Alvin's Formula One Blog

2014 offers a great possibility for upheaval in the F1 middle kingdom. Big big changes are coming, nothing is bigger than an engine change. We all have read and discussed the changes, we all are excited about it. How will the engine sound like? How will the tires behave? How will the drivers handle it? Too many variables to discuss. Heck, one race weekend throws up so many things already even with stable rules. But we all look forward to 2014 like a starved man lost in the desert looks lovingly and maybe a bit crazed, at a cool glass of water. So what can we expect from 2014? According to Keith from F1Fanatic, it will "absorbing" and I agree. If F1 gets it right, this will provide an absorbing technical challenge, improve the sport’s credentials as a test bed for environmentally-friendly technology, and enhance both the strategic dimension and spectacle of the races. I'm looking forward to the drivers getting a handle of the different feel of the engine, balance ...

There have been a flurry of activities at Mercedes lately, an attempt to prop up the team as they have had a pretty bad 3 years since coming back as The Silver Arrows. One win and a couple of podiums is nothing to shout about with Ross Brawn at the top and Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher as drivers. Norbert Haug has been thrown out as Mercedes sets about to fix its problems. Next they have brought in 3 time F1 world champion Niki Lauda as non-executive chairman. He has organised the signing of Lewis Hamilton from McLaren to replace Schumacher. Then they convinced Toto Wolff to move from Williams taking an executive director role at Mercedes. To top it all off, now the rumours is that they are trying to get McLaren's technical director Paddy Lowe over as well. Quite a bit of high ranking people assembled there, even Avengers like. A lot of people have a lot of different opinions about this, I'm still confused as I'm not really sure of Mercedes' plans. Who ...

He will help me, I know it.. There are some things in life you know for sure (BTW "for sure" is the most used term in F1, for sure this , for sure that). Things such as income tax or the prices of goods, these things only go up. If you were to tell someone in a conversation over breakfast that these things were going to come down and that you're very sure of it (for sure), you might end up finishing that breakfast alone. 99% would not believe you. Some things are just like that "for sure", meant to be. Today we have Felipe Massa telling us that: We are fighting for two titles and I am sure the team will help me if it turns out that my situation was the same as the one that meant Fernando was a contender these past years. Ok I admit that was a bit of a gobbledy gook. Felipe baby, you must learn to form better sentences. Basically, what he was trying to say was that this season, if he (Felipe) was in a position that Alonso was i.e. leading the championsh...

Vettel's got 3 now, you know..Yeah, yeah but you're the strongest. Alonso seems to have mellowed down pretty well these days. His control of his emotions and the way he focuses it where it should go is worth noting. I've said it before that I never liked him and his attitude of "me first" or "me only" which was very evident when he was at McLaren but I admire his focus, concentration, commitment and ability to believe in himself these past 2 years. Although his attitude of "me first" or "me only" is still there, he doesn't push it too much or too obvious anymore, which helps his image of being the people's champion 2012. But his political skills have become much more evident and polished recently, since last year. He is quite good at playing mind games with his opponents, especially Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has branded Alonso good at playing politics with Alonso's snipping of Vet...

The 2013 F1 season, which will begin on March 17 in Melbourne and end on November 24 at Interlagos, is set to consist of 19 events following the cancellation of the proposed New Jersey GP. Despite the omission of Valencia and the British GP at Silverstone losing its July slot for only the fifth time in the event's history, the calendar predominantly follows the same path as the 2012 campaign. In a minor tweak, Japan and Korea have swapped positions while both the German and Belgian GPs have been brought forward by a week either side of the now-traditional mid-season August break. Meanwhile, the much-anticipated inaugural street race in New Jersey has been postponed until 2014, with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone confirming that although race organisers had run out of time to prove its state of readiness he remains fully committed to the event. There was speculation that a French, Austrian or Turkish GP could return to the schedule and the German race was moved forward a w...

Red Bull Racing has a new promotion up and running. As you can see at the top of this blog, there is a new banner that says "Red Bull Super Time Game". It's a desktop flash game, click on the banner and play it, you might win a nice prize. Or you can go ahead to try it here -  http://supertime.redbull.co.uk/ Its a really fun game which tests your reactions over a number of levels which profile Red Bull Sports, including motorsports. So what's in store for you if you play this game then? All those that enter their details having played the game will be entered into a prize draw to win an amazing, money can't buy, highly sought after behind the scenes Factory Tour at the Red Bull Racing HQ at Milton Keynes! The winner will be picked on the 8th February 2013. So, you best get those fingers fit and your eyes tweaked. This is a game of hand eye coordination. Good luck to everyone who goes for it and post some pictures of inside the factory if you get to...

As we all know, in 2014 there will be a new engine formula in F1. The 2.4 litre V8 engine, producing 750 horsepower at a maximum 18,000 rpm, will be replaced by a 1.6 litre V6 revving at 15,000 rpm with a kinetic and heat energy recovery system (ERS) and turbocharger running at 125,000 rpm. Each driver will be limited to five engines per season rather than eight engines at present. If a sixth is required, a 10-place grid penalty will be incurred. When the news was first announced, the whole F1 world, especially the fans responded negatively, fearing that the sport we loved so much would never sound the same again. Promoters and track owners were also scared that the new engine would not sound the same and would drive fans away. Even the F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone has reservations about it, mentioning many times that he did not want the smaller engine and that it would drive the fans away. Recently, Mercedes is the first to unveil the controversial new for 2014 engine, so you ...

Romain Grosjean says he is "aware of the risks" in Formula One and has worked hard at correcting the mistakes he made in 2012. Having made a number of errors during the opening laps of races, Grosjean was banned from the Italian Grand Prix last year for causing a major first-corner crash at Spa-Francorchamps. At the second race back from that ban, Grosjean took out Mark Webber on the opening lap, leading Webber to brand him a "first lap nutcase". Grosjean, however, says he learnt throughout 2012 that a more measured approach is required to become a world champion and that he believes having five clean races at the end of the season is proof he will improve further in 2013. "I do not think winning at all costs is the goal, because the dream is to become world champion one day," Grosjean told Stade2. "Of course, it is true that you have to win races to be champion, but I must be careful not to mistake the goal. "That's what cost me the nickna...

There is an interesting story about McLaren's 50 years of history and how Bruce McLaren came about to creating this iconic team. This story was written by Alan Henry on the McLaren blog. Alan Henry has been a renowned Formula 1 journalist since the early 1970s. With an illustrious career spanning four decades, he has worked as Formula One correspondent of the Guardian newspaper, Editor at Large of F1 Racing magazine and Grand Prix editor of Autocar magazine.Here's an excerpt to whet your appetite. McLaren stands poised for a buoyantly optimistic 50th anniversary season as it celebrates its 50th birthday over the coming months, highlighting a superb record of achievement which is sure to resonate across the race tracks of the world. Looking back to the team’s debut under the 'Bruce McLaren Motor Racing' banner in the 1963-64 Tasman Championship it was no surprise that the new organisation was quick to raise the tempo and diversity of its commitment across increasingl...

Formula E is a new FIA championship featuring Formula cars powered exclusively by electric energy. It represents a vision for the future of the motor industry over the coming decades. The FIA Formula E Championship will be launched in 2014. It will run exclusively in major international cities and it has all the assets needed to reach a worldwide audience, becoming a bridge between the old and new era of industry and motorsport. When the news was first announced, there was a lot of disbelief about having an electric racing car pretending to be a racing car. I wondered as well how would a single seater racing car sound like. And how fast could it go? We have had electric racing done before and electric car competitions but at a world class level with real racing? Anyway, the promoters have released a promo video of their new series. The racing is still a long way away, first race is scheduled for 2014, the same year F1 goes through a huge engine change to 1.6 turbocharged engi...