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] 

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?!

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!!

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

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!

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.

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.

Bahrain low down

Two different 'worlds' collided in Bahrain; outside in the villages surrounding Manama there was anti-government protests, tear gas, petrol bombs and people who want their voices to be heard, In the confides of the Sakhir Circuit there was the Formula 1 circus, wanting to get on with their jobs ready for the racing weekend.
Looking back on the weekend, although i didn't agree with the race being held and issues did arise that made me think why and earth F1 was there, one thing is for certain: the Bahraini people were able to express themselves and be heard on an international scale as the Grand Prix drew attention to the country, unfortunately like many others have already said, now the GP is over the spotlight will more than likely move away from Bahrain.

The hot conditions of the desert are not for the faint hearted, however spits of rain and a cooler temperature on sunday wasn't what the teams were expecting... can you believe it rains in the desert too?!
Lap 1 and it was pole sitter Sebastian Vettel that got a speedy start to break away from the pack. Daniel Ricciardo had an awful start from 6th to 17th where he stayed for the majority of the race, battling with Caterham's Vitaly Petrov.
Heikki Kovalainen had another poor start getting in to contact with another car, he got a right-rear puncture and had to trail off for a very early pit stop.
The most surprising start was by Felipe Massa, he had a good race managing to stay fighting for points, good results is something the Brazilian definitely needs.
The Lotus pair obviously had their weetabix in the morning and were both flying out on the track, Grosjean swiftly passing Hamilton for 2nd place while Raikkonen raced hard to make up places from Jenson Button and Mark Webber.

It all went wrong for Hamilton after a disasterous pit stop - problems with the wheel nut's arised again, shaking his head he eventually rejoined the track, the chances of a podium now a distant memory. After one terrible pit stop to another, Hamilton's second stop later in the race was equally as bad and McLaren will have to investigate what has happened with their pitstops over the last few races, they need to improve them as they cannot afford to lose another race from (to a certain extent) an avoidable problem.

Nico Rosberg was a bit naughty on Lap 10 after barging Hamilton off the race track, who made a bold move keeping his foot down, over taking the German. For Rosberg to pull out the same move on Alonso a few laps later however the Spaniard was not happy and radioed through and angry message to his pit crew. However he then went on to kick up controversy himself after he looked as if he was following a Sauber in to the pits and at the last second decides against it and rejoins the race, a dangerous move but both Rosberg and Alonso who's incidents were investigated after the race, got let off the hook.

After the weekends antics at Force India - getting caught up in a protest, missing FP2, coincidently not being shown in quali - Paul Di Resta had a storming race, led for one lap and managed to hold his ground with the big guns, the talented Scot finished up the race in 6th, an excellent result for him and the team!

The first retirement of the race was Pastor Maldonado after a left-rear puncture showing some 360 degree skill on the track puffing up a lot smoke, he slowly peeled off to the pits to reitre the car.
Back at the front, after Kimi was able to overtake teammate Grosjean, he cut down the gap to leader Vettel to 1.1 seconds. The iceman blew his one chance of taking the lead though and the world champion built up a gap between the Finn.
Near the end of the race Williams' last remaning driver, Bruno Senna, had to reitre in the pits. Jenson Button also had to retire on Lap 56; he had a very sick sounding exhaust.
Sebastian Vettel won his first race of the season, joining him on the podium were both Lotus drivers, Kimi Raikkonen, his first podium on return to the sport and Romain Grojean his first podium in F1 not bad for a rookie and a superb race by all.

RESULTS:

Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel: 1:36.379

PODIUM:

[1st-Sebastian Vettel, 2nd-Kimi Raikkonen, 3rd-Romain Grosjean]

Next Up:

Formula 1 takes another 3 week break (can't say i'm a massive fan of these *long* breaks) the next race is in Barcelona but there's an upcoming test in Mugello, Italy which will take place before. I personally can't wait to see F1 cars around Mugello, i really like the track, always enjoy watching the MotoGP round at the circuit.

Talking of MotoGP back to back races start this weekend, first up Spain this weekend!

Red Bull home run

Last weekend Red Bull Racing and Milton Keynes council came together to create a celebratory event in the teams home turf of MK to celebrate a very successful year in Formula 1.

This season Red Bull were comfortably at the top from start to finish, Sebastian Vettel claimed the most poles in a season (15) and won the majority of the races and was a feature on the podium regularly, with only one retirement in Abu Dhabi due to a puncture.
Mark Webber picked up a handful of podiums himself and not forgetting the last race of the season where he won in Brazil joining Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso to be the only drivers to beat Vettel on the top step.
In Korea Red Bull Racing clinched the Constructors title and the race before Sebastian Vettel won the drivers championship in Japan. 
So... not much to celebrate then eh!

The event also showcased talented stunt bike rider Chris Pfeiffer and David Coulthard driving in a Red Bull NASCAR as well as both Formula 1 cars, drivers and the team.

Being one of roughly 66,000 fans/spectators i can say both myself and my family had an amazing day out. For me, i got lucky and happened to be in the rights places at the right time (and waiting over two hours outside the make-shift garage to see Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber along with Adrian Newey, Christian Horner, DC and Jake Humphrey!)

Thank you to Milton Keynes and to RBR for a fantastic show run, to help with the off season blues!!

It's official

The least shocking announcement on who'd have a drive at Sahara Force India next season has now officially been confirmed.

Nico Hulkenberg and Paul Di Resta will pair up next season while Adrian Sutil is out of a contract.
Paul Di Resta, who won 'Autosport Rookie of the year 2011' made a lasting impression during his debut Formula 1 season at the team. He repeatedly out-qualified his now ex teammate Adrian Sutil and managed to score a decent amount of points for the team. His calm and collective approach to the media, always offering an in depth analysis during interviews and generally being fan-friendly has made his fan base increase while his obvious talent has shone to the team who are keeping him for the 2012 season. Let's hope next year is even better for him.

Nico Hulkenberg made his debut in 2010 for Williams, and like Di Resta he gained a solid fan base that would support him from then on, even during the 2011 season while he's been a reserve driver for Force India.
His amazing first pole position in Brazil 2010 showed us just a glimpse of his racing talent, something which hopefully the Force India will help shine and he can now start to show the Motorsport world what the Hulk has been holding back while being out for this past season.  

Now there is only two seats left that need to be filled on the grid, although it's unknown if Ruben Barrichello will be staying at Williams there's a possibility that now redundant Adrian Sutil could replace the Brazilian.
HRT could now change it's plans and opt for Jaime Alguersuari in the teams bid to be completely Spanish. 
We'll have to patiently wait and see!

In with the new

It was announced a few hours ago that Lotus Renault isn't the only one making bold moves in their driver line up.
Toro Rosso have signed TWO new drivers Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne who was Renault 3.5 runner up and Australian Daniel Ricciardo who's most recently been racing for HRT in a deal cut by Red Bull; both being Red Bull young drivers.

The upside? My last post talking about fresh talent on the grid, seems to be turning around. Daniel Ricciardo race from Silverstone onwards this past season for HRT, an uncompetitive team that helped him get experience under his belt. It's been rumoured for a while that he might have replaced one of the former Toro Rosso drivers and Red Bull have pushed for him to be in Formula 1.
Jean-Eric Vergne set his 2011 sights on becoming champion in the Renault 3.5 season, he showed Red Bull he was fast but only managed runner up, in a tense battle to the end with Robert Wickens, a championship he could taste and then fell at the last hurdle. He also tested on Fridays with Scuderia Toro Rosso which was a promising sign.

The downside? We lose two very talented and passionate drivers. This is the cut throat world of F1 - your position is never safe. This has been proved throughout the whole season where Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari have pushed each other and motivated each other in an attempt to come out on top, the better driver, the driver who most deserves his seat with STR. The battle so closely fought helped Toro Rosso develop as a team with more positive results and higher grid finishes. 
I did believe that one of them would stay at the team and help continue this positive growth but now seeing as they've signed two rookies, this may be doubtful. 
I hope to see both Buemi and Alguersuari stay positive and continue racing in F1 sometime soon, talent shouldn't be wasted, there could be a surprise for us yet.

Good luck to them both and i hope they both have very successful seasons and most of all enjoy the racing!

Sh-sh-sh-shake up!

So i know i'm late on the news front but i've been away for the weekend (post coming soon) but the fight for the remaining Lotus Renault seat has being signed.

After weeks, or even months of speculation of who was going to be sat in a Lotus next year has come to a close. Kimi Raikkonen won't be the only newbie at the team as LRGP have officially done the deal with GP2 winner Romain Grosjean. A slightly shocking surprise for Vitaly Petrov who had a contract for 2012 but turns out it was on a 2011 race seat with a 2012 option.
While it's great news for Grosjean who get's to make a go of Formula 1 again, Petrov is now out of a seat along with Bruno Senna, who has reportedly said he'd be happy with a reserve role. The lack of seats and ever growing young talent means It's got to the point where the young guns are now happy for reserve roles whereas the verging on retiring drivers are still keeping seats?!

I can't help but think it's time for a lot more fresh faces in Formula 1, not just for a single season and then for another rookie to be snapped up, i mean for more drivers to enter F1 and stay, build a solid fan base and grow within the sport, to watch them climb the ranks to the top. We've recently seen Sebastian Vettel grow overt he past few years to become World Champion and now once the older drivers have moved on we need to see new young Sebastian's arising.

A rumour, which i will reiterate  is just a rumour at the moment, is that Kamui Kobayashi could be replaced by Jules Bianchi, whom is on the Ferrari young driver programme, like Sergio Perez, so it would make sense for him to make his debut with the Sauber team, however this is one move i am unsure of. I'm a big fan of Kobayashi's driving style, he's showed us he has got determination, he's proved he can have an agressive driving style if he needs to, he's won the hearts of many and it would be sad to see him out of a seat, he's one of the promising drivers that you know is just going to get better and better and if i'm honest i think this year he's learnt a lot more with having Perez as a team mate, someone whose evenly matched and to me, i think they make a great team.
On the other hand i've been following Jules Bianchi's career for about two years now, i get excited when i see him race, he's talented and someday he will end up winning in a Ferrari, races and even Championships. He wouldn't be on the Ferrari young driver programme if they didn't believe in him so if he did go to Sauber a part of me would be very happy but the other would be sad that Kamui wasn't there.

Brazil low down...

Sao Paulo; a place of history, a place where everyone feels that little bit closer to the legendary racer Ayrton Senna, a place where dreams become reality, championships are decided, tears are shed and excitement is felt.

The last Grand Prix of the season has been and gone.

Although the championship was ultimately over in Japan, there were battles still to be fought for constructor’s points.

Sunday morning’s main focus was on whether it was going to rain, at what time and deciding what setup and strategy was going to work best for the race.

The race started in the warm Brazilian sunshine, everyone started on the quicker soft tyres and the race was go!

Lap 1, both Ferrari’s got off to a good start along with Vettel who started like he has started every race this season - instant pace, something he’s perfected.

Home racer Rubens Barichello had a very poor start falling from 10^th to 19^th, a sad sight for fans to see as it’s in doubt as to whether he has a race seat next year or not.

All 24 cars managed to get to Lap 9 with no need of a safety car all race, it was Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna that had a racing incident on Lap 10 causing Schumacher to pit after a puncture for another lot of soft tyres.

Fernando Alonso pulled out another almighty over take on Lap 11 - when he overtakes he does it in impressive style, meanwhile Sebastian Vettel is made aware of a gearbox problem over his team radio and Bruno Senna get’s given a driving through for his incident earlier, not the sight any of the Brazilian fans wanted to see.

After several messages over the radio to Vettel about his “serious” gear box problem, on Lap 30 his team mate Mark Webber takes 1^st place, where he stayed for the rest of the race to claim his first (and what will be the last) win of the season for the Red Bull team.

With gear box issues being a reoccurring feature during the length of the race, eventually Lewis Hamilton’s gave up the ghost and he retired on Lap 48, joining retirees Timo Glock on Lap 21 due to a failed pit stop and unsafe release, with the team later being fined, and Pastor Maldonado who unfortunately summed up his season by crashing into the barrier on Lap 26. Tonio Liuzzi was the last retirement on Lap 61.

Force India driver Adrian Sutil had a belter of a race, making impressive over takes past Nico Rosberg for the 6^th place battle, while team mate Paul di Resta finished best of the rookies in 8^th.

The ultimate pass from Jenson Button on Lap 62 saw him take 2^nd from Fernando Alonso, where they both remained for the rest of the race. As the GP came to an end, Mark Webber was on the podium in 1^st - a well-deserved win by the Australian, joining him was Sebastian Vettel in 2^nd and Jenson in 3^rd. 

FASTEST LAP : Mark Webber: 1:15.324

Results: 

The podium:

Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button (from @redbullracing) 

Apart fron the Ayrton Senna tribute helmets, Sebastian Vettel's was my favourite helmet of the weekend,  "Cheers Maz" you mysterious RBR employee!

And a last thanks to the class of 2011 for giving us a great season of racing... (including Nick Heidfeld, Karun Chandhok and the other reserves) along with all the teams and everyone who works in F1!

The curtains have no been drawn and focus turns to 2012. 

If, like me, you can't wait till March for you F1 fix, then Red Bull are hosting a 'Red Bull home run' event in Milton Keynes on December 10th. Welcoming home Kinky Kylie after her last ever race, oh and Sebastian, Mark, DC and all the team will be there too! 

Singapore lights

A near on perfect backdrop of Marina Bay lighting up the night sky, for the first and only night race of the season which could have seen the title won by Sebastian Vettel.

The flood lit lights were on, rain on delay and all 24 cars ready and waiting for the five red lights.

Sebastian Vettel was off to a good start (again) leading the pack while teammate Mark Webber got of to a slower start leaving the door open for Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso to overtake with Lewis Hamilton in fifth.

Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes was lucky to hang on to sixth after bumping over the kerb on Lap 1 however was confirmed over his radio he was ok to keep sixth position.

Lewis Hamilton made several clean cut passes gaining places in the first few laps while the battle for third was on between Webber and Alonso however Alonso was unable to maintain speed and tyre’s dropping off quickly, along with brake temperature problems.

Lap 12 and both Hamilton and Felipe Massa pit the lap before, the Ferrari managed to stay ahead though not for long as Hamilton attempted to overtake, misjudges and tears away the corner of his front wing and in turn puncturing Massa’s right rear tyre.

Hamilton, down in 16^th, was handed a driver through penalty for the incident to only see him fight back the positions for the rest of the race.

Rookie Paul di Resta had his best Grand Prix result of the season, who on Lap 16 was up to 3^rd but had to surrender his position to the faster car of Alonso however finished the GP in 6^th - the best of the cars outside the top three teams.

Schumacher had a frightening near take off from Sergio Perez Sauber as Schumacher tried to overtake, a close mirror image of Webber’s Valencia 2010 take off however Schumacher had a lucky escape not quite going airborne but a high impact crash hitting the barrier; he was ok and got out the car almost instantly.

Following the crash - we did make it to 30 laps - the safety car was out, usually a frequent appearance at street circuits especially in Singapore.

Four laps later and the safety car came in, Vettel was ahead of Button and it stayed that way for the rest of the race. Heikki Kovalainen narrowly missed shunting into Vettel in the pit lane after an unsafe release and towards the end of the race Button was catching Vettel however traffic made sure he ran out of laps and finished 2^nd behind the Red Bull in 1^st while teammate Webber finished 3^rd with Fernando settling for 4^th in front of Hamilton.

Jaime Alguersuari crashed out on Lap 56 colliding into the barrier, the safety car was needed at the race continued, other retirements from the race along with Alguersuari and Schumacher were Timo Glock on lap 9 and Jarno Trulli on Lap 47.

Fastest lap: Jenson Button: 1:48.454

Singapore 2011

[F1Gifs.tumblr]

The podium

This is from after qualifying but switch Mark and Jenson round and we have the podium order (couldn't find a podium picture when i wanted to)

[Fireworks after the race]

The first fly-away has now passed and we move onto Japan, where, more thank likely, we will see Sebastian Vettel be crowned World Champion and a fitting place it will be... unless he finishes 11th or lower.

Let's hope the rain isn't like last year but if it is, Red Bull will win the boat races too!

Getting up in the early hours of the morning to watch it?!

Only in Italia!

In the sweltering heat, the Tifosi were out in full force at the Italian Grand Prix. Surrounded by a sea of red the cars lined up on the grid ready for 53 laps at Monza.

Drama started on Lap 1 with what could have been a nastier crash caused by Tonio Liuzzi in his HRT, sliding along the grass run off and into mid fielders making their way around Turn 1, he swept up Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov, with several others having to avoid the incident.

This saw the Safety car come out till Lap 4, where Fernando Alonso took an early lead -a great sight for the passionate Tifosi- over Sebastian and now had to fight to retain it.

On the restart Mark Webber was a little too eager on trying to overtake Felipe Massa and knocked off his front wing under his tyre’s, Massa spun but was able to rejoin with no obvious damage to the car meanwhile Webber soon crashed out, the first time a Red Bull retired this year.

Lap 12 and the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher was in full swing, both eager to beat each other, with Schumacher showing a flare of his old racing with a naughty two move block on Hamilton, receiving a radio message from Ross Brawn to “make sure you leave room at Ascari”

Through the pits and Vettel takes the lead from Alonso with both McLarens hot on his hooves (get it?)

Hamilton slips up unable to keep up the momentum and Button was able to pass him, next up, Alonso.

Lap 36, as Vettel pits for new tyres, Alonso was slow out of the corners where Button was able to take advantage and pass him for second. Five World Champions were in the top five.

The now permanent for 2011 Renault driver, Bruno Senna had a challenging but exciting race and was able to cleanly over take Sebastien Buemi for 9^th entering the points for him and the team.

The last few laps and Hamilton was closing the gap on Alonso however he wasn’t able to make anything of it and time ran out. Sebastian Vettel won again in Monza, 3 years since his first win driving for Toro Rosso, an emotional win for the German. Joining Vettel on the podium was Jenson Button in 2^nd and Fernando Alonso, pleasing the passionate Ferrari fans with a podium spot in 3^rd.

Retirements of the race: Both Saubers retired out of the race- Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez along with Adrian Sutil, Mark Webber, Jerome D’Ambrosio, Vitaly Petrov, Nico Rosberg and Tonio Liuzzi.

Although Daniel Ricciardo crossed the line as the chequered flag went out, he was +14 laps down, a great effort and good seat time but he wasn’t classified.  


Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton: 1:26.187

 RESULTS:

The Podium celebrations:

[l-r Jenson Button (2nd) Sebastian Vettel (1st) Fernando Alonso (3rd)]

This has to be the best podium celebrations on the calendar. Incredible.

So the European races have drawn to a close and won't be back till 2012, it's gone fast, it's been great and the races have been exciting.

We now (i say that like i'm actually going, i'm not but i can dream!) move on to the fly-away races, first up is Singapore. I love the night race, the location, the track and the atmosphere. F1 Rocks will also be special along with the prospect of the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel possibly becoming double world champion! As much as i'd like the championship to go to the wire at Brazil, let's face it, it isn't going to happen, Vettel will be crowned.

Don't miss it!