Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Vettel: self-saboteur or just inexperienced?

Sebastian Vettel will be doing a lot of head scratching following his performance at the Belgian Grandprix; a race in which he had several pitstops - 2 of which could have been avoided.

His troubles really began when he got caught up behind Jenson Button (McLaren) and found the weather conditions too tricky to handle. This caused him to collide with Button and damage his frontwing on the 17th lap of the 44-lap race. Luckily for him, he was able to get into the pits and fix the damage.
And then came the news that he had a drive-through penalty for the incident with Button. This prompted him to "push on" and try to cover as much distance as possible to build a buffer since he would lose time serving his penalty. Hence his aggressive overtake move on Liuzzi's Force India which resulted in a left-rear puncture which he had to nurse over the 7km race distance before he could get back into the pits.

He went on to finish the race in 15th place and scored no points at Spa, and must now begin to wonder if his goal of winning a Championship will be delayed for another year. Often regarded as a quick and capable driver, and nicknamed 'baby Schumi', he is definitely worthy of being a World Champion. But with the amount of errors he has made this season (don't forget the incident with his team-mate at the Turkish GP), it raises some questions about his ability and his car. Perhaps the RedBull RB6 is too powerful and quick for the young driver or his overtaking skills need further development in their simulator. Or will he continue to sabotage his and his team-mates chances of taking the title in 2010?

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Hamilton is fined, but avoids conviction

Several month after the incident, a magistrate in Melbourne gave the F1 ace a fine of $500 for the 'hooning' or burn-out incident prior to the Australian Grand Prix at the start of the season.

Hamilton was not in attendance but his representative ensured that a conviction was not recorded as this would have prevented him from entering certain countries and disrupt his professional and personal life.

The McLaren driver will no doubt be looking to put this event, and his mechanical failure at the Hungarian GP, behind him as he and the other F1 teams return (after a four-week hiatus) to race again at Spa-Francorchamps.

Monday, August 16, 2010

New competition added

See the Competitions page for details on how to win tickets courtesy of RedBull and FxDD!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

F1 Rocks line-up announced!


F1 Rocks - the live music extravaganza which accompanies F1 Grand Prix races - is back again in 2010. Singapore premiered this event last year and Beyonce (right) was one of the 2009 performers. The line-up this year includes international and local acts like Missy Elliot, Mariah Carey, Raphael Saadiq, Daughtry, Adam Lambert and several local celebrities.
Check out: www.singaporegp.sg/index.php
Image from: www.imusicdaily.com/music-news/tag/halo/

Friday, August 13, 2010

Four Week break in F1 Calendar

The four-week compulsory break in F1 began after the race in Hungary and all racing teams are supposed to drop pen and PCs (not literally, of course) and cease communications with each other about any developments on their cars.

However as an F1 fan, this spells a long stint without any F1 races and some might be having withdrawal systems from our favourite sport. But fear not, there are some other motorsports/automobile events that can help "fill the void".

15 August 2010: 360 Motor Racing Club at Snetterton

14-15 August 2010: British F3/GT Championship at Silverstone

20 - 22 August 2010: http://www.wrc.com/calendar-and-rallies/2010/adac-rally-deutschland/overview/

Calender for whole of August 2010: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/01/event-alert-august-2010-calendar-of-automotive-events/

Hope that sustains you till the next F1 race in Spa-Francorchamps on 27 - 29 August!

Monday, August 2, 2010

U-turn from Schmacher

Michael Schmacher has made a U-turn on his assessment of the manouvre against Rubens Barrichello. After initially denying he did anything wrong after the race in Hungary on Sunday 1st August, he has since said "sorry" for blocking the Williams driver

Sunday, August 1, 2010

10 place grid-drop for Schmacher at next race

The Hungarian Grand Prix is generally regarded as one of the less exciting tracks on the calender, but perhaps events in today's race might go some way to changing that perception.
We saw several interesting incidents in the pit-lane, Nico Rosberg's right rear tyre airborne and hitting a mechanic, Sutil and Kubica crashing in the pit-lane due to an misjudged signal from a Renault lollipop man, and Vettel holding up the track (by longer than 10 car-lenghts) just before the safety-car returned to the pits, resulting in a Drive-Through penalty for him.
And the most daring overtake manoevre of all came in the penultimate lap of the race; Barrichello against his former team-mate Michael Schumacher. Schumy would later comment that he thought Barrichello would overtake from his left which was why there wasn't enough room in the right side for the William's car, and almost resulted in Barrichello kissing the wall.
The case was duly referred to the Stewards, who have ruled that he 'illegitimately impeded' Rubens, and have penalised Schumacher with a 10 place grid-drop at the next race.
I wonder how that will go down with Ross Brawn, Team Principal of Mercedes GP and if this spells the beginning of the end of the most anticipated come-back in F1.