Posts tagged F1
Re-launching the blog
Feb 21st
Well after an almost 2-year hiatus…well more then a hiatus I guess, more like completely MIA, I have decided to Re-Launch my blog.
For various reasons (which I wont go in to now) I was unable to devote the time this blog deserved, but ratehr then shut it down completely, I simply failed to write any new posts. Lets face it, there wasn’t anything too edgy or too interesting in this blog that you couldn’t get from Autosport or any of the mainstream media sites. With that in mind I decided it was time to start the blog up again, only this time write about what interested me, what I was passionate abut and what I felt was worthy of some kind of attention.
I won’t be commenting on every race and every session, but instead i’ll be blogging about quirky things in the world of Formula1. I might start writing about my adventures in the world of F1 and experiences I have had visiting various races around the world or people I’ve met in the process, both in person and online.
I have made a vow recently to attend a minimum of 2 Formula1 races every year. In 2011 I attended The Australian GP and the Singapore GP, this year i’ll be attending the Australian GP (again for obvious reasons) and the British GP. I’ve never been to Silverstone so I’m very much looking forward to it. In 2013 I’m very excited about attending the inagural Grand Prix of New York. For those of you who don’t know, New Jersey (just on the other side of the Hudson from lower Manhattan) will be hosting a street race with Manhattan as it’s backdrop, it should be an absolute blast!
So 2012 should be a great year for F1, we finally return to USA with the race in the Austin Tilkerdome… should be fun. The stepped nose duckbills we’ve sen this season have already grown on me, in fact so much so, that I now find the McLaren the ugliest car on the grid. Amazing how F1 can brainwash you sometimes.
So I met Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in Singapore last year. That was a buz, but more about that later, for now I’m just happy to be back and bloging, only this time with a differnece, I plan to bring my own unique angle, insight and opinion into my posts, i’m hoping you’ll find my new blog interesting. If you’re looking for a standard spiel post-race or post-quali news wrapup, then you’ve come to the wrong place, but i’m hoping you’ll find my posts interesting, insightful and entertaining. So hears to a great 2012!
Less then 30 days now till lights out in Melbourne, I can’t wait!
- Nathan
ps, i’ll post up the pics with me and Seb and Me and Dan later. That was a great day, one which i’ll never forget.
Barcelona wraps up with McLaren, Ferrari & Red Bull all contenders
Mar 1st
Another dry day in Barcelona on Sunday marked the final day official pre-season testing in Barcelona and it was a day full of the top teams all trading top times whilst drivers worked on final setup of the cars.
All the times were very close, with the top 8 times all being within less then 1 second of each other. Massa, Hamilton and Webber traded top time throu-out the day, with the fastest man in the end being Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren with a 1:20.472. Hamilton spent a lot of time behind the wheel, notching up over 130 laps. Mark Webber was second fastest and did less then half the laps of Hamilton. He showed that RedBull has a very fast car this year when he recored a 1:20.496.
Massa was 3rd quickest just infront of Force India’s Adrian Suttil. Red Bull were the only team who had both their drivers for this year in the top 5. Sebastian Vettel was 5th quickest with a 1:20.667. Sebastian managed to do around 10 more laps in the car then Mark Webber managed. Sebastian’s fellow countryman and seven-time world champion, Michael Schumacher recorded 1:20.745 in the MercedesGP car to claim the 6th fastest time of the day.
Most teams were doing race distance simulations through the day and spending a lot of time measuring tyre wear.
RedBull allowed webber and Vettel to share the drives during the day due to both drivers having less time behind the wheel throughout testing, so they didn’t complete the same race distance simulations some othe teams did. None the less both of their drivers were on the pace placing in the top five.
With McLaren, RedBull, Ferrari and Mercedes all within a second of each other and holding out the top 5 spots on the timesheets. It appears the predictions that the title race this year could be a tight 4-way battle between said teams could prove to be true.
Massa emerged posative and said “We wanted a competitive car and I think we’ve achieved our goal. It’s difficult to say who worked best. Today the time sheet says Hamilton, but we’re all very close together, it’s just tenths of a second.” He did however mention that whilst they were very strong, he felt at this point they weren’t the strongest and needed to improve, but was very happy to be in the group of front runners.
Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher said “The four testing days here in Barcelona have helped us to make significant progress with the MGP W01 and I am feeling quite confident for the start of the season. It is always difficult to read too much into testing but knowing our programme, it is fair to say that the times did not always reflect the true picture. We have worked through many set-up and development evaluations this week and gained valuable information to study before Bahrain. We are heading the first race with a good feeling and we know that we will have our upgrades there. But most of all we know that our prospects for even the first races are looking very reasonable now.”
So at the end of the day, what do the times really mean? Well it is hard to judge, but the pace of the Ferrari’s, the McLarens, the RedBull’s and even Mercedes has been consitent thorugh-out the pre-season testing.
Massas is less then confident that his team will be the team to beat going into this season, however they have done more race-distance simulation and varying fuel load runs and varying tyre choice stints then other teams and they are still at the pointy end of the timesheets. Their car has also been very strong without many technical problems. They seem to have the pace and it appears that Ferrari are going to be one of the fastest teams in 2010, that cobined with obvioius reliability means the team should be a very strong title contender.
RedBull have had the apce, but not the ditance, meaning they have spent the least amount of time on the track compared to the otehr front runners. Engine reliability is also an issue for the team. They have the apce but could be let down by reliability.
McLaren were quickest over testing and have two very strong drivers. That combined with the reliability they have shown could mean that they are the team to rain on Ferrari’s parade and could also snatch the title this year.
Mercedes are also up their rounding out the top 4 teams. They have shown good strong pace at times, then also shown their pace can be a bit inconsitent. The team won last years championship and may not have done enough development on their 2010 package to fight with McLaren and Ferrari.
Time will tell however, with just 11 days left now till the first Friday practice in Bahrain, the teams have no more time for on-track testing. Will the practice sheets in Bahrain be reflective of Barcelona? most likely, yes.
A summary of the quickest laps from the final day in Barcelona are as follows:
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 1:20.472 134
2. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:20.496 61
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:20.539 114
4. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:20.611 100
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:20.667 76
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:20.745 123
7. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1:20.870 84
8. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber 1:20.911 67
9. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1:22.135 88
10. Robert Kubica Renault 1:23.175 107
11. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1:25.251 65
12. Lucas Di Grassi Virgin Racing 1:26.160 49
Sauber and Merc’ Launch cars prior to Feb tests
Jan 7th
According to local German press, (Bild) Mercedes Petronas GP plan on launching their 2010 car on the 25th January, ahead of the first offical testing in Valencia on the 1st February. The launch is rumoured to take place at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart. The car’s chasis is rumoured to be RB1, named after team principal, Ross Brawn.
Meanwhile Sauber have confirmed that on Sunday 31st January they will be launching their new team and 2010 car at Valencia, just one day prior to the start of official testing. Kamui Kobayashi has already been confirmed as one of thier drivers after he was left without a seat for 2010 due to Toyota pulling out of Formula1 after the end of the 2009 season.
Team Principal Peter Sauber has already said that due to BMW pulling out of the sport, his cars will now be powered by Ferrari engines.
The official February test dates are as follows:
February 1st – 3rd – Valencia
February 10th – 13th – Jerez
February 17th – 20th – Jerez
February 25th – 28th – Circuit de Catalunya
Ecclestone tips Vettel over Schumacher for 2010
Jan 2nd
Bernie Ecclestone said that he is looking forward to the 2010 Formula1 season, which will see 4 Formula1 world champions on the grid. The most talked about of these champions of course is seven-time winner, Michael Schumacher, who will return to Formula1 this year driving for Mercedes and has vowed that he intends to record his 8th world title with the Silver Arrows.
Ecclestone, however has tipped a different German driver for the 2010 championship, last years runner up, Sebastian Vettel. Bernie believes that the young German has what it takes to be the champion this year, with Red Bull still tipped to be a strong competitor in 2010.
Michael Schumacher’s return to Formula1 is a very good thing for the fans, media and the sport in general by Bernie’s own admission, however, there are a lot of young drivers who are very motivated to be the 2010 champion.
Bernie knows that Schumacher’s return will not be long lived, whether or not he will be racing in Formula1 in 2011 is still up for debate, however Vettel and the other young drivers will remain in the sport for many years yet and Bernie knows the value of neutering the younger drivers.
Sebastian Vettel has been tipped to be ‘the next Schumacher’ by the German press, he now has the chance to race with Michael and with the world championship at stake, Sebastian will be out to win it. Bernie told German publication Bild “There are five or six drivers that can race for the championship title but I predict that Sebastian Vettel will be the next World Champion in Formula 1.”
With Pre-season testing beginning just next month, it won’t be long before we see how the drivers compare in the new 2010 cars, it’s going to be a cracker of a season.
Will Rosberg make Mercedes ‘his own’?
Nov 24th
Four years ago Nico Rosberg won the inaugural GP2 world Championship. He was on top of the world and the talk of the motorsport world, being the son of former Formula1 World Champion Kiki Rosberg he had a lot to live up to, and it looked like he wouldn’t disappoint. The following year he was snapped up by Frank Williams and his F1 dream came true, he was making his F1 Début as a rookie driving for one of the most highly regarded teams on the Grid. Nico’s father won the Formula1 World Championship for Frank Williams in 1982, Nico was destined for sucess driving for the same team his father did 15 years earlier. A few months into the season however and Williams turned out to not be the team it expected to be that year. The team failed to finish on the podium all season, the first time since Williams’ first season in 1977 and Romberg’s status as the ‘next big thing’ in F1 started to fade away. It’s been a long tough road with Williams who have been a very under-performing team. His former Williams team-mate Mark Webber has had a string of podiums this year and recorded his first F1 win since leaving Williams for RedBull Racing, something Nico would have surely done by now if he had not still been driving for the Grove based team.
All that is about to change however when he drives with the Silver Arrows next year and judging by the performance of the BrawnGP team this year, Nico’s first GP win is surely just around the corner and the Mercedes works team seem set make a successful return to Formula1. Nico will be the first German to drive in F1 for Mercedes since 1955 and with the no.2 driver rumoured to be another German, it looks to be World War II all over again on the Grid next year with the British Super-team of McLaren vs. the potentially All-German MercedesGP.
Being a German driver in a German team and possibly has got to have its advantages. This decade certain drivers have been synonymous with certain teams. Schumacher and Ferrari, Alonso and Renault and soon it will be Rosberg and Mercedes.
Nico is already proving to be an ambassador for Mercedes right from the minute the announcement was made “No other brand in Formula One can look back on such a long and successful tradition in motor racing. “ He said. Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport responded by saying how he had followed Nico’s career closely since he raced karts alongside Lewis Hamilton.
Nico has a great opportunity to shape his future in F1 with a new team, he will be able to grow and develop with the team and with the financial backing of a large manufacturer, the world will be his oyster.
UBS Chinese Grand Prix