2012 German Grand Prix review of the tenth race of the F1 season at Hockenheim, and thoughts on the race and predictions for next weeks Hungarian Grand Prix.
Good points
Fernando Alonso (pole to finished with a race win)
Jenson Button (finished 2nd)
Kimi Räikkönen (finished 3rd)
Sauber (Kamui Kobayashi finished 4th, Sergio Perez finished 6th, despite starting from 17th for a penalty from qualifying 2)
Mercedes AMG (Michael Schumacher finished 7th and fastest lap of the race, Nico Rosberg finished 10th, despite starting from 21st from a gearbox change)
Nico Hülkenberg (finished 9th)
Vitaly Petrov (finished 16th, ahead of team-mate Heikki Kovalainen)
Charles Pic (finished 20th, ahead of team-mate Timo Glock)
Bad points
Mark Webber (finished 8th, gearbox change for a five grid place penalty, a race to forget for Webber)
Lewis Hamilton (puncture on the third lap, DNF, Suspension)
Filipe Massa (finished 12th, contact with Kimi Räikkönen at the start, which lost him his front wing)
Williams (Pastor Maldonado finished 15th a lap down, Bruno Senna finished 17th contact with Romain Grosjean on the first lap)
Romain Grosjean (finished 18th, contact with Bruno Senna on the first lap)
Timo Glock (finished 22nd, three laps down behind team-mate on home grand prix)
A different way I am writing down in this weeks thoughts of the race. The race wasn't the best race this season. But, this race was more of how dominating Fernando Alonso is throughout the weekend when the Ferrari F2012 is on a dry track. At start of the season, Alosno's Ferrari on a dry track was only just managing finishing top eight's in the first few races apart from Malaysia. And since Barcelona, Alonso's Ferrari is now challenging for straight on for wins in the Ferrari. Even when he can't win the race, Alonso is on the podium positions and being constantly in the points in each race weekend this season.
So, well done for Fernando Alonso and Ferrari for winning last weekends German Grand Prix and proving F2012 is a fast car in the right hands with Alonso. And now, Alonso is 34 points ahead of Mark Webber and 44 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the drivers championship with half a season to go. Did anyone expect that at the start of the season?
And so this weekends Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring outside of Budapest. Predictions for the race: Fernando Alonso for the win in the Ferrari, ahead of Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Jenson Button third in the Mclaren. Don't forget Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Pastor Maldonado the two Mercedes AMG drivers, the two Lotus F1 drivers or the two Sauber drivers as well.
End of blog for how, new blog soon, that is all. Bye.
Predictions for this weekends Formula 1 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, home Grand Prix for Mercedes Benz and home Grand Prix for five Formula one drivers on the grid (Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hülkenberg and Timo Glock). So predictions for the race itself, a race win I predict for Mark Webber in his Red Bull, Fernando Alonso second in the Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel third in his Red Bull. Don't forget the two McLaren drivers, the two Lotus F1 Team drivers and two Mercedes AMG drivers as-well for a podium place too.
End of post for now. New post soon. That is all. Bye.
What is like inside a formula 1 at eye level? this Formula 1 driver showed it. Former Virgin Racing driver and current Pirelli test driver Lucas di Grassi testing for Pirelli at a wet Spa Francorchamps. On his installation lap around the track, Lucas di Grassi put onto his crash helmet a eye-level High Definition Go-Pro camera to give a great idea what a Formula 1 car looks like driving at eye-view. Gives how really steep is Eau Rouge at 150 kph (93 mph). Even Lucas di Grassi quoted on his YouTube page saying:
"I had to drive with only one eye open as the camera was blocking my other eye, quite tricky"
And so the three minute footage from Lucas di Grassi's Youtube page below.
This footage below is a 17 minute uncut footage from Lucas di Grassi, from putting on his crash helmet to coming out of the F1 car 15-16 minutes later taking to this Pirelli Crew Chief and other Pirelli test rider and former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari.
Great footage Lucas. Anyway, end of blog for how, new blog soon, that is all. Bye.
Codemasters, who creates the current Dirt series and last few Formula 1 games recently, announced last week they are going to create a new Formula 1 game, putting a Mario Kart spin onto the sport on Formula 1. The game is going to be called 'F1 Race Stars', coming out on X-Box 360, PS3 and PC. It will be release in November 2012 and it will deliver licensed teams and famous drivers, such as Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel in a 3D cartoon form. The game will also includes power-ups, gravity-defying adaptations to real tracks, such as Monaco, Silverstone and Austin, Texas in the USA.
Trailer and screen shots below.
End of blog for how, new blog soon, that is all. Bye.
This weekend is the Formula 1 German Grand Prix at Hockinheim and Mercedes-Benz's home Grand Prix. So this post is a Mercedes post. Back in 2007, when Fernando Alonso was driving for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. Mercedes Benz and Mobil 1 did a promotional video around Silverstone with Fernando Alonso driving the McLaren MP4-22, F1 safety car driver Bernd Mayländer in the 2008 Mercedes CLK Black Series, current DTM driver Susie Wolff in a 2008 Mercedes C-Class and current DTM Mercedes AMG works driver Jamie Green in a 2007 Mercedes C-Class DTM race car.
The facts: Susie Wolff's C-Class is 2.5 litre 4 cylinder producing 272 bhp. Bernd Mayländer's 2008 Mercedes CLK Black Series produces 507 bhp with a 6.3 litre V8. While, Jamie Green's 2007 Mercedes C-Class DTM race car has a 4.0 litre V8 producing 500 bhp. And Fernando Alonso's McLaren MP4-22 has a 2.4 litre V8 producing around 750 bhp. Who gonna win the race around one lap at SIlverstone. Commentary from Sky's Martin Brundle.
A Mercedes Benz F1 race winner for Hockinheim for this weekend? Anyway, end of blog for how, new blog soon, that is all. Bye.
In this post, recap of the last three back to back to back MotoGP race recaps from Assen (30/6/12), Sachsenring (8/7/12) and Mugello (15/7/12). And recent news of Marc Márquez riding at Repsol Honda in the MotoGP class in 2013.
Round 7 (30/6/12) was on the Assen track in Holland. Casey Stoner won the race on his Repsol Honda, ahead of team mate Dani Pedrosa on his Honda five seconds behind team-mate Stoner at the end. While, Andrea Dovizioso finished third on his Tech 3 Yamaha. While championship leader Jorge Lorenzo on his works Yamaha crashed out on the first lap by Álvaro Bautista on the Gresini Honda who also crashed out of the race too on the first lap.
Round 8 (8/7/12) was at the Sachsenring in Germany. Dani Pedrosa won his first race of the season on his Repsol Honda, would have been ahead of team mate Casey Stoner. But, the current MotoGP champion crashed out on the last lap with a few corners to go on his Honda. So Jorge Lorenzo on the works Yamaha took second place overall, 15 seconds behind Pedrosa at the end. While, Andrea Dovizioso finished third again on his Tech 3 Yamaha, just ahead of Ben Spies on the works Yamaha.
Round 9 (15/7/12) was at Mugello in Italy. Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo won the race on his works Yamaha, over five seconds ahead of pole sitter Dani Pedrosa on his Repsol Honda. While, Andrea Dovizioso once again finished third on his Tech 3 Yamaha. While, current champion Casey Stoner only managed to finished in 8th place. Which means Jorge Lorenzo is leading the championship by 19 points ahead of Dani Pedrosa, while Casey Stoner is now 37 points behind Lorenzo.
Almost two months back, Casey Stoner announced he is retiring at the end of the season, and five weeks back Jorge Lorenzo announced he will be staying at Yamaha for two more years, until the end of the 2014 season. There's a strong possibility that Marc Márquez would replace Casey Stoner for 2013 at Repsol Honda. It was announced on Thursday Morning (12/7/12) that current Moto2 leader Marc Márquez will be at Repsol Honda for the next two years, until the end of the 2014 season. Teaming up with Dani Pedrosa ,who also was announced that Pedrosa had signed a two-year contract extension with the Repsol Honda team to make an all Spanish line up for 2013 and 2014.
My opinion I think Marc Márquez would have gone into the MotoGP class for works Honda team anyway, not a big surprise that Honda put him into a works Honda ride. Remember 2006, Dani Pedrosa went up into the Premier Class, won a few races in that year and was challenging the MotoGP World Championship back in 2006.
But, I personally think he would have replace Dani Pedrosa if Casey Stoner wasn't retiring or Jorge Lorenzo wasn't jumping over to Honda. But, Dani Pedrosa drive is justified for 2013 and 2014 seasons. Because, he has been so far consistently this season, one win and only 19 points behind Jorge Lorenzo with half the season gone. So good picks from Honda in my opinion.
Also, there is a strong possibility this weekend that Valentino Rossi will be staying on at Ducati for the next two seasons, with the possibility of either Nicky Hayden or Cal Crutchlow as his team mate for 2013. While at Yamaha, it will be either Andrea Dovizioso or Ben Spies for the remanding seat at Yamaha. Time will tell at both works Ducati and Yamaha for 2013 rides.
Anyway, end of post/blog for now, that is all, Bye.
On a previous post, I did a post on the Lotus Lola B12/80 LMP2 car and why is it a Lola car and re-badge as a Lotus and not Lotus developing their own LMP2 car. And so right before the start of this years Le Mans 24 hours race (June 16th 2012), Lotus announced they will build their own LMP2 for the next season which will evolve into an LMP1 car for 2014.
German Team Kodewa, which ran the HRT Formula 1 operations in 2010-11 will run the car, who are running two Lotus-Lola LMP2 cars in this years FIA World Endurance Championship, are developing the new LMP2 car. The car will be powered by the same Lotus-badged Judd 3.6 litre V8s developed by Engine Developments as in this years FIA World Endurance Championship. There is also a possibility that the car will evolve into an LMP1 car in 2014, which the rules will be all petrol/diesel hybrid power cars.
And so, here is my opinion about it. I criticized the Lotus Lola B12/80 LMP2 car because it wasn't a true Lotus, it's basically a Lotus badge on-top of a Lola chassis.
So, Team Kodewa and Lotus are going to build their own LMP2 car for 2013, I personally think this great news from the Lotus brand, instead of using a Lola chassis branded as a Lotus and its good for Kodewa team too who are going to develop the Lotus LMP2 car. As a possibility of a LMP1 from Lotus, is a bold decision from Lotus if they do this. Can they challenge the likes of Audi, Toyota and the return of Porsche back into Le Mans? that is going to be a touch question to answer at this moment of time until we see these cars.
Because, this years at Le Mans Team Kodewa/Lotus wasn't a great year, the Lola B12/80 Lotus of Thomas Holzer, Mirco Schultis and Luca Moro only managed 11 hours this year. The old Lotus team won their class at Le Mans in 1956 and 1957 in the Lotus Eleven's (image below), so new Lotus LMP2 car has got something to replicated for 2013.
Anyway, end of blog for how, new blog soon, that is all. Bye.
