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Formula 1

2010 Hungarian GP – post-race press conference

2010 Hungarian GP

1. Mark WEBBER (Red Bull), 1h41m05.571s
2. Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari), 1h41m23.392s
3. Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull), 1h41m24.823s

Q: Mark, a commanding win by the end of 70 laps. But it was probably the 43 you managed in your first stint that really set it up.
Mark WEBBER: Yeah, that’s right. The start we always knew was going to be a little bit tricky on that side. Fernando got a good start. Seb’s was pretty good as well. But we all jumped into the slipstream in the run to the first corner and then I had Lewis (Hamilton) there as well, so had to make sure to at least get out in third position. If not, see what happened in front. Then settled in. You know around here it is going to be very difficult to make any moves on the track unless anybody made a mistake, so it was not a surprise to see Seb disappearing with Fernando doing his absolute best but I was still marking him and waiting for the crucial part of the race to see what would happen. That being the pit stop. Then we had the safety car and I had to go off strategy to try and pass Fernando and make it a bit easier to try and do that. But we were asking a lot of the option tyres. You are right, building from safety car through to when we decided when to make the stop we knew that we needed around 20 seconds but I told the guys ‘let’s get a bit more of a buffer to make sure the guys have less pressure in the pit stop.’ All those types of things. But they were on it anyway. The front left was completely finished, it was pretty difficult with the grip that we had finishing that stint. But in the end, I knew once I got the primes on, these guys had already done 20 odd laps and the race was pretty much in the bag. I knew that Seb had some difficulties on the re-start for whatever reason and it was a bit of a gift to day for me. But I have not had many of them, so I will take today’s. Tough luck for Seb as he lost a couple of spots. I enjoyed the fight with Fernando at the start. Not much of a fight but as I was saying I was just trying to get the most out of the car and keep pressing on and we were gapping Felipe (Massa) and Lewis. But an incredible day for the team. Another victory. One-two was our goal. Unfortunately we didn’t get that, so we still got a big chunk of the points, so it was a good day.

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Formula 1

2011 Formula One calendar leaked in Hungary

2010 British Grand Prix

At last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix details of the 2011 F1 season were revealed, according to media reports. The leaked information shows a provisional 20 race calendar, with the inaugural Indian Grand Prix to be staged on 9 October.

Bahrain maintains its hold on the opening race of the year and has been pencilled in for 13 March, with the Australian Grand Prix to follow a fortnight later on 27 March. The season finale will take place in Abu Dhabi on 13 November. The Korean Grand Prix is poised to move forward from its October slot to April, meaning it will host two races inside six months.

Five double-headers are on the cards in 2011; Australia–Malaysia (March-April), China–Korea (April), Germany–Hungary (July), Belgium-Valencia (August) and the Japan-Brazil fixture (October) which will test logistics.

[Source: motorsport.com]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2010 Hungarian Grand Prix in pictures

2010 Hungarian GP

The 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix; Red Bull Racing’s 100th GP, Mark Webber’s 150th GP and his 6th career victory. The Aussie now leads the drivers championship and Red Bull have finally reached the top of the constructors tree. There’s seven races left in 2010, can Mark and RBR maintain the rage?

Elsewhere, Michael drove his old pal Rubens up the wall. Sebastian had a mid-race nap and Robert drove into Adrian. Here’s a surprise, too; think of the six drivers from the new teams (Lotus, Virgin and HRT), if they were running their own mini-championship who do you think would be leading the charge? A gold star for you if you picked out the name Karun Chandhok.

[Thanks to Micky for the Chandhok tip]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber wins Hungarian GP

2010 Hunagrian GP

Mark Webber has just won an extraordinary Hungarian Grand Prix, in doing so he has reclaimed the lead of the 2010 world drivers championship. It was a fortunate turn of events that, in the end, delivered Webber a comfortable win from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and his Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel started the race on pole, with Webber in P2 and Alonso P3. The Ferrari man jumped Webber off the line and very nearly took the lead from Vettel into Turn 1. Vettel was able to fend off Alonso’s challenge and the notoriously difficult to pass Hungaroring looked like providing another boring procession.

However, on lap 15, before teams were planning to bring in their drivers for scheduled pit stops some debris from one of the Force India cars was positioned precariously in the middle of the track. The Safety Car was deployed and the entire field took advantage to make their compulsory tyre change; with the exception of Webber, Rubens Barichello (Williams) and Jarno Trulli (Virgin Racing). Chaos reigned in pit lane, too, with a crash between Robert Kubica (Renault) and Vintonio Liuzzi (Force India), a loose wheel from Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes bouncing down the lane among the teams and cars everywhere.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Hungaroring

Mark Webber

It’s the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, held just outside of Budapest. That means Mark is thinking of a tight twisty circuit, a long race and the ladeeez are easy on the optic nerve, too. Well, that’s what Mark said. Don’t believe me; then check out his virtual preview after the break.

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Formula 1

Darren Heath Photographer

Darren Heath Photographer

Darren Heath is a pro photographer who undertakes the enviable job of following the Formula One circus around the globe. I’ve been following him on twitter for a while now. After each race he’s been updating a selection of his photos. The pics are, of course, all good in their own right, but it is his blog that often makes for some very interesting observations. Take this snippet posted after the German Grand Prix, for example, which is discussing the aerodynamic properties of the Red Bull Racing and Ferrari front wings:

…at Barcelona earlier this year Mercedes’ GPS system, busy tracking the F1 cars careening around the flat-out Turn 3, registered similar entry speeds for the MGP W01 and the RB6.

A few seconds later, at the corner’s exit, things had changed. The Red Bull was pulling away with a 12kph advantage.

If that’s the kind of performance the Milton Keynes outfit had with its old front section, imagine it with the new one.

Judging from my photographs Ferrari has worked out the secret – although the front wings on both the F10s and the RB6s have been deemed legal, so the rest must now follow.

Check out Darren’s website HERE. His full German GP blog entry is available HERE.

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Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2010 German Grand Prix in pictures

2010 German GP

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso won the 2010 German Grand Prix. Good for him, it was a hard fought victory and if only that lowly team assistant in the bottom left of corner didn’t ruin the photo opportunity above as the Spaniard held the winning trophy aloft. Who is that guy anyway? Has anyone ever seen him before?

Actually, come to think of it, he could be the little bugger who stole Ferrari’s $100,000 social club kitty. Poor Fernando had no money for champagne to celebrate his win because of that guy. A professional outfit like Ferrari really should keep such team matters in check. There’s no “I” in team, after all.

You can see a few pics from Hockenheim after the jump. I must apologise; a number of the images provided have a Ferrari sweep car in the way, spoiling the view of Alonso’s car. No matter, though, the sweep car found its place before the chequered flag. Phew!

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Red Bull moving forward with parity policy

Red Bull Racing

Ahead of this weekend’s German Grand Prix Red Bull Racing have announced they will adopt a parity policy as they move to put the British GP front wing fiasco behind them.

The team now has enough parts to cover for contingencies ensuring both Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel can race in equal spec machinery. However, if faced with a similar situation to Silvertsone again, where only one part is available, then the driver with the most championship points will be favoured.

Christian Horner explains, “If the component fails through no reason of the driver—and let’s not forget that it wasn’t because Sebastian had smashed the wing, it was a component that failed—then the same rules will apply. But we will work very hard to hopefully not be in that unenviable situation again.”

In further news, it has also been revealed that the revised front wing was removed from Webber’s car as a precautionary measure prior to qualifying at Silverstone. Following the failure of the part on Vettel’s car in the final free practice session the team looked over Webber’s front wing and discovered some ares of concern. The wing was removed and both cars were prepared for qualifying using the old wing design. It wasn’t until half an hour before qualifying that the Red Bull were confident the new component could be used.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Hockenheim

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Hockenheim

This weekend Mark is thinking about a lot of German drivers on the grid, a huge history and repeating his 2009 success. A matching pair of German Grand Prix victories at the Nürburgring and Hockenheim would make a nice set, don’t you think.

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Formula 1 Toyota

Toyota TF109 seen with x-ray vision

Toyota TF109 - x-ray vision

This nifty little image of the Toyota TF109 gives a great example of how drivers, somehow, squeeze into a modern day Formula One car. Clearly, man plays second fiddle to the form and function of the machine here. Click on the image for a larger view.

[Source: motorcentral]

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Formula 1 News

Ayrton Senna – The movie

Ayrton Senna - The movie

It seems the quest to make a buck from the movie game has extended its reach to the life of Ayrton Senna. Late last year Senna was voted the best driver in the history of Formula One. It was no mug punter poll, either; voting was only open to current and ex-F1 pilots.

So, I guess, if a movie/feature length documentary need be made of an F1 driver Senna may as well be it. The company behind the flick is Working Title, they’ve some solid film making behind them, so from that point of view, at least, Senna’s story is in good hands.

Importantly, the movie has the support of the Senna family. Key F1 heavyweights such as Bernie Eccelstone, Ron Dennis and Sir Frank Williams have also supported the film. All solid signs, then.

James Allen has seen a pre-release cut of the film and has given the production a big wrap, “It is an absolutely fantastic film and I’m sure that not only are F1 fans going to be blown away by it, but it will cross-over into the mainstream with many non F1 fans, especially women, drawn to the poignant human interest story at the heart of it.”

Public release of the film is due in a few months.

[Source: James Allen on F1]

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Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2010 British Grand Prix in pictures

2010 British Grand Prix

With victory at Silverstone overnight Mark Webber became the first driver to win three races in 2010. And, following that qualifying wing-swap controversy with teammate Sebastian Vettel, what a satisfying win it was too.

Webber was determined to take the lead by the first corner and after the race he explained, “It was pretty straightforward. I made a good start. I was very keen to make it my corner and it worked out well for me, so it was good.”

The Australian was still firm in his views when asked in the post-race press conference about the situation from qualifying, “Yesterday was a really unique situation. It was the first time that the team had really had one component. Honestly I would never have signed a contract again for next year if I believed that that was the way it was going to be going forward. That’s why I was disappointed yesterday and was honest with you guys. Let’s see how it goes in the future but I just keep doing what I do and hopefully it’s enough.”

The complete transcript from the press-conference is now available at Formula1.com. Also, selected team and driver quotes recorded after the race, including words from Vettel, can be read as well.

After the jump a set of Red Bull Racing images captured from race day and qualifying are available. Images from other teams to follow soon.

UPDATE: SMH.com.au brings us some amazing allegations of intra-team rivalry at Red Bull Racing: “Webber’s mechanics were said to have removed the ‘old’ front wing that Webber had been forced to race with and waved it at Vettel’s side of the garage.”

UPDATE II: New pics from McLaren, Mercedes GP, Williams, Sauber, Force India, Toro Rosso, Renault and Ferrari added below.

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