F1Hub Teammate Battle Tracker: Australia

This was definitely a race where the 'number 1' drivers had the upper hand on their teammates, well apart from one...

Red Bull

Race: Vettel

Overall: Vettel 1 vs Webber 0

Vettel out-qualified his Webber at his home race, and took his Red Bull to the max clearly, but on the day at Albert Park the Lotus and Ferrari was better suited. Webber did a solid job after the start but Sebastian leads.

Ferrari

Race: Alonso

Season: Alonso 1 vs Massa 0

Fernando ran clear past Felipe last year, but this year's contest might be much, much closer. Massa out-qualified Fernando even if Alonso's DRS didn't open, and kept pace with the double world champion until the last stint of the race. A great race for Ferrari after last year's disastrous start, and lead the constructor's championship.

McLaren

Race: Button

Season: Button 1 vs Perez 0

McLaren have done what Ferrari did in 2012, and lie 2-3 seconds off the pace amazingly. Both did a good job in the race with the car they have, but Jenson edged out Perez, scoring points as a consolation. Bet they can't wait till round 5 in Spain already.

Lotus

Race: Raikkonen

Season: Raikkonen 1 vs Grosjean 0

The most obvious choice of the round, with Kimi beating Romain by 82 seconds, a whopping distance, Romain showing no pace which he matched Kimi in sometimes last year. He blamed it that Kimi had updates before he did in the weekend, but still. An impressive performance by Kimi, lets hope he can mount a title challenge to mix things up!

Mercedes

Race: Hamilton

Season: Rosberg 0 vs Hamilton 1

The most anticipated teammate lived up to expectations, with Rosberg taking the lead in practice sessions as well as in Q1 and Q2 but Lewis did brilliantly in Q3 to take 3rd with Nico in 6th. Nico dropped behind in the race, and would have finished approximately 10 seconds behind Lewis had he not had his electrical fault. Game on though!

Sauber

Race: Hulkenberg

Season: Hulkenberg 1 vs Gutierrez 0

Despite Nico's poor luck and not being able to start, he was way ahead in practice and qualifying, and I expect would have had a similar performance to that of Adrian Sutil. 

Force India

Race: Sutil

Season: di Resta 0 vs Sutil 1

A close contest, finishing in 7th and 8th a couple of seconds apart, a couple more laps and Paul would have easily taken Adrian, but the manner that Sutil handled pressure from the front runners was superb and showed no rustiness at all after a year out. 

Williams

Race: Bottas

Season: Maldonado 0 vs Bottas 1

Maldonado had a poor performance in qualifying and spun out early in the race. Bottas almost wins by default.

Toro Rosso

Race: Vergne

Season: Vergne 1 vs Ricciardo 1

Jean-Eric Vergne is carrying on where he left off at the end of last season, having one up on his previously more favoured Australian teammate. If he can reinforce his race pace consistantly, he will be favourite in the future to take Webber's seat out of the two.

Caterham

Race: Pic

Season: Pic 1 vs van der Garde 

Non-rookie Pic had a poor qualifying not qualifying in the 107% rule, but was allowed to race and his pace was far stronger than his rookie teammate.

Marussia

Race: Bianchi

Season: Bianchi 1 vs Chilton*

Both putting in solid performances, Chilton would have beat Pic if he didn't have to replace his front wing early on, but Jules Bianchi I am mighty impressed with. Marussia look good early on too.

Let us know what you think of the teammate battles!

Bring on the Malaysian Grand Prix in just a few days!

Nick, F1 Hub

Race Report: Australia - Kimi Wins Gripping Strategic Battle

Expectations were high heading into Melbourne, and despite a rained off qualifying session, Q2 and Q3 took place in the morning, only for the Red Bull's to be dominant, everyone feeling it ominously felt a bit like 2011. As the race came at 5:00pm local time, dry weather stayed and 22 cars (all but the stricken Sauber car belonging to Hulkenberg) took their places for the first time.

The Annual Melbourne Grid Picture

As Vettel took off into the distance with a considerable gap between himself and the rest of the field, it seemed a done deal. Teammate Webber continued his poor home race form, this time due to technical difficulties, with his electronics failing and also had no KERS for the first 20 laps. As he slips from 2nd to 7th, the fast starting Ferrari's swoop by, as well as Hamilton and Rosberg. 

Whilst Raikkonen overtook Hamilton to take 4th, the Ferrari's kept pace and actually closed in on Vettel. Changing from the super-softs to the medium compound tyres, the top three held order after the first of their three-stop strategy, whilst Raikkonen stayed out, underfolding his two-stop strategy.  

Vettel Gets Away Well As Webber Falls Behind The Typically Fast Starting Ferrari's

After the first stops, the top three came out behind Adrian Sutil who also on a two-stop race, brilliantly led the race on his Formula One return and even pulled away from Vettel in his Force India for a number of laps before pitting himself. Alonso was first to blink for the second stop and turned out to be a crucial move, as he jumped both his teammate Massa and Vettel to take the lead. As they came to overtake the two-stopping Rosberg, the Mercedes electrics failed and he pulled over.

As the strategies played out, Raikkonen took the lead as Vettel and the two Ferrari's pitted for the final time, and he overtook Sutil again on lap 43, where he could control his pace to manage his tyres and gap to the chasing Alonso. Vettel and Alonso for the first two stints had similar pace, but in the final stint with the fuel burning off, Alonso pulled far ahead as he closed down Raikkonen. Nevertheless it wasn't enough as Kimi took the win 12 seconds ahead, with Vettel surprisingly a further 10 seconds away, and Massa coming home fourth after a much improved performance.

Meanwhile, Hamilton had to make a third stop in the end after hard tyre wear, and Webber after his glum start thanks to faulty electrics and loss of KERS for the first 20 laps, recovered well to sixth despite being stuck in the midfield behind the Force India's and Button's McLaren, who finished 7th, 8th and 9th respectively.

The First Podium Line Up Of The Year

Whilst Kimi won the race from 7th on the grid, teammate Grosjean struggled dropping from 8th to 10th to pick up the last point, over 80 seconds behind, blaming his lack of time with updates which Kimi was more familiar with over the weekend. 

Perez missed out on the final point on his McLaren debut with his under performing new team, by just 0.6seconds, with Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso only a further 0.5 seconds behind. His teammate Ricciardo in his home race retired after 39 laps with a broken exhaust.

Two new rookies Gutierrez and Bottas finished 13th and 14th respectively, with Bottas' teammate Maldonado spinning out on lap 24 after dipping a tyre on the grass going into turn 1. Jules Bianchi was the best of the Marussia's and Caterham's, with Chilton scrapping with van der Garde throughout the race, bringing up the back of the field 2 laps down.

Overall a super race, with great developments, strategies and a mixed result. 

Nick, F1 Hub

F1 Hub Overtake of the Race

Vettel on Sutil - Lap 23

After being stuck behind the Force India for a large number of laps, Vettel and Sutil pitted for their second and first stops respectively at the end of lap 21, as they began lap 23 going in the second DRS zone down to turn 3, Vettel cleverly used all his KERS and dived down the inside bravely coming from quite a long way back.

Vettel's Lunge Under Braking Into Turn 3 Using 100% Of KERS Instead Of The Regular 20%

F1 Hub Driver of the Race

A few contenders, with Sutil putting in a brilliant performance on his return after a year out, and Bianchi doing a super job at the back of the field, being the only one of the Marussia's and Caterham's not the be two laps behind. 

Drive of the day though goes to Raikkonen, which may be an obvious choice because of the result, but even his fellow competitors and team principles hailed his flawless performance combined with strategy. A driver has to the make the most of the car they are given, and Kimi took advantage of his car's ability to be easy on their tyres in Albert Park, keeping pace with the frontrunners initially, before managing pace and tyres as the respective strategies played out.

It will be interesting to see in Malaysia if their tyres perform as well in the much hotter, humid conditions. If so, Raikkonen is a serious title contender.  

Full Race Result

1) Kimi Raikkonen [Lotus] 1:30:03:225

2) Fernando Alonso [Ferrari] +12.4 seconds

3) Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull] +22.3 seconds

4) Felipe Massa [Ferrari] +33.5 seconds

5) Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] +45.5 seconds

6) Mark Webber [Red Bull] +46.8 seconds

7) Adrian Sutil [Force India-Mercedes] +65.0 seconds

8) Paul di Resta [Force India-Mercedes] +68.4 seconds

9) Jenson Button [McLaren-Mercedes] +81.6 seconds

10) Romain Grosjean [Lotus-Renault] +82.7 seconds

11) Sergio Perez [McLaren-Mercedes] +83.3 seconds

12) Jean-Eric Vergne [Toro Rosso-Ferrari] 83.8 seconds

13) Esteban Gutierrez [Sauber Ferrari] +1 Lap

14) Valtteri Bottas [Williams-Renault] +1 Lap

15) Jules Bianchi [Marussia-Cosworth] +1 Lap

16) Charles Pic [Caterham-Renault] +2 Laps

17) Max Chilton [Marussia-Cosworth] +2 Laps

18) Giedo van der Garde [Caterham-Renault] +2 Laps

Did Not Finish

Nico Hulkenberg [Sauber-Ferrari] Lap 0 - Did Not Start Fuel System Issue

Pastor Maldonado [Williams-Renault] Lap 24 - Spun Off Into Gravel

Nico Rosberg [Mercedes] Lap 26 - Electrical Issue

Daniel Ricciardo [Toro Rosso-Ferrari] Lap 39 - Exhaust Issue

It's So Much More Than Just A Race

Say's it all really this video.

Before we embark on the 2013 season with the first race today, let's look at this video montage of the 2012 season presented by Sky Sports F1 - a FANTASTIC review of one of the most epic seasons of the modern era, if not ever.

Let's hope for 2013 to be even half as great.

'IT'S SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST A RACE'

Nick, F1 Hub

EDIT: BELOW LINK HAS BEEN BLOCKED ON COPYRIGHT INFRIGEMENT

USE LINK BELOW VIDEO INTO YOUR INTEREST BROWSER FOR THE SONG & LYRICS WITH STILL IMAGES.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TufqLieyE2o

F1 Hub 2013 Season Predictions

It's that time of year where we wonder what the season ahead has in store for us, here's some food for thought with my predictions. 

Feel free to comment and disagree, or share your own thoughts!

The 2013 Calender

1) Who will win the Driver's Championship?
Many will only be considering two drivers this season, and my prediction out of the two is Vettel. I personally believe Alonso deserved the 2012 championship by quite a margin for many reasons, but unless he repeats his amazing performances almost every race then Vettel has the upper hand. If Red Bull struggle for the first half the season however, and Ferrari don't start as catastrophically awful, then Alonso will have the upper hand. 

Button and Raikkonen will be dark horses though dependent on their cars pace and reliability, don't count them out.


2) Who will win the Constructor's Championship?
Without Hamilton, McLaren will struggle to challenge this season, and I believe it is Ferrari who will be the main challenge to Red Bull's stranglehold. The real battle here will be Webber vs Massa. If Massa can be in the form that helped him challenge the 2008 title winning races then i'll tip Ferrari, but realistically it's hard to see Red Bull be beaten until the big rule changes next year. I'll say Ferrari just for the risk. Lotus and Mercedes will improve, but not enough to win the title or anything.


3) Best mid-field team (Sauber, Force India, Williams, Toro Rosso)?
Sauber impressed last season with four podiums, and have a good replacement of Perez with the highly rated Nico Hulkenberg. Force India are seeking their second ever podium, whilst Toro Rosso are looking to improve on a poor 2012 car. Williams are looking to build on a solid step forward last year including Maldonado's race win, and have developed an innovative car. My predictions are Williams to make the leap up to sixth, just pipping Sauber, with Force India going back to eighth and Toro Rosso still ninth.

The Williams FW35 Looks Much Improved & Has A Solid Yet Exciting Pairing

4) 10th place Constructor?
Realistically Caterham and Marussia will be fighting it out for tenth and eleventh. Marussia look primed to finally make the jump to tenth, with a car designed with more development possibilities than Caterham, and the highly rated Jules Bianchi in particular at the wheel who is linked to Ferrari and Force India.


5) Rookie of the season?
Determining a rookie usually is difficult as many join back of the grid teams, with those joining midfield teams easier to shine through. This season, 2011 GP3 champion Bottas joins Williams after many free practice sessions last year, and Mexican Gutierrez replaces Perez at fellow midfield team Sauber. Chilton becomes the fourth British driver on the grid at Marussia with the fourth Frenchman Bianchi, whilst van der Garde finally gets an F1 drive at Caterham. 

Bottas and Bianchi have the most experience in an F1 car, and I think it will show, as they already have shown noted times. Bottas seems to be impressively matching Maldonado's pace to an extent, who despite some wild race-craft is no slouch at all. Bianchi may be the one to get Marussia into tenth place or even a first point.


6) Most exciting race of the year?
2012 was spoilt for choice, with only a few dull races in the mix after a largely dull 2011. Even usually disappointing venues including Valencia and Abu Dhabi were amongst the best! This year, I think there is so much excitement at the start of the season after such a spectacular 2012 campaign, Melbourne will shine through even more than usual. Malaysia is one of my personal favourites, but I hope and will predict the US Grand Prix will be the most exciting as the penultimate race with much more overtaking, whilst I hope the Indian Grand Prix is much more entertaining than the last two Vettel dominated year's.

The Sepang Circuit Always Produces Top Quality Racing

7) Hamilton or Rosberg?
Hamilton. It's very easy to just say that outright, but his class has shown since day one as a Formula One driver for a reason. Rosberg will no doubt beat Hamilton sometimes, perhaps to podiums and even a race win over Lewis if the car is as promising as many believe, but Hamilton will surpass that, and out qualify Nico more often.


8) Will any of the 'number two's' from the top four teams out-perform their more successful teammates? 
By this, we mean Webber challenging Vettel, Massa challenging Alonso, Perez challenging Button and lastly Grosjean challenging Raikkonen. On the surface it's hard to see any of them out-performing them, so, no - I don't think they will. If I had to choose the most likely, i'd say Perez surprising Button, but honestly I see Jenson having his best year at McLaren yet. Nevertheless, i'm more excited for teammate battles throughout the field than ever before!


9) Quickfire teammate battle
Red Bull: VETTEL vs Webber
Ferrari: ALONSO vs Massa
McLaren: BUTTON vs Perez
Lotus: RAIKKONEN vs Grosjean
Mercedes: Rosberg vs HAMILTON
Sauber: HULKENBERG vs Gutierrez
Force India: DI RESTA vs Sutil
Williams: Maldonado vs BOTTAS
Toro Rosso: Vergne vs RICCIARDO
Caterham: Pic vs VAN DER GARDE
Marussia: BIANCHI vs Chilton

Bottas beating Maldonado perhaps my most bold choice there! Most are quite realistic though.

di Resta NEEDS To Beat Sutil Convincingly This Season To Be Noticed By Top Teams

10) Quickfire Constructor's order?
1st - Red Bull
2nd - Ferrari
3rd - McLaren
4th - Lotus
5th - Mercedes
6th - Williams
7th - Sauber
8th - Force India
9th - Toro Rosso
10th - Marussia
11th - Caterham


Let us know your thoughts, if you agree with my selections and what you predict! Join in the discussion right here...

Nick, F1 Hub

10 Things To Look Out For In The 2013 Season

As we embark on the 2013 season, there are lots of exciting developments. Look out for these 10 things throughout the season! Comment what you think, plus if you have any extra things to look out for!

1) Teammate Battles

After a good few years of static team line-ups at the front of the grid, McLaren and Mercedes, along with mid-field teams Force India and Sauber have had a re-shuffle, making some fresh new team mate battles. 

Many will consider Mercedes to have the strongest line-up this year, and the battle between Hamilton and Rosberg will be an incredible comparison. Perez is McLaren’s new boy, many were surprised Hulkenberg or di Resta weren’t more closely considered, but against Button entering his fourteenth season shall be a massive contrast. Lastly, a big season for the Force India drivers. If Sutil wants to justify his return he needs to perform big, but if di Resta wants to be considered for a top team drive, he needs to grab some headlines like Perez last year, which between that and commercial opportunities may have been why he was overlooked. 

Let the battles commence! 

Nico Rosberg & Lewis Hamilton Will Be Teammates Again Pictured Here In Their Karting Days Together

2) Grosjean/Crash Colleagues
Despite his speed and occasional brilliant performances, Grosjean will be remembered in 2012 for his first lap crashes. Lotus team principle Eric Boullier believes the Frenchman has the potential to be a future world champion. Big words. Nevertheless, despite the odd incident, I am hopeful he and pals such as Maldonado have learnt lessons and nobody will be in the headlines as often or receive a race ban... *crosses fingers*


3) Rookies
Bottas for Williams, Gutierrez for Sauber, van der Garde for Caterham and both Chilton and now Bianchi for Marussia. Five rookies after the departure of Petrov, Kovalainen, Kobayashi, Glock & Schumacher; as well as the HRT team now disappeared. Because of the teams they are in, they're effectively split into two categories. Bottas and Gutierrez will be in the midfield rookie comparison, and the others in the back of the grid comparisons. For me, Bottas will be stronger than Gutierrez after his free practice sessions in 2012, whilst Bianchi already looks far ahead of Chilton and van der Garde. 

4) Massa & Webber's 2014 Seats
These two top of the grid seats have been under speculation for a number of years. Massa in particular had a poor 2012 before showing signs of the 2008 title challenging Massa. Now amazingly entering his eighth year as a Ferrari driver, he needs to justify his one year extension for the world's most famous racing team. Webber challenged for the title in 2010 but has come up short in 2011 and 2012, I haven't doubted his position the last few seasons, but if he comes up short this season, or Red Bull see more potential in a junior Toro Rosso or other, he will struggle to get yet another rolling one-year extension himself. 

Look out for their position in the championship table and for performances from those wanting their seats!

Will Ricciardo Replace His Fellow Australian?

5) Bahrain Political Position/Number Of Grand Prix
There is no talk of Bahrain being off so far, after months and months of it for the 2012 season. Remember, if we didn't go to Bahrain in 2012 and Vettel didn't get 25 points for winning, Alonso would be champion. Just proves how many if's and buts there are in this sport. What is the New Jersey race was included this year would that make a difference? 

Bahrain is firmly on the calender at the moment, but keep an eye out for this space just incase.


6) What Grand Prix You Want Exiled/8) How Many New Tracks Will Be On The 2014 Calender?
So we have a 19-grand prix (intended to be 20) season this year, with New Jersey (U.S.A) and Sochi (Russia) confirmed for 2014, that's 21 grand prix in total. With talks of Mexico looking extremely promising and likely, Thailand is also in talks but Cape Town in South Africa now looks unlikely. Bernie Ecclestone told City A.M, "the teams could probably deal with 22 races." Regardless, take a note of what races in what countries you think we could do without... I know what my money is on already!

7) Hamilton's Move To Mercedes
We've already mentioned Lewis' teammate battle with Nico Rosberg, but his move to Mercedes in general will still no doubt be a talking point throughout the year. Be expected to see a few reports each from the BBC, Sky and any other way you watch and keep track of F1 about this. Will he miss McLaren, blend quickly with his new team, get frustrated with the car, show his class against other drivers, win a race, get a pole position - so, so many questions to look out for!

Bianchi May Be Crucial To Beating Caterham & Has A Chance To Prove Force India Were Wrong Not To Sign Him

8) Can Marussia Overhaul Caterham?
...or can either of them score a point in their fourth season? Can you imagine if points only went to sixth place still like the olden days? Would be a certain no I think. I think everyone would like to see one of the teams get a point this year though.

Marussia very nearly overcame Caterham, until Petrov got an 11th at the last race in Brazil to overhaul 10th place. Caterham don't seem to be anywhere in winter testing, but Marussia's car looks like it has lots of room for improvement similarly to last year. Watch out for Marussia in the background! Britain's new boy and the very exciting Bianchi should be great.


9) Can Lotus Continue To Improve?

Whilst Sauber had a creditable sixth place behind the five big teams including four podiums, Lotus were the notable success story of 2012, improving from fifth to fourth in the constructors, many more podiums than the previous number of years and a well-deserved win with F1 returnee Kimi Raikkonen. It will be difficult to overhaul the top three teams Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari, but Lotus along with Mercedes have got the talent and resources to do challenge.

10) Will The Championship Go Down To Brazil Again?
Predictions? Yes. I really do. All experts say it's going to be closer than ever so, yes, why not. 

The Poster At The Penultimate Race In Austin, Texas; US Grand Prix 2012

Got any thoughts on these questions or you've got something we should all look out for this season? Please comment and share your thoughts! Look out for F1 Hub's next blog, which will be on predictions for the year! Like our facebook page for it to come to your news feed. 

Nick, F1 Hub

Testing Review: 3rd & Final Winter Test (Barcelona, Spain)

That’s a wrap on winter testing for another year, and it’s perhaps harder than ever to tell the order of team performances. This is due to the new Pirelli tyres possibly being even more unpredictable and difficult to understand than the previous years. 

Pirelli Will Be A Huge Influence To The First Races Of The Season
(at least the hard and medium tyres have distinctive colours now!)

Tyres definitely are the focus still despite the rising temperatures we saw in the test, even at 24C the tyres were degrading, making race simulations and set-up work difficult and unreliable to a certain extent, which was emphasised by big names.

Defending champion Vettel took a review of the testing season - "if you sum up the whole three tests, we were all limited to what the tyres could do. It was extremely difficult to read some set-up changes and find a good direction with the car because the tyres were simply not good enough". 

Vettel Finding The Conditions A Bit Slippery 

Jenson Button seconded this. His confidence in his new McLaren has grown since he and Perez admitted set-up struggles, but the tyres have given inconclusive results, finding progression extremely slow.

Rain fell on day one and two of the test, so most of the action and what we can take from the test happened on day three and four naturally. Mercedes have been the headline grabbers with both Hamilton and Rosberg topping the timesheets on these days. All Mercedes personnel though both driver’s and management have been frequently suppressing the media’s expectations. Of course we can assume low fuel loads, but the times nevertheless were still widely considered remarkable by experts. 

Rosberg & Mercedes Have Much Potential 

Ferrari and Lotus have gone from extremely reliable to the least, bringing out the most number of red flags between them. Ferrari are hard to read in terms of pace particularly due to small amounts of high fuel runs, and with rivals McLaren are the most are the hardest to predict. I won’t be surprised if they are on pole or even in the middle of the grid amount 12th. Don’t be surprised yourself either.

In the midfield Adrian Sutil made his return to Force India after a year's absence, putting in some decent times, it will be interesting to see him up against Paul di Resta again, and perhaps one of the best teammate match ups to look out for this year. If di Resta wants to prove big teams that they missed a trick by not recruiting him, he needs to beat Sutil by a decent margin, and achieve some podiums like Perez, or competitively lead a grand prix like Hulkenberg in Brazil.

Alonso's F138 In The Heavy Rain

After Jules Bianchi lost out on the Force India seat to Sutil, simultaneously Razia's sponsor money from Brazil didn't clear into Marussia's account, and Bianchi quickly went from being disappointed to relieved. On day three, he finished half a second clear of the Caterham, which Chilton has found hard to do. Could be the gem of the back of the grid teams.

Jules Bianchi Debuting For Marussia

Next time we see the cars will be in PF1 in Melbourne!

Every race F1 Hub will bring a full Race Report, and throughout the seasons will be talking about both hot topics widely publicised, and unusual thoughts and reports.

Our website www.f1hub.co.uk will be launching in the next week before the start of the season!

Nick, F1Hub

Talking Point: London Grand Prix Fading Away

Having a Grand Prix in London? British or not, that's a pretty cool prospect. Yet many cities have had the prospect of attempting to host a race, most recently the titled 'Rome Grand Prix' was proposed in 2009, before being abandoned in early 2011 due to no support of local residents, no possible agreement to share the Italian Grand Prix with the most famous Italian track Monza. Rome instead turning attentions to a 2020 Olympic Bid.

The London Grand Prix was proposed by Bernie Ecclestone and sponsored by Santander, and the effort gone into making this city street circuit not a stop start and dull right handed corner track has been well placed. You can't tell me as a fan this video didn't or doesn't still excite you?

Bit Cheesy Production But Still An Impressive & Exciting Track

(also see a computerised on-board lap at the bottom of the article)

Until this coming year, Spain have been the sole nation to host more than one Formula One Grand Prix in a season for a large number of years, with Germany occasionally hosting races at both the Nurburgring and the Hockeinheimring. 


More than ever, countries from all across the world are bidding to host a race on the international circuit, which led to the argument that Spain should no longer have two races. Between this and financial troubles for both venues, the European slot in Valencia was taken away and replaced by the US Grand Prix in New Jersey, but this is now due to debut in 2014, alongside the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in Sochi. 

Russia's Circuit In Sochi Has Venues From The 2014 Winter Olympic Games In The Surrounding Environment, Including The Striking & Unique Long Turn 3

That means if the Grand Prix calender in 2014 is to stay being 20 races or less, another existing race needs to be ditched, with the financially struggling and not amazingly popular Korean Grand Prix looking the most likely to concede at a best guess.

Nevertheless, with Argentina, South Africa, Thailand, France, and most recently/most promisingly Mexico all bidding for a slot over the next few years - having two United States races makes commericial and entertainment sense, but could the F1 calender contain a second British Grand Prix, even if it could be funded and be supported by London residents and government?

The Autodrome Hermanos Rodriguez was the venue for the Mexican Grand Prix, and is the most likely place to revive the Grand Prix, as it lies within the capital, Mexico City - Mexico now has two Mexican drivers, Perez & Gutierrez

Nigel Mansell won the last Mexican Grand Prix in his dominant 1992 season

Bernie Ecclestone certainly has been more complimentary of England recently, which despite being British himself is unusual.

"I think they did a good job with the Olympics," he said."It is the first time I have been proud of England. They showed that England can do it if they have to. The population was behind it. I just think that Formula One could do the same job for a lot less".

"Let's look at the worst-case scenario, which they wouldn't need to, and say a race in London costs them $50m (£31m) a year. Over 10 years that is $500m (£311m). What is that as a percentage of the £10bn they spent on the Olympics? And you are going to get good coverage for 10 years. When you think really and truly, the F1 industry is British. We have won more World Championships [than the foreign teams] and it is not government supported at all." 

He may be in his 80's but he's got a point!

If any country should have two races as well as the US, Great Britain is that place, perhaps with Italy and Germany as close runners up. Do you have a different opinion? If so then comment away!

As cool as it would be for so many reasons, but having being barely mentioned in the public eye for many, many months; it may be a dream that does not come true.

Share your thoughts on the London Grand Prix, and any other Formula One calender opinions by commenting below!

Nick, F1 Hub

A computer simulated lap of the London Grand Prix track onboard