Alvin's Formula One Blog

Vettel won again, what did you think? And not only did he win it, he had spare pace with the ability to pull away 1 to 1.5 seconds per lap from everybody else. The pace of the RB9 was MONSTROUS, it was obscenely ridiculous. Actually, there was no race in Singapore last weekend, it was just a cruise to collect even more points to guarantee a fourth world title for Vettel. Behind him was a scrap, for whatever scraps that was left on the table. Alonso lost even more points to Vettel even though he finished second. Although there were a lot of good overtaking and fights behind, it was just a show. It is not a race when the victory was sealed on lap 2. Vettel had a 4.1 second gap to Rosberg on lap 2. What does that tell you? Even the safety car coming out didn't help much, Rosberg totally failing to do anything at the restart. Actually the race was set by qualifying already when Vettel took a strategy gamble on Saturday, opting not to do a final run to save a new set of supersoft ...

This article was expertly written by James Allen and explains why the Singapore GP has been very successful since day 1 and I completely agree. For the complete article proceed HERE . Why has Singapore quickly become one of F1′s most important and successful races, where events in places like Korea and India have floundered? Of course the charisma of the night race and the economic location of the event, in the business gateway to Asia are significant factors. But the reason why it works so well is the business model for organising the event. And it’s one other F1 races and aspiring hosts would do well to emulate. The key to it is a public/private model; a 60-40 split between the Singapore government and a private company owned by entrepreneur Ong Beng Seng, whose property, hotels and lifestyle business also extends to operating Ferrari dealerships in Singapore and Shanghai. Ong was the first to bring Haagen Dazs ice cream to Asia and is one of Singapore’s main concert promoter...

The Singapore Grand Prix is a motor race on the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The event takes place in Singapore on the Marina Bay Street Circuit and was the inaugural F1 night race and the first street circuit in Asia. Spaniard Fernando Alonso won the first edition of the grand prix, driving for the Renault F1 team although that win was tainted by the unexplained crashing of team mate Piquet Jr. The Singapore Grand Prix will remain on the F1 calendar through at least 2017, after race organizers signed a contract extension with Formula One Management on the eve of the 2012 event. Starting at 8pm (local time), two hours after darkness has fallen over the city-state, the Singapore Grand Prix is the only night race on the 2013 Formula 1 calendar. To enable visibility, the 5.073km Marina Bay circuit is lit up by 1,500 halogen lamps, giving a luminosity of 3,000 lux – as bright as daylight. The track is the second street circuit of the year, following on from Mo...

This is a repost of an excellent team technical analysis of the Italian GP by Matt Somerfield as published on Pitpass recently. Just wanted those who have missed it to have a read. For the full article, please go HERE . The Formula One circus headed into the last European race of the season knowing that the circuit represents a unique challenge. The 3.6 mile Autodromo Nazionale Monza is nestled in parkland and represents a unique challenge for both teams and drivers with only chicanes and a few medium downforce corners breaking up the long, super-fast straights. It therefore comes as no surprise that many teams have Monza specific parts to cater for this low downforce circuit. As I discussed in my previous roundup (Spa) some of the teams took the time to simulate their extremely low downforce rear wing configurations during the free practice sessions. Red Bull With neither of its drivers completing the Italian GP in 2012 the team was eager to continue its current momentum and t...

Not again?! What can I say? It was confirmation that the Red Bull car is fast on fast tracks. Not only are they fast on high downforce tracks, but now they are fast on low downforce tracks as well. That means they are fast on all tracks. Which means I will have to watch The Simpsons more often. It was always going to be a difficult race for the title contenders except Vettel as Alonso started in P5, Hamilton P12 and Raikonnen P11. Vettel romped away at the start as expected, not even a wheel lockup doing anything to his dominance. Raikonnen had his front wing smashed which left lots of debris for Hamilton to step on and get a slow puncture. Both had good race pace but were pushed back into the field due to unnecessary pitstops. Basically Vettel had another of his dominant races where he just cruised from lights to flag. The only interesting part of the race was behind him where fights were on-going and incredible overtaking was taking place. Much of the overtaking was done with...

This excellent article was written by Brad Spurgeon of the New York Times. I'm reproducing it here in part for the benefit of most of the casual F1 and racing fans to understand racing from the racing line perspective. There are many excellent and technically detailed articles out there I'm sure but this one is written in a more laymans term, so it is nice to read. The full article is HERE . When most people think of the world’s greatest racing drivers fighting to be first at the checkered flag, they think of speed, guts and bravado, of brilliant overtaking moves and the car’s raw power. What is often not realized is that the real challenge for a driver is not posed by the other drivers but rather by his own constant effort to find the best racing line. The racing line is the most efficient, fastest path around the track. In short, drivers do not think of racing in terms of always going at top speed, but of finding the most economical trip around the circuit and shaving...

We are now coming to the last race of the European season at Monza this weekend. Although a simple layout track, Monza is the fastest track on the calendar and will see some great action round the bends plus some crashes at the first turn. Hopefully not. The Italian Grand Prix (Gran Premio d'Italia) is one of the longest running events on the Formula One calendar. The Italian Grand Prix was also one of the inaugural Formula One championship races in 1950, and has been held every year since then. The only other championship race for which this is true is the British Grand Prix, and the only other inaugural F1 races that are still on the calendar are the Monaco Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix. Every Formula One Italian Grand Prix since 1950 has been held at Monza (except in 1980, when it was held at Imola). The Italian Grand Prix counted toward the European Championship from 1935 to 1938. It was designated the European Grand Prix seven times between 1923 and 1967, when this...

Daniel Ricciardo has been officially confirmed at Red Bull for next season replacing Mark Webber. This continues the tradition of having an Australian at Red Bull, will it also continue the tradition of the Australian being the number 2 driver? I could hear the howls of protestations at the news, including mine. Not that I wanted Kimi or Alonso to go there but doesn't matter who does, will they get equal treatment to Vettel after what we've seen the last 3 years? Of course on the surface of it, one would assume that Ricciardo will get the short end of the stick. He's new, young and a product of the Red Bull young driver program. Of course he has to toe the party line, even Red Bull die hards will have to admit as much. But if he outshines Vettel, will he get nipped in the bud? Will his car have some unexplained problems during races? Will his clutch fail to engage properly at starts? Will Helmut Marko...well, lets not even go there, we all know Helmut. Team boss Chri...