Alvin's Formula One Blog

Monday 26th May 2008 "One down, one to go" was what Anthony Hamilton said after Lewis won Sunday's Monaco GP. As to what he was referring to, it's Lewis's F1 dreams. The McLaren driver fulfilled one of those on Sunday when he clinched the victory around the streets of the Principality, joining a prestigious list of Brits who have won the race including Stirling Moss, Graham Hill and Sir Jackie Stewart. And by realising that dream the 23-year-old also took a step closer to fulfilling his second F1 driver, winning the World title, as he took the lead in the Drivers' standings. "There are two dreams when you start out in Formula One; to win the World Championship and to win in Monaco," said Lewis's dad. "One down, one to go."

Sunday 25th May 2008 A jubilant Lewis Hamilton has described his victory in the Monaco GP as the highlight of his career. Somewhat fortunate that his first-lap crash ultimately worked to his advantage, it was incontestable that his McLaren was the class of the field as he built up a lead of 40 seconds - sufficient for him to take his second pit-stop without losing the lead of what was otherwise a chaotic race. After crossing the line, and talking to his pit crew via his in-car radio, a euphoric Hamilton announced: "I apologise for hitting the barrier, but we made up for it! Now let's go party!" Hamilton's jubiliation was still evident in the post-race press conference. "The pace I had was ridiculous," he exclaimed. "At one point I was one second [a lap] quicker than everybody else - it was quite easy. I was asking the team 'Do I need to go quicker?' and they said it was fine....

Saturday 24th May 2008 Lewis Hamilton is convinced a wet Monaco Grand Prix will afford him his best chance of victory. Hamilton surprisingly failed to add his name to the roll call of honour of nine previous Britons who have qualified on pole for the blue riband event of Formula One. The 23-year-old had looked strong in practice, and after McLaren's dominance of a year ago was odds-on to join an illustrious list of names that includes Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Sir Jackie Stewart, Graham and Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, John Watson, David Coulthard and Tony Brooks. Instead, Hamilton will start from third on the grid behind an all-Ferrari front row of pole-sitter Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. However, while the rain stayed away for qualifying after showers in the morning, there is a 90 per cent chance that the heavens will open on race day, so turning the track into an ice rink and making the race a lottery. Hamilton bel...

Saturday 24th May 2008 Double World Champion Mika Hakkinen believes Lewis Hamilton is a man under pressure inside McLaren. Hakkinen made his name and won his titles with McLaren, where he sees Hamilton as team leader ahead of Finnish compatriot Heikki Kovalainen following Fernando Alonso's exit. McLaren would dispute such a remark as they insist their drivers are treated equally, but Hakkinen's insight cannot be discounted due to the fact he spent nine years with the Woking-based marque. In many respects, Hakkinen was viewed as 'number one' at McLaren ahead of David Coulthard during his time with the team. With Alonso out of the picture, Hakkinen sees Hamilton as the main man, and with that comes the burden of responsibility. "Lewis has an interesting career in front of him at the moment, but he is living in a very extreme situation," remarked Hakkinen. "He started his career at McLaren ...

Saturday 24th May 2008 Felipe Massa secured Ferrari's third Monaco pole position in 20 years as he beat team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to the coveted grid slot. Although many had predicted that McLaren would dominate today's qualifying session, it was Ferrari who proved to be the team to beat. Massa nipped in at the last possible moment with a 1:15.787 to take pole away from Raikkonen by 0.028s. Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton had to settle for third place, only 0.052s off the pace. And with rain expected tomorrow the top three places on the grid could prove to be the podium result as well. Qualifying Report After a rainy start to the day and an officially wet morning practice, the track was cool and drying with sunshine about to break out. The ambient was only 19C and the track at 21C when the session got under way on a track that had a lot of the rubber put down on Thursday washed off. Qualifying 1 Heikki Kovalainen had go...

Saturday 24th May 2008 McLaren boss Ron Dennis has hinted that Lewis Hamilton could be on a different strategy to the two Ferraris after the Englishman was relegated to the second row in qualifying for the Monaco GP. Having dominated in practice, Hamilton was the favourite to take pole on Saturday but was surprisingly eclipsed by both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. However, with what may or may or not be a ruse or a telling hint, Dennis has insisted that McLaren can still win the race, on a circuit on which it is notoriously difficult to overtake, through a superior 'strategy'. "We go to every race to do our best, and again we are very close here," said Dennis. "Until the strategies unfold, we won't really know whether we are behind or ahead. "It is very easy to come to Monaco and say, right, we are going to qualify on the front row regardless, but if you go too far then you are going to lo...

Friday 16th May 2008 Lewis, Gabrielle Assis, Dennis Lewis Hamilton has been crowned F1's 'King of Bling', showing off his new diamond-studded helmet that he'll be using in Monaco. Presenting the helmet in all its glory at a Steinmetz press conference on Thursday, the British driver declared: "Bling, bling, I love it. "Diamonds are a beautiful thing. I'm always racing but sometimes you get some of the nice quirks and bonuses and I guess this is it." The McLaren duos' helmets, each with the drivers' signature traced out with hundreds of gems, are the creation of diamond company Steinmetz. Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen are also set to receive diamond rings form Steinmetz, one of McLaren's sponsors. But more than being the 'King of Bling', Hamilton is hoping to be crowned F1's new king of Monaco, a grand prix that he bills as the "most ...

14 May 2008 by Keith Collantine This article was written by Keith from www.f1fanatic.co.uk. Keith is a fervent F1 fan and has some good insights into the sport, therefore I have reproduced his writing here as I feel nomatter how passionate you are about anything, there must be balance. The truth will remain the truth nomatter how it is twisted and turned. The news that Lewis Hamilton is courting a £10m sponsorship deal with Reebok is interesting not because of the amount of money involved, but because of what it says about his relationship with McLaren. When people started talking about the immense marketing potential of F1’s first successful mixed-race driver F1 fans were quick to note that McLaren may stop him from maximising that value. McLaren generally do not allow their drivers to arrange personal sponsorship deal (nor do many of the other top teams, it seems) but an exception is being made for Hamilton just as it was for his hero Ayrton Senna when he jo...

Thursday 15th May 2008 Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets at the end of the opening session of a three-day test at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. The Briton lapped the 3.593-km track layout in a best time of 1:05.600 as the McLaren team focused their efforts on preparing the MP4-23 chassis for the high-downforce Monaco Grand Prix on May 25. However, his day wasn't without problem as he came to a halt out on track. Hamilton, currently joint second in the Drivers' Championship behind Kimi Raikkonen, will relinquish driving duties on Thursday as Heikki Kovalainen takes over. The sole Ferrari of Raikkonen was second quickest on Wednesday, almost half a second slower than Hamilton having completed 19 more laps, while BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica was third after 124 laps. Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber finished the day in fourth place ahead of stable mate Sebastian Vettel, who impressed in the new Toro Ros...

Phew! Lewis' value keeps on going up and up. It's gonna be difficult to market him in Malaysia where the is not much money going around. Even if there is, the mentality here is that they must get a discount. Malaysians don't realise that to move ahead nowadays, we must be bold - best example is Dubai. Wednesday 14th May 2008 Lewis Hamilton has moved into pole position as Britain's highest-paid sportsman, according to The Times' latest Rich List. Hamilton, who came second in the Formula One World Championship during his rookie season last year, has eclipsed England football star David Beckham as the best-paid sportsman in Britain. The 23-year-old already has a basic salary of £75 million with McLaren over the next five years. Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy salary and commercial endorsements earn him in the region of £16 million a year. However, Hamilton is set to sign a sponsorship three-deal in t...

Wednesday 14th May 2008 All 10 Formula One teams will be represented during three-days of testing at the Paul Ricard track in the south of France. With the Monte Carlo and Montreal GPs next on the F1 calendar, the Paul Ricard track will give teams an opportunity to simulate Monaco and Canadian conditions. Williams will be the latest team to try out a form of "shark-fin" engine cover during testing on Wednesday while Toyota have brought a radical new rear wing to the test. Honda Racing boss Ross Brawn says the team will test some "visually interesting new parts" ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. "We have a track test at the Paul Ricard circuit in France to prepare for Monaco and Montreal, followed by an aero test at Barcelona to validate our next aerodynamic step," Brawn said. "We should have some visually interesting new parts for Monaco, the highest downforce circuit so far. "How...

Wednesday 14th May 2008 Formula One's budget cap is likely to start off at €175million during the 2009 season, according to Autosport . The figure was revealed in a letter from FIA consultant Tony Purnell to Formula One teams. The proposed cap - which excludes expenditure on engines, KERS systems, marketing costs or driver and team principal salaries - will start off with €175million after which it will be reduced to €140million by 2010, and €110million a year later. However, opinion from team bosses on the budget cap has differed. McLaren boss Ron Dennis believes it will be difficult to monitor the amount of money spent by different teams. "I don't see a budget cap as a regulatory process more the application of common sense," Dennis said. "I don't think it's a question of enforceability but if there's a general ability to control costs when you've got the complicity of companie...

Joining Henry, Shevchenko and Khan in marketing deal Fancy footwork from Lewis Hamilton L ewis Hamilton is to sign a lucrative personal sponsorship deal with Reebok. The multi-million dollar deal, which is yet to be finalised or confirmed, is believed to be similar to the British sportswear brand's approximately $20m apiece 'global brand ambassador' agreements with footballers Thierry Henry and Andrei Shevchenko and boxer Amir Khan. The marketing publication Brand Republic claims that McLaren, which does not usually allow its drivers to seek personal sponsors, has made an exception in this case because 23-year-old Hamilton is 'one of sport's most marketable stars'. Reebok is owned by Adidas. Source: GMM © CAPSIS International

Tuesday 13th May 2008 Heading into Monaco Lewis Hamilton has urged McLaren not to repeat last season's mistakes by forcing one driver to allow the other to win. Last year's Monte Carlo street race sparked the team-mate war that would dominate the headlines throughout the season as McLaren forced Hamilton to stay behind team-mate Fernando Alonso in the latter stages of the race. It was a decision that irked the Brit, who felt he had the pace needed to overtake Alonso and win. However, McLaren told him to stand down. This year McLaren could insist on the same situation, although this time it would be in Hamilton's favour as the 23-year-old has a clear 14-point advantage over new team-mate Heikki Kovalainen in the Drivers' standings. The Brit though has urged McLaren not to pick a winner just yet. Rather he believes the Woking team should continue with their policy of allowing their drivers to race. ...

Tuesday 13th May 2008 According to reports, it was McLaren rather than Bridgestone that decreed that Lewis Hamilton should use a three-stop strategy during the Turkish GP. In the aftermath of Hamilton's powerful drive to second place, it was claimed that his aggressive strategy was the consequence of Bridgestone advising the team that, due to Hamilton's unique driving style and the demands he makes on his front-right tyres when cornering Turn 8 at Istanbul, two-stopping was unsafe. However, the reality may have been subtly different. It has emerged that Bridgestone instead cautioned the team against running a long middle stint, suggesting that Hamilton could run stints of 20 laps, 18 laps, and 20 laps. After calculating the likely results of such a pattern, the team's strategists then decided that a three-stop strategy would be better - presumably because that would mean the Englishman would only have to run ...

Tuesday 13th May 2008 The original timetable for the Singapore GP has been altered to include more night running after teams voiced concerns. The FIA announced earlier this year that the Singapore race would take place under floodlights at 20:00 hours local time while Friday's second practice session and qualifying would also take place under lights. However, in addition to the night programme, there would also be a daytime practice session on Friday from 16:00 to 17:30 hours and final practice on Saturday from 17:00 to 18:00 hours. Some of the teams, though, voiced concerns about the lack of night running, especially after witnessing the first MotoGP race held at night in Qatar. "At the beginning I was not relaxed but not so worried, but after I saw Qatar and I spent time there, I am not confident 100 percent now. I am talking about the safety of the drivers - because I am not worried about having to work all...

Monday 12th May 2008 Heikki Kovalainen could have won Sunday's Turkish GP had it not been for the puncture he suffered on the opening lap, according to Martin Whitmarsh. Kovalainen started the grand prix second on the grid, behind the Ferrari of Felipe Massa. However, it was a coming together with Massa's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen that caused the puncture. Jostling for position as they came into the first corner, Raikkonen out-braked himself, touching the back of Kovalainen's McLaren and puncturing one of his tyres. As a result the McLaren driver was forced to pit for a new tyre, which sent him to the back of the field. He spent the remaining 57 laps trying to work his way back into the points but eventually outside the top ten. It was a disappointing outcome for the Finn as McLaren CEO Whitmarsh believes he had the pace and starting position needed to win the grand prix. "If Heikki had not made that ...

Monday 12th May 2008 Martin Whitmarsh has sung Lewis Hamilton's praises, saying the Brit was so good in Turkey he probably could have won even using a three-stop strategy. Hamilton, starting third on the grid, was forced to adopt a three-stop strategy due to the unusual tyre wear he suffered lapping the Istanbul Otodrom. It was a problem that some of the drivers experienced last season although this year after Bridgestone made changes to their tyres it was a problem only Hamilton suffered. The McLaren driver was therefore forced into three-stopping, which cost him valuable time, however, sublime driving meant he still managed to beat Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to second place. "If you conduct a straightforward computer simulation of the Turkish GP," said McLaren CEO Whitmarsh, "you'll find that a thee-stop strategy carries a penalty of about five seconds compared with a two-stopper, although i...

Monday 12th May 2008 McLaren boss Ron Dennis hailed Lewis Hamilton's Turkish Grand Prix performance as "a phenomenal drive." Despite the team opting for a three-stop strategy due to safety fears regarding his tyres, Hamilton claimed a superb second place at the Istanbul Park circuit. The 23-year-old finished within four seconds of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who took the chequered flag for the third consecutive time at the track. Hamilton and Massa are now both within seven points of reigning World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, who was forced to settle for third in his Ferrari. "We saw a truly phenomenal drive from Lewis in which he optimised a three-stop strategy we were forced to adopt as a consequence of concerns we had with his tyres," remarked Dennis. "It was a structural concern with the tyres, so we took a decision with Bridgestone to run three stops. "We didn't want to have a...

Monday 12th May 2008 Rob Smedley, Felipe Massa's race engineer, reckons the Brazilian's Turkish GP victory has put him firmly in the hunt for this year's World title. Massa joined Ferrari in 2006 as team-mate to Michael Schumacher. But while the German proved to be the strongest opposition to that year's winner, Fernando Alonso, Massa found himself playing second fiddle to his team-mate. In 2007 he also had to watch as his new team-mate Kimi Raikkonen launched a title challenge while Massa's faded away due to reliability gremlins. This season, though, the Brazilian's campaign got off to a disappointing start as he failed to score in either of the opening two races. Massa, though, came back strong in Bahrain, clinching the victory, and adding another win to his tally in Turkey on Sunday. His performances have led race engineer Smedley to suggest that Massa is now firmly in the hunt for this yea...

Monday 12th May 2008 McLaren have suggested that their surprise 'turnaround' at the Turkish GP was the consequence of previously underperforming rather than a dramatic improvement in performance. Even in their own preview to the race, McLaren struck a downbeat tone, suggesting that rivals Ferrari would hold the advantage. ""We didn't really shine here in the past, and also this time we are not the current benchmark," conceded Norbert Haug, "The team wants to score as many points as possible, but after three consecutive wins Ferrari obviously arrive here as the favourites." With no testing between Spain, where Ferrari dominated and took their second successive one-two victory, there was no reason to suspect that McLaren would close the gap to the extent that, but for Heikki Kovalainen suffering a puncture on the opening lap and Bridgestone instructing Lewis Hamilton to use a ...

Racing series LMS Date 2008-05-11 By John Dagys - Motorsport.com I know this is a blog titled F1 but motorsports is my passion and motorsports is not just about F1, so I will put up news and comments about other races from time to time. Team Peugeot Total took a dominating win Sunday in the Spa 1000km, the third round of the Le Mans Series season. The driving trio of Nicolas Minassian, Marc Gene and Jacques Villeneuve outlasted its sister machine and out powered the two Audi R10 TDIs to claim the overall victory, the final duel between the two diesel giants before next month's 24 Hours of Le Mans. #7 Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP: Marc Gene, Nicolas Minassian, Jacques Villeneuve takes the checkered flag . Photo by DPPI. The No. 7 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP crossed the line after 143 laps and nearly five and a half hours of racing on the historic 4.532-mile Grand Prix circuit, claiming its second victory of the seaso...

11 May 2008 by Keith Collantine A mistake by Bridgestone, Formula 1’s sole tyre supplier, created additional problems for McLaren this weekend. Even before the race got underway the Japanese manufacturer was openly admitting it had brought the wrong choice of compounds. It chose the same combination of medium and hard tyres it brought last year, despite the race being much earlier in the calendar this year and therefore held in cooler conditions. Hirohide Hamashima, the director of Bridgestone motorsport tyre development, said yesterday: I think for next season maybe we have to shift the [compound] one position softer. It is about 10-15 degrees celcius lower than we expected, so especially the medium compound has some graining until about 10 laps, then it vanishes gradually. Hamashima denied this had caused any problems for the teams: We have checked the car data from every team, and so far we have seen no problems. Last year we found the small problem on the Friday, ...

Sunday 11th May 2008 Star of the Race Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1st Massa gets the verdict for Star of the Race based on Saturday and Sunday performance. In the race he was good, but he had a car that was widely predicted to be out of McLaren's reach. Hamilton's driving proved that not to be the case, but Lewis had already compromised his position by failing to get pole on Saturday. Massa made no such slip-up in Q3 and had a perfect start. It is a tremendous result for the circuit owner. Bernie Ecclestone thought he had the title deeds to the track, but Felipe announced "I own this track" before the race. Now if that wasn't setting yourself up for a fall we don't know what is, but Massa delivered. Three poles converted to three wins in three years fully justifies ownership. But Massa really ought to do more to stop stray dogs getting onto his land. Who let the dogs out? Bruno Senna would like to find out. Overtaking...

Sunday 11th May 2008 Kimi Raikkonen was happy with his third-place finish at the Turkish Grand Prix after a problematic race weekend. The Finn made a poor start on Friday when he picked up a gearbox problem and also didn't have the best of time during Saturday's qualifying. To compound problems, the Ferrari driver's front wing was damaged during a collision with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen on the opening lap in Turkey. "I think it wasn't the best qualifying for me, and maybe our weakest point," Raikkonen said. "We had a bit more fuel than the others, that is the reason (we were slow) but also the lap was not as good as we wanted. It all started on Friday when we had a problem. "We had a difficult weekend and I'm happy to be third. I didn't lose too many points. We'll see what we can do in the next few races. "I didn't have a very good start. "I got...

Sunday 11th May 2008 Lewis Hamilton may have missed out on the victory in Turkey but the McLaren driver says for him his second-placed finish still gave him that winning feeling. Hamilton has failed to win a grand prix since Australia, instead having to watch as rivals Ferrari clinched four on the trot and took a commanding lead in both Championship races. However, instead of getting down on himself about his current situation, Hamilton is finding comfort from other aspects of his racing. "I am so thrilled with today's result, and I think this is the best race ever for me. It's not about winning, it's about feeling that you extract 100% from yourself and the car and I did that today," Hamilton said. "Before the race our prediction was that all being well I would finish fifth, so second is such a bonus." And he secured that second place using a risky three-stop strategy, which McLaren o...

Sunday 11th May 2008 From the outside, Felipe Massa appeared to be serene and unruffled throughout the Turkish GP as he secured victory. In reality, it would seem as if the young Brazilian was rattled by the unexpected challenge of Lewis Hamilton. On a surprise three-stop strategy, the Englishman kept pace with Massa from start to finish, and even overtook the Ferrari around the half-way stage of the race. While one thought was that Massa had allowed Hamilton to pass him without much of a confrontation because he realised that his rival was on a different, less threatening strategy, the Brazilian was in fact caught entirely unawares by the speed of the McLaren. "We had to keep him calm by telling him that Hamilton was three-stopping and the race would come back to him if he kept his head," Rob Smedley, Massa's race engineer, revealed to ITV. Massa himself made no attempt to deny he was alarmed by the sig...

11/05/08 15:54 F elipe Massa has claimed his third straight victory at Istanbul Park, taking the chequered flag four seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton in a race of tyre and fuel strategy. Kimi Raikkonen finished in third position to retain his lead at the head of the championship standings. Massa drove a great race, keeping his cool when Hamilton breezed by him to take the race lead. The McLaren driver also had a good race, opting for an unconventional three stop strategy to challenge for the race win and ultimately only lose out to the flying Massa by a small margin. Massa’s victory moves him second in the championship from fourth, tied with Hamilton. The start of the race saw Massa convert his pole into the race lead while Raikkonen lost ground to Robert Kubica. Front-row starter Heikki Kovalainen was the man to lose out as Raikkonen’s front wings caught Kovalainen’s rear tyre forcing the Finn to make an unscheduled stop for a new set of tyres. As Massa and Hami...

Sunday 11th May 2008 McLaren boss Ron Dennis has revealed that Lewis Hamilton's three-stop strategy in the Turkey GP was the consequence of concerns about tyre degradation. Hamilton surprised onlookers with his exciting but risky strategy, which required the Englishman to retain a dramatic on-the-edge pace throughout the two-hour race. While the strategy paid dividends in so much as Hamilton finished ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Dennis afterwards revealed that it was actually enforced on the team. "Our strategy was linked to a tyre problem that we experienced in practice on Friday in terms of the tyre structure. We had to take what was the very safe option of three stops." So rather than Hamilton ending Ferrari's run of 1-2 victories because of the strategy change, Dennis depicted Hamilton's second place as being secured in spite of the ploy. "We had the pace to win," he maintained. "W...

Well, the race is done and over with. The result - Massa, Hamilton and Raikonnen. Damn, another Ferrari domination. It would've been different had Kovalainnen not gotten a puncture as a result of Kimi hitting his rear tyres at turn one. It was quite an exciting race compared to the others so far this season. A lot of overtaking and strategy mixing up. Obviously Kovalainnen's strategy was screwed up at turn one when after the puncture he h dropped down to last place. His fight back up the grid to 11th place was incredible to watch. He should be the man of the race. Kimi didn't start very good, Kovalainnen lost a place but Lewis was great. He took 2nd straight away and stayed under Massa's rear wing for a long time. Lewis' strategy change where he did short pitstops to stay with the Ferraris was good too, I was thinking WTF was McLaren thinking but they pulled it off. All in all, a good race and now the championship race gets more interesting heading to Monaco. Monaco...