Alvin's Formula One Blog

I have written before about Thailand being interested to host an F1 race here . It was to be a street race in the heart of Bangkok. I didn't give it much thought at the time as the announcement was made suddenly and the Thai authorities did sound too confident about it. As we all know, things change very quickly in F1 and deals can be made upside down. So, it was not really a groundbreaking news at the time. Now after being so quiet for so long they've burst on the scene again and this time they even have an approved track layout and they're saying it will be a night race. This looks like a stronger case for the race but as we know in F1, anything is possible. Plus we also know that at the moment the calendar is quite full with so many other countries lining to pay Bernie his money. So, I'm not quite sure who will get the chop to make way for Thailand. Although I have a bad feeling it will be Malaysia. Singapore has only been on the scene for a few short years b...

How do you get attention nowadays in a world full of Tweets, status updates, news flashes every tenth of a second? Well, you do something bonkers. Like the Renault Twizy F1 Concept. Renault has applied F1 KERS technology to its electric city car, the Twizy, to come up with a really bonkers one-off concept. The Twizy Renault Sport F1, to give it its full name, has an F1 KERS unit in place of the usual rear seat and is capable of 0-60mph in 6.0s. The Twizy is also fitted with an F1-style steering wheel, front and rear wings, sidepods and slick tyres from a Formula Renault 2.0 car. Slightly less impressive is its top speed of 68mph. When KERS is activated it offers an extra 80bhp for 14 seconds on top of the 17bhp from the Twizy's standard electric motor. Just like in an F1 car, the driver has a KERS button on the steering wheel and can choose between harvesting and deploying power. The KERS unit adds an extra 30kg in weight but it more than makes up for it with the extra power....

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 . Vettel was in a class (and race) of his own, but it was Sergio Perez who showed that he can follow a team order to the letter... Star of the Race Sergio Perez, McLaren, 6th Martin Whitmarsh gave Sergo Perez the strict instruction that he had to be more aggressive and having been held up by Jenson Button as early as Lap 8 he took his boss at his word and "used his elbows". McLaren are racers and believe they have the moral high ground over Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull who they see as mere 'strategistas' - racing to percentages. It certainly makes races more exciting. Of course the freedom to race your team-mate includes the maxim don't hit them, but in the past Button and Hamilton have hit each other - in Turkey and Canada to name but two instances. Perez's problem was that whereas he let Button past cleanl...

The Bahrain GP weekend was a real hotbed, not just the temperatures and F1 machinery going berserk in the middle of the desert but the surrounding region was a hotbed of protest . The unrest in Bahrain rages on despite claims by the government of on-going "talks" to heal the nation. But the show goes on even when Bernie says the Bahraini government was " stupid " to host the race. Although he also said: "I feel they do a super job and we're more than happy to give them a new contract for five years. I don't see any problems." Yeah, all he sees is cash as the Bahrain GP promoters cough up GBP26 million per race, so a 5 year contract would do just nice for Bernie. Who cares how many have died on the streets, right? I need the money, ex-wife sucking me dry (not there).. Qualifying set up a pretty interesting race although Rosberg putting his Mercedes on pole was more of a show as we know the Mercedes has been struggling on Friday and Satu...

The Bahrain Grand Prix is a Formula One Championship race in Bahrain sponsored by Gulf Air. The first race took place at the Bahrain International Circuit on 4 April 2004. It made history as the first Formula One Grand Prix to be held in the Middle East, and was given the award for the "Best Organised Grand Prix" by the FIA. The Bahrain Grand Prix has usually been the third race of the Formula One calendar. However, in the 2006 season, Bahrain swapped places with the traditional opener, the Australian Grand Prix, which was pushed back to avoid a clash with the Commonwealth Games. In 2010, Bahrain staged the opening race of the 2010 season and the cars drove the full 6.299 km (3.914 miles) "Endurance Circuit" to celebrate F1's 'diamond jubilee'. The 2011 Grand Prix, due to be held on 13 March, was canceled on 21 February due to the 2011 Bahraini protests after drivers including Damon Hill and Mark Webber had protested. Human rights activists called f...

This is an article written by my guest this week, Tom Jeffries author of BMX Racing with an interest in motorsports photography and Formula 1 on behalf of Puma hotels . It's about certain tracks which can be street viewed via Google. Interesting. Have you ever wondered what the tarmac on the Curva Parabolica at Monza looks like? How about the apex at Stowe corner? Well wonder no more – we take you through the tracks you can look at on Google Street View. Silverstone, Britain  Where better to start than our home Grand Prix? The Street View bike (yes, bike!) follows the Nissan pace car (which makes an appearance in every photo round the track) around the circuit to give you a look at what it’s like to go round the current version of Silverstone. Due to there not being the usual 100,000+ fans packing the stands, it has a strangely empty look to it. Here is a video as well, looks nice. Monza, Italy  Whilst we know we’ll (unfortunately) never dri...

Another weekend, another race. That was quite entertaining actually. I expected it to be a bit boring as most Chinese GPs tend to be, at least to me. The pack did fan out quickly as expected, the cars were spread out quickly within a lap due to the nature and layout of the track. But the tires did cause varying strategies to be played out. We saw this coming during qualifying especially during Q3 when Button purposely set a slow lap of 2 minutes plus while Vettel didn't bother to set a time. That set up an interesting race strategy wise as teams chose different tires to start and finish the race. The start was pretty clean and as expected Lewis lost the lead to the shockingly fast Ferraris. Seems their race pace is hugely strong compared to their qualifying pace. Just imagine if Alonso had put the car on pole? He would have blitzed the start and romped away. In comparison, Lewis had a good start but couldn't stretch out a lead over the Ferraris at all with mediocre pace t...

How's ma teeth? This is a pretty thought provoking article written by Matt Coch from Pitpass. I just didn't know how to sum it up really as Matt really did a good job. And that is not just because I'm a fan of Lewis but I just think he is right, not on all points but generally. Like he said, F1 fans are mostly hate 'em or love 'em types, very little are in between. I happen to be those from in-between. Yeah sure I support Lewis and hate to see him not winning but what is right is right and what is wrong will always be wrong, no matter how you twist it. At the end of the day though, what's the point of being extreme and emotional when it causes you to be so angry that you missed the point. You didn't enjoy the racing which is the point of watching and following F1. So to those out there who are extreme, chill out, relax, stay calm and enjoy F1. Formula One fans fall into one of two categories; the fickle, who support whoever is winning, and the dieh...

Ah yes, the race weekend is nearly upon us. The long 3 week wait is almost over. Now we'll have 2 races back to back, after Shanghai it will be Bahrain (hopefully). This coming Chinese GP will be the 10th edition, that was fast, didn't feel like 10 years already. The Chinese Grand Prix is currently held at the Shanghai International Circuit , designed by Hermann Tilke. When completed in 2004, it was the biggest and most expensive Formula One circuit facility, costing USD240 million. The track is 5.451 km long and features one of the trickiest corners combinations on the Formula One calendar, comparable to that of Istanbul Park's turn 8, also designed by Tilke. Turn 1 and 2 in sector 1 are a very demanding 270 degree, right-handed corner combination that requires a lot of speed whilst entering and it tightens up towards the end. Sector two features Shanghai’s only medium and high-speed corners, Turns 7 & 8, as well as a pair of slow left handers. Then Sector thre...

The F1 themed movie called "Rush" has been in production for some time now and F1 fans are eagerly awaiting it as there has never been a really good F1 movie so far. "Senna" however good it was, was a documentary. I've been waiting for a real Hollywood type movie with a story and action. This one is it. The movie is directed by Hollywood legend Ron Howard. Who is Ron Howard? Ronald William "Ron" Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American film director, producer and former child actor. He came to prominence playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years and later the teenager Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years. He appeared in the films The Music Man in 1962, American Graffiti in 1973 and The Shootist in 1976, the latter during his run on Happy Days. He also directed "Apollo 13" starring Tom Hanks. Ron Howard So what is the story behind Rush then? Here's the official synopsis: T...

Not my fault, blame the hose.. Many races have been decided inside the pitlane by teams switching drivers ( a fine example of team orders although a cleaner way of doing it), by pitting early or later, by pit crews who do a fantastic job changing the tires or by blunders such as not attaching the wheels properly. We saw some in the last race in Sepang where Lewis Hamilton stopped in the wrong pitbox and by McLaren who once again bungled a pitstop this time screwing up Jenson Button's wheel so much so that he had to retire from the race. So what are the best pitlane blunders of all time then? Keith of F1 Fanatic has compiled a list of the top ten pitlane blunders and it provides for some good laughs. Example from Keith: Disaster struck at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix when race leader Felipe Massa, pitting under the safety car following Nelson Piquet’s infamous deliberate crash , was given a green light before the fuel hose had been disengaged. Massa drove off, tearin...