Alvin's Formula One Blog

Steve McQueen and Lewis Hamilton: The Duel is a virtual duel on the legendary track of Le Mans between two of TAG Heuer’s most famous Ambassadors: F1 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton and Hollywood screen icon Steve McQueen. It was made as a short film with Lewis and Steve competing at Le Mans at the same time. It's quite good how they managed to make Lewis and Steve seem seamless on the screen, though the acting and timing could use some work. It's interesting also to note that the car Lewis drives is the MP4-24. How could a 60s Le Mans car compete against a 2009 F1 car? Still interesting what-if scenario.

It has been a tiring and sickening few weeks as the politics of F1, especially the childish and loony attitude of FIA President Max Mosley came to a head. Fortunately, the FOTA alliance managed to pressure him to rescind the crappy and loony regulations that he likes to come up with, if not in 2010 the teams will waste even more money on loony things. But, all is not as serene as we would like to think. Assuming that Mad Max really leaves the office, who would be his replacement? Is there a suitable candidate out there? I'm sure there is an experienced administrator with experience and passion in motorsports. But will this person be allowed to govern? Or would Max rather have a stooge in place for him to govern via proxy ? The name Jean Todt has been bandied around and I for one am hoping that that is a very sick joke and that we'll get over it in the morning. Jean has been linked to Mosley many times and was from Ferrari. It would be biased (if not already) of the FIA to have ...

Kimi has been trying out quite a few rallies lately. Maybe he's bored of F1 and the politics, maybe he knows Alonso is coming (shit!). Anyway, good luck Kimi and do your best. Tuesday 30th June 2009 Kimi Raikkonen will make his World Rally Championship debut in his native Finland at the end of July. Raikkonen, F1 World Champion in 2007, has already competed in three non-championship rallies this year and will enter Rally Finland in a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto. His co-driver will be compatriot Kaj Lindstrom, who was formerly co-driver to four-times WRC champion Tommi Makinen. "Rally Finland is not going to be easy for sure," Lindstrom told autosport.com . "The rallies we have done so far have been smaller events, a three-day WRC round is much longer and more intense than those national events. "We have two days to go through the recce (reconnaissance) and make the notes. Kimi makes very good pace...

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Tuesday 30th June 2009 Ferrari will reportedly confirm the signing of Fernando Alonso at their home race, the Italian Grand Prix. Rumours of his pending move to Ferrari have dogged Alonso for the past three years, however, instead of joining the Italian marque he spent the 2007 season at McLaren before returning to Renault. But his days at Renault are reportedly numbered. Spanish daily Diario AS is claiming that on the Friday of the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari will confirm that Alonso will be joining them next season, having signed a five-year contract. It is not known, though, whether he'll be replacing Kimi Raikkonen or Felipe Massa, who have both had a trying start to this year's campaign. But whoever stays, his days too could be numbered as AS speculates that Ferrari are also interested in signing Sebastian Vettel for the 2011 season. Source : Planet F1

Well, we know that we need a better person as FIA president, someone who is in the know about motorsports, it's rules and history and someone who is not biased. So, the obvious choice would not be Jean Todt . Why? Because he was quite close to Max before and he might be partial to Ferrari. We've had enough of Ferrari bias as it is. So no thanks.

Phew! What a relief, at least we'll still go racing next year with everybody and most importantly, we'll be rid of Max (and hopefully his goons too). It's just too much of a dictatorship and crappy rules with Max around which really fucks up the fans, i.e. you and me. I really hope Max goes for good but he has a tendency to have his dirty coils everywhere. In fact, he is already trying to find excuses to stay on. The most important thing is FOTA have won and the sport will be run properly with the fans, teams and sponsors in mind. Hopefully, the new management will seriously look into what the fans want and what is good for the sport. What we need is a unified rules, which does not favour one team above the rest (read Ferrari), rules that does not change every 6 months, stewards that do not bend the rules to favor certain teams, outright stupid stewards with double standards and a governing body that comes out hare-brained ideas that wastes money, time and effort. We as ...

Good for who Bernie? Good for your wallet? And what about the fans who pay through the nose for tickets and merchandise? Thursday 25th June 2009 Bernie Ecclestone insists there were no winners in Wednesday's deal between FOTA and the FIA, despite the former getting pretty much everything they demanded and more. With the threat of a breakaway series on the cards, which saw Ecclestone facing the lose of his £1.5billion per year empire, the F1 supremo sat down with FOTA chairman Luca di Montezemolo and Max Mosley to thrash out a deal. The announcement finally came on Wednesday afternoon with Mosley informing the world that next year there will be just one Championship, it will be run under this year's regulations and that he will step down from his role of FIA President in October. But while that may seem that FOTA got everything they wanted, Ecclestone says it was a compromise and not a win/lose outcome. "No ...

Wednesday 24th June 2009 The FIA has released the following statement after the World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris... The World Motor Sport Council met in Paris on 24 June 2009. The following decisions were taken: Formula One World Championship All currently competing teams have committed to the FIA Formula One World Championship. There will be no alternative series or Championship and the rules for 2010 onwards will be the 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to 29 April 2009. As part of this agreement, the teams will, within two years, reduce the costs of competing in the Championship to the level of the early 1990s. The manufacturer teams have agreed to assist the new entries for 2010 by providing technical assistance. The manufacturer teams have further agreed to the permanent and continuing role of the FIA as the sport's governing body. They have also committed to the commercial ...

YESSSS!!!! Finally, the cancer of F1 is going. 24/06/2009 FIA President Max Mosley has announced that he will not stand for re-election later this year in a move which appears to have saved F1 from imploding. The Englishman, speaking following a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris, also claims that a deal has been done which will result in a "unified F1" and which ends the threat of a breakaway series. "I will not be up for re-election," he told reporters, "we now have peace, there will be no split. "We have agreed to a reduction of costs," he added. "There will be one F1 championship in 2010 but the objective is still to...

Tuesday 23rd June 2009 Lewis Hamilton is hopeful for at least a small upturn in form at the Nurburgring after spending much of the British GP fighting at the back of the field. Hamilton's British GP was anything but a happy return to home ground for the Brit but he did at least put in some of the better racing on display as he fought with former nemesis Fernando Alonso - albeit over 16th place. Now, turning his attention to the next race in Germany, Hamilton is hoping that McLaren have learnt some lessons from Silverstone that can result in an upturn at engine partner Mercedes's home race. "It's still not going to be a night-and-day change that makes the difference, but I'm hoping that we can gain some advantage to help improve our results," he told his website. "I'm looking forward to the Nürburgring - the home race for Mercedes-Benz; I'm hoping that we will have some huge improv...

Go FOTA! Monday 22nd June 2009 Brawn GP chief executive Nick Fry has warned FIA president Max Mosley that FOTA's threat of a breakaway series is not an idle one. The message comes ahead of what Fry sees as a "critical" meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday as they address the row that has threatened the existence of Formula One. Mosley has so far belittled certain members of FOTA - describing them as "loonies" - and derided the organisation itself, claiming it has no chance of succeeding. Mosley is also showing scant regard for the fans if he believes they would rather pay to watch a diluted version of F1 with unknown teams and drivers compared to another series that includes Ferrari, McLaren, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso. The 69-year-old seems to think the teams will back down, but he is either miscalculating their resolve, or is foolishly misguided a...

23/06/2009 For the second time in as many years, as more and more factions suggest that Max Mosley's removal as President of the FIA would be the easiest way to resolve the crisis that threatens to destroy the sport, the Englishman has called on the organization's member clubs for their support. As the 8 'rebel' teams remain united, Mosley, writing to the member clubs, uses his well honed skills to rally his own troops. "Over recent weeks it has become increasingly clear that one of the objectives of the dissident teams is that I should resign as president of the FIA," he writes. "Last year you offered me your confidence and, as I wrote to you ...

Zoom Plenty of home support for Hamilton and Button L ewis Hamilton was lightly admonished after performing an illegal doughnut for the British public at the end of what could have been Silverstone's last Grand Prix. Having won by more than a minute last year, the 24-year-old returned this weekend as reigning world champion but qualified next-to-last before being lapped on Sunday. FIA stewards frown upon doughnuts, but Hamilton lit up his tyres after only delivering 16th place for his compatriots in the race. It also annoyed his McLaren engineers, protective of the V8 unit that will have to be used elsewhere this season. Hamilton confirmed with a smile that "the team were moaning a little bit. He had said after qualifying that the local fans are the ones who are really helping me to get through" the misery of his current lack of competitiveness. "I tried to show my appreciation on the (slowing down) lap and I had a little bit of fun," said Hamilto...

Sunday 21st June 2009 Lewis Hamilton says he gave his all during Sunday's British GP but that the car's shear lack of pace negated all his efforts. Despite lapping the Silverstone circuit around 15th place for much of the race, Hamilton did offer some of the best action of the afternoon as himself and former McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso demonstrated why they've won World titles. Even though they were fighting for 16th place at the time, the duo went at it tooth and nail with first Hamilton getting by Alonso on the inside of Copse and then Alonso repaying the pass a few corners later. But the epic battle yielded few rewards other than the cheer of the fans, as Hamilton finished the British GP down in 16th place. "I gave it my all today," said the McLaren driver. "Despite fighting for the lower positions, I was absolutely on the limit for the whole race. "We knew it would be difficu...

Sunday 21st June 2009 Unfortunately, the racing was secondary in Silverstone... F1 Talks Itself Down In airing their dirty linen as the headline item on Friday's news bulletins, F1 proved that not all publicity is good publicity. The ongoing power battle that is crippling the sport is supposedly over money and the planned introduction of a budget cap. The irony, then, is that by self-destructing over proposed financial constraints F1 has made itself a less viable vehicle for financial input than ever before. What business or industry is going to risk investment in the sport at a time of economic recession when the sport's governance is so chaotic and its future so uncertain? Bickering over the terms of a budget cap is meaningless when the bickering puts a budget on the sport's income. For the president of the sport's governing body to then refer to the teams as "loonies" doesn't just contradict the tenor of his own...

Sunday 21st June 2009 Star of the Race Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Winner After Vettel set nine fastest laps in the opening 13 he never looked like he was going to be threatened for the win. Had his team-mate not done so badly in qualifying on Saturday, then it might have been a fair old ding dong at the front. But from the moment he got into Copse first (and didn't put it off the track in the opening lap) with Webber tucked up behind Barrichello, his win was assured. He went into the first pit-stops with a 23-second advantage and though Nigel Mansell has hauled that back in as many laps at Silverstone, that was in the days when cars could overtake. Overtaking Move of the Race Lap 22, Lewis Hamilton on Nick Heidfeld Heidfeld emerged from the pitlane and must have been told that he had a fast-approaching Lewis Hamilton exiting Copse. As the McLaren's momentum took it alongside the BMW you feared for a 190mph collision as they both competed for the sing...

Saturday 20th June 2009 Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for Sunday's British GP beating a BrawnGP driver, but it wasn't the one British fans were hoping for. Vettel, who had the measure of his rivals for two of the weekend's three practice sessions, put his revised RB5 to good use on Saturday afternoon, taking pole position with a 1:19.509. That put him ahead of Rubens Barrichello who finished 0.347s behind the German, while Button could only manage sixth place on his home grid. Mark Webber was third for Red Bull, finishing ahead of Jarno Trulli and Kazuki Nakajima. Meanwhile, a huge accident for Adrian Sutil with 24s left on the clock in Q1 cost Lewis Hamilton any chance of making it through to the next session. He will start P19. Sutil, thankfully, escaped unhurt although his Force India was destroyed. Qualifying 1 Following showers in the morning, conditions were still cloudy with sunny intervals a...

Saturday 20th June 2009 Lewis Hamilton is refusing to proclaim that he would have been on pole if it hadn't been for Adrian Sutil crash forcing him out of Q1 at Silverstone. The McLaren driver, who was languishing down in 19th, was on a flying lap when Sutil crashed his Force India into the barriers at the Abbey chicane during Q1. Because of the severity of the accident the session was red flag and the 24s remaining on the clock did not leave Hamilton - or anyone else - with enough time to put in an out lap and a flying lap. Thus he dropped out of qualifying and will start P19 on the grid for his home race. "I did the best I could today," said Hamilton. "I was pushing as hard as I could but our car is too slow. I gave it my all and there wasn't really much more I could have got from the car." He also refused to blame Sutil's accident for his disappointing qualifying. "I was pushing...

Saturday 20th June 2009 Sebastian Vettel's pole position time around Silverstone become even more impressive once the FIA released the weights of the cars. Vettel will start Sunday's British GP from the P1 slot on the grid after clocking a 1:19.509, which put him 0.347s ahead of Rubens Barrichello and an additional tenth quicker than his team-mate. What's impressive, though, is fact that Vettel was carrying more fuel than both his rivals. And in fact, he is the heaviest of all ten drivers who took part in the pole position shoot-out. Meanwhile, Webber will have to rely on raw pace to get ahead of Barrichello as the duo are on similar fuel strategies as is fourth-placed Jarno Trulli. The lightest of the top ten was Kazuki Nakajima, which probably explains why he managed to qualify ahead of his Williams team-mate Nico Rosberg, who was almost 10kgs heavier. Slotted in between the two Williams is Jenson Button,...

Friday 19th June 2009 Now that FOTA have finally lost patience with the FIA there is going to be a whole host of consequences. Andrew Davies ponders the things that immediately spring to mind... * Max Mosley's bid to get teams to run on £40m a year (+ drivers + marketing) has always seemed out of touch with big money worldwide sports models. Spanish football club Real Madrid have a revenue of £290m and that's without a major showing in the Champions League. With a lot more sponsorship and global exposure, F1 has a far greater earning potential. * What seemed like a too-early bid to abandon ship by Lola cars - when they announced that they were withdrawing their F1 application midweek - seems quite a good move now. Because they can join the FOTA grid, which (providing it has all current eight teams) will be the series people will want to watch next year. * Will David Richards' ProDrive and Epsilon follow ...

Friday 19th June 2009 The Formula One Teams' Association have sensationally confirmed they are to form a breakaway series, causing the greatest upheaval in the sport's 60-year history. Following a meeting of the eight teams that currently form FOTA - Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Brawn GP, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso - they have all declined to enter F1 for 2010. Despite weeks of negotiations with FIA president Max Mosley, the two bodies have failed to find a compromise, leaving the sport in total chaos. The FIA had issued a deadline of close of business on Friday to enter next year's championship unconditionally to McLaren, Toyota, Renault, BMW Sauber and Brawn GP in particular. As far as the FIA are concerned, Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso are contracted to enter, hence the reason they were given an automatic entry by world motor sport's governing body last Friday. Ferrari h...

Wednesday 17th June 2009 If Simon Gillett, the developer of the Donington Circuit is to be believed, then this is the last British GP at Silverstone for at least the next 17 years. That's the length of the contract he's been given to run the F1 grand prix. He may not have time on his side or the necessary investment, but what he can rely on is a big audience. In Turkey at the last round they couldn't attract punters in with a £40 weekend pass and £200 grandstand seats. This weekend Silverstone will be full to bursting with punters paying £180 for a weekend pass alone. Which makes the prospect of taking this grand prix off the calendar a total nonsense. Just as it has been in Canada, Montreal and Silverstone may not have circuit buildings that look like a Disney-inspired industrial estate, but they do have something far more relevant. Fans. This weekend they'll be packing out the Northamptonshire circuit in the hope of a Jenson Button victory....

Wednesday 17th June 2009 Organisers of the Malaysian Grand Prix have insisted the start time of next year's race should be brought back to 3pm to avoid the chaos that resulted in the shortening of the 2009 event. At the insistence of Formula One supreme Bernie Ecclestone, this year's race began at 5pm (9am GMT), a time better suited for the European television audience. But monsoon conditions at the Sepang circuit an hour into the race resulted in it being red-flagged just past half-distance. With little daylight time remaining when the thunderstorm eventually receded, the race was not re-started and half-points were awarded to the top eight finishers. Sepang International Circuit CEO Razlan Razali believes the situation could have been avoided if the start time had not been altered. "For many years, it rained after the end of the 3pm race and it's likely to happen again and again," said Razlan to ...

17/06/2009 According to Reuters , FOTA has written to the FIA in an 11th-hour bid to calm the row that threatens the future of the sport, the teams' alliance apparently offering a compromise. In a letter, sent just two days before the FIA's latest deadline, and which Reuters claims to have seen, the teams' alliance writes: "The time has come when, in the interests of the sport, we must all seek to compromise and bring an urgent conclusion to the protracted debate regarding the 2010 world championship. "We hope that you will consider that this letter represents significant movement by the teams, all of whom have clearly stated a willingness to commit to...

17/06/2009 Lewis Hamilton paid a visit to Portcullis House in Westminster yesterday, where he spoke to a number of MPs in support of the FIA Foundation initiative 'Make Roads Safe - a Decade of Action for Road Safety'. Those present included David Ward (Director General, FIA Foundation), Peter Bottomley MP (Vice Chair, Parliamentary Advisory Committee for Transport Safety (PACTS), Lord Andrew Adonis (Secretary of State for Transport), Carey Oppenheim (Co-Director, Institute for Public Policy Research) and Louise Ellman MP (Chair, Transport Select Committee). "When the FIA Foundation invited me to speak here today, and when they briefed me by telling me exactly how many people die on the world's roads ev...

This is damn cool application for the iPhone. For someone who thinks the iPhone is cool but wouldn't buy one, now I would just because of this F1 app. F1 timing and track positioning for the iPhone 16/06/2009 Soft Pauer Ltd has launched its official Formula One Timing and Track Positioning Application for iPhone and iPod touch users. The unique application allows fans to simultaneously track the progress of all cars in real time on a dynamic track map which offers a variety of views of the circuit, including the unique ability to see a bird's eye view of the action. The data is taken directly from the official timing feeds generated at each circuit, giving the user u...

14 June 2009 by Keith Collantine Alexander Wurz, David Brabham and Marc Gene won at Le Mans Peugeot’s squad of three former F1 drivers claimed overall victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Alexander Wurz, David Brabham and Marc Gene led home a Peugeot one-two. The French team resisted the temptation to swap the running order of its leading cars and promote the second-placed all-French (and all-F1) car of Sebastien Bourdais, Franck Montagny and Stepahne Sarrazin into the lead. It marked the first time in ten years the race has been won by a three drivers who have competed in F1. Peugeot returns to victory Alexander Wurz scored his second win the French classic, adding to his 1996 triumph. Wurz made the most F1 starts of the trio, with Marc Gene starting 36 and David Brabham 24. Brabham became the second member of his family to win the race outright - brother Geoff was part of the team that gave Peugeot its last win in the race, in 1993. David Brabham won the GT1 category in the ...

Monday 15th June 2009 Lewis Hamilton may not be winning races this year, so instead the Brit is focusing his attentions on winning a few friends in the paddock. Hamilton has in the past been widely accused by his fellow drivers of showing no respect and being arrogant. This was highlighted by his rift with former McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso and again at the 2008 season-ending Brazilian GP when it appeared that the entire paddock - barring McLaren's personnel - was backing Felipe Massa to win the title. This year, however, Hamilton says he's doing his best to make buddies in the paddock. "I think my relationship with the drivers is better this year," he told The Mirror. "I think they do respect me a lot more as I have worked a lot harder this year to try and rebuild those relationships. "Before I just kept myself to myself when we went to drivers' briefings. Now I try to mingle ...

Wow, what can I say. Keith from F1Fanatic posted this and I thought it was so cool that I had to share this also. It's a poster of all F1 cars ever made since 1950. The original post is by Racing Otaku , so head on over for more info. Sample of the cars on the poster. Below is the full poster, though very small. Via F1Fanatic .

Friday 12th June 2009 Lewis Hamilton may be enduring his most wretched period behind the wheel of his McLaren, but that will not stop him from adopting an all-guns-blazing approach at Silverstone next week. Nine wins and 13 pole positions from 35 races was Hamilton's most astonishing record at the end of his first two years in Formula One that culminated in him winning the World title last year. Few will ever forget the 24-year-old clinching the Championship with a move on Toyota's Timo Glock in the final corner of the final race in Brazil. En route to such heroics was an extraordinary British Grand Prix triumph in front of a sodden, sell-out Silverstone crowd, taking the chequered flag by a phenomenal 68.5 second margin from runner-up Nick Heidfeld. But how fortunes have changed because a year on from a victory he cherishes above all others, Hamilton will be nothing more than an also ran this year given the d...