May 21st, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
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In an exclusive interview with the Guardian as his 80th birthday approaches, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone speak out about a variety of subjects, from the future of the sport to Margaret Thatcher, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, democracy, football and what continues to drive him.
The way I feel at the moment, why stop? I do it because I enjoy it. And yesterday is gone. I don’t care what happened yesterday. What else would I do? People retire to die. I don’t get any individual pleasure because we don’t win races or titles in this job. I’m like most business people. You look back at the end of the year and you see what you’ve achieved by working out how much money the company has made. That’s it.
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/bernie_ecclestone_no_plans_to.php
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May 21st, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
Looking a bit airy in the wheel wells, this particular vehicle was photographed in the Czech Republic approximately 100 km from Mlada Boleslav.
Source: http://feeds.worldcarfans.com/~r/worldcarfans/Jxfz/~3/Bto5yfTCp2A/skoda-rapid-spotted-on-czech-highway
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May 21st, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
2010 MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo took command of the 2012 title fight with a one-sided victory in the wet at Le Mans.
Source: http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/motogp-lorenzo-takes-title-lead-with-wet-win/
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May 21st, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
The madcap conclusion to the Chinese Grand Prix, with 12 cars battling nose to tail for second place behind winner Nico Rosberg, was packed with some of the best racing Formula 1 could ever produce.
But among the wheel-to-wheel battles and overtaking moves, one incident stood out more than most.
With 20 laps to go, Mark Webber’s Red Bull ran a little wide on the 170mph exit of Turn 13, caught the edge of the kerb, and its nose reared up into the air.
The car looked briefly as if it might take off – as Webber did in the 2010 European Grand Prix, when his car landed upside down before skidding into the barriers, without injury to its driver. He also suffered two similar accidents at Le Mans in 1999.
But then the nose crashed down on to the track. “It’s always a worrying moment when it gets a lot of air under it like that,” said team boss Christian Horner. “He’s used to that. I should think he was on the brakes.”
He wasn’t, as it turns out. Webber told me a “little lift” of the accelerator was enough to bring the car back down again.
For those watching, it was a heart-stopping moment. But Webber obviously did not dwell on it long – in the very next sector of the lap, he set his fastest time of the race so far.
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Shanghai was another impressive weekend from Webber, notwithstanding a couple of errors that probably cost him a podium finish.
He spent last year in the shadow of team-mate Sebastian Vettel as the German cantered to a second world title. While Vettel took 11 victories, Webber won once in Brazil – and then only when Vettel’s car hit gearbox trouble.
This year is a different story. Not only have Red Bull slipped back into the pack, but Webber has so far had the edge on Vettel.
The qualifying score is three-nil in Webber’s favour and the final overtaking move in those frantic concluding laps in China was Webber separating his team-mate from fourth place between the penultimate and final corners of the last lap.
It was the climactic moment of a fascinating weekend at Red Bull, whose drivers were in cars of two different specifications.
Vettel has never been happy with the handling of the RB8 in the upgraded trim that was introduced at the final pre-season test. And for China he reverted to the specification in which the car was launched, while Webber stuck with the newer one.
According to chief technical officer Adrian Newey, incidentally, the car was in exactly its initial configuration – not, as we reported over the weekend, with slightly longer exhaust pipes.
The two designs have a different aerodynamic philosophy.
The older one uses the exhausts to improve the airflow through the “coke-bottle” area at the rear of the car. The newer one aims to direct the gases at the area where the floor meets the rear tyre, to “seal” the diffuser.
Both improve downforce, but to different degrees, in different ways and with different effects.
“There were some characteristics about the upgraded car that weren’t particularly suited to (Vettel’s) style of driving, which is to carry a lot of speed into the corner,” said Horner.
Vettel qualified only 11th, but said afterwards that he “felt happier with the car than (in) previous races”. But the decision to put him back into the older-spec car in China was not, Newey said in an exclusive interview after the race, at the driver’s request.
The newer car had shown “a few characteristics that haven’t worked as intended,” Newey explained, “so we simply brought the old bodywork for Seb this weekend to get some more data, as a direct comparison.”
It was a test session, basically, and Vettel was chosen to run the older-spec car because he preferred its handling.
“We could have then put both cars to the latest spec, the spec that Mark raced, on Friday evening,” Newey said. “But we felt that would be more disruptive than simply continuing. And we’d have probably burnt a (mandatory FIA working hours) curfew in the process. But both cars will be back to the new spec in Bahrain.”
Newey clearly believes the newer car is faster, but he says it’s “difficult to say” by how much.
I pressed him, asking if he thought the difference in performance between the two cars was in the region of the 0.331 seconds by which Webber was faster than Vettel in second qualifying, which Vettel did not progress beyond.
Newey said: “Mark seems to have taken to this car more easily than Seb at the moment, but that’s simply the reverse of what happened last year.”
Indeed it is. But why?
Engineers in rivals teams say Red Bull have been hurt more than any other team by the banning of exhaust-blown diffusers this year because they were exploiting the technology, which pumped exhaust gases along the floor of the car even when the driver was off the throttle, far more effectively than anyone else.
Red Bull pioneered it. If you got it right, and combined it effectively with the overall design of the car, it could gain you something in the region of a second a lap. But it was difficult to master the aerodynamic effects and most teams never did.
This year, the teams are still trying to exploit exhausts gases in a similar way, to hold on to some of the downforce-boosting effect. But the regulations now define an area within which the exhaust exits must be, engine mapping is restricted, and the gains are reduced to about 10% of what was available in 2011.
Webber never really got on with the way the Red Bull behaved last year.
But this year the cars are handling in a more conventional fashion, and he is back to where he was in 2010, when he and Vettel were evenly matched and Webber led the championship for much of the year.
The Red Bull drivers’ Chinese GP results match their championship positions. Webber is fourth on 36 points, eight ahead of Vettel and nine behind leader Lewis Hamilton.
Whether Red Bull can improve their car enough to fight consistently for victories – and therefore the title – remains to be seen. But they are too good a team, led by too brilliant a designer, to stay down for long.
And the battle between their drivers adds a delicious extra dimension to their fightback.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/04/how_webber_turned_tables_on_ve.html
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May 21st, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
The madcap conclusion to the Chinese Grand Prix, with 12 cars battling nose to tail for second place behind winner Nico Rosberg, was packed with some of the best racing Formula 1 could ever produce.
But among the wheel-to-wheel battles and overtaking moves, one incident stood out more than most.
With 20 laps to go, Mark Webber’s Red Bull ran a little wide on the 170mph exit of Turn 13, caught the edge of the kerb, and its nose reared up into the air.
The car looked briefly as if it might take off – as Webber did in the 2010 European Grand Prix, when his car landed upside down before skidding into the barriers, without injury to its driver. He also suffered two similar accidents at Le Mans in 1999.
But then the nose crashed down on to the track. “It’s always a worrying moment when it gets a lot of air under it like that,” said team boss Christian Horner. “He’s used to that. I should think he was on the brakes.”
He wasn’t, as it turns out. Webber told me a “little lift” of the accelerator was enough to bring the car back down again.
For those watching, it was a heart-stopping moment. But Webber obviously did not dwell on it long – in the very next sector of the lap, he set his fastest time of the race so far.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you’re reading via RSS, you’ll need to visit the blog to access this content.
Shanghai was another impressive weekend from Webber, notwithstanding a couple of errors that probably cost him a podium finish.
He spent last year in the shadow of team-mate Sebastian Vettel as the German cantered to a second world title. While Vettel took 11 victories, Webber won once in Brazil – and then only when Vettel’s car hit gearbox trouble.
This year is a different story. Not only have Red Bull slipped back into the pack, but Webber has so far had the edge on Vettel.
The qualifying score is three-nil in Webber’s favour and the final overtaking move in those frantic concluding laps in China was Webber separating his team-mate from fourth place between the penultimate and final corners of the last lap.
It was the climactic moment of a fascinating weekend at Red Bull, whose drivers were in cars of two different specifications.
Vettel has never been happy with the handling of the RB8 in the upgraded trim that was introduced at the final pre-season test. And for China he reverted to the specification in which the car was launched, while Webber stuck with the newer one.
According to chief technical officer Adrian Newey, incidentally, the car was in exactly its initial configuration – not, as we reported over the weekend, with slightly longer exhaust pipes.
The two designs have a different aerodynamic philosophy.
The older one uses the exhausts to improve the airflow through the “coke-bottle” area at the rear of the car. The newer one aims to direct the gases at the area where the floor meets the rear tyre, to “seal” the diffuser.
Both improve downforce, but to different degrees, in different ways and with different effects.
“There were some characteristics about the upgraded car that weren’t particularly suited to (Vettel’s) style of driving, which is to carry a lot of speed into the corner,” said Horner.
Vettel qualified only 11th, but said afterwards that he “felt happier with the car than (in) previous races”. But the decision to put him back into the older-spec car in China was not, Newey said in an exclusive interview after the race, at the driver’s request.
The newer car had shown “a few characteristics that haven’t worked as intended,” Newey explained, “so we simply brought the old bodywork for Seb this weekend to get some more data, as a direct comparison.”
It was a test session, basically, and Vettel was chosen to run the older-spec car because he preferred its handling.
“We could have then put both cars to the latest spec, the spec that Mark raced, on Friday evening,” Newey said. “But we felt that would be more disruptive than simply continuing. And we’d have probably burnt a (mandatory FIA working hours) curfew in the process. But both cars will be back to the new spec in Bahrain.”
Newey clearly believes the newer car is faster, but he says it’s “difficult to say” by how much.
I pressed him, asking if he thought the difference in performance between the two cars was in the region of the 0.331 seconds by which Webber was faster than Vettel in second qualifying, which Vettel did not progress beyond.
Newey said: “Mark seems to have taken to this car more easily than Seb at the moment, but that’s simply the reverse of what happened last year.”
Indeed it is. But why?
Engineers in rivals teams say Red Bull have been hurt more than any other team by the banning of exhaust-blown diffusers this year because they were exploiting the technology, which pumped exhaust gases along the floor of the car even when the driver was off the throttle, far more effectively than anyone else.
Red Bull pioneered it. If you got it right, and combined it effectively with the overall design of the car, it could gain you something in the region of a second a lap. But it was difficult to master the aerodynamic effects and most teams never did.
This year, the teams are still trying to exploit exhausts gases in a similar way, to hold on to some of the downforce-boosting effect. But the regulations now define an area within which the exhaust exits must be, engine mapping is restricted, and the gains are reduced to about 10% of what was available in 2011.
Webber never really got on with the way the Red Bull behaved last year.
But this year the cars are handling in a more conventional fashion, and he is back to where he was in 2010, when he and Vettel were evenly matched and Webber led the championship for much of the year.
The Red Bull drivers’ Chinese GP results match their championship positions. Webber is fourth on 36 points, eight ahead of Vettel and nine behind leader Lewis Hamilton.
Whether Red Bull can improve their car enough to fight consistently for victories – and therefore the title – remains to be seen. But they are too good a team, led by too brilliant a designer, to stay down for long.
And the battle between their drivers adds a delicious extra dimension to their fightback.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/04/how_webber_turned_tables_on_ve.html
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May 21st, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
At the 31st GTI Meeting at W�rthersee, Austria, Volkswagen debuted the Polo WRC Street concept car and Polo R WRC road-going prototype.
Source: http://feeds.worldcarfans.com/~r/worldcarfans/Jxfz/~3/q1AfG63renA/vw-polo-r-wrc-street-and-race-versions-revealed
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May 21st, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
This week FOM, the Formula One Management company run by Bernie Ecclestone, has announced it will be providing native High Definition Formula One coverage for the very first time. Â This heralds the entrance of the sport into the super clear broadcast territory. High Definition television has been available for some time now in the United [...]
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/formula-one-goes-high-definition/
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May 21st, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
This week FOM, the Formula One Management company run by Bernie Ecclestone, has announced it will be providing native High Definition Formula One coverage for the very first time. Â This heralds the entrance of the sport into the super clear broadcast territory. High Definition television has been available for some time now in the United [...]
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/formula-one-goes-high-definition/
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May 21st, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
The current BMW M5 F10 already has a G-Power tuned program to its name, one where the German tuner squeezes 640 horsepower out of the German sports car.
But even if the M5 F10 is already out and about, G-Power still did something pretty sensational to the previous generation M5, calling their new program the M5 Hurricane RRS. To give the M5 some added shine, G-Power added a plethora of performance improvement components, including the company’s now famous BI-Kompressor “Sporty Drive” supercharging system. A new coil over suspension was also added, as were a new set of 20″ Silverstone Diamond wheels and high-performance brakes. Ceramic brakes are also being offered as an option.
Thanks to its already stout Hurricane power kit, G-Power managed to increase and optimize the engine to a staggering 830 horsepower and 575 lb/ft of torque. Those numbers are good enough to allow this ridiculous M5 to hit 0-62 mph in just 4.3 seconds, 0-124 mph in 9.1 seconds, and 0-186 mph in 25.2 seconds.
And as for top speed? Try an eye-popping 231 mph.
BMW M5 Hurricane RRS by G-Power originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 18 May 2012 18:00 EST.
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Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/bmw/2011-bmw-m5-hurricane-rrs-by-g-power-ar129639.html
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May 20th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
Michael Schumacher’s collision with Williams driver Bruno Senna in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix has once again focused awkward attention on the German legend’s lacklustre performances for Mercedes.
A senior member of the Mercedes team used the word “mediocre” last weekend when discussing the 43-year-old’s driving, and that was before Schumacher clumsily ran into the back of Senna’s car in the race.
It was the sort of error you might expect from a beginner, not a man with 91 grand prix victories and seven world titles under his belt.
Coming at Senna from a long way back, Schumacher seemed simply to misjudge the closing speed of the two cars and, caught in two minds about which direction to go, he ran into the back of the Williams.
Schumacher called Senna an “idiot” on the radio as he sat in the gravel trap in the immediate aftermath, and, even after watching replays, he still seemed convinced it was his rival’s fault. The stewards disagreed and gave him a five-place grid penalty for the next race in Monaco.
Schumacher’s reaction will have surprised no-one in F1 – he has always seemed to lack the ability to accept he can ever be wrong.
In an aspiring young driver, this is a characteristic one might expect. But age is supposed to bring wisdom and, in this aspect at least, it appears not to be the case with Schumacher.
With the passing years comes an inevitable waning of physical abilities, and it is surely now beyond dispute that this has come even to him.
Michael Schumacher collides with Bruno Senna during the Spanish Grand Prix. Photo: Reuters
How long can he go on raging against the dying of the light? More to the point, perhaps, how long can Mercedes accept it?
There is no shame in Schumacher not being the driver he was – one can argue there is honour in him being able to achieve even what he has as he heads into the middle of his fifth decade.
The facts, though, are that he is now no more than a decent F1 driver – and some may argue not even that.
Statistically, this is the worst start to a season in Schumacher’s career. But statistics can be misleading – Schumacher actually started the season well. He was the stronger of the two Mercedes drivers in the first two races.
But then came China and Nico Rosberg’s qualifying lap, half a second quicker than his team-mate, who was second on the grid.
The gap was explained almost entirely by a stunning middle sector of the lap from Rosberg, which Schumacher, I’m told, justified to himself by Rosberg managing to turn his tyres on better.
That may well have been the reason, but the gap was there nonetheless. As it was again in the race, when that excuse was less justifiable. Schumacher was simply outclassed by his team-mate.
They have been more evenly matched since, but still Schumacher is almost certainly getting no more from the car than a number of other drivers could manage.
The contrast, with what Fernando Alonso is doing in the Ferrari – which is not dissimilar to the sort of thing Schumacher used to achieve in his early years with the team – is stark.
The tragedy of Schumacher’s current situation is that it is leading some people to question his earlier achievements of seven world titles; two with Benetton and five with Ferrari between 1994 and 2004.
His criticisms of the Pirelli tyres after Bahrain drew uncomfortable parallels with the bespoke tyres from Bridgestone which Schumacher enjoyed for much of his Ferrari career, a subject that was largely unexplored during his pomp.
Some are beginning to wonder if seven titles really was such an amazing achievement, given the advantages he had at his disposal?
This would be wrong, though. There is no doubt that the Schumacher of the 1990s and early 2000s was an outstanding racing driver, one of the greatest there has ever been.
But that Schumacher belongs to the past.
The current one is out of contract at the end of this season. This, in fact, was the context in which the “mediocre” remark came up.
So what reasons do Mercedes have to keep him on, rather than try for someone else?
Lewis Hamilton, also looking for a new deal in 2013, may well not be available, or interested. Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button are committed to their current teams. Those left are all unproven.
Schumacher may continue to embarrass himself in wheel-to-wheel racing occasionally, but he’s close to Rosberg’s pace these days – and Mercedes’ top management rate their younger driver very highly indeed.
The other reason is less palatable for those who like to consider F1 as the arena in which the very best drivers in the world do battle. It’s commercial.
Schumacher’s marketing value to Mercedes is huge. After Rosberg’s victory in China, vice-president of Mercedes motorsport Norbert Haug delighted in how “fantastic” Schumacher had been in front of 800 guests at the launch of a new road car model in Shanghai the previous night. It had been, Haug said, “the perfect weekend”.
Schumacher may no longer be one of the best F1 drivers, but around the world he remains arguably the most famous – and therefore the most valuable to Mercedes off the track. And in Germany, Mercedes’ home, he is largely untouchable, voted recently the greatest national sportsman in history.
Ultimately, though, Mercedes are in F1 to win – and it is no secret that, after two disappointing seasons, the pressure on the team at the start of this season was enormous.
It will have been alleviated somewhat by their win in China, but the team have faded after a promising start and currently look no better than they did through much of last year.
In a season as topsy-turvy as this, that could easily change – and, who knows, if everything comes together perhaps Schumacher can win again. After all, who before the weekend would have predicted Pastor Maldonado’s victory in Spain?
But, all things being equal, that looks unlikely. For a team with an average car who need to win, is a “mediocre” driver, however famous, good enough?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/05/fresh_questions_over_mediocre.html
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May 20th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
Nissan has confirmed plans to launch a redesigned Rouge in 2013. It will be built at the company’s plant in Smyrna, Tennessee.
Source: http://feeds.worldcarfans.com/~r/worldcarfans/Jxfz/~3/tJy-Yv3neOo/next-gen-nissan-rogue-confirmed-for-2013
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May 20th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
60 years after Stirling Moss and Norman Dewis tackled the Mille Miglia in a Jaguar C-Type, the two have reunited at the iconic event.
Source: http://feeds.worldcarfans.com/~r/worldcarfans/Jxfz/~3/hFVKR_xL_XQ/stirling-moss-and-norman-dewis-reunite-for-2012-mille-miglia
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Schumacher: Driving at Monaco is worth the risk is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Michael Schumacher admits Monaco does not match the safety standards set by other tracks, but says the satisfaction of driving there is worth the risk.
Schumacher: Driving at Monaco is worth the risk is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/l9AhzTBCFIc/
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May 20th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
Journalists in Formula 1 (both the real ones and those who like to imagine such status) love to think that racing drivers are “under pressure” when things do not go right. When you actually talk to drivers you find, more often than not, that they are pretty unfazed by pressure. They either do not read [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/brazilians-under-the-spotlight/
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More than ever before Formula 1 racing would benefit from a budget cap. Those who argue against such an idea are simply protecting vested interests, or at least they think they are, as they probably have more to gain from saving money, rather than trying to win cash. The current situation, in which the Formula [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/the-logic-of-a-budget-cap/
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May 19th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
Richard Childress Racing Street Performance partnered with General Motors to create RC1 Camaros to pay homage to legendary racer, Dale Earnhardt. The latest rendition of the RC1 series came just one model year after the Camaro beat all odds and made a successful comeback following its deletion in 2002.
This 2011 Camaro SS/RC1 is based on the 2011 Camaro SS, but features much more than any normal SS on the market. It not only features a stylish design, but it also packs a mean bite under the hood. This particular 2011 Camaro SS/RC1 was not offered to the public, but instead Richard Childress Racing (RCR) built several of the RC1 Camaros and shipped them straight to RK Motors Charlotte.
The RC1 is the first of the series and the least powerful of the three. Of course, being the least powerful of the RC-series is not saying much, as the top-end RC3 pumps out a concrete pummeling 750 horsepower. The best thing is that this special edition Chevy Camaro is in a price range that a working class Joe can actually afford. You may be wondering how much it actually is and what you get for your money.
Click past the jump to read our full review and answer all of your questions.
Chevrolet Camaro SS/RC1 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 18 May 2012 19:00 EST.
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Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/chevrolet/2011-chevrolet-camaro-ss-rc1-ar129683.html
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May 19th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
It is probably a very sensible thing that Mercedes-Benz is keeping quiet about Concorde Agreement negotiations. That is the best way to get a solution that suits the German manufacturer. Several of the teams have agreed basic terms for a new Concorde Agreement. Not all of them are happy with what has been agreed, but [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/mercedes-and-the-concorde-agreement/
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I started this one by removing a few inches from the top.
I cut thru the windscreen and door pillars then around the boot lid opening line at the back.
After removing the desired amount from the pillars I trimmed the boot lit until it all fit back together neatly.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1016862.aspx
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May 19th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh probably summed up the new Formula 1 season best in the wake of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
“Who’s going to predict who’s going to win the next race?” Whitmarsh pondered after Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel had become the fourth different driver, for the fourth different team, to win in the first four races. “It could be Red Bull, Lotus, Mercedes, Ferrari, us.”
A Formula 1 season has not started in such an unpredictable fashion for 29 years.
Back in 1983, Brabham’s Nelson Piquet, McLaren’s John Watson, Renault’s Alain Prost and Ferrari’s Patrick Tambay were the men in question. Only Watson did not go on to be a major contender for the rest of the season, which featured a four-way title fight between Piquet, Prost, Tambay and the second Ferrari driver Rene Arnoux.
Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari may not be the best car, but he is making it a contender. Photo: AFP
This year, the winners have been McLaren’s Jenson Button, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and Vettel.
Paradoxically, though, on the balance of form over the four races, you would probably say that of those four only Button and Vettel will definitely be championship contenders.
Rosberg’s Mercedes car is clearly quick, at least in qualifying, but its race pace has been inconsistent. Alonso has been driving brilliantly in the Ferrari – but on current form the car is nowhere near good enough to mount a title challenge.
THE SEASON SO FAR
For all the unpredictability of the results, and the thrilling spectacle of the races themselves, the same drivers and teams who have dominated F1 in recent years fill the top five positions in the championship.
Victory in Bahrain vaulted Vettel into the lead, ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull’s second driver Mark Webber, Button and Alonso.
Of those, Alonso’s position is the most remarkable.
At best, the Ferrari is the fifth fastest car behind the Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes. And there have been times when it was probably the seventh fastest – behind also the Williams and Sauber.
Yet the Spaniard has won a race and conceded only 10 points to the world championship leader after four grands prix.
This stunning demonstration of consistency and skill is why it would be hard to look past Alonso if there was an award for driver of the year so far.
If he is to be a title contender this year, though, much depends on the major car upgrades Ferrari are planning to introduce for the next race in Spain – and which will be tried out for the first time at the official F1 test in Mugello next week.
If these do not give Ferrari a significant boost in performance, even Alonso will drift out of contention and, presumably, be overtaken soon by the drivers immediately behind him in the championship – Rosberg and Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen
MOST IMPROVED TEAMS – AND OTHERWISE
Just as Alonso is artificially high in the championship – at least in terms of the quality of the car he is driving – so Raikkonen and, arguably, Rosberg are artificially low.
It has been clear from the beginning of the season that the Lotus is one of the very fastest cars on the grid – but scrappy weekends at the first three races prevented the team from scoring strong results.
In Bahrain they finally got it together, and Raikkonen and team-mate Romain Grosjean finished second and third behind Vettel. As BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson explained in his race review, the Finn might well have won.
According to figures compiled by Anderson, Lotus are second only to Caterham in a table that compares their performance last year to this.
Mercedes are some way down the list – but have definitely made more progress than any of the other traditional top teams. Ferrari are at the bottom.
The difficulty in assessing Mercedes’ potential, though, is that for all their impressive performance in taking pole and victory in China, their form in the other races has been poor.
The Mercedes is quick in qualifying – thanks in part, no doubt, to its controversial ‘double DRS’ system – but they are the team whose performance deteriorates the most from practice and qualifying to race.
You can be sure a lot of their work at the Mugello test next week will be focused on this phenomenon.
The next-worst team on this criterion, incidentally, are McLaren.
THE TITLE BATTLE
Ferrari are the most consistent top team (and behind only Sauber) in terms of form from practice to race – a measure of how close a team gets to extracting the maximum from their car.
Red Bull are pretty close behind, even though it took the world champions until the fourth race of the season to record their first win.
One of the reasons teams have been struggling with consistency – both from race to race and within a weekend – is that they are finding it difficult to get the best out of the Pirelli tyres this year.
As Button has said: “Last year, we knew the tyres had high degradation but we understood them. This year, I don’t really know what to make of the tyres.”
Teams are struggling to keep the tyres in the right window of operating temperature, and different cars work them better in different ambient temperatures. Circuit characteristics also play a role.
Mercedes, for example, have been suffering problems with rear-tyre usage. So China was perfect for them. It was run in cool conditions on a circuit that is ‘front-limited’ – the front tyres tend to go off first.
Red Bull, by contrast, were struggling to get their car to work properly in China, and the result was their worst qualifying performance of the year. The race was less problematic, but Red Bull’s race pace has been strong all year.
In the hotter conditions of Bahrain, on a ‘rear-limited’ track, Mercedes struggled and Red Bull shone.
Until Bahrain, McLaren had coped pretty well with the varying conditions from race to race, but their struggles with rear tyre wear in Bahrain will have set alarm bells ringing.
PICKING A FAVOURITE
Vettel predicted in Bahrain that, because the teams are all so close in terms of competitiveness, changing conditions will continue to have an effect on form throughout the season.
His team principal Christian Horner added that the season would “ebb and flow”.
“It is a matter,” Horner said, “of trying to be consistent at the races you can’t win and take the maximum out of them. And at the races you can, you need to deliver.”
So who is the favourite?
Before Bahrain, you would probably have said one of the McLaren drivers. Now, you might be tempted to say Vettel.
But what about Webber, who has had the edge on Vettel in three of the four races? Or Raikkonen? Or even Alonso, if Ferrari can effect a turnaround with the car.
One thing is clear – it’s all very different from last year, when by this stage it was already blindingly obvious that Vettel was going to be champion.
As to who it will be this time, as Hamilton has said: “It’s anyone’s at the moment.”
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/04/four_different_winners_-_now_p.html
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May 19th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
I’ve just achieved a minor miracle here at Shanghai airport – managing to get changed in the tiniest toilet cubicle imaginable before checking in for my flight to Abu Dhabi, and ultimately Bahrain.
The reason it was so tough is that I had my two-weeks-away-from-home suitcase and my laptop bag and I was also trying not to drop my new maroon velvet jacket onto the toilet floor. I wouldn’t want to get such a beautiful piece of clothing soiled now, would I?
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a look at the video below and you can see our ‘Sex and the City’ opener from Sunday’s first live race show of 2012.
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It was a fun morning’s filming actually, the low point being Eddie Jordan’s well-intentioned but rather unconventional offer of breakfast. You see, we filmed most of that opening skit on Friday morning and it required an early start.
I stay with the production team at most races while Eddie and David Coulthard often stay somewhere else (usually with softer beds and more powerful showers).
So at half six on Friday morning, the crew and I set off in the minibus from our hotel near the track and headed for the Shanghai rush-hour: four-lane highways criss-crossing the city, all of them busy, most of them full of stationary traffic.
Eventually we arrived at EJ and DC’s place and they came down to join us. Eddie turned up, dumped his bag and immediately disappeared back into the hotel.
As we were wondering where he was and what he was doing, he returned with a small brown bag and proceeded to dish out a pilfered breakfast.
I am afraid to say I rejected the small piece of brown bread with a single limp rasher of bacon, squished in Eddie’s grip and thrust in my face. But fair play to the crew and DC for accepting his offer.
I also blame our exhaustion for the fact we ended up going down the ‘Sex and the City’ route as it was suggested by Ian the cameraman on the bus as a joke, and suddenly Dave the incredibly creative VT producer had seized on it.
The shoot itself was fun. One of the things I’ve missed in the first two races is the time spent with EJ and DC. There just isn’t the time on a highlights show to transmit long, involved opening pieces and so I relished being back with the guys doing what we enjoy.
It was fantastic to be back in the old routine, prowling the pit-lane hoovering up the stories. I particularly enjoyed showing Ross Brawn the footage of the 1957 Mercedes win in Monza, and sharing with you at home the story of the first pole position for Nico Rosberg’s father Keke.
I think it’s these kinds of things that add depth to our coverage, put the events in perspective, and also inject a human element into such a technical sport.
And what a race it was by Nico in the Mercedes. It was a real shame for team-mate Michael Schumacher, but while he and Jenson Button shared pit-lane problems, and the rest of the field indulged in some classic racing, Nico simply drove the perfect race.
Maybe a late overtake such as Jenson’s in Canada in 2011, or defensive brilliance such as Sebastian Vettel’s in Spain last year is a more exciting way to win a race. But the manner in which Nico did it demonstrated complete dominance by car and driver. That is what the F1 community strive to achieve every week.
I’m not sure what was in DC’s mid-race cuppa, but remarkably on the F1 Forum, he was the one diving in to grab Nico, in true EJ style. Before we know it he’ll be wearing mad shirts and getting members of the Beatles muddled up!
I’m now in the airport and our flight leaves in about 45 minutes so I’d better sign off. Incidentally every time a plane takes off the roof of this place rattles rather violently. I’m hoping it’s just a design issue.
I don’t know what has happened to the rest of our team, but on the bus, nine out of 11 people were fast asleep – so don’t be in any doubt that they’ve been doing their bit for you today.
Before I sign off, a word on Bahrain.
There has been much said about the next grand prix on the 2012 schedule, including significant coverage of the issue across the BBC’s news outlets.
We felt it was important in our show that we put the relevant questions to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone not just on the decision to race but also the motivation behind it.
Whether it is the right decision to stage the race is not for me to answer. I’ve had many
people ask whether I am happy to go. Of course I have safety concerns personally – but we are journalists. The BBC’s role, as part of a free media, is to chronicle the big stories and events and we take great pride in transmitting the most significant moments in F1 to your living rooms.
Next weekend is arguably one of the most important in the history of F1. All eyes will be on Bahrain so it’s essential we are there too, to accurately and honestly reflect the events both on track and off.
Thanks for tuning in this weekend and for making us the number one trending topic on Twitter in the UK on Sunday morning.
But the real story was Nico Rosberg. After 111 races, the wait is finally over.
See you in the desert.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/2012/04/rosberg_shines_after_shanghai.html
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May 18th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
Pastor Maldonado led the way in the Q2 session in Barcelona, beating Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Kamui Kobayashi and Michael Schumacher. There was a surprise to see Jenson Button and Mark Webber being knocked out, along with the two Force Indias, the two Toro Rossos [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/q2-f1-pastor-ized/
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May 18th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
Maldonado: Now drivers can make a difference in F1 is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
In the round-up: Pastor Maldonado says F1 is more like GP2 this year and the driver can make more of a difference.
Maldonado: Now drivers can make a difference in F1 is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/dxm9cOj7f34/
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May 18th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
Journalists in Formula 1 (both the real ones and those who like to imagine such status) love to think that racing drivers are “under pressure” when things do not go right. When you actually talk to drivers you find, more often than not, that they are pretty unfazed by pressure. They either do not read [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/brazilians-under-the-spotlight/
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May 18th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
Jenson Button teamed up with record breaking cyclist Lance Armstrong, as he continues to prepare for another Formula One season. The McLaren driver excitedly tweeted that he would be riding with Armstrong, the 7 time Tour de France winner, in Hawaii. Armstrong responded via Twitter “I hope he doesn’t ride as srong as he drives [...]
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/button-steps-up-pre-season-training-with-lance-armstrong/
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May 18th, 2012 › Stories › admin › Comments Off ›
UPDATE ON KUBICA’s CONDITION: Â http://wp.me/p3uiu-11K Renault Lotus F1 driver Robert Kubica has been airlifted to hospital following a car accident while competing on a rally. The incident, described as a high speed accident, left the Pole injured and he had to be airlifted to hospital. Â His co-driver Jakub Gerber was uninjured in the incident. While [...]
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/robert-kubica-hospitalised-following-rally-accident/
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