Alvin's Formula One Blog

I didn't understand Multi 21, I'm German.. The dust has settled in Sepang and we have to wait for another 3 weeks for the next race where we'll throw up some more dust and swish it around. Ah yes, the life of a Formula 1 fan. But until then what shall we dine on? Any goodies left over? But of course. If there aren't any goodies lying around, we'll just whip up the pan and cook us up something tasty. So what do we have for supper then? Why, the Vettel Creme Supreme. It keeps in the fridge for at least 6 months so we can enjoy it longer. The net is awash with stories - some not quite true - but still awash with stories of the crime that is team orders during the Malaysian Grand Prix. Newspaper headlines were all shouting for blood and editors were all duly out with their sharp silverware. The common theme running throughout the headlines is one of war, with 'Red Bull at war' (The Telegraph), 'Webber and Vettel at war' (The Guardian) and 'Re...

What the fuck was that then mate! Multi 21!! First off, what did I think of the 2013 Malaysian GP? Well, it wasn't a washout. The threat of rain was pretty big and the rain did come but not enough to wash out the race. Not enough to cause a Safety Car start or having to start on the full wets. Instead we had an intermediate start with half the track wet and the other half dry. Personally it was a pretty good race with lots of overtaking, dueling  strategy changes and unexpected happenings. Much better than previous years of processions or washout. The story of the day was always going to be about Vettel and Webber. And Rosberg and Hamilton. Those 2 teams provided the gist of the whole race really. And what happened at the end was the icing on the cake. Hell, it took the cake! A lot of people have a lot of different opinions, fans of each team and driver of course being the most hardcore as their team or driver cannot do any wrong. But I've read a lot of other divergent...

Fernando, Massa is faster than you now.. Qualifying for the 2013 Malaysian GP is done and guess what? Vettel took pole again in changeable conditions. Yeah I know, Vettel again? Beggining to look like 2011 all over again where Vettel took 14 pole positions. But then again maybe not. I think it was more due to a smart decision based on the conditions. The Red Bulls started Q1 on the Medium tires which was strange as almost all the top runners used the Hards. It was common sense to use the harder tire for Q1 so as to graduate to the faster Mediums later in Q2 and Q3. Most of the time in Q2 the top teams would still be using the softer of the 2 compounds because they know they can get into Q3 with those tires. No problem. But here both Red Bulls started Q1 with the Mediums leading most people to think that they either had a tire issue or we trying to save the hard tires for the race. It was a strange decision indeed but upon closer inspection, turned out to be a smart...

A very real possibility.. The race week is here! It is a back to back race weekend with Australia and quite tiring for the teams but fantastic for the fans. It is my home race as I am from Malaysia. Our capitol Kuala Lumpur is full of activities this week, lots to do. First included in the Formula One World Championship in 1999, the current Malaysian Grand Prix is held at the Sepang International Circuit at Sepang, Malaysia. FIA-sanctioned racing in Malaysia has existed since the 1960s. But only from 1999 did Malaysia get a proper world class F1 track with the one built in Sepang. The Sepang International Circuit is located near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, approximately 60 km south of the capital city Kuala Lumpur. It is the venue used for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix and other major motorsport events. The circuit was designed by German designer Hermann Tilke, who would subsequently design the new facilities in Shanghai, Ba...

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 . Red Bull got the wake-up call, Kimi Raikkonen got the points and the win, but it was Adrian Sutil who got the glory... Star of the Race Adrian Sutil, Force India, 7th Whoever took the ultimate decision to hire Adrian Sutil must have been in line for a few cheeky Kingfishers after the result in Melbourne. It was the story of the race. Raikkonen did well, but described his race wins as one of his easiest. Staring at the telemetry in the closing stages to see what kind of impression Alonso was making on Raikkonen, the data did seem to bear that out. Kimi seemed able to respond to a fast lap from Alonso almost at will. Starting from P12 Sutil made his medium tyres last and was not fazed by having a triple World Champion behind him. Around Lap 14 he was putting in 1:33.7s while Perez, on the same compound, was only just managing 1:...

As usual James Allen has come out with his excellent Race Strategy Reports with the assistance of Mark Gillan. Since we are having back to back races, time is of the essence. Here I will share with you the report which gives good insight into the pace of the top 3 teams in Melbourne - Lotus, Ferrari and Red Bull and what we can look forward to this weekend. Some interesting points to ponder: Lotus The impressive note was that Raikkonen set the fastest lap near the end, 1.2 seconds faster than the Red Bull, having been 1.2 seconds slower in qualifying than Vettel. Mercedes There were plenty of positives for Mercedes to take away, but in Malaysia they will surely be working more carefully studying tyre life on long runs during Friday practice. Ferrari Massa had outqualified and outstarted his team mate so was in position on merit and he had the fastest pit stops. But it definitely took something away from Alonso’s race effort. It’s debatable whether Alonso could hav...

WOW! That's what I can say about the first race of this season in Melbourne last weekend. I mean, the Melbourne race is usually good as it is the first race, the temperatures are quite high and the track hard on the tires (due to it being half a public road and half unused track). But this race was even more interesting as the use of the supersoft tires and the different ways each car treats its tires made for a very exciting race to watch. WOW! From an F1 PR point-of-view it was perhaps good that the opening race wasn't won by Vettel or Red Bull, because that would be a familiar story to the casual viewer who needs luring back. Lotus blooms To be honest, I did not expect Lotus to win....at all. Sorry Lotus fans. Congratulations to Lotus and Raikkonen, it was a masterclass of strategy, driving and car design. Raikkonen drove a measured race that balanced aggression with intelligence (he does know what he is doing after all). According to him it was "easy...

Friday practice came and went. After 4 months of waiting, it was gone in a flash. FP1 didn't really show us much again as the medium tires held up well in the hot temperatures (which is good). Lewis was 4th fastest in the Mercedes, not too far away from Vettel. As expected, after all that sandbagging in testing, red Bull unleashed their power in both practice session and topped the timesheets with Vettel leading the way on both. FP2 was where the supersofts came out as the teams needed to understand how they're going to attack qualifying with those. And how to go for a longer first stint with full fuel. Lewis set the 8th fastest time although his running was hampered by a crash that ruined his attempts. For a full report on FP1 click here . For full FP1 times, click here . For a full report on FP1 click here . For full FP1 times, click here . Now what worries me more is not Mercedes' reliability as Rosberg had to stop just before the end of FP2 with a gearbox prob...

By plane of course. That would be the literal answer to the question of how teams will approach Melbourne. But we're being literal in another sense. How they will approach the race weekend. How they will consider their strategies. How they will setup everything they need in order to get the best results. How would they do it? Beats me, I don't have access to the pits. But I know who does. James Allen does. And Mark Gillan does. Who's Mark Gillan ? That guy who used to work with Williams F1. And McLaren. And Jaguar/Red Bull. And Toyota. So he knows a bit of what he is saying. Just a bit mind you. And he is advising James Allen now. So James knows what is talking about too. James Allen is one of the most experienced and insightful broadcasters and journalists working in Formula 1 today. He is currently the F1 correspondent for BBC Radio 5 Live and is the network’s lead F1 commentator. He is also F1 correspondent for the Financial Times and presents the on-site coverag...

Bernie can dream, can't he? Somebody has been able to produce an F1 car for 2 dollars!! Yes, you heard right, 2 dollars!! USD2!! Now this is something the teams and especially the FIA has been rattling on about for a long time. We have to reduce the costs in F1 as it was getting ridiculous. Teams could spend an obscene amount of money on everything. If they didn't have the technology or ability to compete, they would just go out and buy it. Some would call it the golden age of F1, some call it the dark ages. To me it was a vulgar period where money talks and the team with the most money would be able to trample on everybody else. So the FIA curtailed that and the idea of customer cars came along. They wanted to have a situation where there was more participation from teams who wanted to go racing for racing's sake. Not a 100 billion dollar motoring empire trying to stamp their mark on racing and off-loading a few million cars in the process. I like the idea of small...

I'm the fastest!! Ok, winter testing is over. It came and went so quickly like it never came. Just 12 days to iron out the kinks and make the design work, plus understand new tires. the weather didn't help much with 2 days of rain and cold but the last 2 days was better with dry and sunny conditions. So now, we're all pumped for the first race, I'm especially looking forward to the first Friday session in Melbourne as so far most of the top teams especially red Bull has not shown their hand. But sooner or later they will have to and Friday in Melbourne will be it. Again, it is difficult to see who will be fast come race day in Melbourne. Testing times are compromised due to different teams running different fuel loads, different settings, different tires. Even though we may speculate that they are running about the same things, the weather changes affects the running as each team might have been running equal setups but at different times of the day, hence dif...