The video below features some in-car footage of Bruno Senna driving a McLaren MP4/8 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed over the weekend. Truth be told it’s a pretty crappy clip, filmed on a mobile phone. But, when you stop to think about it, how many times do you see amateur in-car footage filmed from inside a Formula One car like this. That alone, makes this clip very, very cool!
This latest video from McLaren provides goosebumps on the one hand, and is nauseating on the other. The banter between Lewis and Jenson is bearable; if only the section between 1:12 and 1:15 could be edited out, then this clip would be way more powerful.
It’s okay, we get it, McLaren is sponsored by Vodafone. There is no need to stuff things up by reminding us of that fact in such a way. But, we’re posting the clip, so I guess you could say the technique has worked.
Aside from that, some great memories come flooding back thanks to this video. Check it out below and see what you think. There’s an extra special treat if you do.
Vodafone UK’s latest video promotion sees McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton build a Formula One car. Obvious pranks and comments are made; it’s still a bit of a giggle and shows, despite the common belief, the team at McLaren actually have a sense of humour.
Check the clip after the jump.
The 2010 Canadian Formula One Grand Prix saw a second consecutive one-two victory for the McLaren team. Lewis Hamilton started from pole and, despite a margin of just over two seconds from second placed Jenson Button, he won the race in reasonable comfort in the end. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though.
After qualifying on the soft “option” tyres it was expected Hamilton would come under pressure from the two Red Bull Racing cars, with both Webber and Vettel on the harder, more durable “prime” tyres. As it was Webber was penalised five grid places after having a gearbox change following qualifying.
But the real story of the race was the rate at which the tyres wore across the board. The prime tyres wore out quickly, as expected. However, the prime tyres also wore much quicker than predicted which meant most teams made two pitstops for a second set of prime tyres.
With no mechanical failures or accident carnage at the head of the field it was a reasonably close and exciting race. In the end, Hamilton won the day ahead of teammate Jenson Button and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton now leads the drivers standings on 109 points. Button is in second (106pts) and after relinquishing his title lead Mark Webber is close behind in third place (103pts). McLaren maintain their lead in the constructors race with 215 points ahead of Red Bull (193pts) and Ferrari (161pts).
Over 60 photos from Montreal are all yours after the jump and simply click on the pics you like to load a 2000px super image.
There’s been plenty of talk about this race, thanks to the Vettel-Webber incident. Maybe it’s now time to take Vettel on his word when he says, “There is no fight. This is something that happens. We do not need it but there is nothing we can do now.”
Similarly, Christian Horner has told Autosport he is going to bash the heads of Vettel and Webber together and make sure they bury the hatchet before the next race, “The most important thing, and I have had this situation before with drivers in different formulas, is to get issues out into the open, deal with them and that is exactly what we will do here.
“There is no animosity between the drivers. They are both competitive. They are both hungry animals, and it is down to us to ensure that they learn from this and it doesn’t happen again.”
Oh, that’s right, in case you missed it, Lewis Hamilton won the race and pictures of him and plenty of others can be seen after the jump.
Who else is looking forward to the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks time? I can’t wait to see what happens next.
One of the world’s most significant sportscars has just celebrated its 20th birthday. The car in question, of course, is the McLaren F1. The trainspotters among you will know the F1 didn’t actually have its official launch until 28 May 1992, and customer deliveries didn’t commence until 1993. But with this party McLaren Automotive honoured the date of the car’s immaculate conception, if you will.
It was in March 1990 that the McLaren F1 road car team first met. Twenty years later their creation still claims to be the fastest normally-aspirated production car of all time.
Just 106 F1s were made and 21 examples gathered at the company’s Woking headquarters in Surrey to celebrate the car’s birthday party. In production for less than 10 years the F1 achieved great success at whatever it turned its hand to, including winning the Le Mans 24 hour at its first attempt.
Not sure about you but the F1 is firmly entrenched in the AUSmotive top 10 list, to even get close enough to one to touch it would likely send this author into fits of convulsion. Something that did actually happen back at the 2005 Australian Grand Prix. To drive one, well, that’d be up there as one of life’s great memories.
More detail and pics from McLaren after the break. Hip, hip, hooray!
McLaren Automotive have just announced the locations for their initial dealership rollout. The good news is Australia is on the list. Well, Sydney is, more specifically. The bad news is the Sydney showroom will be launched in the second of two stages.
There are plans for 35 dealerships around the world to begin with. The first stage will see 23 locations open across Europe, North America, South Africa and the Middle East in the second quarter of 2011. No firm dates have been given for expected opening dates for the second batch, although Dealer Principals will be appointed later this year.
Locations included in the second stage of dealerships include Sydney, Hong Kong and Tokyo from the Asia-Pacific region. Also joining the party will be Spain and further additions to the United States and the Middle East.
The first car to grace the new McLaren showrooms will be the MP4-12C. The eagerly anticipated 12C will make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.
Full details available from McLaren after the jump.
Jenson Button’s Monaco Grand Prix came to an abrupt end on his second lap due to a blocked radiator air intake on his car’s left sidepod. The offending item has a small hole in the middle and is normally used in conjunction with a blower to help cool the car when stationary either in pit lane or when forming up on the starting grid. However the hole is not large enough to allow the car to operate at optimum condition at full race pace and this caused Button’s engine to overheat and fail.
Thanks to some sharp work by Ross Harper you can see an image of Jenson’s car showing the blocked sidepod by following this link to Flickr.
No doubt Mark Webber is still beaming after his Monaco Grand Prix victory. A win in Monte Carlo is something all Formula One drivers cherish and to see an Australian dominate the race made for one very welcome procession.
Webber clearly places this win very highly, “It’s a special day, the greatest day of my life I suppose. As a Formula One driver you really hope that you win races and if you have a choice then the blue riband event is very, very special for any driver. To join Ayrton Senna and the likes round here is a very special thing.”
More quotes from Webber, as well as podium drivers Sebastien Vettel and Robert Kubica, can be read at Formula1.com.
The Aussie currently sits atop the World Championship leaderboard, thanks to two successive wins, but he’s not getting ahead of himself just yet, “To get 50 points from the last two races is awesome, but there is a long, long way still to go. We’ve got so many different conditions and tracks coming up – there are many exciting times to come; I’m looking forward to it.”
The one-two result now puts Red Bull Racing in the lead of the constructors’ title race, as well.Red Bull now has 156 points, 20 ahead of Ferrari and 27 clear of McLaren.
A gallery of Red Bull Racing photos can be seen after the jump. More pics from the other teams to follow.
UPDATE 18 May: Images from Renault, Ferrari, Mercedes GP, Force India, Lotus, Williams, Virgin Racing and Sauber now available below.
Still got a big grin on your face after Mark Webber’s win last night? I know I do. These pics will help relive the moment. It’s great to see an Aussie dominate the F1 field like Webber did in Barcelona. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we see fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo join Webber on the grid, too.
A gallery of 55 images from Red Bull Racing is available below.
UPDATE 11 May: Over 40 new images from Ferrari, Force India, McLaren, Mercedes GP, Renault and Williams have now been added.
Rain in Shanghai ensured qualifying form was tipped upside down at yesterday’s 2010 Chinese Grand Prix. Jenson Button furthered his reputation as a rain master by winning his second wet race of the year. Teammate Lewis Hamilton was close behind as they crossed the line. MercedesGP driver Nico Rosberg continued his dominance over Michael Schumahcer to finish on the podium for the second race in succession.
Red Bull Racing have had a driver start from pole position every race this year. Unfortunately for them it hasn’t led to a race win for the pole man. Shanghai was no different, with both Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso getting past Sebastien Vettel off the line. Although, Alonso did jump the start and was forced to pit for a stop-go penalty. It was strategy and tyre choice, though, that undid Red Bull’s qualifying supremacy. Both drivers finished well below expectations—Vettel unable to follow his Malaysian GP victory with a podium and he finished in sixth, Webber further behind in eighth.
Four races in to the 2010 Formula One season and what do we make of Michael Schumacher’s comeback? It’s not gone to script, has it. Rosberg is to be commended for leading the way for MercedesGP so far in 2010. And while Schumacher has shown moments of raw pace, he is yet to string together the consistency required to see him challenging for a podium finish. Rosberg out qualified Schumi here in China, which means, for the first time, Schumacher has been out qualified by his teammate for four races in succession.
Quotes from drivers and team principals are now available on Formula1.com. You can also enjoy a total of 50 images from the Chinese GP here on AUSmotive, check them out below.
McLaren are pushing their MP4-12C supercar pretty hard. And that’s not pushing the performance envelope, either. While they are doing that, no doubt, they are also hyping this car and making sure it remains at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Remember, the 12C isn’t due for customer deliveries until early 2011 (or possibly late 2010).
The most recent method of hyping the 12C is to launch a configurator on the McLaren website. It’s just a bit of hit and giggle at the moment, especially as no pricing has been announced. However, it is quite a bit of fun. You can select paint colour, minor exterior trim detail as well as wheel and brake packages. Inside you can fiddle around with seat fabric colour and infotainment equipment. Oh, the track data option is a must, naturally.
More pics and a press statement after the jump. Including the obligatory opportunity to roll out Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
After the press release I’ve also included a few screen grabs of my preferred option. It’s got Titanium Silver exterior colour, with super-lightweight forged alloys. There’s carbon ceramic brakes, too, with the calipers painted in McLaren Orange. And to set it off on the inside there’s a mix of leather and alcantara. What do you think? Let us know your options in the comments section below.