Coming to Austin?

For the past few seasons, I’ve hosted a tweet up at the Canadian Grand Prix. It proved to be so much fun and so popular, I thought we’d go one further in Austin and have one huge blowout. It’s an F1 meet and greet with a difference. No Q&As, leave your bobble hats at home. We are going to have fun and celebrate F1 coming back to the States in the only way I know… with a few beers and some karaoke.

The whole shebang has been put together by the wonderful folks at theaustingrandprix.com and will take place at Fado.

All the details are on theaustingrandprix.com, and you can get your name down by clicking the link below. Space is going to be limited, naturally, as the bar has a capacity of about 500. So While I really hope to see as many of you there as possible, the registration on the site can’t guarantee that the place won’t be over subscribed.

The good folks at TWSTEEL have also supplied us with some beautiful timepieces for the best male and best female vocalist of the night.

All in all, it should be huge fun.

Hope to see you all there.

Will

My GP2 Top Five of 2012

The field of 2012
GP2 Media Service

It’s taken me long enough… I know. But I had to have a good think about my top five in GP2 this year. The introduction of two tyre compounds and even a shift in usage at mid-season coupled with a field mixed with hugely experienced drivers and rookies made it more difficult than ever to truly gauge relative performance. I’ve fought with myself over the ultimate order over the weeks since the end of the season, but think I’m finally there and happy with the running order.

I hope you are too.

Max Chilton – Carlin
GP2 Media Service

5. Max Chilton

Entering his third year in GP2, there was high expectation placed on Max Chilton to step up to the plate and make an impact. Racing for Carlin, with whom he has shared so much of his career and which is so used to success at junior level, there can be no denying that the pressure Max and Carlin will each have applied on themselves will have been tremendous. But externally, nobody really expected them to challenge. Nobody expected Max to be able to compete at the front.

But when one looks at 2012, Max Chilton was, without question, the qualifier of the year. He seemed to have an incredible ability to put together a lap when it mattered. While even the championship contenders’ qualifying form wavered between the sublime and the ridiculous, Chilton was the constant. He only qualified outside the top ten on one occasion all season. His rivals knew it too. He had the pace, and consistently showed it.

His race pace however was a slightly different story. Put him on pole, give him a clear track, and he could streak away and win with ease. His Monaco performance on Sunday, when he was chasing down Jolyon Palmer also sticks in the mind as a gutsy performance. With no room for error, he gave it everything to try and cut the gap down. And he did so, lap after lap after lap. He had the gap down to a second on iSport driver at the flag, but even with a few more laps he wouldn’t have passed him, and not just because it was Monaco.

The one area in which Max Chilton’s armoury still falls short is in his overtaking. Too often in 2012, he looked tentative. Every passing opportunity he had, you held your breath. Not out of the expectation of something spectacular, but because you felt that Max, too, was holding his. That instinct, that confidence to make the all important move, just never showed itself. He second guessed himself all too often.

If only he could have coupled confidence with his clear pace, he might have even fought for the title. Many expect Max to make the step up to F1 next season. On pace alone, he could do well. But he simply must wipe out the self-doubt and just believe in himself a bit more.

Esteban Gutierrez – Lotus ART
GP2 Media Service

4. Esteban Gutierrez

The Mexican arrived in GP2 two seasons ago on a wave of plaudits and expectation. Having dominated the inaugural GP3 championship, there was a feeling that he would do the same in GP2. But Pirelli rubber was a tough mistress, and coupled with a huge increase in horsepower it started to look as though the years of a rookie champion had passed into history. After all, if the magical Mexican couldn’t fight for the crown in his rookie year, what hope did anyone else have?

2012, therefore, was his time to shine. He knew the tracks. He knew the car. He knew the tyres. But he didn’t fight for the title. And to be honest, he never looked like challenging for top honours.

But to dismiss 2012 as a failure for Gutierrez is to miss the bigger picture. The Mexican himself insists that he learnt more in 2012 and achieved far greater personal goals over the season than in any year of competition in his career to date. Titles have come his way with consummate ease in the past, but this season was different. He had to fight his way through. He had to learn. He had to taste humility and come out stronger.

If anything, 2012 may well have been the lesson that Esteban Gutierrez needed to turn him from a good driver into a great one. He had to fight for every point, and truly struggle for each win. That it didn’t come easily will be the greatest training for which he could have hoped.

He may well be F1 bound in 2013, and on the basis of 2012, we have seen that Esteban can take the rough with the smooth and come out the other side successful, and a more complete racer.

Davide Valsecchi – DAMS
GP2 Media Service

3. Davide Valsecchi

Is it harsh to put the champion third? Possibly. But Davide Valsecchi didn’t exactly wipe the floor with the opposition in 2012.

Does he deserve his title? Undoubtedly. But Davide Valsecchi didn’t exactly wipe the floor with the opposition in 2012.

And therein lies the issue.

Let’s lay things out. A fifth year driver, in the team that took Romain Grosjean to the title in 2011, Valsecchi entered the 2012 season as one of the favourites and rightfully so. And his performances over the first few races of the season gave the impression that he was going to waltz his way to the title.

Bahrain was immense. Three wins in a row. And so nearly a clean sweep of all four. He was incredible. Truly incredible.

But this is a driver who won the GP2 Asia crown two years ago. The Asian circuits were the tracks on which he should have prevailed… no? It took him until the final furlongs of the season to win again, in a championship that was littered with inconsistency and a touch of misfortune.

But when one counts up the points, Davide Valsecchi did more than enough to be crowned champion. And he deserves it, too. A wonderful racer, a fabulous man and a great ambassador for the sport.

One only hopes that his destiny does not fall in line with his Italian predecessors in GP2, and that he can turn the tide that held back Pantano and Filippi, and rise to where he belongs… in Formula 1.

James Calado – Lotus ART
GP2 Media Service

2. James Calado

Of all the plaudits heaped on James Calado in 2012, perhaps the finest one was this: That he made his team-mate Esteban Gutierrez, a man toasted throughout the motorsports world as a once in a lifetime talent, look ordinary.

But Calado’s season was much more than one which simply made people re-appraise his team-mate. It was one that made people re-appraise James himself. He’s not brash, bold, bolshy. He just gets his head down and gets on with the job.

I like James. I have liked him from the moment I met him. There’s no bravado, no Hollywood. He tells it like it is, for good or for bad. Put him in a racing car and he just flies.

The writing was on the wall last year, in Abu Dhabi, when he won on only his second outing in a GP2 car. For him to have stepped out of GP3 and in the Sunday race with no pitstops, to be able to look after his Pirellis the way that he did spoke volumes about the way his 2012 season had the potential to go. Here was a smart, thoughtful and intelligent racer.

This much was shown when he won again on the opening weekend of the year in Malaysia. He imparted after the race that he’d allowed his team-mate to get so close to him in the opening laps because he knew his dirty air would hand Gutierrez a large dose of understeer, and he’d increase the wear on his fronts. Sure enough, Gutierrez lost his fronts and dropped back, allowing Calado to streak off for the win. Such confidence and such an accurate assessment of both the car, the tyres, and the rival, showed immense maturity.

Calado’s season was tainted by misfortune, without which I feel he could have fought for the crown. But he carried on fighting, even at the final weekend in Singapore. Even with the title out of reach, he never gave up, trying to hold on to third in the championship in spite of savage food poisoning. His affliction was so drastic he visited hospital before, and then after a race in which he managed to survive for 55 of the allotted 60 minutes. I haven’t seen a braver race drive since Ferdinando Monfardini’s belts pulled too tight around his nether regions in GP2’s Bahrain races in 2005, and one of his testicles tried to make a new home for itself inside the Italian’s pelvis.

James Calado was one of the drivers of 2012. In any championship. His achievements should not be overlooked, and one hopes he continues to command the sponsorship and support his immense talents demand, long into the future.

Luiz Razia
GP2 Media Service

1. Luiz Razia

Like Valsecchi, Razia entered 2012 knowing that only fighting for the title would do. With all his years of experience, this was his time. But it wasn’t going to be easy. He would be attempting to fight for the title with a team who had not won a championship since Tonio Liuzzi took the F3000 title back in 2004. But Arden in 2012 had something special about it. The team felt, for the first time in a long time, like a cohesive and complete unit. And with Razia heading their charge, they made a potent force.

I’ve known Luiz a long time, and never had I seen him more focussed than he was in 2012. There had been certain issues over the winter period in Brazil which had, perhaps, sharpened his mind, but the Luiz Razia we got this season was unlike any version of the man I had seen before.

He was leaner and fitter, and the youthful exuberance of the past had been replaced with a worldly and calm maturity.

Luiz Razia has always been fast. But his seasons had always been ruled with one moment of misfortune, from which point the year had unravelled into disappointment. One tipping point had affected his whole year. Misfortune became a jinx. And one from which he couldn’t recover.

That is where 2012 was so different. That positive attitude, that maturity, was reflected in a consistency I had never seen from him before. He had the bigger picture in mind constantly. And never more was this in evidence than in Valencia, when he sat in sixth, watching those ahead chew through their tyres. In the final laps, he made his move, edging forward, pushing lap after lap. With two laps to go he was fourth. With one lap to go he made the move for third. And then, at the final overtaking spot on the track, he passed both Calado and Leimer for the win.

That race was Razia’s new demeanour in clear visual form. No longer the hothead. Here was a man willing to tough it out, to put in the legwork and to make it all come good with a beautiful display of skill and intensity.

Sadly for the Brazilian, his new approach was not to work out. In the penultimate weekends before Singapore, his consistency failed him. Weak qualifying saw him have to fight through. And fight he did. But ultimately he lost the championship lead, lost the momentum and arrived at the finale as the man needing to catch up, rather than defend. And on the street circuit, there was little he could do.

But his season overall was fabulous and in finishing second in the championship, he achieved the most successful GP2 result for Arden since Heikki Kovalainen finished as runner up to Nico Rosberg in 2005.

On balance 2012, for me, belonged to Luiz Razia. To be fair, any of the top five, and also a driver such as Geido van der Garde who just missed the cut on my top five, could do a great job in F1 and would be a fabulous addition to the paddock both on and off track.

But for me, this season, Razia edged them all.

All things must pass…

It had been a lovely evening in Mokpo. No, really. A fabulous meal was followed by a few shandies in a club, celebrating a good friend’s birthday.

Bed had arrived possibly a touch later than it should have, and as I put my head down I thought I’d just check twitter to see what was going on in the world. And then it hit home.

We, on the SPEED F1 broadcast team, have known for some time that there was a possibility of us losing the rights or of there being a pretty big shift in the way F1 was going to be broadcast in America. But the news hit hard, and fast.

I guess we never know how we’ll take bad news, even when we know there’s a chance it will arrive. There’s always that range of emotions: the seven stages I believe they call it. The same as when you break up with someone you love.

And that’s what this feels like. Because I truly love working at SPEED. I love the guys I work with and that I work for. They are all terrific people and they have become terrific friends.

Bob Varsha is one of the finest commentators I’ve ever heard. He is such a professional, so knowledgeable and so damn good at his job. And if I have hair half as good as his when I’m his age I’ll be a thankful man.

Hobbo, what can I say? Like your crazy grandfather, he’s always got a story, always got an opinion and always delivers it with such panache. I smile every time he opens his mouth to talk.

Stiffey, what a hero. His enthusiasm is infectious. We may only do a few races together a year, but my word they’re always fun.

And Steve. To be honest, given Steve’s technical background I was always fearful that he would think I was a bit of a soft option after Peter. Steve for me was like the cool kid at school that you always wanted to like you. But I have built such a solid relationship with him, and I can’t tell you how proud I am every time I chip in with something and Steve responds with words such as “Will’s absolutely right…”

There are so many people behind the scenes that you folks don’t get to hear from or see. But each of them make the show what it is. Without the guys behind the scenes, pulling the strings and kicking our asses, there would be no show. Kirch, Goldie, Sean the statman, Cynthia, Dan, D-wayne, Kevin… just so, so many people.

Frank Wilson has been the lifeblood of Formula 1 on SPEED. Pretty much everything you see and hear is as a result of his passion and his soul. If Formula 1 has a future in the United States, Frank will hold a huge chunk of the responsibility for that. He’s a wonderful man and a great guy to work for.

I’ll never forget my job interview at SPEED. It involved dinner with Frank and Dan Shutte, who was instrumental in getting me over to the States. Seriously, without Shutte I would never have got a call from SPEED. The next day we all went in to see Rick Miner who was running the station at the time. Rick took one look at me and said, “Well these guys didn’t call me to say you were an asshole, so I guess you got the job.” At that point, I knew I was going to love my time at SPEED.

The last three years have gone by so quickly. And I am gutted they are coming to an end. But I am so appreciative of having been a part of the most incredible team of people.

SPEED took a chance on me, and I really hope they, and the folks at home, are happy with what they got. I had very little TV experience, and compared to Peter Windsor who I was replacing, very little F1 experience. I’ve been in this game for ten years now, but still, that’s a drop in the ocean compared to some in this paddock.

So SPEED took a huge gamble. And I am thankful everyday for their faith, for their support and for three amazing years. I have genuinely never enjoyed myself nor enjoyed the sport as much as I have since joining SPEED, and moving on at the end of the year will be a real wrench.

But change in life happens, and often it leads on to bigger and better things.

What will I be doing next year? I honestly don’t know. Although I’ve known for a while that this day was coming, part of me never wanted to believe that it would. And that’s why it hurts, and that’s why walking into the paddock this morning absolutely choked me up.

Whatever the future holds, be it in this paddock or elsewhere, I want to thank SPEED for an amazing three years. And I want to thank the fans for tuning in.

We’ve got five races left, and you know we’re going to enjoy every single lap of what is fast becoming a legendary season.

Thank you all for your kind words and support.

Thank you, SPEED, for the memories.

Now here’s to the future…

How do you solve a problem like Romain?

Romain Grosjean
© James Moy Photography

He was the last one out. Dressed not in race overalls but team kit, Romain Grosjean faced the press after the Japanese Grand Prix, another race in which he’d been involved in controversy and a first lap crash. The questions came at him thick and fast, and the Frenchman tried his best to maintain a level of calm, to look unflustered, unaffected. But as he stepped from camera to camera, the illusion dropped. His eyes moistened, the speed of his blinking increased, his voice wavered, as all the while he tried to bottle up the emotions trying to scream their way out. By the time he got to the Sky Sports crew, many fans reported that his interview was difficult to watch.

Romain Grosjean has been branded a “first lap nutcase” by Mark Webber. Sticks and stones, you may say, but accusations like that stick and they hurt. Especially when the person being labelled as such has just returned from the first F1 ban for dangerous driving in almost two decades.

I don’t believe Romain is a danger. I don’t believe he is a nutcase. I don’t believe he deserves half of the grief he is getting right now. And come 3pm Korean time this afternoon, when he is thrown to the lions in the FIA Press Conference, I don’t believe he will deserve the standard of questioning nor the levels of vitriol which I fear will be levelled at him.

Romain Grosjean is a multiple champion. He has a better CV in the run up to his F1 career than almost any other driver on the current F1 grid. He amassed a total of six titles in his junior career in Formula Renault, Formula 3, Auto GP, GP2 Asia and the GP2 Series. He marked a name out for himself as a bold driver, blessed with phenomenal speed and natural ability.

I’ll be honest, there were times in his junior career when I questioned his overall awareness. I believed for sometime that he could win from the front, lead from pole, but that when it came to fighting his way through the field he involved himself in unnecessary and silly accidents.

What a difference a year makes…
Romain Grosjean, GP2, Spa 2011
© GP2 Media Service

But that was the old Romain. The V2 which was developed after his brief initial foray into F1 was far more complete a racer. The Romain Grosjean who turned up and demolished the GP2 Asia and GP2 Main Series championships in 2011 was a completely different beast. He could lead from the front, but he could pass majestically. He was, by all accounts, ready for the next step.

And, on balance, I think he has handled himself well this season. He sits eighth in the world championship with three podiums to his name. But while the world heaps plaudits on Sergio Perez, who has also achieved three unexpected podiums this season and sits two places further down the championship than Grosjean, the Frenchman is lambasted.

He is decried for his first lap incidents this season. But how many have been of his making? Let’s run through them.

Melbourne: Grosjean and Maldonado run side by side through Turn 13. Grosjean, to my mind, takes as much evasive action as he can. Coming through the right hander side by side, with Maldonado on the inside, he takes to the rumble strips to avoid Maldonado who keeps on coming, using all the track and even taking the rumble strip as well. His rear left hits Grosjean’s front right, breaking the suspension. In that case, I don’t see how Grosjean could have done any more to have kept out of the Venezuelan’s path. He heeded position and even ran off track so as to avoid contact.

Malaysia: In the pouring rain and spray, Grosjean and Schumacher make contact. It’s a close run thing, as again they are side by side, and although Grosjean initially insisted t was Schumacher that was at fault, the more times you watch the replay, the more it is clear that it is the position of Grosjean’s Lotus that tags the rear right of Schumacher and spins the German.

Barcelona: Sergio Perez runs side by side with Grosjean through Turns 1 and 2 on the first lap. Perez gets a good run through T2, but as the duo exit, there is contact between the Mexican and Grosjean. In this instance, I believe it is Romain who is on the racing line. Perez executes a nice move around the outside and gets a good drive out of the corner, but moves back onto the racing line just a shade too early, knocking Grosjean’s front wing and picking up a puncture. In this case, a racing incident.

Monaco race start 2012
© James Moy Photography

Monaco: Grosjean makes a poor start and finds himself with Fernando Alonso on his right hand side. This moves Grosjean to the left. The run down to St Devote sees the barriers on the left pull in at the end of the straight, and it is well known that you cannot attempt to take anyone around the outside on that run. There is a racing line and an inside line. The outside line simply doesn’t exist. And yet Michael Schumacher finds himself in precisely that position, on the outside of Grosjean. Rather than backing out of the move, Michael keeps his foot in, and his front right connects with Grosjean’s rear left, spinning the Frenchman in front of the field. For me, the fault in that instance lies with Schumacher.

Silverstone: Very similar to Spain, this one. As the cars pull through The Loop, the two Force Indias are on the inside of Grosjean. The Frenchman’s Lotus is on the racing line, and never wavers as they approach Aintree. Di Resta has a better drive out of The Loop and pulls in front of Grosjean just a touch too early, hitting the front wing of the Lotus and damaging his own rear right tyre. As I said, for me it is shades of Perez in Barcelona. A racing incident.

Spa: What can you say? It was silly. So silly. That move alone demanded a race ban, and Grosjean accepted culpability and accepted his punishment.

Spa startline crash 2012
© James Moy Photography

And so to Japan… and this is one I’ve had to watch back over and over to really get my head around. Grosjean is running side by side with Perez and has his eye set firmly on the Mexican. He makes the move, makes it stick, but then has Webber turning in ahead of him and connects with the Red Bull. Perhaps the fight with Perez had unsighted Grosjean as to Webber’s position. But it has been argued, and not without some merit, that Webber’s position and speed was far from usual at that part of the corner. But Grosjean was the one fighting to make up positions, and the onus is on him to make a clean move. At that moment, when he hits Webber, the responsibility is his even though Webber may have been running a touch slower than expected.

So this first lap “nutcase.” Is he really such a nightmare? Out of all the incidents he has been involved with, I could only say that he holds ultimate responsibility in three of them: Malaysia, Spa and Japan. The others are either simply racing incidents or it is Grosjean who is the victim.

This is only my opinion. But having watched the incidents back countless times, this is what I believe.

The sad thing is, many people simply look at the stats. Seven first lap contacts (Melbourne was actually Lap 2 if we’re being picky) make Romain Grosjean a danger to himself and his fellow drivers.

The reality however is somewhat different.

The problem now is in how he deals with this. He has picked up a reputation which I do not feel he deserves, but it will stick with him. Does Mark Webber really think he is a “nutcase?” I don’t think so. But just as Mark once ripped a young Sebastian Vettel a new one after he took him out in Fuji, so Mark has given this latest hotshoe and few choice words to chew on. We can only hope that Romain uses those words for the same motivation as did the young Mr Vettel.

And let’s not forget that a few seasons ago, that young Mr Vettel was branded “The crash kid” by Martin Whitmarsh. That crash kid went and won the next two world championships.

Focussed and Determined
© James Moy Photography

My fear though is that Romain is a highly emotional soul. He will take those words to heart, just as he took the ban to heart. The historical significance of the ban will not have been lost on him. He will take the words of his fellow drivers to heart in this weekend’s driver briefing. And he will take whatever is thrown at him in today’s press conference to heart, too.

I wonder which Romain will arrive in front of the cameras after the press conference. I hope, beyond hope, that it is not the same Romain we saw after the race in Japan. The Romain with reddened eyes, fearing for his future, trying desperately not to allow himself to cry.

Romain Grosjean has already felt the pain of having his dream taken away from him. It happened at the end of 2009. Since that time he has worked tirelessly to get the second chance that his incredible talent deserves. And today he can only watch as that second chance gets tainted with a reputation that he does not deserve. He can see it all slipping away, and the fear of that feeling of loss that he suffered three years ago can now only cloud everything that he does.

It’s time we had a bit of perspective here and actually look at what he’s done wrong this year, because with the exception of Spa, it’s really not been all that grave. Come 3pm, when he’s thrown to the lions, I hope the people in this media centre will have sight of the bigger picture. I hope people in this paddock will give the kid a break and let him get on with what he does.

Because, my God. That boy can race.

Now that the dust has settled…

Lewis Hamilton
© James Moy Photography

Sitting here in the Suzuka media centre, with jet lag having kicked in, I find myself with some quiet time to reflect on the last few days and the big news that has taken up so many column inches.

The Lewis Hamilton story is, of course, the big story in the sport right now. I don’t think I’ve spoken to a single person in Formula 1 who believes it will play out well or bring Hamilton the levels of success he craves, but that’s not to say it won’t happen.

The simple fact of the matter though is that Hamilton had to move on. He had to get away from McLaren. Edd Straw wrote a wonderful piece on Autosport.com this week about how Hamilton’s move was akin to any youngster growing up and leaving home. It is a rite of passage, an essential and defining moment in any young person’s life. It’s the moment at which they learn to stand on their own feet.

Hamilton’s relationship with McLaren has been strained for some time. For over a year now we’ve asked what’s up with Lewis and questioned where his head has been at both on and off the track. Perhaps this move to Mercedes will finally bring him the peace he needs and allow him to flourish. Without the parental constraints of McLaren, perhaps Lewis will become the man he was always destined to be.

Perhaps.

The thing is, Mercedes was the only real option available to Hamilton. We now know it was Lewis who approached Mercedes, not the other way around. We know that Hamilton had discussions with Red Bull in Canada last year. So it doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots. Unhappy at McLaren, he went to speak to Horner. Nothing doing at Red Bull so maybe he tried Ferrari. No luck there, so he went to speak to Mercedes… and hello, what’s this? A glimmer of interest? A possible route out of McLaren?

The wheels were certainly greased by Bernie and, via Bernie, Niki Lauda who we understand managed to convince Hamilton, when the Brit started to have doubts over the move, that it was in fact the right one by appealing to his emotions over his sensibilities. He was sold on the concept of taking the team and doing what the great Michael Schumacher could not. If Hamilton could turn Mercedes into a world championship winning outfit, his reputation and his standing would be immeasurable. He could do what Schumacher did at Ferrari. He could create something magical.

That was the pitch. And it worked.

Hamilton lives to win
© James Moy Photography

So Hamilton will be a Mercedes driver. For how long nobody knows. Give it three years and he’ll still only be 30. Easily of an age where a move to another big team could be on the cards.

But by that point will his stock have risen or fallen?

A move from McLaren to Mercedes for big bucks and the emotional draw of creating something unique sounds an awful lot like a line we, in the UK, were fed about another of our great sporting icons. We heard it when David Beckham left Real Madrid, the greatest soccer team at the time in the world, and moved to LA Galaxy.

Ever since then, Beckham has missed the competitive level of European soccer, taking loan spells at AC Milan, and flying back to the UK to train with Arsenal and Tottenham… just to keep his eye in.

But brand Beckham has soared. He is a global megastar. And, just like his XIX Management stablemate Hamilton, perhaps this is the bigger picture. Whatever. For the time being at least, the line remains that it is all about the emotion, and about creating something nobody else has been able to do. And good luck to him.

Sergio Perez
© James Moy Photography

The Perez story remains, for me, a far more interesting topic however.

I’m still not 100% convinced it’s the greatest move for McLaren. Sergio is a good driver. But is he great? Does he have the potential to be? It’s questionable. Excluding the obvious examples of your Alonsos and Vettels, there exists a short list of drivers who anyone in this paddock would place above Perez in the ultimate pantheon of overall ability and talent. It’s a list that is made up of drivers who would have been just as free to move to McLaren as was the Mexican.

I don’t believe for a moment that di Resta would have been a serious consideration for McLaren. Everyone keeps banging on about it, but as I have already said it makes no sense politically. Having both drivers managed by the same person would have handed a huge chunk of power away. There is no way, in my mind, that McLaren would have so brazenly opened themselves up to being taken hostage. Taking both drivers from the same stable makes no sense. Ironically, and on that basis, had di Resta still been managed by Anthony Hamilton he may have stood a better chance of the seat.

Hulkenberg remains the big loss for McLaren here. He would have been the perfect foil for Button and a potential future team leader for McLaren. Because, as many in this paddock are now asking themselves, do you really see Perez as a team leader? Very few do.

All of which leads us to one fairly eye-opening conclusion. McLaren maybe didn’t take the best driver available to them. With rumours of Vodafone jumping ship, have they taken a driver because of the personal sponsors he could encourage into the McLaren fold? I don’t for a moment think that Telmex has paid for the seat, but there’s every chance that the company, and Carlos Slim, could follow Perez and become a McLaren sponsor.

Also, think about the fact that McLaren is ramping up its road car division. Signing Perez is a smart move from a sales perspective, too.

So has McLaren signed Perez for the bigger picture? To sell cars and bring sponsors into the team? And if they have, isn’t that quite a sad reflection on where we’ve got, and where McLaren is? I mean, when was the last time commercial considerations played a bigger hand in the signing of a driver at McLaren than out and out talent? Philippe Alliot to keep Peugeot happy? You’d have to go back pretty far.

As with every big move, you could spend a lifetime pouring over the detail, asking yourself why. Ultimately only those who have made the decisions truly know the reasons behind them.

But you can bet that this sport’s pair of two-time champions have allowed themselves a wry smile over the last week.

The 2 big winners in all this?
© James Moy Photography

The first pieces of the puzzle…

Ted and Georgie © James Moy Photography

So Formula 1 is going through its own version of soccer’s transfer deadline day. I have to say I turned on Sky Sports News this morning and was pretty disappointed not to see Craig Slater reporting live from the Tesco roundabout in Brackley, Rachel Brookes doorstepping Martin Whitmarsh outside the MTC in Woking, and Ted Kravitz in scarf and woolly hat in Hinwil.

“Thanks guys, sources inside Sauber have told us that Serio Perez has just informed Peter Sauber of his decision to leave and… yes… I do believe that’s Checo’s personal helicopter flying overhead en route to Woking to ink his new deal with McLaren.”

Formula 1 managed its biggest news in the only way it knows how. A fight to see who could get their press release out first. BANG! This sport knows how to do tension!

Unsurprisingly, McLaren proved fastest… an ominous sign for Lewis Hamilton perhaps.

Perez moves to Hamilton’s seat in 2013
© James Moy Photography

In confirming a multi-year deal for Sergio Perez, they took the wind out of Mercedes’ big coup. I’ve got to be honest, it was a deal that took me by surprise. I said on this very blog a few days ago that I didn’t see it happening. And I stand by that. Right up to the point that the press release plopped into my inbox (and yes that really is about as excitedly as a press release can ever truly arrive) I had huge doubts that it would happen. I just didn’t think Ferrari would let him go. Many of you had been gracious enough to inform me of potential links between Telmex and Vodafone in the South American market of which I was not aware after my last blog, and with that in mind the move had started to seem a touch more likely. But I still didn’t really buy it.

But it’s happened. I’m not sure how long it will last, but Sergio Perez is a McLaren driver as of 2013 and I’m really happy for him. He’s a great guy and a fabulous racer. I spent a lot of time with him back in the GP2 days and from his earliest races with Arden I remember being impressed with his quiet unassuming manner, and very measured, under the radar performances on track. He wasn’t in your face. He just got on with the job. And did so impressively.

Of course, the fact that Ferrari has let him go must not be overlooked. The team and its bosses are not stupid. They’ve seen what he can do. They know how good Sergio is. And yet they have allowed him out of their grasp and into a contract with possibly their biggest rivals. All of which points, as far as I can see, to one truth. The rumoured Sebastian Vettel pre-contract exists. What small niggling doubts that lingered must now surely be erased. Sebastian Vettel will race for Ferrari in 2014.

Mercedes new dream team
© James Moy Photography

And what of Lewis Hamilton’s now confirmed move to Mercedes? Is it a good idea? Frankly I really don’t think that it is. At least not for Lewis. Sure $100million is a very attractive contract, but Lewis lives to race and to win. Will he be doing that in a Mercedes AMG? I’m not convinced. Yes, the shift in engine regs for 2014 should put Mercedes in a good position, but even the great Enzo Ferrari had to admit in his battle with the garagistes that a good engine will only get you so far. In F1 you need good aero. You need the complete package. And I don’t think Mercedes has ever had the complete package.

Ahh, but what about 2009, you ask? That magical mystical year of Brawn GP? What about that, hey?

The truth of that season rarely sees the light of day, but it makes interesting reading. The BGP001 was a great car. But it wasn’t a Brawn. It wasn’t even a Honda. It was a Super Aguri, mostly… with a dash of Dome and some sprinkles added at Tochigi and a touch of Brackley seasoning. It was the Super Aguri that never was, with a Mercedes engine shoehorned into the back.

It hit the ground running, won everything. And then its rivals started to develop their cars, starting catching up. But the Brawn never improved. It stayed at one level. In the second half of the season first the McLaren and then the Red Bull became the car to beat. The BGP001 couldn’t keep up. What had looked like a sure thing at the start of the season ended up being a much tighter fight for the championship than anyone had expected.

Why? The argument, if you choose to believe it, goes that the folks at Brackley hadn’t designed the car, so how could they be expected to either understand or provide sufficient updates to it? But they played a good game, and Mercedes was so impressed that it jumped in with both feet for 2010. But what it got in 2010 wasn’t another GBP001. Because the BGP001 hadn’t come out of Brackley. It had come out of Leafield, Maihara and Tochigi.

I suppose one must ask how that one perfect storm could have been created and yet in the three years since, the team hasn’t only failed to produce a car that could fight for the title, but has only been able to fight for one single win. Same group of people. With added expertise. Some of the best minds in the business. Two fantastic drivers. And nothing to show for it.

Niki and his new boss, Dr Zetsche
© James Moy Photography

A case of too many chiefs? Possibly. And if so, how on earth is bringing Niki Lauda into the fold as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors going to help things? I just don’t know if Mercedes has got the direction it needs to take that final step and become a regular contender. Or perhaps Hamilton is that direction. Perhaps Niki’s role will be one of ensuring Lewis Hamilton “keeps his shit real,” and it’s all going to be brilliant.

When it first became clear that Lewis had found a sticking point with McLaren over a new contract in wanting to keep hold of his trophies, news of his negotiations with Mercedes was met with a cruel retort.

“That shouldn’t be a problem in his Mercedes contract. He won’t be winning any trophies.”

Harsh, but when one compares the achievements of Mercedes over the past three seasons with those of McLaren… it is not without merit.

So has Hamilton made the right choice? Only time will tell. It seems he has only truly made his mind up within the past few days. But they have been a tumultuous few days. I wonder how much a recent report in the American gutter press (TMZ) about his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger apparently being caught kissing singer Chris Brown has played on his mind. Hamilton and Brown, better known to many around the world not for his music but for beating up his one-time-girlfriend Rihanna, have become seemingly good friends of late, with “Breezy” becoming a regular focus of Hamilton’s tweets.

If you recall it was this time last season that things between Hamilton and Scherzinger went awry, and Lewis seemed to go off the rails. He wasn’t himself at the track, away from the track. He was troubled. Those memories will loom large. They do for those of us watching from the outside. Last year we asked if he’d make a crazy decision about his future. Today we’re asking the same thing.

With such a huge decision in his career, you’d have to hope his management has been able to keep his personal and professional lives separate. But we have only one head on our shoulders to bottle up all our emotions and considerations. I just hope, with the balance of time, he doesn’t regret this decision. Because, as other journalists have already mentioned today, the big bucks move from race winning team to up and comer rarely comes good.

Of course it is a great deal for XIX management, and frees Hamilton from the commercial constraints of his McLaren contract. The path is set for Simon Fuller to turn Lewis Hamilton into a global megastar. But again, will that come at the detriment of his racing career?

I asked a question this time last year on this blog, and I ask it again today.

“Lewis Hamilton. 2008 Formula 1 World Champion. Is that how the history books will record the career of one of the greatest enigmas of the modern era of our sport?”

Just how silly is the Silly Season?

Lewis Hamilton © James Moy Photography

Silly season is upon us, and that means the F1 rumour mill, as if it needed an excuse, is in full flow. It seems slightly odd to think about it now, but back in Hungary, word on the street was that most teams would likely stick with their current line-ups for 2013. Today, if you believe everything you hear, the roundabout is in full swing and we’re going to see massive shifts across the board.

So let’s start with what we know. Red Bull Racing will run an unchanged line-up of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Its sister team Toro Rosso will likely also field an unchanged team of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean Eric Vergne. Both of these boys however will be under pressure to perform. Should Red Bull hotshot (and this kid is super talented) Antonio Felix da Costa go well in WSR in 2013, I can see Dr Marko doing what Dr Marko always does, and not allow the Portuguese youngster to complete his season in WSR, plucking him instead before he’s truly ready and replacing one of the STR boys with him mid-season. Afterall, that Red Bull scrap heap isn’t going to grow on its own.

I also see little chance of a change at Lotus. Raikkonen is happy in the non political atmosphere at the team, and Grosjean is keeping him honest. The duo make a good pairing, and are both marketable in their own rights. There seems little reason for Boullier to look elsewhere.

The real interest, of course, lies in Lewis Hamilton. Ever since Eddie Jordan sparked the fire over Hamilton’s move to Mercedes it is all anyone has been able to talk about. Some say Jordan is off his rocker, or that he’s simply buying into a line fed to him by Bernie. But the last time Eddie made a claim like this, it was about Michael Schumacher’s return. People thought he was bonkers then, but he was right. And I’ve got a feeling he will be proven right once more on this one.

Michael Schumacher is past it. One only need look at Kimi Raikkonen’s 2012 season to see how successful a comeback can be to fully appreciate just how much of a disappointment the seven time world champion’s exploits overt the past three seasons have been. Rather than adding to the legend, he is damaging it with each passing grand prix. Deep down, I think even he now realises that it is time to go.

But Norbert Haug needs a name. Rosberg isn’t yet a big enough star to shine over the Mercedes brand and keep board level interest in the Formula 1 programme. Sebastian Vettel is tied into his current contract and has something in his pocket for his future (more on that later.) Fernando Alonso will finish his career at Ferrari. That leaves Hamilton as the only driver with real star power.

Rosberg, Hamilton and AMG have a long history.

Hamilton would be a neat fit for the team. Mercedes likes to play on its history and its long and glorious past in all forms of motorsport. Heritage is a huge part of the Mercedes marketing programme. And what better heritage is there than the fact that Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were, a decade ago, team-mates in karting, sponsored by AMG? The link is just too perfect.

But who is going to pay for the reported £60 million contract? I’ve heard some talk of Santander, but that doesn’t ring true for me. I can’t see why Santander would jump ship from McLaren. They, like all banks, are struggling. Why bother to up their level of sponsorship simply to move one driver they already sponsor to a team they don’t sponsor? Fernando made sense because of his nationality. Lewis does not.

By chance, on my flight to Singapore, I was sat next to a fascinating single serving friend (Ref: Fight Club) who worked in the bottling and distribution of soft drinks for Pepsi Co. I realised over the course of our conversation how much I’ve actually picked up on the subject over the years and our lengthy conversation, spread over two incredible hours, was fascinating.

In the UK, Energy Drinks are now the market leader in soft drink sales, last month knocking Cola drinks off the top spot for the first time in history. Think about that for a moment. It’s huge. But most surprising was the fact that Red Bull is not, and has not been for some time, the market leader in energy drinks sales. Quite simply it is too expensive to compete with smaller cheaper brands. Even halving its price would leave it twice as expensive, so Red Bull has stopped doing money off deals. It has a price and it sticks to it. Those who can afford it will still buy into the brand. Those who can’t won’t. But Red Bull will keep making money. So it may not be the UK market leader in terms of sales, but in terms of profit it is still up there.

Interestingly, the brand which Red Bull reportedly fears the most is Monster. Its rival is doing big business globally, especially in America, and unlike Red Bull has the fall back position of numerous flavours in full time rather than limited edition production.

Coca Cola wants to buy Monster. It has been trying for months.

Coca Cola is interested in entering Formula 1. Company bosses were guests of Bernie in Valencia.

Coca Cola, however, is unlikely to sponsor a team. It doesn’t do things that way and never has. It sponsors events, championships etc. But it probably won’t become a sponsor of the sport itself, because that would create a political issue for Bernie with Red Bull.

But what about Monster?

What if, and I may be putting two and two together and coming out with 37, but what if Coca Cola buys Monster, ups its already existing sponsorship of Mercedes, and facilitates Lewis Hamilton’s move to the three pointed star, at the same time turning Hamilton into the poster boy for one of the world’s biggest soft drinks companies… and by that I don’t just mean Monster. I mean the Coca Cola Company.

Doesn’t sound so silly now, does it?

Makes sense for Lewis, makes sense for XIX Management, makes sense for Monster, makes sense for Coke, makes sense for Mercedes. Makes Sense full stop.

Tough decisions ahead for Martin Whitmarsh
© James Moy Photography

OK, so what about McLaren, you ask?

Sergio Perez? No way. A Ferrari driver sponsored by Telmex is not going to go to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

Paul di Resta? A lot of people would seem to think he’d be a shoe in. He’s not universally popular at Force India, and is considered difficult to work with. But he is fast and would no doubt work well at McLaren. But he is managed now by Richard Goddard. So too is Jenson Button. And I just wonder, and it’s a personal thought process I’ve been following, but would McLaren allow such a considerable part of the team to ultimately be ruled by one person? I’ve got nothing against Richard, don’t get me wrong. He’s a great guy and a damn fine driver manager, but if you were McLaren would you sign both your drivers from one source? It would give Richard a tremendous amount of political power at McLaren, and I’m not convinced Martin or Ron would allow that.

To my mind, the perfect fit is Nico Hulkenberg. Easy to work with, media savvy, cool, calm, understated… blisteringly fast: he is the perfect McLaren driver. Working alongside Jenson Button I believe they would form the perfect pairing of youth and experience. Nico would push Jenson, but Jenson would teach Nico so much, and help to forge a bright future world champion driver and team leader for McLaren. The only thing which would stand against such a move is that it probably makes too much sense and is thus unlikely to happen. But if I was running McLaren and Lewis jumped ship, I’d have my eye on Nico Hulkenberg and I’d be signing him up.

There is also the prospect of Valtteri Bottas, Williams’ third driver. Blisteringly fast, but also very young, his name remains, for me, a flight of fancy at McLaren… although he would fit in there rather well.

Future team-mates?
© James Moy Photography

What, then, of Ferrari? Fernando Alonso will see out his career driving a red car, of this we are certain. But what of the future? Ferrari lost its intended perfect partner for Alonso with the Rallying accident that befell Robert Kubica. The Pole would have been driving for Ferrari this year, but with Robert out, Felipe Massa got a reprieve. And it is not working out. Massa has now entered the record books as the Ferrari driver to have gone the longest without scoring a podium in the team’s F1 history: 35 races and counting. His drive in Singapore was outstanding, but one wonders if it is too little too late.

Ferrari, however, has no real need to replace him because it has only one season to wait before a new driver arrives. That driver will be Sebastian Vettel, and he will race for Scuderia Ferrari come 2014. It’s one of those widely known secrets in the paddock, just as Robert Kubica’s move was known about. Ferrari doesn’t do spur of the moment. It does pre-contracts at least 18 months in advance. And Vettel is understood to have signed one such agreement.

That means the Scuderia has only got to fill a seat for a season. And that’s why Luca di Montezemolo keeps on saying Sergio Perez isn’t ready. Of course Perez is ready. He’s so ready, he could jump in and take on Alonso today. But if Ferrari fields Perez next season then they know they have to drop him in 2014. So why do that to the kid and to his career? If Ferrari ever gets its way and is allowed to run three cars, OK, maybe then. But as things stand, Perez will be kept at a satellite team until Alonso retires, and he will then be moved across to join Ferrari, perhaps even alongside Vettel. But that’s going a bit too far down into the future.

So maybe the team sticks with Massa, and there is every chance that it will do just that. Or maybe it signs someone who needs a feather in their hat, someone who is flying under the radar… someone who needs a bit of positive PR for a season to relaunch their career. Hulkenberg has been mooted, and discussions have apparently taken place, but as I said, I see McLaren as by far the better option in that respect. But there is another name that keeps on cropping up, and he, too, has reportedly been to Maranello to have a bit of a chat.

Heikki Kovalainen was team-mates with Fernando Alonso at Renault. The duo are friends, and have much respect for each other. Caterham isn’t reinvigorating the Finn’s career in quite the way he would have hoped. But a season in a Ferrari? It’s perfect. The Finn would be a neat fit. Technically gifted, a good car developer and a tidy racer, I could see Heikki slotting in alongside Fernando for 2013.

Uncertain times ahead at Force India
© James Moy Photography

Then it all gets a bit more difficult to predict.

Who stays and who goes at Force India? Rumours are that neither driver has been paid this season. Vijay Mallya’s money troubles are well documented and Sahara’s not exactly enjoying the easiest of financial times right now. All of which begs the question of where that leaves the Force India team at all in 2013. It’s a sad state of affairs because that team produces consistently quick cars and is one of very few teams in F1 to utilise a ladder scheme for its drivers, promoting youth after giving it a chance to shine in practice sessions. Force India does its racing the way racing should be done. Vitaly Petrov’s name has ben linked to the team, so too Kamui Kobayashi and Jaime Alguersuari, who we understand has some very good offers on the table for next season.

It appears that Kobayashi may be let go by Sauber at the end of the year. Will Perez stay? Will Telmex money be increased and Esteban Gutierrez enter the fold? What about Alguesuari? Kovalainen has been mooted too. Interestingly, so too has Charles Pic, who has kept Timo Glock more than honest at Marussia this season.

Bruno Senna is believed likely to become a free agent after a season at Williams, with the aforementioned Valtteri Bottas taking the second seat at the team alongside Pastor Maldonado. Bottas has a big fan in Toto Wolff, and with an increasing number of Finnish sponsors showing up on the Williams it now seems only a matter of time until the inevitable promotion for the young, talented, and mega quick Bottas into a fulltime race seat.

As for the other teams, it is all a bit up in the air.

Caterham may have to find two new drivers next season. Charles Pic has been mentioned, but what the team really needs is someone with experience and a keen eye for car development. Marussia will keep Glock who is tied in for another few years, and I expect to see Max Chilton graduate from GP2 and line up alongside him. And as for HRT, I have genuinely no idea.

There are question marks over what happens to the likes of Massa, Petrov, Kobayashi and Pic in 2013, none of whom have any guarantees. There are questions over the GP2 graduates such as champion Davide Valsecchi and runner up Luiz Razia, both of whom will need to find big sponsors to make the next step. So too will WSR drivers such as Sam Bird and Jules Bianchi who have impressed hugely with their roles as reserve driver in F1 this season. And speaking of reserve drivers, Jerome d’Ambrosio handled himself tremendously at Monza standing in for Grosjean and fighting valiantly without KERS.

As always the ratio of seats to drivers is weighted heavily against the drivers and some highly talented racers will be left without a place at the top table.

And, as always, the driver market relies almost entirely on one key happening.

When Michael Schumacher walks away, or when Lewis Hamilton announces he is leaving McLaren, all hell is going to break loose.

Until then, it’s all just talk. And at the end of the season, everyone will have re-signed with their current teams and we’ll be wondering what all the fuss was about.

Don’t you love Silly Season?

Spa, Stewards, Standards and Safety…

Spa’s big talking point c/o James Moy Photography & XPB

The start of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix was not Romain Grosjean’s finest moment. It was by no means the worst thing he’s ever done in his career, but it wasn’t the best either. If we look at it in simple terms, he pushed a rival to the limit… actually slightly over the limit, and the resultant accident which his move sparked has, quite rightly, resulted in a race ban.

He’s held his hands up, admitted fault, and for that he must be commended. But now the vultures will start to pick at the bones of the incident. They will point to the fact that he’s had X number of contacts in his Formula 1 career, what percentage of those have occurred on the first lap, and how many other drivers such moments have affected. He’ll be cast into the role of young hothead, a GP2 graduate who doesn’t understand the finesse required in Formula 1. He’ll be dubbed a cocky upstart who had the temerity to turn down the offer of counselling and coaching from Sir Jackie Stewart.

He’ll have to read those column inches and suck it all up, watching from afar as his rivals compete for glory at the Autodromo di Monza. He’ll have to learn, and come back stronger.

Of course he’s not the first and won’t be the last driver to be banned for such a faux pas. Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen were both parked in 1994, and they both went on to become world champions. Eddie Irvine was parked that season too, and he very nearly won a world title. But perhaps it’s the fact that an unsuspended ban hasn’t been handed down in 18 years that is causing the greatest shock. It marks Grosjean out as a danger, the likes of which the sport has not felt it correct to punish for almost two decades.

I don’t think such a picture is fair on Grosjean. I don’t believe for a moment that he is a danger. I don’t believe that he is thoughtless or reckless. In the vast majority of instances this season I believe he has been desperately unlucky. But for Spa alone, and purely on its own, I still feel he deserves the ban.

Punishments in Formula 1, no scrap that… punishments in single seater motor racing need to be far harsher than they are right now. And they need to become clearer and be applied with increased standardisation. From F1 down to entry level Formula Ford, even karting, a racing action of questionable moral standing must have the same regulatory reaction. Inconsistency between categories, and inconsistency even from a race to race basis in an individual category must be stamped out.

Fernando Alonso c/o James Moy Photography

Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali have both referenced the fact that young GP2 drivers are entering Formula 1 with a different core understanding of racing to the previous generation. They claim GP2 graduates are more willing to take risks, safe in the knowledge that the cars will save them and safe in the knowledge that the worst punishment they will receive is a few grid spots penalty at the next event.

Sadly, I can’t argue with that. It’s a view even GP2 drivers have shared with me. Not just that their rivals act this way, but even that they themselves have, at times, pushed just a touch harder than they thought they should because they had no fear of the consequences.

The cars and the tracks are so safe that they know they’ll walk away. The punishments are so slight that a grid penalty is no real hardship. Fines hit them hard because budgets are so tight on the F1 ladder, but they don’t hurt so much in Formula 1. When Pastor Maldonado can bring almost £30million to buy a ride in the big time, does the FIA really think $10,000 is going to affect his wallet?

The only answer, as far as I see it, is to start parking drivers. Just as they have with Grosjean. You want to make a racing driver think about his actions? You want to hit him where it hurts? Don’t make his wallet lighter. Don’t make him start a few places back down the grid. Just show him how it feels to sit at home and watch a race in which he should be taking part. Let him watch as his replacement steps into HIS car and drives it either better or worse than he could. Let his heart pump fast and strong, let him punch his pillow in frustration, let him scream at the unfairness of it all… from in front of a television. Let him know that a lifetime’s dream, a lifetime’s dedication will be flushed down the toilet if he doesn’t shape up. Take away everything he’s worked for. Make him appreciate what he’s got.

And it is something that has to go from the top down.

It’s all too easy to say that GP3 and GP2 drivers get away with terrible moves, when those very same moves aren’t punished in F1. Lead by example. Lead from the front. Make an example of the F1 drivers, and make that same example of those in the junior categories, from GP2 and GP3 to WSR, F3, F2, AutoGP… karting.

I’ve seen some awful manoeuvres go unpunished and even left uninvestigated in junior racing this year.

Conor Daly c/o GP3 Series Media Service

Conor Daly’s smash in Monaco was the tipping point. I felt Dmitry Suranovich should have been parked but the FIA decided that it was Daly who was at fault and gave him a ten place grid penalty for the next race. But my question to the stewards in that incident remains this… if Daly’s actions were enough to find him at fault for the accident why was he not banned? That accident put the lives of the marshals at the side of the track, and of his fellow competitors at serious risk. His loose wheel almost landed on Vicky Piria’s helmet. His car almost took out a marshal post. So if the stewards were able to come to the frankly baffling conclusion that Daly was at fault, then they should have parked him.

Sergio Canamasas in GP2 pushed Simon Trummer over the line and into the wall on the last lap in Hungary. The Spaniard wasn’t even investigated. Roll forward to the next race at Spa and on the run down to Eau Rouge he tried to put Nat Berthon through the wall and into the old pitlane. This time Canamasas was handed a four place grid penalty. Why four places? Because that was all that was needed to get him to the back of the grid.

Seems ludicrous, right? If a move is considered that bad park him. Not just for Spa but for the next weekend in Monza.

It saddens me to have to make this comparison, but even football (soccer) gets it right. The yellow and red card system of fouls works. It works because everyone knows the rules. OK, you still have referees as ultimate arbiters and some have different views on which tackles are OK, which are worth a yellow and which are worth a red, but the rules are clearly laid down. Unfortunately for football, for as long as video replays aren’t used, it’s tough for the ref to ever be 100% right.

Motor racing stewards do have such facilities however. They have the data, they have the video, they have everything at their disposal. What they don’t have is a clear system and definition of what penalties to apply for what action, nor the gumption and assuredness to hand down such penalties if they feel it correct to do so.

Pastor Maldonado flies to the GP2 crown in 2010
c/o GP2 Media Service

Driver behaviour needs to be reigned in and it needs to be done so from an early age. It all stems from the example set in Formula 1, both by the drivers themselves and the respect that they extend to each other, but especially in the stewarding of the event and the penalties applied when drivers overstep the mark. This should then be applied across all championships.

Yellow cards should, in my mind, become a tool used to warn drivers of their behaviour. Three yellows in a season, miss a race. Just like football. Straight red? Miss a race.

Such a system however will never work until all incidents are dealt with equally. And by equally I say not just that a dangerous move in F1 is treated the same way in GP2 and GP3, but also that penalties are applied with the same severity no matter who is involved in the incident.

That the FIA, in its reasoning for banning Grosjean from racing at the Italian Grand Prix referenced the fact that his actions had caused a number of championship contenders to be eliminated from the race was utterly shameful. What difference does it make whether he had taken out Hamilton and Alonso, or de la Rosa and Pic? Does the victim of the crime have any bearing on the severity of that crime? Should such a consideration determine the severity of the punishment?

Pastor Maldonado made contact with Timo Glock in the Belgian Grand Prix. For that he was handed a five place grid penalty. If it had been Vettel, a championship contender, would it have been a race ban?

We shouldn’t have to ask these questions, but sadly we are left in utter disbelief at the insensitivity and glaring stupidity of the words printed on FIA headed paper. Words which set a dangerous precedent.

Robert Cregan c/o GP3 Series Media Service

There will be calls, renewed calls, for cockpit safety to be looked at once again in the aftermath of F1’s big wake up in Spa. For me, the bigger call should have come after Robert Cregan’s GP3 shunt in which his left rear was kept attached to the car by the tether, lodged onto the sidepod and was thrust into his helmet as his Ocean careered backwards into the tyre barrier at Pouhon on Saturday. That was a wake-up call. But did anyone pay attention? Conor Daly’s crash in Monaco, his bouncing stray wheel… did anyone pay attention to that? Lewis Williamson weaving in Spa? When Schumacher did that to hold the McLarens at bay in Monza, the world cried foul. But when I did so this year in the GP3 race, some of my colleagues thought I had overstepped the mark? But why? I’m sure the FIA have these things fresh in their mind, but why does the rest of the waking world only seem to pay any attention when it occurs in F1?

It’s the same question as befalls the issue of parity in penalties. Why are things that occur on an F1 weekend in GP2 and GP3 not treated with the same gravity as those that happen in F1? Why are the same questions not asked, and the same judgements applied?

Yes, cockpit safety does need to be looked at… but ask yourself this. If drivers arriving in Formula 1 already feel invincible, if they already have no fear of being hurt, how will increasing the level of safety improve that?

Do not, and I must stress this, do not get me wrong. I am not saying we should stop constantly striving for a safer sport. While motor racing will never be 100% safe, we all want to go racing in a world where the potential for injury or worse to a driver or anyone at a track is as low as possible.

However, improving driver safety is not a fix to the question of driving standards.

But improving driving standards can aid, without question, the safety of racing drivers and all those who work in motorsport.

Something must be done. It is sad and shocking to admit this, but many have been the times this year where learned colleagues, and people whose opinions in this sport I respect and value have said, under hushed breath, that only when the very worst happens will this generation finally understand that this is not a game. It is life and death at 300kph. Some F1 drivers grew up with Dan Wheldon. Many in junior categories grew up racing Henry Surtees. They know, better than most, the reality of what they do.

Nobody wants a repeat of Vegas or Brands Hatch. Nobody.

But it isn’t just the drivers who are at risk. Think of the photographers standing on the inside of La Source, the fans in the grandstands, the track workers, marshals…

The last thing anybody wants is to strangle the fun, the enjoyment and the racing spectacle out of single-seaters. But driving standards must improve. Drivers must regain respect for one another, and for their sport. They must learn that they cannot rely on their cars or the racetracks to save them. Only their own actions, and the actions of their racing brothers and sisters on track can do that.

Then, there won’t be the need for penalties. But until they learn, until they show the world that they can be trusted with their own safety, and the safety of those around them, they should be punished. And punished severely.

From F1, all the way down to karts.

Vicky Piria c/o GP3 Series Media Service

California Dreamin’ – Indycar impressions

I’d got my ski pants on but I was still cold. Shivering in the Silverstone pitlane, waiting for Force India’s new car to be unveiled, I got talking to a colleague about the year ahead.

“Anything fun on the agenda?” I asked.

“Yeah, actually,” he smiled. “I’m moving to the States. Indycar. I can’t wait.”

“Oh wow,” I replied. “Say hi to…” I ran through a list of everyone I knew racing in the championship in my mind… “well… say hi to everyone for me.”

Fast forward seven months and the two of us are standing by the side of a track once again. Only this time, it’s not a cold Silverstone. The sun is beating down on the track formerly known as Sears Point, Sonoma, California. There is not a cloud in the sky. Practice for the GoProGP of Sonoma is well underway, and I have a cold beer in my hand.

“Enjoying it, then?” I ask.

“Are you kidding?” he smiles. “It’s immense.”

This past weekend saw my very first attendance of an Indycar race and I’ve got to be honest, I was blown away. From my first impression to my last, there was very little I could find about the experience that I did not completely love.

My decision to attend the race had been fairly last minute. A free weekend without F1, an Indycar race in the heart of California’s wine region, and the potential of seeing my old friend Giorgio Pantano back behind the wheel had been the primary incentives of the trip away. As it turned out, Giorgio was only required to stand in for Charlie Kimball at Mid Ohio, but the Indycar grid is so populated with drivers I’ve worked with through the years, and the paddock so full of people I’ve known or worked with, I was sure I’d have a good time.

Ganassi’s PR guru Kelby Krauss was my first point of contact, and he put me in touch with Amy Konrath, who heads up PR for Indycar itself. The procedure for accreditation was simple enough and in the days before my departure for the race, I’d had emails including a full press conference and PR commitments timetable for all the teams and drivers, a garage and paddock diagram detailing where I could find everyone, a full list of contacts for the championship, the track and the teams, and even which twitter handles and hashtags I should use when talking about the weekend in order to properly promote the event online.

Colour me impressed.

Sonoma itself sits about an hour and a bit (with a clear run…) north of San Francisco. With that in mind, and considering this was to be a bit of a holiday for me, I thought I’d grab a little bit of style and hire a car befitting such a glorious part of the world. A Ford Mustang seemed to fit the bill, convertible of course. With the Bullitt soundtrack in my bag, I was all primed to spend the first few hours of my time in California driving around San Fran, top down, Lalo Schifrin’s music blaring out of my speakers, pretending I was Steve McQueen… or Frank Bullitt to be more precise. So imagine my giddy joy when I pulled out of SFO and found myself following, I kid you not, a Dodge Charger. I couldn’t stop smiling.

And then I hit San Francisco’s infamous traffic. But with the top down, some good tunes and absolutely glorious weather, I cared not one jot.

I was up early on Friday morning, a combination of jet lag and excitement and made my way into the track, a simple 20 minute drive from my hotel in American Canyon, at which the Ed Carpenter team were also staying. Credentials were picked up in 30 seconds from a very cheery lady, and I made my way down to the paddock and into the media centre. I was stood there for all of 30 seconds before I heard, “Will Buxton?”

“Yes,” I said, turning around.

“What are you doing here?”

It was to be a question I was asked hundreds of times over the weekend, and one I never got tired of answering.

“Long time fan, first time attendee,” I confirmed.

“Wow, well it’s a real pleasure to have you here.”

I stood and talked for half an hour, I think. Well, two mugs of coffee at least, chatting about F1, the summer break, and of course the Mustang / Charger situation from the day before.

It’s a funny thing, but I’d never been anywhere where anybody recognised me before. I’ve been on TV in America for the last three years, but at F1 races I’ve never really bumped into too many people who catch the SPEED broadcast. To be recognised was a slightly surreal but incredibly nice experience.

When I finally walked into the media centre, all the seats had the dreaded reserved stickers on them already. Rocking up on a Friday had been a mistake clearly. I should have got there on Thursday, and reserved my seat. Rookie mistake Buxton, rookie mistake. But hello, what’s this? A seat, reserved for me. Sat on the desk a notepad and pen from the track, a bound volume of results for the current season and an inch thick press kit for the IZOD Indycar Series. Sporting regulations, technical regulations, driver biographies, team histories, contact information, complete historical data, track guides. I was one of the first journalists there (thank you jetlag) and it appeared that pre-reserved seats are a matter of course in Indycar.

Colour me very impressed.

I popped down to Ganassi and found Kelby. He gave me a tour of the garage. One long garage. Housing all the teams. No dividing walls, nothing hidden apart from dampers… open. More open than I was expecting. Then into the trucks, through a few doors and into a briefing room at the back.

“Bloody hell mate, what are you doing here?”

“Long time fan, first time attendee,” I grinned.

“Great place for your first race. Hey, have you heard from Tremayne? Has the crazy bastard done his jet car run yet? How did it go?”

“It went well I think. He’s still in one piece. He sends his best.”

Dario Franchitti is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in motorsport. A proper racer and a real gentleman, we sat down and had a good catch up.

Ten minutes go by and in walks Scott Dixon. He sits down and looks over.

“Oh hi,” he smiles as he holds out his hand to shake. “I know you from the TV!”

“I know YOU from the TV!” I laugh.

Much banter is swapped, but I don’t want to outstay my welcome. We say our goodbyes, I wish the boys luck, and Kelby shows me back to the paddock.

“Anything you need, just ask,” he says.

“I will,” I lie. I don’t want to be a burden. Target, Ganassi’s title sponsor, are bringing 400 guests to the race. It’s Kelby’s busiest event of the year. Having me bending his ear is the last thing he needs. And yet, minutes before practice is due to start, a text lands with my phone… from Kelby.

“If you want to put some headphones on and join us in the pits, come down.”

By this point though, I’m already trackside with Mark Glendenning, he of that chilly Silverstone morning at the Force India launch. I’ve known Mark for many years. He’s worked at Autosport for as long as I can remember, covering GP2 for a number of years. We both used to write for Australasian Motorsport News a few years back. The move to America has been good to him.

He looks fresh faced, happy, spirited. There are only two races left in his season after Sonoma and he looks like it has only just started. He and his wife have picked up everything from the UK and moved out to America, soon to be moving once again to be close to Sonoma.

“You’d like it here,” he attests over a beer at the top of Turn 2, sort of a compressed version of Eau Rouge with less run off and no fences. “It’s a bit like GP2, but with even more fan access.”

Speaking of GP2, I bump into EJ Viso after practice. The Venezuelan, who will always be “Ernie” or “The Furry Wombat” to me, never “E.J.”, has become an integral piece in the Indycar puzzle in recent years. A talented racer who has won in every category he’s ever contested, we go back a good eight years. We hang out for a bit, and then shoot off for dinner. He can’t give me an address, so I just follow his car for 40 minutes, deep into the Californian countryside, until we come across a tiny town and a fabulous Italian restaurant.

Ernie, me, and Team VI5O talk and laugh long into the evening, recounting Formula 3 and P1 motorsport, pool parties in F3000, and the day he nearly bought it in GP2 at Magny Cours. I can sense the frustration in him that he’s not regularly challenging at the front in Indycar, but I can see the desire that still burns and the intelligence to know how and what to change.

Saturday is another sweltering day. It starts off cold however, and over a coffee and a Danish I am invited for an audience with Randy Bernard, the Bernie Ecclestone of Indycar. Quiet, understated, I like him immediately. We talk, we laugh, we discuss F1, Indycar, GP2, GP3, Indy Lights, TV, the past, the future, life, love, loss…

And then the wail of cars. I return to the media centre and find Marshall Pruett of SPEED.com, who takes me trackside.

“We can’t stand here, surely?” I scream at him over the noise of the cars.

“Sure we can,” he laughs. “This isn’t Formula 1. But don’t stand too close to the wall. If something hits it, it’ll move back. Give it a foot.”

I give it about 20ft, and walk up a hill.

Imagine, if you will, a sequence of corners similar to Maggotts and Becketts at Silverstone. Then imagine that there is about 4 metres of runoff at either side and that this run off is fairly dry grass. Then imagine a concrete wall at about knee height. Then a small hill, and a fence up to about head height. The photographers stand behind the knee high wall, shooting cars flying straight at them at over 150mph. No catch fencing. Only a certain part of the wall is covered by a tyre wall. This, I think to myself, must be what F1 was like 25 years ago.

It’s completely insane. It’s ludicrously unsafe. Stupid. Absolutely stupid.

But it is incredible. I feel a rush every time a car flies past my face. I think of how much my photographer friends in F1 would love this. No complaining about the placement of holes in catch fencing for them here. There isn’t any bloody catch fencing.

Copyright 2012 Marshall Pruett

I jump the fence back to the grandstands and start to walk back to the paddock.

“Will Buxton? What are you…”

“Long time fan, first time attendee…”

A few photos, a nice chat, Lotus’ new rear wing device, can Schumacher win a race, will Alonso take the title, who is my money on for the Indycar race?

It’s lovely to chat to so many fans, something which is repeated as I walk around the main grandstand, through the fanzone, just soaking it all in.

I’ve been welcomed into the Indycar media centre with open arms by fellow journalists and photographers, but when qualifying comes around, I want to be in the stands. I bump into my friend Ashley, and she and I sit in the main grandstand watching qualifying unfold in front of us. I buy myself another cold beer because… well because I can. I’m on holiday and for the first time in ten years I’m at a race track as a fan and not in a professional capacity.

The Penske’s are fast. Unstoppably fast. At least three tenths to half a second over everyone else. There’s no way they’re not going to have this whole weekend sewn up with pace like that.

Back in the paddock I have a catch up with Achim Hofstadter, Rubens Barrichello’s physio, and Rubens himself as he leaves his truck.

“We miss you in F1,” I tell him.

“I miss it too,” he smiles… “sometimes.”

I guess it’s tough for anyone to settle into new surroundings after 20 years in one environment. And although Rubens has made noises about missing racing in F1, the impression he gives is that he is genuinely enjoying his first season in America. He just wants to be more competitive.

Saturday night comes and goes in a blur of an early evening nap, room service and another 4am wake-up. No point in trying to beat jet-lag when I’ve got to have my game face on for Spa in a few days.

And so to Sunday.

Copyright 2012 Jamey Price

I’d been very lucky over the weekend to have been offered two laps of the track. The first was with Johnny O’Connell in the frankly bonkers Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, and the second had come on Saturday in the Honda Civic pace car. It was while waiting for that very ride that I’d had a poke in the ribs and turned around to see a small tanned person with curly grey hair and funky white sunglasses.

“Hey, I heard a rumour you were here. Good to see you. We should get you a lap in the back of my car. How about tomorrow?”

“Well I… yeah… sure… I mean… if it wouldn’t be too much trouble… Um…Wow…”

“Great, it’s done. You’ll love it. It’s the standard engine. They put a turbo in yesterday but I blew it up. The brakes are too small so you can’t get it slowed down enough, but that’s half the fun, right?”

And that’s how I got to have a lap of Sonoma, this incredible undulating, flowing circuit with elements of Spa, the Nordschlieffe, Istanbul Park and Silverstone, with Mario Andretti in the two seater Honda powered IZOD Indycar.

Let me say that again… Mario. Andretti. One of the greatest drivers of all time. A legend. A proper bona fide legend. This was going to be like getting in the ring with Ali, playing five a side with Pele… jamming on stage with Jimi Hendrix. This sort of thing doesn’t happen everyday.

Jamey Price, a hugely talented young American motorsport photographer who flew himself out to Barcelona for pre-season F1 testing was on hand as I got suited up and he graciously shot some lovely images as I prepared to get into the car with the 1978 Formula 1 World Champion.

One of the organisers took me to the side. You’ll be the fourth person in today. Mario’s told me to keep you until then so that the tyres are up to temperature. He wants to give you a proper run.

Now I’ve had a two seater run in the past, with Alan van der Merwe and Bruno Senna in the F1 two seater and those rides were out of this world. But if there’s one downside to the experience it’s that you can see so little. It’s the nature of the beast. However the indycar two seater was different.

In the Indycar, the passenger sits a little higher, and as is the nature of an Indycar, has a hollow roll hoop to look through. As such, I had a fantastic view of the track, and as I looked straight ahead and angled down just a touch, there was an even better view. That silver helmet resplendent with red stripe going front to back.

Chills. Absolute chills.

Mario gave it full beans, through Turns 1 and 2, the Eau Rouge of Sonoma. Falling away down hill, I turned in with him for the left hander at 3, over the blind crest at 4, leaving our stomachs behind as we turned in for the right at 5. Back on the power you rise up to the entry of 6, a smooth long left falling away downhill before blasting up the straight and getting hard on the brakes at the end. We take way too much speed into the re-profiled Turn 7, running high over the exit curbs and run-off, throwing it into the esses and taking to the old track so we didn’t have to slow at the new chicane, before taking Turn 10 flat out. We slow into 11 and the lap is over.

I am in raptures.

My legs are a little wobbly, but I am buzzing. What an experience. What an honour. I’ll say it again… Mario. Andretti. Wow.

I make my way back into the fanzone and buy myself an Indycar cap as a souvenir. I buy a cold beer and walk around watching the world go by.

“Excuse me, but are you Richard Hammond?”

“No,” I reply. “But I have seen him here this weekend. I think he’s around the paddock.”

“Thanks, I love him!”

I make my way to the NBC stage where Kelby has invited me to join him. We wait for Scott to finish his TV spot, and I meet his lovely wife Emma. We all rush together to the grid, as Scott is late for his intro. Emma’s got a dodgy leg. My offer of a piggy back is graciously turned down, so we slow down and let Scott and Kelby run off.

“What happens now?” I ask.

“Just watch,” Emma, who it turns out is from not too far away from where I grew up in England, smiles.

Out of a huge truck, Scott emerges from the roof, like a boyband member dressed in overalls. Fireworks, BOOM. Flames. Tickertape. It’s like McCartney encoring Live and Let Die!

“That’s mental!” I shout.

“You should have seen it at the start of the season. The flames were too low and it was burning their eyebrows!” Emma giggles.

The pre race is now in full swing. I can’t figure out what part of the track we are on, but it turns out we are not on the grid, but in the pitlane, standing by the cars, surrounded not just by VIPS and celebs, drivers, mechanics and engineers… but mostly by fans.

I stand by the green Go Daddy car of James Hinchcliffe. I get an arm around my back.

“Having a good time mate?”

“This is amazing Hinch. Amazing.”

“Knew you’d like it,” he smiles.

Silence falls across the track. A lone female solider sings the anthem.

Chills. For the second time that day.

Then applause, cheering, fans dispersing the grid, sudden movement.

BOOOOOOM

“WHAT THE FU…”

BOOOOOOM

“HOLY SHIT WHAT THE…”

BOOOOOOM

I turn around to run, covering my head. Hinch’s mechanics are in hysterics as the US Army lets off a canon salute on the grid and I jump with every bang.

“I wasn’t expecting that!” I shout.

BOOOOOOM

“You’d never know!” comes the sarcastic reply.

BOOOOOOM

“Good luck guys!”

I make my way off the grid and back to the grandstand. Once again, I want to watch a race from the stands with the fans. I can sit in a media centre anytime. And besides, I’m already sunburnt. My nose can’t get any redder.

The race goes almost the entire duration without a caution period, and then there are two in the final laps, one of which including Sebastian Bourdais and Josef Newgarden which sees the former GP3 star and Indy Lights champion hit the very wall Marshall and I had stood behind in practice a few days before. Everyone is OK.

The race finishes with a surprise win for Ryan Briscoe ahead of Will Power and Dario Franchitti. A Penske 1-2. I stand to the side of the podium, with fans behind me, the team in front and photographers to the right. Wine is drunk. Champagne is sprayed. Interviews are conducted.

And then it’s all over. The cars are packed away, the drivers give their quotes, and everyone leaves.

It’s been an amazing weekend and I have had an incredible time. I’ve been bowled over by Indycar and the way the championship is run. The staff at Sonoma have been amazing and so friendly, Indycar’s staff, from its CEO down, have been welcoming, personable, kind and helpful. The teams have been amazing, none more than Ganassi and Kelby. The paddock is an open community for fans to meet their heroes, a hub of excitement mixed with the smell of grease and carbon fibre. The Indycar media has been so accommodating of me, that I can’t tell if it’s the fuel or dust in the air or a bit of emotion that as I leave the media centre my right eye won’t stop streaming. The drivers are amazing. I must have stopped and spoken with at least two thirds of the grid at some point of the weekend.

As I leave the track in the Mustang, I have time sat in the inevitable traffic to contemplate and reflect on my weekend. And it’s been an amazing weekend. Did I enjoy myself so much because I wasn’t working and could just let my hair down? Or was it something more, something special about the championship?

Ultimately, I think it’s the latter. Indycar, it seems to me, gets an awful lot right. The way it treats its fans, the set-up, the paddock, the fan zone… it’s like a GP2 paddock but more open, more fan friendly, more… just more! It really feels like a community, not just between the teams, drivers and media, but among the fans too.

Would I change anything? Sure. I’d change the pitch of the engine note to make it scream. An Indycar is doing the same speed as an F1 car, but it looks slower because it sounds slower. Such is the problem with running a turbo, but that’s the first thing I’d rectify. I’d probably take up Will Power’s suggestion of a mandated smaller rear wing, if and when teams are allowed to modify the rest of the aero kit. And on that topic, Randy’s going to have to keep costs from Dallara in check as regards the cars. I’d love to see a few European teams, and a few more international races outside America. And I’d either drop the delay on push to pass or just get rid of the gimmick altogether, just as I’d drop DRS and KERS from F1 in a heartbeat.

But these are details.

The simple fact is, Indycar works. It works because it is fun. It works because it understands how racing should be and what the fans should get for the price of their ticket.

I have come away a convert. Many were the times I spoke with lifers in the Indycar paddock who were thrilled with the way the season was going. To many of them, Indycar is headed along a path that will see it return to the golden age of the early 90s. And I believe them.

Just like the first time I saw an F1 car in the flesh, like the first GP2 test I attended, like the first time I stood trackside at Monaco, my weekend in Sonoma made my heart sing.

I’ll be honest, my weekend in California saw me fall a little bit in love… all over again.

Copyright 2012 Jamey Price

Coca Cola and McLaren

It’s an interesting rumour, and one which has been doing the rounds in recent weeks. But just how likely is the much vaunted tie-up between McLaren and Coca Cola?

To be honest, the initial concept was one which excited me. I’d heard the rumour from a number of paddock sources over the past two months: namely, that when Vodafone’s title sponsorship of the team ends (with some sources claiming it will finish prematurely at the end of this season), Coca Cola will step in. Even a livery had apparently been mooted, a sort of homage to the old Marlboro livery we so associate with McLaren. White and red, lest we not forget, are also Coca Cola’s corporate colours.

I tweeted words to the effect that I’d heard a rumour over a possible Vodafone replacement, but that before I could be sure, some digging was needed. And the more I’ve looked into it, I’m afraid to say the less likely a link up seems.

There is one pretty major hurdle that stands in the way of any such deal, and that is McLaren’s link with GlaxoSmithKline. Now the McLaren, GSK link isn’t as simple as a sponsorship deal. When it was announced back in September 2011, the deal was described as being a “long-term strategic partnership” with an initial run time to 2016.

The project and partnership is designed to see the two companies work directly alongside one another. It runs much deeper than a simple sponsorship. Indeed, a “brand-new state-of-the-art learning facility will be constructed as part of the agreement. It will be called the McLaren GSK Centre for Applied Performance and will be located alongside the existing award-winning McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey. Employees from both organisations, and other partners, will be able to use the facility to share ideas and collaborate on innovative, dynamic and exciting joint working projects.”

This facility is due to be opened next year… the year this rumoured Coca Cola deal is due to begin.

Lucozade sponsorship on the McLaren
c/o James Moy Photography

GSK already has branding on the McLaren in the form of large Lucozade logos on the car’s rear wing. Lucozade, an energy drink, has certain major competitors in the market place. Red Bull, of course, is an obvious example. So too is Powerade, an energy drink owned by none other than the Coca Cola Company.

It seems fairly simple. For as long as the GSK partnership exists, a Coca Cola tie in would be nigh on impossible.

But McLaren and Coca Cola do have history. Think back to the late 1990s and into the 2000s. The McLarens carried Schweppes logos. Schweppes is part of the Coca Cola group. Why did Coca Cola not continue that sponsorship? If Formula 1 was no longer the right vehicle for Schweppes, why should it be for Coca Cola? Yes the two brands have vastly different identities, but Schweppes, a Coca Cola company, pulled out at a time when Red Bull was starting to make serious inroads commercially and was on the verge of launching its own team. So worried were both the Coca Cola Company and PepsiCo about the threat posed by Red Bull that they either launched or bought their own brand of energy drink, Pepsi purchasing SoBe, and Coca Cola launching its own Full Throttle brand.

Now, is Coca Cola giving Formula 1 a serious look? From what I understand of the situation, yes it is. But is that look being made in relation to the title sponsorship of McLaren? No, I don’t believe that it is.

Hypothetically speaking, if I was Coca Cola, and I was seriously thinking about trying to take on Red Bull in motorsport, I know exactly where I would start. It’d take some selling, but I would start in GP2.

Justin Wilson (GBR)
Formula 3000 International Championship, 2001
c/o http://www.justinwilson.co.uk

Back in 2001 and 2002, Coca Cola title sponsored the Nordic Racing F3000 team running, amongst others, Tomas Enge, Ryan Briscoe and Justin Wilson. The Briton was even crowned champion in 2001 carrying Coca Cola sponsorship on his bright red Lola and overalls. And yet Coke pulled out after two years and having won the title.

So Coke has already been a presence in an F1 feeder category and decided to jump ship. But just as Formula 1 is a different proposition to the championship that Schweppes was a part of, so GP2 is a different game to F3000. The big difference, in terms of Coca Cola’s brand, is that GP2 is the one championship on earth that Red Bull won’t touch. Ever since their logos left the Arden cars, Red Bull has had no official link with the championship and has placed not a single one of their junior drivers in the series. The door, at least from Coke’s perspective, is wide open.

Take title sponsorship of a team. Hell, take naming rights for the championship. Get that Coca Cola logo on every podium, on every set of race overalls, on every car, and then they might start to see some return, start building a presence at F1 events, before making the move across to the big paddock.

Coca Cola may remain one of the single largest and most recognisable brands on earth, but it still loses out to Red Bull in certain new key demographics. Take a nightclub, for example. Of an evening, how many people will ask for a vodka and coke, and how many will ask for a vodka Red Bull?

Red Bull dominates top level motor racing. Motor Racing remains, across the globe, a very cool, aspirational sport, in particular to those very same people ordering a vodka Red Bull in a bar or a club. Red Bull has the energy drink and the motorsport marketing angles completely sewn up. It would be no surprise to see Coca Cola try to take on that dominance. Indeed, it has already started in America, taking naming rights to NASCAR races, and title sponsorship of Drag Racing championships though numerous brands including Coca Cola and Full Throttle. Some voices have even claimed Coca Cola may choose to purchase a rival energy drink such as Monster in order to take on Red Bull. But with Coca Cola already owning Powerade, Full Throttle, not to mention Relentless which is already Monster’s major rival, why would they need to?

Does Coke need to enter F1 to help this push? I can see the arguments asking why they’d even bother. But imagine how much Coca Cola spends on sponsoring major sporting events such as the recent Euro 2012 soccer tournament or the upcoming London Olympics. Now tell me why spending a fraction of that on F1 sponsorship wouldn’t be worth their while?

Of course this whole thing has cropped up because of rumours Vodafone will be pulling out of its commitments with McLaren. This is yet to be confirmed, and there is a lot of assumption going on that they won’t continue with title sponsorship of the team. The world’s largest telecommunications company has come under massive pressure over the past two years with regard to alleged unpaid tax amounting to billions of pounds of lost revenue to the UK tax office, with India also taking the company to task over tax issues.

Meanwhile, all is not rosy at GSK. GlaxoSmithKline announced an agreement to pay $3 billion in fines to US Federal prosecutors for promoting its antidepressants for unapproved uses and neglecting to report safety data about one of its diabetes drugs. While there has been no discussion that this will affect their ongoing relationship and partnership with McLaren, GSK will certainly have taken a knock.

Regardless of Vodafone or GSK’s plight, Coca Cola in F1 would be huge news.

Will its entry ultimately be with McLaren? I doubt it.

But will Coca Cola enter Formula 1? As Coca Cola? I really do hope so.