As ever the Formula 1 world offers no shortage of talking points and the withdrawal of another manufacturer, big moves in the 2010 driver market, along with the still unresolved future of the British Grand Prix, meant there were plenty of topics for you to put to our resident expert in our latest Q&A session.
Read on below for James Allen’s answers to some of the best questions we received.
It seems that Max Mosley was right about manufacturer teams coming and going as they please. Do you think FOTA are perhaps a bit embarrassed about the current situation, with Toyota and BMW gone and Renault maybe joining them? Surely their union is weaker now?
Marty Fullard, Abu Dhabi
I think it is a bit yes.
Without the sheer might of the manufacturers behind them, they are less powerful and getting to that point is part of what this year was all about from Mosley’s point of view.
Also the new teams will be more dependent on FOM money to survive so they will be easier to pick off. Divide and rule will become easier now.
James, do you think that Jenson becoming champion will actually make him mentally stronger? He had a fantastic year, no doubt about it his races were sublime, but his qualifying performances in the second half were poor. He tried to defend himself, but as a loyal Button supporter it pains me to say I feel the pressure got to him.
Chris Adair, Belfast
I think a lot of his problems in the second half of the season were related to the car and the way it developed (or didn’t), which didn’t suit him.
He also got the ‘yips’ a bit, and became nervous of losing, which made him lose.
But he got through it and sealed the title with a brilliant drive in Brazil.
Remember also that he made very few mistakes in races and scored points in all but one race, which is great consistency.
James, thanks a million for keeping us informed with regards to F1. My question is about Raikkonen – how good is he in relation to Alonso and Hamilton, is his inconsistency just bad luck or self inflicted? Is he still worth the salary of a champion?
Thando Mxoli, Johannesburg, South Africa
Pleasure. Raikkonen is such an enigma.
He struggled in the first half of this season in comparison with Massa, but once Massa was out of the way he was the best driver in the field bar none – at a time when Ferrari stopped developing their car so it was getting slower and slower relative to the opposition.
What was that all about?
He is the most talented driver in the field, but has never really quite known how to channel it and motivation has been a problem at times.
To a team that needs a champion and believes it can motivate him, he’s worth a lot.
Ferrari is going next year with Massa and Alonso at the wheel, while McLaren is going with Hamilton and Button. Who do you think will have the upper hand inside each team at the end of the year?
Alfonso, Vigo, Spain
I think that is quite hard to call in Ferrari’s case as Alonso is the fastest driver in a race situation in F1, but Massa is getting better all the time and is unbeatable on some tracks, like Istanbul or Interlagos.
I think Alonso will probably come out on top over a season, but it will be close in year one.
At McLaren, presuming it is a quick car, Button will have his days, but Hamilton will have the edge in qualifying and can use that platform to stay ahead in races.
Button is smoother which will help with tyre wear, but adaptability will be important as the fuel load burns off and the tyres go off and Hamilton is more adaptable.
With Mercedes moving in with Brawn, do you think there's a possibility of McLaren designing and building their own engines in the future, since they are building their own engines for their sports car division?
Shueb Chowdhury, Dubai
The engine is being built for them by a third party – I believe it’s called Mahle, from Germany.
They have done a deal for engine supply with Mercedes until 2015, so any engine build plans are some way off.
It’s possible they might do that, but the costs are very high.
Considering the similarities between Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher’s careers (winning with Benetton/Renault, signed by Flavio Briatore, moving to Ferrari after already winning two world titles etc…) do you think that the Spaniard can emulate Schumacher and give Ferrari fans, such as myself, a taste of the dominance we saw between 2000-2004?
Ryan Marsh, Nottinghamshire
No, because with the best will in the world, Schumacher did not have anyone on his own level to beat. That is why his stats are so amazing.
Senna had Prost and Mansell to beat and Alonso has Hamilton, maybe Vettel in a year or two and others.
The field is more competitive now than it was for Schumacher.
Provided they all make the grid in Bahrain, which of the four new teams do you think is best equipped to enjoy the most impressive debut season?
Dean Cunningham, London
Very hard to say at this point in time.
I think Manor look well organised, but the car has not been designed in a wind tunnel and that is a big gamble.
US F1 is anyone’s guess, Lotus should be a soundly engineered car if Mike Gascoyne is behind it, but they were quite late starting.
Campos should be a well run team, but Dallara haven’t built a decent F1 car yet and have been out of it for many years now.
If I had to guess, it will be between Manor and Lotus probably, as to who is the fastest.
Cosworth is suddenly supplying more teams than we all had anticipated. It obviously has quite a history in F1 and my question is related to how the engine regulations - through reliability etc – will affect the Cosworth powered teams. The last time Cosworth was in F1, they had the V10 spec engines – now the power of the V8 needs to be on par with the leaders. In effect, what does Williams know that Red Bull doesn't?
Krishna Shastry, Santa Cruz, California
No the last time they were in was with a V8 in 2006 at Williams.
It is a bit thirsty for the new formula, apparently, and hasn’t had the reliability testing that the other engines have had, but they have the advantage of being able to continue development until March 1, whereas the other engines are already frozen.
Now that the championship is over, I was wondering how much money does a constructor get for its finishing position in the constructors’ standings. How do they calculate the funds and do the drivers get any of it?
Maurice, Sydney, Australia
There is a protocol in the Concorde Agreement with payments schedules due under various columns and teams earn money from the commercial rights pot as well as for their championship finishing position.
Brawn will get something like $75 million for winning the title, while Toro Rosso will get around $40 million. Premier League football teams earn quite a bit more.
How do you rate Jaime Alguersuari's progress over his eight grands prix so far? Would you keep him on if you were the Toro Rosso management?
Ross Messinger, Northants
It was a tough year to be a rookie, these cars seem to have been pretty hard to drive.
To judge Alguersuari you have to decide how good a job Buemi did, because he was generally a bit quicker every where and in some places was quite impressive.
I’d give him another go, especially with the chance to do some testing before the season, but he needs to deliver pretty much straight away.
As a Brazilian fan I'd like to know whether you think our Brazilian boys [Barrichello, Massa, Senna] will do well next year and if Rubinho will have an edge for the first rounds as he will be the only driver in the field with experience of racing with no refuelling?
Augusto Neto, Brazil
I think they will do well, especially Massa who was still improving when he had his accident.
Barrichello will go well at Williams and they seem to have sorted out some of their design issues now, so the car could be capable of top 10 results.
Senna will be learning F1 and so will his team. If they put someone experienced alongside him that will help.
Hi James, next year will teams still have to use two types of tyre compound during the race?
Malcolm Harding, Pin Mill nr Ipswich
Yes, that is my understanding. But the front tyres will be narrower than this year.
When will the future of the British Grand Prix be sorted out?
Mick Barnsley, Nottingham
Bernie Ecclestone has said that it has to be sorted out by the time of the next FIA World Council meeting on December 11th.
I think it’s really very close now.
How have you found your new role this season? I, for one, have really enjoyed your input to the ITV F1 website, and I consider your own blog the most informative and authoritative on the internet.
Phil Waddell, Birmingham
Cheers Phil. I’ve really enjoyed the new challenges of the online world, in addition to traditional media commitments like TV and the work I do for the Financial Times.
Online is definitely the place to be and it’s evolving very quickly. I have opened up new ways of communicating with the blog, twitter and the official iPhone app. I have lots more content plans for next season on jamesallenonf1.com.
And following Jenson Button’s shock move to McLaren earlier this week, itv.com/f1 put an additional question to James…
Why do you think Jenson Button took the McLaren deal rather than the Mercedes deal, especially as he has admitted that he’s earning less money than he might have done if he’d stayed put?
Lots of reasons.
I think McLaren have done a real number on him, selling him the vision of the all British champions team, McLaren is positioning itself to become the British Ferrari with its new range of road cars.
From the point of view of the sponsors, who didn’t have much to shout about this will guarantee lots of attention next year.
Button wanted some new targets and challenges having achieved his lifetime’s ambition at the age of 29. And I think he fell out with the Brawn management during a tense week or so.