The decline of F1

Formula One has become such a large money making machine that due to over-regulation it runs the risk of alienating its core fans.

At the conclusion of last weekend's Singapore GP, Australian driver Mark Webber hitched back a ride to the pits on the sidepod of Alonso after his car broke down. The fact that this happened in a blind corner caused the stewards to issue the below mentioned report asking for a reprimand:

"The driver of car 3 drove the car in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person".

Please see the official document to the right.

This same courtesy was extended by Nigel Mansell to the legend Ayrton Senna back in 1991, when Senna rode on the Williams sidepod of rival Mansell at Silverstone. See picture below.

The difference between these two incidents is that Alonso stopped on the racing line in a blind corner and that the business of F1 is exponentially bigger than it was 22 years ago. The former was used as an excuse to give Alonso a reprimand and Webber a 10-grid penalty at the next event [note I didn't call it a race].

To me, this is hypocrisy at its best. We all know that motorsports at this level all have a high degree of danger, but we leave this in the capable hands of the drivers who know best. Yet, in this case, even though we cheer these drivers who all have incredible sharp reflexes combined with the modern F1 car out-of-this-world braking power, the stewards deemed it necessary to intervene.

The entire paddock area must be laughing amongst themselves, especially the drivers. They all know that this is entirely over blown. And Webber, he must be glad he is leaving the F1 circus this year.



Senna hitching a ride with Mansell, who can be seen saluting the fans

Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: Motorsports.com.

The racing weekend that was

In Formula One, at Sepang, Malaysia:

In only the second race of the season, the Formula One racing series is already engulfed in controversy.

Webber leading Vettel

Sebastian Vettel (RBR) who started from pole, fell back to second following the first round of pit stops, and trailed Mark Webber (RBR) until the late stages of the race, when he went mano-a-mano with his teammate Mark Webber. And even though team orders required Vettel to hold position, P2 that is, in a move that shows his total disregard for team orders he passed his teammate to take his 27th Grand Prix win, equaling three-time champion Jackie Stewart in the all-time list.

In a race which had many complaints about tire wear two teams stood out, and both had team orders passed out to its drivers. Interestingly enough, some listen better than others. For RBR instruction or code "multi21" means for its drivers to turn down their engines and hold station, which Vettel did not do.
As for the Mercedes, P4 driver Nico Rosberg tried in vain to get his team to let him pass his teammate Lewis Hamilton, driving in third place but at a much slower pace.
I guess the lesson to be learned here is that when you are a multiple world champion you don't have to follow rules.

Below I've posted an interview with RBR team principal.

And then, there is this story on Jalopnik, by Raphael Orlove, titled: An In-Depth Analysis of F1's Most Awkward/Amazing Podium. A must read for F1 enthusiasts. To view it click here.

Race results:

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull_Renault,

2. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault,

3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-Mercedes,



Fastest lap: Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes 1m 39.199s

Alonso drives with a damaged front wing

F1 Drivers' Championship (2 of 19):
1st. Sebastian Vettel 40 points, 2nd. Kimi Raikkonen 31 points, 3rd. Mark Webber 26 points, 4th. Lewis Hamilton 25 points, and in 5th. Felipe Massa 22 points.

The Spaniard Fernando Alonso explained that he was "very unlucky" to have to retire from the race, after contact with Sebastian Vettel on the first. The incident caused him to lose his front wing, when the Scuderia gambled on leaving him out instead of bringing him into the pits for a nose change.

In NASCAR, at Fontana, California:
For those of you who followed NASCAR during the past week, you know that what happened during the race could have been scripted in Hollywood, which is a stone's throw away from the track.

The intense rivalry between Joe Logano and Denny Hamlin which started in the previous race, two weekends ago, continued without missing a beat. The two cars were so evenly matched they were running close the entire race. On the final lap, it appeared as if Logano opted to settle scores rather than take the win, even telling reporters afterwards: "That's what he gets."

Below a short video on the final lap and the above mentioned race incident.

The eventual race winner, Kyle Busch, had won the Nationwide race the night before, and had started the Auto Club 400 race from fourth. Even so he lead the race for more than 125 laps (out of 200) and was running in third as the Logano-Hamlin duo fought it out for first. Eventually he got the sweep as he swept in front and won the race on the last lap. With this win, he breaks a 31-race winless streak stretching back to Richmond in April 2012.

Race results:
1. Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing), 2. Dale Earnhardt Jr, (Hendrick Motorsports), 3. Joey Logano (Penske Racing), 4. Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway Racing), 5. Kurt Busch (Furniture Row Racing).

With Dale Earnhardt's second place finish he is now in the lead of the championship point standings, followed by Brad Keselowski, and Jimmie Johnson.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula One, Crash.net, NASCAR, Wikipedia

Photo credit: Totally Cool Pic.com

The coolest looking 2013 F1 car

The RB9 is up to now the coolest looking new F1 car. The car's purple sidepods made Milton Keynes considerably warmer on Sunday morning, when Adrian Newey's latest "bolide" was unveiled.

Like so many of the latest F1 cars, the RB9 features a stepped nose but without the driver cooling slot. It has a thin carbon fiber fairing, a vanity panel, that other cars have used to disguise the step, but that "it doesn't extend too far forward as then it doesn't justify it in weight". Newey added: "This is very much an evolutionary car... the devil is very much in the detail".

RB9 ENGINE STATS:
Engine: V8-90 degree Renault Engine RS27 - 2013
Capacity: 2400cc
Number of valves: 32
Engine management: MESL standard control unit TAG320

RB9 CAR STATS:
Chassis: Composite monocoque structure, design and built in-house, carrying the Renault V8 engine as fully stressed member.
Transmission: Seven-speed gearbox, longitudinally mounted with hydraulic system for power shift and clutch operation. AP Racing clutch.
Suspension: Aluminum alloy uprights, carbon-composite double wishbone with springs and anti-roll bar, Multimatic dampers.
Brakes: Brembo calipers, Carbon discs and pads
Electronics: MESL standard control unit
Fuel: Total Group
Wheels: OZ Racing,
Front: 12.0 inch x 13 in diam.
Rear: 13.7 in x 13 in diam.
Tires: Pirelli

The RB9 will take to the track this morning at Jerez with Mark Webber at the wheel. For more info on the RB9, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Jalopnik, Red Bull Racing, ESPN, Auto123.com, and wikipedia.

The racing weekend that was

A great weekend of racing: Formula 1, MotoGP, and NASCAR.

Formula 1, at Silverstone, UK:

The new Wing complex

Round nine, the Santander British GP, was run at the Silverstone Circuit. The track first hosted a GP back in 1948, and in 1950 under the sanctioning body of the F.I.A. Before that it was a WWII Royal Air Force bomber station. Recently, it has undergone a radical redesign to transform it into a "Arena" circuit configuration to bring the spectators closing to the action

Weather played a major role during the weekend, with torrential rain and flooding on Friday's practice and Saturday's qualifying. The fans were even asked to stay a way from the track on Saturday.
However, on race-day the sun came out and threw off everyone's racing strategies, for the teams had no data on slick racing tires at Silverstone. The race would be wide open.

Alonso leads Webber at the start

From the start of the race Mark Webber, driving for Red Bull , took the fight to Fernando Alonso and kept up the pressure throughout the race. And in the closing laps, Ferrari executed their tire strategy to perfection, as the Ausie native Webber exerted considerable pressure on the Spaniard hoping to force him into making a mistake. While the battle for first continued Vettel was coming on strong, still in third. With four laps to go, and in spectacular fashion, Webber took first in a daring move on the outside, as Alonso's tires started to fade.
The Spaniard drove a great race but the Red Bull was just quicker. Monday's headlines would read: "Webber out-duels Alonso for Silverstone win."

Vettal in his RB8

Both Lotus' ran strong. The man of the day would be Romain Grosjean who drove very well, who after a first lap incident with Paul di Resta, made it all the way back to sixth place. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen, also ran well passing Schumi and Hamilton in the closing stages for fifth. Also worth mentioning was Ferrari's Felipe Massa who drove like his old self.

Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi gave Schumi a very tough time but when Kamui pitted he locked the fronts and slid into some of his crew, sending them flying. He immediately apologized to his mechanics for misjudging his entry.

1st place finisher Webber celebrating

Race results (top 5): 1. Mark Webber,  2. Fernando Alonso, 3. Sebastian Vettel, 4. Felipe Massa, 5. Kimi Raikkonen.
At least we didn't have Schumi in the post race interview screwing everything up or not knowing where he was on the track.

Round ten will come at Hockenheim in Germany on July 22 next. For more info, please click here.


MotoGP, at the Eni Motorrad GP of Germany:
Round 8 of the MotoGP was run at the Sashsenring which is the shortest and slowest tracks on the championship.

Pedrosa ahead of a sliding Stoner

The factory RCV riders were in a class of their own throughout the race and had exchanged the lead many times. For the final eleven laps Dani Pedrosa was ahead of his team mate and reigning world champion Casey Stoner. The Ausie native was determined to win the race pushed really hard on the final lap. However, as he explained later on, it was not meant to be, as he fell off his Honda on the last lap of the race and was unable to continue.
The German marshals were not very cooperative.

"I had planned to go for my "win or bin" effort in the last corner, not that one!", lamented Casey Stoner after the race.

As for Dani Pedrosa, he finally broke the casey Stoner/Jorge Lorenzo victory strangelhold on MotoGP in 2012 with this win. His drive could be summed up as follows: He took a holeshot into Turn 1, but was then passed by Stoner on lap 2, but he made what turned out to be the winning pass on lap on lap 19 when he out-braked Stoner into turn 1.

Italian Andrea Dovizioso rode a great race to get his second third-place finish in two weeks. With this he stakes his claim to the factory Yamaha seat, after he beat Ben Spies for third place, again.

Next race, the Gran Premio d'Italia TIM, at Mugello on July 15 next. For more info, please click here.

AJ Allmendinger suspended

NASCAR, at the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona Int'l Speedway:
Just a couple of hours before the start of the race Nascar temporarily suspended AJ Allmendinger for failing a random drug test. Team owner Roger Penske had to scramble to get Sam Hornish Jr back to Daytona to drive the no 22 car. He did so with just 8 minutes to spare, thanks to the track be situated next to the Daytona's airport, and of course, having access to private jets helps too. For more info, please click here.

The track was patched up very nicely after JP Montoya's fiery incident jet dryer truck incident in back February.

Racing under the lights at Daytona

Lap 81, the first caution came out due to Sam Hornish Jr blowing a tire and wrecked on the back stretch.  The caution enabled Stewart and Keseloski, who were half-lap down, to catch up.

However, in the ensuing pit stop Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon whent three-wide and touched on the way to the exit to pit road, sending Newman's Chevrolet spinning into the back of Keselowski's Dodge, which was still getting service. Alert and nimble crew members scattered and jumped for safety and luckily nobody was hurt.

Lap 124, a seven-car wreck saw Jimmie Johnson's car destroyed, caused Greg Biffle to be penalized for stopping under yellow. His team mate Matt Kenseth who was pitting with him continued down the pit lane with out stopping. Both drivers were committed to pitting before the yellow came out.

Lap 153, Denny Hamlin made an ill-fated move that exiting the tri-oval which caused a wreck that thinned the field for the final restart. All of Joe Gibbs Racing cars as well as Michael Waltrip's were involved.

Steward ahead of the massive wreck

At the last restart, Kenseth led with Stewart to his outside and Biffle behind him. However, Stewart out-foxes Kenseth as he skillfully side-drafts and unhooks himself from the teammates and pulls ahead while Kenseth waits for Biffle. As Stewart approached the checkered flag, a massive wreck in Turn 4 skewed the finishing order behind him, unfortunately for those who had been driving well all night. Yet another wild finish.

Stewart, on his 47th career win and 4th at the July race in Daytona: "I'll trade all [the July Daytona wins] in for just one Daytona 500. ... But all of 'em are special, and it's cool to do this.

The top five are as follows: 1. Tony Stewart, 2. Jeff Burton, 3. Matt Kenseth, 4. Joey Logano, 5. Ryan Newman. Click here to watch the "race rewind" video.

Next race will be Lenox Industrial at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 15. For moore info, please click here.

Check back for a report on NHRA.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Nascar, Wikipedia, Crash.net, Foxsports, MotoGP, Formula One,
Photo credit: Getty Images for Nascar, FoxNews, Dailymail.co.uk, Crash.net

Schumi takes Pole

Schumi celebrates after taking
pole at Monaco (May 26 2012)

At yesterday's qualifying for the Monaco GP, 43-year-old Michael Schumacher secured pole position after having a smooth qualifying session, and even managed to save two sets of super soft for the race. In the top-ten shootout he put in a great lap to edge out Red Bull Racing's mark Webber by just 0.08 seconds.

"It is simply a wonderful feeling to set pole after such a long time, and particularly here in Monaco. Okay, it has taken a little bit longer than I might have wanted in the second chapter of my career, but that makes it even sweeter. It's just beautiful," stated the seven-time World Champion and now Mercedes Benz Petronas driver.

However, a five place grid position penalty had been levied against Micheal for his accident with Bruno Senna during the last race. He will be starting starting from sixth and will have to rely on his DRS and KERS to get him passed other drivers, if even possible.

We will be watching Michael, all forty-plus folk will be surely pulling for you!

Thanks for reading.

Source: Crash.net
Photo credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images