Silly Season all year round

"Silly Season" is a term given to a time when rumours and speculation get rather out of hand for any given subject. However, in more recent times, thanks to social media and the internet in general, this seems to never stop.

Let's take one example, Formula 1. Formula 1 has a silly season every year when drivers are constantly linked to moves away from their current teams to pastures new. One such team who has had lots of links to drivers is McLaren. It's fair to say that the Woking based team has not had the best of years recently but with the return of Ron Dennis and a reuniting partnership with Honda for next year, The driver who has been talked about as leaving is Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion talked of retirement after his dad John passed away earlier this year but insists that he is not going to retire any time soon. After telling the press that he needs to focus more, Ron Dennis himself may be looking elsewhere for someone to get the team back at the front of the F1 field. Two of the surprising drivers linked are Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, team-mates from the infamous 2007 season.

It's unlikely that they would ever be team-mates again but one of them returning to McLaren, debatable. With Lewis, he left the team because he wanted more freedom and he wasn't happy after a retirement at Singapore, where ironically, a Mercedes-Benz component failed on the car. After that, he was talked into joining the Mercedes team by Niki Lauda. 

As for the eyebrow-endowed Spaniard, it's no secret that Alonso and Dennis' relationship deteriorated during that Hollywood-movie-worthy 2007 season. Where Alonso believed that the team preferred Hamilton. This all came to a point when Alonso blackmailed Dennis about the sensitive information from Ferrari about their car. It was Dennis himself who turned in McLaren to the FIA and got the immense fine and expulsion from the 2007 Constructor's Championship. Would Fernando Alonso go back to McLaren after that? Who knows. One thing is for sure, if Kimi Raikkonen can go back to Ferrari after he was thrown out then anything is possible. 

Two more names in the hat are Williams' Valtteri Bottas and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, who isn't having the best of times right now at Red Bull with his team mate Daniel Ricciardo smiling his way to being the best non-Mercedes as Vettel retires every other race. For Vettel to leave Red Bull it would be because he feels he needs a new challenge, and he'd get that at McLaren but he'd also get it at Ferrari, where he's been heavily linked to in the past. Vettel has said that he'd like to one emulate his hero Michael Schumacher and drive a red Ferrari but has also said that his favourite ever F1 car is a McLaren, the 1993 MP4/8 to be specific. 

As for Bottas, well his hero is Mika Hakkinen, who happens to be his manager. He drove for McLaren rather successfully. And it's not just him, plenty of Finnish drivers end up at McLaren at some point in their career and I'd imagine that driving for them one day would also appeal to Bottas. 

It's all conjecture without any real backup. I mean, Romain Grosjean has also been linked to McLaren because his manager is Eric Boullier, McLaren's Racing Director. That doesn't always mean that he'll get a drive there. I mean, Mark Webber's manager was Flavio Briatore and he never drove for Renault back in the 2000s.

The thing is, without any real sources to back it up, rumours are just that, rumours. Someone might go to McLaren or they might stick with Button and Magnussen. Who knows? I don't but maybe Eddie Jordan does.

Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory

McLaren. What is going on at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes? (they won't be called that for much longer)

McLaren had a pretty good end to the 2012 season. They won the last two races to end a mixed year, with the loss of Lewis Hamilton to the Mercedes works team. Now, we know that title sponsor Vodafone are ending their relationship with the team which began in 2007, the year Hamilton made his debut in F1. The reason for this is unclear but I do believe that Hamilton's exit swayed Vodafone. This sponsorship deal was big money to McLaren and losing that deal must be a blow. However, McLaren have announced that a replacement will announced on December 2nd and Hamilton's replacement, Sergio Perez, is backed by a company called Telmex. Telemex is part-owned by a man named Carlos Slim, who is the world's richest man, with a fortune of $73 billion. Can anyone say Telmex McLaren Honda?

As for Honda, well, as I've written in a previous post, are rumoured to be returning to F1 as an engine supplier, in 2015 if reports are accurate. If true, this would mean McLaren sticking with Mercedes next year. What this could mean is McLaren reverse engineering the Mercedes engine with Honda and finding out it's pros and cons. Mercedes have insisted that they will protect themselves from something like this but I'm not sure how they could stop it if McLaren do use them.

Back to this season, it has been, in a word, shambolic. McLaren have been painfully slow and all pre-season optimism has evaporated into thin air. This was surprising given their end of season form last year and the promise they showed at the first pre-season test. The problem is apparently the new push rod suspension system, which is similar to the one Ferrari had trouble with last season.

Sergio Perez driving the McLaren MP4-28.

Will McLaren fix this issue? Possibly. They have three weeks until the Chinese Grand Prix and should be spending it finding why the car is so slow compared to its nearest rivals. McLaren will recover from setbacks, it's in their history.

When Honda pulled out of F1 in the early 90s, after struggling with Cosworth and Peugeot, McLaren recovered. After losing the West sponsorship McLaren came back and they will after losing Vodafone, Mercedes and Hamilton. If they don't then Martin (I can't stop making excuses) Whitmarsh should be fired. Teams have a tendency of bouncing back after losing their Vodafone sponsorship anyway. In 2007, Ferrari's ex-McLaren man Kimi Raikkonen beat the dueling bitch-fest between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton by 1 point. In the same year, Manchester United came back from 3 years of not winning the Premier League to reclaim their crown, after switching from Vodafone to AIG. Maybe McLaren can make it a hat-trick in 2014?

Dust Settling on Carbon-fibre

One word describes the 2012 Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix. Dramatic. From the unpredictable weather  to the Championship climax both at the front and the back of the field. There was plenty still left to play for. In the end, it was Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull Racing team celebrating as Vettel won his third Driver's Championship in a row to go with Red Bull's third consecutive Constructor's trophy. 

At the other end of the field. There was something to play for as well. 11th in the Constructor's Championship. It doesn't sound much but it was worth millions in prize money to whoever got that place. The contenders were Caterham and Marussia and it was the Caterham team who came out in 11th place as Vitaly Petrov came in, you guessed it, in 11th, to secure the money. Funny thing is, Petrov might not be racing next year.

The biggest loser, outside of Alonso who must have known he only had an outside chance he would end up Champion, is Lewis Hamilton. I have already written about him and his move to Mercedes but now I have to again because I think he may be the unluckiest driver in F1.

Hamilton was flying in Brazil. He secured pole and was looking to end his McLaren career on a high and win  his final race for the team. Something achieved by the legend that was Aytron Senna in his final race at McLaren. However, like for much of the season, it just wasn't meant to be. Hamilton was out in front at Interlagos but was being caught by the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg, who like Hamilton was in his final race for the team he was currently at and wanted to end on a high, and the tricky conditions made things difficult for everyone. Which led to an incident which summed up Hamilton's season...

Not the first time in 2012 had Hamilton had to retire because of outside factors, whether it may be getting wiped out by say, Pastor Maldonado, or having technical difficulties with the car, things haven't gone Hamilton's way. What could he have done? Nothing. Hamilton has proved to everyone that he is one of the best in F1 despite the problems he's had this season and deserves a crack at winning a second Driver's Championship more than anyone. Will he get that at Mercedes? If things continue for them like they have recently then probably not. Mercedes have only scored six points in the last six races. Speaking of his Mercedes, McLaren have handled Hamilton's move to Mercedes in a pretty interesting way in their animated show Tooned. Tooned is a series of short episodes starring Lewis Hamilton (not now after the last episode of the series), Jenson Button and presenter of BBC gameshow Pointless, Alexander Armstrong. Here is the last episode of the first series of Tooned.

You can't say they don't have a sense of humour.

So now that the season is finished, many will reflect on what did happen and what could have been and of course, what could be for next season.

Going backpacking or gone forever?

This weekend, the 2012 Formula 1 season hits it's climax at the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos and the title will be decided between smug, whiny bitch Sebastian Vettel and eyebrow extraordinaire Fernando Alonso. However, attentions are already turning to the 2013 season and the biggest news is that Lewis Hamilton is leaving McLaren, the team who has supported him since he was just thirteen.

Lewis Hamilton at McLaren

Earlier this season, Hamilton announced that he was joining Mercedes and ending his long-standing association with the Woking-based team. The reason cited by Hamilton was that he wanted a new challenge and more freedom for sponsorship and other things. This is interesting given that his management company is the same one that orchestrated David Beckham's move to LA Galaxy several years ago. Of course, we can't forget that Hamilton's manager was his own dad before ending the professional relationship. Anthony, Lewis' dad has his own company and manages racing drivers, including Force India's Paul Di Resta. 

This surely means that Lewis' career managers were behind the move, since they had the most the gain from it. There's no way you can say it's to get a better car, since the Mercedes is struggling at this moment in time. That's not to say they won't improve for next year but given Hamilton won the last race at the new US circuit in Austin last time out and is looking good in Practice at Interlagos at the time of writing, you have to question the real motives of this moves. 

Hamilton's current team-mate at McLaren, Jenson Button, believes that his not-for-much-longer team-mate is making a mistake. Button said that "He has chosen to go his own way at the end of the year. It is his decision, although I personally don't think it is the right decision," and Jenson will know the Mercedes team better than anyone if you think about it. Given that had driven for them for quite a number of years in several guises: BAR, Honda and then the one season wonder Brawn GP.

Jenson Button driving the Brawn GP car which won both 2009 F1 championships

For years, even with the backing of Honda, who are rumoured to be returning to the sport, potentially as the engine supplier to McLaren, the team struggled to make real headway and only won one race as Honda in 2006 with Button behind the wheel. Ironically, had Honda stayed in the championship in 2009 they would have won both championships since Honda funded the development of the Brawn GP car which gave Button his Driver's Championship glory. Though that car was only as competitive as it was because they abandoned development of the 2008 car which was a total dud. To their credit, Mercedes have won a race this year, in China, and it was German shampoo model Nico Rosberg who gave them their first victory since they bought the team at the end of 2009. It was Nico's first and only F1 victory as well.

Not even the legend Michael Schumacher (pictured) can save the Mercedes F1 team from midfield  mediocrity so far. 

Since Button's comments, Hamilton has refuted any notions of regret at agreeing to join the Silver Arrows. Hamilton has said  "What I do have is a huge amount of love for the (McLaren) team. Leaving is always a tough decision and these last couple of races will be tough. "I'm happy I've got a new challenge ahead of me. I've got to build new relationships with people. Everyone does that in life so I don't know why I can't do it." 

However, the Team Principal at McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh, does believe that Hamilton is regretting signing on the dotted line to join BAR-Honda Mercedes, saying that he believes his reasons are that he has been offered more money and that Hamilton feels he has to 'flee the nest' so to speak. However, neither have ruled out Hamilton rejoining the team one day. That itself is a bit odd since you never hear drivers saying that they'd one day like to rejoin the team they're about the leave. Whitmarsh did go on the record and say that he would "have him back, yes".

"So let's hope it's just a gap year."

For the last time? Hamilton and Whitmarsh celebrating the victory at the 2012 US Grand Prix

Could we see Hamilton rejoining McLaren after three, or maybe even just a single year at Mercedes if things don't go too well?

It has happened of course. A driver rejoins the team he left for 'a new challenge'. The most recent example is Fernando Alonso, who in 2005 announced that he was joining McLaren from the all conquering Renault team of 2005-6. This only lasted for one year, despite him signing on for three years at McLaren. Alonso returned to Renault for 2008 and endured mediocrity for two years before joining Ferrari.This was down to him having his eyebrows ruffled by the new kid on the block, Lewis Hamilton. Annoyed at this and not being the Schumacher-esque dominator he had hoped, he sabotaged his own and Hamilton's chance of winning the F1 title, allowing Kimi "Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing" Raikkonen to win the championship by a single point.

Will Hamilton rejoin McLaren at some point? I think he will, it's just a case of when to be honest. McLaren have signed Sauber's Speedy Gonzalez Sergio Perez to replace him at McLaren and he is an exciting prospect and one to look out for next year for certain. I think it's more likely Hamilton will return when Button decides to hang up the helmet whenever that is. He's not getting any younger. 

In and out. Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez.

Only time will tell what happens but whatever the case. It's going to be exciting as hell to watch and that can only be a good thing.