Welcome to the Formula One Times, Dec. 3 edition.

Enjoy your regular dose of F1 news in small bites, and make sure you check out the bottom of the page for a link to the special edition F1 Times reporting the build-up to the Race Of Champions.

Note: Anyone who signed up to the Bleacher Report BATracer championship three, and found that the game has disappeared from their "games list", do not worry.

We will be starting a new game within the next few days to replace the mysteriously vaporized game, which we kindly ask you to sign up for. Details will be published on the F1 Times, and on a separate article, make sure you get your name down quickly because teams go fast!

Germany to leave F1 calendar?

The organizers of the German GP at Hockenheim have revealed that due to the economic uncertainty, they may not be able to support an F1 race in the near future.

Karl-Josef Schmidt, Circuit Boss in Germany said, "Without grants from the state there will be no more Formula One in Hockenheim."

The circuit made an operating loss of 5.3 million Euros last season, and the German government is not in favour of taking that sort of loss again.

With Germany currently rotating races between Hockenheim and the Nurburgring, they could afford to lose Hockenheim, with the Nurburgring taking on the race full time. However, organizers have said they cannot support a race each year, and if that were to happen they may also have to drop the Grand Prix.

Does this spell the end for F1 in Germany? Is this the beginning of the end for Europe? France has gone, and Britain may still lose its GP if Donnington isn't ready in time.

Note: Thanks to Craig Dalrymple for this story.

Alonso threatens to leave F1

Alonso has said he would seriously ponder retirement if the FIA approves the single-engine plan and is also unimpressed by the new-look F1 cars.

"If they approved that, it would be the last straw," said Alonso in an interview. "It would be the time to think about retirement.

"In 2005 we had a V10 engine with 1,000 horsepower. That was what was exciting for the driver, motor racing at the limit. We have gone from the futuristic to cars without grip or electronic aids which look like something from the past."

Berger: Time was right to sell

Gerhard Berger has said he decided to sell his stake in Toro Rosso after realizing he couldn't take them any further in the Constructors Championship.

Dietrich Mateschitz bought Berger's 50 percent stake in Toro Rosso, which means he now owns both Red Bull and the sister team outright.

"Fact is, with these new regulations, it's not possible to go on with two teams anymore," said Berger.

"The only way to carry on with our project was the synergy. With that lacking, it was clear for me that I couldn't carry on with Red Bull. This year we had already used 100 percent of the budget at our disposal.

"Besides that, we had improved our performance and finished sixth in the Constructors Championship. At this point for me, the next step was challenging Renault and Toyota."

"But to do that I needed more funds and Red Bull wasn't prepared for that anymore. At this point I understood the time to quit had come for me, even though on fully friendly terms."

McLaren Mercedes will launch new car in January

McLaren have confirmed that the MP4-24 will be launched on Jan. 16 at the teams' technology center in Woking.

With McLaren winning the drivers championship this year, they are keen to step one further and get the constructors as well as a second drivers with one of their two drivers.

The event won't be as lavish as the 2007 event in Valencia, but it will have a twist in the format. What could that possibly mean? - the car has six-wheels...oh wait that's been done already.

Mclaren joins BMW and Renault with January launches. The BMW.09 and the R29 will both be introduced on Dec. 20.

Race of Champions (ROC) Build-up has begun, go check it out...

Welcome to the Formula One Times, 25th November edition.

With news a little thin on the ground, the F1 Times will not be published daily, as you may have noticed. Instead it will be published on busy news days such as today.

BBC confirm commentating team for F1

The BBC have confirmed that along with Martin Brundle, Jonathan Legard will partner the well respected F1 pundit. Along with Brundle and Legard, Jack Humphrey will anchor the show with David Coulthard, Eddie Jordan and Ted Kravitz employed as pundits.

This basically means Brundle will continue his current role, with Legard to replace the disliked James Allen. Jack Humphrey will replace Steve Rider, with David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan replacing Mark Blundell. Ted Kravitz will continue in his current role as Pit lane reporter.

I would personally like to thank the ITV team for the great job they did, including James Allen, who most disliked. I am sad to see Steve Rider, Mark Blundell and Louise Goodman leave our F1 screens.

In brighter news, Murray Walker will be writing for the new BBC F1 website.

Bourdais has no back-up plan.

With Toro Rosso currently testing numerous drivers including Sebastian Buemi and Takuma Sato, Bourdais' future looks uncertain.

The frenchman has stated "I don't know what I'll be doing next year" [if he isn't offered a seat at Toro Rosso]. Currently two seats are up for grabs at the Italian team with Vettel off to Red Bull. So who gets the seat? We will tell you as soon as we know.

Alan Webber: 'It was messy'

Mark Webber's father has relived the moment he arrived at the crash scene in which Mark collided head on with a Nissan X-Trail at 30mph after negotiating a tricky corner. The Ozzie Red Bull racer is expected to make a full recovery by the time the F1 crew turn up in Australia for the opening race of 2009.

Alan Webber said, "His upper body is hurt, but only superficially. His head, spine and pelvis are fine."

This is welcome news for Mark, who will have to spend another five to six days in hospital before being moved to either his own home in Melbourne or his parents near Canberra.

Lewis to be licked by millions?

Ever dreamt of licking Lewis Hamilton? No, didn't think so. However, you might just get the chance. The Times has reported that the Royal Mail are set to issue Lewis Hamilton stamps in the new year to celebrate the youngest world champion.

This would be an unusual move by the Royal Mail who have already issued their 2009 stamp designs and rarely issue stamps with pictures other than royalty on, unless its apart of a larger collection on stamps, such as Christmas stamps.

A Royal Mail spokesman couldn't confirm the decision but did say it is currently under consideration.

Coulthard becomes a father.

Karen Minier, David Coulthard's partner has given birth to their first child. The Belgium F1 reporter gave birth to a baby boy on Friday.

David Coulthard has also revealed he plans to marry Minier in the 'near future'.

We will reveal the name when we hear the news...

Race of the Champions list grows.

The race of champions which takes off at Wembley Stadium on December 14th has a new driver added to the list. Yvan Muller will be joining the already impressive list which includes Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Vettel, Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Lewis Hamilton, Chris Hoy, Sebastian Loeb and many more.

Starting December 1st, we will bring you all the news about the Race of Champions including the build-up, the concept, the drivers, the track, videos, pictures and the results.

Look out for the special editions coming soon.

On the back of a good year, Toro Rosso has still yet to name their two drivers for next season.

The 2009 line up still remains inconclusive as team bosses ponders between three main rivals consisting of Red Bull tester Sebastien Buemi, former Super Aguri Takuma Sato, and the Italian team’s 2008 driver Sebastien Bourdais.

Competition will be soaring; it will be two from three. Sebastian Vettel will move to Red Bull Racing next season as his fantastic performance and win in Italy proves he is ready for the step up to take over from the retired David Coulthard.

As Vettel joins Mark Webber, the trio of Buemi, Sato, and Bourdais will head to Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya to battle it out for his seat and the spare one. Toro Rosso will be keen to access the three drivers.

Japanese native Sato would bring a vast range of audiences as well as extra supporters if he would join. He is hugely supported, especially with the Asian fans. He has had somewhat of a poor racing career at the top level as he has only provided one podium from 93 races.

His former employers include Jordan, BAR, and Super Aguri; he hopes to secure another chance at Toro Rosso.

At Jordan, he remained very ineffective and gained a name for himself as "crasher." In 2003, he took over from Jacques Villeneuve at BAR for the last race and finished a very respectable sixth. He raced with BAR full time in 2004 and had the most successful season he has ever had.

At the United States of America Grand Prix, he finished third, only behind Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Sat was only the second Japanese person that achieved a podium finished following Aguri Suzuki at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix.

Throughout the remainder of the season, Sato points tally suffered, he did not finish many races. His Honda powered engine often gave up, the rumours started spiralling that it was his driving style and technique that caused the premature end to many races that season. Teammates Jenson Button’s car showed no similar problems, leading to talk questioning Sato’s ability.

He joined Super Arugi and an eighth place at the Spanish Grand Prix recorded his new employers the first ever world championship point. Later at Canada, he finished sixth, where Lewis Hamilton won his first ever grand prix. Super Aguri went bankrupt earlier this year leaving Sato without a drive.

Sato must remain one of the favourites to win a seat for Toro Russo. However, being 31 years of age team bosses may refer to younger and more untested driver to look if they can take the competition by storm.

Buemi, opposed to Sato, is only 20 years old and has been the current test driver.

He has done all of his graduating work through Formula BMW, Formula Three, the A1 Grand Prix and the GP2 Series and achieved limited success. He finished sixth in GP2 with two wins to name.

Buemi is certainly up and coming and fills Toro Rosso vision for the future as young, gifted and something to prove.

As for 2008 driver Bourdais, he underachieved massively compared to Vettel. Again, Bourdais is creeping up to 30 years of age and he has limited time to make impact.

He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series, having won four successive championships from 2004 to 2007 before his promotion to Formula 1.

On his debut at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, he worked his way up from 17^th to an impressive fourth before engine troubles caused Bourdais to retire three laps from the end. He later claimed seventh place after all the accidents involved in the race.

He showed that he struggles to deal with the pressure as a fifth place finish looked on the cards but a chaotic last lap bumped him down to seventh.

Bourdais is experienced on a wide range of motorsports, he regularly drives in his hometown race of Le Mans 24, and his best position was second in 2007.

I do expect Toro Russo to stick with Bourdais and go with Buemi as the drivers to participate in the 2009 season. Sato have had the chance to make an impact in the sport and his age is certainly against him. Toro Rosso will want to finish races and acquire credibility; Sato’s driving technique may not be what the team bosses want.

Bourdais did relatively satisfactory on his debut season with only the talent of Vettel overshadowing him. Buemi was the favourite to get one of the seats and I expect that to be the case.

What do you think?

There isn't much happening in F1 world at the minute, so I thought I would make up some news to pass the time.

Toro Rosso find new engine partners

Not wanting to be outdone by Force India, Toro Rosso have announced that they will not be using Ferrari engines in 2009. Instead, they have teamed up with Rover. Gerhard Berger said, "We are delighted to have teamed up with Rover, and although they might not have a rich motorsport heritage, we think that we could be challenging for a championship next year."

Piquet sacked from Renault

In a surprise move from Renault several days after saying that they will retain both drivers for 2009, Nelson Piquet Jr. has been fired from Renault with immediate effect, after he was caught stealing office stationery. Piquet said "This is really unfair, I once saw Alonso shove a handful of pens into his pocket, but he doesn't get sacked." Flavio Briatore was unavailable for comment.

Honda announce driver competition

Honda announced today that Rubens Barrichello will not been retained by Honda for 2009, but they will also not be signing Bruno Senna. In a momentous decision, they are going to offer the drive to a lucky member of the public in a competition.

Ross Brawn said, "Our car for next year is already looking like it could be a bit of a dog, so we are going to put all of our effort into 2010. Because of this, no racing driver wanted to drive our car for this season, which is why we came up with the competition."

FIA's latest cost-cutting measures

Max Mosley has today announced a series of ideas to help lower costs and encourage more teams to join the F1 grid. Firstly, he has ordered that a giant roof must be built over every track on the calendar, so money can be saved by eliminating the need for wet and intermediate tyres.

Secondly, a "pay and display" car park has been introduced in the paddock to encourage the teams to bring less trucks and motor-homes to the circuit.

Finally, he has announced that the FIA will no longer provide free orange juice in the press conferences, as too many of the drivers "are taking advantage of the generosity of the FIA."

One of the stories of the season has been the increasingly strong form of Toro Rosso.

Of particular note has been the alarming rate that Toro Rosso have caught up with big sister Red Bull, and now overtaken them in the Constructors championship.

Red Bull have slid down in the grid in comparison to Toro Rosso’s recent rise.

Here are the two teams' positions in the Constructor's championship after the Singapore GP?

6. Toro Rosso: 31 points

7. Red Bull: 28 points

 

Fernando Alonso recently said he thought that Toro Rosso were now the third-best team in Formula 1. Looking at current form, it’s not that easy to disagree with him.

 

So why are Toro Rosso outperforming Red Bull at the moment?

There are four main contributing factors:

• Same chassis and technologies as the main Red Bull team
• Strong Ferrari engine (compared to the Renault engine Red Bull have)
• Better team spirit and hunger/motivation
• Stronger driver pairing

Lets look at these four factors in more detail one by one.

Same chassis and technologies as Red Bull

Toro Rosso benefit hugely as effectively a customer team to Red Bull. Both teams’ chassis are developed by Adrian Newey-led technologies. So before Toro Rosso start work, they already have a very good base to work with.

The only real change they have to make from the Red Bull car, are a few alterations in order to accommodate the Ferrari engine. This arrangement is legal for the moment but will be outlawed in 2010.

This saves Toro Rosso a lot of money and time compared to Force India, who build their whole car on a limited budget. However Toro Rosso still have to make the most of their package and optimize it fully.

When it comes to race weekends, they have to test the car and find the right setup. This is something they have appeared to be very good at throughout the season.

Very often the small team that Toro Rosso have, have managed to find more time from their package than Red Bull. This has been leaving the main Red Bull team scratching their heads in the process.

Notably at the start of the season, Toro Rosso opted to use last season’s car to allow them more time to understand the current car. They used the new car for the first time at Monaco after having gotten a better grasp on the car. Vettel finished fifth in that race and the season has been a steep upward rise from then on.

Ferrari Engine

 

Torro Rosso have a Ferrari engine, whilst Red Bull are customers of Renault in the engine department. The main Red Bull team opted to use Renault engines and give the Ferrari engines to their sister team, Toro Rosso, at the end of 2006.

It was definitely the right thing to do at the time. Renault had become one of the best engines in F1, whilst Red Bull were struggling to adapt to the Ferrari engine and had issues with it, particularly with cooling, which dogged their 2006 season.

However the shift in balance has completely changed this season between the Renault and Ferrari engines. When the engine freeze started (restricting development on engines), Renault were definitely a touch ahead of Ferrari.

However, Ferrari have been clever and found loopholes in the rules and have found little things they can improve on the engine. Therefore, they have been able to squeeze out some extra horsepower.

Ferrari haven’t broken the rules though. They simply asked Charlie Whiting (F1 Race Director) what they are allowed to change/adjust and what they must leave untouched.

Renault simply haven’t taken the initiative to do this. They are therefore lagging behind on horsepower, affecting both the Renault team itself and customers Red Bull.

This means that Ferrari have been able to make a few key improvements (within the rules) and gain extra horsepower which have given Toro Rosso three- or four-tenths of a second worth of performance at some race tracks over the main Red Bull team, whose Renault engine is now behind on development.

Red Bull and Toro Rosso have been in the tight midfield pack all season, along with other teams like: Renault, Toyota, Williams and at times challenging BMW Sauber. This pack are only separated by mere tenths of a second (The whole grid is in fact only covered by less than 2.0 seconds).

This means that the few tenths that Toro Rosso have gained from the improvements sneaked into the engine has moved them from the back of the midfield to the front of the midfield. Only a few tenths are required to do this. It’s been that tight!

Ferrari gave Toro Rosso their updated engine in time for the Hungarian GP. There is a strong correlation between the arrival of this new Ferrari engine and further improved results.

Recently we had three very fast circuits in a row: the new street circuit in Valencia, Monza and Spa. A great engine at these tracks will give you an even bigger advantage than it would at normal circuits. This is a big reason why Toro Rosso did so well at these three races.

Another plus of the Ferrari engine is the performance over two race weekends. Currently the rules state that the same engine must be used for two race weekends (excluding Friday practise).

The Ferrari engine can keep practically the same level of performance over the two weekends. It may lose only a tenth of it’s performance in race weekend 2, this is one of the lowest wear rates on the grid. On the other hand the Toyota engine loses around 3 or 4 tenths during the second race weekend. That’s one hell of a difference.

Of course it would be completely wrong to say that, having the Ferrari engine is the only reason why Toro Rosso are punching above their weight. There are other reasons as you can see from this article but I feel engines is one of the biggest, if not the biggest contributing factor.

Team spirit and hunger/motivation

 

What you have to remember is that Toro Rosso used to be the old Minardi team. Minardi DNA still runs through the veins of this team. Many of the guys who were slogging away through the nights, to keep Minardi within 4 seconds of the teams at the front are still there. Winning a championship point was like winning a world championship to them in those days. Their work rate has always been incredible

All of sudden, a bit of investment and support from Red Bull technology, and better results are coming from all these guy’s hard work. After that win they must have been in dreamland. Nobody would care if Toro Rosso were still near the back of the grid. That’s what would normally be expected from a much smaller sister team. Therefore there is nowhere near as much pressure on Toro Rosso as there is the main Red Bull team who have the star names. Due to this reason everyone is expecting big things from Red Bull otherwise they are a failure in the media and fan’s eyes.

Great team spirit can help increase performance. When you have had a taste of success for the first time you just want more. The last few months will have brought all those guys at Toro Rosso together and they will be extra motivated to keep it up. Toro Rosso are showing what can be done when a small team has such spirit and motivation. Huge passion and dedication to what you are doing, can bring as good results as a team with great facilities and unlimited budgets.

Red Bull are under immense pressure. They want to get to the front quickly, and they may be frustrated that they haven’t matched their targets in the last couple of seasons. This doesn’t mean that team spirit is very low. However the body language may not be as positive as it is at Toro Rosso currently. That can make a big difference. Being beaten by Toro Rosso won’t help team morale, that’s for sure.

Some of the guys at Red Bull have tasted success, particularly Adrian Newey and Geoff Willis. How hungry are they for more success? Are they as hungry as the members of the Torro Rosso team? They won’t be happy men messing around in midfield. Is this bad taste spreading through the team currently?

Toro Rosso are a smaller and a very close-knit group of people in comparison to Red Bull. With no pressure being an underdog, it’s a very nice position for them to be in. They can really go for it without many implications if it doesn’t go right all the time.

Better driver line-up

 

There is no doubt that Sebastien Vettel is a very special driver. He is potentially one of those drivers like: Senna, Prost, Schumacher and more recently Lewis Hamilton who don’t come around very often. He can squeeze extra tenths out of the car and upset established superstars. Since Vettel joined Toro Rosso in the middle of last season, Vettel has got used to the team and the car and has developed very quickly.

He won at Monza fully on merit. In the same conditions as everyone else he took the car to pole position. In the race he drove away from drivers who should really have beat him. His talent was finally confirmed to his persisting doubters.

It’s having a superstar like this who can really transform a team. His giant killing results have gone a long way to make team spirit really high and motivate the team even more. Vettel’s very positive and happy personality is very endearing to the team. They all love having him around the team, and this makes the mechanics want to work even harder, to give a driver they really like the best possible chance of winning. He approaches his pit crew with a smile on his face and values the work they do for him highly. Drivers can be great motivators. We have seen this with the likes of Schumacher at Ferrari and Alonso at Renault. On their own they make such a good positive influence on the team that it gets extra tenths out of the car. The mechanics build the car but the driver is the one who has to get the best out of it. 

The relationship with the driver is so important. Last season at Toro Rosso the experience was very different with Scott Speed and Liuzzi. The relationship was poor for a variety of reasons. This led to the spirit in the Toro Rosso garage often being quite poor and tense. This affected the performance and Toro Rosso parted company with the pair of them.

A strong and professional relationship with your drivers can make a huge difference to one that is a bit edgy. Sebastien Bourdais, although being not as talented as Vettel has also worked very hard for the team and been very positive, despite not adapting brilliantly to F1 initially at the start of the season. He is now capable of scoring points for the team too. Despite being a rookie he has won major championships in America and knows how a winning team operates. He can pass this onto the Torro Rosso team.

Mark Webber and David Coulthard at the main Red Bull team are both decent drivers. In all due respect to them though, they don’t match the sheer level of natural talent that Vettel has. Vettel will be a great addition to the Red Bull team next season and will help them onto the next level. He will force Webber to get more out of himself, so overall for Red Bull it will be a very positive driver line-up next season.

Will Toro Rosso stay ahead of Red Bull in the championship?

 

At the moment Toro Rosso is 3 points ahead of Red Bull in the championship. This isn’t a very big gap so Red Bull could still save themselves from embarrassment yet. However  Toro Rosso have a very strong chance of staying ahead. There is a possibility of rain at any of the final 3 races. Vettel seems to be a rain master and Toro Rosso appear to have adapted the car brilliantly to the wet conditions. The long-term forecast suggests rain for the race in Fuji. If any rain comes at all then Toro Rosso are better positioned than Red Bull to take a full advantage of it. A wet race could well clinch it for Toro Rosso in terms of finishing ahead of Red Bull.

If there is no rain its closer to call. However the giant straight at Fuji and fast sectors 1 and 2 should give Toro Rosso the edge. Shanghai is a mixture of fast and slow sections so the two teams should be evenly matched there. This may be Red Bull’s opportunity to get in front of Toro Rosso. Brazil is faster than it is slow with two long straights. So I expect Toro Rosso will have an edge there like in Fuji.

Overall Toro Rosso and in particularly Vettel are in the form of their lives at the moment whilst Red Bull are on a slight downer. This writer thinks Torro Rosso can finish the job off. Red Bull’s big opportunity was in Singapore as they anticipated the release of the Safety Car at the right moment. However they didn’t score all the points that they could have got.

Next season and beyond

 

Currently Toro Rosso is for sale but the boss of Red Bull Dietrich Mateschitz is willing to hold out for the right offer. In 2010 customer cars will finally be outlawed for good. This means that Toro Rosso have to be prepared to be a constructor by this time. Torro Rosso have already started preparing by taking on more staff gradually. That historic win in Monza will do Toro Rosso no harm in trying to find sponsors or potential big investors to takeover the team. Clearly overall there is a future for Toro Rosso (or whatever name they possibly change to) from 2010 and beyond. Chances of them becoming extinct are a lot less than may have been previously thought earlier in the season. Their recent success has raised the teams credit rating and future potential as a team.

Whether they can continue to stay as competitive as Red Bull in the future is another matter. Toro Rosso should have a good car for at least next season. My tip is that Red Bull will adapt to the 2009 regs very well,  Newey’s and Willis’s experience may prove invaluable to this huge change. If this is proved to be the case then Toro Rosso will reap the benefits too and have another great season. The main difference is that they will no longer have Vettel but they will have the Ferrari engine still as a trump card(athough other teams are seeking equal performances in the engines next season). 2010 and they will be on their own. Future success will depend on how many sponsors they can find and how big an investor they can get for the team.

In the short term this writer believes Toro Rosso can continue to outshine Red Bull but in the long term expect Red Bull to come good and finally realize their full potential, which for various reasons hasn’t come yet.

Sebastien Vettel may have won the Italian Grand Prix this year, but next season things won't be too easy. Instead of having Sebastien Bourdais as a teammate; with his promotion to Red Bull Racing, he will be trying to beat the ever consistent providing the car finishes Mark Webber .

Webber has always been consistently faster then nearly all of his teammates, but will Sebastien Vettel fall trap to it too?

Right from his days at at Minardi he beat Alex Yoong with the two points he scored at Melbourne on debut. Providing he finished, Webber always finished higher then Yoong. Upon his move to Jaguar, Webber also finished in front of teammate for most of the season Antonio Pizzonia. He also managed the same feat in his second year at Jaguar this time against Christian Klien.

2005 proved to be a turning point, after signing with Williams and with much hype; Webber struggled against Nick Heidfield. Heidfield scored when Webber was involved in incidents, for example Malaysian and European Grand Prix's in which Heidfield scored podium's when Webber was involved in race incidents. Heidfield ended on 28 points whilst Webber on 24 points at the point Heidfield was injured. Webber though was the more consistent.

In 2006, Webber was joined by newly crowned GP2 champion in the Cosworth powered Williams. The season proved to be full of dissapointment's for the Aussie. With the chance to win at Australia and Monaco; and a podium at Germany(Hockenhiem) before reliability issues forced him to retire. Webber though managed to reach his feat of earlier seasons beating his teammate in every race providing he finished.

With much disappointment at Williams Webber switched to Red Bull Racing in 2007. Paired up against thirteen time race winner David Coulthard, this however brought more disappointment for Webber with more reliability issues for the Adrian Newey designed cars. Webber however managed to score a podium at a rain effected European Grand Prix at Nurburgring.

Webber also had another chance to score another podium if not a win at a also rain effected Japanese Grand Prix before being taken out by none other then Sebastien Vettel. Webber ended the season on 10 points whilst Coulthard on 14 points, however Webber was much faster throughout the season, with only getting the up with Webber's Japanese Grand Prix incident, in which Coulthard finished fourth.

For 2008 Webber scored at five consecutive races, giving him an edge of Coulthard. However Webber wasn't able to capitalise on safety cars at the Canadian Grand Prix in which a race Coulthard scored a podium, his only points scoring position till Singapore.

Webber, though wasn't able to get a streak of points again, with only three more points scoring finishes. As of the Singapore Grand Prix, Webber leads Coulthard on 20 points as opposed to Coulthard's 8 points.

Sebastien Vettel will surely put a challenge for Webber, though the experience of Webber may prove the pivoting role. Vettel is fast but lacks consistency, whilst Webber can produce solid results providing his car holds up. Webber's qualifying ability may also be another pivoting role.

Sebastian Vettel: could this be a name to enter F1 history books in the future?

After a stunning performance in Monza this year, many are tipping the German starlet to go on to bigger and better things. Currently at Red Bull's unofficial 'B' team (Toro Rosso), it has been announced Vettel will replace the retiring David Coulthard at Red Bull to partner Mark Webber next year; this is only just the start for the talented youngster.

Vettel's big break came in 2006 when he became BMW Sauber's third driver. He was announced as the test driver for them in 2007. He entered his first race (the U.S. Grand Prix) after Robert Kubica was injured in a crash in Montreal, Canado.

Vettel started the U.S. Grand Prix in seventh and finished eighth, making him the youngest driver ever to claim a point (beating Jenson Button's record). Soon, he replaced Scott Speed at Toro Rosso and had further signed with the team for 2008.

However, Vettel was unable to keep up his strong showing in the United States. In Fuji, he was up to third, but then had a collision with Mark Webber's Red Bull. However, he bounced back to claim fourth place at China, a personal and team best.

The 2008 season looked set to be bigger and better for Vettel. However, it took him five races before he even finished. 

He then claimed his first points in Monaco after finishing fifth, following that up with one more point in Canada. He then came 12th in France, retired in Silverstone, and came eighth in Germany. He impressed many in the European Grand Prix finishing 6th.

This year's Italian Grand Prix was when the boy became a man. He became Formula One's youngest pole winner, being quickest in the second and third stages of qualifying.

He was able to contain Heikki Kovalainen and win by 12.5 seconds. Aged just 21 years and 74 days, he became the youngest winner ever in F1, beating Fernando Alonso's record. It was also the first win for Toro Rosso who still has Minardi "DNA." (Minardi was the team's banner before they came under partial Red Bull ownership).

There has been high praise for Vettel. Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz believes Vettel will be one of Formula One's big stars. "Vettel is one of the young guys with extraordinary potential. He is fast, he is intelligent, and he is very interested in the technical side."

His team boss and co-team owner, Gerhard Berger, shared similar sentiment. "As he proved today, he can win races, but he's going to win world championships. He's a cool guy" Current leader of the standings, Lewis Hamilton, said the Monza victory shows "How good he is."

The youngest, and double, world champion Fernando Alonso said Vettel's victory was "Well deserved." The German media have nicknamed him "Baby Schumi," although Vettel has played this title down.

So what is on the horizon for Formula one's new youngster? At the end of 2007, McLaren approached Toro Rosso to get Vettel as a replacement for Alonso. Ferrari are rumoured to be interested for next year, but Red Bull claim Vettel will be joining them as a replacement for Coulthard.

One thing is almost certain though: he can only get better.

First of all, pardon the title pun; I just had to do it. Also, please note that this is not a Singapore Grand Prix preview.

 

This time next week, the first ever night race would have occurred and us Formula One fanatics will know who has won the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix. Will it be Hamilton? Will it be Massa? Will it be Vettel?

This time next year, we will be in a totally new championship. Will BMW be genuine contenders? Where will Fernando Alonso be in 2009?

We can ponder and predict answers to all of these questions, but we know the answer to a very important question that certainly needs attention; Should Formula One do more to be "greener"?

The answer is of course: "Yes it should."

So what is Formula One already doing to try to reduce its massive carbon footprint?

Firstly, in 2009 the KERS(Kinetic Energy Recovery System) technology will be introduced. This new advancement will recover some of the vehicle’s kinetic energy that normally dissipates when the car brakes. This energy can be stored in a battery or in a flywheel which in turn could be used as additional acceleration when the driver sees fit.

I sometimes find it hard to get my head around all that so I just think of it as a booster mushroom in Mario Kart.

Ok, that’s one thing F1 is doing to help the environment, reduce previously wasted energy. But what else is helping our planet?

The FIA have banned all engine developments for 10 years. This means that F1 teams will have to think harder on what will gain them that extra performance and power on the circuit. Hybrid systems have been mentioned.

With all this in mind, I would like this question to be answered by the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone: Why are you having a night race with floodlights that contribute to carbon emissions?

The street circuit will be surrounded be floodlights which will be four times brighter than floodlights found in a football stadium. 108,423 metres of power cable will be used to supply over 3,000,000 watts of power to 1,600 light projectors.

Pretty insane stuff don’t you agree?

A circuit spokesman said that when the floodlights are on then it will be just like daylight to the drivers on the track. That’s all very good. Good for safety and all that.

But my argument is: Why waste all that money and contribute to global warming if the track is going to be just like daylight? Why don’t you save your money, do something good for our planet and host the Grand Prix during the day?

I know Bernie doesn’t like odd times for the European fans but I find getting up in the early hours to watch Formula One all the more exciting and I admit that I was a little bit upset when I heard about the Australian Grand Prix being moved to twilight hours (local time).

So how long will the night race last before it becomes a traditional Grand Prix? Five years? Ten years? Never? It’s our choice, not Bernie’s, if we shout loud enough.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to the new circuit and the idea of racing at night but I would rather a night race never happen than my offspring suffer from our mistakes. Do you feel the same way?

Go figure that Formula One’s most famous tracks on the current calendar (Spa and Monza) would deliver two of the most exciting and surprising races in recent memory.

We all know happened at Spa last week. Well, technically, we won’t know the final results until later this month, but you know what I mean.

And now, we have Monza to thank for the biggest surprise of the year…and probably in a very long time. Sebastian Vettel’s win was not only his first, but the first for the Scuderia Toro Rosso/Minardi outfit, comprised of team members who likely didn’t think they’d ever see a podium, let alone a win.

It was one of the only times that an underdog had his day in the sun without any problems. We all know that auto racing can be inhumanely cruel, but that is especially true for small teams working on smaller budgets. And even when they do have moments to shine, bad luck often interferes.

In 1997, world champion Damon Hill, then with the Arrows team, had dominated the Hungarian Grand Prix; the day had served as a reminder of just how good he was at driving. However, mechanical gremlins saw him surrender the lead to Jacques Villeneuve’s Williams and settle for a disappointing second.

In 1999, the Jordan team, a perennial midfield runner, shot up the grid as driver Heinz Herald Frentzen won a pair of races and was almost in reach of a driver’s championship. But, in the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, his engine sputtered and died…while he was leading.

In 2003, the old Minardi team had their time in the sun when it rained during Friday qualifying (remember they had two qualifying rounds then) and held the top two spots after that day. Of course, one round remained on Saturday, and the dry conditions saw the Minardi take up their normal last row positions.

Even the aforementioned Vettel had to endure his own moments of disappointment after momentarily shining. Fuji in 2007 saw him running third, behind Red Bull driver Mark Webber, when he ran into the back of his veteran “teammate” (both compete under the Red Bull banner, but on different squads). His DNF brought him zero points after what looked like a sure podium.

Earlier this year, we all remember Adrian Sutil falling victim to Kimi Raikkonen’s mistake and/or misfortune (depending on whether or not you believe Kimi hit a wet patch) at Monaco with their collision, knocking Sutil out of a sure fourth.

And of course, everyone still has a bitter tastes in their mouths over Super Aguri’s sad demise, as they were forced to withdraw due to a lack of funding (after having a 2007 season which them lead Honda in the standings for much of the year).

The harsh realities of the sport are often even more cruel to the small teams/drivers just looking to battle with the larger teams. It is always nice to see one of them have more than a moment of success.

And that was what we got on Sunday. Sure, Vettel has been dragging his Toro Rosso STR3 up the grid much of the season, but a podium wasn’t on anyone’s mind. Simple points would have been enough for celebration in that camp.

His win on Sunday had fans of the old Jordan, Sauber, Minardi, Arrows, and Tyrell teams celebrating. It also reminded current Williams fans that one of the little guys (Toro Rosso only differs from Minardi in name and funding…the latter being a good thing) can reach the mountain top.

And just when Formula One’s politics rears its ugly head and tries to dominate headlines, Sebastian Vettel and Toro Rosso give everybody something to smile about. Many kudos go out to them on a performance that will be remembered for a long time.

First, congratulations to Sebastien Vettel for winning the Italian Grand Prix. It was a master drive and he sure as heck didn't put a foot wrong.

As well, this is the first time since the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix that the two anthems at the end were of Germany and Italy, respectively, and it was for a fellow by the name of Michael Schumacher. Anybody remember that guy?

But what was bothersome for me was the trophy that was presented at the end. It was eerily shaped in the logo of a bank that shall remain unnamed. I don't want to poo-poo Vettel's moment because I think he earned this through a lot of hard work and dedication, but this is rather bothersome.

Sure, sponsorship contracts dictate how much airtime sponsor x receives and how much coverage they should get, but come on, shaping your trophies to that company's logo? I think that's pushing into the sacred.

We all know that Formula 1 is a business, and a very lucrative one too. Bernie Ecclestone makes more money than I care to imagine at each race!

With this bank-that-shall-not-be-named sponsoring a couple of races this year, it brings a lot of airtime to this company, more money to Bernie, and has prompted me to invest in shares through the fantasy stock exchange that I participate in, even though it was a terrible idea!

Three events were sponsored so far by this bank and two of them had this logo-shaped trophy. In my opinion, that's not cool! I would very much rather keep the trophies for these old and historical tracks to keep that historical feel.

Think about it like this: Sebastien Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix in Monza today, and he has followed in the steps of Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and many others; he should get some similar hardware to commemorate that as a sort of connection to the past.

This isn't Nascar where sponsorship is quite possibly the biggest catalyst. Everything that had to do with Formula 1 was seen as an art, which includes the trophies that were presented at the end; from the crystal vase in Montreal to the silver steering wheel in Budapest.

Without the need for a trophy shaped like this logo, I still know of this bank's existence, I still know of the services they offer, and I still know what the logo looks like because it's pasted everywhere during the race broadcasts. Logos are fine, but please let the trophies be trophies.