Ciao Marco – An International Tribute

Marco Simoncelli

Hi Racers

I was lucky enough to be involved in an incredible, international tribute to the late Marco Simoncelli on my friends ( and great sports writer and blogger ) Alex Goldschmidt’s Blog.

You can check it out here:

http://alexgoldie.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/ciao-marco/

My contribution is below:

From a lover of all things Motorsport, the death of a competitor is always a startling reminder of the dangers, but also the courage these sportsmen take when they don the helmet and rev their engines. All in the name of love for their sport. Marco was, and will always be an incredible gift given to the world of MotoGP. His passing won’t be a waste, and in the form of Senna in F1, his accident with teach us and encourage to develop more safety and appreciation to the sport.

The king of the Afro (his helmet design must have needed tweaking to fit that in) and a solid young gun in the world of MotoGP. Your skill, courage & determination will be missed, as will your quirky sense of humor and outlandish personality.

Go the FRO!

Thanks to Bonnie Hutchins, aka @bonvonhutch from Perth, Western Australia, who is also a blogger.

________________________________________________________________________________

I will be back in touch soon, as Alex has also asked me to be involved in a 4 part Pre Season Series, that I was lucky enough to write for.

Of course, I will be keeping you all posted when its ready to be viewed.

Happy New Year!

Keep the revs high,

Vroom Vroom

Mark’s final BBC column of the year

Mark with glasses – perfect for his Journo role at BBC 🙂

Hi Racers

As always, here is the link to Mark’s BBC column. His final of the year.

http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/16198349.stm

On another note, apologies if my blog hasn’t been as exciting as recent months. I’m collating information to post a nice report on all the driver changes that have been happening.

Will get on the comp & post this weekend.

Until then,

Keep the revs high

Vroom Vroom

Congratulations

Hi Racers

Big congratulations to Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button & Mark Webber on receiving their World Champion standings trophies at the FIA Gala in India.

Great season 🙂

Sebastian Vettel 1st

Jenson Button – 2nd

Mark Webber – 3rd

Keep Racing

Vroom Vroom

Mark’s latest BBC Column write up.

Mark in Brazil

Hi Racers,

Mark Webber’s latest write up for the BBC has been released.

He writes about his win in Brazil, his feelings on the season as a whole, and a few “off the Mark” topics.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/15976820.stm

Enjoy 🙂

Vroom Vroom

Vettel congratulates Webber on his win in Brazil

The Rare Sight – Vettel Retires

Hi Racers

Thought some of you may want to see this. Seeing as it doesn’t happen very often, we may as well revel in it.

Video is when Vettel got his puncture and went off track at Abu Dhabi GP.

Enjoy 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py96OdFnJ_M

Vroom Vroom

Post Race Review – Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina Circuit

Hamilton has his mojo back. WINNER in Abu Dhabi 2011

 

Hi Racers,

Well, what a TREAT we had last night. Finally, we were exposed to a race where the odds were tipped in anyone elses favour and it was anyones race.

So much was happening, that I think I’m going to go with a different layout this time around, and I’ll go through each drivers race ( the Top 4 ) and if there is anything else worth mentioning I’ll pop that in as well.

Vettel spins off on the first corner.

Puncture & Retirement for Vettel.

No need to be so upset Vettel - everyone makes mistakes 😉

Firstly, Vettel.

As he took off the line, into the first corner, he went OFF! Yes, that’s right. The unstoppable Vettel was stopped due to a puncture ( the cause is still being investigated ) and hobbled back to the pits in 24th position. unfortunately for Vettel, the damage had been done after doing a full lap on a shredded tyre and he retired. I can only imagine the JOY on Hamilton’s face as he came into the first corner behind him and saw his car veer off. Its Vettels first DNF for nearly a year.

Hamilton

Hamilton, who had been in fine form all weekend, finally came back to his true self with a fantastic race around Yas Marina circuit. Following Vettels exit from the race, he remained in front, holding off a merciless Alonso, who kept up with him the entire race ( we are talking between 2 – 5 seconds ) . Hamilton went with a 2 stop strategy and it treated him well.  There really is nothing much left to say about Hamilton’s performance. It was smooth, without incident, fast and just all round great to watch.

Alonso - Sunset, Yas Marina Circuit

Alonso

Alonso managed to pass Webber at the first corner, and streaked ahead of Webber & Button. Within no time at all, Alonso & Hamilton were racing their own race, at around 12 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack. Alonso also went for a 2 stop strategy. He attempted to carry on after Hamilton’s second pit stop on the harder tyre, in the hope that he could gain enough time for a pit stop and retain his first place spot ( which he had inherited after Hamilton’s stop ) but it wasnt to be. The tyres just didn’t have the stamina that late in the race. Alonso pitted, and found himself back in 2nd, only a few seconds behind the leader. In the end, a solid effort from Ferrari to keep up with McLaren, who had been super fast all weekend. It did make me wonder, wether Hamilton was on power saving mode, or perhaps keeping something in reserve, as if is speeds over the weekend were anything to go by, I assumed that with Vettel out of the picture, Hamilton would streak ahead from the nearest competitor with no problems at all. Either way, it didn’t matter what he was doing. He retained first place. With Alonso securing second.

 

 

 

Jenson Button in Abu Dhabi, as twilight approaches

Button

Button had some serious issues for this race. After battling it out with Webber over 3rd/4th position, at around Lap 14 he suddenly started flailing. It was obvious he had some kind of a mechanical issue. His KERS had failed, and therefore now had disastrous braking ability and was losing serious time. But, being the champion that he is, he was actually resetting his own KERS from within the cock pit every 2 – 3 laps, all whilst holding off Webber & Massa. In the end, Webber managed to pass Button at around Lap 40, but still needed to pit for the hard tyres, so in the end, Button inherited back his 3rd place position, and secured it for the race. A supreme effort considering his mechanical glitch.

Mark flies in Abu Dhabi.

Webber

Ok – It became apparent pretty early on that with Vettel out of the race, all eyes were on Webber to see “what he could do in the same car”without Vettel to contend with. I think this is a bit unfair, he always does his best regardless of whether Vettel is racing or not, and this was to be no different.

After losing his 4th place start to Alonso at the 1st/2nd corners, Webber soldiered on in 5th place for most of the race. After his 2nd pit stop, it became apparent that he would be on a 3 stop strategy, and pitted again for softs at lap 38. This meant of course, that he would then have to pit again. His plan, was to gain enough time on the softs ( while everyone else is on options ) to streak ahead, with enough of a gap to secure 4th place ahead of Massa, and perhaps, if Button lost enough time with his ongoing KERS issue, to pit and come out ahead of him to secure 3rd place. Webber was FLYING in the last 15 laps of the race, gaining almost 10 seconds in 10 laps. It was well & truly enough to secure himself 4th place ahead of Massa ( especially after Massa made a mistake and went off track ) but wasnt going to be enough to secure himself 3rd ahead of Button, however, it was great to watch him go with a different strategy. His Pit crew will be getting a talking to today I’m sure after he went in for the all important pit stop to put on his softs the team did a 9.3 SECOND PIT STOP! Probably the worst pit stop the Red Bull garage has ever done. Webber was not impressed, screeching off down the pit lane and sending sparks as he went around the corner. I don’t blame him really. After Vettel going off, really they only need to concentrate on ONE person, and they didn’t seem to be able to do that? Cest la Vie. Webber secured 4th, and some points towards the championship, so all is well in the end.

 

 

A welcome change with no Vettel on the podium. Hamilton, Alonso, Button.

That covers the driver basics really. Here are the results:

 

Pos	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap	Difference	Reason
1	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	55
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	55	8.457	8.457
3	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	55	25.881	17.424
4	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	55	35.784	9.903
5	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	55	50.578	14.794
6	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	55	52.317	1.739
7	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	55	75.964	23.647
8	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	55	77.122	1.158
9	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	55	101.087	23.965
10	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	54	1 lap	1 lap
11	17	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	54	1 lap	13.321
12	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	54	1 lap	0.710
13	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	54	1 lap	3.852
14	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	54	1 lap	53.333
15	19	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	54	1 lap	1.305
16	9	Bruno Senna	Renault	54	1 lap	8.470
17	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	54	1 lap	3.345
18	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	53	2 laps	1 lap
19	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	53	2 laps	29.272
20	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	53	2 laps	32.001
Not classified
	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	48	7 laps	5 laps	Electrics
	18	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	19	36 laps	29 laps	Hydraulics
	25	Jerome D’Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	18	37 laps	1 lap	Brakes
	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1	54 laps	17 laps	Suspension

 

Yes Maldonado – what WERE you thinking!

Ok – lets talk about Pastor Maldonado. If there was a trophy for IDIOT of the race, he would win it. For some unknown reason, Maldonado must have thought that a blue flag meant to fight to keep a place you are being LAPPED in. Earlier in the race he was handed a drive through penalty for ignoring the blue flags and not allowing the front-runners past. THEN, after serving his drive through penalty for his first offence, up drives Webber during his fight with Button. So, Maldonado thinks, great, I’ll pretend I’m fighting for a place with the big boys ( who knows what he was bloody thinking ) and actually DEFENDED his Lapped position, AND drove wheel to wheel with Webber down the straight. What. A. MORON!

He should have been benched straight away. After just receiving a penalty for the same offence, to go out and do it again, and blatantly too, is unacceptable and just dirty driving. There is no reason for it. Anyway, the stewards didn’t DSQ him, instead they handed him a stop-go penalty, however, because this was decided post race, they have handed him a 30 seconds time penalty to be added to his race time in Brazil.

 

 

 

 

It was a great race, I really enjoyed it. It was nice to not have Vettel in the race it must be said, it allowed for the other drivers, im sure, to feel a sense of relief, and also to just have a bit of fun and relax with the driving. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The fight for second place in the Championship is looking pretty close. Here are the standings as they are now ( to be honest, I think Button might nab it, with Webber in 3rd, that’s my prediction )

Position	Driver	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	374
2	Jenson Button	255
3	Fernando Alonso	245
4	Mark Webber	233
5	Lewis Hamilton	227
6	Felipe Massa	108
7	Nico Rosberg	83
8	Michael Schumacher	76
9	Vitaly Petrov	36
10	Nick Heidfeld	34

As always, I recorded the Post Race Press Conference and have put it on Youtube for your enjoyment 🙂

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNdN7GJ9zDQ

 

The next, and final race of the season is in Brazil. It’s a sad time when the end of the season comes around – what will we all do for nearly 4 months!!!

Until next time

Vroom Vroom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Qualifying Review – Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina Circuit

Yas Marina circuit, Abu Dhabi.

Hi Racers

I love Abu Dhabi. The twilight aspect of this race is incredible. Racing begins during daylight hours, and as dusk approaches, the flood lights take over and its twilight. The cars look incredible, the atmosphere peaks and it’s just an all round incredible track.

In the 3rd year of this track, the main talk was that it was crucial that Webber, Hamilton or Button could break Vettels stranglehold and gain some crucial points in order to try to secure their 2nd place in the world championship.

Qualifying was exciting. Although, there is an aspect that will be surely discussed, and perhaps a new rule put in place for next season. The fact that it’s becoming more and more apparent that the Q3 is a 6 car battle, rather than the 10 cars that are capable of battling out for top qualifying times.

This is mainly because the top 6, are always the usual suspects. Red Bull, McLaren & Ferrari, the other 2 teams, Mercedes and Force India, probably feel that there isn’t much point, and would therefor prefer to save a set of tyres for the race. Fair enough in theory, but it makes for a fairly unimpressive battle. It would be wonderful for the spectators to be able to watch 10 cars, out on track for 10 minutes, battling it out as it should be.

Anyhow, apart from that, the Qualifying was great. Hamilton has been on top form all weekend, and was set to push Vettel off the qualifying perch. Button wasnt far off his team mates pace and it looked set to be a McLaren 1, 2 start tomorrow.

HOWEVER, Vettel, known for his somehow magical way of pulling something out of the depths, manage to smash Hamilton’s incredible fast time at the very last-minute, and meant that Hamilton was pushed into 2nd place. With Button starting 3rd, and Webber 4th.

Webber had some serious pace all weekend, but just couldn’t compete with the McLaren to get up there. He constantly matched times, up until the last flying lap, where he just couldn’t find the extra time.

Webber is consistent at this track, I think he has a good chance of getting a podium, and of course, im wishing on bated breath that he can get a win. If not him, then I’d be happy with Button. If Hamilton happens to win, then I’ll just be glad it’s not Vettel 🙂

Top 3 in Qualifying. Vettel, Hamilton & Button

Here are the qualifying results for you:

1. Sebastian Vettel 1’38.481
Red Bull

2. Lewis Hamilton 1’38.622
McLaren

3. Jenson Button 1’38.631
McLaren

4. Mark Webber 1’38.858
Red Bull

5. Fernando Alonso 1’39.058
Ferrari

6. Felipe Massa 1’39.695
Ferrari

7. Nico Rosberg 1’39.773
Mercedes

8. Michael Schumacher 1’40.662
Mercedes

9. Adrian Sutil 1’40.768
Force India

10. Paul di Resta No time
Force India

Mansell & Vettel. Record Holders for 14 Pole Positions in a single season.

 

On another note, Vettel has matched Nigel Mansells Qualifying record, with 14 pole Positions in a single season! Now, that’s just annoying 😉

Well done to Vettel, it seems, he just cant be stopped….

Vettel admires Buttons "mo".

Special mention to Jenson Button, who is sporting a moustache for “Movember”” to raise awareness and funds for Prostate Cancer. Can that man be any more awesome?

Lets hope with the start of a brand new season in 2012, we can start to see a fresh burst of confidence from the other drivers and get a nice battle going.

Enjoy the race tonight racers.

 

Until then,

Keep Racing

Vroom Vroom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Webber BBC Column

Hi Racers,

Just thought I’d make this available for you before our race weekend kicks off tomorrow.

Mark has written his new entry for the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/15665145.stm?

We only have 2 races left on the 2011 season calendar, then it’s a LONG wait for the new season opener.

However, I do enjoy all the off season gossip about new contracts, comebacks (Kimi Raikkonen) & the unveiling of the new cars.

Always interesting 🙂

See you at Qualifying!!

Vroom Vroom

Mark Webbers BBC Column & Austin Healey Joy

Hi Racers

Check out Marks BBC column for this week.

Take Note: The Austin Healey that Webber is cruising in. Gorgeous. My Dad has always owned them & raced. He has said goodbye to his Austin Healey 100 and now enjoys his fully restored Bug Eye Sprite. Which he nursed back to full health after a prang during a hill climb 20 years ago.

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Me with my Dads Austin Healey 100

Dads Austin Healey “Bug Eye” Sprite

Nice to know Webber has a soft spot for them too 🙂

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/15569488.stm

Until Abu Dhabi….
Keep Racing

Vroom Vroom

Maiden Voyage. Indian Grand Prix

Buddh International Circuit - India.

Hi Racers

I have to say, that the Buddh Indian Grand Prix circuit has made it into my top 3 favourite tracks. It’s an incredible race track with fast lines, super G force and a long, awesome straight, 2 DRS zones and just overall a very cool circuit to watch.

A minute's silence for those lost. Indian GP 2011

The FIA organised a minute’s silence at the beginning of the race to commemorate the loss of 2 great men in motorsport, Dan Wheldon from Indy and Marco Simocelli in MotoGP.

Vettel extended his total domination, with a clean sweep of the track. Fastest Lap and lead from pole, every lap, to secure the first ever win at the new circuit.

Obviously, there isn’t much to describe in terms of any kind of fight for 1st place. Button was in with a chance at a few stages of the race, but just had no answer for Vettel, who was just cruising away in 1st place.

Off the start line, Webber had a good start, but couldn’t hold off Button who overtook him on the 4th corner. Alonso had his usual good start, but Webber managed to keep him at bay – that was until he pitted for new tyres and lost out. The rest of the race for him was trying to catch up to Alonso, and he did put in a few solid attempts at passing, but it just wasnt to be.

The talk of the race was yet ANOTHER incident with Massa & Hamilton, where Hamilton attempted a pass on Massa on the outside line, as they came around the corner, Massa was ‘slightly’ ahead and turned into Hamilton. Personally, I felt that it was yet another far too aggressive attempt at a pass from Hamilton. The stewards didn’t agree, and Massa was handed a drive through penalty.

This will only end badly.

Following his drive through, Massa then had to re-enter the pits for repairs/tyres and following this he then broke his suspension on a kerb ( the same thing he did in Qualifying ) and bowed out of the race.

Massa & Hamilton would now be the drivers with the biggest rift in F1. After numerous scuffles throughout the season, any attempt for them to mend their relationship has gone out the window.

Massa talks about it here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/15513318.stm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Button did a fantastic job throughout the race with no incidence and an overall flawless performance. He secured himself 2nd place.

Podium Fellas. Vettel, Button, Alonso. With Adrian Newey from Red Bull

The fight now is for 2nd in the drivers championship. There was talk throughout the week that Vettel would allow Mark to pass should he be given the opportunity to help his teammate secure the 2nd place spot for a Red Bull 1 – 2. Webber wouldn’t have a bar of it, saying that he hadn’t been given handouts in the last 17 years, so why start now. Too true Webber. He has always been the kind of racer to win and succeed on his own merits, and that is admirable.

Following India, McLaren have secured 2nd in the constructor’s championship – well done to them! A solid effort throughout the season.

Abu Dhabi is next on the calendar, and with only a few races left of the season, it’s going to be Button, Alonso & Webber fighting it out for the most points and to secure 2nd place in the championship. Will be a good fight 🙂

Heres a run down of the results from India:

Pos	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap	Difference	Reason
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	60
2	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	60	8.433	8.433
3	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	60	24.301	15.868
4	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	60	25.529	1.228
5	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	60	65.421	39.892
6	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	60	66.851	1.430
7	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	60	84.183	17.332
8	19	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	59	1 lap	1 lap
9	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	59	1 lap	15.738
10	17	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	59	1 lap	2.590
11	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	59	1 lap	0.877
12	9	Bruno Senna	Renault	59	1 lap	11.671
13	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	59	1 lap	3.945
14	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	58	2 laps	1 lap
15	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	58	2 laps	14.962
16	25	Jerome D’Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	57	3 laps	1 lap
17	22	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	57	3 laps	0.586
18	23	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	57	3 laps	31.836
19	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	55	5 laps	2 laps
Not classified
	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	32	28 laps	23 laps	Suspension
	18	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	24	36 laps	8 laps	Engine
	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	12	48 laps	12 laps	Gearbox
	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1	59 laps	11 laps	Accident
	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	0	60 laps	1 lap	Accident

The fight for 2nd in the drivers championship looks like this :

Position	Driver	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	374
2	Jenson Button	240
3	Fernando Alonso	227
4	Mark Webber	221
5	Lewis Hamilton	202
6	Felipe Massa	98
7	Nico Rosberg	75
8	Michael Schumacher	70
9	Vitaly Petrov	36
10	Nick Heidfeld	34

 

On a light note. The internet is awash with Rowan Atikinsons awesome reaction to the collision of Hamilton & Massa. View below for your enjoyment 🙂

Until next time

Keep Racing

Vroom Vroom