It was announced on Monday (27/7/15) that Forward Racing has taken the "painful decision" to pull out next weeks MotoGP round at Indianapolis, following the arrest of team owner Giovanni Cuzari.
Swiss police are investigating Cuzari, who was arrested on his return from the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, over alleged bribery and money laundering.
With sponsors cancelling contracts, with rumours that title sponsor Athina to be among the brands that have left Forward. Forward ultimately made the decision in conjunction with the IRTA (the International Racing Teams Association), to skip Indianapolis.
Forward will return at Brno with new funding in place.
"It was a very difficult week for the Forward Racing team," said Managing Director Marco Curioni.
There is also rumours that Forward Racing rider Stefan Bradl is being linked with the second seat at Aprilia Racing Team Gresini.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
Review of Round Eight of the 2015 United SportsCar Championship at Lime Rock Park, on the outskirts of Salisbury, Connecticut.
PR1/Mathiesen Motorsports team won the race overall and Prototype Challenge Class (all teams using Oreca FLM09 race car) too with the team of
Mike Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith. While, RSR Racing team finished second place with the team of Chris Cumming and Bruno Junqueira; they were eight seconds behind the leaders. Meanwhile, Starworks Motorsport team finished third place with the team of Renger van der Zande and Mirco Schultis; they were a lap behind the leaders.
In GT Daytona Class, Turner Motorsport team won GT Daytona Class and finished in seventh place overall in their BMW Z4 GT3; with the drivers of Dane Cameron and Michael Marsal; they were eleven laps behind the leaders.
While both Prototype Class and GT Le Mans Class did not participate for this race.
End of post/blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
Last weekend was the annual 24 hours of Spa race (25-26th July). The BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS in their BMW Z4 GT3; with team of Lucas Luhr, Dirk Werner, and Markus Paltalla came out on top to win this years 24 hours of Spa race in 527 laps in total.
While the Audi Sport Team WRT team came in second place in their Audi R8 LMS; with team of Frank Stippler, Nico Müller, and Stephane Ortelli as drivers. They were a lap behind the leaders at the end of the 24 hour race.
While the Audi Sport Team Phoenix came in third place in their Audi R8 LMS; with Nicki Thiim, Christopher Mies and Christian Mamerow as drivers, they were two laps behind the leaders at the end of the 24 hours race.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
Review of the tenth round of the 2015 F1 season at the Hungaroring outside of Budapest, for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Last time out I said it was the best race of the race of the season so far, for this seasons Hungarian Grand Prix I am predicting this race was the best race of the season! With Lewis Hamilton on pole and Nico Rosberg on the front row for Sunday's race, you would have thought it will be a predicted win for Lewis Hamilton with Nico Rosberg second. And at the start it was third on the grid Sebastian Vettel had a brilliant start and took the lead and stayed there throughout a dominating race win for Sebastian Vettel, to win this seasons Hungarian Grand Prix for his second race win of the season.
Now, Vettel has match Ayrton Senna's Forty-One Grand Prix wins. Vettel dedicated his win to Jules Bianchi and his family following Bianchi's death last week.
While, second place was unpredictable after half way through the race, when Kimi Räikkönen who was second from the start, then his hybrid system failed on him to retired lead Nico Rosberg to second place. That was until seven laps remaining, when Daniel Ricciardo attempted to pass Rosberg at turn one, resulting in a collision and damage, forcing both drivers in the pits. Ricciardo only needed a new front wing and only dropped to third, while Rosberg got a puncture and limped back to the pits, dropping to eighth. Then Daniil Kvyat in his Red Bull took second place and finished in second place to give Daniil Kvyat his first podium in Formula 1 and becoming the highest place Russian finish in Formula 1 eclipsing Vitaly Petrov third place finish from Australia 2011. Kvyat was five second behind, then Kvyat was handed a ten-second penalty for taking advantage of the track boundaries, which means Kvyat was fifteen seconds behind Vettel in the end.
Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo finished in third place in the Red Bull to complete the podium despite colliding with both Mercedes drivers in the race, Ricciardo was twenty-five seconds behind Vettel at the end of the sixty-nine lap race.
And for was the first time since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix that any of the factory Mercedes cars failed to finish on the podium. With the highest Mercedes driver was current F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton finished in sixth place after a poor first lap and colliding with Daniel Ricciardo, resulting in Hamilton needing a new front wing and also given a drive-through penalty. Hamilton was fifty two seconds behind Vettel in the end. While Nico Rosberg finished in eighth after colliding with Daniel Ricciardo with seven laps to go, which resulted with a puncture in the end. Rosberg was fifty-nine seconds behind Vettel in the end of the race.
Now with nine races to go, Lewis Hamilton leads from team-mate Nico Rosberg with 21 points behind Hamilton. While, Hungarian Grand Prix race winner Sebastian Vettel is third in the standings with 42 points behind Hamilton.
Rate the Teams and Drivers
Mercedes - 6
Lewis Hamilton - 7 (pole, finished sixth)
Nico Rosberg - 5 (finished eighth)
Red Bull Racing - 9
Daniel Ricciardo - 8 (finished third, and fastest lap)
Daniil Kvyat - 10 (finished second)
Williams - 5
Valtteri Bottas - 6 (finished thirteen)
Felipe Massa - 5 (finished twelfth)
Ferrari - 8
Sebastian Vettel - 9 (race win)
Kimi Räikkönen - 7 (DNF, Hybrid failure)
McLaren - 9
Jenson Button - 8 (finished ninth)
Fernando Alonso - 10 (finished fifth)
Force India - 6
Nico Hülkenberg - 6 (DNF, Front wing)
Sergio Pérez - 6 (DNF, Brakes)
Toro Rosso - 8
Carlos Sainz Jr. - 7 (DNF, Fuel pressure)
Max Verstappen - 10 (finished fourth)
Lotus - 5
Romain Grosjean - 7 (finished seventh)
Pastor Maldonado - 3 (finished fourteenth)
Manor - 6
Will Stevens - 6 (DNF/finished sixteenth, Suspension/four laps down)
Roberto Merhi - 7 (finished fifteenth, two laps down)
Sauber - 6
Marcus Ericsson - 7 (finished tenth)
Felipe Nasr - 6 (finished eleventh)
Next stop Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix in four weeks time.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
It was confirmed yesterday (23/7/15) that Sauber F1 Team will retain Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr for the 2016 Formula 1 season.
Overall, its a good decision from Sauber to keep Felipe Nasr for another season as his scored most for the points for Sauber in his rookie season. And maybe a quick decision from Sauber to keep the talented driver before another team have the opportunity to sign him up for their team.
As for Marcus Ericsson, despite scoring less points then team-mate Nasr, he has not impress me much this season with his pace and points scoring. But, overall Sauber have kept both drivers due to the money they can bring into the team (around £15 million from each driver). And that does help Sauber to secure their future for next season.
End of post for now, new post soon, bye.
Predictions for this weekends Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring outside of Budapest.
And so predictions for the race itself, Lewis Hamilton for the win in his Mercedes, Nico Rosberg second in the other Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas third in his Williams. Don't forget Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, the Force India drivers, the Ferrari drivers either for a podium place as-well.
End of post/blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
Before I start, motorsport is dangerous sport. No matter if its Go-Karting, motorbikes, Formula 1, Indy Car, any kind of Motorsport is dangerous, but motorsport can be safer between tracks, fans, spectators, tracks marshals, people in pits, cars and drivers too.
This morning (18/7/15) it was announced by Jules Bianchi's family that the 25-year-old died on Friday night, nine months after his crash in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
Bianchi had been in a coma since the accident, in which he suffered a diffuse axonal injury after colliding with a recovery vehicle while driving for Marussia.
He was initially treated at the Mie Prefecture medical centre in Japan before being transferred to a facility in Nice a month after the crash.
Although rehabilitation therapy began late last year, in May Bianchi's father Philippe admitted that the family's hopes were fading and his death was announced in the early hours of Saturday morning.
As this is the first time that a Grand Prix driver to die from injuries sustained in a Formula 1 Grand Prix race since Ayrton Senna and Roland Roland Ratzenberger at Imola from the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994.
Bianchi career included European Formula 3 Champion in 2009. A Formula Renault 3.5, and GP2 Race winner while contracted to Ferrari as a development driver.
Bianchi stepped up to Formula 1 with Force India as their third driver in 2012, before getting a race seat with Marussia the following season. He famously scored the team's first points with ninth place in last seasons Monaco Grand Prix, which was his best result in his 34 Grand Prixs' in Formula 1.
Thoughts goes out to Jules Bianchi's family and friends at this period of time. Its a sad day for Motorsport in general. A driver that had the talent to go to the top and would have been a Ferrari driver next season alongside Sebastian Vettel and maybe a F1 World Champion to challenge the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton to championships if he was still alive.
His crash that lead to his death has helped to make Formula 1 which includes starting the race few hours earlier in Pacific rounds to avoid the bad light and introducing VSC (Virtual Safety Cars) which may help to void this horrible accident again.
Rest in Peace Jules Bianchi, you will be much sadly missed.
Jonathan
