Alvin's Formula One Blog

Re-published from Planet F1 Sunday 29th June 2008 Lewis Hamilton has had a tough time on and off the track recently, and a man who knows all too well about the pressures of Formula One has warned the McLaren driver that it won't get easier. F1's elder statesman David Coulthard believes Hamilton has to make a few tough decisions if he wants to stay at the top of his game for a long time. Hamilton was recently subjected to an astonishing attack by newspaper after he refused to talk to the press following a disastrous performance at the French GP, and Coulthard has a warned the 23-year-old that life in the fast lane won't get any easier. "If you put yourself out there, there are going to be observations of where you're going, what you're doing," Coulthard told The Telegraph. "People will start to feel that they own a little bit more of you than if you keep a low profile. But that is a decision I am sure Lewis is well able to make. "I never had the s...

Re-published from F1-Live.com L ewis Hamilton admits he is worried about the negative media reports that are being written about him. The McLaren driver has made a couple of on-track mistakes of late, but he has taken issue with the way journalists - who generally praised him so highly a year ago - have reported his less impressive second season on the F1 grid. "Whatever has been said in the papers -- I just hope that they aren't throwing vegetables at me because of what's happened in the last few races," he said in Britain's Sunday Times , whilst contemplating a sell-out crowd for his home British Grand Prix at Silverstone next week. "For sure they're going to be disappointed about the last couple of races, just as the team are, but there's no need to be angry -- and I'm sure some of the things that are said in the papers do make them angry," Hamilton, 23, added. "I'm on form, I'm not driving into walls. T...

Re-published from F1-Live.com Zoom Putting the focus on the driving L ewis Hamilton on Saturday sounded confident about getting his World Championship campaign back on track in the near future. The Melbourne and Monaco winner, and former drivers' standings leader, has now fallen ten points behind in the battle for the 2008 crown following consecutive disastrous outings at Montreal and Magny-Cours. Hamilton, 23, also seemed to lose his composure with the press corps in France a week ago, moving pundits and experts to advise him to shut out the distractions and focus on simply driving his McLaren. "You've got to learn to take a step back and realise 'OK, you don't have to do anything, just drive the way you normally drive and you will be fine, you will get by'," Hamilton said on Saturday, after meeting with patients at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. He insists that the past weeks, including the spate of penal...

This is the provisional 2009 F1 calendar as was released by the FIA and provided by F1Fanatic.co.uk. It could still change as time goes by but looking at it, it looks ok. At least the flow is good with the final part of the season stretching between Brazil and the Middle East (Abu Dhabi). Provisional 2009 F1 calendar Rnd Date Event Circuit 1 27-29 March Australian Grand Prix Albert Park, Mebourne 2 3-5 April Malaysian Grand Prix Sepang International Circuit (possible night race) 3 17-19 April Bahrain Grand Prix Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir 4 8-10 May Spanish Grand Prix Montmelo, Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona 5 21-24 May Monaco Grand Prix Monte-Carlo 6 5-7 June Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal 7 19-21 June British Grand Prix Silverstone 8 26-28 June French Grand Prix Magny-Cours 9 10-12 July German Grand Prix Nürburgring 10 24-26 July Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring 11 7-9 August Tu...

Re-produced from Planet F1 Wednesday 25th June 2008 The pressure currently on Lewis Hamilton has been likened to that on Michael Schumacher's shoulders as he hit the headlines. Hamilton has failed to score any points in the last two grands prix after taking the Formula One World Championship lead following a superb victory in Monaco. Hamilton now finds himself 10 points off the pace being set by Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Mistakes of his own making, combined with penalties imposed by the stewards, have hit Hamilton hard, and they are starting to cost him dear. Hamilton turned on the media at the weekend for their criticism of him following his gaffe in Canada when he ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in the pit lane. But Honda team principal Ross Brawn, who nurtured seven-times World Champion Schumacher through the growing pains of F1, feels 23-year-old Hamilton needs to focus on what is important. ...

It would seem anything is possible in F1. Magny-Cours might even remain on the calendar next year as was commented by Keith on F1Fanatic . The US GP might even make a comeback too. Actually that would be good, it would be nice to have different tracks. The really interesting track would be Abu Dhabi. But looking at the calendar presented by Keith, it seems odd that the F1 circus should travel from Europe to Singapore then back to the Middle East at Abu Dhabi. They should go from Europe to Abu Dhabi first then travel to the east to Singapore, Japan and China before finishing in Brazil. That would help the logistics and jetlag.

Republished from Planet F1 Tuesday 24th June 2008 Sir Jackie Stewart has brought into focus the latest conspiracy theory to surround McLaren. Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were both hit with penalties for Sunday's French Grand Prix by race stewards representing world governing body the FIA. Hamilton started the race at Magny-Cours from 13th due to a 10-place grid penalty for his shunt into the rear of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in the pit lane in Montreal during the Canadian Grand Prix. There were those who felt such a punishment was excessive, despite the stupidity of his error. However, he suffered further early in the race when he was handed a drive-through penalty for gaining an advantage in passing the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel, wrecking his bid for a points finish. Again, it was suggested that was harsh, as was the five-place grid penalty handed to Kovalainen for apparently blocking Mark Webber...

Republished from Planet F1 Tuesday 24th June 2008 McLaren boss Ron Dennis is convinced Formula One's wheel of fortune will again turn in the direction of Lewis Hamilton. For the first time in his 25 grands prix F1 career, Hamilton has now failed to score in two consecutive races, leaving France pointless on Sunday a fortnight after his costly mistake in Canada. Naturally, the mood in the McLaren brand centre post-race at Magny-Cours was quiet and sombre, in stark contrast to the celebrity-laden, party atmosphere that dominated in the wake of his stirring Monaco Grand Prix triumph a month ago. That now appears light years away, with Hamilton all of a sudden 10 points adrift of new Championship leader Felipe Massa following the Brazilian's third triumph of the season, and eighth of his career. In the wake of a dubious penalty handed down by the stewards, Hamilton hinted he is beginning feel picked on. The 10-pla...

I was working during the Magny-Cours race so I couldn't really enjoy the race or catch as many details as I could. But going into the race with a 10 place grid penalty is no good and wouldn't help anybody's chances of winning the race. An addition of a drive through penalty really does not help either. I watched the race as much as I could and did manage to see Lewis try to overtake Vettel which caused the said penalty. And after getting back home, I managed to read up on the race reports and opinions from all parties. The information I had was from a few respected F1 websites such as Planet F1, F1fanatic, Pitpass, etc. Yes, Lewis did make mistakes and he might have been wrong here and there, sometimes he is right too. But it seems to me overall, my impression that is, is that the FIA (read Max) is really out to get McLaren. There I said it, even if so many people don't want to say it. It's so obvious. Here's a paragraph from Planet F1 under their article called...

Reproduced from Planet F1 Sunday 22nd June 2008 Lewis Hamilton is looking like the novice he was supposed to be last season, but even the stewards apparently believed his offence at Magny-Cours was a minor and marginal infringement... The Stewards Didn't Want To Wreck Hamilton's Race But Had No Other Choices According to Ron Dennis, Lewis Hamilton's penalty was unjust because he was already past Sebastian Vettel when he briefly skirted around the chicane on the opening lap of the race. "He didn't gain any road position," the McLaren boss stressed to ITV at least three times during what was an otherwise brief post-race interview. Yet the stewards specified that Hamilton had been adjudged to have gained an advantage - not a place - when he missed the chicane. As such, the matter of whether or not Hamilton was actually past Vettel was irrelevant. Nonetheless, McLaren are entitled to r...

Reproduced from Planet F1 Monday 23rd June 2008 Although the Magny-Cours stewards have insisted that their decision to hand Lewis Hamilton a race-wrecking drive-through penalty during the French GP was the result of a "clear" infringement, conspiracy theorists are bound to have noticed that Max Mosley's close associate, Alan Donnelly, was part of the decision-making process. The penalty, which both Hamilton and McLaren, along with a number of neutral observers, deemed unjust, was the third the Englishman has endured this season and the second McLaren suffered over the weekend after Heikki Kovalainen was deducted five grid-places after being adjudged to have "hindered" Mark Webber. While Ron Dennis' hint that McLaren, no friends of the discredited FIA President Mosley, felt they were being victimised was played down by his number two Martin Whitmarsh, it has emerged that Donnelly, Mosle...

Reproduced from Planet F1 Sunday 22nd June 2008 A defiant Lewis Hamilton has insisted that he will not be derailed from winning the World Championship despite being hit by another controversial penalty during the French GP. The McLaren driver was given a drive-through penalty by the Magny-Cours stewards for missing the chicane on the opening lap of the race despite his team being adamant that no advantage had been gained as Hamilton was already past Sebastian Vettel. Metaphorically, and possibly literally, speaking through gritted teeth, Hamilton told reporters: "There's nothing you can do that can distract me. You can keep on giving me penalties and whatever you want to do and I'll keep battling and try and come back with a result." Asked repeatedly if he felt the penalty was unjust and his McLaren team was being victimised, Hamilton replied: "I'm not going to answer that." "I did e...

Re-produced from Planet F1 Monday 23rd June 2008 Martin Whitmarsh has rubbished suggestions that a FIA conspiracy against McLaren is the reason the team has incurred three penalties in two events. The spate of punishments for McLaren began in Canada when Lewis Hamilton was penalised for crashing into the back of Kimi Raikkonen in the pit lane after failing to stop for the red light. As a result the Brit was awarded a deserved ten-grid slot penalty for the following race in France. In qualifying for that French race Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen join him on the punishment list as the Finn was handed a five-place penalty for blocking Mark Webber during qualifying. But given that Kovalainen couldn't really get out the way at the time, that fine seemed a bit harsh. As did McLaren's latest penalty, which was a drive-through given to Hamilton for gaining an advantage over Sebastian Vettel by cutting the ...

I'm getting tired of Kimi's whining. Just shut the hell up and get on with it. Lewis has said it was his fault and he was sorry. He wants to get on with it. Everybody wants to get on with it. Sutil wants to get on with it. Sutil is less experienced and cries a lot in the paddock but he doesn't whine so much when Kimi hit him in the back. And that was more important to Sutil than it was to Kimi. Kimi can always finish in the points or win almost anyday but Sutil? I say to Kimi - Shut the hell up and get on with it. If you want revenge then win in Magny-Cours. Other than that, shut up!

Wednesday 11th June 2008 Kimi Raikkonen believes Lewis Hamilton fully deserves his 10-place grid penalty for the French Grand Prix after disputing the McLaren star's take on events in Canada. Raikkonen still remains stunned at what unfolded during Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal when Hamilton crashed into the back of the Finn's stationary Ferrari at the end of the pit lane. Reigning world champion Raikkonen, along with eventual race winner Robert Kubica in his BMW Sauber, had both stopped for a red light as the pit lane was closed due to a safety car on track. Hamilton, emerging from his own pit stop, claims he saw the red light too late and was unable to avoid driving into the back of Raikkonen's car, sending them both out of the race. But a doubtful Raikkonen said: "I can't believe somebody can hit you when you are standing in front of a red light and side by side with another car. "I...

Thursday 12th June 2008 Lewis Hamilton is convinced he can defy the odds in the French GP and claim what would be a stunning victory. Hamilton will start the race at Magny-Cours handicapped by a 10-place grid penalty following a calamitous Canadian Grand Prix. The McLaren star was left red-faced after crashing into the back of title rival Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari at the end of the pit lane. Trundling along at 30mph, Hamilton failed to spot Raikkonen and eventual race winner Robert Kubica had stopped for a red light. The McLaren star braked too late, and was unable to avoid hitting Raikkonen, resulting in an early retirement for both drivers. The penalty handed down by the stewards at Montreal means even if Hamilton sets the fastest time in qualifying in France, he will still start outside the top 10 for the first time in his Formula One career. Yet, despite Magny-Cours being track where it is difficult to overtake...

I'm a friend and supporter of Lewis Hamilton but not a supporter of arrogance or perceived arrogance. This morning when I read what Lewis said to the media, I almost fell off my seat. This is what he said : However, Hamilton is refusing to let it get to him as he reckons had it not been for the accident he would be destroyed the competition. "This will make no difference. It hasn't knocked me confidence-wise, I'm not gutted or disappointed," he said. "It is not going to take me a day to recover or anything. I'll be up first thing training and really looking forward to Magny-Cours. "Going forward, the mood is strong. The fact is we destroyed everyone at the weekend. With the car we have right now there is no stopping us." I know Lewis' character is a competitive, confident and positive thinking individual. You need these characteristics to be a champion in your chosen field but you can always decide to keep your comments to yourself. It do...

Reading about the many incidents and complaints about the safety car rules has made me realise what some drivers (i.e. Lewis, Nico and others) point out has been quite true. The safety car rule is sometimes silly and dangerous. I'm no expert so I can't yet comment on a solution but currently it is silly (or should I say "stupid"?) because it does ruin driver's races as we have seen many times and the part with the red lights when exiting is also stupid as it does ruin driver's races and can cause accidents (as in Canada). But some comments from some drivers does point that nobody in their right mind would want a crash anywhere on the track, even the pitlane, especially the pitlane. Lewis has said that the SC rules are silly and it was substantiated by Nico Rosberg by his comments : "In my whole career I have never watched the lights at the pit exit," he is quoted as admitting to motorline.cc. Even Ferrari test driver Marc Gene admits that the curren...

Tuesday 10th June 2008 Lewis Hamilton is refusing to let his Canadian GP mishap get him down, saying if he hadn't crashed he would've "destroyed" the rest of the field. Starting from pole position, Hamilton easily etched out a seven second lead over the competition. However, his advantage was undone when the Safety Car came out on lap 17, resulting in the field bunching up. Two laps later and Hamilton was out of the grand prix after a mistake saw him rear end Kimi Raikkonen. It was a disappointing end to a promising race for the 23-year-old. However, Hamilton is refusing to let it get to him as he reckons had it not been for the accident he would be destroyed the competition. "This will make no difference. It hasn't knocked me confidence-wise, I'm not gutted or disappointed," he said. "It is not going to take me a day to recover or anything. I'll be up first thing training ...

10 June 2008 by Keith Collantine F1 is likely to have a new procedure in place for what drivers are supposed to do in the event of a safety car deployment in time for the next round at Magny-Cours. A trial of the new system will be held before the race. The plan is that, when the safety car is deployed, the drivers will be given a message by race control and will have to activate a special programme on their cars that limits their speed. Will this help fix the safety car problem? How will this affect the races? The problem The safety car rules were changed at the beginning of last year to prevent drivers from coming into the pits as soon as a safety car period was declared. This was because at the beginning of a safety car period drivers would continue racing up to the start/finish line, often out of a desire to get a pit stop at minimum cost to their race time while the rest of the field was delayed. The first ‘solution’ This was correctly judged to be unsafe and a...

9 June 2008 by Keith Collantine Lewis Hamilton would be best advised to skip today’s newspapers. Unless he wants to read several unfortunate comparisons between his father’s prang in a Porsche last week and his crash with Kimi Raikkonen in the pits ( see video here ). Hamilton is not the only F1 driver to have messed up at a red light in recent years. Nico Rosberg committed exactly the same mistake yesterday but, not being Hamilton, he gets less attention and a lot less vitriol from some quarters. But why is it happening at all? We all know that if the light is red you have to stop so surely the world’s top racing drivers know the same? Running red lights Hamilton and Rosberg are the latest drivers to fall foul of a closed pit exit. They join Rubens Barrichello, who re-joined the track passing through a red light at Melbourne this year and was disqualified . So were Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella in last year’s Canadian Grand Prix . And Juan Pablo ...

It was probably the heat of the moment when Kimi said such a thing about Lewis and I can understand that. But nobody in F1 is stupid ... well maybe except for the FIA. Why do I say such a thing? Because it has been very obvious for a long time that they seem to be under Ferrari's payroll. There are many people in F1 who say the same thing, from the lowest ranking to legends. They are not stupid also as they have this same perception. One person can be wrong, 10 persons can be wrong but a lot of people? Look at how the FIA handles issues with Ferrari and others. It just gives you the impression that the FIA has 2 different sets of rules. The latest is the 2 incidents at Monaco and Montreal. Kimi hits Sutil and gets nothing, not even a reprimand. Lewis hits Kimi and immediately gets a 10 grid penalty. Kimi says that his accident with Sutil is ok because he made a mistake at 300kph while Lewis made a mistake in the pitlane. A mistake is a mistake, you pay. But Kimi somehow manages to...

Monday 9th June 2008 Lewis Hamilton's driving in the Canadian GP has been described as "stupid" by an aggrieved Kimi Raikkonen. The World Champion was shunted out of the race when Hamilton rammed into the back of his Ferrari having failed to spot a red light denying access back on to the race track. Raikkonen briefly confronted his McLaren rival before he stalked back to the Ferrari garage and was still simmering when he spoke to reporters a few hours' later. "I am not angry because that doesn't achieve anything and does not change my result. I am unhappy, because I had a great chance of winning," he said. "I am maybe not the best person to say you shouldn't hit anybody from behind after what happened in the last race [when Raikkonen crashed into Adrian Sutil at Monaco] but these are completely different stories. "If I am going 300km an hour and lose control and hit someb...

Monday 9th June 2008 McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh has questioned why Lewis Hamilton was handed such a severe penalty for his Canadian crash, while Kimi Raikkonen wasn't punished for his Monaco incident. Following Sunday's Canadian GP, Hamilton was handed a ten-grid slot penalty for the next race in France after he failed to stop for a red light at the end of pit lane, crashing into a stationary Kimi Raikkonen. "It's disappointing," Whitmarsh said of the penalty. "It's a decision the stewards have made so we've got to now make the best we can out of it." However, that doesn't mean the McLaren CEO agrees with the penalty, citing Raikkonen's lack of punishment for crashing into Adrian Sutil in Monaco. Asked by Autosport if he felt Hamilton's penalty was severe, Whitmarsh said: "It is." He added: "There was a different view taken in Monaco so we've g...

Sunday 8th June 2008 Lewis Hamilton has, somewhat peculiarly, confessed he apologised to Kimi Raikkonen after their race-ending crash during the Canadian GP but refused to admit he was to blame for their prang. The accident occurred in unusual circumstances on lap 19 of the race when Hamilton's McLaren collided with Raikkonen's stationary Ferrari at the end of the pit-lane. Raikkonen, along with the BMW of Robert Kubica, was prevented from rejoining the race by a red light that Hamilton either did not see or did not see in time to avoid the collision. "I don't know what happened," Hamilton admitted. "I saw the two guys in front of me battling in the pit lane and I was trying to make sure I didn't get involved but then they stopped. By the time I saw the red light it was too late. It's unfortunate - I've apologised to Kimi but these things happen." Asked whether it had be...

Saturday 7th June 2008 Lewis Hamilton claimed he felt no pressure because of his bid to become Formula One World Champion. The McLaren driver goes into Sunday's Canadian GP leading the Drivers' Championship, three points clear of defending World Champion Kimi Raikkonen. Hamilton finished joint runner-up to the Finn last season following a remarkable rookie campaign which saw him claim a podium finish in his first five races before notching his maiden grand prix victory in Montreal 12 months ago. Hamilton remains the centre of attention for the media in the paddock and for the fans in the stands but the Englishman claimed he was just trying to stay focused on his job with McLaren. "I don't read what's in the papers, I don't read anything as regards Formula One," said Hamilton. "I lead a normal life out of Formula One and then I come here I do my job and do what I love doing. "I...

Saturday 7th June 2008 Despite dominating qualifying Lewis Hamilton concedes Sunday's Canadian GP won't be an easy race to win. Hamilton was the fastest man in all three qualifying segments on Saturday afternoon, eventually finishing up with a 0.612s advantage over second placed Robert Kubica. It was an impressive show of form from the McLaren driver, made even more so by the fact that he was the only driver to break into the 1:17s with a heavy fuel load. But despite his apparent advantage over the chasing pack, Hamilton has downplayed any suggestions that Sunday's race could be an easy win for himself and McLaren. "As you have seen the last few races have been difficult, with the experience of leading the race so we can anticipate it will be similar," he said. "The track surface isn't great so it will make it tricky and I am sure these guys will push us hard. "We will try and do th...

A lot has been said recently about Lewis Hamilton and the women who lands on his arms. There are pictures everywhere of this woman and that woman. Everytime he stands near a woman, it seems that he must be dating that woman. In Monaco, Lewis was seen with 3 women and now the papers just can't figure out which one is the one. Or maybe he's doing a "Mosley" with 3 at the same time. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on you, wanting to just sensationalise the issue and sell more paper. Guess what? I know the truth. I had lunch with Anthony Hamilton during the Malaysian GP where he told me what is happening in Lewis' personal life and it was an eye opener. It makes me laugh at all the so-called "news" coming out daily. But the best part is I'm not telling - ever. Ha, ha, ha. So you cheap media sluts can go on making idiots out of yourselves. I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Friday 30th May 2008 Pedro de la Rosa reckons Lewis Hamilton has the potential to win this year's World title as long as McLaren keep improving. Thanks to his victory in Sunday's Monaco GP Hamilton has taken the lead in the Drivers' standings. The 23-year-old holds a three-point advantage over Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen with Felipe Massa a further point adrift. Leading the standings, though, isn't new to Hamilton who held the advantage for a large part of last year's Championship before losing it at the final hurdle to Raikkonen. De la Rosa, though, believes this year Hamilton can make amends but only if McLaren continue to improve their MP4-23. "Hamilton is very confident and if he fulfills his promise of scoring 15 consecutive podiums, he may win the title," the Spanish test driver said during the opening of Madrid's motor show. "We have won two races out of six and we have ...

Saturday 31st May 2008 Lewis Hamilton is eagerly awaiting next week's return to Canada, where he's eyeing a repeat of last year's glory. Hamilton, in his rookie season, clinched the Canadian GP victory after starting the race from pole position and keeping his wits about him through three Safety Car situations. The McLaren driver is intent on putting in a repeat performance this season, which he believes is a strong possibility given the way both himself and McLaren have improved in the last 12 months. "Last year in Canada was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life, to take my maiden pole and victory in Formula 1 was incredible, even more so as it was with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes," he said. "It would be great to go back there and do the same, and that is what we are working hard to achieve. Since then I think I've matured a lot, I think I have grown stronger as a driver and have b...