Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/05/vettel—and-others—get-lucky-in-monaco.html

Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco Hans Binder Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/08/bruno-is-ready.html

JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta Allen Berg Georges Berger Gerhard Berger

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/05/sutil-scandal-i-suppose-im-witness-x.html

Manny Ayulo Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey Mauro Baldi

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/15/2066405/maldonados-f1-win-stirs-controversy.html

Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais Thierry Boutsen Johnny Boyd

Lewis Hamilton has come in for criticism © Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton?s decision-making ability has come into question after he crashed into the side of Felipe Massa on lap one, causing his early retirement from the Italian Grand Prix. This incident has raised questions about his temperament and ability to bounce back. Kevin Garside of the Daily Telegraph questions how much we should really be expecting from Hamilton. ?Perhaps this is how it must be with Hamilton, an instinctive racer compelled to chase the impossible through gaps that don?t exist. He took the best part of an hour to compose himself before walking out into the sun to face the cameras. This was Hamilton?s third DNF of the season but the first of his own making. Occasions like this are perhaps reminders to us not to expect too much. ?On the days when Hamilton?s insane alliance of guts, skill and derring-do appear capable of delivering the world it is easy to forget he is only 25, an age when it is all too common for boys to believe themselves men.? Byron Young of the Mirror also pulls no punches about Hamilton?s performance and was heavily critical of the manoeuvre which meant he left the weekend pointless. ?To say that his dive down the outside at Della Roggia chicane was optimistic would be generous. Mystifying, definitely, with so much at stake. So often Hamilton has made them stick but yesterday the outcome was all too predictable.?

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/09/hamilton_decisionmaking_under_1.php

Stefan Bellof Paul Belmondo Tom Belso JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta

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

Olivier Beretta Allen Berg Georges Berger Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/3sQKqkiATmU/great-nico.html

Skip Barber Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels Edgar Barth

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/rzuS_qhXaV8/somewhat-long-n-strange-trip-indeed.html

Elie Bayol Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem Jean Behra Derek Bell

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/07/money-talks-live-with-it.html

Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mário de Araújo Cabral Frank Armi

Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado will share the first row of the grid in Spain on Sunday, while the local fans got wild as Fernando Alonso put his Ferrari third on the grid. The Lotuses were fourth and fifth on the grid with Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen showing that black is nearly back, while [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/q3-f1-goes-to-the-chemist-lewis-pastor/

Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader Kurt Adolff Fred Agabashian

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/4rHfiWrCpeo/why-doesnt-sarah-fisher-hartman-racing.html

Tony Brooks Alan Brown Walt Brown Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/OQDOWPndIz0/power-dominates-while-sato-drives.html

Vittorio Brambilla Toni Branca Gianfranco Brancatelli Eric Brandon Don Branson

The Mercedes pit crew prepare for Michael Schumacher in Singapore © Getty Images

Away from the world of multi-million-pound car development laboratories and drivers whose small change takes care of the Monte Carlo harbour fees, another drama will play out in Singapore this week. The Independent’s David Tremayne joins F1′s unsung heroes.

These are not select millionaires but up to 16 ordinary, yet gifted, guys; team mechanics who have worked their way up the system and often migrate from team to team, are paid real-world wages of between £30,000 and £50,000 a year, are drilled to perfection ? and whose split-second synchronisation brings their teams huge rewards.

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/09/life_in_the_pit_lane.php

Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader Kurt Adolff

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

Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader Kurt Adolff

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/05/vettel—and-others—get-lucky-in-monaco.html

Henry Banks Fabrizio Barbazza John Barber Skip Barber Paolo Barilla

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/07/webber-on-the-verge-of-walking.html

Derek Bell Stefan Bellof Paul Belmondo Tom Belso JeanPierre Beltoise

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/06/stateside-swap-a-rama.html

Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais Thierry Boutsen Johnny Boyd

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/LchGZmfK_sY/remembering-gilles.html

Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes Martin Brundle Gianmaria Bruni Jimmy Bryan

UPDATE ON KUBICA’s CONDITION:  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.  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/

Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk Mark Blundell

Kyle Busch closes on Phoenix sweep By Diego Mejia Sunday, February 27th 2011, 07:28 GMT Kyle Busch could make further NASCAR history this weekend by completing a full sweep of victories in its top-level championships at Phoenix in a single weekend, having already dominated in the Trucks and Natiowide Series races at the one-mile oval. Related posts:

1. Kyle Busch goes wire-to-wire in N’wide Phoenix win AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch became the first driver in…
2. Kyle Busch rolls to 8th Nationwide win of season CLERMONT, Ind. — Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski kept it…
3. Kyle Busch talking with Tony Kanaan about NASCAR possibility AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch has had discussions with IndyCar…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/nascar-kyle-busch-closes-on-phoenix-sweep/

Adolf Brudes Martin Brundle Gianmaria Bruni Jimmy Bryan Carlo Abate

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/odR7Vr_Kf0g/lotus-saga-chocolate-bunnies-rainbows-n.html

Stefan Bellof Paul Belmondo Tom Belso JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/07/what-ralph-lauren-can-teach-mr-e.html

Vittorio Brambilla Toni Branca Gianfranco Brancatelli Eric Brandon Don Branson

Raikkonen rues lost chance of victory 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: Kimi Raikkonen says Lotus could have won the Spanish Grand Prix.

Raikkonen rues lost chance of victory 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/a-oETl1CoJM/

Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader Kurt Adolff

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.

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

Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk Mark Blundell Raul Boesel Menato Boffa

Nicolas Sarkozy’s defeat in the French Presidential election last weekend has thrown the future of the French Grand Prix into uncertainty once again, as the plan to have a race every two years was not completed in time. The socialist government which is currently being formed would prefer to see a race at Magny Cours, [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/le-grand-prix-de-france-post-sarkozy/

Michael Andretti Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mário de Araújo Cabral

Alonso: 2011 tyres will hurt top teams By Matt Beer Monday, February 28th 2011, 19:07 GMT Fernando Alonso says he is not in favour of the move towards less durable tyres for 2011, as he fears this will end up penalising faster cars. Related posts:

1. F1: Teams expect 2011 tyres test in summer Teams expect 2011 tyres test in summer By Jonathan Noble…
2. F1: Cooper Avon enters race for 2011 tyres Cooper Avon enters race for 2011 tyres By Jonathan Noble…
3. F1: Alonso: Passing just as hard in 2011 Alonso: Passing just as hard in 2011 By Jonathan Noble…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-alonso-2011-tyres-will-hurt-top-teams/

Bob Anderson Conny Andersson Mario Andretti Michael Andretti Keith Andrews

The Formula 1 teams arrived in Melbourne’s Albert Park to be greeted by grey skies, intermittent rain and blustery wind. But not even the weather could dampen the palpable excitement and nervous tension.

The start of the new season is just a few hours away and everyone from world champions Red Bull to lowly HRT is desperate to find the answer to the question they have been asking all winter. Where will they be come Saturday and Sunday afternoons?

The F1 teams like to keep outsiders guessing before the first race by saying they don’t know where they are in terms of competitiveness, but usually this is little more than kidology.

Such is their capacity to analyse data with massive super-computers that usually they have a very good idea of their position in relation to their rivals, despite the well-known difficulty of predicting form from pre-season testing.

But this year seems different; they genuinely don’t seem to know – so the usual anticipation ahead of the first race of the season is magnified.

Lewis Hamilton said that judging by the data that mattered from winter testing he felt McLaren were “in the top three or four”.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has also bigged up his team’s chances for the 2012 season. Photo: Getty

Meanwhile, a senior engineer from one of the teams who will be contesting what is expected to be a congested midfield battle told me he was pretty sure Red Bull and McLaren were out front but he didn’t know “whether we will be third or seventh”.

Some people’s anticipation is more nervous than others’, though.

For teams such as Mercedes and Lotus, there is a genuine sense that they have done a good job and moved forward over the winter.

In fact there is a growing sense in the paddock that Mercedes may even be able to give McLaren and Red Bull a run for their money, something team principal Ross Brawn was quick to dismiss as “unlikely”.

For others, the desire to discover the true pace of their car is tinged as much with trepidation as anticipation.

Ferrari have had what Fernando Alonso described here on Thursday as a “tough” winter, struggling with “quite a complex car in terms of set-up and understanding it”.

Alonso was doing his best to talk up the team’s chances, saying: “Maybe we didn’t reach our targets but it doesn’t mean that we are slower than the other cars. That we will not know until Saturday.”

Others are keen to play down the importance of this first race of the season.

Vettel said that Australia this weekend and Malaysia next would do no more than demonstrate a “trend” for performance over the season.

And Brawn said he “preferred to look at the first four races and the range of circuits we have and see how that looks”.

But the statistics belie that point of view.

Albert Park might be a unique street circuit, with a dusty, low-grip surface, and the teams may only just be beginning to work with their new cars. But actually it has proven to be a rather good arbiter of the season to come – five of the last six winners of the Australian Grand Prix have gone on to become world champion that year.

Other themes are also emerging this weekend that will have importance to one degree or another as the season develops.

F1 wouldn’t be F1 without a good technical conspiracy and this year looks like being no different.

Already during pre-season testing there have been eyebrows raised at the way some teams are trying to exploit exhaust gases for aerodynamic effect.

This practice was supposed to have been ended by rule changes that have restricted the positioning and angle of the exhaust pipes and put much stricter limits on engine mapping – both an attempt to rid the sport of so-called exhaust-blown diffusers that became such important tools over the previous two seasons.

But this weekend another potential controversy has emerged over the rear wings on several cars, particularly the Mercedes, Red Bull and the Ferrari.

These new devices – that some believe to be on the fringes of legality – seem designed to exploit the DRS overtaking aid in ways not originally intended.

The DRS was designed as a tool to make overtaking less difficult – if a driver is within a one-second margin of a car he is trying to overtake, he can use the DRS in a specified zone on the track to give him a straight-line speed boost.

Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, meanwhile, have what appear to be extra slots on the rear wing that can work in conjunction with the DRS to either increase straight-line speed even further, or allow the teams to run extra downforce with no drag penalty.

The most noticeable feature of the 2012 cars, though, remains the noses – and specifically the ugly ‘platypus’ step on all but the McLaren and Marussia.

This is a result of a rule that has lowered the nose tips of the cars to increase driver safety, but not lowered the top of the chassis.

The result is a grid full of ridiculous and ugly-looking cars, and very few are troubling to hide their frustration at the situation.

“It is unfortunate,” Brawn said, “and the teams should look at themselves and blame themselves.

“[Governing body] the FIA tried to do what they could and a number of teams wouldn’t agree to the changes because they said they wanted to carry over their chassis, which we all know is a load of nonsense because nobody has carried over their chassis.

“We’ve ended up with a very odd feature on the cars which is not very endearing and I’m sure will get fixed for 2013.”

The noses, of course, will soon be forgotten if the season is close and competitive. And that will only begin to become clear as this weekend unfolds.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/new_f1_season_could_prove_unpr.html

Art Bisch Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk

Renault: Heidfeld already leading team By Dieter Rencken and Matt Beer Sunday, February 27th 2011, 10:59 GMT Renault team boss Eric Boullier says it was obvious from Nick Heidfeld’s first few laps in the car that he was the man the squad needed to lead its 2011 charge in the absence of the injured Robert Kubica. Heidfeld will fill in alongside Vitaly Petrov at Renault until Kubica recovers from the multiple injuries he suffered in a rally crash three weeks ago. The German had a test audition for Renault before being snapped up, and Boullier said he was very impressed by the way Heidfeld immediately took charge. Related posts:

1. F1: Renault ‘very positive’ about Heidfeld Renault ‘very positive’ about Heidfeld By Matt Beer Saturday, February…
2. F1: Heidfeld, Liuzzi also in Renault frame Heidfeld, Liuzzi also in Renault frame By Jonathan Noble Tuesday,…
3. F1: Heidfeld’s Renault run set for Saturday Heidfeld’s Renault run set for Saturday By Matt Beer Friday,…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-renault-heidfeld-already-leading-team/

Bob Bondurant Felice Bonetto Jo Bonnier Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu

Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless streak by taking the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at PhoenixJeff Gordon Ends Drought AVONDALE, Ariz. Related posts:

1. Jeff Gordon wins at Phoenix to snap 66-race drought Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless…
2. NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon gets new spotter starting at Pocono CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jeff Gordon will have a new spotter…
3. Jeff Gordon confronts and shoves Jeff Burton after crash in Texas Gordon-Burton Post Sound Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton talk…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/jeff-gordon-wins-the-nascar-sprint-cup-race-at-phoenix-international-raceway/

Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mário de Araújo Cabral Frank Armi Chuck Arnold

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/05/vettel—and-others—get-lucky-in-monaco.html

Olivier Beretta Allen Berg Georges Berger Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/LchGZmfK_sY/remembering-gilles.html

Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick

Bernie Ecclestone has stated his belief that Mark Webber could be Sebastian Vettel’s biggest rival for the title this year. Check out our review of Red Bull in 2011! Webber failed to win a race last year of course, but Ecclestone is convinced that the Australian will improve, threatening his Red Bull team-mate along the [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/WvCtgq-iUMQ/webber-will-threaten-vettel-in-2012

Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso

Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the third free practice session for the Spanish GP, although the times were clearly rather mixed up as some of the drivers were clearly saving tyres at the end of the session whent he fast times were recorded. There were 14 driver covered by 1.2 seconds with Pastor Maldonado [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/el-vettel/

Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/13/2061471/video-southern-500-recap.html

Trevor Blokdyk Mark Blundell Raul Boesel Menato Boffa Bob Bondurant

Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado will share the first row of the grid in Spain on Sunday, while the local fans got wild as Fernando Alonso put his Ferrari third on the grid. The Lotuses were fourth and fifth on the grid with Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen showing that black is nearly back, while [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/q3-f1-goes-to-the-chemist-lewis-pastor/

Mario Andretti Michael Andretti Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella

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

Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi

Jenson Button set the fastest time of the second free practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix at a sunny Barcelona on Friday afternoon. The McLaren driver led the way, a tenth ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, with the top 13 drivers covered by just 1.1 sec. Nico Rosberg was third fastest for Mercedes, [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/button-clicks/

Felice Bonetto Jo Bonnier Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu Slim Borgudd

If Ferrari fans thought that their team had perhaps not lived up its name last season then they should talk to fans of Williams. The team that dominated in the early 90?s winning multiple World Championships managed to score only five points last season. Five. It?s a sad fall from grace and one, that at [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/E6B6tv0XDjM/williams-begin-beginning-of-a-rebuilding-process

Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh

Nicolas Sarkozy’s defeat in the French Presidential election last weekend has thrown the future of the French Grand Prix into uncertainty once again, as the plan to have a race every two years was not completed in time. The socialist government which is currently being formed would prefer to see a race at Magny Cours, [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/le-grand-prix-de-france-post-sarkozy/

Marcel Balsa Lorenzo Bandini Henry Banks Fabrizio Barbazza John Barber

The wind is gently rustling the palms here in Narbonne. I’m sitting in the sunshine having a coffee, not far from a bloke who looks unpleasantly like Flavio Briatore, although there are no super models about so it is definitely not him, just some passing Italian who thinks that looking sleazy is cool. It’s a [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/a-trip-across-france/

Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/S4nGEym1AbA/bahraini-kingdom-sweeps-nations-divide.html

Tony Brise Chris Bristow Peter Broeker Tony Brooks Alan Brown

Lewis Hamilton?s Barcelona pole is under threat after he stopped on his slowing down lap at the end of Q3. Hamilton did the same after getting pole in Montreal in 2010 because the team was concerned that would not have … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/05/12/hamiltons-pole-under-threat-from-fia/

Felice Bonetto Jo Bonnier Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu Slim Borgudd

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/09/145-euros-india-had-better-be-worth-it.html

Carlo Abate George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams

Rossi: F1 debut was “as good as it could have been” is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Alexander Rossi said his F1 debut for Caterham in practice today was “pretty much as good as it could have been”.

Rossi: F1 debut was “as good as it could have been” 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/JDMedFqzUD4/

Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi Erwin Bauer Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol

© Getty Images

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

Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari Philippe Alliot

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/BqwDL1dCXEQ/tensions-in-bahrain-continue-ratcheting.html

Martin Brundle Gianmaria Bruni Jimmy Bryan Carlo Abate George Abecassis

Emerson Fittipaldi in his heyday © Sutton Images

In an interview in the Times, former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi?s outlined his five-point plan to enhance Formula One. Cut costs ?They spend a fortune in wind-tunnel testing alone. Reduce costs and the slowest teams would catch up and make it more even.? Limit downforce ?They need to reduce enormously the downforce in the cars, the only way to bring back overtaking. We need more mechanical grip so that you have longer braking areas, can set up the car coming out of a corner, get in the slipstream and then overtake.? Close the pitlane ?When the safety car goes out they should close the pitlane. Now it?s just a lottery.? Lift ban on team orders ?It is a very stupid rule. It?s why they are called teams, it?s why they have two cars. If a driver is leading in the championship, everything has to go in his favour. What is wrong with that? It?s so easy for teams to camouflage their orders anyway. All they need to do is tell one guy on the radio he has a problem with his brakes. They can bend the rules very easily. In the old days they would even swap cars, so why do we have this ban now?? Retain traditional grands prix ?These places are the soul of racing. The Americas are under-represented. We have Canada back, but there is no USA, no Argentina, no Mexico. We need to stay in the heartlands.?

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/five_ways_to_improve_f1.php

Gerry Ashmore Bill Aston Richard Attwood Manny Ayulo Luca Badoer

© Save Team Lotus

One side of the Lotus naming dispute has been put forward on a new and in-depth webpage called www.saveteamlotus.com. The basic background is that the Lotus Racing F1 team had its naming rights revoked for next season by Group Lotus and, in order to keep racing under the Lotus name, bought the Team Lotus brand off David Hunt, who had owned it since the original team?s last race in 1994. Group Lotus has now taken Lotus Racing to court to try and stop it using the historic name in Formula One next year. The issue has been a source of constant confusion for many fans and the new webpage offers a breakdown of David Hunt?s and Team Lotus? side of the argument.

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/campaign_launched_to_save_team_1.php

Mark Blundell Raul Boesel Menato Boffa Bob Bondurant Felice Bonetto

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/06/stateside-swap-a-rama.html

Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger Art Bisch Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen

He might not have generated many headlines this year, but Mark Webber has quietly kept himself in the title hunt with an unusually consistent run of results. The Red Bull driver has finished fourth in each of the four races … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/24/mark-webber-weve-always-been-there-or-thereabouts/

George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader

Oh to be a fly on the wall at the drivers’ briefing ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix next month.

The controversial decision not to penalise either Nico Rosberg for his aggressive defence against Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix or Hamilton for overtaking by going off the track has led to considerable debate within Formula 1.

So much so, that Alonso, a man who weighs his words carefully, has decided to speak out about it. After learning of the ruling, the Ferrari driver said to his 400,000-plus Twitter followers: “I think you are going to have fun in future races! You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!”

Nico Rosberg (left) and Lewis Hamilton may have differing views at the drivers’ meeting. Photo: Getty

Alonso had earlier said of Rosberg’s driving: “If instead of such a wide run-off area there had been a wall, I’m not sure I’d be here to talk about it.”

On the face of it, and at first glance, the stewards’ decision does appear difficult to understand.

With both Hamilton on lap 10 and Alonso on lap 24, Rosberg veered dramatically to the inside – and, unusually, right across to the white line that demarcates the edge of the circuit.

Both Hamilton and Alonso went off the track in avoidance, to varying degrees. Whereas Hamilton kept going and succeeded in passing the Mercedes, Alonso backed off and tried for the outside line, but had lost too much momentum to pull a move off.

Article 20.4 of the sporting regulations says: “Manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are not permitted.”

So why was Rosberg not penalised?

The stewards said his defence was legitimate because although it was Rosberg who started to deviate from his line first, he did so in a “constant and continuous straight-line manner” and neither Hamilton nor Alonso had “a significant portion of their car… alongside” Rosberg’s.

In other words, because Rosberg moved first, he was always clearly in front and it was therefore effectively the other driver’s decision to keep moving to the inside to the point that he was off the track.

In Hamilton’s case, if you watch the TV footage back, you can clearly see this is the case.

It is less obviously so with Alonso – and the stewards had to use the footage from the Ferrari’s onboard camera before they came to a conclusion.

I have not seen the footage, but I’m told it showed again that a) Rosberg moved first; and b) at no point was “a significant portion” of Alonso’s car alongside the Mercedes.

During the race, viewers heard Alonso say over his team radio: “He pushed me off the track. You have to leave a space. All the time you have to leave a space.”

This, though, is not actually what the regulations say.

A new rule, article 20.3, was introduced this year to formally enshrine that “any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to a corner”.

But this only applies when he is making a second move – there is nothing in the rules to stop drivers going right to the edge of the track in their first defensive move.

In other words, you might think – as Alonso did – that Rosberg’s driving was unfair, overly aggressive, even dangerous, but the rules contain nothing the stewards could use to penalise him.

There is no obligation, I’m told by a senior figure, to leave room for a rival, unless he is partially alongside. The question then becomes, how far alongside does a driver have to be before the man he is overtaking has to leave him room with his first move?

That’s where it starts to get awkward.

“It’s no different,” a senior insider says, “to a conventional overtaking manoeuvre when one driver dives down the inside, gets halfway alongside and they collide. One guy says: ‘You should have given me room.’ The other says: ‘You weren’t far enough alongside.’ Often drivers’ perception of a situation differs from the reality.”

The stewards have to use their judgement, including factors such as speed differential between the cars, when a driver moved, how many moves he made, and so on.

Back, though, to what the rules do say. Article 20.2 says drivers “must use the track at all times”. This is why Rosberg said over his team radio: “Hamilton passed me off the track.”

Which Hamilton clearly did. So why was he not penalised?

The stewards, I’m told, asked: “What advantage did Hamilton gain by going off the track?” And they concluded that if he had gone to the outside, he was carrying so much momentum he would have passed anyway.

The most obvious of several counter-points to that is: “Yes, but Hamilton did go off the track when you have established he didn’t need to, and he did pass him by doing so, so he should be penalised.”

At least two leading drivers share this view, I’m told. But you have to bear in mind that Hamilton is not the most popular driver on the grid and his rivals are “always looking for ways to nail him”, as one source put it on Monday.

The problem arose in the first place because concrete run-offs surround the circuit in Bahrain. Drivers can use these with impunity, safe in the knowledge that if they are forced off the track they are not going to spin on wet grass or hit a wall.

Had there been grass there, Hamilton would not have been able to pull off the same move (another argument for a penalty being applied) and Alonso might have backed off sooner.

Equally, had there been grass there – or even a wall – Rosberg might well have given them both a bit more room.

The stewards weighed it all up and felt that, in this instance, penalising Hamilton would have been overly harsh.

The result is some drivers believe Hamilton should have been penalised, some believe Rosberg should have been, and Alonso is saying the stewards’ ruling gives drivers carte blanche to overtake off the track or crowd their rivals as much as they like.

Which is why that drivers’ meeting in Barcelona promises to be so interesting.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/04/unanswered_questions_for_rosbe.html

Raul Boesel Menato Boffa Bob Bondurant Felice Bonetto Jo Bonnier

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/10/2056162/american-joins-caterham-for-spanish.html

Bob Bondurant Felice Bonetto Jo Bonnier Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu

It was another frustrating season at the back of the grid for F1?s relative new boys. Lotus, HRT and Virgin all in their sophomore seasons in Formula One all failed, again, to score points in 2011. So what went wrong last season and what does 2012 have in store. Lotus They?ve arguably been the best [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/v07lfgzGM6w/what-went-wrong-for-the-back-of-the-grid

Fabrizio Barbazza John Barber Skip Barber Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello

Sebastian Vettel’s behaviour during and after the Malaysian Grand Prix has been causing a bit of a fuss in Germany over the past few days.

The media have lapped up his response to his collision with backmarker Narain Karthikeyan, in much the same way as their British counterparts would have done with a similar incident involving Lewis Hamilton, and Vettel has come in for a fair bit of criticism.

On the BBC after the race, Vettel called Karthikeyan an “idiot” for his role in the collision that cost the world champion fourth place.

Speaking in German, the word he chose was “cucumber” – a common insult in that country for bad drivers on the road.

Vettel faces increased competition from outside and inside his Red Bull Team. Photo: Getty/AFP

It has also been pointed out that shots from Vettel’s onboard camera appear to show the 24-year-old Red Bull driver giving Karthikeyan a middle-finger salute as he drives past. This has led some to call for him to be punished by governing body the FIA, which so far is keeping a low profile on the matter.

Comparisons have been drawn with McLaren’s Jenson Button – who also failed to score any points in Malaysia, but who reacted with his usual calm.

Vettel, some in Germany have said, doesn’t know how to lose.

They point out that last year he won 11 races on his way to one of the most dominant championship victories in Formula 1 history. Failing to win four races in a row in that context, the critics say, should not elicit this kind of reaction.

Vettel has not spoken in public since leaving Malaysia, and Red Bull are shrugging it off.

After the race on Sunday, team principal Christian Horner defended Vettel’s driving in the collision with Karthikeyan, saying that it was the Indian’s “responsibility to get out of the way of the leaders as he is a lapped car”.

Although the stewards penalised Karthikeyan for the incident, others are not sure it’s quite so clear-cut.

One leading F1 figure told me: “It was completely Vettel’s fault – he needed to give Karthikeyan more space. He only had to clear the last inch and he cut across the front of him. He was showing a bit of frustration and it bit him.”

Certainly Vettel has found himself at the start of 2012 in a situation with which he is not familiar.

Vettel has had the fastest car in F1 since at least the middle of 2009, and he has used it to good effect.

But now things are different. Red Bull’s new car is not a match for the McLaren, and it has also been behind one Mercedes and one Lotus on the grid in each of the first two races.

For a man who is as driven to win – to dominate even – as Vettel is, that will not be a comfortable situation.

Nor will it have escaped his attention that team-mate Mark Webber has so far out-qualified him in both races this year – again, quite a turnaround from 2011, when the Australian managed it only three times in 19 grands prix.

It is early days, but so far the comparison between the two Red Bull drivers looks much more like it was in the first part of 2010 – before the team started fully exploiting the exhaust-blown diffusers that dominated the last 18 months and which have been banned for this season.

Webber was never that comfortable in last season’s Red Bull – and while he came to match Vettel on race pace in the second half of last season, he never really got on terms with him in qualifying.

Much of that was to do with the behaviour of the car on corner entry, where the exhaust-blown diffusers were so powerful in increasing performance.

Red Bull’s decline has also coincided with the stiffening of the front-wing load test, an attempt to stop teams allowing the ends of the wing to droop towards the track at speed to increase downforce. Red Bull were noticeably better at doing this than the other teams.

It may be an unrelated coincidence, but this year’s Red Bull suffers from understeer, a lack of front-end grip – a handling characteristic Webber is comfortable with, while Vettel prefers oversteer.

This is not the first time Vettel has been criticised for letting his emotion get the better of him when things are not going his way.

There was the infamous ‘nutter’ sign he directed at Webber following their collision in the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix.

There were also mistakes in Britain, Belgium and Singapore that year as he very nearly gifted the world title to Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, who lost it only after a strategic error in the final race.

Such was Vettel’s domination in 2011 that it never arose- leading some to say he had reached a new level of maturity both in and out of the car.

The truth of that claim looks set to be tested this year, as Red Bull and Vettel struggle to regain a position that the driver at least seems to consider is rightfully his.

Meanwhile, his rivals will have been watching with interest.

Webber, Alonso, Button and Hamilton remember Vettel’s behaviour in 2010 all too well.

Betraying his emotions in such an obvious way will be seen by them as a weakness – they will look at it and think he is rattled.

So it is true to say on the one hand that Vettel’s reaction proves he is a winner.

But it is also the case that learning how to lose gracefully – as Button and Alonso, particularly, have learnt in recent years – has its benefits as well.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/vettel_collision_a_champion_un.html

Rene Arnoux Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/09/2054763/indianapolis-500-full-of-intrigue.html

Trevor Blokdyk Mark Blundell Raul Boesel Menato Boffa Bob Bondurant

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel celebrate with Red Bull boss Christian Horner on the podium © Getty Images

Sections of the international media have questioned Red Bull’s strategic approach to the world championship. After Sebastian Vettel won the Brazilian Grand Prix from the team’s points leader Mark Webber at Interlagos, Der Spiegel noted: “Red Bull gives (Fernando) Alonso wings”. Not switching the places means that Spaniard Alonso can take his Ferrari to just second place this weekend in Abu Dhabi and be champion, whereas the alternative strategy would have set up Webber for a straight fight. “It is not easy for Webber to drive in a team that considers him a burden to be up against Vettel,” said La Gazzetta dello Sport. Tuttosport noted that it seems “the Austrian team would be happier to lose than to see Webber beat Vettel”. “No team orders at Red Bull. Another own goal,” headlined La Repubblica. Joan Villadelprat wrote in his El Pais column: “Had Red Bull opted for Webber a few races ago, the Australian would probably now be champion.” Red Bull, however, is unrepentant. Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper that “second under proper conditions can often be more valuable than a first”. But there is a feeling that the team is not simply giving up the fight for the drivers’ title. One columnist in Brazil’s Globo wondered if Vettel’s radio message in Abu Dhabi might sound something like ‘So … Mark is faster than you’. “I’m always in favour of leaving the fight on the track with equal chances for both sides,” said Rubens Barrichello. “But I wonder if they would do that if the situation was in reverse. ?Mark has done a great job this year and he has been told by his team what position he is in,” said Lewis Hamilton. “Against adversity he has kept at it. I want to see Mark win.” Webber believes that, if a strategy is deployed, it will only be on the “last lap” of the season this weekend. “Sebastian is part of a team,” said Niki Lauda, who believes Webber should be backed fully by Red Bull. “If he does anything it should be helping Webber and not just on the last lap.” Webber is quoted by Bild newspaper: “It makes sense. Otherwise it would mean that Ferrari’s team orders would have paid off for Fernando.” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner hints that sense will ultimately prevail. “We have already given too many presents to Fernando this year,” he is quoted by Autosprint.

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/red_bull_under_the_spotlight.php

Felice Bonetto Jo Bonnier Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu Slim Borgudd

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/f5lM2YVRC8E/tucker-brothers-in-trouble-with-law.html

Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh

The annual Formula 1 phoney war was in full swing at the second pre-season test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya this week.

Fernando Alonso was talking down Ferrari’s form, Lewis Hamilton was talking up McLaren’s – as, intriguingly, was Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. And the unlikely combination of Kamui Kobayashi and Sauber set the fastest time of the week.

As ever, the headline lap times were a poor guide to the order of the grid that can be expected in Melbourne at the first race in just three weeks’ time.

But look behind the fastest laps, and there is usually a way of gleaning at least some sense of form ahead of the season.

Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari could yet to turn out to be a dark horse. Photo: Getty

I’ll preface what follows with a major caveat – this has been one of the most difficult tests to read for some time. But here goes.

Red Bull, as ever, looked especially strong. Vettel was fastest of all on the first day of the test, and throughout the four days he and team-mate Mark Webber set consistently formidable-looking times.

On Wednesday afternoon, Vettel and Hamilton set out to do race-distance runs at more or less the same time. Both did 66 laps – the length of the Spanish Grand Prix, which will be held at the track in May.

Vettel did five pit stops; Hamilton four. Discount laps on which they went in and out of the pits and they both managed 55 flying laps. Vettel completed his more than two minutes faster than Hamilton.

If that was repeated in a race, Hamilton would be lapped by the end.

And the pattern was repeated on Thursday with Mark Webber and Jenson Button, although the margin was reduced to about half a minute.

Of course, this is very far from an exact scientific comparison.

They didn’t use the same tyres as each other – although they don’t necessarily have to in the race either.

We don’t know what they were doing with fuel loads – although it would be counter-intuitive to start putting fuel in at pit stops because it would provide the team with data that was never going to be relevant to competition.

And it’s an especially confusing situation because only the day before Vettel was saying how impressed he had been with the McLaren’s pace on the longer runs.

But there was more – none of it especially happy ready for those hoping for a close season.
On the Wednesday, Vettel’s fastest time of all was nearly a second faster than Hamilton’s on the same type of tyres. Although both were set on very short runs – suggesting a qualifying-type simulation – that’s still potentially meaningless as there is no way of knowing the level of fuel on board at the time.

Nevertheless, if you then look at the lap times both were doing at the start of their race-distance runs, they were about the same margin slower than each driver’s fastest laps as you would expect given a full race fuel load.

That suggests that the headline lap times of those two drivers could be a reasonably accurate indicator of form – again worrying for McLaren.

Of course, this is only testing, and teams have updates to put on their cars before the first race – as Button pointed out. And everyone expects McLaren to be a close to challenger at the front come Melbourne. Nevertheless, few are under any illusions about Red Bull’s strength.

“You’re old enough, Andrew,” one senior insider said to me during the test, “to know that Red Bull look very strong. McLaren and Ferrari are a bit behind. Force India look like they have a quick car, too.”

He might have added that the new Mercedes looks quite decent as well.

But few teams are as difficult to understand right now as Ferrari – who have not done any race simulations to compare with their main rivals.

The messages coming out of the team have all seemed pretty negative.

There has been a lot of attention put on technical director Pat Fry’s remark at the first test in Jerez that Ferrari were “not happy” with their understanding of the car.

Start raking through the time sheets, though, and you begin wonder what’s behind all the negativity.

On headline lap times, Alonso was less than 0.3secs behind Vettel. And on both his days he started 10-lap runs with a lap in the region of one minute 24.1 seconds.

If you take 10 laps’ worth of fuel off that time, you are left with a lap in the low 1:23sec bracket – again, not far off what Vettel managed. And you can bet the Ferrari was running with more than just 10 laps of fuel anyway; most top teams routinely test with 60-80kg of fuel on board.

In other words, the Ferrari actually looks reasonably fast, and an insider did admit: “The car is not as bad as a lot of people think.”

If – and it’s a big if – Ferrari can start to extract that potential before the first race of the season, Red Bull might just have a serious fight on their hands. And that’s without even considering what McLaren might be able to achieve.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/02/reading_between_the_lines_in_a.html

Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has been speaking about his team’s preparations for the 2012 Formula 1 season. Check out our Ferrari review for 2011! The Brazilian – who will take part in testing this week – believes that he will try many new ideas as they look to find a winning formula for the season ahead. [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/7bLVUyV2Wic/massa-the-truth-will-emerge-in-melbourne

Fred Agabashian Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto Jean Alesi

After Sunday’s Bahrain GP Martin Whitmarsh defended the McLaren mechanic who was most closely involved in the two botched pit stops on Lewis Hamilton?s car, and another with Jenson Button in the previous race in China. Whitmarsh stressed that it … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/23/martin-whitmarsh-theres-a-lot-of-pressure-nowadays/

Manny Ayulo Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey Mauro Baldi

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/odR7Vr_Kf0g/lotus-saga-chocolate-bunnies-rainbows-n.html

Kurt Adolff Fred Agabashian Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/07/webber-on-the-verge-of-walking.html

Elie Bayol Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem

The High Court in London has ruled on costs in the case between Force India and Aerolab, 1 Malaysia Racing Team (now racing as Caterham F1 Team) and Mike Gascoyne. The case concerned work done by Aerolab on the design of the 2010 Lotus T127 car. Aerolab had previously worked for Force India on the [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/everyone-wins/

Johnny Boyd David Brabham Gary Brabham

Whitmarsh says criticism of Pirelli’s tyres is “wrong” is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Pirelli’s tyres have been defended by McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh following Michael Schumacher’s criticism of them at the last race.

Whitmarsh says criticism of Pirelli’s tyres is “wrong” 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/WK6QvamwZeY/

Richard Attwood Manny Ayulo Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/rzuS_qhXaV8/somewhat-long-n-strange-trip-indeed.html

Paul Belmondo Tom Belso JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta Allen Berg

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/O_Z1ZqGZQ3c/formula-1-rewind.html

Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais Thierry Boutsen

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/07/2049584/f1-vet-barrichello-runs-first.html

Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco Hans Binder

Sebastian Vettel’s behaviour during and after the Malaysian Grand Prix has been causing a bit of a fuss in Germany over the past few days.

The media have lapped up his response to his collision with backmarker Narain Karthikeyan, in much the same way as their British counterparts would have done with a similar incident involving Lewis Hamilton, and Vettel has come in for a fair bit of criticism.

On the BBC after the race, Vettel called Karthikeyan an “idiot” for his role in the collision that cost the world champion fourth place.

Speaking in German, the word he chose was “cucumber” – a common insult in that country for bad drivers on the road.

Vettel faces increased competition from outside and inside his Red Bull Team. Photo: Getty/AFP

It has also been pointed out that shots from Vettel’s onboard camera appear to show the 24-year-old Red Bull driver giving Karthikeyan a middle-finger salute as he drives past. This has led some to call for him to be punished by governing body the FIA, which so far is keeping a low profile on the matter.

Comparisons have been drawn with McLaren’s Jenson Button – who also failed to score any points in Malaysia, but who reacted with his usual calm.

Vettel, some in Germany have said, doesn’t know how to lose.

They point out that last year he won 11 races on his way to one of the most dominant championship victories in Formula 1 history. Failing to win four races in a row in that context, the critics say, should not elicit this kind of reaction.

Vettel has not spoken in public since leaving Malaysia, and Red Bull are shrugging it off.

After the race on Sunday, team principal Christian Horner defended Vettel’s driving in the collision with Karthikeyan, saying that it was the Indian’s “responsibility to get out of the way of the leaders as he is a lapped car”.

Although the stewards penalised Karthikeyan for the incident, others are not sure it’s quite so clear-cut.

One leading F1 figure told me: “It was completely Vettel’s fault – he needed to give Karthikeyan more space. He only had to clear the last inch and he cut across the front of him. He was showing a bit of frustration and it bit him.”

Certainly Vettel has found himself at the start of 2012 in a situation with which he is not familiar.

Vettel has had the fastest car in F1 since at least the middle of 2009, and he has used it to good effect.

But now things are different. Red Bull’s new car is not a match for the McLaren, and it has also been behind one Mercedes and one Lotus on the grid in each of the first two races.

For a man who is as driven to win – to dominate even – as Vettel is, that will not be a comfortable situation.

Nor will it have escaped his attention that team-mate Mark Webber has so far out-qualified him in both races this year – again, quite a turnaround from 2011, when the Australian managed it only three times in 19 grands prix.

It is early days, but so far the comparison between the two Red Bull drivers looks much more like it was in the first part of 2010 – before the team started fully exploiting the exhaust-blown diffusers that dominated the last 18 months and which have been banned for this season.

Webber was never that comfortable in last season’s Red Bull – and while he came to match Vettel on race pace in the second half of last season, he never really got on terms with him in qualifying.

Much of that was to do with the behaviour of the car on corner entry, where the exhaust-blown diffusers were so powerful in increasing performance.

Red Bull’s decline has also coincided with the stiffening of the front-wing load test, an attempt to stop teams allowing the ends of the wing to droop towards the track at speed to increase downforce. Red Bull were noticeably better at doing this than the other teams.

It may be an unrelated coincidence, but this year’s Red Bull suffers from understeer, a lack of front-end grip – a handling characteristic Webber is comfortable with, while Vettel prefers oversteer.

This is not the first time Vettel has been criticised for letting his emotion get the better of him when things are not going his way.

There was the infamous ‘nutter’ sign he directed at Webber following their collision in the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix.

There were also mistakes in Britain, Belgium and Singapore that year as he very nearly gifted the world title to Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, who lost it only after a strategic error in the final race.

Such was Vettel’s domination in 2011 that it never arose- leading some to say he had reached a new level of maturity both in and out of the car.

The truth of that claim looks set to be tested this year, as Red Bull and Vettel struggle to regain a position that the driver at least seems to consider is rightfully his.

Meanwhile, his rivals will have been watching with interest.

Webber, Alonso, Button and Hamilton remember Vettel’s behaviour in 2010 all too well.

Betraying his emotions in such an obvious way will be seen by them as a weakness – they will look at it and think he is rattled.

So it is true to say on the one hand that Vettel’s reaction proves he is a winner.

But it is also the case that learning how to lose gracefully – as Button and Alonso, particularly, have learnt in recent years – has its benefits as well.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/vettel_collision_a_champion_un.html

JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais Thierry Boutsen Johnny Boyd David Brabham

He might not have generated many headlines this year, but Mark Webber has quietly kept himself in the title hunt with an unusually consistent run of results. The Red Bull driver has finished fourth in each of the four races … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/24/mark-webber-weve-always-been-there-or-thereabouts/

Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader Kurt Adolff

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/09/2053856/martina-mcbride-to-sing-national.html

Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader Kurt Adolff

Sauber has now formally confirmed its new marketing partnership with Chelsea FC, which had been rumoured for some time after the car carried ?blue? teaser messages at the last two Grands Prix. The relationship is the first in F1 to … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/30/sauber-finally-confirms-chelsea-deal/

Red Amick Chris Amon Bob Anderson Conny Andersson Mario Andretti

Oh to be a fly on the wall at the drivers’ briefing ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix next month.

The controversial decision not to penalise either Nico Rosberg for his aggressive defence against Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix or Hamilton for overtaking by going off the track has led to considerable debate within Formula 1.

So much so, that Alonso, a man who weighs his words carefully, has decided to speak out about it. After learning of the ruling, the Ferrari driver said to his 400,000-plus Twitter followers: “I think you are going to have fun in future races! You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!”

Nico Rosberg (left) and Lewis Hamilton may have differing views at the drivers’ meeting. Photo: Getty

Alonso had earlier said of Rosberg’s driving: “If instead of such a wide run-off area there had been a wall, I’m not sure I’d be here to talk about it.”

On the face of it, and at first glance, the stewards’ decision does appear difficult to understand.

With both Hamilton on lap 10 and Alonso on lap 24, Rosberg veered dramatically to the inside – and, unusually, right across to the white line that demarcates the edge of the circuit.

Both Hamilton and Alonso went off the track in avoidance, to varying degrees. Whereas Hamilton kept going and succeeded in passing the Mercedes, Alonso backed off and tried for the outside line, but had lost too much momentum to pull a move off.

Article 20.4 of the sporting regulations says: “Manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are not permitted.”

So why was Rosberg not penalised?

The stewards said his defence was legitimate because although it was Rosberg who started to deviate from his line first, he did so in a “constant and continuous straight-line manner” and neither Hamilton nor Alonso had “a significant portion of their car… alongside” Rosberg’s.

In other words, because Rosberg moved first, he was always clearly in front and it was therefore effectively the other driver’s decision to keep moving to the inside to the point that he was off the track.

In Hamilton’s case, if you watch the TV footage back, you can clearly see this is the case.

It is less obviously so with Alonso – and the stewards had to use the footage from the Ferrari’s onboard camera before they came to a conclusion.

I have not seen the footage, but I’m told it showed again that a) Rosberg moved first; and b) at no point was “a significant portion” of Alonso’s car alongside the Mercedes.

During the race, viewers heard Alonso say over his team radio: “He pushed me off the track. You have to leave a space. All the time you have to leave a space.”

This, though, is not actually what the regulations say.

A new rule, article 20.3, was introduced this year to formally enshrine that “any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to a corner”.

But this only applies when he is making a second move – there is nothing in the rules to stop drivers going right to the edge of the track in their first defensive move.

In other words, you might think – as Alonso did – that Rosberg’s driving was unfair, overly aggressive, even dangerous, but the rules contain nothing the stewards could use to penalise him.

There is no obligation, I’m told by a senior figure, to leave room for a rival, unless he is partially alongside. The question then becomes, how far alongside does a driver have to be before the man he is overtaking has to leave him room with his first move?

That’s where it starts to get awkward.

“It’s no different,” a senior insider says, “to a conventional overtaking manoeuvre when one driver dives down the inside, gets halfway alongside and they collide. One guy says: ‘You should have given me room.’ The other says: ‘You weren’t far enough alongside.’ Often drivers’ perception of a situation differs from the reality.”

The stewards have to use their judgement, including factors such as speed differential between the cars, when a driver moved, how many moves he made, and so on.

Back, though, to what the rules do say. Article 20.2 says drivers “must use the track at all times”. This is why Rosberg said over his team radio: “Hamilton passed me off the track.”

Which Hamilton clearly did. So why was he not penalised?

The stewards, I’m told, asked: “What advantage did Hamilton gain by going off the track?” And they concluded that if he had gone to the outside, he was carrying so much momentum he would have passed anyway.

The most obvious of several counter-points to that is: “Yes, but Hamilton did go off the track when you have established he didn’t need to, and he did pass him by doing so, so he should be penalised.”

At least two leading drivers share this view, I’m told. But you have to bear in mind that Hamilton is not the most popular driver on the grid and his rivals are “always looking for ways to nail him”, as one source put it on Monday.

The problem arose in the first place because concrete run-offs surround the circuit in Bahrain. Drivers can use these with impunity, safe in the knowledge that if they are forced off the track they are not going to spin on wet grass or hit a wall.

Had there been grass there, Hamilton would not have been able to pull off the same move (another argument for a penalty being applied) and Alonso might have backed off sooner.

Equally, had there been grass there – or even a wall – Rosberg might well have given them both a bit more room.

The stewards weighed it all up and felt that, in this instance, penalising Hamilton would have been overly harsh.

The result is some drivers believe Hamilton should have been penalised, some believe Rosberg should have been, and Alonso is saying the stewards’ ruling gives drivers carte blanche to overtake off the track or crowd their rivals as much as they like.

Which is why that drivers’ meeting in Barcelona promises to be so interesting.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/04/unanswered_questions_for_rosbe.html

Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi Erwin Bauer Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol

Over the course of his long career Michael Schumacher has rarely strayed into controversy with off-track comments, always preferring to keep his thoughts to himself. However after the Bahrain GP his frustrations came to the surface after what he called … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/23/michael-schumacher-im-not-happy-about-the-situation/

Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore

Marussia Virgin Racing have launched their car to take on the 2011 world championship in a lavish London ceremony. The Marussia name now preceeds Virgin following a major tie up with the Russian sportscar manufacturer and the team at the end of 2010.  It has led to the new car being designated as the MVR-02. [...]

Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/marussia-virgin-racing-launch-their-2011-car/

Don Branson Tom Bridger Tony Brise Chris Bristow Peter Broeker

The three days of testing at Mugello ended yesterday evening with the fastest time of the test going to Romain Grosjean, who lapped his Lotus in 1m21.035s. This was two-tenths of a second faster than the best time achieved by Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, which clocked a 1m21.363s. All the teams were trying updated versions [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/a-wrap-up-of-mugello-testing/

Stefan Bellof Paul Belmondo Tom Belso JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta

Dani Clos to drive for HRT in first practice in Spain is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Dani Clos will make his debut in an F1 practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend for HRT.

Dani Clos to drive for HRT in first practice in Spain 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/w_AlUfd7qG4/

Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso

The IndyCar team Dragon Racing has sued Group Lotus for at least $4.6 million in damages, accusing the company in its claim of damaging the team’s reputation by spreading “especially outrageous” falsehoods while at the same time failing to deliver two chassis which it had agreed to supply, which handicapped the team’s opportunity to be [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/a-lawsuit-for-group-lotus/

Erwin Bauer Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/O_Z1ZqGZQ3c/formula-1-rewind.html

Bob Anderson Conny Andersson Mario Andretti Michael Andretti Keith Andrews

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/07/2049966/indycar-team-dragon-racing-sues.html

Bob Bondurant Felice Bonetto Jo Bonnier Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/eDTIGz30ObQ/vintage-racing-films-now-showing-in.html

Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk Mark Blundell Raul Boesel

Alexander Rossi to make F1 debut in practice in Spain is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Alexander Rossi will drive in an F1 race weekend for the first time in the Spanish Grand Prix next week.

Alexander Rossi to make F1 debut in practice in Spain 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/zrjXLLK1GFI/

George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader

Marussia Virgin Racing have launched their car to take on the 2011 world championship in a lavish London ceremony. The Marussia name now preceeds Virgin following a major tie up with the Russian sportscar manufacturer and the team at the end of 2010.  It has led to the new car being designated as the MVR-02. [...]

Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/marussia-virgin-racing-launch-their-2011-car/

Kurt Adolff Fred Agabashian Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto

Win-less champions, going to a race and hosting fees is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Your questions answered on world champions who won the fewest races, how to arrange a trip to a Grand Prix and race hosting fees.

Win-less champions, going to a race and hosting fees 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/ZrOGfLVa5n4/

Bill Brack Ernesto Brambilla Vittorio Brambilla Toni Branca Gianfranco Brancatelli

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/y3DVn8W9Hk8/f1-south-american-squabble.html

Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen

Alonso hails Massa as “one of the best” 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: Fernando Alonso gives a vote of confidence for his under-fire team mate.

Alonso hails Massa as “one of the best” 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/QuL7kGiDVYg/

John Barber Skip Barber Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels

Fernando Alonso was in positive mood at the end of the Mugello test, despite his day being interrupted by a crash. Alonso damaged the front of the car in a low speed impact with the barrier, and lost some two … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/05/03/alonso-confident-in-ferrari-progress/

Gianfranco Brancatelli Eric Brandon Don Branson Tom Bridger Tony Brise

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/04/2044807/mcreynolds-rides-last-lap-pass.html

Tony Brooks Alan Brown Walt Brown Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has been speaking about his team’s preparations for the 2012 Formula 1 season. Check out our Ferrari review for 2011! The Brazilian – who will take part in testing this week – believes that he will try many new ideas as they look to find a winning formula for the season ahead. [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/7bLVUyV2Wic/massa-the-truth-will-emerge-in-melbourne

Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey Mauro Baldi Bobby Ball Marcel Balsa

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/qbyTsMcvDrw/street-party-in-bahrain-continues.html

Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/06/bahrain-is-still-not-a-certainty.html

Hans Binder Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger Art Bisch Harry Blanchard

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/ewMLtI0sOlg/no-fenders-on-formula-1-tv-strike.html

Rene Arnoux Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley

After Sunday’s Bahrain GP Martin Whitmarsh defended the McLaren mechanic who was most closely involved in the two botched pit stops on Lewis Hamilton?s car, and another with Jenson Button in the previous race in China. Whitmarsh stressed that it … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/23/martin-whitmarsh-theres-a-lot-of-pressure-nowadays/

Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/04/2044629/new-car-means-no-c-post-issue.html

Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey Mauro Baldi Bobby Ball

The Mercedes pit crew prepare for Michael Schumacher in Singapore © Getty Images

Away from the world of multi-million-pound car development laboratories and drivers whose small change takes care of the Monte Carlo harbour fees, another drama will play out in Singapore this week. The Independent’s David Tremayne joins F1′s unsung heroes.

These are not select millionaires but up to 16 ordinary, yet gifted, guys; team mechanics who have worked their way up the system and often migrate from team to team, are paid real-world wages of between £30,000 and £50,000 a year, are drilled to perfection ? and whose split-second synchronisation brings their teams huge rewards.

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/09/life_in_the_pit_lane.php

Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore Bill Aston Richard Attwood

The three days of testing at Mugello ended yesterday evening with the fastest time of the test going to Romain Grosjean, who lapped his Lotus in 1m21.035s. This was two-tenths of a second faster than the best time achieved by Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, which clocked a 1m21.363s. All the teams were trying updated versions [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/a-wrap-up-of-mugello-testing/

Tony Brooks Alan Brown Walt Brown Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes

Catching up on the launches in one mega post.  Here in you’ll find quick interviews with senior members of the team and photos from the Red Bull, Sauber, Renault Lotus, Toro Rosso, Mercedes and McLaren launches. Apologies for being somewhat late, the whole blog isn’t running at full power until the season starts again. Red [...]

Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/f1-2011-launch-catch-up-mclaren-mercedes-red-bull-sauber-toro-rosso-renault/

Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais Thierry Boutsen

Nine months ago Caterham F1 boss Tony Fernandes agreed to give up his fight for the Team Lotus name in exchange for a deal to take over management control and 20 percent of the troubled national carrier, Malaysian Airline System (MAS). This came after the company suffered a shocking $836 million loss in 2011, due [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/a-step-back-for-fernandes/

Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk Mark Blundell

Sebastian Vettel’s behaviour during and after the Malaysian Grand Prix has been causing a bit of a fuss in Germany over the past few days.

The media have lapped up his response to his collision with backmarker Narain Karthikeyan, in much the same way as their British counterparts would have done with a similar incident involving Lewis Hamilton, and Vettel has come in for a fair bit of criticism.

On the BBC after the race, Vettel called Karthikeyan an “idiot” for his role in the collision that cost the world champion fourth place.

Speaking in German, the word he chose was “cucumber” – a common insult in that country for bad drivers on the road.

Vettel faces increased competition from outside and inside his Red Bull Team. Photo: Getty/AFP

It has also been pointed out that shots from Vettel’s onboard camera appear to show the 24-year-old Red Bull driver giving Karthikeyan a middle-finger salute as he drives past. This has led some to call for him to be punished by governing body the FIA, which so far is keeping a low profile on the matter.

Comparisons have been drawn with McLaren’s Jenson Button – who also failed to score any points in Malaysia, but who reacted with his usual calm.

Vettel, some in Germany have said, doesn’t know how to lose.

They point out that last year he won 11 races on his way to one of the most dominant championship victories in Formula 1 history. Failing to win four races in a row in that context, the critics say, should not elicit this kind of reaction.

Vettel has not spoken in public since leaving Malaysia, and Red Bull are shrugging it off.

After the race on Sunday, team principal Christian Horner defended Vettel’s driving in the collision with Karthikeyan, saying that it was the Indian’s “responsibility to get out of the way of the leaders as he is a lapped car”.

Although the stewards penalised Karthikeyan for the incident, others are not sure it’s quite so clear-cut.

One leading F1 figure told me: “It was completely Vettel’s fault – he needed to give Karthikeyan more space. He only had to clear the last inch and he cut across the front of him. He was showing a bit of frustration and it bit him.”

Certainly Vettel has found himself at the start of 2012 in a situation with which he is not familiar.

Vettel has had the fastest car in F1 since at least the middle of 2009, and he has used it to good effect.

But now things are different. Red Bull’s new car is not a match for the McLaren, and it has also been behind one Mercedes and one Lotus on the grid in each of the first two races.

For a man who is as driven to win – to dominate even – as Vettel is, that will not be a comfortable situation.

Nor will it have escaped his attention that team-mate Mark Webber has so far out-qualified him in both races this year – again, quite a turnaround from 2011, when the Australian managed it only three times in 19 grands prix.

It is early days, but so far the comparison between the two Red Bull drivers looks much more like it was in the first part of 2010 – before the team started fully exploiting the exhaust-blown diffusers that dominated the last 18 months and which have been banned for this season.

Webber was never that comfortable in last season’s Red Bull – and while he came to match Vettel on race pace in the second half of last season, he never really got on terms with him in qualifying.

Much of that was to do with the behaviour of the car on corner entry, where the exhaust-blown diffusers were so powerful in increasing performance.

Red Bull’s decline has also coincided with the stiffening of the front-wing load test, an attempt to stop teams allowing the ends of the wing to droop towards the track at speed to increase downforce. Red Bull were noticeably better at doing this than the other teams.

It may be an unrelated coincidence, but this year’s Red Bull suffers from understeer, a lack of front-end grip – a handling characteristic Webber is comfortable with, while Vettel prefers oversteer.

This is not the first time Vettel has been criticised for letting his emotion get the better of him when things are not going his way.

There was the infamous ‘nutter’ sign he directed at Webber following their collision in the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix.

There were also mistakes in Britain, Belgium and Singapore that year as he very nearly gifted the world title to Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, who lost it only after a strategic error in the final race.

Such was Vettel’s domination in 2011 that it never arose- leading some to say he had reached a new level of maturity both in and out of the car.

The truth of that claim looks set to be tested this year, as Red Bull and Vettel struggle to regain a position that the driver at least seems to consider is rightfully his.

Meanwhile, his rivals will have been watching with interest.

Webber, Alonso, Button and Hamilton remember Vettel’s behaviour in 2010 all too well.

Betraying his emotions in such an obvious way will be seen by them as a weakness – they will look at it and think he is rattled.

So it is true to say on the one hand that Vettel’s reaction proves he is a winner.

But it is also the case that learning how to lose gracefully – as Button and Alonso, particularly, have learnt in recent years – has its benefits as well.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/vettel_collision_a_champion_un.html

Juan Manuel Bordeu Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/rzuS_qhXaV8/somewhat-long-n-strange-trip-indeed.html

Georges Berger Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/rzuS_qhXaV8/somewhat-long-n-strange-trip-indeed.html

Walt Ader Kurt Adolff Fred Agabashian Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/O_Z1ZqGZQ3c/formula-1-rewind.html

Walt Brown Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes Martin Brundle Gianmaria Bruni

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/03/2041887/townsend-bell-confirms-indianapolis.html

Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick

Kimi Raikkonen was to the point, as ever.

As pre-season testing wound to a close at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, the man who returns to Formula 1 this season after two years in rallying was asked how he felt the teams compared.

“In two weeks we know,” the Lotus driver said. “There is no point to guess here. I don’t know who’s going to be fastest. Nobody knows.”

Up and down the pit lane, drivers from other teams were expressing more or less the same view.

“McLaren look very strong,” said Red Bull’s Mark Webber. “And some of the other times done by other teams were pretty handy, too.”

Jenson Button, meanwhile, managed to cover all bases in three sentences.

“There’s a lot of work needs to be done before we’re properly competitive,” the McLaren driver said. “I’m reasonably happy with what we have. I don’t know where we are but the feeling is good.”

That summed up the situation pretty well at the end of three pre-season tests.

The lap times have been particularly difficult to read this year but it seems some patterns have emerged.

Up and down the pit lane, the general view is that the field is a lot closer than in recent years. Red Bull are again very strong, McLaren look like running them close and Mercedes appear to have made a step forward. Lotus, Sauber and Force India have also looked pretty handy.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn says he is “expecting the tightest start to a season we’ve seen for a number of years“.

People don’t just invent these views – they are formed by looking through the mountains of data that each day of testing throws up.

Kimi Raikonnen returns to Formula 1 after a three year absence.

Analysing the lap times also produces some interesting numbers.

While it is not possible to know the programmes each team is running at any time, it is a reasonable assumption that over the course of winter testing all the teams will get through pretty much the same sort of work.

So, logically, an average of every lap time a driver has done over the three tests should give some indication of where each team is.

On average, over the whole of winter testing, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was the fastest of the drivers from last year’s top two teams, by 0.3secs from Button, with Hamilton a similar margin further back and just in front of Webber.

The specific average times look like this:

Vettel one minute, 25.340 seconds
Button 1:25.664
Hamilton 1:25.937
Webber 1:25.951

It’s also worth pointing out that the pattern of the last two or three years has been for Red Bull’s true pace to be disguised in both winter testing and in free practice at the grands prix.

Whether they are running more fuel than their rivals, or a weaker engine map, Red Bull always seem to find more time when it matters than the others do.

Mercedes have clearly been doing a different programme from the other teams – with a far greater concentration of longer runs – so comparing their times is potentially less instructive.

But when you see that Nico Rosberg did a 1:22.932 at the start of a 13-lap run on the penultimate day of testing, you know they have a pretty decent car.

“It’s still going to be the teams from last year that we need to beat,” Rosberg said, sounding confident. “But I think we have a good chance to annoy them a few times early in the season.”

And then there is Ferrari. Unless there is some Oscar-worthy acting going on, they are in trouble.

Ferrari have been open about the fact that they are struggling to understand the behaviour of their radical new car. Insiders tell BBC Sport that sometimes it behaves well and predictably, and sometimes it does not, and the team have no idea why.

The sense of crisis was heightened by Ferrari’s decision to cancel their driver media briefings over the final weekend of testing, saying they wanted them to concentrate solely on their job.

But Fernando Alonso did speak on television at the Barcelona-Sporting football match on Saturday night, saying: “In the first races we will suffer because we are not 100%.”

Ferrari put up technical director Pat Fry instead of Alonso on Sunday, and he admitted that he thought it unlikely the team would be able to finish on the podium in Melbourne.

One can only imagine the pressure Fry must be feeling right now.

A diffident man who is uncomfortable with the media, Fry is in his first year in the job following the dismissal of predecessor Aldo Costa. And he has overseen a design office that was told to take risks this season in an attempt to close the gap to Red Bull after a poor 2011.

They’ve taken those risks – but it does not look for now as if they have made wise choices.

And yet, and yet. If you average out Alonso’s lap times over the whole of winter testing, guess what? He is the fastest of all – by 0.3secs. No wonder Webber says: “The mystery is the Ferrari.”

So what’s going on? The new F2012 looks like it can do a decent lap time, so it is conceivable that it will qualify pretty well in Melbourne the weekend after next.

But according to BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson, who spent some time watching trackside in Barcelona, it seems to quickly drop in performance, initially losing grip on turn-in, and later on corner exits too.

It seems to use its tyres particularly aggressively. Ferrari have been afflicted these last few years by a car that raced better than it qualified because it used its tyres too gently. In seeking to fix this trait, have they now gone too far the other way?

It’s not as if they can blame the drivers either. In Alonso, they have an all-time great, a gold standard who will push the car to its absolute limit on every single lap of every single race. Many consider his season in 2011 to have been better than his title-winning years with Renault in 2005-06, considering the equipment at his disposal.

This, team boss Stefano Domenicali has admitted to BBC Sport, was the point of signing the Spaniard on a lucrative contract that commits him to the team until the end of 2016. It puts pressure on the team to deliver.

Of course, all this may turn out to be an illusion. Perhaps Alonso will be a contender for victory in Melbourne, and throughout the year. But let’s assume for a moment he isn’t.

Back in 2007, when his relationship with McLaren was in tatters, Alonso had talks with Red Bull to discuss moving there.

Red Bull were keen but in the end Alonso opted for a move back to Renault, knowing a Ferrari seat was waiting for him a couple of years down the line.

At the time, with Ferrari contending for the title for the 10th time in 11 years and Red Bull still in the midfield, you could hardly fault the logic.

But now, in his quiet moments, or when he’s watching Vettel celebrate yet another win, or looking at the beautifully intricate detail at the back of the Red Bull, or when he’s wrestling his uncooperative mount into a corner, does Alonso wish he could turn back the clock?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/kimi_raikkonen_was_to_the_poin.html

Jimmy Bryan Carlo Abate George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/07/webber-on-the-verge-of-walking.html

Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore Bill Aston Richard Attwood

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/09/145-euros-india-had-better-be-worth-it.html

Fabrizio Barbazza John Barber Skip Barber Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello

Kyle Busch closes on Phoenix sweep By Diego Mejia Sunday, February 27th 2011, 07:28 GMT Kyle Busch could make further NASCAR history this weekend by completing a full sweep of victories in its top-level championships at Phoenix in a single weekend, having already dominated in the Trucks and Natiowide Series races at the one-mile oval. Related posts:

1. Kyle Busch goes wire-to-wire in N’wide Phoenix win AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch became the first driver in…
2. Kyle Busch rolls to 8th Nationwide win of season CLERMONT, Ind. — Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski kept it…
3. Kyle Busch talking with Tony Kanaan about NASCAR possibility AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch has had discussions with IndyCar…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/nascar-kyle-busch-closes-on-phoenix-sweep/

Michael Bartels Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi Erwin Bauer Zsolt Baumgartner

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/01/2036227/nascar-nationwide-aarons-312-preview.html

Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler

The wreckage of Jochen Rindt’s car at Barcelona © Getty Images

An excellent insight into the world of F1 as it used to be can be found on the regularly-interesting Letters of Note website. It publishes a hitherto unseen letter from Jochen Rindt to Lotus boss Colin Chapman written shortly after Rindt?s crash at Barcelona which was a result of the wing system on Lotus 49 collapsing at speed.

?Colin. I have been racing F1 for 5 years and I have made one mistake (I rammed Chris Amon in Clermont Ferrand) and I had one accident in Zandvoort due to gear selection failure otherwise I managed to stay out of trouble. This situation changed rapidly since I joined your team. ?Honestly your cars are so quick that we would still be competitive with a few extra pounds used to make the weakest parts stronger, on top of that I think you ought to spend some time checking what your different employes are doing, I sure the wishbones on the F2 car would have looked different. Please give my suggestions some thought, I can only drive a car in which I have some confidence, and I feel the point of no confidence is quite near.?

A little more than a year later Rindt’s Lotus suffered mechanical breakdown just before braking into one of the corners. He swerved violently to the left and crashed into a poorly-installed barrier, killing him instantly.

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/09/the_point_of_no_confidence_is.php

Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick

Live: Mugello test day three is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Join us and follow the final day of testing from Mugello on F1 Fanatic Live.

Live: Mugello test day three 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/tA-6HZRZq_c/

Elie Bayol Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem Jean Behra Derek Bell

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch became the first driver in a national NASCAR race to win wire-to-wire in nearly eight years. [+] Enlarge Tom Pennington/Getty Images Kyle Busch performs a burnout after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday Related posts:

1. NASCAR: Kyle Busch closes on Phoenix sweep Kyle Busch closes on Phoenix sweep By Diego Mejia Sunday,…
2. Kyle Busch rolls to 8th Nationwide win of season CLERMONT, Ind. — Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski kept it…
3. Kyle Busch leads final 107 laps for trucks victory AVONDALE, Ariz. — A quick pit stop and some key…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/kyle-busch-goes-wire-to-wire-in-nwide-phoenix-win/

Mark Blundell Raul Boesel Menato Boffa Bob Bondurant Felice Bonetto

If Ferrari fans thought that their team had perhaps not lived up its name last season then they should talk to fans of Williams. The team that dominated in the early 90?s winning multiple World Championships managed to score only five points last season. Five. It?s a sad fall from grace and one, that at [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/E6B6tv0XDjM/williams-begin-beginning-of-a-rebuilding-process

Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick

American Medical News reports hospitals in at least a dozen countries are learning how to translate the split-second timing and near-perfect synchronisation of Formula One pit crews to the high-risk handoffs of patients from surgery to recovery and intensive care.

“In Formula One, they have checklists, databases, and they have well-defined processes for doing things, and we don’t really have any of those things in health care.”

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/doctors_use_formula_one_pit_cr.php

Birabongse Bhanubandh Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco Hans Binder Clemente Biondetti

Caterham team principal Tony Fernandes has spoken about the decision to axe Jarno Trulli in favour of Vitaly Petrov for the 2012 season. Go here for Red Bull v Cowboys! You heard right! Trulli was under contract for the team, but his future in Formula 1 now looks uncertain after being replaced by the Russian. Speaking about the [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/vIpThGa9LMY/caterham-principal-aims-for-fresh-impetus

Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick Chris Amon

If Ferrari fans thought that their team had perhaps not lived up its name last season then they should talk to fans of Williams. The team that dominated in the early 90?s winning multiple World Championships managed to score only five points last season. Five. It?s a sad fall from grace and one, that at [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/E6B6tv0XDjM/williams-begin-beginning-of-a-rebuilding-process

Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/NF9MeTElBbE/my-dan-wheldon-tribute-story.html

Carlo Abate George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/30/2034308/petty-makes-crew-chief-change.html

Tom Bridger Tony Brise Chris Bristow Peter Broeker Tony Brooks

Alonso: 2011 tyres will hurt top teams By Matt Beer Monday, February 28th 2011, 19:07 GMT Fernando Alonso says he is not in favour of the move towards less durable tyres for 2011, as he fears this will end up penalising faster cars. Related posts:

1. F1: Teams expect 2011 tyres test in summer Teams expect 2011 tyres test in summer By Jonathan Noble…
2. F1: Cooper Avon enters race for 2011 tyres Cooper Avon enters race for 2011 tyres By Jonathan Noble…
3. F1: Alonso: Passing just as hard in 2011 Alonso: Passing just as hard in 2011 By Jonathan Noble…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-alonso-2011-tyres-will-hurt-top-teams/

Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore Bill Aston Richard Attwood

The second day of the F1 test at Mugello saw better weather and the unusual result of two drivers having exactly the same lap time with Romain Grosjean and Kamui Kobayashi sharing a best of 1m21.603s. This was two-tenths faster than Sebastian Vettel’s best for Red Bull, although both men did a lot more laps [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/a-better-day-at-mugello/

Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion

Albert Park, Melbourne
Statements of intent do not come much more emphatic than the one Jenson Button made with a dominant victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Crushingly superior in a straight fight with McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Button got off to the perfect start in a season that promises to be very different from Sebastian Vettel’s one-sided championship win last year.

There were fears after McLaren’s one-two in qualifying that they would run away in the race – and they proved to be half right.

Button left Hamilton behind and never looked like losing the race. It was a win as comfortable as any of the six in seven races he took at the start of 2009 to lay the foundations for his championship year with the Brawn team.

Jenson Button has won three of the last four Australian grands prix. Photo: Getty

Button admitted to BBC Sport after the race not only that he always gets “nervous-excited” before grands prix, but that he was more nervous before this one than perhaps any other.

One assumes it was founded in the knowledge that after starting his first two seasons at McLaren with cars that were off the pace of the Red Bull, he now had a real chance of getting his year off to the best possible start.

Contrary to appearances, that nervousness led to a slight error at the start. After a superb initial getaway, Button went for second gear too early, which delayed his charge to the first corner.

Luckily for Button, Hamilton had also had a bad start, and with the inside line, the corner – and, as it turned out, the victory – were his.

Ironically, the win bore more than a slight resemblance to many of Vettel’s in 2011.

Button went off like a frightened rabbit in the first two laps, the aim being to be far enough ahead at the start of lap three – when the drivers are first allowed to use the DRS overtaking aid – to ensure he was out of reach of his pursuers.

Rather than ease off, though, Button just kept going, a succession of fastest laps moving him more than three seconds clear within six laps, after which it stabilised.

So dominant was Button that even had Hamilton converted his lead at the start into one at the end of the first lap, it is difficult to imagine that the result would have been any different.

Hamilton cut a subdued figure after the race, giving short, quietly-spoken answers to questions. He admitted he “didn’t generally have great pace” and, after producing a stunning lap in qualifying to take pole, was clearly not expecting Button’s demoralising
performance.

Hamilton’s mood will not have been helped by losing out on second place to Vettel, largely through bad luck.

After leaving the two cars out slightly too long before their first pit stops, McLaren did exactly the right thing in stopping them one after the other for their second.

It was Hamilton’s bad luck that he was delayed by the introduction of the safety car on the very next lap, allowing Vettel to sneak ahead.

Vettel said after the race that he would have “had a crack” at Hamilton even without that stroke of good fortune.

But the two cars were evenly matched and if Hamilton, whose car was faster on the straight, was not able to pass Vettel it seems unlikely that Vettel would have been able to overtake the McLaren.

The manner of Button’s victory – Vettel described him as “unbeatable” – led to inevitable questions about whether McLaren will now dominate this season in the way Red Bull did last.

But as Hamilton said, it is “too early to tell” if McLaren are comfortably ahead of Red Bull.

“In qualifying we’re quite quick and competitive,” he said, “but they were massively quick in the race. I think they’re still a force to be reckoned with.”

Vettel, meanwhile, proved once again how ridiculous it ever was to suggest he could not race – his move around the outside of Nico Rosberg at Turn Nine on lap two was hugely impressive.

Behind the top two teams, an intriguing race has set the season up nicely.

Romain Grosjean made some errors befitting his semi-novice status as he squandered his excellent third place on the grid, but his Lotus team look like they could have the pace to challenge close to the front if they have a clean weekend.

Mercedes’ race pace was a disappointment after their impressive form in qualifying – which extreme was the true representation of their competitive position remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso dragged his Ferrari up to fifth place with a typically resilient and impressive performance, although the car’s lap times once the race settled down suggested the team still have a lot of work to do.

The mixed-up grid, caused by typical early seasons problems for Red Bull, Alonso and Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying, led to some superb battles throughout a race that seemed to confirm the impression of pre-season testing that the grid has closed up this year.

“We all think this is a special year in F1 with six world champions and so many competitive teams,” Button said. “F1 is in a special place and it’s a great sport to be a part of.”

Malaysia next weekend will provide further evidence of what lies ahead. Button and Hamilton, for very different reasons, will be anxious to get on with it.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/albert_park_melbourne_statemen.html

Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari

Renault: Heidfeld already leading team By Dieter Rencken and Matt Beer Sunday, February 27th 2011, 10:59 GMT Renault team boss Eric Boullier says it was obvious from Nick Heidfeld’s first few laps in the car that he was the man the squad needed to lead its 2011 charge in the absence of the injured Robert Kubica. Heidfeld will fill in alongside Vitaly Petrov at Renault until Kubica recovers from the multiple injuries he suffered in a rally crash three weeks ago. The German had a test audition for Renault before being snapped up, and Boullier said he was very impressed by the way Heidfeld immediately took charge. Related posts:

1. F1: Renault ‘very positive’ about Heidfeld Renault ‘very positive’ about Heidfeld By Matt Beer Saturday, February…
2. F1: Heidfeld, Liuzzi also in Renault frame Heidfeld, Liuzzi also in Renault frame By Jonathan Noble Tuesday,…
3. F1: Heidfeld’s Renault run set for Saturday Heidfeld’s Renault run set for Saturday By Matt Beer Friday,…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-renault-heidfeld-already-leading-team/

George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/BqwDL1dCXEQ/tensions-in-bahrain-continue-ratcheting.html

Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger Art Bisch Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen

Alonso: 2011 tyres will hurt top teams By Matt Beer Monday, February 28th 2011, 19:07 GMT Fernando Alonso says he is not in favour of the move towards less durable tyres for 2011, as he fears this will end up penalising faster cars. Related posts:

1. F1: Teams expect 2011 tyres test in summer Teams expect 2011 tyres test in summer By Jonathan Noble…
2. F1: Cooper Avon enters race for 2011 tyres Cooper Avon enters race for 2011 tyres By Jonathan Noble…
3. F1: Alonso: Passing just as hard in 2011 Alonso: Passing just as hard in 2011 By Jonathan Noble…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-alonso-2011-tyres-will-hurt-top-teams/

Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore

Mugello test day one in pictures is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Pictures from today’s wet F1 test session at Mugello.

Mugello test day one in pictures 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/Ipu9yXihI50/

Don Branson Tom Bridger Tony Brise Chris Bristow Peter Broeker

Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless streak by taking the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at PhoenixJeff Gordon Ends Drought AVONDALE, Ariz. — Just before peeling off what he called a lame burnout near the finish line, Jeff Gordon screamed into his radio, the emotion pouring out with his voice. [+] Enlarge Jared C. Related posts:

1. Jeff Gordon wins the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless…
2. NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon gets new spotter starting at Pocono CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jeff Gordon will have a new spotter…
3. Jeff Gordon wins pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway; Jimmie Johnson to start 10th CONCORD, N.C. — Jeff Gordon’s long winless streak is well…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/jeff-gordon-wins-at-phoenix-to-snap-66-race-drought/

Georges Berger Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/30/2034308/petty-makes-crew-chief-change.html

Martin Brundle Gianmaria Bruni Jimmy Bryan Carlo Abate George Abecassis

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/01/2036227/nascar-nationwide-aarons-312-preview.html

Tony Brooks Alan Brown Walt Brown Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/qbyTsMcvDrw/street-party-in-bahrain-continues.html

Richard Attwood Manny Ayulo Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey

© Getty Images

Brazil?s F1 fever may have overstepped the mark after a local prosecutor threatened Felipe Massa with a six-year jail term if he ?defrauds? the sporting public by letting Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso past at Sunday?s grand prix. The story, reported by a local paper and picked up by the Daily Telegraph, is the latest of several anti-Massa reports to emerge from his home country since the team orders controversy at the German Grand Prix earlier this year. The Daily Telegraph’s Tom Cary reckons that Massa simply isn’t living up to his home crowd’s high expectations.

?A public raised on a diet of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna were simply appalled and saddened in equal measure by Massa?s apparent lack of ambition.?

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/massa_threatened_with_jail_ove.php

George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/29/2032369/rewind-confusion-and-flags-at.html

Stefan Bellof Paul Belmondo Tom Belso JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta

Rain limits running on first day of Mugello test is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Wet conditions at the Mugello circuit prevented teams from doing much meaningful running in the first day of this week’s test.

Rain limits running on first day of Mugello test 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/TN8XLXI8-Rc/

Jo Bonnier Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu Slim Borgudd Luki Botha

Amid the widespread astonishment at how Fernando Alonso has found himself leading the world championship after two races despite driving the worst car Ferrari have produced for nearly 20 years, it has been somewhat overlooked that McLaren are topping the constructors’ championship.

Victory for Jenson Button in Australia, two third places for Lewis Hamilton and two front row lock-outs have demonstrated that the MP4-27 is not only the best-looking car on the grid, it is also the fastest.

This is quite a turnaround from the last three years, when McLaren have been off the pace at the start of the season, putting their title challenge on the back foot before it had started.

The man responsible for this turnaround is McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe, who is in charge of the team’s design and engineering.

A likeable, down-to-earth character, Lowe says “relief” is the first emotion he feels as a result of this impressive achievement after three years of struggling in vain to keep up with Red Bull.

He says: “There is a lot of pressure – people going around saying what you need to do is deliver a car that is quickest at the first race, as though we hadn’t thought of that, you know?

“You go and estimate what you think that involves with no certain knowledge and then you go and try to deliver it. It’s tough.”

McLaren driver Jenson Button tackles a rain-swept Malaysian Grand Prix. Photo: Getty

Ask Lowe how McLaren have ended up with the fastest car at the start of a season for the first time in four years, and he’ll tell you there is no “magic”.

In reality, there are several factors behind McLaren’s ability to leapfrog Red Bull this year and stay ahead of everyone else.

McLaren had a successful winter that was not affected by reliability problems with the car, as had been the case in 2011. That meant they could spend pre-season perfecting what they had rather than, as Lowe puts it, “fighting fires”.

Equally, Red Bull appear to have been more badly affected than most other teams by the banning of exhaust-blown diffusers, last year’s must-have technology, which the world champions are widely believed to have exploited more effectively than any other team.

For McLaren, starting 2012 with the fastest car is the culmination of a three-year battle to return to the top that began with the disaster of 2009, when they started the season more than two seconds off the pace.

That was the result of Hamilton’s intense title battle with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in 2008 - which deflected resource away from both team’s new cars – as well as the introduction of the biggest regulation change for 25 years.

McLaren recovered well in 2009 to win a couple of races later in the season, once they had adopted the ‘double diffuser’ that caused controversy at the start of the year and led to Brawn’s championship win.

In 2010 they moved forward, but were still only third fastest behind Red Bull and Ferrari; and in 2011 they leapfrogged Ferrari but were still behind Red Bull.

At the same time, there was a re-organisation of the technical department undertaken in 2010-11, which has taken time to settle down.

“We came out (in 2011) pretty much in the same place we had been at the end of 2010,” Lowe says. “So Red Bull had made decent progress over the winter and so had we.

“You have got to do not only what your competitors have done over the winter but then a bit more and then some to generate a lead over them.

“But that is difficult when there aren’t fundamental changes in the rules for the car.

“You’d need Red Bull to go on holiday for a month, and then if you were working to the same general output you’d catch them up, but obviously they don’t do that so you’ve just got to push it.”

The same thoughts were going through the minds of the bosses at Ferrari. But whereas Maranello responded by undertaking a major change in design philosophy – which has backfired, notwithstanding Alonso’s win on Sunday – McLaren realised this would be a mistake.

“In general you are going to be reluctant to say: ‘I need to tear this up’,” Lowe says.

“Here and there we were quicker than a Red Bull and we were certainly close to them when we weren’t.

“The car performance at that point, given also there is not a big regulation change, is a consequence of a great deal of hard work. So it’s quite rash to throw that away in too many areas rather than just build on it and iterate further and further.

“That doesn’t mean you’re not constantly looking for new ideas and trying to make them work. (But) you have to make very sure that whatever change you make is going to be better.”

Lowe’s contention that there has been no miracle at McLaren, just good, solid development work, is backed up by the fact that other teams have clearly made even more progress compared to Red Bull than they have – such as Lotus and Williams.

In pointing this out, Lowe betrays the natural caution of the F1 engineer – an approach that is understandable when, as Malaysia proved, even having the outright fastest car is no guarantee you will win the race.

Hamilton stepped down from the bottom step of the podium on Sunday to tell the waiting media he needed to find more race pace to capitalise on his strong qualifying form.

Lowe’s “new challenge”, it seems, has already arrived.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/lowe_confident_of_mclaren_succ.html

Manny Ayulo Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey Mauro Baldi

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/S4nGEym1AbA/bahraini-kingdom-sweeps-nations-divide.html

Jo Bonnier Roberto Bonomi Juan Manuel Bordeu Slim Borgudd Luki Botha

Narain Karthikeyan has made a surprise return to Formula One after being announced as one of Hispania HRT’s drivers for the 2011 season. The Indian driver was unveiled as the first racer to be working with the Spanish based squad, who look likely to enter into a second season of racing despite on-going financial concerns. [...]

Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/karthikeyan-makes-surprise-f1-return-with-hrt/

Paul Belmondo Tom Belso JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta Allen Berg

Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless streak by taking the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at PhoenixJeff Gordon Ends Drought AVONDALE, Ariz. — Just before peeling off what he called a lame burnout near the finish line, Jeff Gordon screamed into his radio, the emotion pouring out with his voice. [+] Enlarge Jared C. Related posts:

1. Jeff Gordon wins the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless…
2. NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon gets new spotter starting at Pocono CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jeff Gordon will have a new spotter…
3. Jeff Gordon wins pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway; Jimmie Johnson to start 10th CONCORD, N.C. — Jeff Gordon’s long winless streak is well…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/jeff-gordon-wins-at-phoenix-to-snap-66-race-drought/

Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/8aUQmZJ0n7w/woodys-returning-to-le-mans.html

Bob Anderson Conny Andersson Mario Andretti Michael Andretti Keith Andrews

McLaren is to get a seat on the board of the F1 holding company, according to a report today. If true it helps to explain why the team joined Ferrari and Red Bull in agreeing early to the terms of … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/22/mclaren-to-get-seat-on-f1-board/

Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger Art Bisch Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen

Kimi Raikkonen silenced the sceptics with a superb drive to second place in Bahrain, and at one stage looked like he might actually win. The Lotus driver started 11th and had the benefit of having two new sets of options … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/22/kimi-raikkonen-in-the-end-we-were-not-fast-enough-to-win/

Juan Manuel Bordeu Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais

Renault: Heidfeld already leading team By Dieter Rencken and Matt Beer Sunday, February 27th 2011, 10:59 GMT Renault team boss Eric Boullier says it was obvious from Nick Heidfeld’s first few laps in the car that he was the man the squad needed to lead its 2011 charge in the absence of the injured Robert Kubica. Heidfeld will fill in alongside Vitaly Petrov at Renault until Kubica recovers from the multiple injuries he suffered in a rally crash three weeks ago. The German had a test audition for Renault before being snapped up, and Boullier said he was very impressed by the way Heidfeld immediately took charge. Related posts:

1. F1: Renault ‘very positive’ about Heidfeld Renault ‘very positive’ about Heidfeld By Matt Beer Saturday, February…
2. F1: Heidfeld, Liuzzi also in Renault frame Heidfeld, Liuzzi also in Renault frame By Jonathan Noble Tuesday,…
3. F1: Heidfeld’s Renault run set for Saturday Heidfeld’s Renault run set for Saturday By Matt Beer Friday,…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-renault-heidfeld-already-leading-team/

Don Branson Tom Bridger Tony Brise Chris Bristow Peter Broeker

The Formula 1 teams arrived in Melbourne’s Albert Park to be greeted by grey skies, intermittent rain and blustery wind. But not even the weather could dampen the palpable excitement and nervous tension.

The start of the new season is just a few hours away and everyone from world champions Red Bull to lowly HRT is desperate to find the answer to the question they have been asking all winter. Where will they be come Saturday and Sunday afternoons?

The F1 teams like to keep outsiders guessing before the first race by saying they don’t know where they are in terms of competitiveness, but usually this is little more than kidology.

Such is their capacity to analyse data with massive super-computers that usually they have a very good idea of their position in relation to their rivals, despite the well-known difficulty of predicting form from pre-season testing.

But this year seems different; they genuinely don’t seem to know – so the usual anticipation ahead of the first race of the season is magnified.

Lewis Hamilton said that judging by the data that mattered from winter testing he felt McLaren were “in the top three or four”.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has also bigged up his team’s chances for the 2012 season. Photo: Getty

Meanwhile, a senior engineer from one of the teams who will be contesting what is expected to be a congested midfield battle told me he was pretty sure Red Bull and McLaren were out front but he didn’t know “whether we will be third or seventh”.

Some people’s anticipation is more nervous than others’, though.

For teams such as Mercedes and Lotus, there is a genuine sense that they have done a good job and moved forward over the winter.

In fact there is a growing sense in the paddock that Mercedes may even be able to give McLaren and Red Bull a run for their money, something team principal Ross Brawn was quick to dismiss as “unlikely”.

For others, the desire to discover the true pace of their car is tinged as much with trepidation as anticipation.

Ferrari have had what Fernando Alonso described here on Thursday as a “tough” winter, struggling with “quite a complex car in terms of set-up and understanding it”.

Alonso was doing his best to talk up the team’s chances, saying: “Maybe we didn’t reach our targets but it doesn’t mean that we are slower than the other cars. That we will not know until Saturday.”

Others are keen to play down the importance of this first race of the season.

Vettel said that Australia this weekend and Malaysia next would do no more than demonstrate a “trend” for performance over the season.

And Brawn said he “preferred to look at the first four races and the range of circuits we have and see how that looks”.

But the statistics belie that point of view.

Albert Park might be a unique street circuit, with a dusty, low-grip surface, and the teams may only just be beginning to work with their new cars. But actually it has proven to be a rather good arbiter of the season to come – five of the last six winners of the Australian Grand Prix have gone on to become world champion that year.

Other themes are also emerging this weekend that will have importance to one degree or another as the season develops.

F1 wouldn’t be F1 without a good technical conspiracy and this year looks like being no different.

Already during pre-season testing there have been eyebrows raised at the way some teams are trying to exploit exhaust gases for aerodynamic effect.

This practice was supposed to have been ended by rule changes that have restricted the positioning and angle of the exhaust pipes and put much stricter limits on engine mapping – both an attempt to rid the sport of so-called exhaust-blown diffusers that became such important tools over the previous two seasons.

But this weekend another potential controversy has emerged over the rear wings on several cars, particularly the Mercedes, Red Bull and the Ferrari.

These new devices – that some believe to be on the fringes of legality – seem designed to exploit the DRS overtaking aid in ways not originally intended.

The DRS was designed as a tool to make overtaking less difficult – if a driver is within a one-second margin of a car he is trying to overtake, he can use the DRS in a specified zone on the track to give him a straight-line speed boost.

Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, meanwhile, have what appear to be extra slots on the rear wing that can work in conjunction with the DRS to either increase straight-line speed even further, or allow the teams to run extra downforce with no drag penalty.

The most noticeable feature of the 2012 cars, though, remains the noses – and specifically the ugly ‘platypus’ step on all but the McLaren and Marussia.

This is a result of a rule that has lowered the nose tips of the cars to increase driver safety, but not lowered the top of the chassis.

The result is a grid full of ridiculous and ugly-looking cars, and very few are troubling to hide their frustration at the situation.

“It is unfortunate,” Brawn said, “and the teams should look at themselves and blame themselves.

“[Governing body] the FIA tried to do what they could and a number of teams wouldn’t agree to the changes because they said they wanted to carry over their chassis, which we all know is a load of nonsense because nobody has carried over their chassis.

“We’ve ended up with a very odd feature on the cars which is not very endearing and I’m sure will get fixed for 2013.”

The noses, of course, will soon be forgotten if the season is close and competitive. And that will only begin to become clear as this weekend unfolds.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/new_f1_season_could_prove_unpr.html

Jimmy Bryan Carlo Abate George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/f5lM2YVRC8E/tucker-brothers-in-trouble-with-law.html

Frank Armi Chuck Arnold Rene Arnoux Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/8aUQmZJ0n7w/woodys-returning-to-le-mans.html

Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick

Alonso: 2011 tyres will hurt top teams By Matt Beer Monday, February 28th 2011, 19:07 GMT Fernando Alonso says he is not in favour of the move towards less durable tyres for 2011, as he fears this will end up penalising faster cars. Related posts:

1. F1: Teams expect 2011 tyres test in summer Teams expect 2011 tyres test in summer By Jonathan Noble…
2. F1: Cooper Avon enters race for 2011 tyres Cooper Avon enters race for 2011 tyres By Jonathan Noble…
3. F1: Alonso: Passing just as hard in 2011 Alonso: Passing just as hard in 2011 By Jonathan Noble…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-alonso-2011-tyres-will-hurt-top-teams/

Art Bisch Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/odR7Vr_Kf0g/lotus-saga-chocolate-bunnies-rainbows-n.html

Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes Martin Brundle Gianmaria Bruni Jimmy Bryan

There are, it turns out, two Kimi Raikkonens.

The public face of the 2007 world champion, who has returned to Formula 1 this season after two years in rallying, is of a monosyllabic, monotone, unsmiling figure, energised only the moment he steps into a racing car.

The one who emerges in private is very different – a talkative, jocular man, who can happily sit and shoot the breeze like anyone else.

As Lotus trackside operations director, Alan Permane has worked closely with Raikkonen since he joined the team last November.

Kimi Raikkonen has been perceived as cold and uncommunicative. Photo: Getty

The 32-year-old Finn, Permane says, “is happy to sit and talk, not only about technical stuff, but laughing and joking and talking rubbish with his engineers about all sorts of stuff”.

He is just not interested in any of his dealings with the media and, unlike his rivals, doesn’t bother to hide it.

Permane worked with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso through the title-winning years with the team formerly known as both Benetton and Renault. He has been impressed with Raikkonen from the start.

Raikkonen first drove one of the team’s cars at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia in late January. Straightaway the team knew they had something special.

He had not driven an F1 car since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and had no experience of the Pirelli tyres he was using. Yet, after a single installation lap to check the car’s systems were working, his first flying lap was within a few 10ths of a second of the fastest lap he would do over the next two days.

The good impressions did not go away.

Permane said, “He has never driven a car with a full load of fuel in it.

“We went from 30-160kg [of fuel load in Valencia] to show him that’s the sort of difference you can expect – certainly from qualifying to race it’s even bigger than that.

“We calculate the lap time difference the fuel load will make and his first lap was absolutely spot on that difference. That is impressive.”

After that, Raikkonen did another 20 laps, each one exactly 0.1secs slower than the last – the lap time lost by tyre degradation.

There is a widespread belief that Raikkonen is as unforthcoming in his technical debriefs as he is in public, but that, too, appears to be a fallacy.

Lotus have found his comments in debriefs to be not only lengthy but very perceptive, too.

He was slightly quicker than new team-mate Romain Grosjean throughout pre-season testing, so it was a surprise that he was about 0.2secs slower than the Franco-Swiss semi-novice in the practice sessions in Melbourne.

Equally, the errors Raikkonen made on his qualifying laps that left him down in 18th on the grid betrayed a certain ring-rustiness, as well as perhaps the pressure he was feeling from Grosjean’s pace.

In the race, though, something of the old Raikkonen returned as he fought back up from his low starting position to take seventh place by the end.

Clearly, though, there is more to come.

Raikkonen is not entirely happy with the feel he is getting from the Lotus’s steering, but Permane plays down the significance of the problem.

“He’s very particular,” Permane says. “He knows what he wants and it’s not quite to his liking. It’s not a million miles away, but we’ll get it there.”

Raikkonen can drive perfectly well with the steering as it is, but the problem probably does mean that he is driving a little below his maximum.

The question now is, at what level is his maximum?

The reason Raikkonen left F1 in the first place was because he performed for Ferrari for much of 2008 and 2009 way below the level expected of him.

Ferrari, in fact, terminated Raikkonen’s contract a year early and paid him not to drive in 2010 so they could bring in Alonso.

The Spaniard has since out-performed Felipe Massa, the man who generally had the better of Raikkonen from the start of 2008 until fracturing his skull in an accident in Hungary in July 2009.

Does this mean Alonso is that much better than Raikkonen? Or that Raikkonen in 2008-9 was a long way below his best? Or that Massa is not the driver he was?

No one knows for sure, but for Raikkonen’s comeback to be considered an unqualified success he will have to be able to match his new team-mate’s pace.

The fact Lotus have regrouped over the winter and produced one of the year’s fastest cars only increases the pressure – it’s not so bad to be beaten by a team-mate when you’re battling to get into the top 10; but a very different matter when you’re fighting for the podium.

That, it appears, is what Lotus are in a position to do.

“We screwed up with the car last year,” Permane says, “and we know we’ve done a lovely car this year, not only aerodynamically, but we’ve done a nice package mechanically.”

So pleased are Lotus with the new E20 that Permane says he “dared to compare it with 2005″, when Alonso won the first of his two titles.

That is not so much a measure of Lotus’s realistic hopes as a reflection of how much the drivers like the car, and how well it responds to changes.

Nevertheless, the team are confident they can keep up with the break-neck development pace of the likes of McLaren and Red Bull and hold on to their position.

For Raikkonen, the requirement now is prove that he can go with them. So far, the signs are positive.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/the_two_kimi_raikkonens.html

Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mário de Araújo Cabral Frank Armi

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/-BREtItcqCA/paar-scratches-from-team-willy.html

John Barber Skip Barber Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels

Mercedes buyout ‘won’t change team’ By Edd Straw Monday, February 28th 2011, 12:50 GMT No changes will be made to the way that Mercedes GP is run after Daimler AG and Aabar Investments took full control of the team, according to the German firm’s motorsport boss Norbert Haug. It was announced this morning that Mercedes and Aabar had acquired the remaining 24.9 per cent of the team, which was owned by the five shareholders involved in the original management buyout of Honda in 2009 – Ross Brawn, Nick Fry, Caroline McGrory, John Marsden and Nigel Kerr. Related posts:

1. F1: Mercedes working flat out to catch up Mercedes working flat out to catch up By Pablo Elizalde…
2. F1: Haug: No doubt Mercedes will win again Haug: No doubt Mercedes will win again By Jonathan Noble…
3. F1: Mercedes denies management friction Mercedes denies management friction By Jonathan Noble Tuesday, September 28th…

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Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-mercedes-buyout-wont-change-team/

Rene Arnoux Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch became the first driver in a national NASCAR race to win wire-to-wire in nearly eight years. [+] Enlarge Tom Pennington/Getty Images Kyle Busch performs a burnout after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday Related posts:

1. NASCAR: Kyle Busch closes on Phoenix sweep Kyle Busch closes on Phoenix sweep By Diego Mejia Sunday,…
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Source: http://doxcar.com/kyle-busch-goes-wire-to-wire-in-nwide-phoenix-win/

Chris Amon Bob Anderson Conny Andersson Mario Andretti Michael Andretti

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/O_Z1ZqGZQ3c/formula-1-rewind.html

Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/rCmI24N28xk/eleven-days-in-thy-wilderness.html

Derek Bell Stefan Bellof Paul Belmondo Tom Belso JeanPierre Beltoise

Kimi Raikkonen silenced the sceptics with a superb drive to second place in Bahrain, and at one stage looked like he might actually win. The Lotus driver started 11th and had the benefit of having two new sets of options … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/22/kimi-raikkonen-in-the-end-we-were-not-fast-enough-to-win/

Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco Hans Binder Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger