Category: Formula 1

Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Red Bull Racing preview Korean GP

RBR Korean GP preview

Back in September Red Bull Racing sent Karun Chandok for a first look at the new Korea International Circuit. In just under two weeks the new track will host the inaugural Korean Grand Prix.

Giving us another look at the newest race track on the F1 calendar is Mark Webber who commentates his way around the Korean track with a pesky Sebastian Vettel close behind. It’s a pretty tidy piece of animation from the Red Bull crew and let’s hope it’s another one-two result for the team; with our Mark taking maximum points.

Take the jump to see the preview in full.

Continue reading “Red Bull Racing preview Korean GP”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2010 Japanese Grand Prix in pictures

2010 Japanese GP

Formula One action was all go on Sunday in Suzuka. Thanks to the rained out qualifying session the day before racegoers got to see a full qualifying session and a race all in the one day. What they saw was an unassailable Sebastian Vettel who topped all three quali sessions and led the race virtually from start to finish.

Our boy Mark Webber maintained his championship lead with a solid second place. The Red Bull duo still can’t shake of a persistent Ferrari challenge from Fernando Alonso, who also finished on the podium. McLaren’s Jenson Button was fourth, able to take advantage of more frustration for Lewis Hamilton; this time in the form of another dodgy gearbox.

However, aside from Sebastian and Mark, this race was all about fighting for the scraps. A couple of brain farts at the start ensured there were a few more scraps too, with Virgin Racing’s Lucas di Grassi reportedly crashing on the warm up lap. Vitaly Petrov made a mess of his Renault at the start—that’s him above, on the grass with half his car missing. And Felipe Massa continued to flounder by barely making it into the first corner. It’s a shame the latter two took some Force India and Williams collateral damage with them, too.

Local lad Kamui Kobayashi in his Sauber went on a late charge and provided plenty of entertainment and loads of heart-in-mouth overtaking moves. He made them all stick, though, and continues to show he has raw pace by the bucketful.

Relive the race for yourself by checking out our gallery below, with thanks to the F1 teams who offer great access to some fantastic photography.

Continue reading “2010 Japanese Grand Prix in pictures”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

2010 Japanese GP – Post-race press conference

2010 Japanese Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing returned to the victory dais at Suzuka today with Sebastian Vettel claiming his third race win of the year. Constantly at the top of the time sheets, Vettel was the dominant man all weekend and started the race from pole position. Teammate Mark Webber completed the Red Bull Racing domination by securing an comfortable looking second place. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took the final podium position.

With three races to go the title race now looks set to be a race between Webber, Vettel and Alonso. A solid haul of points saw Webber slightly extend his championship lead this weekend. He is now on 220pts, with both Alonso and Vettel close behind on 206pts.

The full post-race press conference transcript is available below.

Continue reading “2010 Japanese GP – Post-race press conference”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

Japanese GP qualifying washed out

2010 Japanese Grand Prix

It would be out of the ordinary for AUSmotive to feature an image gallery on a Grand Prix weekend before the race had been run. It would be out of the ordinary for qualifying to be cancelled due to heavy and persistent rain. But these extraordinary events have happened today, and when you see the pictures, mostly taken during this morning’s Free Practice 3 session, you will see why.

Heavy rain started to fall this morning at the Suzuka circuit and barely abated all day. Despite several delays to allow conditions to improve qualifying was eventually called off and is now scheduled to be run tomorrow morning at 10am Japan time (midday AEDT). The race will go ahead as scheduled at 3pm (5pm AEDT). Weather conditions are expected to improve.

As well as the pics below you can also read the concise and somewhat humourous qualifying report from Lotus Racing.

Continue reading “Japanese GP qualifying washed out”
Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Suzuka

Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing

There are just four races left in 2010, maybe three if Korea is a last minute withdrawal. Still, ever composed, Mark is just looking forward to lots of cameras, lots of people and zipping about on a moped at the Japanese GP this weekend. Although, a race win would surely be welcomed, too. It would be a great result for the Australian who holds an 11pt lead over nearest rival Fernando Alonso.

As usual you can check out Mark’s preview after the break.

Continue reading “Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Suzuka”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2010 Singapore Grand Prix in pictures

2010 Singapore GP

Fernando added to his Italian Grand Prix win to make it a double with victory in Singapore. By doing so he has put himself right at the pointy end of the driver’s title race; he’s now second. Sebastien set the field alight during practice but faltered during qualifying and played second fiddle to Alonso for the rest of weekend, despite having the faster car. But for a couple of Safety Car periods these guys would have led the field home with a minute to spare, they were streets ahead.

Mark struggled during the weekend and started from fifth, but a pit stop gamble after the first Safety Car period inside five laps saw him claw his way into third place after the lead cars completed their stops. After the second Safety Car period Hamilton, in fourth, made a ballsy move to overtake Mark. It almost came off, too, but there was contact between the two and Webber walked away with the luck, while Hamilton was forced to take an early shower for the second race in a row.

Aside from that, the action was a bit light on, save for a few hit and giggle incidents towards the back of the field. Perhaps the only other aspect of this race worth noting is the ease with which Schumacher gets pushed aside by his peer group these days. It indicates the seven time champion continues to struggle with the pace of current day F1 cars.

Recapture the vibe with over 70 images after the break.

Continue reading “2010 Singapore Grand Prix in pictures”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

2010 Singapore GP – Post-race press conference

2010 Singapore GP

Fernando Alonso bagged consecutive Grand Prix wins with victory in Singapore. It’s his fourth race win for the year—the same as Mark Webber, third place, who leads the driver’s championship by 11 points from the Ferrari driver.

Sebastien Vettel started and finished the race in second place. He looked the dominant man all during practice and most of qualifying, but Alonso showed he is made of the right stuff, performing when it matters most. It also shows that the F10 Ferrari has the ability to match it with the RB6 Red Bull on both fast and slow circuits. This title race is going down to the wire.

The full transcript from the post-race press conference with the podium winners is available below. A Singapore GP photo gallery should be up later today.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Continue reading “2010 Singapore GP – Post-race press conference”
Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Singapore

Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber is ready for the great atmosphere the night race at the Marina Bay street circuit provides. He’s looking forward to the support of all the Aussies who make their way to Singapore for this Grand Prix, too. There’ll even be a few AUSmotive readers in attendance, so let’s hope Mark can bring home a win for the lads.

As usual you can check out Mark’s preview lap after the break.

Continue reading “Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Singapore”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2010 Italian Grand Prix in pictures

2010 Italian Grand Prix

Fast Fernando fled the field at Monza to send the tifosi into raptures. Button teased them for a moment with a banzai move on the first lap. Massa fumbled about with an over excited Hamilton, before taking no further part in any racing action on his way to the last podium step. Vettel cried about his engine dying before finding the on switch and coming home in fourth. This, mind you, after completing almost the entire race of the soft tyres.

Britney outperformed that Michael bloke, yet again. Aussie Mark fluffed the start, yet again, but scored enough points to find himself at the very pointy end of the drivers’ title race. So pointy, in fact, he is out in front. Mind, his arch rival in fifth place, is within striking distance. So this is one title race that will go down to the wire.

Pedro de la Rosa won’t be winning any races. Rumours suggest Monza is likely to be his last F1 outing after being shown the door in favour of Quick Nick (Heidfeld) who is back for a third try at success with Sauber.

There’s sixty plus pics for you all after the break, which should keep you happy until the sun goes down in Singapore in a couple of weeks time.

Continue reading “2010 Italian Grand Prix in pictures”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren

2010 Italian GP – post-race press conference

2010 Italian Grand Prix

The Italian Grand Prix finished as it started, at least as far as the podium is concerned. Fernando won the race after starting from pole position. He didn’t have things go all his own way, though, with Jenson Button, starting from P2, getting the jump on Alonso and snatching the lead on the first lap. Pitting after Button, Alonso made the most of his free air to claw back enough time to take the outright lead after the pitstops. Felipe Massa, in third, seemed to have a trouble free race.

The full transcript from the official post-race press conference featuring the podium winners is available after the break. Stay tuned for the usual photo gallery to follow in the next 24 hours or so.

Continue reading “2010 Italian GP – post-race press conference”
Categories
Formula 1

FIA confirms 2011 F1 calendar

Formula One

The list of races for the 2011 Formula One season was released by the FIA overnight. There will be 20 races in all, making next year’s calendar the longest in F1 history. Some of the details revealed in the leak following the Hungarian GP have proved to be off the mark.

Bahrain will again host the season opener (13 March), with the Australian Grand Prix to follow a fortnight later (27 March). The order of events then continues to loosely follow what we’ve seen to date in 2010.

Four back-to-back races have been confirmed: Malaysia–China (April), Spain–Monaco (May), Germany–Hungary (July) and Japan–Korea (October).

There have been 19 races scheduled this year, all maintain their GP status into next year. The new race for 2011 is the inaugural Indian Grand Prix (30 October), it will be the third last race on the calendar. Following that race will be a trip to Abu Dhabi (13 November), before Brazil once again hosts the season finale (27 November).

So, 20 races, hey—is this starting to become a few too many? No in-season testing. Reduced number of engines. Ever-tightened budgets. Yet, more races, meaning more television revenue coming in to the sport. Hmm, is there something not quite right about this?

A full list is available after the break.

Continue reading “FIA confirms 2011 F1 calendar”
Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Monza

Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing

Mark has dried himself off after a rain-soaked race at Spa and is now ready to tear through the forest at Monza ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. He’s also on the lookout for leaping tifosi, beautiful food and a lot of history. Check it out after the break.

Continue reading “Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Monza”