A quick review of yesterdays 2014 Malaysia Grand Prix Review, a few thoughts on the race itself and predictions for this weekends Bahrain Grand Prix.
Good Race
- Mercedes (Lewis Hamilton, pole, fastest lap, and race win; Nico Rosberg, finished 2nd)
- Sebastian Vettel (finished 3rd)
- Nico Hülkenberg (finished 5th)
- Jenson Button (finished 6th)
- Williams (Felipe Massa, finished 7th; Valtteri Bottas, finished 8th)
- Daniil Kvyat (finished 10th)
- Romain Grosjean (finished 11th)
- Caterham (Kamui Kobayashi, finished 13th; Marcus Ericsson, finished 14th ahead of Max Chilton by 0.100 at the end)
Bad Race
- Kimi Räikkönen (finished 12th, after a collision with Kevin Magnussen on the second lap)
- Daniel Ricciardo (DNF, Technical, also a 10-place grid penalty for the Bahrain Grand Prix, after the Red Bull team released his car in an unsafe manner, from his pit box)
- Pastor Maldonado (DNF, Engine, also Collision Damage from Jules Bianchi)
- Jules Bianchi (DNF, Brakes, also Collision Damage from Pastor Maldonado)
- Jean-Éric Vergne (DNF, Power unit)
- Sauber (Adrian Sutil, DNF, Electrics; Esteban Gutiérrez (DNF, Gearbox)
- Sergio Pérez (DNS, hydraulics)
Overall, I thought it wasn't that a good race to watch. But, Lewis Hamilton had a great race for him and Mercedes, on pole from Saturday's qualifying; lead the race since from start to finish, with fastest lap to conclude with a race win. His first Formula 1 win since Hungaroring from last July.
Meanwhile, team-mate Nico Rosberg finished second in his Mercedes to give Mercedes a first one-two since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, when Juan Manuel Fangio won and Piero Taruffi finished in second place. To complete the podium current world champion Sebastian Vettel finished in third place to complete the podium in Malaysia.
So this weekends Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir. Predictions for the race, Lewis Hamilton for the win in the Mercedes, Nico Rosberg second in the other Mercedes and third place for Filipe Massa in the Williams. Don't forget Red Bull drivers, McLaren drivers, Mercedes drivers or Romain Grosjean as well for a podium place either.
End of blog for now. New post soon. Bye.
During last December, Audi showed off their new R18 in black and red testing livery colours.
We all thought the new R18 e-tron would have a much more developed 3.7 litre V6 turbodiesel underneath, upgrades to the flywheel accumulator system and an exhaust heat recovery system. Narrower by 10 cm from the previous R18 e-tron and the new R18 has will do 30 percent less fuel than the pervious R18 e-tron when race next season.
But, during Audi launch (25/3/14) of the R18 e-tron quattro in quattro livery colours this time at the city of Le Mans. Things has changed a bit.
For starters the cubic capacity of the V6 TDI turbodiesel underneath was increased from 3.7 to 4.0 litres in order to further optimise the engine.
And the exhaust heat recovery system which is similar to what underneath a F1 car this season is gone after system did not offer the gains that had been hoped for in testing and that there were concerns over its reliability. So it will only keep the the flywheel accumulator system this season (KERS). And that means the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro will have just one energy-retrieval system rather than the permissible two. That means Audi will use two megajoules of hybrid power through each lap this season. Compared to Porsche, will use eight megajoules of hybrid power through each lap with the Porsche 919. And Toyota will use six megajoules of hybrid power through each lap with the Toyota TS040 Hybrid.
Audi have also announced the driver pairings for the FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans campaign this season, Tom Kristensen, Loic Duval and Lucas di Grassi will drive the #1 car this season. Andre Lotterer, Benoit Trelyer and Marcel Fassler will drive the #2 car for the whole of 2014. And Oliver Jarvis, Marco Bonanomi and Filipe Albuquerque will drive the #3 car at Spa and Le Mans rounds only.
A challenging season ahead for Audi.
End of post for now, new post soon. Bye.
Today (27/3/14), Toyota launch their new LMP1 race car the Toyota TS040 Hybrid for this seasons World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans. And according to Toyota it will have a total power output of nearly 1000 bhp with both its energy-retrieval systems deployed.
Toyota unveiled its 2014 new LMP1 race car at Paul Ricard on Thursday, has revealed that the new version of its normally-aspirated 3.7 litre V8 engine will produce 512 bhp and that it has 473 bhp available from its front and rear-axle hybrid systems. Compared to its TS030 predecessor, which had a quoted output from its lone rear-axle unit of 300 bhp. So basically, the new Toyota TS040 Hybrid is a 985 bhp Four-wheel-drive monster race car since the Group C days.
Also, Toyota has opted to run in the second highest sub-class of hybrid power, which allows for six megajoules to be released over a lap of Le Mans due to weight issuses when running in the highest 8MJ class which Porsche will compete with the 919.
Toyota have also announced the driver pairings for the FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans campaign this season, Alex Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima and Stephane Sarrazin will drive the #7 car this season. Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastien Buemi will drive the #8 car for the whole of 2014.
A big season ahead for Toyota.
End of post for now, new post soon. Bye.
Chrysler has withdrawn its factory SRT Viper squad from this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans it was announced on Tuesday (25/3/14).
Chrysler, which returned to Le Mans under the SRT brand last season, has decided not to contest the race with its pair of Riley-run SRT Viper GTS-Rs in the GTE Pro class. Instead focus in this seasons United SportsCar Championship.
However, they might be back at Le Mans for the 2015 race.
Overall, this is sad news that we won't see a Viper at Le Mans this year. But, did they did the right thing withdrawing its factory SRT Viper squad from this year's race? I personally think they've done wrong thing. It you look at their United SportsCar Championship results this season, third in GTLM class at Daytona, second in GTLM class at Sebring last time out, and eighth (24th overall) and ninth (31st overall) in LMGTE Pro class at Le Mans last year. And the Viper improving still all the time, I think Chrysler has done the wrong thing to withdrawn its Viper's at Le Mans this season.
So in GTE Pro class this year at Le Mans, we're only going to see Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, Aston Martin Vantage GTE, Porsche 991 RSR and the new Chevrolet Corvette C7.R competing in GTE Pro class at Le Mans this season.
End of post/blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
How about this! A full 360˚ view of Nico Rosberg driving his F1 W05 during a TV day at Silverstone's National Circuit from a month back to enjoy.
End of post/blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
So this weekends Malaysia Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit, outside of Kuala Lumpur.
So Predictions for the race, and for the win I predict Lewis Hamilton for the race win in the Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas second in the Williams, and Filipe Massa third in the other Williams. Don't forget Nico Rodberg, Red Bull drivers, McLaren drivers, Ferrari drivers and Force India as well for a podium place.
End of blog for now. New post soon. Bye.
