Tag: F1

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
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
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 News

Ayrton Senna movie preview

Ayrton Senna

A trailer for the upcoming Ayrton Senna movie has been posted to YouTube. You can see the clip after the jump. The movie is sure to be compelling viewing and, as in life, the movie about Senna will most likely polarise opinions, too. On talent alone Senna is clearly one of the best drivers we have ever seen. But he was a complex character. Was he hero or villain?

[Thanks to Micky for the tip]

Continue reading “Ayrton Senna movie preview”
Categories
Formula 1

Draft layout for new US Grand Prix track revealed

US GP draft track layout

A draft layout for the new United States Grand Prix track has been revealed by Tilke GmbH (click the above image for a larger version). The course has a US$200m budget and will be located at Austin, Texas. The first race is scheduled for the 2012 Formula One season.

The course runs in a counter-clockwise direction and contains 20 turns, many of which have been inspired by existing F1 tracks. Turns 3–6 are similar to the Maggots–Becketts section at Silverstone. Corners 12–15 are reminiscent of Hockenheim. While turn 8 and turns 16–18 are similar to sections of Istanbul Park.

Supposedly there are four ideal places for overtaking. Race promoter Tavo Hellmund, expects Turn 1 to be the track’s signature corner, “Everybody will pull out and probably go three-wide into that braking turn.”

[Source: American-Statesman]

UPDATE: Further information is now available from the Formula 1 United States website. Also included below is a new map of the circuit illustrating elevation changes.

Continue reading “Draft layout for new US Grand Prix track revealed”
Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Spa-Francorchamps

Mark Webber

Formula One’s mid-season break is almost over. That means it’s time for the Belgian Grand Prix. Mark is also back to tell us about Belgian sausages, rain and, of course, one of the best circuits on the F1 calendar. For a bird’s eye look at the Spa F1 circuit click here. The view from the Red Bull simulator can be seen after the break.

Let’s hope we see Webber leaping for joy late on Sunday night!

Continue reading “Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Spa-Francorchamps”
Categories
Formula 1

Pirelli commences F1 testing for 2011

Pirelli

It’s been a couple of months since Pirelli was announced as the sole tyre supplier for Formula One. As such they’ve extracted Nick Heidfeld from MercedesGP, put him in a Toyota TF109 and started testing in earnest prior to the 2011 season.

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said, “We’re delighted to welcome Nick into the Pirelli family, and we’re confident that he’ll do a great job for us.

“The role of test driver is a crucial one, so we were looking for a driver who had plenty of recent Formula One experience, the speed to push our new tyres as hard as possible, and the consistency to provide reliable simulations, as well as the analytical skills to relay information accurately to our engineers. Nick fits the bill in every respect and we’re very pleased to have secured his services and obviously thankful to Mercedes GP Petronas for agreeing to release Nick from his contract.”

Hembrey went on to explain the 2009 Toyota was chosen so as to avoid any conflicts of interest with any current cars, “The Toyota was the perfect solution, as it is a contemporary racing machine with proven speed and reliability but without links to any of the manufacturers currently competing in Formula One.”

The new Pirelli deal will run for three years. F1 teams will get their first chance to try the new rubber at the short post-season test session following the final Grand Prix for the year to be held at Abu Dhabi on 14 November.

[Source: Formula1.com]

Categories
Formula 1 Motorsports

Formula One: Now more popular in Australia than V8 Supercars

Formula 1: 2010 Hungarian GP

Support for Formula One in Australia is currently riding a wave popularity, thanks largely to the exploits of local lad Mark Webber. The Australian, of course, is currently leading the drivers title race and is in with a real chance of being crowned this country’s first F1 World Champion since Alan Jones in 1980.

Despite this, many F1 fans might be surprised to learn that the television ratings for the sport have knocked the V8 Supercars off its perch as the most watched motorsport category in Australia.

Based on figures published in The Age numbers for the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, won by Webber, peaked at 345,000. Keep in mind the live broadcast was available on the digital only channel One HD. In contrast, viewing audiences for recent rounds of V8 Supercars have reportedly fallen below the 300,000 mark.

This figure represents a drop of more than 25% from V8 Supercar audiences from a couple of years back. Meanwhile, the introduction of the One HD channel in 2009 has given Australian audiences access to live telecasts for the majority of Grands Prix and qualifying sessions for the first time ever.

We shall have to wait and see how sustainable the popularity of F1 remains in future years when we’re unlikely to see an Australian leading the charge. For now, though, One HD, while far from perfect, must be quite content with the way things sit.

[Source: The Age via motorcentral | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]