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2012 German Grand Prix in pictures

2012 German Grand Prix

This morning we bring you around 90 images from the 2012 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. Let’s hope the F1 circus finds its way to a happier and more stable Nürburgring in 2013.

Until then, enjoy your lot from Hockenheim. Sadly for McLaren fans there’s no 2000px photos from the Woking crew this week, we’re not sure why, but something was up with their site and we have to make do with what we’ve got. For fans of all the other teams you can click away to your heart’s content and view wallpaper-friendly super images.

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Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Red Bull Racing

2012 German GP: Post-race press conference

2012 German Grand Prix

Here’s the press conference from last night’s German Grand Prix, won by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. As you’ll see from the transcript a lot of the questions focus on the overtaking move of Sebastian Vettel on Jenson Button. The German Grand Prix stewards showed no favours to Vettel, handing down the local lad a 20 second penalty, enough to push him to fifth.

So the revised finishing order for the race is Alonso (Ferrari), Button (McLaren) and returning F1 star Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus). Seeing as Kimi didn’t get a chance to have his say in the official post-race press conference here’s a few words from the typically understated Finn after confirmation came through that he had won a Clatyons’ podium.

“Maybe if we had found a bit more pace in the wet yesterday we could have started higher and pushed the leaders, but it is what it is. For sure we were hoping for a bit better here, but the car worked well all through the race and we still brought home some good points for the team so there are some positives to take to the next race,” Raikkonen said.

It will be interesting when we get to season’s end to see what effect this loss of eight points has on Vettel’s title position.

One more thing before you start reading the text below; if anyone from the FIA happens to be reading this: Please, no more post-race interviews on the podium!

[Pic: Ferrari]

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Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing

Fernando Alonso wins 2012 German GP

Fernando Alonso wins German GP

Fernando Alonso won the 2012 German Grand Prix and in doing so has established clear air at the top of the championship table.

Starting from pole position the Ferrari driver made a clean get away off the line and in real terms led unhindered until the chequered flag. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) put a late move on an impressive Jenson Button (McLaren), using all the track and then some, to cross the line in second place.

Red Bull went into the race under a cloud when the stewards were asked to judge on the engine mapping of both Red Bull cars and they have ended the race the same way, with Vettel under scrutiny for his move on Button. We’ll update you if we hear of any post-race penalties; likely to be the equivalent of a drive through penalty, which could drop Vettel as low as seventh.

Aside from that the only real action in this race was Felipe Massa (Ferrari) making a nuisance of himself in the first hundred or so metres when he clipped the back wheel of Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) during the race start. Thankfully the only damage was to Massa’s front wing and no harm was done to the car of the young Australian.

Massa recovered to finish in P12, ahead of Ricciardo, himself narrowly in front of his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne. Alas, Massa’s stocks at Ferrari are surely continuing to plummet as he arses about down the field while his ever impressive teammate is finding his way to the top of the podium.

Mark Webber didn’t translate his pre-race confidence into race pace and finished eighth, the same position he started. The four points gained, though, are enough for him to hang on to his second place in the drivers’ championship.

In winning the race at Hockenheim Alonso collects his third winning trophy from the German track and his third win for 2012. After narrowly missing out on the win two weeks ago at Silverstone he’ll be hoping he can make the most of his good form when the teams head to Hungary next weekend.

UPDATE: The stewards have handed Sebastian Vettel a 20 second penalty for gaining an advantage off the track when passing Jenson Button.

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McLaren

VIDEO: McLaren MP4-12C Spider

McLaren MP4-12C Spider

A week or so after McLaren released the first pictures of its MP4-12C Spider they’re back with a couple of promo videos. The first one starts off making the connection from F1 car to road car, before ending up in the mountains of Andalucía, Spain.

“We know 12C drivers love the Formula 1 technology DNA that runs throughout their cars,” said Antony Sheriff, McLaren Automotive Managing Director. “With the 12C Spider, owners will have an even greater opportunity to create their perfect driving experience.

“Top up or top down, the sports car with highest performance among the competition just became even more breathtaking. The exhilarating aspects of driving the 12C Spider are captured beautifully in this great new film.”

The second video illustrates the retractable hardtop roof opening. It takes 17 seconds to open the roof, which, for those keeping count, is five seconds longer than the new fabric roof on the Porsche Boxster.

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Formula 1 McLaren

Lewis and Jenson star in new cartoon

McLaren cartoon animation

This animated cartoon, featuring McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, was broadcast by Sky TV in the build up to last week’s British Grand Prix. It’s the first of a 12-part series called Tooned and has been produced by Framestore.

As cringeworthy as your first impression to this series may be, it’s actually not that bad. You can watch the premiere episode, “Wheel Nuts”, after the break.

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2012 British Grand Prix in pictures

2012 British Grand Prix

Mark Webber’s second British Grand Prix victory is still fresh in our minds. It’s probably one of the first races Webber has won where he has been able to strike when a win looked off the cards. In his own words he wasn’t sure he could pass Alonso until he was right on the Ferrari’s gearbox.

“It’s taking a while to sink in this one. I think it was the circumstances of the race—for most of it I was marking off second place,” explained Webber. “Fernando was not quite out of touch and after the last stop, my engineer Ciaron came on the radio saying that Fernando was not doing much on the option tyres. But I know Fernando is a wily old fox, I thought he was looking after the tyres and just waiting to pull the pin and go a little bit.

“But when I got within two seconds I thought maybe he’s in a little bit of trouble and it was real. It was completely game on when I knew the DRS was available, I made the move stick and our hard work paid off for the win. It was a cracking grand prix today; the spectators got to see a good race and I’m pleased for them.”

After the break we have a large selection of images to help you recount Webber’s ninth GP win. We do wonder what Mark was saying to Sebastian and Fernando on the podium.

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McLaren

McLaren MP4-12C Spider revealed

McLaren MP4-12C Spider

“The 12C Spider delivers all the thrills characteristic of a high performance roadster, and yet transforms into a raucous track beast at the flick of a switch.”

They’re the words used to describe the new McLaren MP4-12C Spider from Antony Sheriff, McLaren Automotive Managing Director. It’s a bold comment too, when you consider the 12C hardtop has been criticised for being too anodyne.

So, is the 17 seconds it takes to open the retractable hardtop roof enough to inject the 12C some soul? Sheriff promises, “12C Spider owners will love the opportunity to lower the roof and hear the unhindered howl of a V8 twin turbo engine at full throttle. It undoubtedly enhances an already euphoric 12C driving experience.”

Certainly the designers have nailed the look. The 12C is very much a car that has more presence in the metal than it does in pictures and we think the Spider will look even better away from a computer screen.

Mechanically speaking the Spider is pretty much a carbon copy of the coupé. That means you get McLaren’s own 3.8 litre twin-turbo V8 and the plentiful 625PS/600Nm it brings. A 7-speed SSG dual-clutch gearbox ensures nothing is lost in translation as you take the car to 100km/h in just 3.1 seconds, 200km/h in 9 seconds flat and onto a top speed of 329km/h.

If the 12C Spider has piqued your interest take the jump for McLaren’s official press release and more pics. Or why not head over to their online configurator and have a play.

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Bathurst 12 Hour McLaren

2013 Bathurst 12H provisional entries released

United Autosports McLaren MP4-12C GT3

The 2013 Bathurst 12 Hour race will be held over the weekend of 8–10 February and race organisers have today released a provisional entry list. Already there are 37 cars in the field, 12 more than started this year’s race.

Headlining the field to date is a pair of McLaren MP4-12C GT3s, run by the United Autosports team. They entered a single Audi R8 LMS this year and James O’Brien, Event Director is happy to have the McLarens locked in.

“United Autosports committed to running their two McLarens when I met with them overseas recently, and we have received their entry forms since then,” O’Brien confirmed.

“It is very exciting to have a team of their calibre commit to returning to the Event this early in the piece and it shows the growing respect in which the race is held overseas. The McLaren is one of the most exciting of the ‘new’ GT3-specification cars now running in Europe and it is going to be very interesting to see them in action at Mount Panorama next February.”

David Brabham drives for United Autosports in the Blancipain Endurance Series, with a roster that also includes former F1 racer Mark Blundell. Who knows, there could be an Aussie flavour with the McLarens when they land down under.

Two locally entered Audi R8 LMS GT3s are also on the entry list and Clearwater Racing will be returning with their Ferrari 458 GT3.

In the lower classes we like the look of the BMW 1M, entered by Bruce Lynton BMW. Follow the link below to see the full entry list to date.

Entries close in mid-December and it is hoped the winning Audi Phoenix Racing team will return to defend their title. The popular Black Falcon team, with their Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s, may also be back.

[Source: Bathurst 12 Hour]

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McLaren

McLaren announces MP4-12C Spider

McLaren MP4-12C Spider

McLaren has announced it will be revealing full details for its MP4-12C Spider om 3 July. Based on the regular hardtop 12C, McLaren promises the Spider “will be more usable than any car this exciting has a right to be.”

For now they’ve given us the teaser image above and questionable video featuring Jenson Button (see below) telling us how nice it is to drive a hairdresser’s car.

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2012 European Grand Prix in pictures

2012 European Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso is fast becoming our favourite driver not going by the name of Mark Webber. His ability to continually put his car in a winning position—see Valencia and Malaysia—when the quality of his machinery has often not been deserving of such results is genuine Spanish grit. He has guts. We like that.

You may or may not share our view on Alonso, but we suspect you’ll enjoy the 100 photos of the European Grand Prix we have assembled on your behalf.

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Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing

2012 European GP: Qualifying report

2012 European Grand Prix

In a year where chaos theory seems to dictate who is winning races, Sebastian Vettel may be on the way to restoring order after putting his Red Bull on pole position at the European Grand Prix in Valencia overnight. His time of 1:38.086 was comfortable faster than Lewis Hamilton in P2 (McLaren, 1:38.410).

Spanish GP winner Pastor Maldonado qualified in P3 (Williams, 1:38.475) and reminded us that chaos theory could be ready to take over again should natural order fail to deliver.

Let’s forget about this weekend for a moment, though, and reflect on the sometimes smarmy, sometimes charming Sebastian Vettel. His pole position here is the 33rd of his career and puts him alongside two of the sports undisputed legends—four-time world champ Alain Prost and dual champion Jim Clark. It’s a bit like seeing the once in a lifetime Michael Schumacher all over again.

Now equal third on the all-time list of pole positions achieved in F1, Vettel has only Ayrton Senna (65) and Schumacher (68) to cross off the list. About to turn 25, Vettel has plenty of time ahead of him yet.

In 37% of races started Vettel has started from P1. That’s just behind Senna (40%) and ahead of Schumacher (23%). As Australians and unapologetic Mark Webber fans we sometimes hate Sebastian Vettel with a passion, but there is no denying he is well on the path to greatness.

Which brings us back to Mark Webber. He had a shocking qualifying effort and will start from P19. He had brake troubles in final practice and then a new and unrelated problem in quali. In his own words: “I had no DRS, which costs about 1.3 second per lap and made it difficult. The car’s put up a big fight today, we only managed to do four laps and three of those were in qualifying,” Webber explained.

“In the first qualifying session we did one lap on the harder tyre and then went out on the soft tyre to try and get through as it was so tight. The lap time actually wasn’t too bad considering we didn’t have DRS, but it doesn’t do anything to help the situation. We have a lot to do tomorrow. We were hoping to fix the DRS for Q2 but we didn’t make the cut; we should be able to fix it for tomorrow.”

Once again Daniel Ricciardo managed to reach Q2, while teammate Jean-Eric Vergne just missed the cut in Q3. And again, Ricciardo was unable to progress any futher and the Toro Rosso pair will start tonight’s race from P17 and P18.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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2012 Canadian Grand Prix in pictures

2012 Canadian Grand Prix

Since becoming the seventh individual winner from the opening seven races, we suspect Lewis Hamilton is still in seventh heaven and celebrating his 2012 Canadian Grand Prix victory. If you couldn’t manage the 4am start, here’s 90-odd photos from the race to show you what you missed out on.

If nothing else, the bright sunny conditions were a welcome contrast after last year’s epic downpour.

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