When looking at the first corner mayhem from the Belgian Grand Prix on the weekend it was quite astounding to see that Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was able to escape this contact relatively unharmed. Sure, he finished in P13, well below the potential offered by his front row start, but as the series of images after break show, it could have been much worse!
[Source: imgur via motorcentral]
Are these the first images of the all-new Volkswagen Golf? We’ll know for sure in a day or two as the official reveal is due to take place in Berlin today. We expect we’ll have the official word from Volkswagen late tonight Australian time.
We’re not entirely sure if these blurry pics are completely accurate, but they look legitimate enough. Let’s get it out straight away, then. Those tail lights are rubbish. Let’s hope the arrival of official pictures helps to clear things up.
There’s also two images of the new Golf’s interior. Looks about what you’d expect to see from VW, with a revised layout still following the familiar Golf theme.
[via WCF]
Audi has released this video teaser for its upcoming RS5 Cabriolet. The official reveal is due on Thursday 6 September (approx 9pm AEST). You can watch the reveal yourself on Audi’s RS5 microsite.
The 2013-spec RS5 coupé recently arrived in Australia and we expect it could take 6–12 months before we see the cabrio down under.
Speaking on the BBC TV’s Belgian Grand Prix pre-race show Bernie Ecclestone may have given away Michael Schumacher’s end of season retirement plans.
Last weekend’s race was Schumacher’s 300th Grand Prix start, a mighty fine performance in its own right, and when the topic was broached on during Bernie’s interview with the BBC the F1 supremo said, “I’m sorry that he’s leaving us not being a winner, because he is a winner.”
Eddie Jordan, part of the BBC’s on-air team, sensed the big news and quickly asked,”Is he going to announce his retirement?”
Sensing he may have just let the cat out of the bag, Bernie replied, “I don’t know, I don’t know.”
It’s no secret that Schumacher has struggled at times since his return to F1 with Mercedes in 2010. He signed a three-year contract back then and you’d have to think the chances of an extension are unlikely.
[Source: Planet F1 | Pic: Mercedes AMG]
We’re back! After a month of no Formula 1 races we bring you over 100 pics from the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix to get you back into the swing of things. It’s a bit of a mixed up gallery this time, though, missing a McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus and Sauber after the first corner shenanigans.
As you’d expect many of the photos feature the famous Eau Rouge corner and we reckon the photographers have done well to find a few new angles this year. It’s an epic stretch of tarmac and like many tracks, until you’ve been there you don’t fully appreciate just how steep the drop down and rise up the hill really is.
We trust you’ll enjoy these pics and the best part is there’s only a short wait for the next update, which we’ll bring after this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
So the FIA persists with the post-race interviews on the podium. We’re not fans. To be fair Jacky Ickx did a reasonable job last night at the Belgian Grand Prix, but, please, stop this nonsense. Do you agree?
Anyway, on to Jenson Button’s apparently easy victory. The Brit hasn’t always done too well at Spa and he was happy to win on the famous circuit. “I just love Spa, I think we all do. Through Eau Rouge, I know it’s easy flat, but it’s still an experience, the g that we pull through there,” he said. “But it’s really nice to win on a circuit like this. I remember watching Formula One back in the day here—it was a little bit different then—and there’s so much history. It’s really good to be a part of that.”
Further explaining his great result at Spa, Button revealed an omen for the other teams heading in to the super fast Italian Grand Prix at Monza next weekend. “All weekend, to be fair, the car has felt reasonably good. And this is the first circuit we come to that is lower downforce, we pretty much run full downforce everywhere else we go, so it’s a nice change to try something different.”
You can read more from the first three drivers after the break with thanks to the FIA. There’s even a surprise f-bomb thrown by Sebastian Vettel!
[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]
Jenson Button (McLaren) led from start to finish to cap off a surprisingly dominant weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix. But it was a calamitous start which was the real story of the race.
The drama began when Romain Grosjean (Lotus) was defending a move from Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and in doing so the pair touched, sending Hamilton onto the grass and ultimately into the back of Grosjean. The two cars then went flying into the pack at La Source, the first corner hairpin, collecting Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Sergio Perez (Sauber) on the way through.
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) was also contacted quite heavily by Hamilton, but he somehow managed to finish the race; albeit in P13, well below the expectations generated by his front row start.
It really was total chaos for a brief moment and we’re thankful to report no drivers were hurt. Fernando Alonso was especially lucky to escape unharmed as Grosjean’s car flew over the front of the Ferrari’s nose, close to Alonso’s head.
A Safety Car period of around four laps followed and Button made a clean getaway from the restart and that was that. Indeed, so dominant was Button he was able to complete the race with only one pit stop, the gap back to P2 sufficient to ensure he was able to rejoin the race without surrendering his lead.
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) drove well to work his way into P2 after starting from P10 and he came in for his first tyre stop on lap 21. The German was able to complete the race on those tyres to collect a well earned podium finish.
Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) promised a lot and while happy to finish the race in third place would have held higher ambitions.
After starting well down in P12, Australia’s Mark Webber (Red Bull) recovered well to collect the eight championship points offered for a sixth place finish. We’re not sure if a one-stop strategy was an option for him, but we saw from the first two drivers that it was the better option for the day.
With Alonso scoring no points the goal was to claim back as much of Fernando’s championship lead as possible. Mark managed to reclaim eight points back, but Vettel went better with 18 and in doing so leap frogged Webber into second place for the title hunt.
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) was as high as fifth early on in the race but slipped back to finish in P9. That matches his best F1 finish achieved in Melbourne. Crucially for Daniel his teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, was one place ahead in P8.
Race stewards have a few incidents to sign off on after the race, including a possible unsafe release from Webber’s second pit stop. There was no damage done as Felipe Massa (Ferrari) dived in for his stop, so let’s hope sanity prevails there and Mark’s result is unaffected.
A provisional finishing order can be seen below, along with updated championship tables. If the stewards intervene and upset the apple cart we’ll be sure to update the figures below.
The McLaren Chicago dealership is behind the latest special edition created by McLaren’s Special Operations. Dubbed ‘Project Alpha’ the limited run MP4-12C will extend to just six models.
Starting with a 2012-build car the first change is to bring Project Alpha up to 2013 specification. Then they are adorned with a selection of cosmetic enhancements. Aside from the change to 2013-spec there are no performance modifications.
Cosmetic enhancements include:
The existence of the Project Alpha cars was tipped off to the Autoblog and Jalopnik websites. Michele Shapiro, Public Relations Manager for McLaren North America, confirmed the tip off with Autoblog: “These are cars commissioned by our Chicago dealer in response to customer demand using options from the existing McLaren Special Operations catalogue,” Shapiro said.
“MSO offers a specialization service that varies from trim and bodywork changes—as witnessed by this car—to a whole new car, for example the X-1 project recently shown at The Quail in Monterey, California.”
Bright sunshine greeted the drivers for qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix. A welcome change after the first two free practice sessions were all but washed out due to heavy rain. And it was Jenson Button (McLaren, 1:47.573) who was a surprise pole winner. It was equally surprising to see Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber, 1:47.871) and Pastor Maldonado (Williams, 1:47.893) qualify in second and third places respectively.
Indeed, Button ended up dominating qualifying, setting the quickest time in Q2 and Q3, and he was second behind Maldonado who was quickest in Q1. It’s Button’s 50th race for McLaren this weekend and the first pole position he has claimed for the Woking-based team.
Kobayashi has registered his best ever qualifying result and, surprisingly, it’s also the best ever quali result for a Japanese driver. He’s a man going places and we expect his presence at the front of the grid will be sure to spice things up a little.
There were a few casualties along the way, as well. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG) didn’t make it into Q2, while Sebastian Vettel just failed to make the cut for Q3.
A series of three grid penalties has ensured a minor reshuffle of positions and most notably Pastor Maldonado will now start from P5 after he was penalised three grid positions for impeding Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) in Q1. Mark Webber (Red Bull) qualified in P7, but drops five places to P12 for the race after he was forced into an unscheduled gearbox change. The same fate befell Rosberg who will now suffer the indignity of starting from P23 on the last row of the grid.
The finalised grid can be seen HERE and Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) will take Maldonado’s place to start from P3.
Rounding out the results for the Aussies, Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) will start from P16, alongside his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne who out qualified Ricciardo by almost two tenths.
A full transcript of the post-qualifying press conference can be read below, with thanks to the FIA.
[Pics: Sauber Motorsport AG]
Word via the twittersphere suggests the Ferrari 458 Scuderia might not be called that at all. Instead, the Scuderia badging could be replaced by Monte Carlo.
The Ferrari 458 Monte Carlo. Doesn’t quite have the same effect when the link to the F1 team is dropped, especially in favour for a principality known for its glitz and glamour.
In better news it’s expected Ferrari will be able to liberate a further 50hp from the 458’s stable making the new peak figure around 620hp (460kW).
If you had the chance to thrash a fearsome Porsche 911 GT2 RS and an oddball Nissan Juke R around a track and down a drag strip you’d take it wouldn’t you? UK journo Jethro Bovingdon certainly didn’t let the opportunity pass.
You can watch his feature filmed for the Car and Driver Abroad series after the break. The production values are quite high and, really, who can say no to some superb super slow-mo drifting!
A failure to meet expected sales in China has forced niche sportscar maker Gumpert to apply for provisional insolvency. Administrator Görge Scheid expects Gumpert can forge ahead and achieve a sustainable future for its 30 employees.
Gumpert achieved recognition for its Audi parts bin special when the Apollo Speed set a blistering lap time on the Nürburgring of just 7 minutes 11 seconds back in 2009.
An official company statement reads: “The super sports car “apolloâ€, developed by Gumpert is technically mature and holds superior performance figures compared to all other cars. Now it’s essential to reactivate the European market, which has been neglected over the past years.â€
You can read the statement in full after the break.
[Pic: Gumpert]