Alonso Plans for 2016 F1

Fernando Alonso, a two-times Formula One world champion, insists he will be on the grid for the 2016 curtain-raiser in Australia.

The McLaren chairman, Ron Dennis, claimed at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi that Alonso, who has two years to run on his deal with the British team, may consider taking next year off from the sport.

But Alonso, speaking from Wembley Stadium, dismissed suggestions of a sabbatical. Asked if he will be in Melbourne for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the 34-year-old said: “Yes. I talked to Ron on Friday. I told him what had been published. He said, ‘I didn’t mean that and tomorrow I will clarify it.’ On Saturday he clarified but no one copied that.

“I said the opposite on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and I’m sure in January and February I will keep answering the same questions about my future.”

Alonso has just finished his worst season in Formula One following his move from Ferrari to rejoin McLaren. The Spaniard retired from eight races – the most since his opening season in the sport with Minardi – and scored a paltry 11 points.

Alonso, who won the first of his successive titles with Renault a decade ago, said motivation will play a key role in whether he extends his grand prix career beyond 2017.

“We have to be open to any possibility,” said Alonso. “Right now it is too long ahead to think. Let’s see what happens in one and a half years, what the situation is, what targets we have met and what the motivations are to keep going on in Formula One.”

McLaren’s disastrous season may drive unsentimental Honda out of F1

Jenson Button, who became the first team-mate to finish a season with more points than Alonso, says his partnership with the Spaniard will help drive McLaren forward.

“He is a good team-mate to have,” Button said. “He is experienced like me. The feedback is good and the team really listen to us.

“If we were two young drivers, the team would be developing the car in a certain direction but because of our experience they listen to us and we help develop the car.

“It is the perfect situation for the team having us two in there and we enjoy being part of the development progress.”

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Vettel Wins Fourth F1 Title

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Sebastian Vettel wrapped up his fourth consecutive drivers' championship in style with a convincing win in Sunday's 2013 Formula 1 Airtel Indian Grand Prix.

The German, whose victory also secured a fourth straight constructors' crown for Red Bull, finished half a minute clear of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, with Lotus's Romain Grosjean an impressive third having started 17th.

Vettel jumped into the lead at the start of the race, but dropped back through the field after making an early stop to remove the less durable soft tyres. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa then moved ahead followed by the Mercedes duo of Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, but when they too stopped, the second Red Bull of Mark Webber moved into P1, the Australian having started on the medium-compound rubber. 

Vettel, meanwhile, stormed back through the pack until he was in a position to reclaim the lead from his team mate when Webber was forced to use the soft tyres. When both men had completed all of their stops, Vettel held a 13-second lead over Webber, but the Australian was soon ruled out of contention when an alternator problem forced him to retire.

Vettel was then left with a healthy lead over Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen, and although Red Bull were nervous of a similar problem to Webber’s afflicting his RB9, the 26-year-old cruised to the chequered flag to record his sixth successive win.

Raikkonen, who had tried an ambitious one-stop strategy, fell back towards the tail end of the race, losing positions to Rosberg and then begrudgingly to team mate Grosjean who’d charged through the field after starting 17th. Massa, McLaren’s Sergio Perez and Hamilton also found their way past Raikkonen as the Finn’s tyres continued to lose performance and in the end he was eventually forced to pit, emerging in seventh where he stayed to the finish.

The top ten was completed by the Force India pair of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil in eighth and ninth, and Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo in tenth.

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Hamilton Fears for F1

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Lewis Hamilton says he fears Formula 1 fans will lose interest in the sport because Sebastian Vettel is so dominant.

Vettel, 26, is on the brink of a fourth consecutive world championship after winning the Korean Grand Prix.

Hamilton said he did not watch races when Michael Schumacher dominated.

"I remember waking up to watch the start of the race then going to sleep and waking up when it ended because I knew what would happen," said Hamilton.

"I am pretty sure a lot of people are doing that today."

Vettel can secure the title at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday if he wins at Suzuka and rival Fernando Alonso of Ferrari is lower than eighth.

Fans have repeatedly booed the Germanas he celebrated victories on the podium, but Hamilton, who has fallen to fourth in the standings, insists the Red Bull driver deserves to win the title.

"He has driven well all year," said the 28-year-old. "I've just looked at his points and he has had second, first, second, first all year. He's done the perfect job and he deserves it."

Vettel is 77 points clear of Alonso after winning more than half the races this season and could clinch the championship with four grands prix to go.

He has won eight races, Alonso and Nico Rosberg have won two while Hamilton's only success came at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Vettel's reliability has seen him finish on the podium in two thirds of grands prix for the last four seasons but his best performance was in 2011 when he won 11 of the 19 races from 15 pole positions and only failed to make the podium on two occasions.

In contrast, Hamilton has won 13 races since claiming his only world title in 2008.

Vettel's record is similar to Schumacher's, who won five world titles between 2000 and 2004, winning 48 of 85 grands prix.

But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes he deserves to be ranked alongside the greatest drivers of all time.

"He has to be right up there - he has to be," said Horner.

"The level he is performing at is unbelievable in many respects.

"We know Mark [Webber, Red Bull team-mate] is a very talented and quick racing driver and matching him against that, he has been hugely impressive.

"What has been really impressive is he has continued to grow and improve as he has gained more experience, and to have won the ratio of races he has is remarkable."

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Alonso Euskaltel Deal Fails

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Fernando Alonso's deal to buy cycling team Euskaltel-Euskadi has collapsed.

Alonso, 32, who drives for Ferrari in Formula 1 is a keen cyclist and initially agreed to a deal for the Spanish outfit in August.

The Basque team may fold at the end of the season after losing its sponsors.

"For Euskaltel and the team this is sad news after the hope generated by the initial agreement reached at the end of August," sponsors Euskaltel said.

"We could not reach a definitive agreement. Euskaltel is now obliged, regrettably, to return to the process of an orderly and responsible closure of the project."

In a statement on his Twitter account, Alonso also expressed regret about the deal's collapse.

"We've tried it until the end but it's just been impossible to have a cycling team in 2014," he said.

"My passion for the sport remains intact so this is only the beginning of the future. We are going to work on building, if needs be from scratch, a team we can be proud of."

Euskaltel-Euskadi are one of the oldest teams in world cycling and Alonso was hoping to ensure the outfit would honour the contract of current riders for the 2014 and 2015 seasons on the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour.

According to the Spanish newspaper El Periodico, Alonso and his backers had initially bid six million euros (£5.1m) for the team's licence and planned to build the team around current leader Samuel Sanchez, who won the men's road race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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Vettel adds Singapore Win

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Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel cruised to a third straight Singapore Grand Prix victory on Sunday and moved 60 points clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso after a dominant drive under the floodlights at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

The German led from pole to flag and lapped on average almost two seconds quicker than his rivals to finish 32.6 seconds clear of Alonso and take another big step towards a fourth successive title with six races remaining.

Kimi Raikkonen shrugged off back pain to climb from 13th on the grid to third for Lotus in a challenging race that was held up by one decisive safety car period when Daniel Ricciardo crashed his Toro Rosso into the barriers on lap 26.

"Yes, yes, that's what I call in control," Vettel shouted over the team radio after chalking up his seventh win of the season and 33rd of his career.

"The car felt absolutely fantastic. This is absolutely a team effort."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Vettel, who was again booed on the podium from some in the crowd below, had been in a league of his own after "one of his best ever drives".

Vettel was challenged briefly by fellow-German Nico Rosberg, who was second on the grid, on the run to the first turn but once he held off the Mercedes, he controlled the race.

Alonso again used a charging start and brilliant strategy to climb from seventh on the grid and keep his title hopes alive. He gambled on pitting for a change of tires during the safety car period and nursing his Ferrari all the way to the flag on medium tires.

"We knew we didn't have the pace today so we had to invent something with a different strategy from the other teams," said the Spaniard. "It paid off at the end.

"We are in a position in the championship where we have nothing to lose."

Raikkonen, who will join Alonso at Ferrari next season, duplicated the Spaniard's strategy and was able to hold on for third place from the fast-charging Mercedes duo of Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who opted to stay out behind the safety car.

Alonso's Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa finished in sixth place with McLaren's Jenson Button and Sergio Perez claiming the next two spots ahead of Nico Hulkenburg's Sauber and Adrian Sutil in a Force India.

Vettel's team mate Mark Webber briefly climbed up to fourth place in the closing stages but his Red Bull lost power on the last lap and he slipped out of the top 10.

There was also disappointment for Romain Grosjean, who started third on the grid but retired on lap 33 after his Lotus suffered a pneumatic system failure and was called in by his team to retire in the pits.

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Ferrari Confirm Kimi

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Ferrari have confirmed Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen will join Fernando Alonso at the Italian team from 2014 after agreeing a two-year contract.

Raikkonen, 33, won the world title with Ferrari in 2007 but was displaced by the arrival of Spaniard Alonso in 2010.

The Finn will replace Felipe Massa, who announced via Twitter that he will leave at the end of the current season.

Raikkonen said: "I'm really happy to return to Maranello where I spent three fantastic and very successful years."
"I can't wait to be driving a Ferrari car again and to reacquaint myself with so many people with whom I had such close links, as well as working with Fernando, whom I consider a great driver, in order to bring the team the success it deserves."

Lotus are expected to replace Raikkonen with Sauber's German driver Nico Hulkenburg.

Raikkonen had also been linked with a move to Red Bull after impressing with victory in the opening race of 2013 at the Australian Grand Prix, followed by second-place finishes in China, Bahrain, and Spain.

Red Bull opted to promote Daniel Ricciardo from their Toro Rosso junior team rather than continue to pursue Raikkonen.

Raikkonen is only in his second season back in Formula 1 following a two-year break during which he pursued a career in rallying.

His 2012 return was marked with seven podium finishes, including victory in Abu Dhabi in the penultimate race of the season.

Ferrari's decision to partner Alonso with Raikkonen signals a return to the policy last employed between 2007 and 2009 when Raikkonen and Massa competed on equal terms.

Either side of that period, with Michael Schumacher from 1996-2006 and then with Alonso for the last four years, there has been a clear number one driver.

Former world champion Sir Jackie Stewart, who works as a consultant for the Lotus team, told BBC Sport thatRaikkonen's presence could unsettle Alonso, who has been used to being the focus of the team's efforts.

Alonso's relationship with McLaren, when he was team-mates with Lewis Hamilton in 2007, was famously turbulent, and the ructions led to him leaving the team just one year into a three-year contract.

Alonso has since made it clear that his problems at the time were not with Hamilton but with the team not delivering on promises that had been made to him about his status.

And in a statement on the Ferrari website, he paid tribute to Massa and looked forward to Raikkonen joining the team.

"It will not be easy to say goodbye to a team-mate like him. He has always been truly professional and loyal to the team and I am sure that right to the end, he will do his utmost for the Scuderia that he loves so much.

"I'd like to welcome my new travelling companion: together, starting next year, we will have to tackle a very demanding technical and racing challenge."

Ferrari's decision, which was approved by the team's president Luca Di Montezemolo, leaves Lotus with a second key vacancy to fill.

They also lost highly-rated technical director James Allison to Ferrari earlier this year and have since struggled to persuade Raikkonen that they have the technical and financial resources to compete at the front in 2014.

Raikkonen is the first driver to return to Ferrari after a previous spell since Austrian Gerhard Berger re-joined them in 1993 after leaving them at the end of 1989 to join McLaren.

Ferrari trail Red Bull by 104 points in the team standings this season, with Alonso's successes in Spain and China dwarfed by rival Sebastian Vettel's six wins.

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Vettel Wins Monza Grand Prix

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Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel survived a number of minor issues to take his sixth win of the season in the Formula 1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2013 at Monza on Sunday afternoon. 

The world champion took the lead at the start as Ferrari’s Felipe Massa sprinted briefly up to second ahead of the second Red Bull of Mark Webber and the second Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. 

As Vettel extended his lead out front, despite some concerns about a flat-spotted tyre, Alonso fought past Webber with a bold move on the third lap, then caught and passed his team mate on the eighth. But there was nothing he could do about the German in the lead and though he finished only 5.4s adrift, the real gap was closer to double that as Vettel eased off considerably.

In the second half of the race Webber fought back and put Alonso under pressure until he was told to start short-shifting, but he was still less than a second behind the Ferrari at the end. Massa was a distant fourth.

Nico Hulkenberg and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg had a race-long fight for fifth which went the Sauber driver’s way by six-tenths of a second even though Rosberg was the fastest man on track with three laps to go. Daniel Ricciardo made strong use of his superfast-in-a-straight line Toro Rosso to keep Romain Grosjean at bay, but Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was closing on both and actually passed the Lotus going into the second chicane on the final lap. 

Unfortunately for the Briton, he’d gone over the run-off area to do it and had to hand back the place. Hamilton had his race strategy upset by a slow puncture in his Mercedes’ right front tyre on the 12th lap, and thus had to make two pit stops to almost everybody else’s one.

Kimi Raikkonen was the other man who had to stop twice after sustaining accident damage running his Lotus into Sergio Perez’s McLaren at the first corner after locking up. Like Hamilton, the Finn drove a feisty race to recover, but couldn’t hold Hamilton back on the 49th lap. He did catch and pass Perez, but missed out on the final point when he couldn’t quite get the job done on Jenson Button. The Englishman thus took a solitary point in McLaren’s 50th birthday race.

Behind Perez in 12th, fellow Mexican Esteban Gutierrez brought his Sauber home ahead of the Williams duo of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas, while further back Charles Pic beat Caterham team mate Giedo van der Garde, as Jules Bianchi led home Marussia team mate Max Chilton at the rear of the field.

It was a bad race for Force India, with Paul di Resta a first-lap casualty after running into the back of Grosjean at the second chicane - an incident the stewards are investigating - and Adrian Sutil retiring on the penultimate lap when running behind the Hamilton/Raikkonen battle. Jean-Eric Vergne had kept Button and Hamilton at bay in the early stages until a transmission problem on his Toro Rosso put him out on the 15th lap.

Vettel’s sixth win of the season extended his championship lead over Alonso. The German now has 222 points to the Spaniard’s 169, while Hamilton is stuck back on 141 from Raikkonen on 134, as Webber moves up to 130.

In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull had the biggest day and now have 352 points, while Ferrari’s strong performance puts them back into second place on 248 ahead of Mercedes on 245. Lotus remain fourth on 191 with McLaren fifth on 66 and Force India sixth on 61.

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