

SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO

There is of course a high chance that Daniel Ricciardo could replace Mark Webber at Red Bull in 2014, and at the starting of the season Helmut Marko said he rates the Aussie very highly. However, by points achieved in 2013, Vergne is the better driver. This would still leave a vacant seat at the team. A replacement would most likely come from the Red Bull young driver's program. We could see drivers such as António Felix da Costa and Tom Blomqvist running around in Toro Rosso overalls, trying to impress Helmut Marko and the rest of the guys at Toro Rosso and Red Bull. 

CATERHAM F1 TEAM

If I were Charles Pic I'd be kicking myself after moving from Marussia to Caterham, however it could be that Caterham's performance could blossom at the end of the season. Yet, although the Frenchman could return to Marussia, I'd be too wary of the same thing happening again if I were him. Perhaps Heikki Kovalainen's experience in Formula 1 could be the reason that Caterham are struggling, and many people believe that without the Finn, Caterham wouldn't have finished 10th for the last 3 years. At the end of 2012, Kovalainen hinted that he wanted to finish his career with a top team, implying that he possibly wouldn't want to return to the sport with Caterham. On the other hand, beggars can't be choosers.

MARUSSIA F1 TEAM

I'll be surprised if we've seen the best from Max Chilton so far, and now that he's settled in and comfortable with the car, he should be able to let himself go a bit more by the end of the season. As for Chilton's teammate, I don't think Timo Glock will return, leaving a possibility of a rookie stepping up to the plate - Felipe Nasr, or James Calado?. It would be the same situation as Williams, would Marussia have enough experience between Chilton and Nasr/Calado? It's debatable.

I'm sure there will be some oppositions to my choices, so let me know by commenting below. 

Is Formula 1 getting worse?

Yesterday, the engine that will be supplied by Renault for the 2014 season was revealed, giving us an idea of what F1 will sound like next March. I must admit that I quite like the new sound, however it's not quite Formula 1 in my opinion. 

The Renault 1.6 litre V6 Turbo engine has been named the 'Energy F1-2014'. The biggest differences between the 2013 spec, and 2014 spec engines are of course, the change from 2.4 litre to 1.6 litre, from V8, to V6, and instead of revving 18,000 rpm, the new engine units will be limited to 15,000 rpm. The power produced from the new engines is around 600bhp, which will become 760bhp thanks to the powerful ERS (Energy Recovery System). 

One of the new rules for 2014 is that cars must be able to finish a race with only 100kg of fuel, so one of the main objectives for engine manufacturers at the moment is to increase fuel efficiency, whilst managing to give as much power as possible. Renault believe that the Energy F1-2014 is 35% better at fuel economy than its predecessor.

Here is a clip of the Energy F1-2014, giving us a preview of what it will sound like next year:

Rob White, Renault’s deputy managing director (technical), explained: "The engines remain high-revving, ultra-high output competition engines. Fundamentally the engine noise will still be loud."

"It will wake you from sleep, and circuit neighbours will still complain. The engine noise is just a turbocharged noise rather than a normally-aspirated noise: you can just hear the turbo when the driver lifts off the throttle and the engine speed drops."

Will Renault be able to smooth out all of
their engine and alternator problems for 2014?

"I am sure some people will be nostalgic for the sound of engines from previous eras, including the preceding V8, but the sound of the new generation power units is just different. It’s like asking whether you like Motorhead or AC/DC. Ultimately it is a matter of personal taste. Both in concert are still pretty loud."

In 2014, Red Bull and Renault will continue their partnership, as well as the new recruitment of Toro Rosso, who are currently having their engines supplied by Ferrari. Lotus and Caterham are currently the other two teams that Renault supply, but they are yet to confirm who they will be receiving their engines from.

Renault will have some competition from Ferrari, Mercedes and possibly Cosworth and Pure. 

The return of a classic partnership such as Williams-Renault won't happen next year as they have confirmed a deal with Mercedes. The German team will also supply McLaren for one last year before the Woking based squad switch to Honda, hoping to return to the success of the Prost and Senna days. Force India will also be using Mercedes engines also.

Marussia seem set that they will be using Ferrari's engine, using Jules Bianchi as the link.

Could Jules Bianchi, Ferrari's ex-test driver
ensure that Marussia get Ferrari engines
from 2014 onward?

Sauber are yet to confirm who's engine they will be using, however it's likely that they will be continuing their partnership with Ferrari.

Now, is F1 getting worse? If the tyre supplier for 2014 sort the tyres out, no. It's just like the stepped noses being introduced in 2012, everyone's used to them by now, - I actually miss Ferrari's! apart from maybe Red Bull's, which seems to get worse every time I look at it. The sound of the V6 engine will be strange at the 1st Grand Prix of the 2014 season, but will the people who miss the V8 engines stop watching F1 because of it? Probably not.