Alvin's Formula One Blog

What can I say? I was so looking forward to the best track in the world and for McLaren to make some impact and Lewis to score some points. But what happened just a few corners after the start completely ruined it for me. But not all is lost as the race was pretty nail biting with a Force India driven by Fisichella stuck to the Ferrari's ass driven by Raikonnen. Fisichella didn't just get pole yesterday but started the race well and would have won it if not for the safety car in response to the first lap accident. When the safety car came out, it was all over as we knew that Raikonnen would use his KERS to pass Fisi and held on to the lead all the way. But what was surprising was that the Force India car had the pace to maintain a 1 sec gap to the Ferrari all the way. In fact, without that KERS button, Fisi would have overtaken Kimi for the win. That first lap incident was unfortunate. From what I can see from video playback on Youtube here and here and here (some might hav...

A provisional calendar for the 2010 season is out now and Bahrain will kick off the new season after which Melbourne will take over. It seems that Melbourne start later because of daylight savings or something like that. The real excuse is Bernie wants more money therefore a change for Melbourne means more people in Europe can watch the race at a comfortable time. Best part is that Montreal is back. It is one of the best and fastest tracks in F1, a classic. Long straights disturbed by sudden chicanes and u-turns, damn good. All in all, 18 races and gonna be a good season as the teams will debut more finely tuned cars as the regulations should be stable by then. March 14 – Bahrain (Sakhir) March 28 – Australia (Melbourne) April 4 – Malaysia (Sepang) April 25 – Turkey (Istanbul) May 9 – Spain (Barcelona) May 23 – Monaco (Monte Carlo) June 6 – Canada (Montreal) June 27 – Europe (Valencia) July 11 – Great Britain (Donington) July 25 – Germany (Hockenheim) August 1 – Hungary (Budapest) Aug...

First of, hats off to Abu Dhabi for creating one of the best looking and probably with the best facilities, track around. The track looks amazing with the surrounding buildings being a part of it especially the hotel that is practically right on the track. Although it will only have full occupancy during the F1 Race. How the track drives or produces a race is still up for debate though. A track may look good but it doesn't neccessarily mean it will produce an exciting race. Especially that this track was designed by Herman Tilke. We'll have to wait and see. Now, the interesting part is this year's last race will be held at Abu Dhabi and more interesting is the start time. It was supposed to be around 3pm local time but now it has been changed to 5pm. Seems like Bernie is up to his old tricks again. And dusk in Abu Dhabi is 6pm. That means the race will run with daylight and end in the dark . Interesting? Yes. Dangerous? Yes too. That means the drivers will have to adjust to...

Zoom Trulli can run longer than his rivals in the first stint of the Belgian Grand Prix S pa Francorchamps may be a quick circuit but the lack of slow corners means that only 2.25kg of fuel are needed per lap rather than an average of 2.42. With the car and driver weighing in at 605kg combined, it is easy to calculate the fuel levels on board the top ten runners and therefore – adding in the pace laps – the lap number in which they will be forced to make their first stops. Unsurprisingly, the top ten runners are lighter on fuel than those starting outside of the top ten. Indeed those towards the back of the field such as Kazuki Nakajima, Romain Grosjean and Jaime Alguersuari are brimmed full with fuel and on a one stop strategy. Pole-sitter Giancarlo Fisichella is fuelled relatively lightly - as expected - but not as light as fourth placed Rubens Barrichello. Fisichella has 43kg of fuel on board and allowing for the lap to the grid and the parade lap, should be abl...

There couldn't have been a more interesting or perplexing qualifying than this one. I was absolutely confused about it. The whole order of things has been shaken up for reasons still unknown or unbelievable . Some of the reasons to explain it is either lack of downforce or low fuel. we'll have to wait for the weights to be published to get a clearer picture. But for now, Fisichella and Force India are on pole. Yes, you read it right, Force India have scored their first pole ever. Shame for Sutil who got P11, he was outpacing Fisi for much of Friday and Saturday practice. McLaren were fast and stable on Friday and Saturday practice but something happened overnight and they finished in the middle of the pack. Lewis was right when he downplayed their chances at Spa. It seems that they still have not found the downforce they need in fast corners and Spa is full of fast flowing corners. Only the rain could save them now. The Brawns didn't do too well either with only Barriche...

This is my most favorite track in the world. Why? Because it has Eau Rouge and Blanchimont. Eau Rouge is not only fast but it goes down a hill then back up with a chicane thrown in the middle. Blanchimont is a double left hander that is taken flat out. Both these turns are just awesome. Read what the drivers have to say about the magic of Spa . Spa-Francorchamps boasts what is widely regarded as the greatest and most daunting corner in the world: Eau Rouge. Commitment and precision are required in equal measure to take on the climbing right-hander. The vertical wall of concrete challenges the drivers to carry as much speed as possible over the brow and into the 190mph sprint towards Les Combes. A good exit to Eau Rouge will see drivers able to challenge the car ahead at the right hander. Through Eau Rouge the drivers are placed under lateral G forces of more than 5G and compression. It also sees high structural loads placed on the car and engine. Spa is also located in the Ardennes, t...

McLaren's return to form in recent weeks has left the outfit more confident about its prospects for building a title-winning car in 2010, but the team does not believe it can fully relax just yet. The Woking-based outfit started the season in big trouble with its car, and knew that it needed to understand what had gone wrong if it was not to make the same mistakes next year. Now that the MP4-24 has been turned into a race winner, the team is more confident about its chances for developing a successful successor. McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale said: "If we were still scrabbling around at the back of the grid whilst we are going through the release of the car for next year - which will happen over the next month - then I would be very much more concerned than I am now. "We are not complacent by any means. We have to recognise that our car has KERS on it which is probably worth 0.3s, and we have a very good engine package. "If I compare where other team...

Ever since McLaren have introduced their new diffuser, the car can again match itself with the best of the field, allowing Hamilton to take 18 points in the latest two races. Their completely new design built upon the foundations of the double deck diffuser idea. At the same time, the team abandoned its cutout floor after it found out that its effect was far from what was expected after wind tunnel simulations. At Valencia, the car had additional updates in this area. Notably the exhaust covers were now, for once, symmetrical - contrary to the diffuser's shape.

For those of you who missed the race or want to watch it again, Axis of Oversteer has a 58 mins video of the European GP , quite good quality too. I assume it has been edited to cut out the boring parts, that's why its not an hour and a half but 58 minutes.

It's been confirmed that Suzuka will host the Japanese GP for the next 3 years including this year. Personally I prefer Suzuka to Fuji as Fuji is very boring with no real challenge. The older Fuji circuit was even more simple and boring although they tried to spice it up last year by adding some more turns and chicanes, which didn't really improve the experience. Suzuka is full of tight turns and chicanes especially turns 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Love it, looking forward to it.

Monday, 24 August 2009 What are your thoughts coming away from the Valencia weekend? "It was a great weekend and the team ought to be really satisfied with our result. We can't complain, we're up there at the front and we led most of the race - some you win and some you lose. That's motor racing. As I've said before, we don't have the best car just yet, we've still got a lot of work to do but the positive thing is that I genuinely believe we can catch up. Is Vodafone McLaren Mercedes a genuine contender now? "Before the recent upgrades, we'd have been hopeful of getting into the top 10 but now we're regularly hoping for a win or to finish second - and that's a big difference and very encouraging. We're definitely strong again - but we're not fastest. With KERS, we are there or thereabouts but we still lack two or three tenths to the Brawns. Hopefully we can make some further changes to our aerodynamic package - Spa will be ...

Well, as expected it was a boring race . Everything turned out to be a procession as the track doesn't allow the cars to bunch up at certain points for overtaking, all cars were evenly spaced out. The start was as usual the only exciting part of the race. Both McLarens had a good start off the line as did Barichello. Kimi had a good start also, making a few palces but bad news for Button who lost a few places due to being cut by Vettel and his no-risk approach to the race. In the end it was good news for him as he finished 7th, collecting a safe 2 points. Not so for Red Bull , who lost Vettel with another engine failure making it 2 engines in one weekend. Vettel is running out of engines, with 1 engine left for the next 6 races. Does not look good for his championship hopes. I'd say he has no chance now as after the last engine, he will have a 10 place grid penalty everytime he changes engine. Plus, how long can he stretch that last engine? Over 6 races? No way. Webber didn...

About time! Finally, the upgrades work and they've got the problem pinned down. I knew at the Nurburgring that the changes were working and it showed at Hungary. This week during all practice sessions and now qualifying, it's proven that the McLaren cars are fit for duty and will stay at the sharp end of the grid for the rest of the season. Lewis was all relaxed and cruising as it looked like his car is almost perfect. Although both he and Kovalainnen had different wheelbase cars, both seemed to work well. As usual, Kovalainnen is off Lewis' pace slightly. But the Brawns are back and it looks like tomorrowit will be McLaren vs Brawns. With KERS thrown in. The Red Bulls were off the pace with Webber making some mistakes in his rush and Vettel being demoted for an engine change. Ferrari is pretty off also with Raikonnen off the pace and Badoer providing all the fun. It's great seeing a Ferrari starting from last. Sutil in the Force India was great. he provided a great sho...

Well, unfortunately I missed both free practice sessions today but from the reports I've read, I can guess that this race on Sunday will be interesting to watch. Not that the track is any fun as Valencia is pretty boring and looks bad. But maybe, just maybe the drivers will make it exciting for us. From practice 1 , it seems that the McLarens' pace from Hungary was no fluke. Both cars finished the session P2 Kovalainnen and P3 Hamilton behind the Brawn of Barrichello. It also seems that the new parts i.e. front wing and underfloor fitted to Kovalainnen's car has added some tenths to the times as Kovalainnen did finish ahead of Hamilton. It also seems that the Brawns has found their pace back as they finished P1 and P4. What is fun to notice though is that Ferrari has one car finishing at the back, last position, Badoer. Not surprised but fun. Practice 1 Times 01 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:42.460 19 laps 02 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:42.636 16 laps 03 L. Hamilton ...

The FIA has issued the Technical and sporting Regulations for the 2010 Formula One World Championship. Main points No budget cap. KERS to be retained. Titles to be decided on points not medals. To accommodate the need for cars to carry enough fuel for a full race, the weight limit has been raised to 620 kg. Q3 will see a shootout between the drivers that survive Q1 and Q2 all running on low fuel. Eight engine rule to remain in place - despite calls for drivers to be allowed only five engines a season. Only change to in-season testing rules is that teams are restricted to eight straight-line tests and limited running on "promotional" tires. Windtunnel testing limited to 60 per cent scale models (or smaller), and speeds capped at 50 mps. Click here to see the full Technical Regulations (pdf) and here to see the full Sporting Regulations (pdf).

Yeah right . Try that on McLaren. Even a small and simple mistake must be punished until the end of the world. I like this crap here: The Court described some of Renault's pit lane procedures as "flawed" but said the decisions and actions in Hungary were "taken in good faith." Good faith? You'll never see "good faith" in any of Mclaren's cases. I like what Mercedes' motorsport boss Norbert Haug had to say about it: "It's good to see that a harsh punishment is sometimes reversed. I would like to know what that's like," he said jovially during a teleconference with German media. Incidentally, McLaren supported Renault at the FIA hearing and even submitted a letter of support together with 3 other teams.

McLaren's MP4-34 will head into this weekend's European Grand Prix in Valencia with a new front wing and rear floor . The Woking-based team are eager to make it two wins a row following their victory in Hungary last month and they hope the upgrades will give them a big push. "This coming weekend we have a new front wing system for the car to hopefully bring some more performance," team principal Martin Whitmarsh is quoted by Autosport . "You will see that will be on one car in P1, with the new rear floor on the other car in P1... we need to back-to-back the new front wing and rear floor modifications, so by P2 both cars will have converged on the same specification." Whitmarsh also believes KERS is one of the major reasons for the team's return to form in recent races. "Now there is no doubt that KERS is an advantage," he added. "We have potentially a small lap time advantage,...

I'd like to see more from Heikki . To be honest, he's not delivering the points the team needs since last year. In races where Lewis is not scoring the maximum points or is not scoring points at all, Heikki is also not scoring or adding to the tally. I like Heikki actually as he is a nice person, I've met him personally a couple of times. I've also had him in an F1 simulator and he was incredible to watch, his performance was also great. But compared to Lewis in the same simulator, he is still lacking something. On the track, with the same machine he can't match Lewis for performance either. I've got a feeling next year he won't be around. "Heikki is doing, as a team player, a fantastic job in this team," Whitmarsh said in a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 'Phone-In' media call. "On his own evaluation he has not raced as well as he would have liked and we would have liked him to this year. Shame.

Situated in the marina area of Valencia , the European Grand Prix street course is one of the most exciting additions to the Formula One calendar in recent years. Hemmed in by concrete walls, the 25-turn circuit combines a mix of high and low-speed sections and presents a challenging layout for the drivers and engineers. Aerodynamics The track layout means that the teams run with medium levels of downforce with a similar set-up to that used in Shanghai and Bahrain earlier this year. This set-up is possible as there are no high-speed corners and good straight-line speed is important down the long back straight. Fernando Alonso explains: “One of the most exciting parts of the lap is the final section from turns 17 to 25. You are flat-out almost all the way from the exit of 17 to the final corner, but there are so many kinks that you are constantly in a corner. Turn 25 is quite difficult because it’s so slow and yet you approach it at over 300 km/h. So you have to brake as you are comin...

McLaren is confident that it can carry its race-winning form from Hungary into this weekend's European Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton scored the team's first victory of 2009 at the Hungaroring three weeks ago and team boss Martin Whitmarsh believes the latest raft of upgrades to the MP4-24 will give McLaren the opportunity to repeat its winning form on the streets of Valencia. "It's very important that we are able to maintain the winning momentum into this weekend's race," said Whitmarsh. "Fortunately, we have made a structured effort to bring further improvements to the car in Spain. "The whole team has been buoyed by that win and is really looking forward to another strong set of results this weekend. I've no doubt that we'll certainly hit the ground running on Friday." Hamilton says that he is still on a high after his Hungary victory and is hoping to be able to challenge for another win. "It's great to be getting back to bu...

It seems the masters of cheating are at it again. Unable to get permission for Schumacher to test (and unable to get Schumacher to drive) they've suddenly had the urge to do a 2 day promotional video shoot of the F60 with Badoer at the wheel just before the next race at Valencia. Hmm..imagine if Jean Todt was FIA president.

This is interesting I must admit although it would eventually reveal my worst fears. That Alonso might be going to Ferrari. Damn. He's gonna be so cocky when he does get there and being at the front with a good car will help him to raise his nose to the sky. Again, the latest news is still a rumour and I don't really want to believe it as it was from a tabloid - The Sun. But being an F1 fanatic, I can say the probable outcome is Alonso will end up at Ferrari. Sigh.

Lewis Hamilton has said that he is not perfect and he's right. Nobody is then. I can vouch for his explanation as I know him personally. He's just a normal guy with needs and wants like the rest of us. And he has the same fears and anxiety. It's just that he has an extraordinary talent for driving an F1 car which was honed over years of practice and dedication to his love of driving. And having steady hands plus good reflexes does help. He makes mistakes too. The problem is the papers need to sell and they need to latch on a popular person such as Lewis and anything especially the bad stuff reported about him will sell. What makes the problem worse is that people who read this thrash actually believe what they read and never for once stop to think using their logic faculty to see whether it's true or not. Think about it.

It seems next year's race at Sepang will start at 4pm local time instead of the stupid 5pm practiced this year. The moment the race time was announced, every Malaysian worth his salt knew that the race would be fucked because it will rain. And rain it did, in shitloads. But then again Bernie is only concerned about money. Seems for next year he has come to his senses but not enough as 4pm is still dangerously near to rain time here in Malaysia. And when it rains here, light fails pretty fast. Sundown comes early. I hope it will ok though but seriously Bernie should stop thinking of just himself.

Re-published from www.f1technical.net . McLaren is pushing ahead with its car development, and this time has come up with a revised aerodynamics package around the exhausts. The change resembles much that of Renault or Ferrari early on in the season as they decided that it is better to let hot air out of the sidepod sooner rather than later. Hence McLaren did the same, as the exhausts are now part of a large air outlet opening, following which the car's shell is much more tight. Still, the system is assymetrical with the left side allowing more hot air to exit. Also marked it the revised engine cover which Hamilton already had at the Nürburgring. The previous version that was used without change in the first half of the season is now replaced by a more traditional layout with a straight slope towards the rear crash structure. The change effectively reduces the surface of the cover and is an opposite development of the extending shark fin covers.

The McLaren Technology Centre or MTC is a marvel of design and engineering. It looks just stunning with all sorts of clever features built into the design. Keith of F1Fanatic had the good luck of being invited to lunch there recently and was taken on a tour of the place. I envy you, Keith. Anyway, here' s his report on his visit. The MTC is definitely a place I want to tour when I go to England 1 day.

It's official then. Michael Schumacher will not be driving Felipe Massa's car in Valencia because his neck injuries sustained in a bike accident earlier in the year is serious and couldn't heal on time. It's a shame really as I would have loved to see him being beaten by Lewis or the other drivers but then again it could be dangerous as well as he could kill himself doing it too. Instead, Ferrari reserve driver Luca Badoer will take driving duties. And, the Spanish motorsport federation is unhappy as the teams' Spanish test driver Marc Gene did not get to drive. What did you expect then from an Italian team?

It's quite surprising and exciting that McLaren have managed to fix the problems with their car, the MP4-24 turning it essentially from trash to cash. It not only improved but won the race in Hungary outright. It's fast, sticks in corners and is as reliable as ever. How did they do it? Well, head on to Youtube to find out more here .

Since Massa's accident and Henry Surtees' death, there's been a lot of talk about safety in open wheel cars. It seems that there is nothing much can be done but to upgrade some safety equipment such as the helmet and pray for the best. Schuberth, the F1 helmet manufacturer has come out with a new helmet design for Michael Schumacher to debut in Valencia. This new helmet costs a bomb and has an upgraded visor as explained below: "The area around the visor, where Massa was hit by the spring, has been strengthened on Schumacher’s helmet with titanium. - James Allen" It also has seven stars to denote his seven world championships.

It seems that anticipation is still running high at Schumacher's re-debut in an F1 race in Valencia. According to Ross Brawn , if Schumi doesn't perform it's not because he is no good, it's because the car is no good. Luca di Montezemolo though doesn't expect much or doesn't want to put undue pressure on Schumacher to achieve anything. What do I think? I think Schumacher is still a good driver no matter what, even if he hasn't driven an F1 car competitively for some time. There are some things you never forget, it's like riding a bike. But there are 2 things which I think will affect his performance, whether good or bad : His skill and ability - he's obviously got loads of this to drive an F1 car as most F1 drivers have (well, maybe not Piquet or Bourdais..haha..just a joke). His skill and knowledge of driving the car is still there and he will either take to it like duck to water or need a bit of time to adjust (as the car is at least 50% different...

It seems that Ferrari is not happy that their plans for Schumacher to test the F60 was blocked by Williams and Red Bull. And the way the worded their statement is pretty sour grapes. I tend to agree with Williams and Red Bull . Other teams have not or did not take advantage of requesting for special clearance for testing for their drivers, why should Ferrari be any different? Read Ferrari's statement below : "Guess who opposed the test with the F60?" questioned Ferrari. "A team that hasn't won anything for years and yet didn't pass over the opportunity to demonstrate once more a lack of spirit of fair play." Look who's talking? I'm surprised Ferrari can spell "fair play". Ha ha, what a joke. Lets put it this way, nobody else got special treatment so you don't get it either.

Well, finally it has happened. I was waiting for it. Piquet didn't quite shine last year and even then by F1 standards he should have been dropped but somehow Flavio needed to please Alonso by having a sub standard teamate. Piquet is quite pissed off about it but hey, who could blame him. He sucked at F1 with a name like that. I'm sure his reputation is pretty screwed by now thanks to Flav or himself, we'll never know.

So, it seems that peace has descended upon us with the FIA, FOM and FOTA signing the new Concorde agreement which will provide stability to F1 until 2012. Or does it? Even now, there are rumblings as a complaint has been made about the way the FIA conducted entries for the 2010 championship by insisting on having Cosworth engines as the requirement to be considered. I wonder, can we have peace with Bernie running the show and Max pulling the strings in retirement.

That is one interesting possibility, isn't it? Lewis himself is very excited at the prospect of testing himself against Schumacher . Obviously, growing up and dreaming to be in F1 and being the best in the world, the only was to prove that you are the best is by beating the best. And the best so far, according to other people (not me) is Schumacher. But first Schumacher has to get fit and test the F60, then only he can race. We'll see. My thoughts? Hard to say. Depends on the car really. If you read my post on the car here , you'd have a better picture. Is the Mp4-24 better than the F60? Only just recently at Hungary. But then Kimi finished 2nd to Lewis so probably both cars are evenly matched. Which is a really interesting fact as we could then see who is the better driver. Maybe Schumacher has a slight disadvantage as he has not been racing for 2 years and he is not used to the new rules without traction control, less downforce, slicks, etc. But don't count out the sl...