Fernando Alonso is not to thrilled with the uncertainty that’s being thrown into the 2011 season with so many new things to look out for. With new tyres , new wings, new tracks comes along a new type of uncertainty and fears that F1 may never be the same. Press release from Ferrari follows :

In his first press conference of the year, Fernando Alonso also talked about the new technical and rule changes that will affect the 2011 cars.

“They will certainly be more complex to handle on the part of the driver because we will have more operations to carry out,” explained the Spaniard. “There will be the return of KERS and the new adjustable rear wing, even if the front wing won’t be adjustable any more. You will need to find the way to adapt and find the right mechanisms for the buttons to avoid losing the correct concentration for driving. The simulator gives us a big hand with that, allowing us to do intensive training on this aspect.

“Will these changes help overtaking? I hope so. For years changes to the regulations have been brought in with this objective but they haven’t always worked. We’re crossing our fingers but I think that between KERS and the adjustable rear wing there will be enough difference in speed to be able to overtake a car you’re fighting. These changes have been brought in after meticulous work on the part of the Technical Working Group and I believe they will work. Will we have to be more aggressive? It depends on the situation: if you just need a place to win the title then there’s no need.”
Another change will be the Pirelli tyres that Fernando has already tested for two days in Abu Dhabi last November. “The first feeling is positive,” says Fernando. “But we will know more at the next tests, those will be very interesting. I will certainly have to change my driving style a bit. The unknown remains the wet tyres, that we haven’t yet had a chance to try.”

In 2009 the introduction of KERS pushed many drivers into a hard winter and slimming routines. But this year the minimum weight of the car has been increased to 640kg, meaning the weight of the driver is not so crucial for the effective use of ballast. “I haven’t lost much weight yet, partly because last week I had to interrupt my training because of a small muscle contraction in my leg,” explains Fernando. “For the start of the championship perhaps you will see more of a weight difference. This year we will have to pay even more attention to physical and mental preparation because of the calendar. For example we will have trips that are physically demanding such as Australia-Malaysia-China, with the last two races on successive weekends. If you arrive in Malaysia at 80% one week later you risk being at 50%.”

On the issue that the new rules could make the result of qualifying less important for the result of the race, Fernando was very cautious. “It’s possible, because overtaking should be less difficult. But qualifying, the start and the first corner will remain decisive moments. But it’s too early to make a real prediction: we will have to see how things go in the first races to have a more precise idea.”

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The FIA took a surprising decision recently placing back team orders into legal territory and quashing its earlier judgment classifying team orders as break of the sport’s law. One may recall that the laws were passed after Ferrari was slammed for using team orders in one infamous Austrian Grand Prix in 2002. Ferrari is the team most involved in the whole controversy over team rules (ok, maybe its McLaren, but Ferrari is more officially reported, atleast by the British press ).

Stefano Domenicali welcomed the FIA decision to lift the ban on team orders calling the ban pointless hypocrisy. A statement on  Ferrari’s media website read :

“Finally, we have said goodbye to this pointless hypocrisy,” said Domenicali to the waiting microphones of several TV companies that greeted him at the end of the meeting.

“For us, Formula 1 is a team sport and we have always maintained that viewpoint and it should be treated as such. The regulations already include points that prevent certain situations being managed in an extreme manner. The decision taken yesterday is very important.”

Interesting viewpoint there. I am not sure I fully agree, team sports doesn’t mean that you should manipulate finishing order.

Got the following statement from Toyota’s Media Centre :

TOYOTA MOTORSPORT GmbH STATEMENT
Monday 15 November 2010

COLOGNE, Germany – Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) confirms that all cooperation with Hispania Racing F1 Team (HRT) has been terminated and will not resume.

TMG retains all intellectual property rights to its current F1 car and is completely free to pursue other projects and support new customers for its high-performance engineering services.

TMG regrets that HRT has not met its contractual payment obligations and will pursue all available options to reach a satisfactory conclusion to this matter.

Doesn’t look like Happy Days ahead for Hispania, no more HRT in 2011, so will Toyota be woo-ing other constructors with their engineering services ?

Image courtesy : Hispania HRT F1 Team Media

November 14th is celebrated as Children’s Day in India in memory of Jawaharlal Nehru who was the 1st PM of India, what an apt day for Formula One to get its toungest even formula one champion. Sebastien Vettel drove an almost perfect race to clinch the F1 title beating closest rival Fernando Alonso by just 4 points. Sebastian Vettel took the chequered flag at the Yas Marina circuit to win the Abu Dhabi grand prix ahead of all his championship rivals.

The situation that Sebastian Vettel was in was similar to what Kimi Raikkonen was in a few years ago when he had pipped Lewis Hamilton to take the crown despite having the odds stacked against him. After the race Vettel acknowledged that the same was in the back of his head.

One also has to spare a thought for the Spaniard Fernando Alonso who fought valiantly in his Ferrari but couldn’t match the straight line speed of the Renaults in the end. He slipped and slid all over the track but still couldn’t pass the Russian Vikaly Petrov’s Renault.

Fernando Alonso wasn’t the only person to be heartbroken by the result, Vettel also dealt a blow to his teammate Mark Webber’s plans of celebrating his maiden F1 title. Webber finished the race behind Alonso in 8th place and the championship behind Alonso with 242 points losing out on the title by 14 points in the end.

Lewis Hamilton too wasn’t spared by Sebastian Vettel who smashed his record of being the youngest ever formula one champion at the age of 23.

Concluding, We would like to write that this young champion has heart and this surely isn’t the last we hear of him  . This surely was a fitting end for the season.

In other news AT&T Williams F1 have confirmed Rubens Barrichello for 2011. More on that later.