Jenson Button is a class act. In the ‘green room’ before the podium ceremony he smiled and warmly congratulated the new World Champion as he walked through the door – then firmly made it clear that he won’t forget Sebastian Vettel’s ruthless chop at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix.

“Didn’t you see me at the start?” asked Jenson. “You were behind me,” replied an audibly defensive Sebastian. “I was on the grass,” said the race winner, and then laconically: “So that’s how we’re racing then.” No sulking, no histrionics and totally magnanimous towards the deserving World Champion. But he made his point.

As we have come to expect, Button drove a beautifully judged race around the glorious Suzuka circuit, conserving his tyres in what was a tough race for the Pirelli rubber and only pushing when he really had to. That included the final laps of this hard-fought Grand Prix as the McLaren man had to put a spurt on to defend his lead from Fernando Alonso. He had enough in hand, but only just. Having crossed the line, Button pulled up at the pitlane exit, his McLaren short of fuel. It’s become a cliché… but as victories go, there were echoes of Alain Prost.

Vettel had every reason to savour his moment as the youngest back-to-back World Champion. But his actions at the start undoubtedly cast a faint shadow over his crowning glory.

Starting on the dirty side of the front row, Button still made the better get away and had the momentum to charge into the lead. But Vettel clearly had no intention of ceding. He’d said before the race he wanted to win this title from the front and wouldn’t be racing simply for that vital single point, and so it proved. Button wasn’t alongside the Red Bull by any means, but still he was left with no option but to trim the grass on the approach to Turn 1, a moment that allowed his team-mate Lewis Hamilton to sweep around him to claim second place.

“He’s got to get a penalty for that,” said Button on the radio at the end of lap one. But no. Vettel hadn’t done anything illegal. The stewards took another look at it and decided upon no further action. We’ve seen the Vettel chop before, during his first championship year (remember Hockenheim and Silverstone 2010?). Within the rules, it’s not deemed as foul play – but that doesn’t mean it’s not wrong. It’s an ugly tactic – and a dangerous one, too.

Vettel had his lead, but with tyre degradation a heavy factor here at Suzuka he couldn’t just put the hammer down to break from the McLarens. Behind Hamilton and Button, Alonso passed his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa – who had outqualified the former double World Champion – with a DRS-assisted move into Turn 1 at the start of lap six.

After his recent troubles, Hamilton’s gifted second place might have given him hope for a turn in fortunes. Such thoughts would have been wiped out on lap eight as the team notified him that he had a slow puncture on the right rear. Button passed him at Spoon and Lewis made it back to the pits, at least losing a minimum amount of ground in the process. He only lost a single place, to Alonso.

Hamilton’s first pit visit was only a lap ahead of Vettel’s first scheduled stop for another set of option Pirellis, with Button, Alonso and Mark Webber coming in a lap later. Massa made his stop next and emerged behind his ‘mate’ Hamilton and set upon the chase to claim fourth place from the McLaren.

Vettel’s second stint lasted just 10 laps before he was in again, and likewise Button was in a lap later. But this time Jenson had the pace to gain his revenge for the chop. He returned to the track ahead of his rival, in a lead that would prove to be decisive.

But for his team-mate, it was a case of here we go again as Hamilton clashed once again with Massa. On lap 22 Felipe edged alongside Lewis on the outside line as they approached the chicane – and as they had in Singapore, they came together. Hamilton claimed the small, useless mirrors on F1 cars left him with no awareness that Massa was there, and his ignorance of the Ferrari’s position was obvious. There were echoes of Spa and his frightening crash with Kamui Kobayashi, but this time at slower speed both cars survived, although Massa lost some bodywork in the incident. No major drama then, but for Lewis it had been a clumsy moment once again. The 2008 World Champion would later describe his race as “shocking”, and by his high standards it was an accurate assessment.

Massa’s debris and more elsewhere on the circuit brought out the safety car shortly after. At the restart, Button bunched the pack (perhaps over-doing it as they approached the chicane), then made his charge across the line ahead of Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Massa, Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.

Having lost the lead in the second round of stops, Vettel dropped another place at the third and final pit visits. Alonso’s Ferrari stopped four laps later than the Red Bull and grabbed second, but Sebastian wasn’t about to settle for a safe third – to his credit. He harried Alonso and looked set to use his DRS to take the place back, only for traffic (in the form of Jerome d’Ambrosio) to thwart him. His angry fist-waving as he passed the Virgin Racing car gave further indication to Vettel’s determination to win his title by going for “glory”. The lad can never be accused of lacking ambition!

As the race entered its closing stages, it became obvious that Button was far from home and dry. Alonso was still well within range of the McLaren – but crucially not quite within the one-second DRS range to deploy the wing down the start/finish straight. Button responded to the threat and kept Fernando at arm’s length to claim his third win of the season. Given his affinity with Japan and his love of the country, his victory was a popular one.

Vettel made the podium to claim his historic second title, ahead of team-mate Webber, Hamilton and best-of-the-rest Schumacher, who even lead the Grand Prix with an out of sequence strategy.

Sauber’s Sergio Perez scored an excellent seventh, ahead of Lotus Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, who scored the final point having started from the back of the grid.

Next stop, Korea. The championship is over, but in reality it has been for most of the season. Still this season offers much to keep us hooked.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull. Possibly the four most typed, texted and tweeted words in the world of Formula 1 racing these past few weeks. I make no apology, then, for veering away from the talk of the town to a very different part of our racing universe.

But before I do, may I simply add a thought, without using those four words? This young man has been a pure joy to watch, an athlete absolutely at the top of his game in a supremely clever car. He will, in my view, be a deservedly popular World Champion for the second year running. Would he be dominant in a McLaren or perhaps a Ferrari? Who knows? Probably not, but that simply isn’t the point. All great champions have been given a near-perfect car in which to display their talent. This young lad is on his way to claiming a place among the ‘greats’ of our sport.

Anyway, away from all this, we are less than a month from one of the best events in the calendar and one which looks like being better than ever in 2011. For an increasing number of drivers, mechanics – and writers – the start of autumn means a visit to the coast of Portugal. From October 20-23 the magnificent Portimao circuit will host the third Algarve Historic Festival, an event that is rapidly establishing itself as the perfect way to combine some thrilling racing with a short holiday in the Portuguese sunshine. This year the festival coincides with half term, so we can expect the paddock to be full of wide-eyed youngsters who missed out in previous years.

One of the best things about the event is the circuit. The Autodromo Internacional Algarve, or Portimao as it’s better known, is a giant of a race track, a true drivers’ circuit that is just crying out to be used for a Grand Prix. But that’s not likely to happen any time soon. It is fast and very demanding, dipping and climbing around an amphitheatre that gives spectators a fantastic view of the action. This is a track of the old school, but with modern facilities and safety measures. Which is just as well because it is not a place for the faint-hearted. The best of the historic racers climb from their cars beaming from ear to ear.

This year most of the 250 cars already entered will come from Britain where, as we know, historic racing is on an all-time high thanks to events such as the Goodwood Revival and Silverstone Classic.

Promoter Francisco Santos, a former Ford works rally driver, is bullish despite the economic woes of the Eurozone. “We still need more cars for the F2 race,” he tells me on the phone from Lisbon, “but all the other grids are just about full and we will have 300 cars for our third festival. Of course it is also a big party, a chance to enjoy the sunshine, and Motor Sport readers will love to see the Anciens Pilotes, who include Tony Brooks, Richard Attwood and Maria de Filippis (above).” So will this Motor Sport writer.

If you still have some euros, get yourself down to the Algarve and enjoy some great racing before the nights close in and we head into winter. See you there.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Monza on my mind. Sounds like some kind of Italian country and western song, if you can imagine such a thing. But this is not a race report – you can read that elsewhere on the website. This is about the piece of theatre that is mighty Monza as seen from the paddock at Silverstone. All will be explained.

Monza has always been on my mind in September, ever since my first visit to the Autodromo Nazionale in the Royal Parco di Monza just a few miles from Milan – and even when I’m 1000 miles away watching the Le Mans Series cars in the Autosport Six Hours at a windswept Silverstone. The Gran Premio d’Italia at Monza remains one of my all-time favourites. No matter if the race is less than exciting, if the magnificent old circuit has been ‘reduced’ from its former glory. Well, they’ve put in chicanes and taken away the tree that stood in the run-off at the Ascari chicane. Ascari is by far the best of the ‘squiggles’ that were introduced to take some of the heat out of the place. But what matters is the place, the electrifying atmosphere, the history that oozes from the buildings, the trees that line the Lesmos and the old concrete banking that still lurks in the woods above the new track. And Parabolica – now there’s a big, bad, brave old corner in any car.

When first I went to Monza, in 1966, our grandstand seats had been double-booked. No matter, we squeezed in among the tifosi, stood and cheered when the Ferraris streaked past on that seemingly endless straight. It was like finding yourself sitting with the Barcelona fans when you’ve gone to Spain to see Manchester United. Best not to cheer for the Brits or you might find your space has disappeared. I say space because in those days we sat on concrete steps that stretched back from the trackside and up into the semi-darkness of the vast old grandstand opposite the pits. The noise was – and still is – quite incredible. The cars at full throttle all the way from the Parabolica, the crazy tifosi at full volume, and a commentator going mad because the red cars are not on the pace. And that’s worse than not going to Mass.

That’s how it was and that’s pretty much how it is. Yes, the grandstands have been made more comfortable, the pits are bigger and smarter, but the race day traffic is even worse. Patience is a virtue when making your way from Milan to Monza.

So, seeing Monza on the TV screens at Silverstone, the feeling remains. The cars coming out to practice on Friday brings it all back, even if the Audis and Peugeots are whistling round Silverstone just yards away. Monza is fast, the fastest in the world in fact, but an Audi or a Peugeot flat out at Silverstone is an impressive sight. They are so much quicker than the rest of field in this multi-class championship, in a different league technically, financially and philosophically from the petrol-engined cars. The best of both worlds then last weekend – Audis and Peugeots braking impossibly late, gobbling up the straights, headlights on to wake up the backmarkers – and then on TV there’s Sebastian Vettel power-sliding the Red Bull through Ascari and streaking down to Parabolica. Untouchable on this form, Vettel is simply a joy to watch this season.

One of the most over-used words in the English language these days is passion. But passion is truly what Monza means – whether or not you support the Scuderia. There is no other race where you feel such devotion. It is one thing to see a Grand Prix car brake from 210mph, point to the apex and disappear again in the blink of an eye. It’s quite another to see it surrounded by the noisiest, most passionate racing fans in the world. On Sunday Vettel led home four World Champions while, for me, there was another champion – magnificent Monza itself.

If you saw the scenes below the podium, you’ll know what I mean. And this on a day when Red Bull beat Ferrari. Meanwhile, another Sébastien – Bourdais, teamed with Simon Pagenaud – won at Silverstone for Peugeot after a dogged battle with Audi.

Hope you made the most of Monza because next we go under the floodlights in the virtual reality of Singapore where the crowd is invisible.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Spa-Francorchamps. The very words have a sense of excitement, of anticipation, don’t they? Grand Prix cars howling and wailing through the Ardennes, swooping up and down across the valley. Oh yeah, Eau Rouge may be easy flat in a modern car, but Spa is Spa, and it’s good.

And another thing. It is five hours by road from the south of England, the Channel Tunnel making this trip the simplest it’s ever been. Lots of Brits will be there, waving their flags and banners every time ‘our Lewis’ or ‘our Jenson’ go screaming by on another lap of what is still a magnificent racing circuit, even if it’s not the spooky challenge it was in days gone by.

This year the teams go to Belgium after a month’s holiday, an enforced shutdown when – for two weeks – no work may be done on the cars. The drivers will be chomping at the bit, the mechanics will be refreshed and the engineers will have been dreaming up yet more tweaks in the quest to beat those pesky Red Bulls. Just as McLaren, and possibly Ferrari, began to catch up along came a month’s break in the season. It is now or never if anyone is to have the faintest hope of catching Herr Vettel before they go to Brazil in November.

So what makes Spa-Francorchamps one of the great circuits, one of the races you always anticipate with pleasure? Many things, really, but above all it’s the chance to see Formula 1 cars let loose at full chat around a naturally flowing piece of asphalt that dips, dives, climbs and snakes through a valley in the dark green forests of the Ardennes.

Arriving is good. As you wind your way through the woods you can tune in to the circuit radio station, start to get excited. Then you hear the cars, like wild beasts rampaging around beyond the trees that encircle the car parks. These days, sadly, you can’t tell which car is which from the engine noise like you could when Ferraris made their own music and Matras, or Cosworths, sang another kind of song. But despite the homogeny of modern times, this is still a wonderful place to watch an F1 driver at work.

I go in, not to the paddock or pits, but to the top of the hill at Eau Rouge, known as Raidillon, where the cars appear as if about to fly into the sky. Then it’s up into sixth, seventh and flat out down the long straight to Les Combes where Mika Häkkinen so famously outfoxed Michael Schumacher in 2000 when faced with a backmarker at nearly 200mph. From here you may walk as far as you please, pausing to goggle at the sheer grip and grunt of these machines, the commitment of the drivers, and the ridiculous speed with which they change direction. Or walk the other way to Blanchimont where the raw speed beggars belief.

I first saw Jenson Button in a Grand Prix car here in 2000, in a competitive Williams, in tricky weather conditions. He qualified a superb third and finished fifth. It was clear to me and countless others that – given the right opportunities – here was a very talented driver who had earned his rapid rise through Formula 3 to the top level. Took him nine years to get his title… no wonder he looks so much more at ease these days.

So, once you’ve had your fill of the skills on display at a proper circuit, you return – ears ringing – to your hostelry, study the times over a good Belgian beer, eat too many chips with mayonnaise and wonder how we ever ended up in places like Abu Dhabi or Sepang. All Grand Prix racing is good, and fascinating, but European races remain the best.

And Monza is next. Joy. Pure joy. Racing cars, pasta, Parmesan and Chianti. But that’s another story for another day.

Who will win at Spa on Sunday? I have no idea. A month is a long time in modern F1 racing. But, forced to predict, I reckon it’ll be a McLaren.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Welcome to another ‘week in motor sport’. There was plenty to talk about this week and I sat down with features editor Rob Widdows to mull over the Hungarian Grand Prix and the news of new deal with Formula 1, Sky and the BBC.

I am sorry that we’re back to our usual editing quality, but we’re in the process of finding a budget and hope to return to the professional format as soon as possible!

As always, let us know what you think about everything we discuss.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Or, if you’d like to download it…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix marked Jenson Button’s 200th Formula 1 race start. He lined up third on the grid and in the race he drove superbly in mixed conditions. At the scene of his first Grand Prix win in 2006 he crossed the line victorious once again, this time ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in third.

Vettel and Lewis Hamilton had filled the front row in qualifying, but when it became clear that it was going to be a wet start to the race all bets were off. Yes, the Red Bull driver was quick, but so were the McLarens and the Ferraris.

The race started with everyone on intermediate tyres and despite the track being only slightly wet there appeared to be no grip at all. Even Fernando Alonso came off on a couple of occasions and he’s not known for making mistakes.

Vettel led away with Hamilton in second, however, on lap five – when the front-runners were going 28 seconds slower than they had done in qualifying – the German ran wide letting the McLaren driver through.

The racing line soon dried and it was Webber who was the first into the pits on lap 11 to switch to a set of super soft tyres. Jenson Button did the same on the next lap and after he had slithered round part of the lap many were wondering whether Webber and Button had made the right choice. At the end of the lap Vettel and Hamilton also dived in for fresh rubber, but by now Button had been out on the slicks for a lap and, as he does so well in these conditions, had found his confidence and what grip there was. When Vettel emerged from the pits he had his mirrors full of Button’s McLaren and it didn’t take long for Jenson to get by the struggling Red Bull.

Hamilton was in the lead with Button now running comfortably in second place. However, when it looked as though everything had settled down Nick Heidfeld emerged from the pits after stopping for fresh tyres on lap 25 with his car on fire. The Renault driver quickly pulled over by the pit exit and jumped clear, thankfully before the side of the car bizarrely exploded. Luckily the marshals attending the stricken machine were unhurt, but with the car in such a dangerous position it was surely only a matter of time before the safety car was deployed. Webber, Alonso and Hamilton clearly thought the same thing as they all dived into the pits, avoiding the smoking Renault on the exit. Button pitted shortly afterwards on lap 28, but by now it was clear that there wouldn’t be a safety car. Vettel was still out and losing huge amounts of time as his super soft tyres were finished.

The order remained unchanged after the pitstop phase was over, and while Alonso looked worryingly fast for the leaders, they kept a decent gap until Webber pitted once again on lap 40. This time the Red Bull driver opted for the harder of the two compounds, as did Vettel and Button when they pitted on lap 42. But, and this is where it all started to go wrong for Hamilton, the McLaren driver stayed with the super soft rubber. As the order settled down once again the question of whether Hamilton could make it to the end of the 70-lap race started to become the major factor in who was going to win the Hungarian Grand Prix. The harder of the compounds, that all the other front-runners were on, clearly could last the distance, but what of Hamilton?

On lap 47 everything changed. Rain started to fall once again and Lewis spun after catching a wet kerb on the inside of the chicane. As he spun his car back round to rejoin the race Paul di Resta had to make for the grass in order to avoid him. Shortly afterwards we heard that the incident was being investigated by the stewards, one of which was Allan McNish who had also been the driver steward at Monaco earlier in the year. Button was right on the tail of Hamilton now, and if anyone was disappointed after Webber and Vettel were not allowed to race at Silverstone, they certainly got some payback thanks to the McLaren duo.

The pair swapped the lead numerous times over the next lap as with the fresh rain it would be the driver in the lead who got the choice of when they wanted to pit. Hamilton had regained the lead by the pit entry and so he dived in for intermediates, leaving Button to navigate round another slippery lap.

Half the grid was on intermediates by this stage and it looked like the sensible option. However, the rain soon stopped and Hamilton almost immediately started to lose ground, being passed by Alonso on lap 54. That same lap Hamilton, who probably couldn’t imagine his afternoon getting any worse, was told that he had a drive-through penalty because of pushing di Resta off the track.

He pitted first to change back to slicks and then a lap later he served his drive-through. In the space of a few laps Hamilton had gone from the lead of the Grand Prix to sixth, 55 seconds behind Button. He wasn’t done yet though and then passed Massa, who was struggling with shot tyres, and Webber while the pair were negotiating traffic, six laps from the end.

Amazingly Hamilton was extremely calm after the race. “Congratulations to Jenson,” he said after finishing fourth. “He was pushing me hard all race and the best man won today. I need to find Paul (di Resta) and apologise to him because I just didn’t see him.” He went on to complain about radio issues and the fact that the team couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he did finish with “it wasn’t the best call (referring to the choice to pit for intermediates), but that’s racing. The team did a fantastic job and I feel as though I’ve let them down a bit.” It was a very different Hamilton to the man we had seen earlier in the season, furious in post-race interviews.

Jenson Button meanwhile was understandably ecstatic. “What a perfect start to the summer break,” he said on the radio after crossing the line. “Let’s come back and win them all.” I doubt that will happen, but what Button did do on Sunday was prove – once again – that he really is the master of mixed conditions.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The night before the British Grand Prix Fernando Alonso murmured that he thought he really might be able to do something about the Red Bulls this time. He wasn’t overt in his remarks, for that is not Alonso’s way, but merely made the point that of late Ferrari’s race pace had been appreciably more competitive than in qualifying. Even when a second or so from Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber on Saturday, he had been able to show them something on Sunday afternoons – and this time he was within a tenth or so…

An hour or so before the start Fernando took to the track in Bernie Ecclestone’s Ferrari 375, similar to the car with which Froilán González scored the team’s first World Championship victory at Silverstone in 1951. It appeared, in similar circumstances, a few years ago, driven by Michael Schumacher, but Alonso got rather more into the spirit of the thing, and steered the car on the throttle in a manner which would have delighted the flamboyant González. There was a pleasing symmetry about the day, therefore, when Fernando was able to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Froilán’s great day by scoring his – and Ferrari’s – first victory of the season.

There was drama aplenty in this British Grand Prix, and that was good, for the weekend – right up to race time, anyway – was sadly dominated by endless discussion of the wretched blown diffuser rules, which seemed to change by the hour. Not unnaturally it was a matter of overwhelming interest to those directly involved, of course (and every one of them seemed to claim their cars had been more adversely affected than any others), but for everyone else it was simply a consummate bore.

There was unhappiness that a rule change should have been introduced in the middle, rather than at the end, of a season, and bewilderment that the rule change was then amended – and amended and amended…

Eventually one o’clock on Sunday arrived, and it was time simply to get on with it, to go racing. In tricky conditions the day before Webber had taken a very brave pole position, shading team-mate Vettel, with the Ferraris of Alonso and Massa on row two. Jenson Button was happy enough with his position on the grid – fifth – but less so with the fact that his time was a second and a half away from pole. He was, however, a picture of contentment compared with McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who blamed the team for sending him out on the wrong tyres in Q3, and qualified only 10th. He hoped for a wet race, he said.

In part, he got one, at least for a while, for an hour before the start one of the widely forecast showers arrived – but only on part of the circuit. Thus, the start-finish area (now on what used to be the far side of the circuit, of course) was pretty dry, but in other places drivers reported aquaplaning. Although the start was conventional (rather than behind the safety car), the obvious tyre choice was intermediates – which meant, in turn, that the obligation to use both of the slick compounds on offer evaporated.

One of these was the hard compound not seen since Barcelona, where they emphatically did not suit the Ferraris, so it could be that Alonso benefited from a stroke of luck, but on the other hand he claimed that in practice the car now worked very well on the hard Pirellis. “All the recent changes we’ve made to the car have been good,” he said. “We brought quite a big aero update to Silverstone, and everything worked fine. I’m very proud of the team for the recovery they have done…”

Initially, though, it didn’t look as if Alonso – or anyone else – would trouble Vettel this day, the British Grand Prix looking like so many gone before this season. In the – very – mixed conditions Sebastian looked much at ease as he quickly built a lead over Webber, whom he had passed away from the line. Five laps in, he was virtually five seconds to the good.

Alonso ran a couple of seconds behind Webber, but the man really on the move at this stage appeared to be Hamilton, who was quickly up to fifth (from his 10th place on the grid), and picked off Felipe Massa’s Ferrari immediately before the first stops. Although the track had been drying there was some uncertainty as to when the optimum time to go to slicks would be – indeed Webber later said that the leaders probably stayed out too long on the intermediates, nervous of making the switch before the track was truly ready for slicks.

In fact, it was Michael Schumacher who settled the issue – and somewhat inadvertently. On lap nine he rather cack-handedly collided with Kobayashi’s Sauber, which meant an immediate stop. Slicks were put on the Mercedes, and soon Michael was setting new fastest laps, which of course brought the front runners in, Webber, Alonso and Hamilton on lap 12, Vettel and Massa on lap 13.

The stops done, Vettel led from Webber once more, with Hamilton now third, then Alonso, Button and Massa. Next up, after the top six, was the highly impressive Paul di Resta, who had qualified a superb sixth for Force India.

The race was moving on apace, five drivers – Button, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Webber – setting fastest lap on consecutive laps, between 16 and 20. Having been passed earlier by Hamilton, Alonso went by the McLaren again on lap 24, at which point Lewis immediately came in for his second stop.

A couple of laps later Webber was in, but the turning point of the race came on lap 27 when Vettel and Alonso pitted together – and it was Fernando, rather than Sebastian, who came out first, for Red Bull had had a rear jack fail before the left rear wheel had been properly changed.

Initially, it didn’t like look the end of the world for Vettel, who had dropped only three or four seconds – but if he had lost the lead to Alonso in the pits, he had also simultaneously lost second place to Hamilton, who had pitted before them, had tyres that were well up to temperature, and was charging.

Getting by Lewis would not prove to be the work of a moment for Seb – and all the time Fernando was away in the lead, building a gap, looking increasingly unstoppable.

Would Alonso have won, had Vettel not been delayed in the pits? “I honestly don’t know,” he shrugged. “I think we were very quick today, but Sebastian had track position on us at the time, and overtaking – even with DRS – is not so easy here…” From Vettel there was a similar response: “For sure it would have been a very tight race – Ferrari certainly had very good pace today…”

Indeed they did. Once into the lead – with Vettel endlessly frustrated in his efforts to get by Hamilton – Alonso cranked out a whole serious of fastest laps, increasing his lead from two to 10 seconds in a matter of half a dozen laps.

The final round of pit stops began with Vettel, on lap 36, and when they were all done Alonso remained serenely in front, 10 seconds to the good, beyond reach. By lap 50, with two to the flag, he was 20 seconds up, and Vettel now had a new worry – in the shape of his team-mate, whose Pirellis were two laps newer.

Webber had passed Hamilton for third place on lap 46, Lewis immensely frustrated by an instruction from his team that he should save fuel if he wished to make the finish. Once by the McLaren, Mark began making inroads into his team-mate’s four-second advantage, and through the last couple of laps was right on Vettel’s tail.

This was a matter of some concern to the Red Bull, who requested – nay, instructed – that the drivers hold station to the flag, and not put in jeopardy a basinful of World Championship points.

Webber decided that he was a racing driver, quicker at that stage of the race than his team-mate, and frankly admitted that he simply ignored the order, issued four or five times, to keep behind Vettel. In the end Sebastian just kept his second place, but afterwards Mark was completely unrepentant about disobeying his team – indeed he made it clear that he was thoroughly unhappy that such an order should have been made. “Let’s face it, if Fernando had retired on the last lap for some reason, this would have been a matter of fighting for a victory…”

Vettel, it must be said, offered no criticism of Webber’s attempt to get by him – indeed appeared, if anything, sympathetic, as if suggesting that in the same position he would have done the same as Mark. Red Bull has been so much more harmonious this year than last; one hopes this doesn’t precipitate another summer of discontent.

The pair of them went over the line almost as one, and a few seconds later there was more of the same, as Massa – who had closed on the fuel-hampered Hamilton at the rate of three seconds a lap – tried to separate the McLaren-Mercedes from fourth place. Lewis offered what may be termed a muscular defence: at the very last corner the cars touched, and Felipe’s Ferrari ran very wide. He didn’t lift, but Hamilton just beat him to the line.

All at Ferrari were of course ecstatic about Alonso’s victory, 60 years on from that historic day when González beat the Alfas for the first time. “It’s a perfect day,” Fernando beamed. “To win at Silverstone is such a special thing – I think all the Formula 1 drivers feel the same about it. It was a privilege to drive Froilán’s car earlier today, and now Ferrari has won the British Grand Prix again – with just the same passion as then…”

And what of all the debate and dissension regarding the blown diffuser rules? “Well,” said Fernando, “before all this Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren were the competitive teams – and today Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren were the front runners in the race, so maybe too much has been made of it. I mean, I didn’t notice a Force India or a Sauber suddenly competing for victory…”

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The crack Manthey team delivered Porsche a 10^th victory in the Nürburgring 24 Hours after a hard-fought race that featured a complete checklist of serious entries from the great German car giants.

Marc Lieb, Lucas Luhr, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas led the race in their lime green GT3 RSR (below) from 11.30pm on Saturday night until the 4pm finish on Sunday afternoon. But the victory, which gives Porsche valuable bragging rights over BMW, Audi and Mercedes for the rest of the year, was never a foregone conclusion in a race featuring 202 starters – of which 135 survived the round-the-clock classic on the fabulous 14-mile Nordschleife.

BMW, which won this race last year, finished just under four and a half minutes behind the Manthey Porsche – which equates to about half a lap. The Schnitzer team will rue a mistake by Portuguese Pedro Lamy who crashed into a slower car at the Karussell on Saturday evening. The accident was bad enough, but Lamy then compounded his error by driving the wrong way round the top of the famous hairpin in his attempt to recover.

The M3 GT (below) lost three minutes in the pits for repairs – and a further three minutes for a stop-go penalty incurred for Lamy’s error. “I was in a position from which it was very difficult to come out from,” he argued. “It was the only way.” The mistake made all the difference to the result for the car he shared with Augusto Farfus, Jörg Müller and Nordschleife specialist Uwe Alzen.

For the winning drivers in the Manthey Porsche, the result added to their formidable records on the greatest race track in the world. Luhr completed his Nürburgring 24 Hours hat-trick, while both Lieb and Dumas have now won here four times. But perhaps most significantly, Bernard now shares the record of five wins with Lamy and Marcel Tiemann.

Audi scored a 3-4-5 two weeks after its victory at Le Mans. The Team Phoenix-run R8 LMS of Marc Basseng, Marcel Fässler, Andrea Piccini and Frank Stippler (below) finished ahead of its sister car and the lead Team Abt Sportsline entry after a race in which the R8s proved fast in a straight line, but just short of the overall pace required to win.

The first of the rumbling Mercedes-Benz SLS AMGs, entered by Black Falcon, was sixth. But there was late heartbreak for the three-pointed star which should have kept Audi off the podium. With just 40 minutes left the Heico Motorsport entry, which had shadowed the Manthey Porsche and lead BMW through the night, was forced into the garage for repairs to its left-rear corner. The car returned to the track to claim a disconsolate seventh for Alex Margaritis, Lance Arnold, Christopher Brück and Christiaan Frankenhout.

The pole-winning Ferrari 458 Italia, which also proved to be the fastest car during long periods of the race, came home eighth carrying with it another story of what might have been. The Hankook Team Farnbacher-run car looked in a strong position to cause an upset and beat the mighty German hoards, only for a wishbone change to scupper its hopes. The team, previously a long-time Porsche entrant, was frustrated to discover the problem was caused by material fatigue. The Ferrari lost 45 minutes during its 8pm stop, dropping it to 68^th place. It ran without serious drama during a remarkable recovery by drivers Dominik Farnbacher, Allan Simonsen, Marco Seefried and Jaime Melo.

Aston Martin’s pair of brand new Zagatos (above) made it to the flag after eventful races. Collisions and a gearbox change ruined the chances of a class-winning result, but the team logged useful race mileage on the stubby-looking cars.

Final word must go to Hans-Joachim Stuck. At the age of 60, the legend has decided the time has finally come to hang up his helmet. That he chose to end his career racing with his sons in a Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo hardly seemed fitting for a man who became a national hero in Porsches, BMWs and Audis, but the supercar proved competitive at the ’Ring, allowing Stuck and his lads to make it to 4pm in 15^th place. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

Pictures courtesy of Aston Martin, Audi, BMW and Porsche AG

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The Sebastian Vettel steamroller continued in Valencia as the German scored yet another finely judged victory in the European Grand Prix, having seen off an unexpectedly strong challenge from Fernando Alonso and Ferrari.

Vettel has not finished lower than second in any of the eight races thus far this year, and he now has a massive advantage of 186 points to the 109 of his nearest challengers, Jenson Button and Mark Webber.

Valencia has never produced much in the way of entertainment, and the trend continued with a race that lacked in drama. All 24 cars finished, which meant that Narain Karthikeyan became the first driver to ever finish 24th in a Grand Prix, the Indian having already set a record of 23rd in China. There were no penalties and no spins, and the only unscheduled stop occurred when Michael Schumacher crunched his front wing on Vitaly Petrov, and had to come in for a replacement.

It was not a race totally devoid of excitement, however, as for much of it Vettel enjoyed only a slender advantage and behind him there was a great battle for second.

Having earned pole Vettel stayed safely ahead of Webber at the start, while Alonso jumped Lewis Hamilton and slotted into third. From the front Vettel was able to control the pace, staying just a few seconds clear of Webber while preserving his tyres. The race turned into a three-stopper for almost everyone, with three stints on the soft tyre followed by one on the slower medium compound at the end.

In the second stint Alonso managed to get past Webber in a well-judged move, one of the few in which any driver successfully used the DRS zone. However, at the second stops Webber came in earlier and did just enough on his one lap on fresher tyres to get back ahead.

At the third stops the Aussie again came in before the Ferrari, but his new medium tyres were no match for the old softs that Alonso still had on. A slight glitch on the pit entry cost also Webber a few tenths, but the two laps on the softs were they key that saw Alonso go ahead.

In the final stint on the medium tyre Vettel had no reason to be cautious, and he was able to pick up his pace and pull away from the Ferrari, even setting fastest lap as he opened up a 10-second advantage. Webber had a few worries about high gearbox temperatures and was content to drop away from Alonso and secure third.

McLaren was off the pace of those ahead all day, and Hamilton finished a lonely fourth an incredible 46sec down on the winner. He did at least get ahead of Felipe Massa, who like Alonso had passed him at the start. The Brazilian took fifth place, while Jenson Button was a frustrated sixth and even further off the pace than Hamilton.

Nico Rosberg was seventh for Mercedes, while an unusual two-stop strategy saw Jaime Alguersuari jump from 18th on the grid to eighth at the flag, giving many of his rivals food for thought. The final points went to Adrian Sutil and Nick Heidfeld. After his collision Michael Schumacher trailed home 17th.

Attention now turns to Silverstone, where the complete ban on using engine mapping for off-throttle blowing of diffusers is put in place. Will it trip up Red Bull more than its main rivals? Don’t bet on it…

By Adam Cooper

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Renault is threatening to pull out of Formula 1 if the much-discussed new 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbo engine formula for 2013 is not soon confirmed by the FIA. Many people in F1 believe the new formula will be put off for a year or two, and some hope the FIA will relent and opt instead for a turbo V6. Following more than a year’s discussions with the teams and engine suppliers, the FIA is expected to make a decision on delaying the new formula by the end of the month.

Renault is the only enthusiastic supporter of the tiny turbo concept, which has failed to attract interest from new manufacturers. Both Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz prefer V8s or at least V6s, and everyone is worried about the costs of building and developing new engines. Still, FIA president Jean Todt is a big proponent of the small-capacity turbo and with Renault’s strong support he may insist on that formula. McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has been deeply involved in formal talks about the new formula and discussed the matter in Montréal.

“I think the traditionalist who believes we need large-capacity, normally-aspirated engines has to accept that they may not be attractive to car companies in this day and age,” he said. “So there was some logic in the thought that we need a solution that is attractive to them. Unfortunately, with hindsight we got it wrong, because the intention of the 2013 formula was to see if we could attract more manufacturers.

“Plainly we didn’t, and we failed to do that because we came in at the end of the largest recession the automotive sector has ever had. We also gave them too short a timeframe to develop a new engine. I don’t think it’s worth criticising anyone over it. That’s how it transpired.

“The important issue for F1 is that we find a formula which is attractive to the car industry. We should have a model that averages [involvement from] three to five manufacturers, and inevitably they will rotate.

“We have to accept, respect and not despise the fact that the manufacturers are here to sell cars. If F1 is to be the ideal platform for product exposure and differentiation of their brand we need a formula that is relevant to them and to the needs of society.

“We’ve got to ensure that F1 continues as the technical pinnacle of motor sport. It has to be technically advanced, relevant, entertaining and differentiated. It’s not an easy task, but we have to work hard to achieve that.”

Whitmarsh personally would prefer a turbo V6. “We need great-sounding engines, it’s a core asset of our sport. But there’s no reason why you can’t have forward-looking technology and a great sound. I personally feel we’ve got to seek a compromise. If it were my call I’d probably go for a turbocharged V6. I think more and more cars are going to be turbocharged.

“We’ve got to have high revs. A vee engine suits the structure of an F1 car and we’ve got to have that unique sound. It might be different from today’s cars but I think it can still be fantastic.”

Eric Boullier (above), managing director of the Lotus-Renault team, said that if Renault continues in F1 it wants to put its main effort into supplying multiple teams. “Renault is pushing to supply maybe four teams. We’ve told the FIA that is our goal. Renault has decided to focus on being an engine supplier and as such we are pushing to bring new technology to F1. This is the only way for Renault to communicate their know-how and make sure they can use the opportunity of being in F1 to promote road car sales.

“The tendency of the road car market, especially for Renault, is to go to smaller engines with more hybrid technology to make fuel savings. F1 has to move forward. We need new regulations and new technical challenges for our engineers.

“Formula 1 can’t become just a show,” Boullier added. “We have to be seen as motor sport pioneers and technology is part of that. But we need to please our fans as well.”

Cosworth’s Mark Gallagher said: “There’s a big concern on our side because the new rules have no cost restrictions applied. So the manufacturers can spend a huge amount of money and we would have a space race around the new engine formula, which was never the idea. Everyone agreed that wasn’t the idea, but unfortunately that’s what happened. So we’ve also said to the FIA that a delay might be the right thing to do. I think all the teams, not just our customers, don’t need to be spending more money on engine technology.

“We want clarity. If it’s a 1.6-litre motor, fine, we’ll be there. If not, we’ve got a V8 that we can continue with. We’re agnostic. We don’t have to have a V8 or V12 or an in-line four. If the F1 rules required a single-cylinder two-stroke, we’d be there. The FIA president has said he’s listening and taking in everything we’re saying. We just want a resolution.”

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Audi has taken another stunning victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The R18 TDI of first-time winners Marcel Fassler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer crossed the line a mere 13.854 seconds ahead of the second-placed Peugeot 908 of Simon Pagenaud, Sébastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy. The Peugeot of Franck Montagny, Stéphane Sarrazin and Nicolas Minassian took the final step on the podium.

“The three drivers did a fantastic job,” said Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich after the race. “We were left with our three least experienced drivers [after the two other Audis had accidents] and we gave them the hardest job of all to do: to go really quickly, but not to take any risks. I am very happy with the result and I must congratulate Peugeot because they pushed us to our limits.”

The 79th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours will go down as one of the great battles at La Sarthe in recent years as Audi were left with just one car only seven hours into the race. Neither Audi nor Peugeot looked to have an advantage during the event and it was only in the final three hours that Audi managed to eek out a 25 second gap to the Peugeot of Pagenaud, Bourdais and Lamy.

“The limit of the car is the speed that we’re going to have to go at for the entire 24 hours,” said Peugeot 908 driver Pedro Lamy before the start of this year’s race. He couldn’t have been more accurate and the speed of the Audis and Peugeots was absolutely blistering throughout the 24 hours. Peugeot may not have been able to lap quite as fast as the German cars, but they could crucially do 12 laps before pitting for fuel. The Audis were ever so slightly less economical and had to dive into the pits every 11.

With all three cars from each manufacturer within just over half a second of each other in qualifying we knew we were in for a nail-biting race. However, nothing could prepare us for what happened when Allan McNish tried to scythe his way into the lead after brilliantly moving up from fifth on the grid. Just after the first stops, and with less than an hour of the race run, the Scot came up behind the sister Audi of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller at the Dunlop Bridge. He dived down the inside on the exit after Bernhard made a mistake and cleared the car, taking the lead. However, just in front of Bernhard’s Audi there was a pack of slower GTE cars, one of which was the Ferrari 458 Italia of Anthony Beltoise, François Jakubowski and Pierre Thiriet. Beltoise didn’t see McNish fly past the number 1 Audi and shut the door, sending McNish flying into the gravel.

Mercifully the new shark fin – which is now mandatory on all LMP cars – did its job and the car didn’t roll, but the speed at which he was going meant that the car flew towards the barrier on the outside of the track and heavily crashed into it. The car flipped over on the Armco and came to rest upside down, just inside the barrier. There was nothing left of the R18 bar the tub and an eerie silence fell over La Sarthe as the crowd waited for McNish to get out. The marshals arrived in a matter of moments, overturned the R18 TDI and thankfully the Scot emerged dazed, but OK. Such was the force of the impact that debris had flown off the car and peppered various photographers perched on the inside of the catch fencing. Amazingly the only injuries were a broken ankle and a broken phone. “I want to find the guy in charge of chassis construction at Audi and give him a big hug as it withstood the impact amazingly,” McNish said once he was released from care.

“It was a massive shock for everyone”, admitted McNish’s team-mate Dindo Capello following the crash. “So many things happened so quickly and our fingers are crossed for him.” Was the Scot being too aggressive? Should Beltoise have seen him and not closed the door? This one will have to go down as a racing incident as McNish may have been cutting through the field quite aggressively, but he was well over to the inside of the turn to give Beltoise as much chance to see him as possible. The Ferrari? McNish was on it so quickly and unexpectedly that there was little chance that Beltoise could have seen him. Indeed the Ferrari driver admitted afterwards that he had no idea the McNish Audi was there.

After over an hour of safety cars while the marshals fixed the barriers, the race was underway again. The battle at the front resumed and the lead seesawed between the Audis and Peugeots. By now we knew that the Peugeots could go a lap longer and the question everyone was asking themselves was whether or not Audi had the speed to make those extra stops. All questions stopped suddenly at 10.40pm. Mike Rockenfeller in the number 1 Audi had just started his fourth stint in the car and came up behind the AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kauffman, Rui Aguas and Michael Waltrip at the kink after Mulsanne. He started flashing his lights and Kauffman moved over to the left of the road. However, as Rockenfeller came up beside the Ferrari, the car inexplicably edged over to the right and clipped the Audi.

Rockenfeller’s car speared straight into the barriers at high speed and came to a halt sometime later, with only the tub of the car remaining intact. It was another terrifying accident, and it was another huge relief when ‘Rocky’ emerged from the car. He was kept in hospital overnight as a precaution, but is OK according to Audi. Kauffman was reportedly pulled from the Ferrari by the ACO after the incident, but it made little difference to the 458 Italia’s result as it subsequently retired with engine problems.

A lengthy safety car period followed as, once again, the marshals had to tend to more broken Armco. It was another long delay and now Audi was down to just one car – the Marcel Fassler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer machine.

Just before midnight 50 of the 56 starters were still running. The six retirements included the two Audis and also both Aston Martins, which expired only three laps into the race. When it became apparent that 007 and 009 were well off the pace in testing, the word from Aston Martin quickly changed to ‘we’re treating Le Mans as a test session’. This was all very well considering how little time the company has had to prepare the all-new, inline six LMP1 car, but little testing was done. “It has been a frustrating week,” confirmed 009 pilot Adrian Fernández. “I’ve only done eight laps all week. It’s a good team, but the engine isn’t very good at the moment. We just haven’t been able to do any running.” Both cars suffered the same problem – a broken water pump driveshaft. Even if the cars had remained intact, they would have made little headway as they were both over 20 seconds off pole and running eight per cent down on power due to the weak inline six.

Following the safety period to clear up the remains of Rockenfeller’s crash the battle at the front continued with renewed vigour. Peugeot still had all three of its works cars in the race and sensed a chance of victory. Several hours passed as the single Audi and Peugeots swapped places over the pitstops with the advantage swaying one way and then the other.

This was shaping up to be an absolutely classic Le Mans 24 Hours as two slightly different strategies went head to head. The 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th hours of the race passed and Audi still held the lead. Peugeot then jumped ahead, but come the 15th and 16th hours, the German car was back in front. Another safety car period to clear up Jan Magnussen’s crash in the GTE Pro class-leading Corvette and Peugeot led once again. The format continued and as the race drew to a close the tension around the circuit mounted.

It looked like the battle would continue in the final three hours much as it had done for the past 21. But, the action wasn’t over at La Sarthe. With just under two hours and 45 minutes left rain arrived and cars started leaving the Tarmac all over the circuit. It wasn’t heavy enough for full wets, but Lotterer wasn’t enjoying the conditions and started to lose time to the second-placed Peugeot with Pagenaud on board. The rain turned out to be no more than a shower though and the race resumed in the same shape as it was before, with the Audi holding a narrow advantage.

Despite all the shaken hands on the grid between the Peugeot and Audi teams, there was no love lost on the track in the final stages as Marc Gene – who was running fourth, four laps down on the leader – drove Lotterer’s Audi off the road. There were cries from the Audi fans, but Peugeot’s reply was simply “well, there weren’t any blue flags…”

The Audi maintained the lead though, despite a dramatic last stop for a dash of fuel and four new tyres. The car emerged only seven seconds in front of the second-placed Peugeot that had also pitted for its final fuel stop. The delight of the entire Audi crew and the three drivers was clear as the car finally took the victory 34 minutes later.

The LMP1 petrol honours went to the Lola B10/60 Coupé-Toyota of Nicolas Prost, Neel Jani and Jeroen Bleekemolen in the end while the LMP2 category was won by the Zytek Z11SN-Nissan of Karim Ojjeh, Tom Kimber-Smith and 20-year-old Olivier Lombard. The Oreca 03-Nissan with Franck Mailleux, Soheil Ayari and Lucas Ordoñez on board took second, while third in class was taken by Christophe Bouchut, Scott Tucker and João Barbosa in the Lola Coupé-HPD.

Special mention must go to Ordoñez who, having won the PlayStation Academy in 2008, piloted the Oreca admirably. Even though he only started racing cars professionally after winning the Gran Turismo/PlayStation competition he kept out of trouble and lapped very well. He justifiably called his first Le Mans 24 Hours “incredible”.

The GTE Pro class was as hotly contested as always and up until 8am it looked like the Corvette C6 ZRI of Oliver Gavin, Jan Mugnussen and Richard Westbrook was set for victory. However, as mentioned earlier, Magnussen lost control of the car when he was passing the slower GTE Am Porsche of Christian Ried. The BMW M3 GT of Augusto Farfus, Jörg Muller and Dirk Werner looked quick in qualifying and in the race, but suffered various problems that dropped them down the order. In a class of high attrition it was the Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 of Olivier Beretta, Tom Milner and Antonio Garcia that finally emerged victorious ahead of the Ferrari 458 Italia of Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander and the BMW M3 GT of Andy Priaulx, Dirk Müller and Joey Hand.

The GTE Am category was won by the Labre Competition Corvette C6 ZR1 of Patrick Barnhauser, Julien Canal and Gabriele Gardel. The class received some bad press from LMP drivers after quite a few near misses as the faster cars lapped them. In the end, it was a case of staying out of trouble – only four cars were running at the end of the 24 hours. Sadly the CRS Racing Ferrari with amateur drivers Roger Wills, Shaun Lynn and Pierre Ehret at the wheel didn’t finish. Seven hours into the race Lynn lost control of the car at the Ford Chicane. Despite the best efforts of the CRS crew who were shouting directions from behind the barriers, Lynn was unable to restart the car having hit the barrier.

Even though part of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours was marred by two horrific Audi crashes and several disputes between slower GTE Am crews and the LMP machines, the race will be remembered as an extremely close battle that raged for all 24 hours. Allan McNish openly admits that Le Mans is a 24-hour sprint nowadays and it was certainly that in 2011. It’s a testament to both Peugeot and Audi that all their racers ran with such good reliability considering that both cars are so new. Very big congratulations to Marcel Fassler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer. The trio handled the pressure of being the only Audi in the race with 17 hours to go extremely well and fully deserve the hard fought victory.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Do you remember where you were the day Ayrton Senna died? I bet you do. For motor racing fans, May 1 1994 is a ‘JFK moment’. Older readers vividly recall where they were on April 7 1968 and how they heard Jimmy Clark was gone. For younger generations, Senna’s death reverberated to the same shattering degree.

That May Day, I’d returned home from university for a family function. We had to leave the house during the race, but I knew there’d be time to watch the opening laps from Imola before I’d be dragged away.

In the wake of Roland Ratzenberger’s death the day before, not to mention Rubens Barrichello’s lucky escape on Friday, the tension of that weekend transported itself over the airwaves. You didn’t have to be in Imola to sense the unease felt by everyone in the Formula 1 world.

Images of the startline shunt, when Pedro Lamy’s Lotus slammed into the back of JJ Lehto’s stalled Benetton, remain vivid. It was immediately clear that spectators must have been hurt as debris landed in the grandstand. The weekend was turning into F1’s worst nightmare, but none of us could have guessed at the seismic shock that was to come.

The laps under the safety car, the aggressive attitude of Senna’s Williams as he tore away at the restart – and then the moment he hit the wall. I’d sat in the same living room five years earlier when Gerhard Berger’s Ferrari burst into flames at Tamburello, and apart from some burns to his hands, he’d been all right. Senna would be too – wouldn’t he?

The shots from the chopper hovering over the wreck live with all of us who love this sport. ‘Damn, a third win on the bounce for that bloody Schumacher’ – that was my first thought. Senna would really have his work cut out to claw back the championship now. And then the moment of realisation, as the camera panned in on the yellow helmet slumped in the cockpit.

Thankfully, the BBC cut away from the scene – and I had to cut away from the TV to join my family function. But I couldn’t really focus on anything on that sunny afternoon. From those helicopter images, I feared the worst. So this is what it was like to be a racing fan in the 1960s and ’70s…

I heard the news from Radio 5 Live later that evening. This was strange. Of course, apart from getting his autograph when I was 10 and watching him among the masses at various British GPs, I’d never had any personal contact with this man. So what right did I have to be experiencing symptoms of grief? On my return to uni the next day, I found my friends treated with me kid gloves for a while. I wasn’t even what you’d describe as a Senna fan – but the manner of his loss, and that of Ratzenberger too, shook those of us not old enough to remember the days of Clark, Rindt, Cevert, Williamson – and so on…

Today, Senna is far from forgotten. His legacy still looms large over Formula 1, which is why the release of the new Senna movie is such a major event. It helps that the film also happens to be breathtaking.

As Adam Cooper describes in his ‘making of’ story in the August issue of Motor Sport, the movie is so much more than the sort of TV documentary that pops up on BBC2 from time to time. Senna, which is released in the UK on June 3, is a stunning cinematic experience and I’d urge you to catch it on a big screen rather than wait for the DVD.

As Nigel Roebuck describes in our issue, those lucky enough to gain first-hand experience of the man discovered a character so much more complex than any film could hope to show. It does not – and cannot – tell the whole story, and Alain Prost fans might feel it is unfair. Yes, it is solely made up of fabulous archive footage, much of it never seen before – but this isn’t supposed to be a documentary, retelling history to the letter. It is a pure movie, and it’s a monumental achievement.

David Coulthard had the daunting task of taking Senna’s place at Williams. He meets Simon Taylor for lunch in the August issue and describes the experiences of 1994 from his unique perspective. In his early days in F1, Coulthard earned a reputation for being something of a PR robot in interviews. It was always an unfair tag. Coulthard took his job seriously and was the professional archetype, but he was – as he remains – frank, honest and very funny. And there were moments in his career of extreme bravery, too: surviving an air crash on a Tuesday and finishing second in the Spanish Grand Prix the following Sunday will always be my personal stand-out memory of his long career. His poise and stoicism that weekend was deeply remarkable.

Elsewhere in the issue, Eoin Young changes the pace with his entertaining diary tales of his first season in Europe, lived through 50 years ago this summer, and we’re particularly delighted to print some rare colour photographs of Le Mans in 1959 and ’60. They took our breath away when we first saw them. I hope they’ll have the same impact on you.

Enjoy the issue.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Another week, another ‘week in motor sport’. Today I ask Rob what he thought about the Spanish Grand Prix and whether or not it was a great Grand Prix. We also talk about Ferrari’s pace and how quickly McLaren have closed the gap to Red Bull.

This week I also ask Rob some questions that you, the viewers, sent in. We hope you enjoy it and as always, if you don’t agree with what we’re saying that let us know. There’s nothing like a debate on motor sport…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Or, if you’d like to download it:

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Rob Widdows and I sit down again to discuss the latest news from the world of motor sport. CVC may be selling the rights to Formula 1, Rupert Murdoch and others may be buying them, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is threatening to form a breakaway series again and the Formula 1 teams want a larger slice of the action. What, if anything, is going on?

The week in motor sport

As well as putting Rob on the spot about the current political situation in F1, we chat about the forthcoming Spanish Grand Prix and the MotoGP race in France.

We hope you enjoy it. As always, let us know your thoughts.

Next week we will be taking ‘the question of the week’ on the show so anything you want to ask Rob (within reason) please post below…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Or, if you’d like to download it…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Another ‘week in motor sport’ episode where I talk to the editor Damien Smith about Lewis Hamilton’s stunning victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, Mark Webber’s rise through the field and the new ‘gimmicks’ in F1 like the DRS and KERS.

We also discuss Mike Conway’s first IndyCar win, Sebastien Ogier’s second WRC win on the trot and Silverline Chevrolet’s effort to get Jason Plato’s car ready for race 3 in the BTCC at Donington. Oh, and we also touch on two future Grand Prix champions who have just started karting.

The week in motor sport

We hope you enjoy it and – as always – do let us know your views.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Or, if you’d like to download it…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

We don’t often see Lewis Hamilton well up with emotion, but it was more than understandable as he prepared to step out on to the podium in Shanghai. His victory in the Chinese Grand Prix will go down as one of his finest after a scintillating race that was packed with incident and excitement.

McLaren’s first win of the season, breaking Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel’s seemingly iron grip on the top spot, came through great strategy, wonderful driving – and heart-in-mouth work from the mechanics. A fuel leak as Hamilton prepared to leave his garage to take the start almost destroyed his day before it had really begun. Team principal Martin Whitmarsh reckoned Lewis only made it to the grid with about 10 seconds to spare as the mechanics raced to quell the leak. The boys at McLaren earned their win bonuses in those vital seconds and have every right to enjoy a few Tsingtaos before the flight home.

Dominant pole position man Vettel was on the back foot after bogging down at the start and although he recovered to lead this Grand Prix, his two-stop strategy fell four laps short of delivering him a hat trick of victories for the season.

Jenson Button, starting second, swept into Turn 1 in the lead from the lights, as Hamilton left Vettel scrabbling to hold on to third place from Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes. The two McLarens and the Red Bull ran in close formation until lap 14 when Button and Vettel both made their first stops. Button had already run a lap longer than he was supposed to and then made a glaring error as he tried to stop in Vettel’s pitbox! “I was looking down as I came into the pits,” explained the sheepish Englishman afterwards.

A bemused Vettel followed Button into his pitbox and emerged from the stops after only a slight delay, and in front of the McLaren. Hamilton pitted a lap later, but his hopes of jumping the pair were thwarted after a poor in-lap during which Felipe Massa’s Ferrari passed him.

At this stage, Mercedes had made the biggest gains after Rosberg and Michael Schumacher’s early stops on laps 12 and 10 respectively. Indeed, Rosberg found himself in the lead from Vettel, Button, Massa, Hamilton, Schumacher and a subdued Fernando Alonso.

Meanwhile, Mark Webber appeared to be making little progress from his lowly 18^th on the grid following his troubled practice and qualifying. He’d started the race on the hard prime tyres and only made up a couple of places before stopping for a set of softs on lap 10. It looked like being a long afternoon for the Australian at this stage, but his patience would be rewarded…

At the front, Button would be the first to stop for his second set of Pirellis, on lap 24 – a clear indication that McLaren had chosen a three-stop strategy. Rosberg stopped a lap later, so Vettel now led from Massa’s two-stopping Ferrari. Nico rejoined still ahead of Button and Hamilton, and at this stage it appeared the race might be slipping away from McLaren.

But not for long. Vettel would make his second and final stop on lap 31, leaving him a daunting 25 laps to nurse his tyres to the flag, and a few laps later Hamilton began to make his move. He closed in on Button and made a decisive move on his team-mate into Turn 1 at the start of lap 36. The battle of the two Englishman had been decided.

Lewis followed leader Rosberg into the pits three laps later, allowing Vettel and Massa back in front – and now the chase was on. By lap 42 Hamilton was monstering Rosberg, who offered little resistance at Turn 6 as the McLaren outbraked the Mercerdes. He despatched Massa at Turn 1 on lap 45 and now there were 10 laps for him to catch and pass the World Championship leader.

On tyres eight laps fresher, it was an uneven contest. Four laps from the finish Hamilton looked unstoppable and so it would prove. He jumped Vettel with another terrific move, this time at Turn 7 – pleasingly taking the lead without the need for his rear wing Drag Reduction System.

The race was won, but the action was far from over. Webber was finally feeling the benefit of those fresh soft ‘option’ tyres that his poor qualifying had saved him for the race. His pace towards the end of the Grand Prix, after an aggressive three-stop strategy, was astounding and he closed in on an incredible podium finish. Rosberg was picked off at Turn 6 two laps from the flag, then Button – who admitted he’d uncharacteristically struggled to look after his rear tyres – was powerless to stop Mark sweeping by on the long back straight. From his lowly grid spot, Webber was just seven seconds behind winner Hamilton. It was a performance that might just rejuvenate the Australian as he fights to get back on terms with his World Champion team-mate.

Rosberg scored a creditable fifth behind Button, the Mercedes ace producing the goods to beat Massa who looked much more like his old self for Ferrari in China. He beat Alonso to sixth, while Fernando worked hard to hold off a determined Schumacher. These old rivals had enjoyed a spirited battle earlier in the race, with Alonso pulling off a perfect ‘undercut’ pass on the drag out of the hairpin. That his DRS appeared to be malfunctioning during this battle gave a clue that his afternoon had not gone entirely according to plan.

Hamilton paid great tribute to the team he has criticised of late, while Vettel took defeat with a smile after a day when radio problems had made communication with his pitwall difficult. Once again the team struggled to make its KERS run reliably and the pressure is back on Red Bull and Adrian Newey to solve the problems before the Turkish Grand Prix.

As modern Formula 1 races go, this was one of the best. Yes, DRS is a gimmick, Pirelli has been asked to provide ‘flawed’ tyres and a question mark remains over the benefits offered by KERS. But right now, the combination is creating races full of variables and plenty of passing moves that could never be described as easy. Artificial racing? Maybe. But you can’t deny it’s exciting.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

“Fantastic job, fantastic job. In the heat we kept our heads cool,” commented Sebastian Vettel on the radio after he won the Malaysian Grand Prix. “Every week it’s a pleasure driving for you and I’m loving it, I’m loving it…”

I’m sure Vettel is loving his time at Red Bull at the moment as even without his KERS – which stopped working early on in the race – he never looked flustered, or troubled. He has now won five of the six last Grands Prix and he is oozing confidence. No doubt there’ll be plenty to get on with back in Milton Keynes after the KERS systems of both Mark Webber and Vettel failed to work, but you get a sense that any teams that want to compete with Red Bull have their work cut out.

3.2 seconds behind Vettel was McLaren’s Jenson Button who, having qualified fourth, drove a strong race. His team-mate had the measure of him for most of the weekend, and indeed, for most of the race. However, at Hamilton’s third stop the team opted for the harder of the two compounds, his front left took time to be changed, and from then on the Brit struggled to keep the same pace as the leaders. Button, who had been running behind Hamilton, jumped him when he finally stopped for the third time, but even if he hadn’t, there’s no doubt he would have got past soon enough. Only 10 laps later and he was over 15 seconds down the road.

Fernando Alonso quickly closed onto the back of Hamilton’s struggling McLaren, but clipped his front wing on the back of the car while trying to pass and had to pit for a new front nose that lap. If Hamilton thought his troubles were over he was sadly mistaken, as both Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber closed up onto the back of his gearbox and made their way past soon after, Webber doing so after Hamilton ran wide. After another pitstop to change his ruined tyres, Hamilton finally finished seventh.

It was another good weekend for Renault as after both Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov got off the line brilliantly they maintained a good race pace. Heidfeld finished an encouraging third while Petrov, who had run well for much of the race, finally ran wide and while coming back onto the track managed to traverse a rain gulley that pitched the Renault off the ground. The car came down with an almighty thump and, astonishingly, the steering column came away from the rack leaving him with no steering at all.

Thankfully by this time Petrov was going slow enough to come to a halt a few metres down the road, but no doubt the Russian was cursing his decision to take the rain gulley flat. He may have shown how far he has come on in Australia, where he finished a promising third, but mistakes like that will go down badly with any team that looks set to pick up points.

Mark Webber, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, but it was the Australian that stole the show. On the way to the grid he reported that his KERS didn’t work and it was this problem, combined with a slow getaway, that relegated him to 10th by the end of the first lap.

He recovered well though and got some strong points. However, he has to start beating his team-mate in qualifying and the race to stand a chance of the championship, and at the moment can you see that happening?

It was another good result for Scot Paul di Resta who managed to out-qualify and out-race his team-mate Adrian Sutil. The Force India is clearly off the pace at the moment and there’s no doubt that Sutil and di Resta are getting the most out of the car. The team will be reasonably relieved with their 10th and 11th positions.

So what of next weekend in China? McLaren is undoubtedly closer to Red Bull than it was in testing and the first race. Ferrari seem to have dropped back even further on one-lap pace since Australia, and Mercedes had a woeful weekend in Malaysia with Schumacher finishing ninth and Rosberg a very quiet 12th. It looks like Vettel and Red Bull will be the combination to beat again in seven days time and if the other teams aren’t careful, they could go to Istanbul for the start of the European season with a certain German sitting on 75 points at the lead of the championship.

On Sunday evening Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were each given 20-second penalities. The McLaren driver was given his for making more than one move while trying to block Alonso, and the Ferrari driver was penalised for causing an avoidable accident. The penalties mean that Hamilton drops to eighth place, but Alonso stays in sixth.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

We may be one of the oldest motor racing magazines in the world, but we do like trying new things. Our latest idea was to record a very brief round-up of the news each week so that every Monday you can log on to the Motor Sport website and watch a video clip that neatly sums up all that’s happened in the motor racing world over the past seven days.

Well, we’ve given it a go. It may be a little longer than we anticipated and our attempt at a newsroom feel – recording it in front of everyone in the office – may not have been 100 per cent successful, but it’s a work in progress. If any of you heard our first audio podcast you’d be amazed…

So, hopefully the days of reading hundreds of news stories every Monday morning are gone. Maybe…

Let us know what you think as this really is a first attempt. We hope you enjoy it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Or, if you want to download it…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

When Dario Franchitti first went to the Indianapolis 500, he tried to approach it like any other motor race. But as he admits during his lunch interview with Simon Taylor in the May issue of Motor Sport, he couldn’t help being affected by ‘The Brickyard’. The size and scale of the place, the buzz surrounding the town through the month of May, how much it mattered to everyone around him: he knew this was special, and for a driver with a rare passion for racing history and an obsession with Jim Clark, Dario couldn’t avoid the magical draw of America’s greatest race.

That it remains in 2011, despite the scars of the split that almost destroyed the sport of Indycars. The ‘500’ was the glue that kept single-seater oval racing intact in an era dominated by NASCAR. The race – the event – was quite simply too big to go down.

This May Indianapolis will celebrate the 100th anniversary of a yearly occasion that fired a nondescript Midwestern city into the consciousness of any true sports fan anywhere in the world. It is a landmark that we at Motor Sport felt compelled to celebrate – which is why we have dedicated a sizeable chunk of the May issue to the wonderful history of the race.

So why should a British magazine get so excited about an event in which 33 drivers only turn left around a four-corner rectangle for 500 miles? Read Robin Miller’s article on his own personal relationship with the Speedway to find out. The determination, strength and humour of the racing spirit is the oxygen that gives life to our magazine, and Robin’s piece is high on it! At the Speedway, it’s so strong you can taste it, as John Cooper, Colin Chapman, Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell, Dan Wheldon, Franchitti and many others from ‘over here’ found out when they travelled ‘over there’.

Britain’s relationship with the 500 has ebbed and flowed over the century, but it’s always existed. Take the Speedway’s great historian Donald Davidson: you wouldn’t know it speaking to him now, but he’s a Brit. But on his first visit to the Speedway in 1964, he knew he’d found his true home. As the locals found out, no one has more understanding and knowledge of the race, and he was the obvious choice to put a 100 years of racing history into context.

Now, that sounds like the subject of a doorstop-sized book, so how could we distil it into a magazine article? Donald thought long and hard. What he came up with – the greatest, most dramatic finishes in the 500’s history – does so beautifully. Even if you’re an Indy doubter, I’d urge you to read it.

The British theme continues via Ian Wagstaff, who has written a recent book on the subject. We’ve steered clear of the rear-engined revolution of the 1960s because so much has already been said, as any regular reader of Motor Sport will know. No, too obvious for us! So Ian tells the story of the second British invasion of Indianapolis that in its own way changed the shape of the race as much as the pioneering years of the mid-60s.

Add the interview with Dario and another with the Unsers – the first family of the 500 – and I hope you’ll find it does justice to 100 years of incredible speed and action.

Now, I know US oval racing is not everyone’s shot of bourbon. So as usual there is plenty more in the May issue to keep you reading for the month. Nigel Roebuck is typically forthright in his assessment of Formula 1’s recent entanglement in real-world politics, and as usual he puts the Bahrain debacle in context beautifully by reflecting on previous occasions when the sport has found itself on dodgy ethical ground. Then there’s his description of the Cuban Grand Prix – a race at which Juan Manuel Fangio found himself being kidnapped. Writing about it in 2011, it’s hard to imagine it actually took place. Fernando, count yourself lucky…

Nigel also sits down with Stirling Moss to revisit what many consider his greatest race, the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix – yes, another anniversary, this time just a mere half-century ago. We also print an edited version (God, he’d go mad at us for cutting his copy!) of Denis Jenkinson’s original race report for Motor Sport and reproduce some of his beautifully neat and detailed notes from the weekend when Moss beat the ‘Sharknose’ Ferraris.

Alan Henry talks to Ron Dennis about his formative years in team management, in Formula 2 during the early 1970s; Patrick Head recalls the breakthrough years of the Williams FW07; and Tiff Needell opens his personal scrapbooks to show us his collection of racing photos that he snapped from the spectator banks of the 1960s – when his love of the sport took hold.

And if that’s not enough, don’t miss our free supplement* on the Motor Sport Hall of Fame, in association with TAG Heuer, which took place in London during February. It seems like ages ago already. Before we know it, we’ll be heading back to the Roundhouse in 2012 for the next one…

*Available in the UK only

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

A new era of sports car racing kicks off in Florida on Saturday. The Sebring 12 Hours marks the return of what should be classified as a World Championship of Makes – even if we’re not allowed to officially call it that.

The tough enduro is much more than just the first round of the American Le Mans Series this year. It also counts for something that calls itself the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, a seven-round global series for sports cars which includes the Le Mans 24 Hours itself. Last year’s three-race pilot series was a toe-in-the-water exercise. Now it’s for real – and even though a title with an acronym as meaningless as ILMC will mean little to the world outside the paddock, the manufacturers are taking it very seriously.

That’s because they know this is the start of something that should be very big. The series is the brainchild of Le Mans organiser the ACO. The target now is for the FIA to embrace the series and give it the World Championship title it so fully deserves.

Audi Sport boss Dr Wolfgang Ullrich summed up the feelings of everyone in sports car racing this week when he said during a press conference: “The ILMC means nothing outside this room. We need a World Championship and we need it quickly. Not in five years, but in two or three.”

There were nods of agreement from the rest of the panel beside him, which included team bosses representing the interests of Peugeot, BMW, Chevrolet and Ferrari.

It is believed that FIA president Jean Todt – who of course led Peugeot’s Group C campaign in the final days of the old World Sports Car Championship 20 years ago – is open to the idea of bestowing a proper title on the series. Let’s hope he moves on it soon.

At the front of the ILMC, we’re looking forward to another chapter of Audi versus Peugeot, as the two giants renew their intense rivalry on the bumpy concrete runways of the Sebring airfield circuit. Typically, they’re being coy over their chances.

Peugeot comes to this race with its all-new 908 LMP1. Yes, I know, it’s got the same name as the old one that won Le Mans in 2009, and at first glance it looks identical. But trust me, it is a new car. Just wish they’d given it the new name it deserves. A confusing decision.

The 908 conforms to the new 2011 regulations that have been designed to slow Le Mans prototypes, and make them safer. Diesel engine sizes have been slashed from 5.5 to 3.7 litres, while the most significant chassis change is the addition of the ungainly F1-style ‘shark fins’ on the engine cowlings. As featured in Motor Sport last year, these have been added as an attempt to stop the old problem of prototypes flipping during accidents. They look awful, but if it marks the end of cars taking flight, then so be it.

“This is a working session for us,” reckons Peugeot Sport boss Olivier Quesnel, who adds a quite remarkable statement regarding the team’s Sebring aspirations: “We don’t intend to win and I don’t think it will happen.” Well, that’s ambitious…

Of course, Le Mans is the focus for the Pride of France. But Anthony Davidson topped night practice on Thursday, following the team’s time-topping performances in testing earlier in the week. The new car has every chance of scoring a debut victory, whatever the boss might say.

At Audi, the new R18 coupé won’t arrive here until the day after the race, as the team prepares to continue its testing programme on Monday. Instead, the German giant is wheeling out its old R15 ‘spyder’ for one last fling. The car has been dubbed the R15 Plus Plus, to reflect the changes that have been forced upon it to allow the team to race it against new 2011 cars. Internally the team is calling it the R15 Plus Minus, which is more accurate. A power-sapping smaller air restrictor has suffocated the turbodiesel that won Le Mans against the odds last year. “It’s as flat as a fart,” was Allan McNish’s colourful description of the difference it has made, but that did not stop the two cars setting the fastest times in the opening pair of practice sessions.

Where the difference will really tell in the race is how much harder it will be for the prototypes to lap GT cars around the high-downforce circuit. With a field of 56 cars, avoiding trouble in traffic could well decide the outcome of this race between the two giants. There’s little in it for pace. As Dr Ullrich said, “performance is not everything for this race”.

The Sebring 12 Hours is always hard fought, and so it promises to be once again. And its significance, as the kick-off point of a new era, only increases the intensity between the two rival camps. Whatever they might say in press conferences.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Testing, testing, one-two-three. We are now in the midst of the fourth and final pre-season Formula 1 test at the Catalunya circuit in southern Spain, where it has been unusually grey and chilly. This is the test that should have been in hot and dusty Bahrain…

Pre-season testing can, as we have so often seen over the years, be not only inconclusive but also misleading. This is because there is always a certain amount of smoke and mirrors, some deliberate sandbagging and insufficient accurate information forthcoming on fuel loads and set-ups.

And this year, we should remember, we are dealing with totally new tyre compounds from Pirelli, which has not yet got a race under its belt in any kind of climate. Rubber is likely to be a major factor in early 2011.

Popular opinion – and many engineers agree – is that we are going to see a lot more tyre degradation in the early races than we have previously been used to. Three pitstops are predicted, some saying more, especially if the weather is hot, the surface abrasive. Added to this unknown we have KERS, moveable rear wings and new cars to consider.

Logic says that Red Bull will the early pacesetters, and so it proved on Tuesday in Spain, with Mark Webber (above) top of the timesheets from Jenson Button – by some margin. This does not mean Red Bull is going to disappear into the distance at Melbourne on March 27, but simply that on March 8 the new Red Bull was more sorted than the new McLaren. And that’s no surprise at this stage. In an era when aerodynamics is key, you can expect an Adrian Newey-designed car to be at or near the top of the times.

What will be in many ways more interesting to see is how the two most radical cars shape up against the rest. These are the Williams (below), with its radical rear end and new transmission, and the Lotus-Renault, with its forward-facing exhaust system. If either of these two risky design ideas prove to be the way to go, then the others will have to follow suit, just as we saw two years ago with the Brawn’s double diffuser, when Button’s pre-season testing pace had alarm bells ringing right down the pitlane.

This year we have seen no such clear advantage, although Red Bull is predictably fast. Not far behind is Ferrari, smarting from its title defeat in Abu Dhabi. All Grand Prix teams of any stature play their cards close to their chests, saving their best until the first afternoon of qualifying. And, just to complicate matters, testing is not what it used to be.

In days gone by there was virtually unlimited mileage, the teams under no pressure to get it all sorted in just four short sessions in February and March. And there’s another difference. Test drivers, or reserve drivers as they are now known, have to get some mileage now or never, whereas before they could do their testing while the teams were away racing. And this means – as we have seen in Spain – lots of new, young drivers being given time in the cars when, in a perfect world, they’d be waiting until the race drivers went away to race.

So, we should not be surprised if Red Bull, Ferrari – and possibly McLaren – are at the front of the grid in Melbourne. Button (above) says we should not expect too much, that the car is not the equal of Red Bull or Ferrari, and they don’t have time to catch up before the end of the month. Bad news for McLaren fans.

Oh yes, and we also know that Mercedes-Benz has a great deal of work to do if Schumacher and Rosberg are to be anywhere near the podium. Unless, of course, Mr Brawn has been keeping something up his sleeve…

So end the ifs, buts and maybes. Soon it will be time to race…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Robert Kubica’s accident, in a small Italian rally, came only days after he had set the fastest time in the Valencia test session, and as soon as it became clear that Robert was going to survive, Renault – something of a misnomer these days, given that the company has no financial involvement with the team beyond supplying engines – had to give serious thought to a replacement. Everyone assumes that Kubica will one day return to Formula 1, but no one knows when that will be, and the likelihood is that it will not be in 2011.

Various names came up. Kimi Räikkönen, vaguely mentioned in connection with Renault last autumn, was not seriously considered, and has anyway said that he no longer has any interest in F1 (something already apparent, let’s face it, in the last two of his three years with Ferrari).

Then there was Tonio Liuzzi, highly rated by some, and on the street following Force India’s decision to sign Paul di Resta. Come to that, there was also Force India’s new test driver, Nico Hulkenberg, late of Williams, where he has been replaced by Pastor Maldonado and a good many Venezuelan bank notes. As 2010 – his rookie season – wore on, Hulkenberg impressed more and more, and no one doubts his innate talent and speed.

However, given that Renault’s other driver, Vitaly Petrov, has also but one season behind him, the likelihood was always that Eric Boullier and his colleagues would go for an experienced man to stand in for Kubica, and on that basis the logical choice was Robert’s erstwhile team-mate at BMW, Nick Heidfeld. Renault put him in the car for a day at Jerez – and he set the quickest time. To no one’s great surprise, Boullier swiftly announced that Heidfeld had got the job.

A very easy man to underestimate, Nick. He may not have the blinding speed of a Vettel, but in the BMW days he had a habit of finishing in the top six in the World Championship, and his talents were highly rated not only by Mario Theissen but also – after a single season, 2005, with Williams – by Patrick Head, no less.

At the beginning of ’06 I asked Patrick if he had been sorry to lose Heidfeld to BMW. “Very much so,” he said. “We were very impressed with him, and not just in the car, but also in the way he conducts himself generally. As you know, he doesn’t ‘high profile’ himself, but he’s a very tough character. His interaction with the engineers – with the team in general – was extremely professional at all times.

“All right, most of the time Mark [Webber] was able to out-qualify him, but in racing conditions Nick was outstanding – over the season I think he made up 20 places between the start and end of the first lap, whereas Mark was actually in the negatives. Now you could say that was because Mark over-qualified the car’s rightful position – which undoubtedly he did on occasion – but what you could also see was that Nick always seemed able to work out where to be on the track at the first corner, so that he would get through OK. Equally, he was sometimes quite forceful on the opening lap, going round the outside of people, and so on.

“A good lad, Nick, and a very good driver, I think. We didn’t blame him for accepting the offer from BMW, but we were sad to lose him…”

Quite an endorsement from a man not given to hyperbole when discussing racing drivers. It goes without saying that Renault will desperately miss Kubica – in every sense – this season, but Heidfeld, unequivocally leading an F1 team for the first time, will be far more of a factor than many expect.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Ahead of our Hall of Fame event next Tuesday (February 15), the Motor Sport team sent out a survey to everyone registered on our website.

Usually these things are well beyond my pay grade, but this time I managed to get a quick glimpse of the results. Some were quite predictable – Jim Clark was voted the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time ahead of Ayrton Senna and Juan Manuel Fangio – but others weren’t.

Here are some of the results…

Which is the most memorable F1 car of all time?

1)    Lotus 72
2)    Maserati 250F
3)    1988 McLaren MP4-4

What was the best ever rivalry between F1 drivers?

1)    Alain Prost vs Ayrton Senna (with a staggering 68.5 per cent of the vote)
2)    James Hunt vs Niki Lauda
3)    Juan Manuel Fangio vs Sir Stirling Moss

Which circuit in 2011 do you expect to produce the most exciting F1 race?

1)    Spa-Francorchamps
2)    Silverstone
3)    Montréal

Which will be the most improved team on the F1 grid in 2011?

1)    Mercedes
2)    Williams
3)    Lotus (quite a good call, although even if its cars are comparatively three seconds a lap faster than they were at the end of last season they’ll still be a second off the pace)

Out of the rookie drivers new to F1 for 2011, who do you think will excel?
1)    Paul di Resta (should be right on the pace)
2)    Pastor Maldonado
3)    Sergio Pérez

Which team do you think will be the main contender for the constructors’ title in 2011?

1)    Red Bull
2)    McLaren
3)    Ferrari

Which driver would you tip to win the 2011 drivers’ championship?

1)    Fernando Alonso (with the above answer in mind, it doesn’t say much for everyone’s view on Massa!)
2)    Lewis Hamilton
3)    Sebastian Vettel

So there you have it. What are your thoughts? Do these answers really represent what you think?

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Time flies. Like many other clichés, this is undeniably true. And, believe me, the older you get the faster time flies by.
If you follow a sport your year is pretty much defined by the season, or calendar, and this seems to make the passage of time faster still. No sooner have you seen a person or team crowned champion than it all starts again.

It feels like only last week that the Formula 1 cars crossed the line in Abu Dhabi at the close of another season of Grand Prix racing. And yet, suddenly, it is launch time. Not in the Cape Canaveral sense of the word, but with stages shrouded in dry ice, covers drawn back dramatically and newly-groomed drivers blinking in the bright lights.

By the time we get to Valencia on February 1 we will already be familiar with the shape of the 2011 contenders. Gone are double diffusers, F-Ducts and Bridgestone tyres. New for this year will be the return of KERS, moveable rear wings and Pirelli tyres. But the cars will look pretty much the same as last year to the casual observer, and that’s why launches are not as dramatic as they used to be when the regulations were less prescriptive and designers had greater freedom to express themselves. As things are, the casual observer may find it hard to tell a Mercedes from a McLaren. Speaking of these two contenders, we see two very different strategies ahead of the first Grand Prix in Bahrain on March 13.

Mercedes will unveil its new MGP-W02 in the pitlane on the first morning of the three-day test in Valencia on February 1. Will this be the car that Michael Schumacher needs to prove he still has the old magic? Who knows? McLaren-Mercedes, meanwhile, will not launch its new MP4-26 until after the Valencia test on February 4. This, the team says, is because they will gather data from the new Pirellis before revealing what they consider to be the perfect solution to the media and, more importantly, their rivals.

Six days later, on February 10, the teams will transfer to Jerez for a four-day test before making the trek to Bahrain. Every team will have its own strategy, its own programme of development over the next seven weeks. But you can be sure that the 2011 Red Bull will be one of the last to show its face. Adrian Newey has always preferred to spend as much time as possible in research before committing his thoughts to carbon fibre. To match, or exceed, last year’s results will be a huge challenge. Especially as its rivals have had all winter to study where it was that the RB6 found a second a lap on them.

How much we will learn from Valencia and Jerez is debatable. Claims and counter-claims will be made, we may not be privy to fuel weights on every run, and a Brawn-type advantage, such as we saw in 2009, is a rare occurrence. There is, however, every reason to believe that we are in for another thrilling year and Ferrari, still smarting from the confusion of last November, will be throwing everything it has at the 2011 title.
Off-season? What off-season? Time flies.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine