2013 Formula One Team by Team – 1st Quarter Season Review

May 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment

It would seem that Vettel is on track for title number four….don’t tell Raikkonen or Alonso that.

A quarter of the 2013 World Drivers and Constructors Championship season has run it’s course so who is hot?

So far the championship has seen winners from Lotus, Red Bull and Ferrari with the winning honours shared by three drivers; Kimi Räikkönen, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso all of whom are World Champions.

Lotus appear really hot, while the management is cautious about it’s chances of providing Kimi Räikkönen with a championship winning car, Kimi is chomping at the bit. Since his win at the opening Australian Grand Prix he has put together a string of three consecutive 2nd place finishes which with one seventh place finish adds up to a consistency that makes Kimi the fancied underdog amongst the three emergent title contenders.

Down sides to Kimi’s challenge are that Lotus Technical Director James Allison electing to go on ‘gardening leave’ last week pending a move to another team, widely speculated to be Ferrari and that Kimi’s relatively inexperienced team mate Romain Grosjean has not shown the consistent form exhibited by either of the de facto number two drivers at Red Bull or Ferrari.

Allison is ‘rumoured’ to be heading for Ferrari. In Formula One where there’s smoke there’s a wild fire.

 

Sebastian Vettel disobeyed team orders to throttle back and jumped his team mate Mark Webber to win the Malaysian Grand Prix after which he had to eat humble pie for his misdemeanor and took a pasting in the press. However despite another win in Bahrain one further third and two fourth place finishes added to the and even having taken advantage of Mark when his main anticipated rival Fernando Alonso had to retire Sebastian leads the championship by a scant four points, thanks to the consistent challenge from Kimi.

So far Sebastian has shown the necessary beyond the pail determination to get the job done. The simmering money would be on Sebastian becoming the youngest four-peat World Champion and Red Bull to become four-peat constructors champions.

Alonso still has 3/4 of a season to go….Vettel is due a a DNF, but Raikkonen…maybe not so much.

The third title contender, Fernando Alonso, is the only one of the three who has suffered a gross team error, when he was advised to stay out after an accident on the opening lap of Malaysian Grand Prix which saw him crash out on the second lap. Fernando was also the victim of a sticking hinged element on his rear wing in Bahrain which required multiple unscheduled pit stops from which he did exceptionally well to recover an 8th place points paying finish. This is not the first time this issue, which affects the drivers ability to pass on the straights and get safely around the corners, has afflicted Ferrari so it is disappointing that the problem has not been properly resolved.

These misfortunes along with convincing wins in China and Spain mean that Alonso sits third in the points standings 17 points adrift. The question remains can Ferrari deliver a consistent challenge to Red Bull ? Their car has the speed and the team have some momentum but for my money Alonso backed up by the erratic Felipe Massa is the tepid bet, already on the back foot, more likely to finish second in the championship to Sebastian for a third time than to beat him.

The characteristics of the Pirelli tyres, as last year, do not seem to suit any one team consistently from one track to the next although they do appear to suit Lotus, Red Bull and Ferrari better than the rest. Pirelli as sole suppliers seem to be in a no win situation in this respect, they were asked to produce tyres for this season that had a bigger difference in performance between the hard and soft options, both of which have to be used during the course of a dry race and they have done what was asked, but have come in for enormous criticism for doing precisely that.

Now Pirelli has agreed to change the compounds of the tyres to degrade less….the benefit? Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton left McLaren at the end of last year to join Mercedes Benz expecting to challenge for race wins if not the championship. Lewis’s performances have been a definite fillip for Mercedes who have not delivered a competitive car. Disappointingly Lewis does not seem to be able to direct the team towards providing what he needs as shown when he dropped from 2nd on the grid to a lapped 12th place finish in Spain, clueless on how to manage the situation and not impressed that he was racing a Williams that beat him.

Sitting fourth place in the constructors table Mercedes are unlikely to catch the top three and unlikely to be caught by anyone in the foreseeable future so I wonder if they are already thinking about abandoning further development this season in favour of putting all of their efforts into next season, team Principle Ross Brawn was the beneficiary of just such a strategy in 2009 all he has to do is convince his drivers and the Mercedes Benz board this is the way to go.

Fifth in the constructors table are Force India whose drivers Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil are fighting for points scraps with the similarly Mercedes powered McLarens. With four points paying finishes and a best of 4th in Bahrain Paul is a better than expected  8th in the drivers table. Adrian meanwhile has scored points just once on his return from a sabbatical. With the rival McLaren team being seen to put in whatever it takes to bring their car up to speed I doubt Force India will be able to maintain their two point advantage in the constructors championship, but it will be a close fought battle.

Gambling on a radical approach to this years car rather than an incremental development of last years race winning car, has not paid off for McLaren. To their credit McLaren have dug deep to make their cars faster, but so far without success. That they are trying hard is evidenced by the fact they turned up with a new front wing in Spain but refrained from using it until it had been properly tested and passed as legal on the governing FIA’s own equipment.

Button and Perez have decided to fight the ill handling McLaren instead of each other.

Jenson Button has shown the more consistent form with four points paying finishes and a best of 5th in China while Sergio Pérez managed a best of 6th in Bahrain where Jenson and Sergio had a falling out, with Button calling on his team to control Perez who he judged to have used rough tactics. The McLaren management would have done well to tell each driver what the tyre situation was relative to the other and avoided the on track misunderstanding in the first place. McLaren have the resources to get the better of Force India in the constructors championship but they are unlikely to win a race this year.

Seventh in the constructors table are Torro Rosso for whom Australian Danielle Ricardo has scored two points paying finishes with a best of 7th in China and Jean-Éric Vergne a best of 10th in Malaysia. The pressure is on these two to pull rabbits out of the hat this season or they will find themselves, facing a similar fate to their predecessors Sébastien Buemi and Jamie Alguersuari, looking for work as sports car drivers and TV presenters.

Sauber are the only other team to have points thanks to Nico Hulkenburg who managed a best 8th place finish in Malaysia, if Sauber want to beat Torro Rosso in the constructors championship they will have to find away to get Mexican rookie Esteban Gutiérrez to finish better than 11th as he did in Spain.

Shockingly Williams have managed a best of two non points paying 11th place finishes for each of their drivers Pastor Maldonado in Bahrain and Finn Valttteri Botas in Malaysia as the team appears to be suffering the same fate as McLaren by trying to take a quantum leap forward rather than settling for steady development of last years winning car. Williams will need to apply resources to this years car, perhaps better saved until next year, just to score points this season.

Williams has yet to score a point.

Marussia have a best 13th place finish courtesy of Jules Bianchi which is surprising since they are the only team to use spec Cosworth motors while Caterham who use race winning Renault motors have managed a best finish of 14th in Malaysia courtesy of Charles Pic. One of these two teams is going to be out of pocket at the seasons end as, in a change from last year, only the top ten teams will be paid prize money at the seasons end. Don’t be surprised to see former race winner Heikki Kovalainen make a return to Caterham in its attempt to get the better of Marrusia.

Summing up the drivers championship has emerged as a three way contest between Vettel, Räikkönen and Alonso while realistically the constructors championship is a two way battle between Red Bull and Ferrari, I believe Vettel will win his fourth championship in a row but I wouldn’t expect to get much sleep between now and the seasons end if I were a gambler.

Ralph Colmar can also be found at:    www.psychoontyres.blogspot.com

 

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Fortune Favours Fernando and Ferrari – Gran Premio de España

May 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Fernando Alonso scored his 3rd win of the 2014 season in Spain.

Yesterday’s Spanish Grand Prix marked the first quarter of the 19 race 2013 F1™ championship season and all three championship protagonists came away from Barcelona having done exactly what they had to do, if no more, to stay in the game over the remaining three quarters of the season.

After mishaps in Malaysia and Bahrain, Ferrari were in a must win situation to stay in championship contention and they had to turn everything – engine management, differential and brake bias settings, up on their steering wheels a little louder than everyone else. Strategically Ferrari went for an aggressive four stop pit strategy, which meant they could run much faster than the Lotus and Red Bull teams that had the luxury of opting for conservative three stop strategies afforded by the considerable margin over the Italian team in the championship points standings.

As to be expected from a two time World Champion and contender for a third championship, Fernando delivered all that was required from his 5th place start on the grid and ended up taking a comfortable and largely unchallenged win on home ground.

2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen needed to finish better than series leader Sebastian Vettel, which his second place finish in the Genii financed Lotus ensured.  Kimi was also fortunate that Ferrari Engineer Rob Smedley managed to guide Ferrari’s de facto number two Felipe Massa to a third place finish ahead of Vettel. In so doing the Maranello team, effectively gifted former Ferrari driver Kimi three additional championship points.

Mercedes had one lap pace, but couldn’t stop the charging Alonso.

Of the three emergent 2013 World Drivers championship contenders Vettel was able to take it easy in Spain his mission was to conserve his equipment and come out of the Spanish Grand Prix with the championship points lead. With each driver only allowed to use eight motors a season preserving equipment at every opportunity affords the best possibility of running faster in the final run to the championship at the end of the season.

If justification was needed for Vettel to steal seven championship points from his team mate Mark Webber in Malaysia, coming out of Barcelona with a two point championship lead, from a forth place finish, was it. Webber finished 5th behind his team mate in yesterdays race ensuring that Red Bull still has a 14 point lead in the manufacturers championship. Sebastian however must be disappointed to have finished behind Massa, who is unlikely to be in contention for championship honours at the seasons end.

Nico Rosberg fell back through the field with failing tyres.

For the third time in succession Mercedes Benz stole the qualifying headlines locking out the front row of the grid in Barcelona with Nico Rosberg on pole ahead of team mate 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton.  As in China and Bahrain Saturday’s success was not translated into any meaningful result on Sunday,  Nico came home a lucky 6th, while Hamilton finished outside the points in 12th wryly commenting over the pit radio that he was racing a “Williams” as if to ask ‘Why’ ?

The championship will be a slog for the Mercedes Benz team this summer which is difficult to fathom given they are acknowledged to have the strongest motors on the F1™ grid. It will be interesting to see if the forth placed team elect to sort out their cars handling or simply throw all of their resources into preparing for next year which sees the introduction of new V6 turbo charged motors.

Paul di Resta did well to finish 7th from a tenth place start, but he really should have snatched 6th from struggling Rosberg in the closing laps, his Force India team were willing him on over the radio, but Paul could not make the pass with the half a chance, going down the long start finish straight, that was available two laps from home.

McLaren blew a chance to finish 6th by issuing thinly disguised team orders to Sergio Perez, who was advised to look after his tyres rather and settle for a 9th place finish, rather  than to pass his team mate Jenson Button who finished 8th. The latter was the slower of the two on older tyres and in no position to defend himself while the Perez appeared quick enough to have caught and passed the battle between Rosberg and di Resta.

After 2009 World Champion Jenson’s vocal public  spat Perez in Bahrain the McLaren team management are going to have to be more firm with Jenson if he cannot keep the pace with his Mexican team mate. That bad advice to Perez means that McLaren are 3 points adrift of 5th place Force India when they might have been a couple of points ahead in the constructors championship.

Australian Danielle Ricardo scored a valuable final point for the second string Ferrari powered Torro Rosso team which is now three points ahead of 8th placed Sauber and 20 behind the struggling McLaren Team.

In 2012 Williams and Pastor Maldonado showed promise. They haven’t scored a single point in 2013.

It’s hard to fathom, but a year ago Pastor Maldonado won this race for Williams, this year the Williams team has failed to score a single point and has not remotely looked like it might. Before the race Pastor claimed that Williams has a “plan B” for the Renault powered FW35, to which one wag on a forum quipped ” Sounds like an appointment with the crusher”, joking aside Williams need some drastic action simply to get some points on the table.

Pirelli received harsh criticism for not providing more durable tyres in Spain and have promised that 2 and 3 stop strategies will be the order of the day by the British Grand Prix.

Ferrari were brave and grabbed this race by the scruff of the neck and reaped the rewards, Alonso’s haul of 25 points still leaves him 17 points adrift of the top of the table with a doable if slightly against the odds chance of winning the title, while also giving him and the Ferrari team some much needed momentum for the European season.

I hope you will join me next week for a preview of the forthcoming casino that is the Grand Prix de Monaco held on the famous streets of Monte Carlo.

 

 

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Button: “Next Two Races Are Important”

July 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Reprinted from www.planetf1.com

Jenson Button must regain form in the next two races

After winning the season-opener in Australia, Button’s recents have fallen further and further of the pace, resulting in the Brit losing touch with the leaders in the title race.

After nine races, the McLaren driver has just 50 World Championship points, 79 less than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

There is still time for Button to turn his season around starting with the upcoming German GP.

“Performance-wise, I still think it’s difficult to accurately predict where we stand in the competitive order,” said Button, who scored just one point at last weekend’s British GP.

“Valencia and Silverstone were certainly difficult races for us, but I don’t think they were truly representative of our pace.

“The final back-to-back before we head into the summer break will be important for the whole team: coming off the back of a couple of disappointing weekends, it’s important that we capitalise on the opportunities available in Germany and Hungary.”

The Brit, however, concedes that if he wants a great result in Germany both himself and McLaren will need an error-free weekend.

“This year, you really need a problem-free build-up to the race if you’re going to maximise the car’s potential – and that’s exactly what we’ll be hoping for in Germany.

“I’ve always enjoyed Hockenheim: I raced here when it blasted through the forests – a long time ago!

“I had a great race here in 2004, finishing second, despite starting back in 13th after a penalty for an engine failure in practice.

Checking girlfriend Jessica Michibata’s equipment prior to event

“It’s a circuit where you can attack; it’s good for racing and the newer layout is better for the spectators, too.”

Meanwhile, McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh admits a strong showing in Germany and Hungary will give McLaren a much-needed lift ahead of the summer break.

“After Silverstone, our focus immediately turned to Hockenheim, which, along with the Hungaroring in Budapest, will bring the curtain down on the first half of the season at the end of the month,” he said.

“There is a huge resolve within the operation to ensure that our aggressive development strategy is upheld across the summer.

“We are determined to narrow the gap to the Championship leaders before the start of the summer break.”

Source:  http://www.planetf1.com

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Formula One 2012: The Best Racing In The World

June 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Fernando Alonso scored an emotional victory in his home country of Spain to the delight of the crowd.

One can argue that Formula One has been predictable in the last 15 years, but that has most certainly not been the case in the 2012 season. The reasons are myriad but include a limited amount of track time due to rain during the allotted winter testing, the exclusion of blown diffusers and perhaps the most influential of all, the Pirelli tires.

In a season that has run eight races with only one repeat winner, that being Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, the team principles have conceded that they have no idea how to predict a winner at any given race. Good. The manufacturers want to sell cars and showcase their technology, but the fans around the world are what give Formula One such nationalistic popularity.

If such a scale existed, barring Fantasy Racing, predictability could arguably be placed on a scale and measured in degrees. The 2012 season is no different. The very same players are at the top of the heap and the new kids on the block, Lotus, Force India and Sauber have simply added to the mix of potential winners.

Alonso said prior to the European Grand Prix that Formula One seemed like a ‘lottery’-depending on the track anyone could emerge from nowhere to take a win. So far, that really hasn’t been the case. Red Bull sits squarely atop the constructers points followed by McLaren, Lotus, Ferrari and Mercedes. So consistency is beginning to emerge and become the one thing the drivers can cling to in hopes of winning a drivers championship.

Pirelli’s tires have proven to be the one major factor in how these cars react to any given track and that has become the big unknown. Each car has a different appetite at each track to the assigned tires from Pirelli. What’s wrong with that? In a world that’s reeling from economic uncertainty, the entertainment provided by this unknown is worth millions of dollars in viewership across the globe.

Grosjean tried valiantly but mechanical problems left him wondering what might have been.

In America predictability equates to boring. When Schumacher was dominating the headlines and the track, the U.S. audience tuned out in droves. When Sebastian Vettel had his season of total dominance, the U.S. audiences didn’t bother to watch after the first few races, it was far too predictable. Vettel to P1, Vettel disappears at the start like the Road Runner from Wile. E. Coyote. That was it. The 2012 season has caught them all by surprise.

Adrian Newey, designer of the RB8 Red Bull, has conceded that even as fast as Vettel was at Valencia, before succumbing to a bad Renault alternator, it’s a race-by-race season so far. Martin Whitmarsh of McLaren said, “It is very, very difficult,” he explained. “Everyone has given up predicting this season, so we have to accept that you have to turn up at each event and do the best job you can. That is what we will seek to do at Silverstone.”

That is where the excitement has come from this year. Every team would love to come straight out of the transporter and be a contender but the data they have hasn’t translated well to the Pirelli tires. They degrade at different rates depending on the driver, the set-up and the track conditions. It’s almost like rain, the great equalizer, where a driver’s skill, along with the engineers, have to make quick decisions on set-up.

All of the Cray computers, the wind tunnel information and simulations haven’t been able to transfer accurately to the actual track. Lotus was tipped to take Valencia and but for an alternator, might have taken the win, but even if Romain Grosjean’s car hadn’t shut down, he would have still have to have gotten by Fernando Alonso-easier said than done. The human element has been harder for the engineers to weave into their equations than they may have once thought.

Is this a bit of chicanery for the show’s sake? If it is, it’s working. If not, it is nonetheless taxing to the manufacturers, engineers and the drivers. They simply aren’t used to not knowing what to expect in anything less than predictable conditions. And, predictable conditions are never realistic. Temperatures change, track surfaces are different, humidity affects the engine performance as well as some of the colder climate drivers.

Whatever the outcome of the season, the racing has everyone looking towards the next race, Silverstone, rather than who’ll take the championship.

It’s exactly as it should be.

 

 

 

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Raikkonen Credits NASCAR for Formula One Lotus Return

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment


Kimi Raikkonen gave credit to NASCAR as his reason for looking at a Formula One return and with Lotus. Raikkonen said he enjoyed his NASCAR experience and realized how much he wanted to race against someone again. Brittany Force and Ashley Force may be driving tTop Fuel Dragsters for their father in a year. Force want’s to reduce his teams Funny Car count and add two Nitro Dragsters. The top 35 rule helped accelerate two teams into prominence, Tommy Baldwin Racing and Phoenix Racing.

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Ganassi Cleans House, Toyota Attacks LeMans with Hybrid, Success for Lotus, Raikkonen Tests

January 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment


Chip Ganassi has hired and fired personnel over the Winter to get traction for his team. Toyota will race a Lemans LMP1 Prototype that will be equipped with KERS, According to Oriol Servia…Lotus has had success in the past through hard work and innovation. The lotus Indcar keeps testing. Kimi Raikkonen completed a two day test session to re-acclimate him to a Formula One Car.

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Leffler to Busch, Courtney to Force, Hinchcliffe to Andretti, Senna to Williams?

January 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment


Jason Leffler, Courtney Force, James Hinchcliffe and Bruno Senna are all on the move. Leffler goes to Kyle Busch’s truck team while Courtney Force debuts for Father John Force. Not to be outdone James Hinchcliffe get’s the big break taking the Go Daddy/Andretti seat in IndyCar and in Formula One, Bruno Senna’s backer, Eike Batista insists that the deal is done for Senna’s seat at Williams.

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Kasey Kahne and “BoobGate”, Formula One Musical Chairs: What’s Next In 2012?

January 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment


Kasey Kahne finds himself in hot water with Women’s rights groups after tweeting disparinging remarks about the practice. Kimi Raikkonen draws friends and foe alike in his return to Formula One. The top story in 2011? Dan Wheldon is killed.

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Kimi Raikkonen Joins Lotus Renault GP for 2012 F1 Season

November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Image Credit: lotuscars.com

Kimi Raikkonen came across the pond to keep his skills fresh by driving a NASCAR truck in the Camping World Truck Series in 2011. Further, Kyle Busch Motorsports built a car that former Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen used to make his debut in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series. That one-time entry proved to be a springboard toward a full-time effort on the circuit that Busch’s organization will undertake next year … but this effort will be without the services of Kimi.

Kimi has decided to campaign the Black and Gold of Lotus Renault GP for the 2012 season and the ambassador of Group Lotus, Jean Alesi, couldn’t be more pleased as expressed in this Lotus interview release.

Jean, are you excited about the news that Kimi Raikkonen is returning to F1 next year with Lotus Renault GP?

It’s fantastic news. Kimi has more natural speed than just about anyone who has ever raced a Grand Prix car, and if he’s coming back it’s because he wants to do it, he misses F1, and he believes he can do well. He has had a short break, which was a little bit forced by Ferrari. I think he was fed up with the system and wanted to take time out, which I can totally understand. But now he’s coming back, with Lotus, so it’s really exciting.

Kimi’s speed was never in question, but there were concerns he failed to develop the car as Michael Schumacher had done before him. Is that a concern for you now?

Michael was brilliant at that, but it isn’t working for him now at Mercedes and I think this is a reflection of how F1 has developed in recent years and re-prioritized. Now you just need to focus on having a quick driver, someone who does the job. The great thing with Kimi is he extracts the maximum from a quick car. When the car was good at McLaren and Ferrari he was always winning. LRGP will expect him to extract the maximum from the Lotus as well.

It’s sure to fire up the workforce at Enstone, isn’t it, having a world champion in the car?

F1 teams need a driver who will consistently set lap times that are 100 percent on the edge. That is what a driver of Kimi’s caliber can do, to dance on the edge and never fall off. From that, the engineers get a baseline. They understand the true speed of their car and can make changes accordingly. It eradicates any doubt. I expect Kimi will be a very valuable tool indeed. But I don’t expect a lot of talking outside the car! I’m sure he hasn’t changed a bit.

Let’s talk about the Sao Paulo race. Bruno Senna was given a drive-thru penalty after he came together with Michael Schumacher. Did you think that was unfair?

Definitely, yes. It was a 50/50 accident, so why penalize one of them? Both cars were compromised – Bruno with a broken front wing and Michael with a rear puncture. To then penalize one of the drivers in this situation kills the spirit of racing. The stewards should have let it go.

Vitaly Petrov started the year on a high with his podium in Australia and finished the season tenth in the Drivers’ World Championship. How well do you think he did?

He’s been very competitive when the car is quick, and it’s been more difficult for him in the second half of the season. He did a fantastic first grand prix but he seems to suffer more when the car is not perfect.

Lotus Renault GP started the year on the podium but struggled towards the end. Did the designers take a few wrong turns?

The R31 was extremely aggressive in terms of design. At the start of the season, Red Bull’s designer Adrian Newey said that the most creative car out there was the Lotus Renault GP. When the best designer in the world says that, it means a lot, and at the start of the year LRGP were brilliant. Then the exhaust-blowing rules changed, and that hurt the team a lot. We were penalized more heavily than any other team. To finish fifth in the championship is superb.

How did you rate the F1 World Championship 2011 generally?

Even though Red Bull Racing was dominant throughout, I thought it was a very interesting season and I enjoyed the races very much. Out of those 19 races, only three or four were a bit boring; I was on the edge of my seat for the rest. We’ve seen lots of overtaking, lots of incidents, and there was tough competition out there, particularly between McLaren and Ferrari. Lotus Renault GP were very competitive at the start of the season as well, so overall I really enjoyed it.

Which race stood out for you?

My shoes are still drying after the Canadian Grand Prix, so that was memorable not least for the incredible race we saw. I could have done without the two-hour red flag delay in the middle, but that race was really exciting and it’s always great to see a change of the lead on the last lap.

Sebastian Vettel was the class of the field, but who would you nominate as your Man Of The Year?

Apart from Vettel, who did an unbelievable job, the award should go to Jenson Button. I was not surprised by his performance, because he’s been a world champion, but the way he managed to be there all the time, even when he was struggling with set-up, and still get good points was impressive. He also pulled some great overtaking moves, so he was aggressive when he needed to be and smooth when he needed to be, adapting to the Pirelli tyres quicker than most. What a mature performance, and all the more impressive when your team-mate is Lewis Hamilton and Jenson is still, essentially, the new boy. I believe 2011 was even more impressive than his championship-winning year, given that he didn’t have the best car and his team-mate was Hamilton.
(ht: Lotus Motorsport and Group Lotus)

… notes from The EDJE

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NASCAR, Formula One, NHRA and IndyCar: 2011 and 2012

November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment


The NASCAR, Formula One, NHRA and IndyCar seasons may be over but the action is just starting. The motorsports world has never been more competitive than it is today. What happened in 2011 and what’s coming at us.

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