The racing weekend that was - Wk 47

Formula 1, at Abu Dhabi:
As most had predicted, the start of the race would be crucial and would probably determine who would win the race, and with it, the 2014 championship.

A jubilant Hamilton after the race

Lewis Hamilton made a lighting fast start while pole-sitter Nico Rosberg somehow failed to keep up, allowing Hamilton to take the ever so important first corner. Though Rosberg would keep Hamilton is his sights with a 2.0 second or so gap, around the midway point of the race he would suffer reliability issues with his Mercedes. The Energy Recovery System (ERS) failed giving him all sorts of problems. It was so bad that at one point his team requested him to park the car, to which he replied he wanted to continue and finish the race. He would finish in 14th place. Though he lost the championship, he won the hearts of many with that drive!

Towards the end of the race, Felipe Massa would make a last ditch effort to reel in Hamilton, and he would have if the race were a bit longer. All in all, Lewis Hamilton drove a great race and with this win, his 11th of the season, he would become the 2014 world champion, for the second time.

Lewis on his 2nd championship: "So I've very much embraced that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope there's more of those for us. The second one many years after, it feels like it's the first. I feel like I'm having the first experience, even though it is the second, it does feel like the first."

Valtteri Bottas gave Williams their first double-podium finish (see pict to the right) of the year, even though he had a poor start of the race. Daniel Ricciardo drove a great race, starting from the pit lane due to penalties incurred on Saturday. Both Red Bull cars were penalized due to rear-wing rule infractions

Top five:
1. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, Mercedes
2. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Williams-Mercedes
3. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Williams-Mercedes
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, Red Bull-Renault
5. Jenson Button, Brittain, McLaren-Mercedes

Championship's top five:
1. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, 384 points
2. Nico Rosberg, Germany, 317 points
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, 214
4. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, 186 points
5. Fernando Alonso, Spain, 161

The season starts on March 15, 2015, with the Australian GP. In the meantime, check back with us to keep yourself abreast of the latest developments in F1.

The racing weekend that was - Wk 35

In Formula One, at Spa-Francorchamps:
In a truly remarkable race, that saw Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg drop kick teammate Lewis Hamilton early in the race, it was Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo who came in first for a second race IN A ROW!

Though I appreciate the drama created by Rosberg's decisive but unprofessional move on Hamilton, which gave the latter a puncture forcing him to pit and eventually retire, it does put the FIA in a negative light. There are racing incidents and then there is malice, and I am afraid that this falls in the category of the latter. Lewis now trails Rosberg by 29 points.

Lewis on the incident: "It looked quite clear to me but we just had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose. He said he could have avoided it....but he said I did it to prove a point... and you don't have to just rely on me, go and ask Toto [Wolff], Paddy [Lowe] and all those guys who are not happy with him as well."

And to make matters worse, the race savvy Hamilton realized he was running so far back that he requested to retire his car to save the engine as new regulations put a premium on fresh racing engines. Just 6 laps before the finish of the race he was allowed to do so by the Mercedes top, whereas he requested this very early in the race and repeatedly asked to retire to save the engine. It is sad to see the Mercedes squad so openly play games so a German can win the driver's championship.  For more commentary, please click here.

A last minute battery malfunction on Fernando Alonso's Ferrari while on the grid saw him get penalized with a five-second stop-go penalty. Though he admits they didn't have the straight line speed as the front runners, they could have gotten a podium finish.

The top five:

1. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, RBR,
2. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Mercedes,
3. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Williams-Mercedes (pict on the right),
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Ferrari,
5. Sebastien Vettel, Germany, Red Bull-Renault (RBR)

Well, as one can imagine both Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas were ecstatic on the podium. Rosberg however received a hostile welcome as he was greeted by a chorus of boos, and chants of Hamilton, Hamilton.

The F1 circus returns to the Italian GP at Monza, on September 5-7, 2014.


WRC's Adac Rallye Deutschland:
Thierry Neuville made a fantastic comeback after suffering a massive crash in the shakedown, with his Hyundai i20 WRC rolling over six times. After the race favourites - first Sebastien Ogier and then Jari-Matti Latvala - fell by the wayside, Thierry kept his cool and kept pushing eventually coming in 40.7 seconds over second place finisher and team mate Dani Sordo. So it was a double celebration for the Hyundai WRC team.

Neuville on attack mode.

The top five:
1. Thierry Neuville, Belgium, Hyundai Shell
2. Daniel Sordo, Spain, Hyundai Shell
3. Andreas Mikkelsen, Norway, VW Motorsport II
4. Elfyn Evans, UK, M-Sport
5. Mikko Hirvonen, Finland, M-Sport

The next race will be the Coates Hire Rally Australia on September 11-14, 2014.


Outlaw Pro Mod racing:

Last Saturday night some minds were blown at the Gateway MSP near St. Louis, as they witnessed the quickest and fastest side-by-side doorslammer 1/4 mile drag race in history. Mind you that they do not have the same downforce characteristics as funny cars.

After Frankie Taylor secured the number one qualifying spot the night earlier, Turky al Zafiri behind the wheel of the Q80 racing team's twin turbo powered Camaro defeated Taylor in the Outlaw pro Mod final with a 5.461 at 272.50 mph, vs a losing 5.476 at 263.77 mph.

To watch a video of the record setting run, click here, and for an in-car-camera's view (but of a different pass), here. The Q80 team hails from Kuwait and relies in part on the Pro Line team to go fast!


Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: thisisF1.com, autosport.com, Chris Simmons, Autosport.com,

The racing weekend that was - Wk 27

In Formula One, the British GP at Silverstone:
Finally, Lewis has the weekend he has been so desperately searching. He wins his home race slashing the championship gap to four points while championship leader and teammate Nico Rosberg retires with gearbox failure.

aftermath of Raikonnen's excursion

There was an incredible accident at the start of the race which caused the race to be temporarily red flagged. Ferrari's Kimi Raikonnen ran wide at Aintree but as he rejoined [with WOT] a little bump on the grass unsettled the car and sent the car fish-tailing into the Armco, collecting William's driver Felipe Massa in the process.

Though Rosberg had led from pole, around mid-race he suffered gearbox trouble and was forced to retire. Too bad for the spectators, for Hamilton was closing in fast and this could have turned out in another epic duel. The Fin Valtteri Bottas racing for Sir Frank Williams rose through the field from 14th on the grid to P2 for the second consecutive time, while Daniel Ricciardo finished P3 as he held of a charging Jenson Button.

Vettel-Alonso duel 

The best battle of the race was between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull of Vettel was clearly quicker than the Ferrari and kept hustling the Spaniard, who instructed his team over the radio to launch a complaint to race officials accusing the reigning world champion of being over-aggressive. Though Alonso defended his position excellently, he could not hold off Vettel when he got his nose alongside out of Woodcote and after the pair ran inches apart towards Copse, Alonso had to yield to Vettel. Click here to see an analysis of the duel.

Bottas celebrating on the podium

Formula One standings are as follows:
1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes, 165 points,
2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes, 161
3. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull, 98
4. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari, 87
5. Valtteri Bottas - Williams, 72

The next race is scheduled for July 20 and will be run at Hockenheim, Germany.


In NHRA, at Norwalk, Ohio:
After a long drought, Funny car legend John Force made it to the Funny car finals and had to race long time rival Ron Capps. But after getting to the final round, the old man wasn't going to go down without a fight. In a thrilling side-by-side drag race John Force collected his first Norwalk win and his 140th career win by running a 4.113 at 317.27 mph to Capps' losing 4.134.

"It was special for me," said John Force. "I've come to this track for decades......we raced some great kids: [Ron] Capps, Cruz [Pedregon], [Tim] Wilkerson, Chad Head."

In Top Fuel, a dominant Antron Brown racing for Don Schumacher racing (DSR) collected his 5th Wally of the season and second in a row by beating his team mate Tony Schumacher in the finals.

In Pro Stock, though it might come as a surprise to some to see women excel in this male dominated sport, current points leader Erica Enders-Stevens claimed her fourth victory of 2014 and the tenth of her career by beating her old crew chief Dave Connolly in the final round. Though I always root for our friend Dave, on Sunday he just didn't have the horsepower to beat the Rick Jones built Elite Motorsports Chevy Camaro. This is becoming an all too familiar sight at many NHRA winner's circle, and the guys are not liking it, especially Summit racer Greg Anderson.

In Pro Stock bike, Matt Hines claimed his third win of the season by beating Hector Arana Sr. The Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson bikes are starting to come around.

The next race is on July 18-20 and marks the beginning of the Western Swing, which is a grueling period for NHRA drag racers. These are back-to-back races with almost no time to have parts and support material hauled in from the team's headquarters.  Always a very interesting period in the season.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Jalopnik
Photo credit: Skysports, Dailymail.co.uk, NHRA, Dragstory,

The racing weekend that was - Wk 21

Just saw my first F1 race of the season on TV and what a race it was. After Nico Rosberg managed to keep team mate Lewis Hamilton behind him after the first right hander of the first lap at Monaco, most of us knew that the race would be pretty uneventful, since the Monaco street circuit is known to be most difficult to pass on.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikonnen followed the Mercedes duo, whilst reigning world champion Sebastien Vettel had problems with his car's KERS. This forced him into the pits a couple of times and he eventually dropped out of the race. Raikonnen suffered from some bad luck and poor driving decisions and was penalized by the marshals, while his Ferrari  team mate Fernando Alonso ran a somewhat difficult race having also suffered from KERS problems in the opening lap, but he would still finish fourth.

Race winner and son of Keke Rosberg

The race's intensity decreased as the Mercedes duo created a big gap over the third place driver Ricardo, but shot up again when Hamilton radioed in he got something in his eye, as he was following the German too close for too long. This caused him to drop back into the clutches of Ricardo, who was reeling him in at more than a second a lap. However, he could not overtake the Brit who finished in second place behind last year's winner Nico Rosberg (right).

F1 insider Allan McNish

Whilst watching the race I subscribed to the Formula One "premium" app for my iPad. I strongly recommend this for those like me who do not get F1 TV coverage throughout the season. Not only do you get a very good sense of what is going on during the race through data reporting and live track race positions, but you get also live commentary by none other than "Le Mans" great Allan McNish!

Race results, the top 6:
1. Nico Rosberg GERMANY Mercedes-Mercedes,
2. Lewis Hamilton BRITAIN Mercedes- Mercedes,
3. Daniel Ricciardo AUSTRALIA Red Bull-Renault,
4. Fernando Alonso SPAIN Ferrari-Ferrari,
5. Nico Hulkenberg FERMANY Force India-Mercedes,
6. Jenson Button BRITAIN McLaren-Mercedes.

For more info on the race click here.


The INDY 500:
In the grand daddy of open wheel stadium racing that is the Indianapolis 500, its 98th running ended in the 2nd closest finish (see pict on right), as Ryan Hunter-Ray held of three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves by a hair raising margin on 0.06 seconds. In a race that is known for early cautions due to cars sliding into the wall as drivers struggle to come to grips with different track qualifying-race conditions, the race ran smooth well into the second half of the race.

Carpenter-Hinchcliff accident

On lap 149 (of of 200) Charlie Kimball made a pretty impressive save only kissing the outside retaining wall and sliding across the track into the inside wall. Luckily the safety crew were able to fire his car back up and he would finish 31st. Just twenty laps later, Scot Dixon also got loose and hit the wall hard. He was running in the top five at the time and would finish 29th. At the next restart, a gutsy move caused pole-sitter Ed Carpenter and James Hinchcliff to wreck. The race was red flagged for an hour for debris on the track. It would re-start with just six laps to go and Hunter-Reay and Castroneves would duel it out to the finish each passing each other a couple of times, but in the end Castroneves couldn't catch the American.

It should be noted that Hunter-Reay raced for Andretti Racing, and though Marco Andretti (third gen) finished third, no other Andretti has won Indy 500 since Mario in 1969 when "Man walked on the moon".

For more on the race, click here including a good recap video by Indycar/ABC.

Race results, the top 6:
1. Ryan Hunter-Reay
2. Helio Castroneves BRAZIL
3. Marco Andretti
4. Carlos Munoz
5. Juan Pablo Montoya
6. Kurt Busch (also racing in Coke 600)


The COCA COLA 600:

Race winner Jimmie Johnson

The longest NASCAR race was an eventful one with good racing that started late in the afternoon and lasted well into the night. Pole-sitter Jimmy Johnson went in what was considered as his house, namely the Charlotte Motor Speedway, from the drop of the green flag to the checkered in commanding fashion, when he passed Kevin Harvick with just 9 laps to go. He was the last to win the Coke 600 race from pole a decade ago. This was also his 1st win of the season.
For a complete recap of the race including different videos, click here.

Kurt Busch who also raced in the Indy 500 to finish a solid 6th, unfortunately had to drop out of the race due to a blown engine.

Race results, the top six:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Carl Edwards
5. Jamie McMurray
6. Brian Vickers



NHRA's Kansas Nationals:
On Saturday night I got the feeling that the "force" would be with the women of NHRA, after seeing the rebroadcast of qualifying. For the first time in history, two women (and sisters) qualified number one in their respective classes.  And as if this wasn't enough, Courtney Force out-qualified her father John. In an interview with John's wife Lori, after Courtney's run, she said, and I am paraphrasing here: John is probably riding around on his scooter trying to cool off.

Courtney Force, 100th female winner

And on race Sunday, Courtney kept her winning ways by outrunning Dale Creasy Jr., Jeff Arend and Tommy Johnson Jr. and, as if the final had been scripted in Hollywood, she would face none other that Cruz Pedregon in the finals. Well, she outran Cruz too and in doing so, achieves the milestone 100th female win in NHRA history. Courtney Force, 25, is the youngest daughter of 16-time world champ John Force. This win pretty much cements the fact that all three Force will be back in 2015.

The other winners were; Spencer Massey in Top Fuel and Allen Johnson in Pro Stock.

For more information about the race, click here.


Please check back for more updates

Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula1, Crash.net, USA Today, Fox Sports, NHRA,
Photo credit: Mike Young, USA Today, Indianapolis, NHRA