Alvin's Formula One Blog

So the Shanghai GP is done with. And for you Hamilton fans out there, IT'S HAMMER TIME! The hammering starts and hopefully won't stop till Abu Dhabi. Now I know how Vettel fans have been feeling for 4 years. Nice! Although to be honest, the Shanghai race was boring. I know that 1 person's domination can be boring for the championship but I bet Vettel fans never said that for 4 years. Anyway, it's been 4 boring years so time for a change. So to recap the race, here we have some interesting articles written by people of F1 knowledge, in case any of you missed the race or saw it but want to know more. Enjoy. WINNERS AND LOSERS: CHINESE GP Written by Andrew Davies of the PlanetF1 team There was no Shanghai surprise as Mercedes racked up four wins out of four, and their third 1-2 of the season, despite Nico Rosberg having to do onerous things like read out his dash display when the telemetry failed. Star of the Race Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1st Lewis w...

The Chinese Grand Prix is a round of the Formula One World Championship. It is currently held at the Shanghai International Circuit , Jiading, Shanghai, designed by Hermann Tilke. When completed in 2004, it was the most expensive Formula One circuit facility, costing $240 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 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. The UBS Chinese Grand Prix is the fourth round of the 2014 FIA F1 World Championship. The season so far has been dominated by Mercedes, with pole position and victory in all three races. Mercedes powered cars have also performed well with Force India second in the Constructors’ Championship currently. As far as drivers’ form is concerned at Shanghai; Lewis Hamilton ...

Fernando Alonso is a very good F1 driver. Period. Even though I never really liked him especially during his McLaren days, I never had any doubt as to his ability on track. He is a very dangerous driver if given a very fast car. He can win many times over. Here is an interesting article about him by CNN delving into his private life and his thoughts on family. He travels in private jets and is one of the world's highest-paid athletes, but Fernando Alonso's humble beginnings are never far away from his thoughts. He recalls with fondness those childhood days when he used to race go-karts -- the precursor to his enormous success on the Formula One circuit -- free of any pressure. Back then he didn't have to worry about points or standings. "One of the most important things that I received from my parents was to have always this sense of family and to be united" "You just enjoy the present. And maybe that was the nice thing about that period of my career ...

Here is an interesting article written by James Allen and aided by JA on F1 technical adviser Prof Mark Gillan. Prof Mark Gillan was formerly chief operations engineer at Williams, Toyota and Jaguar and he recently gave a lecture on this subject as principal R&D engineer of MTS Systems, which makes testing equipment. Picture an F1 car standing still in the pit lane. The sidewalls of the tyre are nice and straight and the contact patch of the tyre is touching the ground. But imagine what that tyre looks like when loaded up in a high speed corner – it flexes and the shape is no longer that ideal vertical line, so easy to model in a wind tunnel. In modern F1 there is a real premium on understanding this phenomenon and being able to work with the changing shape of the tyre so that the car’s aerodynamics are the best they can be at all times. In simple terms there is lap time to be gained from doing better in this area; so there’s a lot of work going on there at the mom...

Another race weekend is upon us so quickly after Malaysia. This time at night as the Bahrain GP is now a night race after Singapore. 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 mi) "Endurance Circuit" to celebrate F1's 'diamond jubilee'. The 2011 Grand Prix, due to be held on 13 March, was canceled on 21 February...