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.