Lewis Hamilton is back on track according to McLaren

By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer for the BBC

  Lewis Hamilton on his skiing trip. Photo via his Twitter account

Lewis Hamilton has put a difficult 2011 season behind him and is back on track, his McLaren team say.

Hamilton's three wins last year were interspersed with a series of errors and penalties as he admitted personal problems affected him.
McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale said: "I'm speaking to him most weeks. He's getting himself together.
"He's winter training really hard and he's in the right place doing the things he needs to be doing."
Hamilton is believed to be in the United States training in the Rocky Mountains, but will be back in the UK at the end of the month in time for the launch of the new McLaren on 1 February.
Hamilton said at the end of 2011 that he would spend the winter analysing the difficulties he had had last season and ensuring he was mentally back to full strength for the new season.
Neale said: "What he needs to do is get himself in the car. He's only got something to prove to himself. He's his own biggest critic.
"He puts extremely high demands on himself, we at the team are here to support him. It's a tough business, you've got to get the job done."

Red Bull have been good for the last two years, but Ferrari have obviously got a lot to prove this year.

Jonathan Neale McLaren managing director

One of the motivating factors behind Hamilton's difficult 2011 was his disappointment that McLaren had not produced a car that could challenge Red Bull on a consistent basis.
Neale acknowledged that McLaren needed to up their game in 2012 - not just in terms of performance, but on an operational level as well after strong finishes in several races slipped through their fingers because of errors.
"One of the things we measure is our did-not-score rate," he said. "If we had a good car that was capable of scoring good points in that race and we didn't, we go back and ask ourselves why.
"There have been a number of operational issues we've needed to get fixed and some of the changes we're making in our line-up and some of the processes - and bringing people like (former Williams technical director) Sam Michael on board (as sporting director) - are aimed at tackling some of those issues."
Neale said he expected world champions Red Bull to remain strong in 2012, and that he was wary of a revival from Ferrari, who struggled last year partly because they were unable to maximise the year's must-have technology, exhaust-blown diffusers.
This is when the teams channel the exhausts along the rear floor of the car and blow gases through them even when the driver is off the throttle. The technology significantly increases downforce, but has been banned for 2012.
Ferrari's only win in 2011 was at the British Grand Prix, where the technology was severely restricted for one race.
"Red Bull have been good for the last two years," Neale said.
"They sorted out their reliability last year and it's just speculation at this moment (who will have the quickest car).
"Who knows who will come out with what?
"Ferrari have obviously got a lot to prove this year.
"From the glimpse we got of how their car was at Silverstone without the blown diffuser they were quick, so they have some capability there.
"But the whole car hangs together well for Red Bull and, with an evolutionary set of rules, they would be disappointed if they weren't among the front runners."

Michael Schumacher surprised with Nico Rosberg’s performance

Michael Schumacher surprised with Nico Rosberg’s performance

The 7-time world champion, Michael Schumacher was surprised how his teammate, Nico Rosberg was able to outperform him during the 2010 Formula Season. The German blames the technical problems in his Mercedes for the poor season he embraced this year.

The 41-year-old has returned to Formula One after a period of three years as he announced retirement from the sport in 2007. The man, who is statistically the most successful driver of all times, believes that his poor performance this year is majorly because of the unsuitable car for him. The driver has neither won any of the 19 races of this season, nor had he been successful in bagging a podium. The best finish of the season seen by the driver was at 4^th place at the Korean Grand Prix while he wrapped the Japanese round at sixth place.

Having 72 points under his belt, the driver stands at 9^th pace in the drivers’ championship while his teammate and fellow country man, Rosberg, was successful in earning 142 points, finishing the season at 7^th place.
  

Before announcing his retirement after the 2006 season, the driver won seven World titles, winning four consecutively from 2000 to 2004. After finishing the 2006 season at a place behind, Fernando Alonso, who had his second world championship, the racing icon decided to retire. However, Schumacher’s oldest friend and one of the most successful team principals of Formula One, Ross Brawn embraced the driver in his team whole heartedly.

The German while talking to the media earlier today said, "The fastest driver is a reference for the other one, you see the data of how he drives, but it didn't work quite so well in the other car. Looking back, there were a few things (wrong) with my car. The exhaust got so hot that sometimes the underside of the car burnt or the F-Duct (a system to help the airflow) was triggered in parts of the track where it shouldn't have been."

Such technical problems with Schumacher’s car were witnessed earlier this year at the Belgian and Japanese Grand Prix, where the F-Duct of the car gave a lot of trouble to him on the track.

The driver now explained saying that he was facing several problems with his car all through the year but he preferred talking about it to the team behind closed doors instead of announcing publicly.

He further revealed that voices were raised behind closed doors at Mercedes’ all through the year as he voiced his frustration at team management. Especially the team Principal Ross Brawn has absorbed a lot of his anger and dissatisfaction, assuring him that the team will provide him a far better car for the upcoming season.
"I had no problems with Nico, but I told Norbert and Ross that it was time to find explanations," said Schumacher.

However, as the team and drivers get ready for next season, the racing icon Schumacher says that he is looking forward for a better season ahead. He is adamant to enter the new season leaving all the problems of this season behind as they move ahead for the next Drivers' Championship.

The team stopped all the development work of the 2010 car at the mid of the season turning all the focus towards the 2011 car. All the teams now expect to see a very strong Mercedes GP car as it was seen in 2009 when the squad bagged both the derivers’ as well as the constructers’ championship.