Just when we have one big Derby this week we have an even bigger one, this time from North London. It will be an interesting watch as you get the feeling both teams need to win but then both always want to win this. Arsenal always have big rivals including Chelsea & Manchester United but Spurs always are the team that gunner fans want to beat the most. For Spurs it is the only game they want to win, if you offered Spurs fans all the trophies they would throw them all away to beat Arsenal every season & finish above them. This is arguably the biggest derby in London because of the intense history between them including controversial transfers. One of them being Sol Campbell who was once the backbone of the Spurs defense, but once his contract expired he left on a free transfer to non other than rivals Arsenal & has never regretted it. Both sides need to win to help ease the pressure on both managers Arsene Wenger & Mauricio Pochetino, whose sides havent started the season well. Arsenal will need a win after their loss on Saturday to Chelsea & never looked like making a threat. Tottenham have had a tougher start but have gained some ground with two victories recently but everyone knows a defeat will plunge them back into pressure. Certain players will want to make their mark on this including Harry Kane & Alexis Sanchez. Kane after the heroics of last season has struggled to score but shown glimpses of scoring again, this would be the ideal game for him to get off the mark with but we will find that out tomorrow. Sanchez hasn’t found the net for Arsenal either after his blistering goals last season for the gunners & needs a big game goal to get his confidence back. It may be only a third round cup game but I imagine it will be your usual North London Derby full of emotion & adrenaline & a few cards or two. For the winner the spoils & the pressure of them for a few days, for the loser despair & grief & ten times the pressure to perform better next time.

One of the things you love about football is a derby doesn’t matter what people say they are emotional & bring out the worst & best in people. This one is no exception Birmingham City VS Aston Villa is fiercely

contested & passionate, we haven’t seen this match for four years since the blues went down to the championchip. But tonight in the Capital one (League) Cup this great fixture returns for one night only, you can imagine there will be a few cards possibly a red. The pressure will be on both managers to control there players & the emotion of this game but they can only watch from the dugout, for Tim Sherwood a win is vital as Villa haven’t started the season well & after last weekends defeat to city rivals West Brom another defeat to a rival would be disastrous for Sherwood & put him under more pressure. For Blues boss Gary Rowett this is the biggest game of his tenure as the Birmingham boss, appointed in October last year he has steadied the ship & got them off to a good start this season in the championship, a win will make him a god a defeat wouldn’t do him that bad being his team are the underdogs. As neutral this will be great to watch it evokes memories especially of the villa goalkeeper robert enkleman mistimeing a throw & the ball ending up in the net, to Dion Dublin head butting Robbie Savage & getting sent off to Villa leading 2-0 & then blowing it in the last minute with it ending 2-2 in 2004. To have this match back again for one night only is not just great for football but great for the fans & the neutral & viewers I hope people watch this & enjoy it it’s going to be a hell of a ride.

As we start the new year we also start the madness of what is the January Transfer Window, a month when clubs will do some business in hope of improving their season. Some clubs will do it to climb up the table into the top10 & some will do it to climb away from a potential relegation scrap. You’re most likely to see clubs paying big fees to get players because clubs will want to test how much they want the player, I have identified certain clubs that are most likely to do business in this years January Window

Manchester United

The Red Devils have enjoyed an alright start under Louis Van Gaal this season not losing a game since early November has seen them climb to third in the table, we might expect him to do business this month & most people would expect it on at least two defender, the centre backs that United have been hugely linked with are Borussia Dortmund’s Matt Hummels & Aston Villa defender Ron Vlaar, out of the two it seems like Hummels is the one United want the most. The biggest link regarding United is the Roma midfielder Kevin Strootman Van Gaal is a huge admirer of his when he was in charge of the Dutch National Team, & when Strootman got injured for Roma he changed the team to his famous 3-5-2 formation because he couldn’t find a replacement for him. Other links regarding United could be Radamal Falcao who is now getting a regular start & scoring goals I won’t predict this one but we’ll see how it is, another deal that could happen is one for Galatasaray player Wesley Sneijder who apparently wants out so don’t be surprised if he turns up at Carringdon (United’s training ground) if United get a few names expect them to solidify a Champions League place or even a title challenge.

Liverpool

This season has been a complete disaster for the Scousers who nearly won the league last year. When Luis Suarez was sold to Barcelona for £75m last summer the Anfield team received a big war chest whith loads of players including Adam Lallana coming in as well as Dejan Lovern & Mario Balotelli, it seemed like the scousers where heading in the right direction again under Brenden Rodgers. Now fast forward to January & they have had a very mixed season but some results have been poor. Balotelli hasn’t as usual taken the challenge seriously & seems again to waste another good opportunity presented to him again. Recently they’ve started to pick up form again but it remains to be seen whether they can mount a top four challenge but it will be a boost when striker Daniel Sturridge returns from a long injury that has kept him out since September, if they are to do any business left in the window they should explore the option of sending Balotelli out on loan or find a striker who has both work rate & goals & if they can find that they can go forward again.

Arsenal

For Arsenal fans it seems like another season of fighting for the golden ticket of 4th place that puts you in the Champions League. Alexis Sanchez the £35m man from Barcelona has been a revelation this season & a breath of fresh air in the Arsenal team If it wasn’t for his goals Arsenal might not even be close to 4th. Most fans & pundits wil say that what they need is a quality Centre-Back, Defensive Midfielder & a striker, they might have to wait for the striker in the summer but I wouldn’t put it past Arsenal to get the defence sorted out. I would expect the gunners to to snag fourth like they usually do & after if they want to challenge for the league they must go after serious targets in the summer.

Sunderland

The window has been kind to the Black Cats from Wearside as they have finally got a quality striker in Jermaine Defoe for £14m from MLS Side Toronto, but I think they still need to strengthen. Watching them this season they need to strengthen in the wing areas because Adam Johnson can only do what he can. They need a right winger with pace & strength whether Gus Poyet & Chairman & Owner Ellis Short will go for that because Sunderland’s approach is to play it in the centre which doesn’t help if your trying to win matches which the Black Cats haven’t done a lot of this season.

Crystal Palace

The Eagles main aim this window is simple they need a striker that scores goals for fun if they are to be a solid side & fend off relegation, so far under new boss Alan Pardew they have won all their games but they can’t go on a run forever. It won’t be easy for the Eagles to get a good striker because it’s always hard for any team battling the drop to convince a good player to go into that, but as they are in London that might be an attraction for the player they go after & I’m sure Chairman Steve Parish will be working all the way through the window to get the striker they need whether they get it I don’t know.

Queens Park Rangers (QPR)

When it comes to any transfer window you know there is always one manager that you can bet will be involved in it & that is Harry (Wheeler Dealer) Redknapp. Harry & Owner/Chairman Tony Fernandes will be work hard to secure names to get them out of the battle they are in to stay up because Charlie Austins goals won’t save them all the time. What I think they need is a quality partner for Austin so that defences will find it hard to stop them & knowing Redknapp I wouldn’t be surprised if players from Harry’s previous teams turn up. All in all let’s see what this window gives us.

The world watched on Sunday afternoon & the people of Britain finally saw Lewis Hamilton clinch his second Formula One World Championship to put him up there with the greats of British Motorsport & F1 itself. What this victory means for Lewis is years of wondering whether it was worth all the hype back in 2007 when he first arrived on the scene as McLaren’s new protege in a year when he amazed everyone in the sport & even people who didn’t watch the sport as a whole where amazed by this young man’s talent, he would go on to just miss out on that years title. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen won six races to Hamilton’s four. 2008 proved to be Lewis’s year as he won not only the Monaco GP but his home race the British GP these wins would be vital as he would go on to win the Championship against another Ferrari driver

Felipe Massa but it wasn’t plain sailing as Hamilton fell out of position but on the last lap regained fifth place which was enough to give him the title by one point. Since then Lewis has at times been in the F1 wilderness always winning but just not being able to come up with another challenge for title. Some questioned his commitment to the sport & some thought that the fame had got to him, over the course of those years his performances on track weren’t great at times as he was being beaten by then McLaren teammate Jenson Button more than once. As 2012 arrived it was also the year that Hamilton’s contract with the Woking based team would be up when the season reached the halfway point the speculation was rife that Lewis would leave the team at the end of season & more talk emerged that Mercedes wanted him. The rumours where true & On the 28th September 2012 Lewis stunned the world of F1 by announcing he wouldn’t be staying with McLaren & signed with Mercedes for three years even I will admit I was shocked His first year with Mercedes proved at times difficult with settling in to a new environment but he helped the team to finish an all important second behind Red Bull, he also secured one victory at Hungary. As we headed into this year Hamilton was a big favourite as the new V6 1.6 litre turbo engines also came into the sport word was that the Mercedes engine was the top one but we weren’t sure until we saw the cars in testing but once we saw it Mercedes were the out & out the fastest cars. Once the Grand Prix circus started it was proved that Mercedes where on a completely different level to everyone with Hamilton & teammate Nico Rosberg heading the first row. We knew that those two would be the main contenders for the win, one of the earliest races of the season at Bahrain, was as a fan one of the best if not the best race I had seen ever with Hamilton winning the titanic tussle. Throughout the season we saw great moments between Hamilton & Rosberg for me the defining ones minus Bahrain would be Monaco when Rosberg got pole in less than clean circumstances & won the race only for Hamilton to react & say to the media that they weren’t friends. another moment would have been the British GP at Silversotne which I had the pleasure of being at when Lewis missed out on pole & ended up sixth, but during the race he climbed up to second within the first few laps & won the race through his teammate having a problem, other big races where Hungary when Hamilton was ordered by his team to let Nico through,he didn’t oblige! followed by an incident at Spa when they both collided & Lewis suffered a puncture & retired from the race. As we headed to the finale in Abu Dubai Lewis was ahead after five wins on 17 points with Rosberg’s one win, the race also had double points to add spice. Hamilton went into the race second on the grid to Rosberg as the Merc’s locked out the front row again. When the race started Lewis shot straight into the lead ahead of Nico & led the whole race it got even better with Nico suffering brake problems & falling back down the order, the Williams of Massa was slowly catching Lewis but he held on to win the race & the championship for the second time. It was spectacular, only the second Brit to do this since 1971. Let’s hope that this tile win for Lewis is the first of many & let’s hope that we see a domination similar to that of Michael Schumachers all I will say is roll on 2015.

Manchester United have announced Louis Van Gaal as their new manager on a three year contract. The Dutchman takes over from David Moyes who was sacked in April after a disastrous and tumultuous reign of 10 months. Van Gaal is one of the most decorated managers in all of football having won titles with Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmar and Bayern Munich and one Champions League with Ajax. He is famous for promoting youth players into a senior side like Patrick kluivert, Marc Overmars, Frank De Boer, Dennis Bergkamp, Xavi Carlos Puyol, Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos.

He is known to be very strict and have no hesitation to punish players if they do wrong. Van Gaal has stated his desire to manage in the premier league for a while, since the world cup draw.

He is currently managing the Holland national team and will lead them into the world cup which has always been a dream of his. Most of his old players have spoken highly of him, regarding him as the best manager they’ve worked with.

The rumour mill about Van Gaal and a premier league club started as far back as January when he was linked to Tottenham after they sacked Andre Villas Boas. A few weeks later, rumours about United started to surfer but where easily dismissible. In April more rumours emerged that Joel Glazer. One the family who own United had met with Van Gaal in Switzerland but this was immediately met with denial by the club. A few weeks later with United officially failing to qualify for the champion’s league, the united board and the Glazers decided to sack Moyes after 10 months in charge. Once that was done the rumour mill went into overdrive about who would come in with some speculation that said Jose Mourinho was being lined to get him out of Chelsea. Other reports said Pep Guardiola from Bayern Munich would take the role. Then less than a week after the sacking reports in Holland it emerged that Van Gaal had agreed to become the manger. Day after day more stuff was reported and it led to this becoming the worst kept secret.

Eventually on May the 19^th, it was confirmed at precisely 2:00pm that Louis Van Gaal had signed a three year contract to become The Manchester United manger. This was met with approval from fans and ex-players.

The First challenge will be to get United back into the top 4 and the second challenge will be to get united challenging for the Premier League and trophies again. The third will be to revamp the squad with Nemanja Vidic heading to Inter Milan, Rio Ferdinand not being offered a renewal on his contract and Gigg’s retirement. Reports that Man United are looking at seven or eight targets this summer will be a big one for United fans. With their financial muscle you would expect a lot of players to come to Old Trafford.

Next season is make or break for the red side of Manchester to get back amongst the big boys and with the new arrival of a manager coming in, we would hope that united will be back to their best next season. We also hope that Van Gaal will have a good encounter with the likes of Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Brenden Rodgers and Manuel Pellegrini.   All I can say is enjoy the ride and be prepared to fear Manchester United again because the Dutchman’s era has begun.

It is 20 years this month that the world was left in shock. On 1^st May 1994, one of the greatest sporting icons, Ayrton Senna died from injuries he sustained from a fateful crash at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. Some pundits and journalists would regard Senna as the greatest driver that ever got into an F1 car.

Some would say Ayrton Senna was a ruthless bull who would do anything to win at all costs. However, to others, he was a sensitive man who cared about all living things who loved his people and prayed to god. So many things seems to define this man.

He won 41 races and three world championships and had great rivalries with the likes of Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell. He could have made another rival with a young Michael Schumacher, who knows.

What we do know is that Senna never gave you a dull moment, in or out, of a race car. Even, outside the paddock his interviews where always graceful as he pulled no punches with his words. Whether you loved him or hated him, he always got people talking. It is always the people who are controversial that seem to become the most iconic.

Racing was Ayrton’s passion since he was a child and it was all he ever wanted to be. Brazil has always had a great history of producing fantastic and exciting drive, however, this one was special. He would do his school homework straight away and finish it early so he could race his kart. It wasn’t till he raced in Britain that people started taking notice of him.

In 1984 the young Brazilian finally got his chance with the struggling Toleman team. They didn’t have the car and budget of McLaren, Lotus or Williams but were good in the midfield. At that year’s Monaco Grand Prix in the pouring rain, Senna came through to everyone’s shock and overtook, the then two time world champion, Niki Lauda. He finished second behind future arch nemesis Alain Prost. This performance got the attention of many of the big teams and before the end of the year Senna signed with Lotus, one the most respected teams in the paddock.

Within a year he won his first race driving superbly in the wet at the Portuguese GP in Estoril. He won another race later that year during his time at the Norfolk based team. He would then go on to win four more races which gave him six victories at Lotus.

At the halfway point of the 1987 season, it was announced that Senna would be leaving Lotus to sign for McLaren alongside Alain Prost. Nobody knew what came between these two drivers. What did go on became was one of sports greatest ever rivalries.

1988 was a great year for McLaren, they had snatched the Honda engine from rivals Williams and had hired renowned designer Gordon Murray from Brabham. The Mp4-4 was unstoppable with 15 of the 16 races that year. Senna won eight of them and beating his teammate Prost to the world championship by three points.

1989 proved more dramatic in the Senna-Prost rivalry with a particular incident at the San Marino Grand Prix. Both drivers agreed that whoever got off the start line first (both drivers had qualified first and second) would stay there. The second place driver would hold station. However, when Gerhard Berger’s Ferrari crashed at the tambarello corner and caught fire, the race was restarted. The same thing happened at the start with Prost getting away first at the start. Senna overtakes him at the first opportunity and winning the race. This made Prost furious. Senna would later say that the reason he overtook him is because he agreed to those conditions for the first start but not a restart.

Senna would go on to win his first of five Monaco GP’s. After that would come a steam of bad results and ‘did not finish’s’ (DNF’s) were starting to cost Senna with Prost getting away in the championship. Senna would still get wins but Prost finishing in the top 5 maintained his points difference. Going into the last two races, Prost was sixteen points ahead of Senna in the championship. Senna needed to win the Japanese GP to maintain the challenge.

As usual McLaren’s locked out the front row with Senna on pole position but with Prost getting past Ayrton at the start for 46 laps. Senna hunted down his arch nemesis and on the last corner saw his only opportunity to past Prost. With neither driver backing down, it led to an eventual collision. Prost got out of his car to retire from the race. Senna, however, had the marshals push the car through the chicane to get him going again. Senna won the race but was disqualified for cutting through corner which made Prost the world champion.

Earlier that season Prost had announced he was leaving McLaren and signed with Ferrari. This incident would go down as one of the most controversial incident’s in the history of the sport and is still talked about to this day.

As the 1990 season approached, Senna had a new teammate. Gehard Berger joined from Ferrari and was less serious and more laid back then Prost to which Senna enjoyed his company. The season was a good one for Ayrton who again was battling Prost for the championship. Senna won six races that year, including, Monaco to which Prost won five. The deciding race was once again Japan. Senna took pole for the race but was put on to the left side of the track which he claimed was dirty to the cleaner side which Prost was put on. Senna complained about it but the stewards refused to move it. In the drivers briefing all the drivers wanted assurances that there wouldn’t be a mess up like the previous year to which they agreed. Senna was furious about it and stormed out because it was a year ago. He then said that if Prost got past him and left him a gap then he better not get in his way or he wouldn’t make past the first corner. As the cars gathered for the start pulses where set for another decider with roles reversed with Senna leading the tile fight and Prost needing the win.

The race started and Prost took the lead and was heading the first corner but left open a gap to which Senna saw and tried to capitalise on. As they got to the corner Senna held his ground but with consequences and he smashed his wing in the back of Prost spinning him around and Senna straight off the circuit. This took both guys off circuit and out of the race which meant Senna was world champion again. Many people would say that Ayrton had done it deliberately because of his hatred of Prost. For a year, he denied he intentionally done it only to admit a year later to the surprise of the fans, pundits, and journalists.

1991 proved to be a dominant year for Senna with McLaren dominating with seven wins including a first at his home race in Brazil. A late surge from the Williams of Nigel Mansell did not prove enough and Senna won the title again at the Japanese GP. Ayrton and Nigel provided two excellent moments from that year with the first being the British GP with Nigel winning and giving Ayrton a lift back to garage on the way back and at the Spanish GP with Senna leading. Mansell made a move on him down the long straight and with both not giving an edge but Mansell coming out on top.

1992 proved to be a very difficult year for Senna with McLaren behind Williams. There new FW14B and its semi-automatic gearbox and active suspension put it ahead of the rest in the field with Nigel Mansell winning the first five races. It wasn’t until Monaco in another end of the race fight with Mansell that Senna finally won his first race of the year. He would only win two more races with Mansell storming to the title.

Another new rival emerged for Ayrton in the form of a young German driver called Michael Schumacher who was driving for the Benetton team. Senna and Michael had a few run-ins first at Brazil where Michael accused him of blocking him. Then at the French GP, Michael broke late and crashed into the back of Senna and took him out. Senna later confronted Michael who admitted to the accident. There was another incident at the German GP where during a test session Senna and Michael had a confrontation in the pits and Ayrton grabbed him by the collar and accused him of blocking him on the track.

1993 would prove another difficult one for Ayrton. He not only saw his enemy Prost return and replace Mansell at Williams and lose out the seat. Also, Honda had pulled out of F1 with McLaren using the less powerful and customer Ford engine. Again, Williams dominated with Prost but Ayrton managed another win in Brazil and Monaco. Once again, Williams got the advantage with Prost winning seven races to Ayrton’s five and a fourth title.

Prost retired from racing that year and after five glorious years at McLaren Senna signed to drive for Williams next season on the 16^th September 1993. It was announced a months later in Australia. Senna and Prost finally ended their rivalry by standing on the podium together.

1994 was a big year for Senna joining a new team and new teammate in Damon Hill. Big things where expected of Senna. He was already the favourite for the title but new rules banned the semi-automatic gearbox and the active suspension which had helped Williams. Previously during testing Senna said that he was finding the car difficult to drive and get right. As the first race approached in his home of Brazil, people where excited for the start. Senna took pole and got away. Michael Schumacher and his Benetton would keep chase and Senna lost out in the pit stop to Michael with ten laps left, Senna spun on the final corner and stalled the car putting him out of the race with Michael winning.

At the next race Ayrton once again qualified on pole ahead of Schumacher but was overtaken at the start. At the first corner his old teammate Mika Hakkinen in McLaren bumped into the back of him and spun into the gravel and was hit by a Ferrari. After his retirement, Senna then spent time listening to Michaels Benetton as went past. Once he returned to the pits he complained to the Williams team that the Benetton had the active suspension and semi-automatic gearbox that had been banned that year.

The next race would be at Imola in San Marino and first European race on the calendar. Ayrton went into the race behind Schumacher by 20 points. The pressure was ramping up on Senna. The weekend started badly when the Jordan of Rubens Barichello had a massive crash. For a while he was unconscious but only suffered a broken nose.

The next day more disaster struck when the Simtek of Roland Ratzenburger turned into a corner and crashed heavily and practically was dead on site. Meanwhile Senna once again Senna put the car on pole ahead of Schumacher. As race day dawned there was a down feeling in the paddock with what had happened. The race would get underway only for a crash to bring out the safety car. Once the race was on again Senna and Schumacher pulled away from the pack as they turned to start the sixth lap with Schumacher still trailing him. Senna was still trying to pull out a gap and then began to turn into the tambarello corner as he came out of it his car suddenly veered off the track at great pace and smashed into the barriers. The race was stopped after a while. People realised there was something wrong after Ayrton didn’t get out straight away. The medical people were on it straight away and loaded him into a helicopter.

The black news came hours later. After many attempts to keep him alive Ayrton Senna was pronounced dead at 2:17. The whole world was stunned as F1 hadn’t experienced such a dark hour!

Within a week, his body was flown back to Brazil for the funeral Brazil. There hadn’t been such a turnout for a figure like him. The funeral was attended by Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill, and Alain Prost, his one-time nemesis.

To this day Senna’s memory and spirit still lives to on in the world of sport. Some still regard him as the greatest driver that ever lived and the most exciting. Speaking as a Michael Schumacher fan I’ll say different but I respect this man for what he did for the sport. If it wasn’t for him, Lewis Hamilton wouldn’t have perhaps been driving now.

Red Bull: Drivers: Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Riccardo

This year marks a change for the reigning champions with Mark Webber leaving the team after six years. His replacement was another Australian the young Daniel Riccardo who came from the sister team Toro Rosso. Most people would say that this role would be the worst job in motorsport being Vettel’s teammate. Testing hasn’t gone well with the car hardly getting to 50 laps and stopping on track. The main problem seems to be the battery system and cooling unit. This was first a problem with Renault (the team’s engine supplier) but still the team have problem. It seems that Red Bull might not do well in the first few races, however, with Adrian Newey as chief designer the team will be expected to turn around there problems. Hopefully, get a few wins this year but most people will hope they don’t.

Mercedes: Drivers: Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg

With the tams improvements last year winning three races and achieving second in the constructer’s championship. The silver arrows struggled with pace at the end of last year but did enough to take second. The loss of Ross Brawn hasn’t seemed to have an effect with Paddy Lowe and Toto Wolf now running the team. The Brackley based team have produced a fast package and were the fastest team in testing. With both drivers setting the pace it will be a case of who wants it more between the two drivers. This could be the year that the silver arrows win again in terms of drivers and constructer’s tiles. We will see what happens.

Ferrari: Drivers: Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen

Ferrari, by many people’s views, underperformed last year and seemed out of the pace a lot of the time. At one point, rumours where swirling that Alonso would leave the team when President Luca Di Montizemilo publicly addressed the situation. Alonso calmed down but the team continued to be off pace compared to Red Bull, Mercedes and sometimes Lotus which ended up with them finishing third in the championship.

In September the prancing horse stunned the F1 world when they announced that former driver and last Ferrari champion, Kimi Raikkonen, would re-join the team replacing Felipe Massa. It was the first time that Ferrari would employ two top drivers who couldn’t be more different from each other. Testing wise, Ferrari have been quite unusual. They’ve been in the top 5 but haven’t done any long laps which will make people wonder when they reach Melbourne how fast the prancing horse will be. Only time will tell but with these two drivers we shall expect fireworks on and off the track.

Lotus: Drivers: Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado

Last year was hell for Enstone based outfit. Even though the team achieved one win and several podiums and fighting for second in the constructer’s race. The team was dogged by money issues of the track with their main driver Kimi Raikkonen leaving the team because he hadn’t been paid. The team’s technical director, James Allison, left the team for Ferrari and Raikkonen went the the same way. In the shadow of that, Grosjean emerged as the practical team leader by challenging the Red Bull’s like Kimi himself.

When the season ended there was more hell for Lotus as team owner Gerard Lopez tried to secure the backing of the Arab-American backed Quantum Motorsports which didn’t come to fruition. This meant they couldn’t get their main target Nico Hulkenburg from Sauber. In the end he had to settle for Pastor Maldonado from Williams who brought a lot of sponsorship money from oil giant PDVSA

Testing proved hard with team Principal, Eric Boullier, leaving for McLaren and in testing, the team showed signs that they were the best. Renault was showing signs of speed. The hope will be that they can get through the woes of last year and prove to be fast on the grid as well as off the grid.

McLaren: Drivers: Jenson Button and Kevin Magnusson

McLaren endured their worst ever season since 1980 with no podiums, no poles and a car that didn’t perform to what people expected. New driver,Sergio Perez, who replaced Lewis Hamilton was expected to be McLaren’s next young star but he underperformed against Button in qualifying and in the race. News didn’t get better for the Woking based team with main tile sponsor Vodafone announcing that they would end their partnership after seven years. It was also announced that long time engine supplier Mercedes would not work with them after 2014. A few weeks later it was announced that Honda would return to the sport to supply McLaren’s engine, reuniting a partnership that made the team win every title from 1988 to 1991. Things didn’t improve on the track with the team abandoning efforts on the current car and focusing on the 2014 car.

As the season went on, speculation was rife that neither driver would be kept on for next year. This was later denied by team Principal Martin Whitmarsh. As the season went on McLaren climbed to fifth and would stay there in the table. In the latter half of the season, rumours once again began to swirl that Perez would be losing his drive. In November, it was confirmed that he would not be driving for the team in 2014. He would be replaced by test driver and rookie Kevin Magnusson, son of former driver Jan Magnusson, who was chosen after it was put to vote by the engineers who they wanted in the car for next year.

As 2014 started it was announced that former Team Principal Ron Dennis had reclaimed control of the team and was appointed CEO of the McLaren group. Within a week, the team announced the appointment of Eric Boullier from Lotus as racing director with the role of being in charge of the team on race weekend. With all of this happening, we would hope that this team will be up the front of the grid but time will tell.

Force India: Drivers: Nico Hulkenburg and Sergio Perez

One of the teams to change their entire driver line up Force India had a good start to last season. For a while, they were fifth in the table but after the tyre blew out during the British grand prix at Silverstone every team reverted back to the old tyre package. This really effected there drivers Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil. Di Resta scored the team’s best finish in Bahrain with forth but after Hungary, results started to dwindle and he didn’t finish the next five races. His teammate didn’t do much better.

Team owner Vijay Mallaya publicly admitted that the team had been working on the 2014 car from last summer. As the season came to a close, rumours where swirling that the team where looking to bring back their 2012 driver Hulkenburg. As the season began to close rumours were flying that Sergio Perez would join after being dumped by McLaren.

After the season ended in Brazil it was confirmed by the team that Hulkenburg had signed to return to the team. Two weeks later Perez was also confirmed during testing, along with their Mercedes package Force.

India were one of the top teams with Hulkenburg setting one fast time to top the leader board. This year could finally be the year Force India finally deliver it just a case of consistency and development but in F1 anything can happen.

Williams: Drivers: Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas

2013 for Williams was diabolical. The team that dominated the sport twenty years previously could only manage five points. All year long rumours began to swirl that there driver Pastor Maldonado wanted out and went even close to say that the team had tampered with his car.

During the half point of the season, the team announced that they would be switching from Renault engines to Mercedes which was received with optimism as the season went on. Rumours kept swirling that Maldonado would leave. More rumours began to come to light that the team were talking to Felipe Massa who was leaving Ferrari and needed a team. During the week of the American Grand Prix, it was announced that Massa had signed for the team and that Maldonado would indeed be leaving. During testing Williams surprised a lot of people by posting fast times and looking really on it. This could finally be the year the Gove based team finally return to the front of the grid. If there engine works all year they just might do that.

Other Teams

The rest of grid are not much to fuss about but Toro Rosso will hand a debut season to the Russian Danill Kivyat and keep Jean Eric Verne. Whilst Marussia are one two teams to keep their driver line up as they retain Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton. Whilst there rivals Caterham have changed their line up with the returning Kamui Kobayashi and give a debut to Swedish driver Marcus Ericson.

This Year promises to be big and as a fan of fourteen years I can’t wait to watch. As most fans will hope to see the end of the Vettel reign, I’m hoping that too, so all I can say is GO GO GO.

  The eagerly anticipated word title rematch between Carl Froch and George Groves will take place at Wembley on May 31^st. It will be the first at the new Wembley since it opened in 2007. It will be a rematch of the first controversial fight in which the champion, Froch, stopped Groves in round nine which most fans and pundits deemed too soon. Months followed of challenges being made by Groves but it seemed, for a while, that Froch wasn’t going to fight him. He seemed more interested in fighting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Las Vegas. Groves appealed the IBF, one of Froch’s titles, and won.

The rematch was signed sealed and delivered after the announcement of the fight. People started wondering where the fight would be staged. At first, Froch wanted the fight at the City Ground (The home of his team Nottingham Forest). Groves then hit back saying he wanted it at Stamford Bridge (home his team Chelsea). It seemed like a nightmare for Promoter Eddie Hearn to find the ideal venue. He then said that Wembley, The Emirates and Old Trafford were the front runners with the Millennium Stadium being the outsider. After weeks of speculation, it was finally announced that the biggest stadium in the country, Wembley, would stage the fight.

Initially, there were concerns that the England national team were playing the night before and the stadium would not be ready. However, staff will work on getting the stadium ready on time.

The last time a fight was staged at the national stadium, Frank Bruno, defeated Oliver McCall to win the heavyweight championship of the world.

This fight looks set to break all boxing attendance records with previous records being set by Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe. Froch is the defending champion with his WBA and IBF tiles with Grove,s the challenger, you can imagine a lot of famous sporting figures attending this fight. With it being before the start of the world cup it couldn’t have been better timed. As a fan, I am buzzing for this. I will be more excited, perhaps, more than anyone else to see this fight happening. So bring May 31^st and bring on Wembley and let’s see a fight the nation and the world will never forget.

In a move that has shocked the motorsport world. Former McLaren team principal Ron Dennis has returned to the team as CEO of the McLaren group. He is taking over from current team boss, Martin Whitmarsh. Dennis returns to the F1 side of the team that under his leadership won eight constructers titles and five driver’s championships. This is arguably the team’s most successful period.

Under Whitmarsh the team has failed to win any driver or constructors title. They have lost key personnel, including, star driver, Lewis Hamilton, Pat Fry and Paddy Lowe to rival team. Last season being McLaren’s worst since 1980 (the year before Dennis took over) with no wins or podiums. Some will not be surprised this has happened.

Speculation is that a decision regarding who will be team principal will be announced next month with former Mercedes boss, Ross Brawn, the favourite to take over. This could be a warning to Jenson Button who has been signed by Whitmarsh. With Dennis preferring exciting and risk taking drivers to more careful drivers.

With his contract lasting till this year the 2009 champion will be under big pressure to deliver alongside rookie teammate Kevin Magnusson. There have been rumours for a while that Dennis had wanted to return to the helm of the team since November.

In the last five years Dennis has been working in the McLaren automotive part of the business working on the developing the road car which has been a big hit with car enthusiasts. Now that he is back calling the shots at Woking based team, many can wonder what 2014 will bring for the team now their old general has returned.

Other teams might be worried with more completion looking likely coming from McLaren. All we can say is 2014 here we come.