Alvin's Formula One Blog

Here's another thought on the Schumacher return which is not like the others and more like mine. See, I'm not a Schumi fan nor am I a hater (like some people who pretend to be neutral about Lewis Hamilton but are in fact haters). I'll admit that Schumi is a good driver, most drivers are damn good, if not they won't be F1 drivers in the first place. But I have a feeling that Schumacher might find the going tough as James Allen has put it: "As e ex F1 driver put it to me last week, “I don’t care if he is Michael Schumacher, when he’s wheel to wheel against Hamilton into a corner his brain is going to say, ‘I’m 41, he’s 24, I’m going to be the one who lifts off here. ‘ It’s human nature and you cannot fight against it.” And I also agree on some points raised by DoctorVee especially the one about it being a marketing ploy by Mercedes . The name Schumacher generates a lot of interest and it will definitely bring a lot of benefit for Mercedes and their sponsors. But per...

Well, it had to happen. After all the rumours and posturing, it has been confirmed, by the man himself no less, that Michael Schumacher - the 7 time F1 world champion and undisputed greatest driver of all time (so far, although some people do beg to differ), will return to racing. He of course will drive for Mercedes GP, even after Norbert Haug and some people at Mercedes/Daimler have said before that they are not looking at an all German team. Hmm, we now have an all German team. What do I think of his return? It's great news as the show will get interesting. It would definitely be interesting to see whether he still has it in him and how he will adapt to the new cars. Do I think he will be competitive? He certainly seems to think so . But then again all F1 drivers are supremely confident of themselves, if not they won't be where they are. But personally, I'm not so sure he will be competitive unless the car is supreme again like this year. if Button can win it in that ca...

Well, finally Petronas signs back into F1 after flirting with a possible move to Sauber to Lotus F1. I knew somehow Petronas wanted to stay in F1 and that the strongest candidate would have been Sauber but I did not expect this at all. Now all Mercedes will have to use Syntium instead of Mobil 1 and Petronas ads will use Mercs instead of BMW cars. Should be exciting times for Petronas staff as they'll have new merchandise to use. I can't wait to see the new livery and merchandise. The best piece of news is that Alex Yoong is speechless . Ha ha..what did he expect? That Petronas would just roll over and obey? Support a so called national team? Petronas is not stupid, they have been left in the dark before by these useless glamour hungry idiots and they won't repeat the same mistake. Yoong said on Twitter: "Petronas signs with Mercedes GP," he wrote. "Words fail me. Mercedes is a good team, no doubt, but what Lotus is doing is completely ground-breaking and br...

Finally, the drivers have been named . It was not so much of a surprise to see Trulli confirmed but I was surprised to see Kovalainen there. I'm not sure he'll fit in comfortably though but then again, he has nowhere to go. Better here then nowhere. Fairuz I think deserves his place now as test and reserve driver. I think he has what it takes and just needs a chance. At least he's better than Alex Yoong as has been proven many times in A1GP and the World Series by Renault. The funny part of the announcement and I should use the word "stupid" really is that an F1 team line up was made by a Prime Minister of a country. The Lotus F1 driver announcement was actually made by PM Najib with his speech read out by the Sports Minister. Didn't I say it's about glamour?

It is a foregone conclusion that next season will see a change in the points awarded for races. Since there will be more cars on the grid, the FIA has seen it fit to increase points collection positions from 8 to 10 and the points collected for each position also increases. This is how it works out: 1st: 25 2nd: 20 3rd: 15 4th: 10 5th: 8 6th: 6 7th: 5 8th: 3 9th: 2 10th: 1 This probably will make it more interesting but it would be a chore to be calculating the points and drivers positions on the fly. We'd definitely need a paper and pen handy everytime during a race.

One good news today is that the British GP has been saved with Silverstone being given the rights to host the race for the next 17 years, although it seems that there is a clause for both parties to go separate ways after 10 years. Whatever it is, it's still good news as Silverstone not only has the history of being the first race in the history of the official F1 series but is also a pretty good track. Lewis Hamilton is happy that the track has been saved and will host more races in future. He won there convincingly in the rain. It would be great to see him racing Button there next year too. "The place has an atmosphere money can't buy and I have some fantastic memories of the track, winning both races in GP2 in 2006, getting an incredibly emotional and satisfying pole in 07 and winning in the wet in my championship year (2008). "

Well, it was bound to happen, just a matter of when the announcement would be made. And here it is: "..former Malaysian F1 driver Alex Yoong as Head of Driver Development (Asia).." "Yoong and Judge will co-host Lotus F1 Racing’s driver development programme with the aim of nurturing young drivers for future development in Malaysia, Asia and Europe." I wonder what kind of advice would Yoong be giving - how to spin more than 8 times in a single race perhaps. Or how to be snot nosed in public.

Well, it has been some time since I've been writing here, it feels like an eternity. I think I stopped just before I went to Abu Dhabi for the inaugural race there. We had 4 simulators going and placed at the new track for Etihad, the title sponsor of the race. It was a blast and I will definitely have to post a story on that with pictures after this. I guess my 'disappearance' so far has something to do with my personal life. I apologize to my readers for the absence but it seems that my mind has been filled with thoughts of a certain young lady who has captured my heart and attention. F1 being in the off season didn't help either. But I will try to post regularly as much as I can, starting with my opinions on some recent news. 1. S ilverstone announcement on Monday One of the hottest topic around for some time is whether Britain will host a race or not next year. With Donnington bitting the dust, I for one favor Silverstone as it is a challenging track, not to mention...