Alvin's Formula One Blog

McLaren have gone through the WMSC hearing with Martin Whitmarsh facing them alone and forced changes made at McLaren to pacify the FIA. The result - McLaren have been given a 3 race suspended ban. I'm not exactly sure what that means but I guess the race ban is there should they screw up again or worse the FIA feel like helping Ferrari in future, they can always find fault with McLaren and exercise the ban. It would seem that the FIA have got what they wished for, that is getting rid of Ron Dennis and putting McLaren under ever more pressure to perform without making any mistakes no matter how small. On top of that they have an insurance in the form of the suspended ban should they feel like using it. One thing I'm glad is that at least McLaren can still go racing and Lewis is still able to fight for the title. Hopefully the team will be able to find more performance on the car and win races from now on.

Monday 27th April 2009 Lewis Hamilton has written off his chances of taking another stride towards retaining his World title in Barcelona in a fortnight. Hamilton put all thoughts of Wednesday's Liargat' hearing out of his mind to finish fourth in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. McLaren have worked 24/7 to give Hamilton a competitive car worthy of his status and given their woes before the season started. The 24-year-old was strong off the line at the Sakhir circuit, and at one stage a podium place was potentially on the cards. But the one-two-three of Jenson Button in his Brawn, the Red Bull of Sebastien Vettel and Toyota's Jarno Trulli were too strong for Hamilton. Hamilton readily concedes there is work to do, and although McLaren - like every other team - will sport a new package of updates for the Spanish Grand Prix on May 10, he is not expecting miracles. "I'm delighted with fourth,"...

Fair? Since when have the FIA or WMSC been fair to McLaren? We'll see. Monday 27th April 2009 Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that the WMSC will most likely heed Mercedes's warning when handing out punishment to McLaren in the Liargate scandal. It is a widely held opinion in F1 circles that McLaren will face some sort of punishment in the form of a race ban, a monetary fine or a combination of the two. In a thinly-veiled warning, Dieter Zetsche, the chairman of Daimler, recently stated that Mercedes may not remain in F1 if McLaren are slapped with an "unreasonable punishment." "If circumstances should change, perhaps because of an unreasonable punishment by the FIA, it is possible that we could consider our engagement," he told German magazine Focus. And it appears that the WMSC will heed Daimler's warning with Ecclestone revealing that, with all certainty, McLaren will receive a "...

Monday 27th April 2009 Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel have ruled out talk of a two-team fight for this year's World title, with both drivers predicting that McLaren and Ferrari are already building towards a return to the top. Button currently has a 12-point in the Drivers' standings after claiming his third race win of the season in Bahrain on Sunday. It's been an impressive start to the campaign for the Brit and his Brawn team, especially considering that just two months ago they weren't even sure if they would make the starting grid this season. Despite his victory in the desert, however, the Brit was the first to point out that Brawn no longer holds the pace advantage boasted in the opening two races of the Championship where they dominated from start to finish. With Red Bull and Toyota now breathing down Brawn's neck, Button also fears McLaren and Lewis Hamilton could pose a big threat to h...

Sunday 26th April 2009 Lewis Hamilton has admitted he considered walking out on McLaren and F1 in the wake of the backlash he suffered over the Liargate scandal. Found guilty by the FIA of 'deliberately misleading' race stewards after the season-opening Australian GP, Hamilton described the subsequent furore as "the worst experience of his life" as he issued a grovelling public apology. In an interview conducted with the BBC on Friday but only broadcast during their coverage of the Bahrain GP, Hamilton, who has barely uttered a word to the press in the past week, confirmed that he did ponder leaving the sport because of the criticism he had to endure. "I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to be here [in F1 with McLaren] for the next five years," he told the corporation. "There was so much going on. Do I want to be in the limelight with people slating me? "Do I want be in the spotlight ...

Sunday 26th April 2009 Lewis Hamilton concedes McLaren just didn't have the pace needed to match the top three cars in Sunday's Bahrain GP. The Brit, who could be hit with a two-race ban next Wednesday when McLaren face the World Motor Sport Council, at least gave his team something to smile about on Sunday afternoon when he brought his MP4-24 home in fourth place. But while he was happy with the result, the defending World Champion admits his team is still lacking in pace. "I'm delighted, considering we started fifth," he told the BBC. "We had a great start, but it was so hard to keep up with the Red Bull and the Toyotas and Brawn. It was impossible." And although his P4 was his best result of the season, Hamilton has urged McLaren to continue developing their car if they hope to stand any chance of winning this year's World title. "We've got to keep pushing but this is...

Sunday 26th April 2009 Jenson Button claimed the victory in Sunday's Bahrain GP as the Brawn driver proved he had the race pace needed to outwit the Red Bull and Toyota Sebastian Vettel claimed second place as the Red Bull racer continued to show a maturity beyond his age, holding off the Toyota of Jarno Trulli in the final stint of the race. Lewis Hamilton added more points to his and McLaren's tally but didn't have the pace needed to finish on the podium, settling for fourth place. Meanwhile, the three-stopping Rubens Barrichello was fifth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who claimed Ferrari's first points of the season. Race Report The temperatures on the sun-baked Sakhir circuit were slightly down on Saturday Qualifying but with an ambient temperature of 36C, the track was still at 50C as Jarno Trulli led the field round on a very slow parade lap. All the cars would take the super soft option tyre in the fi...

Morgan B's comments on Planet F1 regarding this issue is so direct to the point that I re-produce it here. Friday 24th April 2009 "Some of the comments are so ridiculous I find it hard to believe some of you have ever watched a race, let alone a whole season. I absolutely know without any doubt that if it was your favourite driver telling a lie, or your favourite team, you would be a lot less intent upon dramatising this affair. Lie about it, I dare you. Come to this forum and lie to me that you would be exactly the same about any driver/team. Tell me you would have done this to Schumacher who we know for a fact lied, and we know for a fact cheated in a way that endangered another drivers life several times. Tell me a lie that you demanded his head on a platter." McLaren have written a letter offering their unreserved apologies to motor sport's world governing body, the FIA, in relation to the Liargate sc...

Friday 24th April 2009 Lewis Hamilton believes that as World Champion it is now time for him to stand up and be counted. Just seven days after a tense, edgy, inhibited press gathering at the back of the McLaren garage in Shanghai, Hamilton was a little more positive, more lucid in Bahrain. There were still no direct questions to be asked pertaining to the 'lie-gate' hearing due to take place in front of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday. Instead, there was a skirting around the edges of a subject which has tainted the team, with queries about his feelings and focus following one of the most turbulent periods of his career. The 24-year-old was still guarded at times, but then feeling more at ease at others to suggest he was now stronger and had learned from the experience, or 'personal trauma' as it was put to him. "Your words. It's just one of those tough times," said H...

Tuesday 21st April 2009 Although McLaren showed marked improvement during the Chinese Grand Prix last week, Lewis Hamilton believes it will take another couple of races before they are fully up to scratch. After failing to pick up points in Australia following Hamilton's exclusion from the race results, the team bounced back in Malaysia with the World Champion finishing seventh. In China they added another seven points to their total with Heikki Kovalainen and Hamilton ending fifth and sixth respectively. Hamilton warns that although they are heading in the right direction it could take a fair few races before they are back to their best. "We seem to have a solid direction within the team - all our upgrades invariably bring a laptime improvement and our direction on set-up and strategy shows what a strong group we still are," Hamilton said. "I still think we are several races away from being truly co...

Tuesday 21st April 2009 Lewis Hamilton insists it was business as usual for McLaren at the Chinese Grand Prix despite the departure of Ron Dennis. Dennis ended his 43-year F1 career last week and the Woking-based outfit started life without their former CEO with a seven-point haul in Shanghai - their best performance so far this season. Although Hamilton admits he owes Dennis a lot for investing in him, he is nevertheless confident his successor will do a good job for McLaren. "Certainly, this weekend I would have to say that it was business as usual, but that is how Ron built this team," he told his official website. "Ron is an incredible man and we all owe him more than we could ever repay him for building this great team. Both my family and I are going to do our best to continue the progress we have made over the past two seasons with the team and hope that we can continue to make him proud of having ...

Tuesday 21st April 2009 Mark Webber has acknowledged that Brawn are still the current frontrunners in F1 despite the Aussie being part of a Red Bull 1-2 in China on Sunday. Although the Red Bulls were untouchable in the wet in Shanghai, with Jenson Button finishing the race 45 seconds adrift of winner Sebastian Vettel, Webber believes that Red Bull are still behind both Brawn and Toyota. "There's nothing to suggest a huge amount has changed since Malaysia when, in the dry, Brawn were a second faster than anyone else," he told the BBC. "That car is definitely strong and they are the team that is the benchmark for every team to try to close in on." "If you look at the fuel-corrected timings, taking into account the loads being carried by each car, the grid would have been Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber so clearly we have to keep improving." ...

I like Vettel. He's a good driver as he has demonstrated last year and this year. Plus he's a genuinely humble and nice fella. The problem is, the dog eat dog world of F1 will eat him up and spit him out if he's not careful. Just like at Melbourne, he didn't need to apologize because it was not 100% his fault. Kubica didn't bother to apologise. Still I hope he will go on to win more races and become world champion one day. Monday 20th April 2009 Christian Horner reckons Sebastian Vettel is a World Champion in the making after the German claimed Red Bull's debut win in Sunday's Chinese GP. Vettel, already dubbed 'Schumi 2' by the German media, put in a stellar performance at the Shanghai circuit this past weekend, claiming pole position despite very little running on Saturday and then following that up with the win on Sunday. It was the 21-year-old's second grand prix victory, afte...

Monday 20th April 2009 Martin Whitmarsh has denied reports that Lewis Hamilton's mechanics are furious with the Brit, saying such claims are nothing more than a campaign designed to "get us." On Sunday, the Daily Mail claimed that the McLaren mechanics were livid with Hamilton, blaming him for the sacking of sporting director Dave Ryan in the wake of the liargate scandal. Furthermore, it was reported that Hamilton's mechanics were also unhappy with rumours suggesting that the World Champion was looking to leave the team. "They have all known Davey for many, many years and are upset he became the fall guy," a McLaren team insider told the newspaper. "Then there was the talk of Lewis threatening to quit the team. That did not go down well because we feel he should have shown more support after the work we've done for him. The guys put all the hours in and don't get anywhere near ...

Sunday 19th April 2009 F1 continues to write a page-turning script... Red Bull Diffuse Briatore's Burning Complaint Pity poor Flavio. Scorned for the bitterness of his comments against the paracarro and his pensioner team-mate, the Renault boss was further ridiculed by events in China. In the dry, Brawn would, most probably, have been in a class of their own, but the wet rained spectacularly on Briatore's lament that the World Championship had been decided by Tuesday's FIA hearing. No matter that the RB5 is particularly effective in the wet, its non-diffuser speed in general is proof that the legality of a two-tier diffuser need not be decisive. Brawn, by some accounts, have welcomed the diffuser furore because it has distracted attention from the other parts of their car that they believe are critical to their current performance advantage. If so, Briatore has erred from a sporting as well as r...

Sunday 19th April 2009 Red Bull gives you wins. Adrian Newey's RB5 has struck back for the non-diffusers in a race where Robert Kubica tried to re-enact Canada 2007 and the stewards got some much-deserved sleep. STAR OF THE RACE Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Winner Vettel showed that his Monza race victory for Toro Rosso in 2008 was no fluke. Not that many people thought it was. The German driver didn't put a foot wrong in a car that was supremely adapted to the conditions. While all around were wobbling, going straight on, and exploring interesting new parts of the circuit, the Red Bulls stuck the track. Just as at Silverstone in 2008 with Lewis Hamilton, had the team not been cautious and let Sebastian off the leash, he would have finished 30+ seconds clear of Webber. OVERTAKING MOVE OF THE RACE Lap 32 Mark Webber on Jenson Button Webber had a great race. He's been in so many good positions before th...

Sunday 19th April 2009 In sharp contrast to last year's result when he won the Chinese GP, this season Lewis Hamilton was just grateful to finish the race and do so in the points. Last year Hamilton won the Chinese GP on his way to the World title but this year it's a vastly different McLaren machine that the Brit has underneath him. The MP4-24 is suffering from a lack of pace and ill-handling, the latter of which was not help by the extreme wet conditions facing the drivers. And as such the best Hamilton could have hoped for, starting ninth on the grid, was a handful of points, which he achieved with his sixth-placed finish. "Just that we finished and obviously the reliability of the car is fantastic, so it was great job from the guys," Hamilton told the BBC when asked what positives he could draw from the race. "Just continue to try and move forward and try and score some more points. Good poi...

Sunday 19th April 2009 Sebastian Vettel claimed Red Bull's first-ever grand prix win at Shanghai on Sunday with the team's joy being further compounded by Mark Webber's second placed finish. Starting from pole position, Vettel's light fuel load was negated by the Safety Car start as the rain hammered the Chinese track. But after nine laps it pitted with the German quickly building up a lead over the chasing pack. It was one that Vettel would not reliquishing except after pitstops, leaving it to Webber and Brawn GP's Jenson Button to fight for second place. In the end, though, it was Webber who triumphed, handing Red Bull the 1-2. Button and Rubens Barrichello, though, extended Brawn's lead in the Constructors' Championship while Heikki Kovalainen bagged his first points of the season with his fifth placed finish. The Finn, though, was largely helped by team-mate Lewis Hamilton's failure...

What a race. After all the bullshit that has been going on since Melbourne, today's race was such wonderful excitement. The rain helped in a way though it was quite heavy, something like Fuji 2007. It started with the SC. I didn't even notice the race had started because of that but after the SC went in, Vettel really put the hammer down. He didn't put a foot wrong this whole race, again showing what a masterclass he is in the rain. I'm sure the Red Bull car has been designed correctly and will dominate this season. it does not have KERS or the double diffuser but yet manages to threaten the Brawns from day 1 in Melbourne and keeps showing its pace even in the rain. Reliability is good too. Can't imagine the performance when they get new upgrades soon like a new diffusser. The Brawns were outclassed here though still formidable even in the rain. It looks like the Brawns are built for multi weather missions. Button and Barrichello were in control and smooth. Alonso d...

Saturday 18th April 2009 Lewis Hamilton believes McLaren are on the road to recovery after he produced his best qualifying performance of the season to secure ninth place on the grid for Chinese GP. The 24-year-old has endured a trying start to his title defence having been stripped of third at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix before registering his solitary point with seventh place in Malaysia. Following Wednesday's FIA ruling that the controversial 'double-decker' diffuser is legal, McLaren acted quickly to equip Hamilton's MP4-24 car with a modified design of the component as well as a new front wing. The result was an instant improvement in performance as Hamilton topped the timesheets in first practice on Friday before reaching Q3 for the first time this season on Saturday. While there is still some way to go before McLaren show the sort of form they enjoyed over the past two seasons, Hamilt...

Saturday 18th April 2009 Sebastian Vettel ended Brawn GP's run of pole positions as the Red Bull driver came out late in Q3 to grab the coveted grid slot for the Chinese GP. Vettel, who had drive-shaft problems that curbed his running during the weekend's final practice session, put it all behind him as he proved that the Red Bull is the best of the non-diffuser cars, claiming pole position with a 1:36.184. Fernando Alonso, who is using Renault's interim 'double-decker' diffuser in Shanghai, was second quickest, 0.192s behind Vettel while Mark Webber ensured that Red Bull's improvement continued as he claimed third place. The Brawn GP cars of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button will line up behind Webber on the grid . Qualifying 1 The sun was shining bright on The Shang circuit as qualifying started, with Lewis Hamilton having featured prominently in the morning practice and once again Nico Rosb...

It seems that the horny asshole has got his wish. He's forced Ron out of F1 by constant hammering of McLaren and Lewis Hamilton these past 2 years. He's threatened another big blow on April 29 in Paris based on a major bungling of the FIA and race stewards at Melbourne, Australia. That incident at Melbourne did not have to as far as it did if the incompetent FIA had just used all the technology available to them during races, technology of which they've spent millions on. Max argues about cutting costs but after spending millions on technology for the FIA to manage races, they don't use it. Isn't that a fucking waste? Waste equals costs doesn't it? Or does Max needs somebody to spell it out to him. We all know how much Max hates Ron and everything he does is angled at making life difficult for Ron. These past 2 years have thrown up exciting opportunities for Max to hammer Ron and McLaren and he has taken full advantage of it. The culmination is the stepping do...

Such a shame that one of the greatest men in F1 has been forced to quit because of a power hungry asshole. Thursday 16th April 2009 Ron Dennis has ended his 40-year F1 career by standing down as McLaren CEO - and insisted that the decision was his alone. According to reports on Thursday morning predicting his announcement, Dennis' exit was motivated by a wish to of lessen McLaren's punishment in their upcoming World Motor Sport Council hearing. It was also claimed that the decision was made in an attempt to ensure that Anthony Hamilton - who was described as wanting the "prickly and arrogant" Dennis away from Lewis - would keep his son on McLaren's payroll. And although Dennis shied away from both topics in the McLaren press release, he did insist the decision was his alone - and took a dig at his old nemesis Max Mosley by saying he doubts whether the FIA President will shed too many tears over his d...

Friday 17th April 2009 World Champion Lewis Hamilton has conceded it will take time to catch compatriot Jenson Button after the controversial diffuser used by Brawn GP was ruled legal. Button has enjoyed his best-ever start to a season having won both the Australian and Malaysian Grand Prix - his first victories since 2006. In stark contrast Hamilton has endured his worst start to a Formula One season after being disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix for his part in deliberately misleading race stewards before he then finished seventh in Malaysia and currently trails Button in the driver standings by 14 points. And while Hamilton admits it will take a lot of effort to catch the Brawn team, he has vowed to work as hard as he can to get back on top. "I don't think it's been as bad as it seems, because the car is really not great at the moment," the 24-year-old said in China Daily. "Last yea...

Friday 17th April 2009 McLaren have become the first team outside the Diffuser Three to run the double-decker diffuser as the Woking outfit fitted an interim design to Lewis Hamilton's car for the first practice session in China. Earlier this week the FIA's International Court of Appeals upheld the design of the controversial twin-diffuser that was used by Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams with much success in the opening two races of the Championship. The race was then on for the other teams to incorporate the design, which increases the downforce of the car. McLaren were the first to blink as the Woking outfit installed a interim version of the design on Hamilton's MP4-24, adding a small winglet above their diffuser and beneath the car's crash structure. The design increased the height and length of the team's diffuser. McLaren, though, are not the only team expected to introduce the new part this we...

It seems that everybody is writing either on blog posts or newspaper columns or blog comments saying that they don't want too harsh a penalty for Mclaren and Lewis and that they feel sorry for Lewis or whatever but at the same time their writings and comments further condemn and provide ammunition to the anti-Mclaren/Hamilton movement.. I know this sells papers and provide incredible traffic to sites but what happened to decency and the racing? Enough already..we all know Mclaren/Lewis are always in the FIA scope and the trigger is primed to strike..don't worry, April 29 will hammer them some more, so what is with this dousing the flames with jetfuel? Enough..it seems that the Daily Mail has a free lifetime supply of jetfuel..they keep on churning out cheap trash on a daily basis..maybe the Daily Mail should be renamed the Daily Trash.. What the fuck? Get over it already. Lewis will continue to impress and win no matter what crap you people spew out. Other drivers and teams don...

Trulli should just shut the fuck up and get back to racing, so cheap for him to make this statement, as if he's so clean and never did anything funny. It just makes him such an asshole. Wednesday 15th April 2009 Jarno Trulli feels the FIA wanted to "show who is the charge" when they decided to summon McLaren to an extraordinary World Motor Sport Council meeting to answer disrepute charges. McLaren and Lewis Hamilton are in hot water with motorsport's governing body after they "deliberately misled" stewards at the Australian Grand Prix. Hamilton and McLaren have been stripped of the points they picked up at Melbourne, but the FIA may yet to decide to punish them further. Trulli, the man who Hamilton overtook when the Safety Car was deployed in Australia, praised the FIA for showing "common sense" by re-opening the case against McLaren. "It was great that once they announced the d...

Everybody pretty much knew the outcome. At least the racing will be closer for the rest of the season. Wednesday 15th April 2009 In a ruling that could have major implications on the outcome of the 2009 World Championship, the International Court of Appeal has ruled that the diffusers of Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams are legal. The verdict means there will now be a major scramble from the rest of the pack to get their diffusers up to standard. In a short statement, the FIA declared: 'The FIA International Court of Appeal has decided to deny the appeals submitted against decisions numbered 16 to 24 taken by the Panel of the Stewards on 26 March at the 2009 Grand Prix of Australia and counting towards the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship. 'Based on the arguments heard and evidence before it, the Court has concluded that the Stewards were correct to find that the cars in question comply with the applicable re...

RUBBIS ALERT! RUBBISH ALERT! Please informed that this report is rubbish as it was reported by The Daily Mail, a cheap tabloid paper. Read carefully and realise that it is so ridiculous to be true. If that does not convince you, know that I know Anthony personally and this report is utter rubbish. Thursday 16th April 2009 Ron Dennis is reportedly set to announce his complete retirement from McLaren later today as the CEO falls on the sword to save his team ahead of their upcoming hearing with the WMSC. The announcement is bound to be linked to McLaren's on-going battle with the FIA, with Dennis' role in the Liargate scandal expected to be examined closely on April 29 when the team appear in front of the governing body. And although Dennis is no longer the man calling the shots at McLaren, having handed the reigns to Martin Whitmarsh at the start of the season, the 61-year-old is ready to take the fall for McLaren...