Ballistic Belgium

Spa-Francorchamps, many a Formula 1 fans favourite circuit. It never fails to deliver the goods.

Jenson Button, who started on pole, got a speedy getaway but in his mirrors an over-eager Pastor Maldonado jump started off the line while Romain Grosjean locked with Lewis Hamilton, sending the McLaren like a bowling ball down a very expensive alley, taking Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez out with him. With carnage and Formula 1 debris spread over the track both Pastor Maldonado and Kamui Kobayashi pitted - a horrible race for Sauber after their best qualifying.

With the safety car out as the marshals cleared the track and several replays later Lap 5 and it was back racing.

Jenson Button left the rest of the pack and went on his merry way while Pastor Maldonado was in tangles once again, this time with Marussia driver Timo Glock. Maldonado pulled up and retired from the race.

Michael Schumacher, racing his 300th GP, showed he's still got the skills pulling a great move on kimi Raikkonen at the top of Les Combes meanwhile fellow German Sebastian Vettel was on a mission of gaining place... yep, Sebastian Vettel, you know the driver that can't overtake... well he put everyone in their place at Spa and showed he can definitely overtake! 

Trouble went from the track to the pit lane with Caterham performing an unsafe release of Heikki Kovalainen who went in to the back of a HRT about to pit. While further up a few laps later Mark Webber was also released in to the path of Felipe Massa, a close call but neither were affected.

Fighting for position were Marussia's Timo Glock and Charles Pic with some fine racing between them eventually Timo Glock makes his pass stick and stays ahead of his rookie teammate.

Out way ahead of the rest of the grid Jenson Button cruised (rather fast) to victory in Belgium followed by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen - who's first time it was not winning or binning it at the circuit but a 3rd position instead.

Nico Hulkenberg had his best result this season finishing in 4th, a great result for the Force India team with team mate Paul di Resta in 10th. Toro Rosso also had a positive race with both their driver double point scoring, Jean-Eric Vergne finishing in 8th and Daniel Ricciardo finishing behind him in 9th.

Subsequently after the first corner collision at Spa Romain Grosjean was handed a one race ban and fined - the first ban since 1994! 

Pastor Maldonado was also given two penalty's for Monza; a five place grid drop for jump starting and another 5 place grid drop for colliding with Timo Glock. 

RESULTS:

Fastest Lap: Bruno Senna: 1:52.822

Podium:

[1st-Jenson Button, 2nd-Sebastian Vettel, 3rd-Kimi Raikkonen] 

48

Two years on, he may be gone but he's not forgotten, how could you ever forget someone like Shoya Tomizawa. His smile, personality and his racing talent are all greatly missed.

'On the track and beyond, we will always follow your line'

[The day his name went down in history -His first win in Qatar, the first ever win in the new Moto2 series. The look of disbelief, one of what should have been many more trophies] 

Race in Peaee Shoya ♥

Check mate in Brno

Back on European soil at Karel Abreham's circuit and home Grand Prix in the Czech Republic.

MotoGP:
On thursday it was announced that Honda rider Casey Stoner will be flying out to Australia after medical specialists confirmed he needed an operation on his ankle. He posted photo's of his injury to his Twitter account shortly after the Indy GP and how he managed to ride a 1000cc bike in his state i do not know - it's true MotoGP rider's are machine's. With all the intentions of riding this weekend Stoner now faces being out for a lengthy amount of time, he says he hopes to be fit and ready for the penultimate race at Philip Island, Australia (28th october) which will be his last home GP before his retirement at the end of this season.
As well as Stoner not being able to race at Brno, Ducati rider Nicky Hayden was also absent from the weekend. He stayed back in the US to recover from his hand injury as advised.
*Neither were replaced by test riders, however Jonathan Rea will be testing the Honda on Monday and is set to replace the Australian until he returns.

Jorge Lorenzo started from pole and had an impressive start, with the pocket rocket Dani Pedrosa on his exhaust. Both Tech 3 riders, Ben Spies and Valentino Rossi all got off to a good start too, battling for 3rd and 4th.
The black cloud loomed over Ben Spies once again, this time he faced clutch problems off the line and after momentarily battling for 3rd he rapidly dropped down the field in to 13th where he remained till he took a tumble in the gravel, another retirement for the Texan.
Who said MotoGP was always boring?! Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa gave us some antagonising action for 1st place, countlessly changing the lead right to the end. Pedrosa definitely gave his team a taste of what he hopes next year will be like! Pedrosa took it down to the wire and won the race ahead of Lorenzo.
Away from the front two Cal Crutchlow had a lonely race in 3rd, where he finished the race on his Tech 3 Yamaha - he made history and became the first driver to step on the podium in 12 years!! Let's hope there's many more podium celebrations to come!
Rookie Stefan Bradl had his best MotoGP race of the year finishing in 5th after battling with Alvaro Bautista and Valentino for much of the race, hard to believe it's only his first season in the the premier class. Rossi finished the race in 7th after a blowout of oil in the early stages of the race meant he had no boot grip, he also dropped off the pace after tyre issues hampered his race.
Home rider Karel Abraham finished in 9th.

[1st-Dani Pedrosa, 2nd- Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd-Cal Crutchlow]

Next Up:

After back to back races MotoGP now has 3 weeks to recover from two eventful GP's. 

The next race will be a tough one as we head to San Marino otherwise known as Misano World Circuit  Marco Simoncelli, renamed in memory of Super Sic who lived a few miles away. The GP will be held from 14th-16th September.

The Doctor's back baby.

'Bye bye baby' was the slogan on every Yamaha team members t-shirts in Valencia 2010 when Valentino Rossi's 7 year love affair with Yamaha came to an end.
However, after a roller coaster two season spent at Ducati 'The Doctor' is returning back to the team he won several of his championships at: Yamaha. He's signed a two year contract with the team.

I'm not sure whether the move back to the blue and white machine is the best move but i really hope for Vale and MotoGP as a whole that it's a rewarding one.
Don't get me wrong i'd love nothing better than to see Valentino win (which i'm sure he will) and possibly bag another championship but he returns to the team where after he left Jorge Lorenzo settled in to and made his own to an extent, there's no denying he's their number 1 rider, up till now at least.
Even though Rossi's results at Ducati have been far from competitive, i was hoping it'd pick up, that some time soon he'd be back up the front winning races, i think it's even been evident in the few races that the Duc has been slowly improving. I guess we'll never know now.

With the greatest current MotoGP rider heading back to a competitive team, maybe 2013 is looking a little more promising for excitement, with Casey Stoner leaving the sport it's fair to say a lot of people thought it would be an easy championship for Jorge Lorenzo but now with Valentino Rossi, along with Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez maybe it won't be one long parade, i hope they all have a lot of exciting, close racing battles at the top!

Good luck and welcome back to Yamaha Vale.

Low down's i've missed: Formula 1

Great Britain - Silverstone:

[1st- Mark Webber, 2nd- Fernando Alonso, 3rd- Sebastian Vettel]

*Post coming soon.

German GP - Hockenheim:

[1st- Fernando Alonso, 2nd- Sebastian Vettel, 3rd- Jenson Button]

Hungarian GP - Hungaroring:

[1st- Lewis Hamilton, 2nd- Kimi Raikkonen,m 3rd- Romain Grosjean]

News Update:

With the awful accident during the Marussia straight line test, day's before the British Grand Prix, involving Maria de Villota who sadly lost her eyesight in her right eye and had serious facial injuries, she's now back home in Spain on the road to making the best recovery possible!

So far as driver signing, F1 hasn't quite entered the silly season as quickly as MotoGP has but there's still the rumours of who'll end up where. The day after Silverstone Red Bull announced Mark Webber has signed another one year contract with the team, so Red Bull will continue with the same driver pair for another year.

Lewis Hamilton has been in the spotlight as to whether he'll be staying at the team with Jenson Button, making it known he hasn't been 100% happy with the team lately but a win in Hungary and maybe a few more to the end of the year as McLaren begin to pick the pace up might sway him...

The main talk has been firmly at Ferrari, in particular Felipe Massa, with recent form being far from competitive for the team, a big question mark is on where his future lie's. Currently, it isn't looking promising for the Brazilian to stay at Ferrari. 

When the second half of the season starts up in less than a months time i'm sure the contracts and swapsies will start being confirmed. 

Next Up:

The infamous Span-francorchamps in 27 days and counting. Will Kimi 'King of Spa' Raikkonen reign once more at the circuit or will another surprise winner taking to the podium?!

Low down's i've missed: MotoGP

With the summer break now underway in both Formula 1 and MotoGP i missed a few low down's in both series.

Assen TT:

[1st-Casey Stoner, 2nd-Dani Pedrosa, 3rd-Andrea Dovizioso]

German GP - Sachsenring:

[1st- Dani Pedrosa, 2nd- Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd- Andrea Dovizioso]

Italian GP - Mugello:

[1st- Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd- Dani Pedrosa, 3rd- Andrea Dovizioso]

US GP - Laguna Seca:

[1st- Casey Stoner, 2nd- Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd- Dani Pedrosa]

News Update:

Since Casey Stoner's announcement that he'll be retiring at the end of the season speculation as to who'll take his place and where other drivers will be staying or going has been all the talk. 

Well, a few weeks ago the MotoGP Rookie rule was dropped and within days it was confirmed that Moto2 rider Marc Marquez will be taking over Stoner's ride, with teammate Dani Pedrosa staying on at the team too. 

With the rumour mill already going crazy over where exactly Mr.Rossi will be next season, it went in to  over-drive when Nicky Hayden announced he'd signed another contract with Ducati next season, a long with that early last week Yamaha rider Ben Spies took to his Twitter to really ramp up the rumours by telling fans he will not be staying at the team next year, it's in doubt as to whether he'll be staying in MotoGP - where he has had a far from great 2012 season - and moving back to Superbikes. 

As of yet, no 2nd rider at Yamaha has been confirmed so the waiting game commences as to what Valentino will be doing next season.

Is it really a smart move for him to go back to a team that is now dominated by Jorge Lorenzo?! 

Next Up:

The next race is at the Brickyard - Indianapolis in just over two weeks time before it heads back to Europe and the fly away's to wrap up the 2012 season. 

Valencia low down

As the Spanish sun beat down on the Valencia street circuit, surrounded by beaches and expensive yachts, the Formula 1 world were preparing themselves for a weekend that last year was no doubt one of the less interesting races. This year i kept getting reminded that 'Valencia was going to be boring' and although i was in doubt i was also staying optimistic. This season has been incredible and after watching GP2 i thought 'if F1 is half as exciting as this we'll already be one up on last year'
Well, F1 2012 has been a surprise for many and Valencia was no exception.

*Time Glock didn't start the race after being advised not to when he fell ill during the weekend.
The first quarter of the race it was Sebastian Vettel that led the race and built up a gap to the rest of the pack. With the likes of  Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen all fighting for a spot on the podium the race was just getting going. Fernando Alonso made up several places from starting 11th on the grid to making it up to 4th by lap 28th - when the racing picked up the pace. Jean-Eric Vergne was reminding the racing world he was still just a rookie, with a costly rookie error move on Heikki Kovalainen, JEV punctured both his own and Kovalainen's tyre's after slicing across the Finn. Like in GP2, a lot of debris from the crash was sprawled across the racing line which meant... Yup, out came the safety car and bye bye to Vettel's 20 second lead!
With a lot of drivers taking the safety car as an opportunity to pit the drama continued on in to the pit lane. The problem? McLaren pit stops, surprise, surprise. The team yet again made a mess of Hamilton's pit stop with the front jack failing. He lost time and dropped down to sixth place after Fernando Alonso passed him. Safety Car in and it was Alonso who made a swift move on Grosjean and was up to 2nd place. Meanwhile more contact as Felipe Massa and Kamui Kobayashi had a get together, as a result Kobayashi retired from the race. *He'll also be facing a 5 place penalty at the next race.

The race got even more intense when race leader Sebastian Vettel started to slow down and eventually had to stop his Red Bull on the side of the track due to a mechanical failure. A frustrated and angry Vettel marched down the pit lane while Alonso took the lead.
Hamilton got pass Raikkonen, up to 2nd he looked in a strong position but was unable to challenge Alonso.
Red Bull's day didn't get any better with Mark Webber dropping down the order with Paul di Resta, Pastor Maldonado and Nico Hulkenberg all over taking him within a few laps.
A few laps later and Romain Grosjean was the next victim of a mechanical failure, he slowed to a hault on track, a big blow as he is had a great race.

With tyre's proving to be a struggle for many, Pastor Maldonado made up places and was looking like another podium was on the cards... until the calm, cool Maldonado snapped back to fiery, rookie-like Maldonado. In an attempt to take Hamilton, he went round the outside, the McLaren driver tried to shut the door on him, Maldonado ran off the track and on return t-boned Hamilton in to the barrier. That was the end of Hamilton's race, with a podium and a haul of points lost, he was no doubt very annoyed. *Maldonado got a time penalty at the end of the race, dropping him out of the points.

An emotional Alonso crossed the line to win the European GP. Joining him was Raikkonen in 2nd and Michael Schumacher in 3rd - taking his first podium since returning in 2010.
Fernando Alonso took a MotoGP and old F1 style celebration, stopping out on track in front of his home fans, punching the air and waving the Spanish flag.

So, it turns out Valencia can be very exciting!!

RESULTS:
Fastest lap: Nico Rosberg: 1:42.163

Podium:

Next Up:
Silverstoneeeee!!!! The next race is the British GP which means there will be no low down on what went on but i will be making a post of my weekend at the Grand Prix.
In the meantime action in Assen for the MotoGP has already started, with qualifying tomorrow (Friday) and the race taking place on Saturday so a low down may (or may not) be up on Sunday!

On a side note:
Congratulations to Romain Grojean and Marion Jolie on getting married yesterday, all the best to them both!!

British MotoGP

It's that time of the year again, yep umbrella's, wellies and winter coats aka the glorious British Summertime!

Silverstone was the next stop off on the MotoGP calendar. It kicked up some blustery conditions on Friday practise's with it ulternating between rain and sun throughout the first half of the weekend, by the time race day came around it was dry conditions. 

Moto3:

Moto3 was the last race of the day at Silverstone, and it did not disappoint. Throughout the race there was an intense top 10 battle, swapping and changing the order so much that any of the riders could have finished on the podium.
Jack Miller and Alex Rins were early crashes, both sustaining hefty injuries and a few broken bones.
Towards the closing laps of the race it was Maverick Vinales who pulled out a lead from the rest of the pack however Louis Salom and Sandro Cortese weren't too far behind. In a nerve wracking last lap Cortese took 2nd from Salom though the Spanish rider put in a fierce lap, Salom pipped Cortese to the finish line and took 2nd position.Vinales crossed the line as the Moto3 winner at Silverstone, his third of the season and an important one at that, he's now taken back the lead from Sandro Cortese in the championship.
It was bitter sweet for the Brits in Moto3, Danny Webb, who was sporting a late great Barry Sheene replica helmet, had to retire in front of his home crowd. Though Brit Danny Kent had a good race battling closer to the front and finished the race in 6th place.

[Sorry for the quality, or lack of. 1st-Maverick Vinales, 2nd-Louis Salom, 3rd-Sandro Cortese]

Moto2:

With controversy off track still going on between Pol Espargaro's team and Marc Marquez's about the previous race in Spain (Pol's team is appealing against the decision to drop Marquez's time penalty) that was going to stop them both racing hard against each other yet again.
They say being at your home Grand Prix, in front of you home crowd, spurs you on to do well for the fans that have come out to support you and for yourself at a track you call you home track. Well, we saw a lot of it this weekend and Scott Redding (along with every other brit rider) put in a great effort. He battled with Marquez for the majority of the race for the battle for 2nd position and at some stages looking like he could go all the way to the win. Bradley Smith also got involved, however later on in the race started to drop off the pace.
There was no stopping Espargaro's fine form this season and he crossed the line on the top spot of the podium. Joining him was Redding who held off Marquez who finished in 3rd.

 [1st-Pol Espargaro, 2nd-Scott Redding, 3rd-Marc Marquez]

MotoGP:

With rain hampering the end of Saturday's qualifying session, MotoGP was  a bit like this year's Formula 1 championship - different pole sitters. Well, it was a first for Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista who bagged himself his first pole at the circuit, a little ray of sunshine to a team that deserves it after such a hard 7 and a half months, at a circuit that was also paying tribute to Marco Simoncelli (former Honda Gresini rider) *See end of post.

Cal Crutchlow was the talking point throughout the weekend, one of a hanfdul British riders but one with the most hope of a podium in the MotoGP class. Last year he was unable to participate in the race after breaking his collarbone previously. His one aim this year was to start the race at Silverstone in front of his home crowd... what does he go and do, crash in practise the day before and dislocate/ break his ankle. Spending the day in hospital unable to qualify, a race start was in doubt. After initially failing the medical tests at the circuit on Sunday morning as well as telling porky pies to the officials Crutchlow was determined to race and so he did, and can i say he did every Brit proud! True sportsmanship for his country. 

The race:
Ben Spies was the early leader in the MotoGP race, closely followed by the likes of casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, pole sitter Alvaro Bautista and Nicky Hayden.
It didn't last long before Casey Stoner was leading the race. After dropping back to 5th Jorge Lorenzo knew he couldn't let the Australian run away with it and soon found his rhythm. Nick Hayden soon started to lose the pace as well as lose places and leaving the door open to many a rider, Lorenzo took fully advantage, he soon passed Alvaro Bautista and was the front setting fast laps to reel Stoner back in.
Meanwhile Cal Crutchlow, who started from the back of the grid had a stormer of a race. It wasn't long before he'd overtaken all of the CRT riders and was battling in the top 10. The honey badger never gave up and ended up finishing the race in 6th!! Well done Cal, you made us all very proud!
After cutting down the gap, Lorenzo found his self in a tassle with Stoner, who he then overtook to take a clear lead. He went on to win the race, both Honda riders Stoner and Pedrosa joined him on the podium. Bautista narrowly missed out on the podium in the closing stages as he Pedrosa started to build a gap.
The top CRT was a familiar face of Aleix Espargaro, it's been a good year for the brothers!

Once again, i can't say it enough of what a great race Crutchlow put in with his injury, and the crowd were right behind him cheering him on, i can imagine a lot of people were cheering at their tv's too, i know i was.

Rider of the race for sure.

[1st-Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd-Casey Stoner, 3rd-Dani Pedrosa]

*This weekend was the release of the official Marco Simoncelli foundation song by UK band The Rainband. Profits of the single go to the foundation set up by Simoncelli's family.
The single is called 'Rise Again' featuring retired MotoGP and Superbike rider James Toseland.
If you're from the UK head to this link http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/rise-again-feat.-james-toseland/id532532309 to download the single from Itunes, it's 79p and for a good cause!!

Next UP:
MotoGP will be back in a few weeks time in Assen, remember race day will be on Saturday.
F1 is back this weekend in Valencia.... let's how it's a lot more exciting than last year.

Canadian low down

Canada, Canada, Canada, it always kicks up entertainment in one way or another.
Conditions this year done a 180 on last year and the sun was beating down over the track in Montreal, the crowd were ready, the teams were ready and the drivers were ready for what could be a race adding another little bit of history in to the F1 books; a 7th different winner in 7 races.

Sebastian Vettel, who started from pole, got off to good start, building up the gap in the opening laps from Lewis Hamilton.
Felipe Massa had a good start to his race too, over taking Nico Rosberg taking 6th place... a lap later Massa was back to his familiar slip ups (unfortunately) his rear end stepping out of Turn 2, spinning the car around and rejoining down the grid.
Fernando Alonso soon joined the party, having a fierce battle with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel for the win which carried on throughout the race.
Lap 18 Hamilton took the lead from Vettel, however he pitted at the end of the lap but as per usual this season McLaren are lacking in efficient pit stops and once again Hamilton is held up. Lucky for the team he exited in front of Vettel. Meanwhile his teammate Jenson Button had a miserable race, no grip (no joke), not feeling happy with the pace of his car, Button was battling down in the middle of the grid, he finished the race it 16th and said so to Sky reporter Ted Kravitz he's leaving this race 'lost and confused'

The bad luck continued for Michael Schumacher, on his out lap from pitting for new tyres the team told him over the radio that his DRS flap was stuck, therefor he had to return to the pits (otherwise he would have been cautioned) to attempt to fix it... 20 seconds or so of pit crew banging it, the rear flap wouldn't close, Schumacher's race was over.
Jean-Eric Vergne was given a drive through on Lap 49, Toro Rosso's performance was yet again disappointing, JEV finished the race in 15th while Daniel Ricciardo finished in 14th.

A strategic call from McLaren saw Hamilton pit for new tyre's with 20 laps to go in the race. Alonso and Vettel kept going meanwhile the surprises of the race were Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez, who'd both being looking after their tyre's as well as setting competitive lap times.
It wasn't too long before both Alonso and Vettel were sliding all over the place from work tyres. Hamilton took chunks of time out of Vettel, used the DRS and swiftly passed the German, next up was Alonso, with the grippier tyre's he was able to take time out of the Spaniard and pass him on the back straight.
The McLaren driver wasn't the only one taking advantage of having new tyre's both Grosjean and Perez both passed Alonso and Vettel to make up the remaining two podium spots. After Vettel took a late pit stop in the closing laps of the race he too was able to overtake Alonso for 4th place.
Lewis Hamilton took the win in Canada, a track he's fast at and a track he either crashes or wins, followed by Grosjean and Perez, both getting their second podiums of the year, and all three drivers being graduates of GP2!

RESULTS:
Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel: 1:15.752

The Podium:

[1st-Lewis Hamilton, 2nd-Romain Grojean, 3rd-Sergio Perez]

Next up:

This weekend is MotoGP at Silverstone! To those of you going - have a fantastic weekend!

Formula 1 is back in Europe in two weeks time for European Grand Prix in Valencia.

Twitter: @Maddyyf1

Catalunya - MotoGP

Firstly, i know i've been slacking on the blog posts lately, sorry about that. This week seems to have just flown by, Catalunya seems like weeks ago not four days, i guess the Queen's Diamond Jubilee has thrown me off a bit - so if you live in Britain or any other commonwealth country (or anywhere else if you're a fan of The Queen) i hope you had a great, enjoyable few days celebration.

Here's the podium's:
Moto3:

[1st-Maverick Vinales, 2nd-Sandro Cortese, 3rd-Miguel Oliveira]

Congrats to all three of them who put in a great effort to get podium positions. 

After sustaining an injury to his wrist, Sandro Cortese finished 2nd in the race. Post race he took a trip to the Doctors it turns out he's got a hefty sprain but should be fit for Silverstone. 

Miguel Oliveira got his first podium after missing out at his home GP, he's the first portuguese rider to do so, so it must feel pretty special.

Moto2:

[1st-Andrea Iannone, 2nd-Thomas Luthi, 3rd-Marc Marquez]

A battle between these three and Pol Espargaro have been featuring a lot so far this season. It's Andrea Iannone's first win of the season and he's joined by reaccuring riders Luthi and Marquez however on the closing laps of the Moto2 race, Marquez and Espargaro were involved in a close battle for the final spot on the podium, a racing incident occurred and Espargaro had a nasty looking crash (rider is ok) however MM got the fall out and was initially handed a 1 minute time penalty - which would have put him at the back of the grid - however it later got revoked because it was just a racing incident. Most fans seemed to agree as well as riders such as Casey Stoner.

MotoGP:

[1st-Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd-Dani Pedrosa, 3rd-Andrea Dovizioso]

The surprise of the race was Casey Stoner, who was unable to keep up with Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa off the line. He dropped back behind Dovi in a Tech 3 sandwich (in front and Crutchlow) just hanging on to 4th place. Dani Pedrosa lived up to his nickname of the pocket rocket and had a fantastic start, battling with fellow Spaniard Lorenzo throughout the race. 

Ben Spies had his chance to compete for a podium spot, running near the top for the opening couple of laps, however he pushed too hard and went wide and off in to the gravel. Rejoining the race in last he ended up finishing in 10th - around the same finishing results as previous races. I really hope Silverstone is a good race for him, he needs it.

So that brings me on to the next race, which i will make sure i do a full scale blog post on because it's Silverstone!! I'm very envious of everyone going. The chances are it'll be a bit wet but whatever the weather hopefully it'll be a good one. 

I always find it strange watching Silverstone on Tv, a circuit i am very familiar with, the only circuit i've been too (for the Formula 1) and i just know it'll get me all excited for the F1 in a months time and will hopefully be an exciting MotoGP.

Talking of F1, tune in for the Canadian GP this weekend, Canada is always a good one, with the unreliable weather, varying track conditions and not forgetting the wildlife making brave appearances on track too - A fox, a squirrel and a groundhog in FP1 earlier today!

Again, sorry for the lack of a low down, i'll stop slacking :)

Monaco Baby!!

The glitz, the glam and the fashion (name that tune)... and Formula 1 cars. That's right, it's Monaco Baby!
The Principality holds host to one of the most prestigious races on the calendar. By night its a road by day it's a race track, you can have a drink at Rascasse along with many other corners, the nightlife spilling out on to the track, it's hard to imagine that a mere few hours earlier and later there's 24 drivers racing around the Monaco playground.

Qualifying was an eventful one with a new pole sitter, or shall i say a returning veteran... Michael Schumacher! Sadly though he had a five place grid penalty from Spain from his incident with Bruno Senna so pole went to Mark Webber, which was his first of the year.
Pastor Maldonado is very much a racer with two sides - a fast, composed driver who get's the job done and a fiery, less composed driver; in Monaco (his favourite circuit) during FP3 he was showing the latter and made a dangerous move on Sergio Perez. Maldonado was given a grid penalty, then his team decided on a gearbox change which demoted him to the back of the grid, ironically behind Perez as the Mexican yet again didn't have a good qualifying around the streets of Monaco and crashed out, not setting a time.

The Race:
It was pole sitter Mark Webber that led the pack in to the first corner, followed by Nico Rosberg, who is one of many drivers who live in Monaco however is one that has grown up in the Principality.
The Ferrari's were on the pace at the weekend, with Felipe Massa having his best qualifying of his season so far.

Of course a Monaco GP wouldn't be complete without an appearance of the safety car and it was out to lead the cars by the end of Lap 1 after numerous incidents. The first being Pastor Maldonado getting to close for confort with HRT Pedro de la Rosa, the Williams driver had a battered front nose while the HRT's rear wing looked more like a flat packed box.
Romain Grosjean was the cause of the other incident, banging the wheels of Michael Schumacher and a Ferrari, spinning round and causing many drivers to cut the chicane to take avoiding action.
With the Monaco marshalls doing an amazing job at clearing the debri and cars quickly, the race was on it's way again. A driver who did particularly well was Heikki Kovalainen who was verging on championship points, battling with a struggling Jenson Button. Kovalainen finished in 13th.

Red Bull got tactical with Sebastian Vettel to ensure that Mark Webber would stay ahead and for Vettel to finish in the top 5 with a chance of a podium - The team kept him out on soft tyre's for as long as possible, hoping to jump Hamilton, Alonso and possibly Rosberg in the pits, which was half successful as he got out in front of a frustrated Lewis Hamilton but had to settle in behind Alonso, finishing the race in 4th.

With a fairly standard race in between the first and last laps, as predicted there was little over taking.
Water was the main topic throughout the race; the stuff that falls from the sky and sends teams on the pit wall crazy. 'It's going to rain in 15 minutes'... 'Rain in 5'... *Few drops of rain later*...'No more rain expected'... 'Rain could be coming within the next 10 laps'.... you get the picture, where in actual fact other than a few spots, rain missed the race completely and bucketed it down after.
The last few laps were incredibly tense, with 10 or so laps to go. The top 5 became bunched up, not being able to afford to slip up however it also meant that nobody wanted to pit either and so they all hung on to finish the race. Further down the grid Jean-Eric Vergne took a costly risk, switching to wet tyre's with the pending threat of the rain that never materialised, costing him a top ten finish.

Red Bull brought it home again in Monaco, for the third year in row for the team, Mark Webber finished in 1st which broke Formula 1 records with the 6th different winner in as many races! Perfect excuse's for a third Monaco pool party at the RBR energy station!!
Nico Rosberg made his second appearance on the podium finishing in 2nd place around his home town, in the 3rd spot was Fernando Alonso. Sebastian Vettel who had a brilliant race finished in 4th followed by Lewis Hamilton in 5th, team mate Jenson Button retired.

RESULTS:
Fastest Lap: Sergio Perez: 1:17.296

Podium:

[1st-Mark Webber, 2nd-Nico Rosberg, 3rd-Fernando Alonso]

& Adrian Newey.

Favourite helmet:

Monaco is one race of the year (unless you are Sebastian Vettel) where a few drivers will modify their helmets, glaming it up or tribute's to their favourite driver. 

I have two favourites:

Sebastian Vettel's sequin helmet; i like the idea of it and it's a twist on the usual diamonds featured on drivers helmets, apparently it took 15 hours and had over 1,000 sequins, to however made it, hats off to you!

My second is Kimi Raikkonen's tribute James Hunt helmet, i learnt that Kimi is/was a big fan of the late Brit racer and so am i, so naturally i like the helmet a lot as it's a replica of Hunt's.

NEXT UP:
MotoGP in Barcelona, a home race for a lot of riders in all three series, let's hope it's a good show for the Spanish fans!

Le Mans

Seeing as it's wednesday now, i'm not going to write up a race low down. Low down's, although are fairly short, do take me a reasonable time to research and type up. My blog is more of an outlet for my motorsport ramblings to get it out my system and in all honesty, i started to write up a race low down on the Moto3 class... it was so long  it wasn't even a low down, and i wasn't happy about how i typed it, the race was just incredible and the same applies for Moto2 and MotoGP.
Le Mans was one of those few races where all three classes were intense, brilliant racing. No blog post would do it justice so i urge you to go and watch it if you can (iplayer it if you live in the UK).

Moto3 Podium:

[1st-Louis Rossi, 2nd-Alberto Moncayo, 3rd-Alex Rins]

Moto2 Podium:

[1st-Thomas Luthi, 2nd-Claudio Corti, 3rd-Scott Redding]

MotoGP Podium:

[1st-Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd-Valentino Rossi, 3rd-Casey Stoner]

NEXT UP:   MONACO BABY!

Tomorrow the Principality will be graced with the sound of Formula 1 cars once again. There's something very special about Monaco and i can't wait for the weekend to start! 

Casey Stoner

During the Le Mans press conference today Casey Stoner announced he will be retiring at the end of the current season.
Honestly, i'm not that surprised. After watching an interview he done with Azi Farni for the MotoGP website in the off-season shortly after his baby girl was born, he hinted that either this year or next year could be then end of the road. He stated he wanted to watch her grow up, to be able to spend more time with his family away from the sport and pursue other interests while he can.
He's always been open over the last few years that he'd likely end up retiring early than most and at 27 years old (by the time he retires) he looks to be set for the quiet life after this season.

Casey's retirement will be a huge loss to the sport; he represents the Aussies, he's a brilliant rider and most of all he's a genuine, nice guy.
I really admire the fact he's come to the conclusion that he does want to retire, for most drivers it's a distant thought and the longer they can ride in MotoGP the better - its their world, their passion and it's a sacrifice they make. For some riders they don't even get to think about retiring, they're taken from the world too soon. MotoGP is a dangerous sport, you never know what might happen next but with the down's there are some pretty amazing high's. Casey's got a lot of guts to give it all up.

Double world Champion (2007&2011) 

From what he said during the press conference here, it's the right decision for him to make. It's sad when a rider or driver loses his passion for the sport he's devoted his life to. In the time he's been riding the sport has changed an awful lot as well and i can imagine he's proberly not alone with his feelings that the sport might not be heading in the best direction.

He's going to bow out the sport being a double World Champion, maybe even a triple World Champion, in my opinion he's got a lot more to lose than he has to gain. 

I hope he can enjoy the rest of the season and wish him all the very best for 2013 onwards! He deserves the family time. 

Thank you Casey Stoner for being a big part of my MotoGP watching years! You'll be missed!

Another race, another winner - F1

I've been starring at a blank page for a while because in all honesty i think i'm still processing the weekends events and wondering how exactly can i convey such a roller-coaster weekend in to a blog post.
I know for this 2012 Formula 1 season i'm repeating myself by saying 'where do i begin' but this race weekend in Spain has been a whirlwind of emotions to the very end.

So, i'll start with the events of qualifying.
Tyre's were the talking point of quali (as usual). With the familiar back qualifiers it was the mid-field shock that stricked again. This time it was McLaren's Jenson 'understeer and no grip' Button and Red Bull's Mark Webber, both of whom looked unsettled throughout qualifying, they finished 11th and 12th respectively which meant they were knocked out in Q2.
Button's team mate Lewis Hamilton put in a mega lap which saw him take pole... and that is when the drama began.
Hamilton was unable to return to the pits after his lap, stopping out on track. Rules are rules and the rules state every car has to return to the pits with one litre of fuel on board under a practise session (which qualifying comes under) - enough to provide a sample. Under fueling Lewis Hamilton gave him an unfair advantage to his competitors. However, the FIA came to the conclusion that he would be excluded from quali and ended up being demoted from pole to the back of the grid.
Fans took to social networks, many agreeing that this was a harsh punishment as it was no fault of the driver; a reasonable penalty would have been deleting his Q3 lap time and basing his time from his Q2 lap which would have dropped him to just outside the top 10.
With Hamilton starting at the back (behind the HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan who was outside the 107% rule, fair or unfair?) meant that the pole was handed over to Pastor Maldonado, Williams' first pole since Nico Hulkenberg's wonder lap in Brazil 2010.

The race:
When the five lights went out the race to the first corner began. Fernando Alonso was the one, as predicted, who led the pack by Turn 2, though Pastor Maldonado didn't yield easily and stayed on the back end of the prancing horse in front of both Lotus drivers, setting the first fastest lap of the race. Lewis Hamilton had a stormer of a start from the back of the grid, making up five places in half a lap.
A clash between Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez saw the Sauber driver pick up a puncture, having to pit changing to the hard tyre (the preferred compound)
Lap 7 was when the first of the scheduled pit stops began with Mark Webber pitting for fresh rubber followed by Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi. Meanwhile, Hamilton was still out for making up places to get to the front, by the end of Lap 9 he was in 12th position.
McLaren's first pit stop was for JB... a clean pit stop, something McLaren are lacking in however a later stop with Hamilton didn't run as smoothly, bumping over a tyre on exit from his box.
Lap 14 saw the first gravel trap trip and it was Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher who underestimated Bruno Senna's braking point and went in the back of him, shattering his front wing and veering off in the gravel, throwing his steering wheel out the car and calling Senna an 'idiot'. Senna said after his race that he was expecting Schumacher to pass on the inside, not the outside, subsequently breaking earlier. Bruno Senna later retired to the pits after his getting together with Schumacher.
Lap 26 is where it possibly all went wrong for Fernando Alonso, Maldonado pitted for fresh tyre's - on return to the track he bashed out a few fast laps making up time to the Spaniard while Alonso was being held up by Marussia's Charles Pic after ignoring blue flags. Pic got handed a diver-through penalty but retired himself after an issue with the car.
Jenson Button had a topsy-turvey race, suffering from grip issues (now fair to say this is an on going joke) battling with Felipe Massa for position. Button finished the race in 9th, while Massa dropped off the pace and finished down in 15th.
Hamilton finished the race in 8th, in front of teammate Button, after starting from 24th that is quite a performance, a blast from the young Lewis Hamilton's past driving corker races.
The last pit stops of the race were nervy one's, Maldonado was held in his box for longer that he should have as the team were sorting his tyre's. Ferrari's stop was smooth and exactly what they needed.
Kimi Raikkonen led the race on Lap 46, with old tyre's on he was slower than both Maldonado and Alonso. The Venezuelan was able to ease past Raikkonen however the 'flying Finn' did a good job of holding Alonso up enough to make a difference for the rest of the race, after the Spaniard was able the pass for 2nd position he kept close to the leader. Keeping calm and collected, something we aren't always used to seeing for Pastor Maldonado, he kept focused and more importantly kept the Ferrari in his wing mirrors. At the end of the race Alonso's tyre's were through, wear from being so close behind the Williams car had taken it's toll.
The chequered flag was out and it was Pastor Maldonado that crossed the line first, followed by Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen joining him on the podium.
Williams first podium since Brazil 2004 - notice the South American theme! A fitting win for Sir Frank Williams 70th birthday - Happy Birthday Sir Frank and a massive congratulations to him and the team!!! A win the whole of Formula 1 will be glad and happy to see.

RESULTS:

Fastest Lap: Romain Grosjean: 1:26.250

Podium:

[1st-Pastor Maldonado, 2nd-Fernando Alonso, 3rd-Kimi Raikkonen]

The weekend unfortunately ended terribly for Williams. During celebrations in the pit garage shortly after the race a horrific fire broke out. Many mechanics from different teams instantly went to put the fire out, which pumped out a lot of nasty smoke. Frank Williams, his family and Pastor's family along with team members, film crews and outside friends and family were among those inside the pit box and in the pit lane at the time. Nobody was seriously injured but many mechanics who helped extinguish the fire got taken to the medical centre for treatment (smoke inhalation and suspected minor burns) A few of those got taken to local hospitals and all got released except one who is still under observation but is stable and will be released soon - so reports say. Hopefully all those effected will have a speedy recovery.
Teams continue to unite together and have offered to lend Williams any kit they need for Monaco after extensive fire damage to a lot of the equipment in the garage at the time.

*Michael Schumacher will have a five place grid penalty in Monaco after the incident with Bruno Senna during the Spanish GP.

Next Up:
Back to the bikes as we now head in to every other weekend for both MotoGP and Formula 1 instead of these long 3 week breaks, phew.
This weekend MotoGP heads to Le Mans in France.

Estoril low down

It was a mixed weekend over in Portugal for the MotoGP weekend. Weather effected all three classes practise on Friday with little to no running for some riders, with improvements in weather conditions qualifying kicked up some nasty crashes and gobsmacking saves.
The MotoGP bikes in quali seemed to have a mind of their own, the save of the season has to go to Ivan Silva who, while holding on in an attempt to stay on the bike, hit the throttle and done a spectacular wheelie, saving the bike and going on his merry way (although he later had a unpleasant crash in warm up) however a few minutes later a nasty crash occurred between Randy De Puniet and Colin Edwards - Edwards was off the racing line on a slow lap while RDP was on a hot lap, just as he was sweeping past, the bike went down and collected Edwards. The weekend was over for Colin sustaining a broken collarbone. Both being rather beat up Randy was able to take part in the race.

Moto3:
It was a battle between Sandro Cortese (who started on pole for the second time this season) and Maverick Vinales, hot on their exhausts was the familiar name of Louis Salom but up in the battle for a podium spot were also Efron Vazquez (JHK T-shirt Laglisse) and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Airasia-Sic-Ajo)
The first half of the race was the usual mix in order however with every lap the race hot up, a tight battle between Brit Danny Kent and Italian Romano Fenati saw them both duel for position till confidence got the better of both the riders and ended up running wide together losing several places, soon after Romano Fenati crashed out the race on Lap 9 along with Louis Rossi who had a strong start to the race.
The latter stage of the race was intense racing, tactical Cortese stayed close behind Vinales, both lapping similar times. When the chequered flag was near with a few laps to go the battle was on, swapping and changing position countless times making your mind boggle with who was leading who. The last half a lap was nail biting (seriously, i have no nails left) they came up against lapped riders, getting mixed up with them and eager to get his first Moto3 win Sandro Cortese pulled out some agressive (but not over-agressive or dangerous in my opinion) moves on Maverick Vinales to take the first step of the podium!
Vinales wasn't too happy after the race, his fiery Spanish side and lack of experience in these 'situations' got the better of him, his team having to assure him that Cortese was within his rights, while Sandro himself was full of smiles, a season he needs to make an impression on and that he is certainly doing!
Louis Salom joined them on the podium after a great fight with Zulfahmi Khairuddin who put his stamp on the race and was close to being the first Malaysian rider to grace the podium, i'm sure we'll be seing more of him in future races.
Although it proved an exciting race, promising Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira retired due to a mechanical failure after such promising practise and Qualifying, bad luck Miguel.

Retirements: Jasper Iwema (8 laps), Romano Fenati (9 laps), Louis Rossi (9 laps), Issac Vinales (10 laps), Danny Webb (15 laps), Adrian Martin (17 laps), Miguel Oliveira (20 laps)

[Sandro Cortese-1st, Maverick Vinales-2nd, Louis Salom-3rd]

Moto2:
There seems to never be a dull race in Moto2 and Estoril was no different.
Marc Marquez led the first lap but by the second it was Thomas Luthi who was in front, Marquez, Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco all staying within over taking distance of each other. Luthi led for the majority of the race with the fight for podium going on, not far behind the top 4 were Scott Redding and Andrea Iannone pushing hard though once again Redding dropped off rapidly to the middle of the pack finishing in 11th. Iannone was on a charge but a mistake on Lap 11 saw him temporarily run his own race off-track, re-joining and eventually finishing in 5th.
Lap 17 was when any hope of a victory started to get less likely for Luthi as he wasn't able to pull a gap from Marquez and Espargaro who both over took the Swiss and they themselves pulled out a gap.
For the second race running the victory would either be Pol Espargaro's or Marc Marquez's. With quite a few chop and changes (after all this is Moto2 - nothing can be decided with only a few changes in lead) a fierce spat between both Spaniards and it was Pol who was first to slip, not literally but he ran wide at the chicane on the last lap and it was all over, 2nd place was the place he'd finish, giving the win to Marquez.
A hand-shake on the cool down lap (Maverick Vinales take note) Espargaro was gracious in defeat both riders enjoyed the rivalry and happy to be on podium. Once again joining them was Thomas Luthi.

Retirements: Mike de Meglio (6 laps), Simone Corsi (7 laps), Axel Pons (17 laps), Yuki Takahashi (21 laps)

[Marc Marquez-1st, Pol Espargaro-2nd, Thomas Luthi-3rd]

MotoGP:
MotoGP seems to be back to it's own familiar pattern (which i know some fans are finding... less interesting) With both Qatar and Jerez behind him it was Casey Stoner that has well and truly returned to his previous seasons form - winning by a mile.
What i'd like to type: 'it was a a close battle between front runner Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo both pinching the lead of each other throughout the race...'
What really happened: Casey Stoner had a terrific start and led the race from start to finish, pulling out a big enough gap from Lorenzo in which all Lorenzo could do was sniff the exhaust fumes from the Honda rider.
That was the story from the front of the pack and all though a very deserving race for Stoner and his pure skill to pull away from the pack for the whole race it does get a bit mundane doesn't it (but then all though i try to be as un-biased as possible on my blog i am a Lorenzo fan so this is very frustrating)
Further down it was Valentino Rossi, that i think i can safely say every MotoGP fan was happy for him, finding a bit of pace he was able to stay consistant and cross the line in 7th - the highest he's finished all season, feeling more at one with the bike i hope Ducati are on the right road but teammate Nicky Hayden had an appalling race finishing in 11th, apparently the bike was all out of sync, not handling like it should. As i've said before it's either or in the Ducati team it seems, fingers crossed that they'll soon have both riders up there on form.
Talking of form it was another disappointing race for Yamaha's Ben Spies, although he took 8th from race rival Stefan Bradl, who may i say is having a great rookie year for LCR Honda, Spies had a positive start up at the front however he himself admitting his over-confidence with finally feeling like he was in control, led him to make several errors during the first half of the race. Feeling the pressure that comes with lack of performance but finally being at one with his bike maybe we'll see him up there in Le Mans.
Having a corker of a season is the Tech 3 Yamaha's of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, both having a race between themselves and finishing 4th and 5th respectively.

Fastest CRT: Aleix Espargaro

Retirements: Karel Abraham (5 laps), James Ellison (10 laps), Yonny Hernandez (12 laps), Mattia Pasini (17 laps), Ivan Silva (17 laps)

[Casey Stoner-1sr, Jorge Lorenzo-2nd, Dani Pedrosa-3rd]

Next up:
Formula 1 is back this weekend in Spain for the start of the European races followed the week after by MotoGP at Le Mans for the French Grand Prix.

Imola 1994

I may have been too young to understand what a huge impact this weekend had on not only the motorsport community but the world as a whole, to a certain extent i think it still exists today, i think it always will do.
Most people regard Imola 1994 to be the darkest weekend of motorsport ever. The weekend was a disaster from the start.

Friday 29th April 1994, practise: Rubens Barichello was involved in a high speed crash, hospitalised but with no major life-threatening injuries it was nothing short of a miracle he is still with us today.
This was just the start of the dark weekend...

Saturday 30th April 1994, qualifying: Roland Ratzenberger was involved in a fatal crash involving no other cars. Roland was a lovely guy, much loved by the paddock. Sitting lifeless in his cock pit it was a devastating reminder of the dangers of motorsport, after a relatively long break (1982-1994) from the last Formula 1 fatality. The spirit of the paddock didn't exist, it was replaced with sadness, heavy hearts and tears at the loss of a great racer. Roland's death particularly effected good friend Ayrton Senna, who was torn to pieces at the death of his fellow racer.
Senna was a racing driver though like all the other drivers, giving up was not an option, he still wanted to race despite not having a clear state of mind.

Sunday 1st May 1994, race day: While the fans and the paddock were still coming to terms with Ratzenberger's death, the race was still going ahead.
Imola 1994 came to a tragic end, Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna crashed. It was the last time the world saw him race, Ayrton like Roland died what he loved doing in a place that was his second home - his Formula 1 car.
Senna was idolised, not only in Brazil but across the world, he was a true racer, living and breathing the sport. For him, there was no option to quit the only option was to race and win, after all 'being second is to be the first of the one's who lose.' His death (along with Roland's) left a huge hole in the motorsport world.

From the film 'Senna' every time i watch the part of the Imola 1994 i get a lump in my throat, sitting in silence, you feel the pain, the emotions. From a fans point of view, i was only a young child in 1994 but in a very warped way i feel blessed, not about the death's of Roland or Ayrton but the fact Formula 1 now is a lot safer, and as the motorsport community has seen in recent months, Formula 1 has become one of the 'safer' motoring events, Ayrton's the last life to be lost at the wheel of an F1 car. 18 years on and we've been lucky not to experience a life lost in F1, something i think Formula 1 should take a lot pride in, here's to another 18 years!

Imola '94, is a weekend many fans (friend's family and F1 people) will always remember, the world lost two great racers that weekend, along with every driver that died before them, i hope they are Racing In Paradise, no rest for the wicked after all!

Legends are never forgotten ♥

** I'm sure everyone has an image in their head when you think of your favourite driver, or a legendary driver etc for me it is this particular image. I think it captures Ayrton best; no matter in or out of the car, racing was always at the front of his mind, he wanted to improve, know everything and anything worth knowing. His iconic helmet and championship winning overalls, McLaren car in the distance, with a focused face. I can't explain just how much i love this and always will.

Jerez low down

Jerez is a familiar circuit for the majority of the riders, especially the local Spaniards but with mixed conditions throughout the weekend it didn't run as smoothly, for others the rainy weather was a bonus.

Moto3
The mixed conditions hit Moto3 the hardest in so far as the amount of crashes with the rain getting the better of almost half the grid. It was the 16 year old Italian Romano Fenati that proved Qatar was not a fluke and that he really does have serious talent; Fenati led from the start, remaining calm and collected on the damp track. Turn 9 was the make or break for the riders with wet patches catching out a lot of them.

Once again there was an exciting battle for the last podium position between Luis Salom, who finished 2nd, Sandro Cortese, who finished 3rd and Alex Rins who missed out on a podium and finished 4th.
Title favourite Maverick Vinales only managed to finish 6th after a few major mistakes at the start which saw him drop down to 28th, his cousin Issac crashed out on lap 17, not the best day for the Vinales'. The race result means Fenati now leads the Moto3 championship, he has a 10 point advantage over spaniard Vinales.

Riders that crashed out of the race:
[Riders who didn't finish first lap]: Jack Miller, Danny Kent, Simone Grotzkyj - A suspected collarbone fracture for Miller and contusions for Kent.
Others: Adrian Martin (21 laps), Kenta Fujii (8 laps, wrist injury), Danny Webb (9 laps), Louis Rossi (14 laps), Issac Vinales (17 laps), Josep Rodriguez (19 laps), Miguel Oliveira (20 laps), Arthur Sissis (20 laps, contusions to chest and hands), Jakob Kornfeil (21 laps), Brad Binder (21 laps), Afren Vazquez (21 laps), Niklas Ajo (21 laps), Toni Finsterbusch (21 laps), Luigi Morciano (21 laps)

*Niklas Ajo will not be at Estoril after a dispute with a track official.

[1st-Romano Fenati, 2nd Louis Salom, 3rd Sandro Cortese]

Moto2
The weather caused ever more havoc during the Moto2 race; with a strong start by the front runners, the battle was on between Marc Marquez, Thomas Luthi, Scott Redding and Pol Espargaro, each taking the lead off of each countless times. Mika Kallio was also in the hunt early on but with the weather changing he made a diversion (he would have rather avoided) through the gravel dropping him back, he finished in 7th just ahead of Claudio Corti.

Scott Redding was one to watch from the start, he found himself racing for a podium spot after he qualified 12th on the grid. The Brit's chances of a win only lasted 4 laps but a podium was definitely in sight with a battle for 3rd, Swiss rider Thomas Luthi pipped him to it.
A cool track but heated riders, Pol Espargaro fought tooth and nail to hold off Marquez as the rain started falling, both knew the race could be red flagged.

With rain pouring down in Jerez the race was inevitably stopped, however not without confusion as on the lap the flagged was raised, Marquez was in the lead for half the lap, as well as crossing the line under the flag but ruled are rules and it went back to the previous fully completed lap where the last times and places had been recorded which meant Pol Espargaro won his first Moto2 race - even though he didn't know it at the time! Congrats Pol!
All but four of the Moto2 riders stayed on two wheels, Elena Rosell was the first to go out crashing on Lap 4, Marco Colandrea (6 laps), Mike di Meglio (8 laps) and Max Neukirchner (12 laps) were the other three.

[1st-Pol Espargaro, 2nd-Marc Marquez, 3rd-Thomas Luthi]

MotoGP
By the time the MotoGP race rolled around (i know i'm going on about the weather but it was an important factor) the rain had passed and the track was rapidly drying, with tyre wear being the main issue during the race.

Ducati once again were the talking point but on a more positive note this time, Nicky Hayden had a corker of a start to his race, after qualifying on the front row that is where he stayed for the first quarter of the race fending off the Tech 3 Yamaha's of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso.
While Hayden was holding his place, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo where off in a fight of their own, a familiar sight of them breaking away from the pack. Dani Pedrosa wasn't too far away either.
Stefan Bradl held his own amongst the 'big dawg's' of Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista, the rookie finished in 7th in a Gresini, Ducati sandwich however not Vale but Nicky. Hayden soon wore his tyre's out, with a fair few laps still to run he dropped back down the field to 8th, in front of his teammate. Worrying for the team (i promise i'll hop off the Ducati Bandwagon soon) that while Hayden was immersing himself at the front Rossi was still fighting down in 10th against a rider who is also have a bad start to his season, Ben Spies.
The same thing happened over at Yamaha, Lorenzo fighting for the win and Spies fighting for a point (which he didn't get and finished 11th) Hopefully we'll see them all back up the top sometime soon.

Cal Crutchlow put in another very impressive rider over the weekend, if he had a few more laps and his tyre's weren't dropping off i'm sure he would have taken 3rd off Pedrosa, fingers crossed for the weekend Cal (me bias? of course he's a Brit!)
Lorenzo just missed out on the win with his tyre's degrading rapidly on the last few laps handing the win to Stoner. It was first's for riders in all three classes as Stoner had never won at Jerez before so well done to him. He did suffer from slight arm pump again which is never a good thing, will he get it in Estoril at the weekend...

It was a good weekend for the Espargaro brother's as Pol's big bro Aleix was the fastest CRT (Aleix finished the race in 12th behind Spies) so another well done to him! I bet celebrations went on in their household!
One big disappointment for Randy de Puniet as the frenchman retired on the last lap after what looked like a bike with no fuel left, not a way you want to end so close to the finish line. Other retirements were James Ellison on Lap 24 (gearbox) Michele Pirro, 18 laps and Yonny Hernandez who stalled on the grid, started from the pit lane then came back in to the pit lane on the first lap.

[1st-Casey Stoner, 2nd-Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd- Dani Pedrosa]

Next Race: Estoril 4, 5, 6th May.

Also this week will be the Mugello Formula 1 test.