Round nine of the F1 season, a quick review of the British Grand Prix Review, and thoughts on the race itself.
Good points
- Lewis Hamilton (race win)
- Valtteri Bottas (finished 2nd)
- Red Bull Racing (Daniel Ricciardo, finished 3rd; Sebastian Vettel, finished 5th)
- McLaren (Jenson Button, finished 4th; Kevin Magnussen, finished 7th)
- Fernando Alonso (finished 6th)
- Nico Hülkenberg (finished 8th)
- Toro Rosso (Daniil Kvyat, finished 9th; Jean-Éric Vergne, finished 10th)
- Jules Bianchi (started 12th place on the grid, highest for a Marussia; finished 14th on race day, ahead of Marussia team-mate Max Chilton, and Kamui Kobayashi)
Bad points
- Nico Rosberg (DNF, Gearbox failure)
- Felipe Massa (DNF, Accident with Kimi Räikkönen)
- Kimi Räikkönen (DNF, Accident with Felipe Massa)
- Pastor Maldonado (DNF, Exhaust)
- Esteban Gutiérrez (DNF, Accident)
- Marcus Ericsson (DNF, Suspension damage)
Overall, I thought it was a good race to watch. It was going to be another race win for current F1 championship leader Nico Rosberg. Until lap 29, when Nico Rosberg's gearbox failed on his Mercedes,to give his first retirement of the season. Then Lewis Hamilton took the lead and took the race win, to take his second British Grand Prix win and his fifth race win of the season.
While, Valtteri Bottas finished in second in the Williams, despite qualified in 14th place (moved from 17th place after penalties), as we saw Valtteri Bottas a masterclass on how to overtake. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull finish on the final step of the podium in third place.
Next stop Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix in two weeks time.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
It has been announced yesterday (5/7/14) that Lotus F1 Team has signed a new engine partnership with with Mercedes to supply the team their 1.6 litre V6 turbo engines from the start of the 2015 F1 season. Despite, Lotus confirmed early in the year that will use Renault turbo engines until 2018 on a multi-year deal.
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In my opinion, this is no major surprise that the news has happen yesterday. As this has been rumoured for the past week that Lotus, just like last season with Williams will be swapping over from Renault to Mercedes-Benz from the 2015 onwards.
This is a very good deal for Lotus, as I believe that the Mercedes power units are more powerful and around £9 Million less then the Renault engines they are using currently. As this would help the financial side of Lotus of reducing debt with the team. And finally it should Renault helping current works supplier Red Bull Racing with more focus on the team.
In the longer term, Renault looks set to be back up to four partner teams anyway, with the potential new team Forza Rossa being based around a supply deal from the French car manufacturer.
Don't forget, this would be the last season the team will use the Renault engine at the end of a 20 year partnership back from the Benetton and Renault days.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
It was confirmed on Wednesday (2/7/14), Valentino Rossi has signed a new two-year deal with that will see him continue to compete with the factory Movistar Yamaha team in MotoGP in 2015 and 2016.
No word yet who is his team-mate yet for next season. Looks it would be more than likely is his current team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, unless something changes.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
It was confirmed yesterday (2/7/14) that Caterham Formula 1 team has been sold to a operation to a consortium of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors advised by former F1 team principal Colin Kolles from Airasia owner Tony Fernandes.
Under the terms of the sale, the team will continue to race as Caterham F1 Team and will remain based at Leafield for the foreseeable future. The team will now be run by former Minardi and Midland F1 driver Christijan Albers, he will replace current team boss Cyril Abiteboul.
This is good news for the team they need? Ask me in six months as I think losing the support of Tony Fernandes is not good for the team. But, the results do show from this season and the four seasons that the team is still two seconds behind the midfield teams and process from Marussia from the last two and a half seasons is the reason that Tony Fernandes lost his love from Formula 1.
Let's see what the new owners do with the Caterham F1 Team now.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
This will be the 68th running of the British Grand Prix, and the 50th time that the race has been run at the Silverstone Circuit. To celebrate the 50th running of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, this post is the Top Six memorable British Grand Prix races at Silverstone, starting with number six:
Number 6: 1981 British Grand Prix
Story:With both Renault drivers René Arnoux and Alain Prost starting on the front row things should be all sailing for the Renault, instead throughout the race it was chaos. Andrea de Cesaris, Alan Jones, Gilles Villeneuve crashed early on with all three drivers retiring. Brabham driver Nelson Piquet crashed on lap 11 while leading with a exploding rear tyre. Ferrari driver Didier Pironi retired with a broken turbo on lap 14. Both Renault drivers retired with distributor problems. Which means, McLaren driver John Watson leads the race and wins his first race for five years, and McLaren's first since James Hunt's victory at the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix. The race also marked the first victory for a carbon fibre composite monocoque F1 car, the McLaren MP4/1.
Number 5: 1994 British Grand Prix
Story: With Damon Hill piping Michael Schumacher to pole on Saturday. Things were a little chaotic on Sunday. On the formation lap, Schumacher overtook Hill, before he was let back through in time for the start.
With Schumacher overtaking Hill at the start and leading from Hill, on lap 14, Michael Schumacher was handed a five second stop-go penalty for overtaking Hill on the formation lap. He failed to serve the penalty by lap 21, and as a result was shown the black flag twice, requiring him to stop immediately at the pits. Schumacher did not acknowledge the black flag, and later claimed that he had not seen it. Benetton team told the race officials that there had been a misunderstanding over the 5 second stop-go penalty, and after discussing the issue with the team the officials withdrew the black flag and Schumacher finally served the stop-go penalty at the end of lap 27. By end of the race Damon Hill won the British Grand Prix from Schumacher.
But, the stewards fined Benetton team $25,000 and gave the team and their driver Michael Schumacher a severe reprimand for ignoring Schumacher's five second stop-go penalty and the subsequent black flag. On July 26, the FIA World Motorsport Council increased the penalty to a $500,000 fine for the team and a two race ban for Schumacher. Also, Schumacher was disqualified from his second place at the British Grand Prix and drama throughout the rest of 1994.
Number 4: 1998 British Grand Prix
Story: With Mika Häkkinen starting on pole on Saturday, Sunday was wet for race day. With the track drying up, by lap 16 the rain restarted again, by lap 42 Häkkinen built up a lead of 49 seconds over second place driver Michael Schumacher, by the next lap he went off the track, did a complete 360 degrees turn before continuing. The incident damaged Häkkinen's front wing of his car and cost him 10 seconds of his lead but following numerous other spins caused by the worsening conditions the safety car was deployed which slowed the cars down, and removed Häkkinen's advantage over Schumacher altogether.
At the restart Schumacher lapped sixth place Alexander Wurz before crossing the start/finish line to move him behind Häkkinen on track. Häkkinen then made a mistake on lap 51 and lost the lead to Schumacher.
Two laps from the finish, Schumacher was issued with a 10 second stop-and-go penalty, as the penalty was given for passing Wurz under the safety car, as the safety car regulations continue to apply until the start/finish line is crossed. The penalty should have been issued within 25 minutes but Ferrari were informed 6 minutes after the limit had expired. However on the final lap of the race, Schumacher came in to serve the penalty and in doing so crossed the finish line before reaching his pit box and before Mika Häkkinen crossed the finish line on the race track. However, because the stewards had incorrectly issued the penalty Schumacher escaped punishment as the stewards later rescinded the penalty to give Micheal Schumacher his first British Grand Prix win with added chaos.
Number 3: 1991 British Grand Prix
Story: With the track had been vastly remodelled for 1991, now included new challenging corners. The race itself was dominating race from Nigel Mansell, got the pole on Saturday, lead throughout the race; which includes a fastest lap, Nigel Mansell concluded with a famous race win. While, Ayrton Senna ran out of fuel on the last lap, he would be classified fourth. But, Nigel Mansell gives Ayrton Senna a lift in his Williams back to the paddock at Silverstone to give one of the most memorable moments at Silverstone and in Formula 1 overall.
Number 2: 2003 British Grand Prix
Story: With Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello on pole for the race, this would be an easy win for the Ferrari driver. Not so when on the 11th lap, a track invasion by the defrocked priest Neil Horan, who ran along Hangar straight, running opposite to the 280 km/h train of cars, wearing a saffron kilt and waving religious banners.
As a result, the vast majority of cars pitted under safety car conditions, which led to the Toyota drivers Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis, who had elected not to pit, leading the field until Kimi Räikkönen took the lead on lap 30 when Da Matta pitted.
But, Barrichello then set the fastest lap after being cleared of traffic, taking the lead after Räikkönen pitted for the second time. Barrichello continued to cut the advantage, but Räikkönen regained the lead with a reduced margin following the Brazilian's second stop. After closing in, Barrichello passed Räikkönen after pressuring him into a mistake. To give Rubens Barrichello his first Grand Prix win of the season.
Number 1: 1987 British Grand Prix
Story: With both Williams drivers Nelson Piquet Nigel Mansell starting on the front row. The race itself became a close fight between the two Williams drivers, as neither Senna nor Prost were a match for them. Piquet led most of the race. By lap 12 Mansell was struggling with a vibration caused by a missing wheel weight, which had become detached and fallen from the car. By lap 36 he was around 5 seconds behind his team-mate and struggling. Both Williams drivers were scheduled to complete the race without a tyre change, but due to the worsening vibration and given a comfortable gap back to Senna in third place, Mansell and the team elected to make a stop in order to change tyres and solve the problem.
Mansell rejoined the race some 29 seconds behind Piquet, with 28 laps remaining. On fresh rubber Mansell began an epic charge which saw the lap record broken 11 times to the delight of the over 100,000 strong British crowd. By lap 62 the two cars were nose to tail and on lap 63 Mansell performed his now famous 'Silverstone Two Step' move, selling Piquet a dummy on the Hangar Straight and then diving down the inside into Stowe Corner. Mansell ran out of fuel on the slowing down lap and was engulfed by the crowd. Unknown to the outside world at the time his fuel gauge had been in the red two laps before the finish, as he crossed the line it was still showing him to be two litres short.
Many more Grand Prixs' at Silverstone to the years to come.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
Predictions for this weekends Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone the home of the British Grand Prix, were eight Formula one teams (Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes AMG, Lotus, Force India, Williams, Caterham, Marussia) and three Formula 1 drivers (Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Max Chilton) is their home grand prix.
And so predictions for the race itself, Lewis Hamilton for the win in his Mercedes, Nico Rosberg second in the other Mercedes, and Daniel Ricciardo third in the Red Bull. Don't forget the Ferrari drivers, Williams drivers, McLaren drivers, Force India drivers and Sebastian Vettel either for a podium place as-well.
End of post/blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
Review of Round Seven of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship and the third round of the North American Endurance Championship at Watkins Glen International Raceway on the outskirts of New York.
Spirit of Daytona Racing team won the race overall and Prototype class too of Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook in their Corvette DP, Chevrolet 5.5L V8. While, OAK Racing team finished second place in their Morgan LMP2, Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8, the team of Gustavo Yacaman, Alex Brundle, and Ho-Pin Tung ; they were 0.8 of a second behind the leaders. Meanwhile, Action Express Racing team finished third place in their Corvette DP, Chevrolet 5.5L V8, the team of João Barbosa, and Christian Fittipaldi; they were 1.5 of a second behind the leaders.
In Prototype Challenge Class (all teams using Oreca FLM09 race car), CORE Autosport team won Prototype Challenge Class and finished in sixth place overall; with the drivers of Jon Bennett, and Colin Braun; they were 5 laps behind the leaders.
In GT Le Mans Class, Corvette Racing team won GT Le Mans Class and finished in eleventh place overall in their Chevrolet Corvette C7.R; with the drivers of Jan Magnussen and Antonio García; they were 6 laps behind the leaders.
In GT Daytona Class, Turner Motorsport team won GT Daytona Class and finished in twenty-fifth place overall in their BMW Z4 GT3; with the drivers of Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala; they were 13 laps behind the leaders.
End of post/blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
