Alvin's Formula One Blog

We have recently experienced a golden era of Motor Sport with the 2012 season consisting of 6 World Champions on the grid and battles of all sorts up and down the grid. This has been one of the most competitive seasons in memory. Fernando Alonso has come out on top in a survey to   find who was the best performing driver of the 2012 Formula One season. The Spaniard picked up almost 25% more points from judges than the World Champion Sebastian Vettel who came in 2nd. It is likely that perceptions of the German’s performance were hampered by the perceived superiority of his Red Bull car. Lewis Hamilton was a distant third, finishing just ahead of the impressive Kimi Raikkonen who made a stunning return after two years out of the sport. However, the two other World Champions on the grid had a less successful year; with Jenson Button finishing in 6th place behind his 2013 team-mate Sergio Perez. This probably owes largely to poor form in the middle part of the season, the lo...

In the span of seven years, Red Bull built a lackluster F1 team into the three-time world champions and the most dominant presence in motor racing. Red Bull did something quite unprecedented when it bought its first Formula One team in 2005. It took a backmarker team - Jaguar Racing, itself rebranded from Stewart Grand Prix - and through a boatload of money at it. It took its first podium finish in only its second year on the grid, and was winning races by 2009. The rest, as they say, is history, as the team - headed by some of the top minds driven by two of the best drivers in the sport - went on to secure three back-to-back world championships. Watch the video above to learn their fascinating story.

This is the latest news as reported by the ROC. Team Germany's Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel added to their incredible run of success by winning their sixth consecutive ROC Nations Cup title in Bangkok. On another hot evening in the Thai capital, legends from many of the world's biggest motor sport series teamed up in pairs to battle for national pride. They raced a mix of cars – including the Audi R8 LMS, VW Scirocco, Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo and the Toyota GT86 – on a purpose-built parallel track at the Rajamangala Stadium. To cap off a busy night of action, Schumacher and Vettel prevailed in the Grand Final against Team France's Sébastien Ogier and Romain Grosjean. First Schumacher defeated Grosjean then Vettel beat rally ace Ogier in the 'battle of the Sebs'. The result meant that the German duo took an incredible ten wins out of ten on the night, matching their combined total of F1 world championships. They have now extended their recor...

The FIA has finalized the changes to the F1 regulations for the 2013 season and updated its planned rules for 2014. There are a few changes to the 2013 rules beyond those  revealed after last week’s World Motor Sport Council meeting but the full regulations reveal some new details. 2013 Rules Among the changes to the technical regulations for next year is a rule governing what happens when cars run out of fuel on the track during any session, such as happened during qualifying to  Lewis Hamilton in Spain and Sebastian Vettel in Abu Dhabi. Teams will no longer be allowed to claim a car was stopped for reasons of “force majeure”, instead the FIA will determine how much fuel should have been in the car when it stopped: After a practice session, if a car has not been driven back to the pits under its own power, it will be required to supply the above mentioned sample plus the amount of fuel that would have been consumed to drive back to the pits. The additio...

Here is a great article by Keith of F1Fanatic listing down 50 things that made this year great in F1. Just had to share as I agreed with almost everything there and some of them are just wonderful. Made me smile thinking back what a great year this has been with all the ups and downs. Click here to enjoy yourself! And look at this picture. Doesn't that just make you smile? F1 drivers are just human with Massa and Alonso there making fun of the shot. It's just some fanatical fans out there that sometimes sound like a serial stalker. Lighten up, it' a sport and we're supposed to enjoy ourselves and widen our network and knowledge.

The World Motor Sport Council met recently to ratify some detailed changes to the F1 calendar for 2013 and to the sporting and technical regulations. The main headline is that the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone are keen to insert a 20th race as the New Jersey race has been postponed. The German Grand Prix will move to July 7th (from 14th July) to make room for a race on July 21st. The Turkish Istanbul Park race track has confirmed an agreement in principle to host the race, which would fall one week before the Hungarian Grand Prix. However the deal might not happen as the Turkish government has not given approval to fund the race. Problems of funding the event have dogged it in the past. “The date for the 2013 Grand Prix of Germany has been moved to 7 July, and 21 July has been reserved for another F1 European event, subject to the approval of the relevant ASNs,” said the FIA statement. There has been talk of the return of the French Grand Prix, but sources in France say that there is...

At the conclusion of its second season in F1 since its return, Pirelli has issued a range of statistics relating to tyres, circuits, pit stops, overtakes and just about everything else… even mascarpone! TYRES Total number of tyres provided for the season: Race tyres: 31,800 of which 22,500 dry tyres and 9,300 wet tyres plus an additional 6,600 for the tests (not including development tyres) Of which (for race tyres only): supersoft: 6 % / soft: 25 % / medium: 21 % / hard: 17 % / intermediate: 18 % / wet: 11 % / 2 % development tyres Total numbers of tyres used: Dry tyres: 21,400; wet tyres: 2,100 Number of tyres recycled during 2012: All, i.e. 31,800 race tyres plus 6,600 test tyres Average life span of a dry compound this season: 180 km Average life span of a wet compound this season: 140 km TRACKS, RACES AND TESTS Longest continuous energy input into a tyre: India (turn 10-11) Longest race of the year: Malaysia in 2h 44:51.812 Shortest race of the year:...

Giedo van der Garde has secured the second race seat at Caterham for 2013, completing the team's line-up alongside Charles Pic. Which mean Caterham is effectively running 2 rookies this year, a situation that is unavoidable due to financial constraints. Although Petrov should have brought more money but I have a feeling that his sponsors have abandoned him, therefore Caterham did not retain him. So that leaves only 2 more seats available - 1 at Force India and 1 at Marussia, although it is possible that Luiz Razia has secured that seat at Marussia as his official website has claimed it so (funnily enough ahead of the team announcement). Below list has been updated as of today (Bold = Officially confirmed) Driver Entrant Constructor Vettel Red Bull Racing RBR-Renault Webber Red Bull Racing RBR-Renault Button Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren Mercedes Perez Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren Mercedes Alonso Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari...

I can't believe sometimes that the season is over. Some days it feels very long with 20 races. Some days I'm surprised it is over, the last race was done and dusted just last week. What a season it has been with many different race winners, teams moving up and down the grid, accidents, dramas, unexpected news and the title battle being dragged to the final race. 2012 would be remembered as a watershed year for F1 as Sebastian Vettel won his 3rd drivers title in a row, not only going into the record books as the youngest 3 time world champion but also the only other driver besides Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio to have won 3 titles in a row, a hatrick. The Red Bull RB8 is a strong car and fast. It was strong and fast since 2010, even better in 2011 as Vettel swept the title with ease then. But this year has been different. The RB8 started not as strong , that's why there were 7 different winners in the first part of the season. But as the season p...

This article is written by Andrew Davies and published on PlanetF1.com. It is re-produced here in its entirety. For the original article, click here . Jenson Button proved that he is Der Mixed-ConditionsMeister at Interlagos while Felipe had another miserable Brazilian podium. Star of the Race Jenson Button, McLaren, 1st Button showed just who is the better McLaren driver in mixed conditions on Sunday after he stalked Lewis Hamilton over the opening laps and then made the decisive move on Lap 8. He and Hulkenberg were 45 seconds clear of Hamilton and 64 seconds in front of Alonso when the Safety Car came out on Lap 23. Although the Force India driver managed to dispose of his team-mate, it's likely that as the rain came down again Button would have re-established his superiority. Despite winning the last race, McLaren are the big losers of 2013. They had the fastest car - Hamilton scored the most poles of any driver (not even counting Barcelona) - yet they didn't ge...

This article is written by Pete Gill and published on PlanetF1.com. It is re-produced here in its entirety. For the original article, click here . No matter who won the Championship they were going to be worthy of it but for different reasons... Alonso loses out to a worthy champion Oh 2012, how we're going to miss you. Brazil's epic conclusion was a fitting finale for an epic season which had everything and which just kept on giving. The victor was deserved, but that conclusion was guaranteed long before the curtain fell; only Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel could have been crowned champion at Interlagos and just because Ferrari's brilliant Spaniard warranted the title doesn't mean the German didn't deserve the crown for himself as well. In very different ways, with polar-opposite styles of personality, and usually starting from different parts of the grid, the genius and the jester were united by their shared claim for the elite ranking of triple World Champ...

This review of the final race at Interlagos in 2012 was done by Gary Anderson and posted originally here . Gary Anderson, BBC F1's technical analyst, is the former technical director of the Jordan, Stewart and Jaguar teams. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso did not lose the world championship to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in Brazil on Sunday - it was gone long before that. Thirteen points is a lot to make up in one race. Alonso almost managed it - he ended the season just three points behind - but in the end it was too much to do. The Brazilian Grand Prix was a lottery; races run in changeable conditions always are. It could have gone many different ways. Winner Jenson Button did two stops, Alonso did three, and Vettel did four. That sort of thing can change the outcome of the race dramatically. Everything went wrong for Vettel - although he was lucky he did not have to retire as a result of his first-lap collision with Williams's Bruno Senna - and Alonso could ...

Williams has confirmed Valterri Bottas as their new driver for 2013 replacing Bruno Senna and partnering Pastor Maldonado today. That leaves Senna without a seat for hext year. So below is the latest update of the driver line up for 2013, there are still seats available. We will post updates as soon as they become available. Below list has been updated as of today (Bold = Officially confirmed) Driver Entrant Constructor Vettel Red Bull Racing RBR-Renault Webber Red Bull Racing RBR-Renault Button Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren Mercedes Perez Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren Mercedes Alonso Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari Massa Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari Hamilton Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes Rosberg Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes Raikkonen Lotus F1 Team Lotus-Renault Grosjean Lotus F1 Team Lotus-Renault Di Resta Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India-Mercedes Sutil Sahara...

This is an article written by ex-F1 racer Christian Klien who now guest writes on www.pitpass.com. It is reproduced here in its entirety. The original article can be found  here . Christian Klien (born 7 February 1983) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. In total he has scored 14 points in 49 Formula One starts. Klien currently drives for Aston Martin Racing in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. With just one race to go the championship could not have been set up any better. It's been a long season with a lot of back-to-back races, a lot of them fly-aways outside of Europe, which is tough on everyone involved in the sport, especially the mechanics. Last weekend Formula One returned to the United States for the first time in five years. The US is an important market for Formula One, and I must say I was impressed with what I saw of the Circuit of the Americas. It reminded me a lot of Istanbul; very modern but with a lot of challe...