The Motor Mag - Issue 1

ISSUE 1: April 2014

By fans… for fans

TESTING TIMES FOR SOME: JEREZ & BAHRAIN ROUND UP

ALSO: ROSBERG WINS SEASON OPENER

CONTENTS ISSUE 1 / APRIL 2014D

FEATURES 02 WELCOME 03 JEREZ TESTING ROUNDUP 05 BAHRAIN TESTING 10 PIRELLI TYRE DEAL 12 RON DENNIS RE-APPOINTED CEO 16 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX ROUND UP 21 RICCIARDO DISQUALIFIED

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A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO GP2

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GP3 SEASON PREVIEW

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A BEGINNIERS GUIDE TO MOTOGP MOTO GP SEASON PREVIEW

EDITORS NOTE WELCOME TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE MOTOR MAG

Hello and welcome to the first edition of The Motor Mag, First of all, I want to thank everyone reading this and everybody who has helped in making this magazine.

Some of you may be familiar with the F1 Fans Mag I made before this. You’ll probably remember it looked like it was put together by a 5 year old using Paint for the very first time, and to be honest, it wasn’t much better.

But now, it looks more professional, it looks better, it doesn’t look like something someone could knock up in 10 minutes. And hopefully, that will mean we will get more than the surprisingly high number of readers I had with the F1 Fans Mag. During this season, we have teams dedicated to covering Formula 1, GP2, GP3 and MotoGP. We will bring you in depth coverage and analysis of all race weekends as well as some other features such as Legends of F1.

So basically, a massive thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it, James (motormag@outlook.com)

SAM’S STUFF WELCOME TO YOUR AWESOME NEW MAGAZINE! Welcome to our first edition! I hope you like the new look! My job, as designer is to put together a magazine that motorsport fans as well as writers can be proud of and I hope I have succeeded, there is still a long way to go though and I’ve got a lot of other ideas for the next issue! Having read every issue of the old F1 Fans Mag I was really interested in working alongside James on his latest project and have loved working with the great team James has built up! If you have any ideas for the magazine, please do get in touch via me or James and we will see what we can do!

Until next time, Sam (samphillips97@hotmail.co.uk)

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TESTING TIMES IN JEREZ RED BULL STRUGGLE AS MERECEDES EMERGE AS EARLY FRONTRUNNERS

I think we can all assume that the teams apprehension at having an earlier Jerez test this year has been justified after the numerous problems encountered by the teams, none more so than the Renault powered teams.

With half of the launches taking place online just before the test renders and images of the cars, and then the rest taking place in Jerez everyone was taking the maximum amount of time possible before launching the 2014 challengers. Caterham were expected to show their car off on the Tuesday morning, just before the test along with Marussia.

The first signs of problems showed though, with Caterham missing out on a press call in the morning, and Marussia not even having a car at the circuit after finding a fault at the factory.

That would be a bad sign. The first on track was Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, one of the cars that had previously had a shakedown run along with Caterham and Toro Rosso. With the only running done by Mercedes and Ferrari for most of the first day, it really showed the struggle that most of the teams were having. McLaren didn’t go out at all on the first day, and there was only limited running from Williams and Caterham. Even though Ferrari and Mercedes were at the top of the timesheets, it wasn’t straightforward though, with the Ferrari breaking down on its outlap, and a front wing failure that shortened the day for Lewis Hamilton.

With wet weather overnight into the 2nd day, Pirelli decided to move the wet session from Friday to Wednesday as the track was already damp in the morning. The second day of testing was a little more fruitful for most teams, although McLaren were fastest in the wet in the morning, as well as the dryer afternoon. Jenson was trading fastest times with his former team mate Sergio Perez in the Force India, until he stopped on the track at the first corner with smoke coming out of the rear. With more running in the afternoon by the other teams, they fell down the order.

Jenson was pleased with the first days running, saying: “For our first day of actual running, we were able to get a good understanding of the car, and the way the engine and turbo behaves.

It’s tricky, and very different to what we’re used to, but I could feel that these cars will be enjoyable to drive.

“Of course, it’s still early days, and there’s a lot of work ahead of us. We need to work on both braking and traction; but that excites me, because there’s a lot of potential to adjust those parameters."

With McLaren splitting the driver duties on Thursday, Jenson Button drove in the morning ending up 4th for the day, while Magnussen on his first outing for the team went quickest of all in the afternoon. It highlighted the continued reliability of the Mercedes powered cars, with Felipe Massa finishing second on his first run for Williams, and early pacesetter Lewis Hamilton finishing third in the works Mercedes. Kevin was pleased with the day, saying: “This was a big day for me. I had butterflies in my stomach and had trouble sleeping last night – I’m a rookie, and I was just excited to get in the car. Equally, however, this doesn’t feel like my first day at work: I know everybody at McLaren, so I really felt at home.

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“Happily, everything worked as it should, and the car felt good. I’m pretty pleased with our reliability – to have done as many laps as I did in just half a day was pretty positive.

It was a day interspersed regularly with red flags, including the breakdowns of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari, Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India and Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull. Adrian Sutil crashed in the Sauber, while Jean-Eric Verge’s Toro Rosso-Renault stopped on the pit exit smoking.

The top non Mercedes car was the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, having a quiet day and completing 58 laps, the best on the medium tyre. Behind him was the Force India, they struggled only completing 17 laps and the only Mercedes car to have encountered problems.

It was another poor day for Renault though, where Toro Rosso only managed to cover 30 laps and the main Red Bull team couldn't even do as much as an installation lap. Caterham didn't fair much better only completing 10 laps with rookie and new third driver Robin Frijns.

Talking about Red Bull’s woes, Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum said: “We worked hard yesterday to make the changes it was felt were necessary to overcome the problems we identified and we were hopeful of a more successful day today.”

“Unfortunately, the measures we took only partially solved the issue and, as with yesterday, it’s more sensible to stop and dig deeper into finding a solution. It’s obviously not where we want to be and naturally the whole team is frustrated by these issues.”

“However, we’re pretty good at bouncing back from this type of thing. This is where the whole team pulls together and I’m sure we will get these problems fixed.”

Marussia made it to the track last night, and ran the car for the first time today. Although only doing 5 installation laps, it did achieve more than Red Bull who had attempted to run for the last two days.

Friday came, and Williams, who had a good week with the new Mercedes engine showed their pace in the afternoon, with Felipe Massa completing a string of laps, which would leave the team nearly a second ahead of the rest of the field. He led former team mate and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, who had completed the most number of laps during the day as a driver, showing that the Ferrari also has decent reliability at this early stage.

Overall it was a poor showing from Renault and Red Bull, with Christian Horner and Adrian Newey returning to the UK early in order to try and resolve the cooling problems they had in the new car.

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BAHRAIN TESTING REPORT

RENAULT CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WHILE MERCEDES PUT DOWN THE LAPS Winter testing moved to a new destination in 2014, the sunnier climes of the Middle East and the Bahrain International Circuit. With the normal Barcelona tests deemed unsuitable because of last years cold weather, the teams have headed to the sun to guarantee representative running for the season ahead.

The first day saw a repeat of the Jerez test, with the Mercedes engined cars dominating both the running and times. Nico Hulkenberg set the finalses fastest time for Force India, showing the potential of their package, and the weather didn’t change the form book though with the Mercedes teams still powering to the top of the time sheets in a delayed start session.

All four Mercedes powered cars have now set the fastest time on a testing day, Nico Hulkenberg clocked up 77 laps on his way to setting a time a second faster than any other team, and didn’t have the dramas that some of the other teams encountered again. The time, a 1:36.880 was actually faster than the fastest lap in the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Ferrari, today driven by Fernando Alonso, was second fastest despite loosing time early on after causing the first red flag when it was noted that he had left the pits in a cloud of smoke, which was later put down to an oil leak. Apart from the early setback, the team were able to do some decent running amassing 64 laps.

Mercedes finished the day third, with Lewis Hamilton at the sharp end of the time sheets for the whole day. Fellow Mercedes runners McLaren were just behind them in forth, with an impressive set of laps from rookie Kevin Magnussen, who got up to speed quickly and setting the fastest laps in the morning.

Although fifth and three seconds off the leaders pace, Red Bull had another poor day. Not appearing until the afternoon, Vettel only managed 14 laps and stopped on the circuit causing a lengthy red flag period. The Renault powered teams were still having problems, Toro Rosso only managed 5 laps with Daniil Kvyat, the team suffered an oil leak as well as a number of other issues, and Lotus who publicly debuted their new twin-tusk car which only managed 8 laps in the hands of Romain Grosjean. With less aggressive packaging Caterham were the most reliable of all the Renault teams completing 68 laps, and finishing ahead of both Toro Rosso and Lotus on the timing sheet.

It wasn’t a great day either for Williams who also only managed a handful of laps after finding a fuel leak which meant they had to take the rear of the car off, a lot longer job than it used to be because of the new engines. Marussia had an IT problem, which left them only completing a few laps.

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Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m36.880s 78 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.879s +0.999s 64 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m37.908s +1.028s 74 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.295s +1.415s 81 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m40.224s +3.344s 14 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.443s +3.563s 82 Robin Frijns Caterham-Renault 1m42.534s +5.654s 68 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m44.346s +7.466s 5 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m44.832s +7.952s 8 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes no time 5 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari no time 3

Kevin Magnussen topped the time sheets again on day two, although helped by using the super soft tyre from Pirelli, which helped him climb one and a half seconds ahead of the field, and also the fastest time so far from the test.

Talking about the days running, Magnussen said: “Unfortunately, we didn’t get too many laps done this morning, but it was good to get some laps done at the end of the day. The afternoon was good for us, and we worked through our problems.

“The team is doing a great job to help me: they’re giving me really good guidance and making me feel confident. There’s a lot of discussion about lap times, and it feels good to get some good times recorded, but winter testing is just that – testing. It isn’t about times.

“We’re still learning a lot about the car. We have four more days of testing next week and there’s still a lot of work to do. I’m sure everything up and down the pitlane will change a lot between now and Australia.”

He led a Mercedes heavy leader board with fellow Mercedes-shod rival Force India taking second place, another quiet but successful day for the Silverstone based team and Nico Hulkenberg.

Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari was again the top 3, showing that the car has consistency, even if we don’t know the full potential of its speed. Setting his fastest time on the soft tyre, Alonso was only a tenth away from the Force India.

Mercedes didn’t have it all their own way, showing that even the perceived leaders could have difficult days, but they were only minor sensor problems and it didn't harm their progress during the car, clocking the forth quickest time. After a difficult day yesterday with a fuel system problem, Williams were the slowest of the Mercedes powered cars in fifth, although hitting over 100 laps, more than any other team and worked through a race simulation. It is believed that only Mercedes has done this so far in Jerez, so Williams do have confidence in their package.

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Caterham were the quickest of the Renault powered cars in seventh, ahead of Red Bull who had the best day of the year so far covering an impressive 59 laps. Sister team Toro Rosso was also having a better time of it, only a couple of tenths behind it’s bigger brother and clocking a similar number of laps.

Having only just launched their new car, Lotus were at the back completing few laps, while Marussia were last after finding a fuel system problem, limiting their running.

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Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.910s 46 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m36.445s +1.535s 59 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m36.516s +1.606s 97 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m36.965s +2.055s 85 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m37.328s +2.418s 116 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m39.855s +4.945s 66 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m40.340s +5.430s 59 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m40.609s +5.699s 58 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.717s +5.807s 55 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m41.670s +6.760s 18 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m42.511s +7.601s 17

2014 testing has been full of mechanical gremlins, and Friday was no exception and even caught out Mercedes who missed most of the afternoon session with a hydraulics problem.

With the Mercedes at the head of the field, and Lewis setting a fast time in the morning while working though several set-up options, at one point over three seconds ahead of the field. It would come down to fellow Mercedes runners again to prove to be the nearest challengers, with McLaren falling into second. Jenson Button completed over 100 laps, showing that the 2014 McLaren has both speed and reliability and could be a challenger for the year.

Talking about the first full race distance he has done in the car he said: “Today was a really busy session – my engineers looked exhausted afterwards, and I’ve never seen that before!. “It was good to put some laps on the car without any major issues. We actually did a race distance in the afternoon, and it was nice to do that so early in testing. Still, that session showed us we still have a lot of work to do.”

“The thing we really need to focus on is fully understanding fuel-saving, and the communication required between the driver and engineer. I think we’ll get on top of things, though, because we’re traditionally very good at that.”

“We’re in a reasonable position: today was positive because we gathered so much information.

There’s still a lot of work to do before the first race; we’d like to be faster, but when you look at other test days, you’d say we’re in reasonable shape.”

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Third fastest was Williams, who split the driving duties for the day between the drivers, concentrating mainly on pitstop practice, with Valtteri Bottas completing 55 laps, but not actually setting a time. Felipe Massa completed 60 laps (totalling 115 laps – more than any other team), and set their fastest time nearly three seconds away from the leading Mercedes.

Esteban Gutierrez finished the day forth for Sauber, despite struggling with the new brake system, something he had trouble with early in 2013, but was the best position so far for a Ferrari customer team at the test. Fellow Mexican Sergio Perez in the Force India was fifth, while Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari only completed 44 laps for sixth.

Toro Rosso was the fastest of the Renault teams, even clocking up 57 laps for Daniil Kvyat who has been struggling to get the mileage in, although Caterham was the most reliable with an impressive 98 laps and meaning that Marcos Ericsson would be able to get his superlicence and will be allowed to race in Australia.

It was another poor day for Red Bull, who only completed 28 laps and finishing 9th on the timesheet, where although the team had a decent run in the morning they found a fault in the middle of the day and decided to stop running in preparation for tomorrow.

Talking about the disappointment, driver Daniel Ricciardo said: “It was going OK, I did some good laps and those came off the back of the more than 50 laps Seb did yesterday, so we’re getting there. Obviously, I would have liked to do more this afternoon but we still have tomorrow ahead of us and it’s important to be ready for that."

"The car is definitely making progress though. It’s coming together bit by bit. We’d love a big chunk all at once but obviously that’s not the way these things work, so we have to be a bit patient for now.” "However, it is coming and we’re heading in the right direction. Tomorrow it would be nice to get more laps in and then roll on next week.”

Marussia didn’t have a great day either, with an engine problem in the morning ruling out any more running during the day due to the time it now takes to change an engine. They were limited to just 4 laps. All eyes being on Red Bull for the worst performing team of the test, but Marussia have had very little running.

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Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m34.263s 67 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.976s +0.713s 103 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m37.066s +2.803s 60 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.180s +2.917s 96 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m37.367s +3.104s 57 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m37.476s +3.213s 44 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m38.974s +4.711s 57 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m39.642s +5.379s 26 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m40.781s +6.518s 28 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m42.130s +7.867s 98 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m46.672s +12.409s 4 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes no time 55

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Nico Rosberg finished at the top of the standings again on the last day of the first test in Bahrain. The Mercedes team were miles ahead of the others, setting the only time in the 1:33ʹ′s on the soft tyre, before doing longer runs in the afternoon simulating a race distance.

In a theme we have seen on previous days, fellow Mercedes engine cars also ran well, with McLaren being the closest challengers. Jenson Button finished over one and a half seconds slower than the Mercedes, and completed 66 laps.

Following an announcement in the morning, new Williams test driver Felipe Nasr had an impressive first showing finishing forth on the day, although with a rather unrepresentative four seconds away from Nico Rosberg. Force India had a gearbox problem, so their day was curtailed after 19 laps.

Renault struggled again, with Pastor Maldonado leading the Renault challenge in the Lotus in 5th, but that wasn’t without problems and did manage 59 laps. Red Bull only completed 15 laps, and worked hard during the afternoon in order to try and get some running, while its sister team Toro Rosso ended their day early with a ‘major’ engine problem.

Jean Eric Vergne commented on the day: “There’s no point in making negative comments, because everyone knows we are facing major problems and we are not alone in that.”

“We knew when we came to Bahrain that there had not been enough time since the previous test to have solved all our issues. On the positive side, we have managed to fix some of them now.”

“Also, even if I have not done so many laps, it’s clear from those I have managed to complete, that Toro Rosso has done a good job to give me a car that feels nice to drive, if we talk about the elements that used to be the main topics before this year, such as the aero and mechanical side of the package.”

“It’s frustrating, but we need to keep calm and not get stressed as there are still a few weeks before Melbourne. We will try again here in Bahrain starting on Thursday. Clearly, in Melbourne, just finishing the race will mean you have a good chance of scoring points.”

Caterham shared the running between their drivers, with Marcos Ericsson running in the morning, which was curtailed by a problem, and Kamui Kobayashi taking over in the afternoon.

They still only managed 21 laps collectively.

Kimi Raikkonen continued in the Ferrari, completing a reasonable 82 laps, and setting the third fastest time. It didn’t end well though with the Finn crashing in the final minutes of the session.

Jules Bianchi had further engine and fuel problems, while the Sauber of Adrian Sutil found a problem with the chassis in the morning curtailing the day with only 5 laps.

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PIRELLI RENEWS CONTRACT PIRELLI ANNOUNCED AS OFFICIAL F1 TYRE SUPPLIER UNTIL 2016

throughout the race).

On Thursday 16th January, it was announced that Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli has renewed its tyre contract with the sport until the end of the 2016 season. The current tyre manufacturer whose existing deal ran out at the end of last year experienced a difficult season with their fast-degrading tyres caused controversy before changing its tyres mid season (In case you do not follow the sport, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone saw five drivers experience significant tyre blow outs THROU

It has been rumoured throughout 2013 that their future within the sport looked uncertain, the FIA announced that they would continue to supply the sport into 2014 and confirmation that a three year deal was agreed with the governing body finally arrived on Thursday.

Pirelli have announced to the media that after a process of ensuring that they can ‘improve levels of safety and performance in Formula One’ with the FIA and also the teams, revisions to the Sporting Regulations from 2014 will see one of the 12 days of testing throughout the year dedicated to wet tyre running.

Following the return to in season testing this year, each team will also have to dedicate one of their eight days of running over to Pirelli to testing the development of their rubber. A maximum of two teams will spend each day of testing focusing on tyre-specific work. Also prior to Christmas, the FIA also agreed that Pirelli could hold an emergency tyre test in Bahrain with current cars in order to test their prototype 2014 rubber in hot conditions.

On Thursday, Pirelli made the following public statement:‘Following a decision made by the World Motor Sport Council confirming Pirelli’s status as the single supplier of tyres to the FIA Formula One World Championship, Pirelli and the FIA have renewed their Formula One tyre supply contract. The duration of the agreement is for three years, starting from the 2014 season.

‘The world motorsport governing body and Pirelli, in collaboration with the teams, have been working together to improve levels of safety and performance in Formula One, resulting in important changes to the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations regarding the testing of tyres, which will enable the Italian company to continue its Formula One single supply arrangements, in the best interests of the sport.’

In conclusion, I have to admit I was not unsure on how to react to this news. It seems that Pirelli have convinced the FIA that they are truly able to learn their lessons that happened with the REAMINED

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RED BULL STRUGGLE AS MERECEDES EMERGE AS EARLY FRONTRUNNER tyres from the 2013 season and have measures in place to stop that from occurring. And I am happy about this. As I personally believe that these measures should have been put in place sooner in order to protect the reputation of the sport, Pirelli themselves and also to protect the drivers who put their lives on the line in order to race in Formula One. However, with the safety measures now in place from Pirelli and the FIA, I am sure that if there are any significant issues with the tyres, these can now be changed as soon as possible, without having to ask for clarification, affecting the racing with the field and also making sure that safety is still a paramount issue.

2014 as we know with all the changes happening in the sport have made this season more demanding, challenging and more open to possibilities than the last few seasons.

Anything can happen in Formula One this year with the cars and also the racing. But this year, Pirelli need to make sure that old issues do not resurface, that they have produced tyres that will provide racing but also peace of mind and provide the element of safety.

Do I think Pirelli have learnt their lessons? Yes, I really do think they have. Do I feel that Pirelli have the potential to make 2014 great? We shall see.

By Sarah Jones You can follow me on Twitter at @jonesy_laaa. I also regularly blog about the sport on www.jonesonf1.wordpress.com.

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CHANGES AT McLAREN RON DENNIS APPOINTED CEO OF THE McLAREN GROUP

by the group.

On Thursday,16th January, it was announced that Ron Dennis has been appointed chief executive officer of the McLaren Group. Dennis has now replaced existing Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh, whose future position within the group is currently looking under threat. At the current time of writing, Whitmarsh’s replacement has not been announced by the team. But his replacement looks set to be officially announced within the next month, but no one at this stage has been sacked formally by the group.

Rumours that Dennis and Whitmarsh have been in dispute over the past two years have been growing. Over the past two years, rumours have been hitting the paddock that Dennis has been seeking to remove Whitmarsh, but has failed to do so because of his fractured working relationships with other board members at McLaren. This has not been confirmed by anyone at the McLaren group and could be just speculation that has been spreading quite quickly in the paddock.

In December 2013, it was heavily rumoured and confirmed by Dennis himself that he had been discussing the future of the team with former Mercedes Team Principal Ross Brawn who is high on McLaren’s list to their new Team Principal after his six month sabbatical from the sport. It has been rumoured that Dennis has told McLaren staff that there will be some ‘changes’ and that because of these changes that ‘we will win again’. These comments could also be fuelling the rumours that Brawn will be re-joining the McLaren team in six months time, which has not been confirmed by either party.

On Thursday when the news of Dennis being appointed was announced, he announced in a statement that: ‘The company’s shareholders had mandated me to write an exciting new chapter in the story of McLaren, beginning by improving our on track and off-track performance.’

I can see Dennis’s point of view. It has been noted that Dennis has not been very happy with the performance of the team for quite some time, but did not want to rejoin the pit lane at Grand Prix after he who stood down as a Team Principal in 2009 as he was at loggerheads with the board at the time. Which at first thoughts, you would expect Dennis to say, thereby trusting the job that Whitmarsh has at the group and his ability to bring the team back to winning ways.

However, last season saw McLaren have their worst season for three decades and failed to secure a podium since 1980. Also, the team have not won a Drivers Championship since Lewis Hamilton in 2008 and have failed to win a Constructors Championship since Mika Hakkinen in 1998.

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As you would expect from a team with the history and racing pedigree that McLaren has (and also has a McLaren fan myself), last year and their performance is not acceptable and would be looked into as a matter of urgency. And it seems that McLaren really have decided to make these necessary changes as soon as they possibly can in order to try and get back to winning ways without losing anymore grace.

Dennis added to his statement on Thursday to the media that: ‘Over the coming weeks, I intend to undertake a thorough and objective review of each of our businesses with the intention of optimising every aspect of our existing operations, while identifying new areas of growth that capitalise on our technologies and where appropriate further investing in them. During February, I will articulate a new Group Strategy and implement the organisational structure best suited to achieving it.’

At this current time, there has been no change in the company’s shareholding. The Bahrain royal family’s Mumtalakat investment fund owns 50%, with Dennis owing 25% and his long time partner Mansour Ojjeh owing 25% also. Ojjeh is currently recovering from a double lung transplant and has temporarily relinquished his role as a director towards his brother for the time being.

However, there has been talk over the last few months about McLaren’s dedication to its Formula One programme. Not only has the team just finished it’s most unsuccessful season in the sport for three decades, Whitmarsh has also confirmed to the media and also to Sky Sports F1 that the team was trying to persuade their former driver Fernando Alonso back to the team in 2015.

This rumour for the past few years has been gathering momentum up and down the pit lane and showed no signs of going away quickly. Despite Dennis and Alonso falling out in spectacular fashion when Alonso drove for the team in 2007, Dennis has confirmed to the media that he does not have a problem with him returning to the team. Even though Alonso has made it clear on quite a few occasions that he still blames Dennis for their past problems. Now with the latest developments taking place at the team, I believe that this rumour is now looking more unlikely now.

Last month, on BBC, Eddie Jordan has been very outspoken on their annual F1 season review of 2013 about the state that McLaren were in. When being asked by Susie Perry about the team in their review of 2013, Jordan replied that ‘McLaren need to decide if they want to build a competitive Formula One car or a competitive sports car.’

I see Jordan’s perspective. McLaren are a team of racing history and pedigree and pride on excelling on being the best they can be in all areas of motorsport and technology they are actively involved in. But this year has seen McLaren failing to produce a competitive car and suffering their worst season in three decades which everyone did not expect them to achieve after delivering in my opinion the best car of 2012.

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The team did not realise this until after the early season testing where they was two seconds faster in the first session (where the suspension they was running was illegal) and then in the second session two seconds behind their main rivals. It was reported that Dennis pushed Whitmarsh to reintroduce an evolution of the MP4-27 last spring which was overruled by Whitmarsh. This decision by Whitmarsh may have decided his fate.

But I will expand on this. Yes, the decision to stick with the MP4-28 has now turned out to be the wrong decision that Whitmarsh could have made for the team. I believe they should have brought back the MP4-27 as soon as they realised that the MP4-28 was not going to be as competitive as they thought it would be. But Whitmarsh made the decision that he thought would benefit the team and sadly it turned out to be the wrong decision.

But you cannot say that this key decision made by Whitmarsh has sealed his fate. It has been reported that Whitmarsh wanted to retain former driver Sergio Perez but Dennis and other members of the board did not want him to be retained and pushed for him to be dismissed (which Perez by the end of October). This decision did shock the paddock and also me personally. As I believe that Perez deserved another year at the team to show that he could do after regularly out qualifying and outracing his team mate Jenson Button and would have provided McLaren with continuity and something to build on for the new season.

As we all know, McLaren decided to sign up Kevin Magnussen for this year after showing his talent in the Formula Renault Series 3.5 in 2013. And I am not saying that Magnussen is not talented, because he is and is part of McLaren’s Young Driver Programme. But I think Kevin is coming into the sport too early but I believe that he has the potential to do very well.

Alongside all of these decisions, McLaren losing Paddy Lowe to Mercedes may have also decided Whitmarsh’s fate. Lowe has been part of the McLaren team for a good few years and has been a crucial part of the team and its competitiveness over the years. Lowe moved to the Mercedes team within the 2013 season and may have un stabled the team in terms of organisation at the Grand Prix and also to the development of the team too.

If Whitmarsh does not survive within the McLaren group after Dennis’s reorganisation, he should be proud of all that he has achieved and given to the McLaren team. He has provided McLaren with some astonishing wins during his time as Team Principal (for example Button’s win at Canada in 2011), has shown that when the team are on form they can produce a competitive racing car, environment and competition into the sport.

Sadly, when Whitmarsh needed to achieve this aim, the car was not competitive at all.

Yes, it was a decision that he made and a decision that he stuck by, but like everything in Formula One, it is a risk. The mistake that Whitmarsh made was that the risk he made was not calculated to the benefit that it willcake

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could bring to the team and its competitiveness. Whitmarsh tried with the resources he has available to correct this but sadly it was not enough to rescue the team in 2013. I have a lot of respect for him and if he does leave the team, his refreshing honesty will be missed.

In conclusion, I believe that Dennis regaining control of the McLaren group is a good thing and a bad thing. Dennis regaining control is a good thing for the team. Dennis has the track records, initiative and the passion to turning the team around and to get back to his winning ways.

Dennis will always make sure that the team have clear leadership, direction and motivation to fight back and to fight back well. And I do believe that Dennis will achieve this sooner rather than later. I think this is a step in the right direction and it is exactly what McLaren need to start their challenge to get back to the front.

However, it could also been seen that Dennis regaining control of the group is also a not a good thing. As many Formula One fans know, Dennis will always speak his mind on views that he cares passionately or absolutely does not agree with. As we all know, this has landed Dennis in considerable trouble throughout his years at McLaren and also in the media too.

Once again, it could be argued that Dennis replacing Whitmarsh has shown that Dennis did not have complete trust and faith in the job that he did for the team since 2009. Whitmarsh in his time at McLaren did not achieve any Drivers or Constructors championships for the team.

Whitmarsh only achieved a handful of race wins (some really good race wins) for the team which will have satisfied them, but not enough. And Dennis saw that in order to make the team competitive again, Whitmarsh had to be replaced in the manner that he did.

I take this point into consideration but if Dennis did not feel Whitmarsh was the right choice after he stepped down in 2009, why did it take him so long to get rid of him? The answer is simple, he did trust Whitmarsh. He gave Whitmarsh the resources to do the best job that he could for the team but sadly it was not good enough.

2014 will be a defining year for McLaren. I have no doubts about this. McLaren need to get back to winning ways and becoming competitive again in Formula One and very quickly. The team I’m sure will want to prove that they have learnt their mistakes from last year and that it was only a tiny blip for them in their long history within the sport.

Question is: will Dennis be the correct choice for McLaren? Only time will tell.

By Sarah Jones You can follow me on Twitter at @jonesy_laaa. I also regularly blog about the sport on www.jonesonf1.wordpress.com.

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AUSTRAILIAN GP ROUNDUP ROSBERG WINS AS RELIABILITY TAKES ITS TOLL

With the rain threatening, Hamilton and Rosberg waited at the end of the pitlane, along with both Force India and Grosjean.

Hamilton was on the Medium tyre, which is 2 seconds slower than the soft, showing how confident the team are with their advantage over the field.

Massa set the early fastest ahead of Hamilton and Button – on the soft tyre. Magnussen went quickest, 6 tenths quicker, then Ricciardo went a tenth fastest again, a 1:30.775 for Ricciardo. After also going out on the mediums, Alonso putted for the soft, who was down in 13th on a 1:34.2.

Vettel touched the wall, loosing half a second in the second sector. a 1:32.1 and 6th for Vettel.

On his fast lap on the soft tyre, Alonso had a large lock up into the first corner, although slowed

by Maldonado in S3, going 4th.

With rain starting to fall in the paddock, Maldonado yet to set a time with Chilton, Bianchi, Gutierrez, Ericsson and Grosjean who was to set a time were in the bottom 6. Maldonado had a half spin into the gravel in the damp conditions, with team mate Grosjean over 6 seconds off the pace in 21st.

Order for Q1, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Massa, Alonso & Button with Maldonado in 5th. With the rain falling harder, Chilton and Bianchi in the Marussias, Gutierrez in the Sauber, Ericsson in the Caterham and the two Lotus’ of Grosjean and Maldonado loose out in the first session.

Everyone came out early in the second session, with the Williams drivers at the front of the train, and most drivers going out on the intermediate tyre. Bottas went wide on his outlap, with the mixed conditions looking tricky for the drivers. Kobayashi and Kvyat went out on the full wet tyre.

Bottas went on to a flying lap, which was enough for a tentative 1:47.8, and Massa went faster by seven tenths. Rosberg in the Mercedes went quicker than them all with a 1:46.7. Vettel on his first lap went 7th fastest behind Fernando Alonso, while Daniel Ricciardo went quickest on a 1:46.646. Meanwhile Alonso, was picking up time on his second lap, eight tenths quicker, but didn't match the time of Bottas with a 1:45.6 who caused a yellow flag by spinning at the first corner.

He didn't stay there for long, with Ricciardo going slightly faster again. Alonso went quickest, then Hamilton and Rosberg went to the top, with Alonso in 3rd. Vettel currently out of the top 10, with Ricciardo improving again up to 2nd, seven thousandths behind of Hamilton. Hulkenberg in the Force India, then jump to third, three hundredths behind. Jean Eric Vergne, went 4th seven hundredths behind.

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Jenson Button then went to the top, with Ricciardo quickly going four tenths quicker, with conditions getting better with no rain. Ricciardo now on a 1:44.031, with Button 2nd and Hamilton in Mercedes 3rd. Bottas then improved to a 43.8. Alonso the next to go quickest by a second, topped by Ricciardo and then Nico Rosberg. Kimi Raikkonen then went off at the exit of turn 3, with yellow flags in the dying seconds of the sessions. Vettel made a mistake in the fast chicane, and was down on the fastest time to get through. Magnussen went 5th, and Vettel didn’t make the top ten, only slotting in 14th. Daniil Kvyat jumped into the top 10 in his first qualifying session.

Quite a few big names didn't make the top ten, with Button, Raikkonen, Vettel, Sutil, Kobayashi and Perez not getting into Q3.

With rain falling again into Q3, all the cars went out on the full wet tyre, apart from Fernando Alonso who went out on the intermediate, but the rain was much heavier than previous which meant that the DRS was disabled.

Rosberg was first in the line, on a 46.6, and Ricciardo was a second slower, with Rosberg going faster on his second lap but not completing it by coming in the pit. Ricciardo didn't and went on to set a faster time for 2nd. Hamilton stayed out also and went fastest by a couple of tenths. Rosberg came in for another set of wet tyres. Ricciardo came in a lap later, along with Magnussen and he chose the intermediates. Hamilton also came in for the full wets like his team mate, but Williams and the Force India decided to have the intermediates.

Rosberg went off on his fast lap, despite having a great first sector. Massa also looked in trouble going into the same corner, and was struggling in a straight line and didn't improve over his first run. Magnussen went third quickest, while the Mercedes were going quick behind, with Hamilton quickest. Daniil Kvyat went off an hit the front of his car in the wall. Rosberg then went quickest, with Hamilton having another lap. Ricciardo went third. Daniel Ricciardo went fastest with loud cheers from the crowd, but then Hamilton took it away from him by three tenths of a second.

Qualifying Results: Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m44.231s 2. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m44.548s +0.317s 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m44.595s +0.364s 4. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m45.745s +1.514s 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m45.819s +1.588s 6. JeanEric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m45.864s +1.633s 7. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m46.030s +1.799s 8. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m47.360s +3.129s 9. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m48.079s +3.848s 10. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m48.147s +3.916s Q3 cut-off: 1m44.331s ** 11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.437s +2.173s 12.

Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m44.494s +2.230s 13. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m44.668s +2.404s 14. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m45.655s +3.391s 15. Kamui Kobayashi CaterhamRenault 1m45.867s +3.603s 16. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m47.293s +5.029s Q2 cut-off: 1m34.274s *** 17. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m34.293s +4.118s 18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m34.794s +4.619s 19. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.117s +4.942s 20. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m35.157s +4.982s 21. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m36.993s +6.818s 22. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault

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Due to start at the back of the grid, Romain Grosjean decided to start from the pitlane, while Vettel who was stuck in the midfield in qualifying started on the medium tyre along with Esteban Gutierrez who was stuck at the back of the field. Romain got a penalty though for going to the end of the pitlane too early, having to serve a drive through in the early laps.

As the cars came to take their grid slots, the first start was abandoned with Max Chilton stalling on the first start. Instead of cutting the engines and delaying the start, the procedure is for the cars to go on another formation lap which counts as one lap of the race. At the getaway for the formation the other Marussia of Jules Bianchi.

At the proper start, Rosberg got a great start overtaking Hamilton and Ricciardo. Despite getting a similar getaway Ricciardo went down the inside of Hamilton into the first corner. Further back Massa was hit by the out of control Caterham of Kobayashi who almost went underneath the Williams, eliminating both cars in the first corner. Gutierrez also went off the track in front of Vettel at turn 3. Hamilton was in third, but with poor pace Magnussen overtook easily. Vettel further down the field was also complaining of no power.

The race order was Rosberg, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Vergne, Raikkonen, Kvyat and Bottas. Jenson Button in the McLaren was 11th.

Having been told to retire, Lewis Hamilton was overtaken again, this time by Hulkenberg, and was advised to save the engine. However the first lap he didn't come in, but instead was told to stay out. Further back, Bottas overtook Kvyat, but was passed again on lap 3, but was quickly able to get back again. Lewis Hamilton did though retire on lap 4, coming into the pits to stop the car.

The flying Williams of Bottas overtook Jean-Eric Vergne around the outside of turn 3 on lap 5, in a beautifully judged move, of which he then overtook Raikkonen down the inside of turn 8 on lap 8, moving him up to 6th on the road from 15th on the grid. Meanwhile an ailing Vettel retired his Red Bull, which had no electrical power.

By lap 10, and Bottas was getting close behind Fernando Alonso, but hit the wall on the exit of turn 10, bringing a puncture down the straight. The tyre came off the rim, with part of the wheel left stranded on the track. He got back to the pits, and the car was OK to continue. With debris on the track, the safety car was called. Jenson Button just made it in first as he just approached the final corner while all the leaders came in. Running close on the road, the biggest looser was Kimi Raikkonen who lost two places in the pit stops.

During the safety car, the order was Rosberg, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Button, Vergne and Raikkonen.

The race restarted on lap 16, and there were reports of light rain at turn 3. Bottas was instantly on the attack after his problem, and overtook Gutierrez in the Sauber for 14th place. Magnussen was close behind Ricciardo at the restart, but Rosberg instantly got away, 2 seconds up the cakefact

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road setting the fastest lap of a 1:33.195. It was instantly beaten by him on the second with a 32.4. With Ricciardo being attacked by the McLaren he was told that he didn't need to be worried about the fuel situation.

Lap 20, and Bottas was already back in the points in 10th, but was told that he need to be careful as there was a hardware problem with the DRS. Hulkenberg locked up, with Alonso gaining on him in turn 10, but wasn't able to make the most of the mistake from the German.

Rosberg 8 seconds clear on lap 24 from Ricciardo and Magnussen 11 behind Rosberg. Bottas was continuing his fine run, overtaking Kvyat’s Toro Rosso to take 9th place. Just ahead, Raikkonen locked up at turn 9 and lost 2 seconds behind the pack in 8th. Raikkonen looked to be struggling, especially under breaking.

By Lap 28, Rosberg’s lead had grown to over 10 seconds from Ricciardo and Magnussen, while there was another retirement, which was the Caterham of Marcos Ericsson at turn 4, on lap 29. The retirements were coming thick and fast, with Maldonado’s Lotus stopping on lap 31, much further than many expected the car to achieve.

Jenson Button was the first of the leaders to pit for their second pit stop, taking the medium tyre to take them to the end of the race, Perez followed him in. The sister car of Hulkenberg came in a lap later, with Verge, although Fernando Alonso who was in that group stayed out. In the stop, Button got out ahead of Hulkenberg and Vergne, having a great middle sector of the lap.

Raikkonen locked up and went wide at turn 9, Bottas able to overtake easily, continuing his climb up the order.

Alonso pitted on lap 36, again for the mediums, coming out behind Button and ahead of Alonso but Hulkenberg went around the outside and was squeezed wide. Ricciardo stopped a lap later, with Bottas, Raikkonen and Kvyat, and came back on the circuit in the same order. Magnussen pitted a lap later again, out just behind Daniel Ricciardo. Rosberg was the last to pit, well clear from the rest of the field.

Raikkonen was hounded by Kvyat for 9th, while Magnussen was catching Ricciardo. Despite running late into the race, Romain Grosjean also stopped the second Lotus, of which it was a weekend to forget for the team. Nearly loosing the car in the final corner, Jean-Eric Vergne lost time, allowing Bottas to overtake him using the DRS down the start/finish straight, with Bottas making up the lost ground from the mistake earlier in the race.

With the race settling down, Button was told that Ricciardo was struggling, but Rosberg was still leading by 20 seconds. Ricciardo to Magnussen was just a second, with Button not far down the road. Bottas was still on his charge at the end of the race, overtaking Hulkenberg into turn 1, to get to 6th place. Jean-Eric Vergne ran wide and let Raikkonen through, now only 9th for the Ferrari.

Magnussen was told to turn his engine up on lap 55, gearing up for an attack on Ricciardo, 2 seconds behind with 2 laps to go. Only got it down to 1.7 seconds on the final lap, too far back to attack So Nico Rosberg won by a very comfortable margin with Ricciardo finishing 2nd and Magnussen 3rd. Button 4th, Alonso 5th, Bottas 6th, Hulkenberg 7th and Raikkonen 8th. Vergne 9th and Kvyat 10th.

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In a twist at the end of the race, Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull was excluded from the race because they exceeded the 100kg/h fuel flow regulation. Although Red Bull contested the inaccuracies in the new sensor, the stewards decided the only action was exclusion. Detailed in a report, although Red Bull believed the sensor to be faulty, the rules state that the stewards have to tell the team what to do, not the other way round, with Red Bull taking the rules in their own hands.

After the race, Nico Rosberg commented on his performance: “That was an incredible day for us, to start the season with a win is unbelievable and I have to say a big thank you to everybody who was involved in building our car over the winter.”

“I always dreamed of having such a strong Silver Arrow and now it seems we are there. In the race, everything went perfectly for me. My start was great and I was able to push from there until the end, with our fuel consumption well under control.”

“However, despite our success today, we also know that there is still some work to do. We saw over the weekend that reliability is still a concern and it prevented us from having a strong twocar finish. We have two weeks to improve that. I am very much looking forward to Malaysia and I would love to race again tomorrow.”

Talking about the experience of his first race, second placed driver, Kevin Magnussen said: “It’s just fantastic to be on the podium! What happened today just feels surreal. Being on the podium in the first race of my Formula 1 career – it’s amazing.

“My ‘moment’ at the start was quite scary – I got on the power a bit too quickly, and nearly lost it. But the car was fantastic today – I was always able to place it exactly where I wanted, and I had the pace to fight the Red Bull. I had a bit of a go at Daniel towards the ends of the race, but didn’t quite have the speed to get past.

“I want to say a big congratulations to the team for doing such a good job over the winter and for working so hard to prepare me for this – it’s just crazy!

Race Classification: 1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1h32m58.710s 2. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes +26.777s 3.

Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +30.027s 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +35.284s 5. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +47.639s 6. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +50.718s 7. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +57.675s 8. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault +1m00.441s 9. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault +1m03.585s 10. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes +1m25.916s 11. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap 12. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap 13. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari +2 laps 14.

Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari +8 laps*

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RICCIARDO DISQUALIFIED DANIEL PUTS ON A BRAVE FACE AFTER LOSING PODIUM

Over the past week since we heard that Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix due to his car exceeding the fuel limit, he has sought to put on a “brave face” on things even though the controversy that is “fuel gate” is still ongoing.

It was a heart-breaking outcome for Ricciardo after an assured debut weekend for Red Bull in which he consistently outpaced World Champion Sebastian Vettel before running in in second place from start to finish in Sunday'scake race. Ricciardo even though he is pointless heading into the Malaysian Grand Prix had proven his point that he could race at the front of the grid and he managed to do what no other Australian driver had done before as he stood on the podium at his home race.

But Red Bull has vowed to contest the decision to expel their driver from the race (a verdict which was delivered over five hours after Ricciardo crossed the line behind race winner Nico Rosberg) and have now formally lodged an official appeal with the FIA that is set to take place on the 14th April, just before the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

When asked his thoughts by the media about achieving and also ‘enjoying’ the top step of the podium in his first race for Red Bull, Ricciardo stated the following:‘I stood there and it was a great feeling. I'm not sure enjoy is the right word. With Alan Jones doing the podium interview it all felt very surreal. A bit far-fetched actually - genuinely an unbelievable moment - and something I won't forget in a hurry.’

I do believe Ricciardo and I do believe that he will not forget achieving the podium in a hurry.

Ricciardo over the weekend showed that he can challenge his team mate Sebastian Vettel and that he can deliver if he has the equipment underneath him. I do feel that Ricciardo will only use this to improve even further throughout the season ahead.

Even though Ricciardo did a superb job throughout the weekend and in my eyes deserved the podium as a reward for all his hard efforts, sadly his first ‘podium’ in Formula One will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. And that is a shame for Ricciardo who did nothing wrong all weekend. But sadly, due to the Red Bull exceeding the fuel limit throughout the race, this has sadly cost him his second place.

Further on in his interview with the media, Ricciardo has publically stated that he is not happy with the outcome of the Australian Grand Prix and his disqualification but has accepted it as best as he can do. He said the following:-

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‘That puts a bit of a downer on what had been a brilliant day. It's not how I imagined celebrating after my first F1 podium. I still went out to catch up with a couple of mates but it's fair to say the mood wasn't as wild as it might have been. I wasn't happy with the outcome but that's part of motor racing.’

It would be hard not to argue with Ricciardo’s perspective. There is no question that he deserved his podium finish after a great weekend for him. He has showed the reasons why he was picked over Jean-Eric Vergne to replace the second seat at Red Bull after Mark Webber retired from the sport at the end of last season.

The attitude that Ricciardo has shown as a result of his disqualification has been admirable and he has dealt with it in the correct manner. I do feel immensely sorry for Ricciardo that he has been disqualified from the Grand Prix but at the end of the day, the Red Bull team should have managed the situation with his fuel flow problem better after being warned by the FIA it was announced last week several times throughout the course of the Grand Prix weekend.

But they did not do so. And as a result of this, the team and unfortunately Ricciardo have going to have to pay the price for not following the rules and regulations as stipulated by the FIA and face the consequences that may come along with it, even if they do not agree with the decision.

After the stewards and the FIA announced that Ricciardo was indeed disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix five hours after the race was finished, the Australian press have been less circumspect in their assessment of the verdict. This led to one with one newspaper subsequently disparaging the race as a 'Grand Farce' in banner headline.

It would seem that Red Bull's condemnation of the FIA's fuel flow sensors, which will be the central feature of their appeal. After the stewards looking at the evidence in front of them and adjudged the rate of delivery to have been 'consistently in excess' of the permitted 100kg per hour limit was equally damning. Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner’s reaction after the result was announced described to the media that the component as 'unreliable', 'problematic' and 'immature technology'.

Despite losing his P2 and the 18 World Championship points, Ricciardo insists it was still a positive day on a personal note as he proved he could reach the podium. Ricciardo said to the media the following:‘Actually it's mostly positives. I did a good job in the car and I got to stand on the Australian Grand Prix podium - and no-one's taking the sensation of doing that away. What happens next is outside of my ability to control but honestly, I'd rather it went down like this than have retired from the race with a mechanical problem. I'll take a podium and a subsequent disqualification over that any day of the week.’

I think many pundits and fans would agree with Ricciardo and what he has stated to the media here. I do believe that Ricciardo will only take away the positives from his performance in Melbourne and will do all that he can to build on this throughout the season ahead. We have now seen that he can perform and can perform competitively and consistently.

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I do believe that this will only make Ricciardo even more determined to bounce back onto better things. And I do believe that he will do so without question. However, Ricciardo is correct that he cannot control what happens regarding his disqualification and he will have to let his team and the FIA decide on the best course of action to undertake in order to clear up the controversy surrounding ‘fuel gate’.

As for the future despite the controversy surrounding his disqualification, Ricciardo says there's still a lot of work to do at Red Bull before they join the fight to be the best team in Formula One. ‘At the moment, we're in the battle to be the second-best team. Obviously that isn't where we want to be but it's exceeding our expectations of only a few weeks ago. I think once we really get into the setup of the car, we'll be able to close the gap to Mercedes. Obviously they're going to improve too but I think we're in a good position to make bigger strides.’

As we all know, Red Bull have not had the best they would have wanted with the 2014 season at the moment. What with all the problems they endured with reliability with the Renault power units and also cooling issues with the RB10, it has not been the start they and we would have imagined after their dominant performance throughout the 2013 season.

Added on top of this, you now have ‘fuel gate’ controversy which will no doubt be another cause of real concern for the Red Bull team who are still struggling to adapt and improve their cars to the new technical regulations that have been introduced to the sport this season.

Ricciardo is correct, Red Bull have a lot of work to do in order to once again be fighting at the front and winning races. But with the performance of Ricciardo from Melbourne, they have a solid foundation that they can use in order to make improvements heading towards Malaysia and throughout the rest of the season.

I do believe that Red Bull will be challenging the front of the grid once again throughout 2014.

Red Bull has stated over the past few weeks that they expect to be back on track with the RB10 at the start of the European races. But the question is how long will it take them and will it be too late?

But the main question on everyone’s lips right now is what will happen to Red Bull and Ricciardo on the 14th April when the team’s appeal to overturn the decision to disqualify Ricciardo in Australia will be made? Who knows what will happen.

But I do believe that whatever happens regarding the decision, Ricciardo will only use the decision made by the FIA in order to show that he is a talented racing driver who will I believe throughout 2014 will once again surprise a few people along the way with his performance.

By Sarah Jones You can follow me on Twitter: @jonesy_laaa. I also regularly blog about Formula One and you can find my blog at www.jonesonf1.wordpress.com

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GP2 THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO THE SERIES

With the GP2 series soon due to wake from it’s winter hibernation it seems like a good time to refresh memories of how this championship came to be and also be your guide on spotting the Grand Prix stars of tomorrow.

The Cars GP2 is a one make series with Italian Manufacturer Dallara providing the chassis and Pirelli the tyres with a very similar compound to Formula 1, no aerodynamic modifications can be by the teams to ensure emphasis is placed on the driver’s abilities. Like Formula One the cars also include a semi-automatic paddle shift gearbox on the steering wheel.

Although they no longer badge the engines these are provided by Renault, the 4.0 litre V8 unit produces an impressive 600 plus horsepower and speeds can reach in excess of 200mph at high speed circuits like Monza. Depending on the track these cars are 5-10 seconds a lap slower than their F1 counterparts however with the birth of a new generation of Grand Prix cars this is expected to be far less in 2014.

The Format GP2 races are held on the support bill to Formula One, mainly at all the Grand Prix’s held in Europe. A weekend consists of two races, the main one being known as “The Feature Race” held on a Saturday afternoon, this is the longer of the two with a mandatory pitstop required.

For 2014, like Formula One both tyre compounds must be used in the feature race which is typically around 180 kilometres.

The second of the two races is known as “The Sprint Race” and consists of 120 kilometres however this uses a grid determined with the result of the feature race but with the top 8 positions reversed. The same points scoring system as Formula 1 of 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 is applied to the feature race. Due to the reversed grid rule there are less points awarded for the sprint race with the winner only receiving 15. Pole position is also awarded 4 points with 2 points given to the driver with fastest lap in each race as long as they are inside the top 10 finishing order.

History The main purpose of GP2 is as the name suggests to provide the last stepping stone for drivers aspiring to reach the promised land of Formula One. The previous support series Formula 3000 has been around since the mid 80’s however by 2004 the grids for this were declining and with few of the drivers actually graduating to F1 it was felt new championship was required with fresh impetus on bringing through the next generation.

For 2005 GP2 was launched with new teams, new drivers and a new car. The Dallara Renault ensured a level playing field with speeds a lot closer to Formula 1 than it’s predecessor. IIn its first few years all bar one of the races were held as a support event to Grand Prix’ around Europe, cake

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this allowed F1 team bosses a far closer look at the up and coming drivers, by this point many teams had already initiated the young driver schemes that has since seen the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton rise to the top and by placing their young prodigy’s in GP2 it enabled them to monitor their driver’s performances close up on Grand Prix weekend’s. Teams such as McLaren, Renault, Red Bull, Toyota, BMW and Williams all placed their investments in the series from the outset hoping to uncover the next star.

Afters several F3000 Champions had failed to graduate to Formula 1, GP2 started as it meant to go on with Nico Rosberg pipping Heikki Kovaleinen in a dramatic finale to win the inaugural title in 2005.

For 2006 McLaren placed their young protégé Lewis Hamilton with Rosberg’s title winning team ART GP, the French squad had initially expected this to be a learning year for the young Brit however a mid-season surge including a dazzling performance in front of a home crowd at Silverstone helped Hamilton net the championship in his first season leading to Ron Dennis famously taking the plunge and placing Hamilton straight into a McLaren seat for the following season.

Subsequent Champions have included Timo Glock, Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean allowing them to carve out a career in Formula One. Along with the likes of Kamui Kobayashi, Sergio Perez and Max Chilton to name but a few GP2 has succeeded where its predecessor F3000 failed in becoming a proven place to become noticed by those who matter and graduate to the pinnacle of motorsport.

The Present and The Future However in recent years it’s position as the main feeder series to Formula One has come under threat from the Renault World Series, a similar formula but one which headlines it’s own events around Europe and has also provided a cheaper solution to drivers who may have the talent but are struggling to find the budget.

It’s 2013 Champion Kevin Magnussen has landed himself with a plum McLaren drive for this season and it was generally acknowledged the Renault World Series field had more strength in depth than GP2 last year. This coupled with the fact that the GP2 champions from the previous two seasons have both failed to find a drive in Formula One has led to series organisers looking to cut costs for teams and drivers alike.

Less races outside Europe along with reduced operating costs on parts should lessen the burden on teams. It’s hoped this will also put less of a strain on drivers’ budgets meaning a deeper depth of quality in the field.

McLaren and Ferrari have decided to place their latest young driver prospects, Stoffel Vandoorne and Raffaele Marciello respectively into GP2 this year. Arguably the cream the of the current crop of drivers tipped as future World Champions these two look likely to provide a fascinating headline rivalry for the forthcoming season.

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GP3

GP3 SEASON PREVIEW PIECES COMING TOGETHER FOR FIFTH SEASON OF GP3

The calendar for the fifth season of the GP3 series has been announced. Gone is the standalone round in Valencia that debuted in 2013, while races in Austria and Russia are added to the schedule. There will be nine race weekends in total, starting in Spain in May and climaxing in Abu Dhabi in November, all as support races to Formula 1 and GP2.

Team Changes

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After one season in GP3, Bamboo Engineering have left the series to concentrate on their World Touring Car Championship commitments, to be replaced by GP2 team champions Russian Time, who have expanded their team.

The MW Arden outfit have been re-branded as Arden International, after Mark Webber left the team.

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GP3

T RED BULL STRUGGLE AS MERECEDES EMERGE AS EARLY FRONTRUNNER

Driver Announcements: Carlin have announced Red Bull Junior driver Alex Lynn will compete for the team in 2014. Lynn moves up from the FIA European Formula 3 championship, and is the current Macau Grand Prix winner.

“I am extremely proud to be joining the Red Bull Junior Team and to be also joining Carlin for the GP3 Series, it’s a big opportunity that I’m ready to make the most of,” said Lynn. “I have spent years going wheel to wheel with the Red Bull Carlin cars, so now it will be cool to be racing one myself.”

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The team has also announced anglo-Dane Emil Bernstorff will race for Carlin this season.

Bernstorff competed in German Formula 3 in 2013, winning five times en-route to third in the championship.

‘I’m pleased to be making the step up to GP3 with Carlin for the 2014 season,” said Bernstorff.

“Carlin is a team I have admired for many years and it is great to be racing with them this season.”

Reigning GP3 series team champions ART Grand Prix have confirmed that Alex Fontana will drive for them in 2014. He moves from Jenzer Motorsport, and he took his maiden GP3 series podium finish at Silverstone in 2013.

“I am extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with a team that has topped the championship like ART Grand Prix and I believe that no other team can allow me to better develop my skills,” commented Fontana.

Arden International have announced two drivers so far, in Romanian Robert Visoiu and Swiss driver Patric Niederhauser. Visoiu will be competing in his second season with the team and won two races in 2013, while Niederhauser is another driver moving from Jenzer Motorsport to be with another team. The Swiss driver won twice in his debut season in 2012.

"I am looking forward to an exciting 2014 season in the GP3,” insisted Visoiu. “I feel I've learned cake

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GP3

T RED BULL STRUGGLE AS MERECEDES EMERGE AS EARLY FRONTRUNNER

a lot during the previous year and now I am ready to step up to a more consistent evolution. It will be the first time I get the chance to race the same car in two consecutive seasons and that makes me feel very positive about 2014!”

“After a great post-season test day in Abu Dhabi I am extremely happy to drive for Arden International in the GP3 Series 2014,” said Niederhauser. “It will be my third year in GP3 so my goal is to fight for the Championship. It will be an immense pleasure to work with them and I’m looking forward to a new chapter in my career.”

Brazilian Victor Carbone has joined the series as a driver for Trident Racing. South African Roman de Beer will join him at the team. Carbone has been running in the Indy Lights series in America for the past few seasons, while de Beer sat out the 2013 season in order to get funds to race GP3 in 2014.

“I am extremely happy and excited to have the chance to join Trident and race in Europe this year in such a competitive Series as GP3,” said Carbone. “It will be a big challenge coming from the USA but I am confident that together with my Team we will work very hard to reach great results. I also wanted to thank everyone who made this possible.”

“We are all working hard towards the 2014 season hoping for the best results,” added de Beer.

“With a competitive series like GP3, expectations are always difficult to achieve but with determination and team work, everything is possible.”

Series debutants Russian Time have announced Swedish driver Jimmy Eriksson as their first driver for the 2014 season. The Swede will be having his second season in the series, having driven for Status Grand Prix last year.

“I’m excited to have been given this opportunity to join RUSSIAN TIME for their first foray into GP3, and it does feel a bit like coming home,” said Eriksson. “I share some very fond memories with this team, culminating in the ATS Formula 3 Cup title in 2012 – our most recent season together. The guys are new to GP3 and this is an ultra-competitive championship, but their record from GP2 last year – winning the teams’ title on their first attempt – highlights everything this group of people is capable of.

Photographs: World Copyright: Sam Bloxham/LAT Photographic.

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MOTO GP

MOTO GP THE BEGINNERS GUIDE

The 2014 MotoGP season is only just around the corner and it is set to be a cracker. If you are new to the sport then you may find MotoGP a tad confusing but fear not as this guide aims to bring you clarity on this wonderful sport.

The Classes: There are three classes in the motorcycle grand prix world championship; Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP. The Moto3 class is where most start their grand prix careers. Moto3 bikes are powered by 250cc, four stroke single cylinder engines with a power output of about 85bhp. Each team is permitted to six engines per season per bike and only one bike per rider. Tyres are supplied by Dunlop. Moto3 was introduced in 2012 as a replacement for the 125cc class. The class has produced some utterly breath taking races like last season’s finale when the title was decide on the last corner of the last lap. Both Moto3 titles have been won on KTM powered machinery.

The next class is Moto2. These bikes are powered by 600cc, four stroke Honda engines producing 140bhp. Chassis are prototypes and like Moto3, teams are permitted to one bike per rider. Riders are allowed two engine per event. Also like Moto3, tyres are supplied by Dunlop.

The Moto2 class was introduced in 2010, replacing the 250cc category. Moto2 has been excellent in preparing riders for MotoGP and has produced superb racing.

MotoGP is the pinnacle of motorcycle grand prix racing. Formally known as the 500cc world championship, the MotoGP class was created in 2002 with the introduction of four stroke 990cc machines. In 2007 the engines changed to 800cc and in 2012 a new era in MotoGP began as 1000cc engines were introduced. The new engines are four stroke, four cylinder engines with a power output of 250bhp. Unlike the junior and intermediate classes, tyres are supplied by Bridgestone.

There are two classes of bikes in MotoGP – Factory and the new for 2014 Open class. The Factory bikes are prototype machines entered by a major manufacturer as either a full factory team or a customer team known as a Satellite team. Factory teams get full support from the manufacturer whereas Satellite teams have factory parts filtered down to them once they have been developed by the factory teams. Teams dubbed Factory teams will run the spec Magneti Marelli hardware (ECU) with the manufacturers own software. The Open class will use the spec hardware with spec software. The Open class bikes will be either full prototypes like the Factory class but with standard ECU software or a prototype chassis with a factory-spec engine as well as a heavily tuned production engine in a prototype chassis.

Open class teams are permitted to use 24 litres of fuel during a race and have a maximum 12 engines to use over the course of the season. They will also have a softer compound of tyre at their disposal. Factory teams are limited to five engines per season and only 20 litres of fuel during a race. All riders have two bikes to use each weekend.

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MOTO GP

THE TEAMS AND RIDERS MOTO GP - THE BEGINNERS GUIDE

Moto3 – There will be 20 teams competing in the 2014 Moto3 World Championship with 33 riders occupying those teams. They are: San Carlo Team Italia – Mahindra * Matteo Ferrari (ITA) * Andrea Locatelli (ITA)

Gresini Junior Team Go & Fun Moto3 – KTM * Niccoló Antonelli (ITA) * Enea Bastianini (ITA)

Kiefer Racing – Kalex KTM * Gabriel Ramos (VEZ) * Luca Grünwald (GER)

Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo - Husqvarna * Nikilas Ajo (FIN)

Team Sky-VR46 – KTM * Romano Fenati (ITA) * Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Racing Team Germany – Honda * Efrén Vazquez (SPA) * John McPhee (GBR) Red Bull KTM Ajo * Jack Miller (AUS) * Karel Hanika (CZE) RW Racing GP – Kalex KTM * Scott Deroue (NED) * Ana Carrasco (SPA) Ongetta Rivacold/Air Asia – Honda * Alexis Masbou (FRA) * Zulfahmi Kairuddin (MAL)

Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo - Husqvarna * Danny Kent (GBR) Team Calvo – KTM * Isaac Vinales (SPA) * Eric Granado (BRA) * Jakub Kornfeil (CZE) Mahindra Racing * Miguel Oliveira (POR) * Arthur Sissis (AUS) Mapfre Aspar Team – Kalex KTM * Juan Francisco Guevara (SPA) Interwetten Paddock Moto3 – Kalex KTM * Philipp Ottl (GER) SIC Ajo – KTM * Hafiq Azmi (MAL)

Marc VDS Racing Team – Kalex KTM * Livio Loi (BEL) Estrella Galicia 0,0 – Honda * Alex Marquez (SPA) * Alex Rins (SPA) CIP Moto3 – Mahindra * Alessandro Tonucci (ITA) * Bryan Schouten (NED)

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MOTO GP

THE TEAMS AND RIDERS MOTO GP - THE BEGINNERS GUIDE

Moto2 - There are 21 teams taking part in this years Moto2 championship with 34 riders occupying those teams.

Caterham Moto Racing – Caterham Suter * Josh Herrin (USA) * Johan Zarco (FRA)

Tech 3 – Tech 3 * Marcel Schrotter (GER) * Alex Marinelarena (SPA)

NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Forward Kalex * Simone Corsi (ITA) * Mattia Pasini (ITA)

Idemitsu Honda Team Air Asia – Kalex * Azlan Shah (MAL) * Takaaki Nakagami (JAP)

IodaRacing Project – Suter * Randy Krummenacher (SUI)

Marc VDS Racing Team – Kalex * Mika Kalio (FIN) * Esteve Rabat (SPA)

Gresini Moto2/Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 – Suter * Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA) * Xavier Simeon (BEL) AGT-Rea Racing – Suter * Gino Rea (GBR) A.P. Honda SAG Team/SAG Team – Kalex * Thitipong Warokorn (THA) * Louis Rossi (FRA) Dynavolt Intact GP – Kalex * Sandro Cortese (GER) Interwetten Paddock Moto2 – Suter * Thomas Luthi (SUI) Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 – Suter * Nicolas Terol (SPA) * Jordi Torres (SPA) Italtrans Racing Team – Kalex * Franco Morbidelli (ITA) * Julian Simon (SPA)

Tuenti HP 40 Pons – Kalex * Luis Salom (SPA) * Maverick Vinales (SPA) Arginano & Gines Racing – Kalex * Axel Pons (SPA) * Jonas Folger (GER) Teluru Team JiR Webike – Motobi * Tetsuta Nagashima (JAP) Petronas Raceline Malaysia – Kalex * Hafizh Syahrin (MAL) Technomag carXpert – Suter * Robin Mulhauser (SUI) * Dominique Aegerter (SUI) QMMF Racing Team – Speed Up * Anthony West (AUS) * Roman Ramos (SPA)

Speed Up – Speed Up * Sam Lowes (GBR)

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MOTO GP

THE TEAMS AND RIDERS MOTO GP - THE BEGINNERS GUIDE

MotoGP - There are 15 teams competing in this years MotoGP world championship with 24 riders occupying those teams.

Ducati Team – Ducati * Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) * Cal Crutchlow (GBR)

Cardion AB Motoracing – Honda (Open) * Karel Abraham (CZE)

LCR Honda – Honda * Stefan Bradl (GER)

Paul Bird Motorsport (TBA) * Broc Parkes (AUS) * Michael Laverty (GBR)

GO & FUN Gresini Honda – Honda * Alvaro Bautista (SPA)

GO & FUN Honda Gresini – Honda (Open) * Scott Redding (GBR)

Repsol Honda Team – Honda * Marc Marquez (SPA) * Dani Pedrosa (SPA)

Pramac Racing – Ducati (Open) * Yony Hernandez (COL)

Pramac Racing – Ducati * Andrea Ianonne (ITA) Monster Tech 3 – Yamaha * Bradley Smith (GBR) * Pol Espargaro (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing Team * Valentino Rossi (ITA) * Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) NGM Forward Racing – FTR Yamaha * Colin Edwards (USA) * Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Drive M7 Aspar Team – Honda (Open) * Hiroshi Aoyama (JAP) * Nicky Hayden (USA) Avintia Blusens – (TBA) * Hector Barbera (SPA) * Mike Di Meglio (FRA) IodaRacing Project (TBA) * Danilo Petrucci (ITA) * Leon Camier (GBR)

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MOTO GP

THE CALENDAR MOTO GP - THE BEGINNERS GUIDE

2014 will consist of 18 rounds. South America returns to the calendar with the Argentine Grand Prix at the Autódromo Termas de Rio Hondo. A proposed Brazilian Grand Prix was scheduled to take place on the 28 September but has since been cast into doubt. There is a month long summer break between the German and Indianapolis Grand Prix. The season – as it has done since 2002 – will finish in Valencia. Race weekends begin on a Friday with the first and second practise sessions. The final practise sessions and qualifying taking place on a Saturday. Sunday is race day. Qatar and the Dutch TT are the exceptions to this with practise taking place on a Thursday and Friday. The Dutch TT traditionally takes place on the last Saturday of June.

Round 1 – Qatar 20-23 March Round 2 – Austin 11-13 April Round 3 - Argentina 25-27 April Round 4 – Jerez 2-4 May Round 5 – France 16-18 May Round 6 – Italy 30 May – 1 June Round 7 – Catalunya 13-15 June Round 8 – Holland 26-28 June Round 9 – Germany 13-15 July Round 10 – Indianapolis 8-10 August Round 11 – Czech Republic 15–17 August Round 12 – Great Britain 29-31 August Round 13 – San Marino 12-14 September Round 14 – Aragon 19-21 September Round 15 – Japan 10-12 October Round 16 – Australia 17-19 October Round 17 – Malaysia 24-26 October Round 18 – Valencia 7-9 November With the likely cancellation of the Brazilian race, dates are subject to change.

The Flags Black Flag – Means a rider is disqualified and must return to the pits.

Black and Orange flag – Warns rider of mechanical issue with bike.

Blue Flag – Warns riders of faster bikes around them.

White Flag – Indicates the track is wet enough to warrant change of bike.

White Flag with Red Cross – Signifies rain at a particular part of the circuit.

Yellow flag – Warns riders of danger on the track.

Red Flag – Signifies that the race has been stopped.

Green Flag – Track has been cleared. Back to racing speed.

Chequered Flag – Race complete

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MOTO GP

2014 SEASON PREVIEW YOUR GUIDE ON WHO TO WATCH THIS SEASON

The 2013 season will go down in history as the sports finest. It had it all. In all three classes there was headline making goings on. The Moto3 championship came down to the final round with the three title protagonists – Luis Salom, Alex Rins & Maverick Vinalez – starting on the front row with just five points separating them. Vinalez clinched it on the final corner of the final lap.

In Moto2 Britain enjoyed success, success it had not seen since the days of the great Barry Sheene during the late 70's and early 80's, thanks to Scott Redding. Three wins including victory at Silverstone filled us all with hope but it was not to be. Injury curtailed his title aspirations and the championship was won by the sensational Pol Espargaro.

In the MotoGP class the arrival of one man topped all the headlines. We all knew Marc Marquez was going to be good. But there was an expectation that he would cause trouble. In 2012 he was involved in a few incidents that would not have been taken lightly in the premier class. Yet never did any of those expectations come to fruition. Marquez was simply stunning. He rewrote all the history books. Youngest ever podium finisher, youngest ever pole sitter, youngest ever race winner, youngest ever multiple race winner and youngest ever champion are his records.

He also became only the second ever rider to win the premier class title in their rookie year.

His rivalry with countryman and double world champion Jorge Lorenzo will be what people remember most about last season. Lorenzo is considered by some as the best rider on the grid so it came as a bit of a shock when Marquez clattered his way up the inside of Jorge at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix to claim second. Understandably, Jorge was not impressed. Their rivalry boiled again at Silverstone when the pair were locked in a dual for the win. Lorenzo muscled his way past Marquez at Luffield to claim victory.

Marc's only slip up came at Philip Island when he was disqualified (for going over the recommended number of laps a rider could race on a tyre set by Bridgestone before he had to pit due to safety issues) but even then it was partly the teams fault. Marc showed immense maturity when he rode a measured race to finish third and claim the title in Valencia.

And now to 2014 and it's no surprise that Marquez has topped the time sheets for the first test of the season at Sepang. Marc's overall best time of the three days was 1m59.533. He was only 0.194 ahead of second place man Valentino Rossi. The nine time world champion returned to Yamaha in 2013 after two dismal years at Ducati and despite six podiums including a win at Assen, The Doctor didn't look as if he was all there. His performance at the test suggests that we are beginning to see the old Valentino emerge. Could 2014 yield a tenth title for the Italian?

Marquez' rival Lorenzo was 0.333 off the fastest time but Lorenzo never truly shows his hand in testing. The surprise of testing was the performance of Aleix Espargaro on the 'Open' Yamaha.

He was only the fourth rider to get into the 1m59's and was 0.465 behind Marquez. This is a very promising sign for the new 'Open' machines. I do wonder how much of that is down to the bike however. Espargaro finished the last two seasons as the top CRT rider which usually meant he was fighting in the top 10.

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MOTO GP

2014 SEASON PREVIEW YOUR GUIDE ON WHO TO WATCH THIS SEASON

Compare Espargaro's performance in Sepang with his team-mate Colin Edwards then you'll get an idea of how quick Aleix is. Edwards is one of the most experienced riders on the grid and is no slouch but he only managed 14th in Sepang – 2.198 seconds off the pace. Espargaro will definitely be a dark horse this year. Brother and reigning Moto2 champion Pol Espargaro makes his premier class début this year. He joins Briton Bradley Smith at the Tech 3 Yamaha team.

The pair finished 8th and 9th respectively with Espargaro only a tenth behind his slightly more experienced team-mate. Cal Crutchlow enjoyed a successful third year in MotoGP last year, finishing on the podium four times and claiming two pole positions for the Tech 3 team. This year the Brit has moved to the Factory Ducati team. This move has been deemed unwise by some after the troubles Valentino Rossi encountered in 2011/12. Testing times seem to support those doubts. Cal ended up 12th and 1.524 seconds off the leader. More uncomfortable for him is the fact that team-mate Andrea Dovizioso finished seventh and only 0.837 off fastest.

Ducati are serious about a fight back though. Heavy investment from Audi as well as a new management structure shows how serious the Italian team are. The team are also considering switching from a Factory machine to an 'Open' machine which could be of benefit (see the Beginners Guide to MotoGP to understand what these benefits could be). Only time will tell if Ducati are heading in the right direction. Scott Redding steps up to the premier class with the Gresini team, riding an 'Open' Honda. Redding has struggled throughout testing, only managing 21st place – 3.3 seconds slower than Marc Marquez. This isn't solely Redding's fault.

Scott is carrying a hand and back injury sustained in crashes at Australia and Japan last year and is still suffering as a result. Scott's troubles are also attributed to the 'Open' Honda RCV1000R. Aspar and Cardion AB Motoracing riders are also complaining about the Honda. It's just too slow! The fastest RCV1000R rider was Drive M7 Aspar's Nicky Hayden who was 13th fastest and nearly two seconds off the pace. Suzuki were also present at the test. Although not contesting the 2014 season, the Japanese manufacturer – who pulled out of the sport at the end of 2011 due to financial trouble – is aiming for a 2015 return as a full factory effort. Randy De Puniet was 17th overall.

In the Valencia Moto2 test. Esteve Rabat topped the time sheets with a 1m35.155 on his Marc VDS Kalex machine whilst reigning Moto3 world champion Maverick Vinales ended up second fastest and 0.147 behind on his Pons Kalex. Takaaki Nakagami was third on the Idemitsi Honda Team Asia bike. Moto3 title contender Luis Salom finished 9th with World SuperSport champion Sam Lowes a decent 12th ahead of his Grand Prix début.

Niccolo Anotonelli topped the Moto3 time sheets at Valencia with Red Bull KTM Ajo new boy Jack Miller only eight thousandths of a second behind. Britain's Danny Kent was third on the new Husqvarna Moto3 machine whilst last years title runner up Alex Rins was tenth. Scotland's John McPhee ended up 21st. Amazingly, the whole field was covered by 2.9 seconds.

All times from above are taken from the combined results of the first tests. Testing resumes next week.

On the 9th November three more riders will be crowned world champion. The question is, who?

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