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2013 Chinese Grand Prix: Race Report

April 14, 2013 in Chinese Grand Prix, F1, F1 2013, Grand Prixs, Race Report

2011 F1 Chinese Grand Prix

2011 F1 Chinese Grand Prix (Photo credit: Infiniti Global)

Fernando Alonso took his first win of the season at a thrilling Chinese Grand Prix, which was full of incidents, brilliant overtaking, indecisive stewards and apalling soft tyres. Let’s take a look at how the Chinese Grand Prix unfolded.

At the lights went out in Shangai, Lewis Hamilton got away cleanly, while Kimi Raikkonen seemed to get bogged down and went backwards as both Ferrari’s powered past him.

Realising that things couldn’t get much worse for Webber, who started in the pitlane, the team decided to pit him for new tyres.

By lap 5 Hamilton was seriously struggling with his tyre as Alonso passed him for first place, swiftly followed by Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen eyeing up a pass on Hamilton. Read the rest of this entry →

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Australian Grand Prix 2013: Race Report

March 17, 2013 in Australian Grand Prix, F1 2013, Grand Prixs

English: Aerial shot of Albert Park, Victoria,...

English: Aerial shot of Albert Park, Victoria, Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Finally, the day has arrived that Formula One fans the world over have been looking forward to since November, the season opener of the 2013 World Championship, the Australian Grand Prix. 

With heavy rain postponing Qualifying on Saturday and the threat of rain again on Sunday, the race around Albert Park was shaping up to be interesting before the lights had even gone out.

Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel and team mate Mark Webber locked out the front row, and after a strong performance during the Practice sessions many were expecting the Red Bulls to dominate from lights out.

Thirty minutes before the start of the race Sauber announced that Nico Hulkenberg would not start the race due to a fuel issue they were unable to fix in time.  Read the rest of this entry →

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Brazilian Grand Prix: Yay and Nay.

November 25, 2012 in Brazilian Grand Prix, F1 2012, Yay and Nay

Autódromo José Carlos Pace: Main straight

Autódromo José Carlos Pace: Main straight (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As the lights went out in Interlagos, the 2012 World Championship was Sebastian Vettel’s to lose and Fernando Alonso’s to fight for and win. This race has arguably been the most exciting race of the season as we watched with our hearts in our mouths to see who would be crowned the 2012 World Champion.
Luck was again on Vettel’s side, along with some brilliant driving, which saw him take his third consecutive World Championship.

Let’s take a look at the Yays and Nays of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

 

 

Yay

Sebastian Vettel takes his third consecutive World Championship: Going into the weekend the Championship was Vettel’s to lose and Alonso’s to win.
After starting in fourth he made a poor start, which wasn’t helped when Bruno Senna ran into the back of him on the first lap, forcing him to face the wrong way into oncoming traffic. Vettel is no stranger to working his way up from the back of the grid and was in 6th place by Lap 10.

The changing weather and Red Bull’s questionable choice of tyres meant he wasn’t able to fight for the podium. He brought the car home in sixth place and won his third World Championship in just as many years.

Fernando Alonso comes second in the World Championship: Despite making a fantastic start, Alonso just didn’t quite have the pace to distance himself from Vettel and win the Championship.

When he stepped out of the car at the end of the race, he looked absolutely distraught and a little confused about what had happened. There’s no doubt there’ll be a shake up at Ferrari over the winter break as they try to challenge for the 2013 Championship.

The reason this is in the Yay column is that, Champion or not, I think Alonso has driven brilliantly this season, in a car that at times has been terrible. Fairly certain Alonso could squeeze a win or two out of a HRT. Read the rest of this entry →

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Were Ferrari Right To Break Felipe Massa’s Gearbox Seal?

November 20, 2012 in F1 2012, Ferrari, United States Grand Prix

Qualifying - Felipe Massa - Car 6 - F2012 - Me...

(Photo credit: dawvon)

Ferrari are no strangers to controversy, they’ve no issues with stunting Felipe Massa’s performance if he ever does better than Alonso it will help Fernando Alonso, but was breaking Massa’s gearbox seal at the US Grand Prix a step too far?

The issue was all down to the huge difference in grip between the two sides of the track; while the right hand side offered bucket loads of grip, the left hand side, which was much dirtier, offered less grip meaning it wouldn’t be easy to make a brilliant start at the beginning of the race.

On Saturday Felipe Massa was due to start the race in 6th, while Alonso qualified in 8th, meaning he would start from the dirty side of the track. The team were so concerned about how ‘dirty’ the left hand side of the track was, they clearly thought it could really hamper their chances at winning the 2012 World Championship.

In a move that Dick Dastardly would be proud of, they decided to break the seal on Massa’s gearbox, meaning the Brazilian would take a five place grid penalty. He would now start the race in 11th, meaning Alonso would be boosted up the grid by one place and would now start from the clean side of the grid in 7th place.  Read the rest of this entry →

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Italian newspaper claims Alonso was at loggerheads with Ferrari at Indian Grand Prix

October 30, 2012 in DRS, F1, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, FIA, Formula 1, Grand Prixs, Indian Grand Prix, Teams & Drivers

By Ryan Bayona (Fernando Alonso) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) or CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsWith the grid swiftly moving on to the middle east for this weekend’s Abu Dhabi grand prix, there has been little time for the teams to celebrate, make excuses or to lick wounds in the wake of the Indian grand prix. This is understandable; it’s a new event demanding a new start and a clear focus.

One team which you would expect to be licking their wounds more than most is Ferrari. Their main man Fernando Alonso fell further behind in the title race, seemingly powerless to stop the charging bull that is Sebastian Vettel. The pressure put on Ferrari as a result of sunday’s (and previous) grand prix has been massive. When you have one of the largest car groups in the world as a parent company (Fiat), a reputation as a premium sports and F1 car maker to protect, and a passionate country behind you, this pressure is entirely comprehensible. That pressure almost became too much this weekend.

That is, at least, according to Italian newspaper La stampa. Read the rest of this entry →

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Why Formula 1 and Politics Should Never Mix.

October 29, 2012 in Bahrain Grand Prix, F1, Indian Grand Prix, Rants and discussions

Last weekend at the Indian Grand Prix Ferrari displayed their home countries Navy flag, in support of two Italian marines who shot two Indian Fishermen in February of this year. The less than tactful move offended both Indian officials and Formula 1 fans. 

The Maranello based team posted a statement on their website last week explaining their decision;

“Ferrari will carry the flag of the Italian Navy on the cars driven by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in this weekend’s Indian Grand Prix.

In doing so, Ferrari pays tribute to one of the outstanding entities of our country, also in the hope that the Indian and Italian authorities will soon find a solution to the situation currently involving two sailors from the Italian Navy.” 

It wouldn’t have been so bad had they displayed the flag in Australia as that was the first race of the season and therefore the closest race to the incident, however waiting for the Indian Grand Prix to come around to display the flag was less than tasteful.

Astonishingly though, Ferrari Team Principle Stefano Domenicalli, claimed that the move was not political, and told Italian Network SKY TG24 that it wasn’t about politics and was about “the contribution that Ferrari can make to this story.”. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but that sounds a little political, even if they are only raising awareness about the story. (Which they succeeded in.)

In fairness Domenicalli, did look rather uncomfortable and it was quite clear that the decision had been made by someone much further up the chain Read the rest of this entry →

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Indian GP qualifying: It all feels very last year…

October 27, 2012 in Bruno Senna, Caterham, F1, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, FIA, Force India, Formula 1, Grand Prixs, HRT, Jenson Button, Kamui Kobayashi, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Lotus, Mark Webber, Marussia, McLaren, Mercedes, Michael Schumacher, Narain Karthikeyan, Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado, Paul di Resta, Red Bull Racing, Romain Grosjean, Sauber, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez, Teams & Drivers, Toro Rosso, Williams

After this morning’s qualifying session for the Indian Grand Prix, most fans would be forgiven for thinking that they had been transported back in time. Just as in Korea and Japan, Red Bull dominated in a fashion reminiscent to 2011, securing another 1-2 result and confirming that, in qualifying trim at least, they are indeed in a league of their own.

Unlike Korea, it was Sebastian Vettel who took top spot, with Webber following closely behind. Their commanding performance crushed McLaren and, most importantly for the drivers championship, Ferrari, who could only manage 3-4 and 5-6 respectively. The result will be of particular concern for Fernando Alonso in fifth, who has three cars between him and Vettel. Read the rest of this entry →

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Korean Grand Prix: Yay and Nay

October 16, 2012 in Korean Grand Prix, Yay and Nay

The title race is really beginning to hot up now and is turning into a two horse, or should I say a horse and a bull race, between Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel.

Let’s take a look at the Yays and Nays of the Korean Grand Prix.

Yay:

Sebastian Vettel leading the Championship

He stormed to victory in Korean to regain control of the Drivers Championship. He may only be leading the Championship by four points, but the Red Bulls are looking a lot more confident with their car than Fernando is in his Ferrari.

While Alonso’s not going to let Vettel just walk away with the drivers title, it’s looking ever more likely that Vettel will take his third consecutive Drivers World Championship.

Nico Hulkenberg’s brilliant overtake

While Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean were busy scrapping with each other, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was advancing on them and made a brilliant overtake on both of them at Turn 5.  Read the rest of this entry →

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Japanese Grand Prix: Yay and Nay.

October 7, 2012 in F1 2012, Japanese Grand Prix, Yay and Nay

Suzuka is a classic Formula 1 track, with sweeping curves it makes overtaking a real challenge and always provides us with a handful of great overtakes.

As we forced ourselves to get up early to watch the race live, little did we know how much of a game changer the 53 lap race Japanese Grand Prix would be.

Yay:

Sebastian Vettel Firmly Back in the Title Race

His first place finish in Singapore put him in reaching distance of his third consecutive World Championship. Today in Japan he led from lights out to the checkered flag, to secure the first back to back win of the 2012 season. As if that wasn’t enough for him, he’s now only four points behind Championship leader Fernando Alonso.

With Alonso repeatedly saying that Ferrari need to pull their fingers out to win this years Championship, it’s looking ever more likely that Vettel will win his third World Championship this year.

Kamui Kobayashi’s Third Place Finish

With a team mate whose scored three podium finishes this year, Kamui Kobayashi was probably beginning to feel under pressure to make his first podium appearance. Where else better to make your first trip to the podium than at your home Grand Prix?

Kobayashi drove brilliant and managed to hold Jenson Button off during a nail-biting last few laps.

The Japanese crowd were ecstatic; you’d have thought he’d won the race and understandably Kobayashi looked pretty pleased too.

Felipe Massa Scores His Highest Finish of the Year

With team mate Alonso retiring on the first lap; it was Felipe Massa’s chance to show what he could do without being over shadowed by his team mate. Massa gave it his all and put in his best performance of the year, finishing second and getting his first podium finish since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix.   Read the rest of this entry →

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Why Nico Hulkenberg Going To Ferrari Doesn’t Make Sense.

October 3, 2012 in F1

Over the past couple of years everyone and their nan (and their nan’s dog) has been linked to Ferrari to replace Brazilian driver Felipe Massa. 

With Sergio Perez moving to McLaren next year, it appeared that Felipe Massa’s drive wasn’t at too much risk. This was backed up further when Ferrari said they weren’t in any rush to find a replacement for Massa.

As the driver reshuffle hots up, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg is the latest to be linked to Ferrari, with Italian media claiming that it will be confirmed some time before the Korean Grand Prix. There are a few things that don’t add up here though.

Read the rest of this entry →

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