Alvin's Formula One Blog

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...

Happier at Mercedes? Lewis Hamilton has recently taken to writing for an F1 newspaper column, as so many of his peers before him such as David Coulthard and many others. Below is a re-production of his first column for the BBC in which he is quite personal and frank about his life and issues surrounding it. Some of things we take for granted or just assumed without the knowing the person. I met him and spent a short time with him and his father Anthony in 2007, 2008 and 2009, so I have had the rare opportunity to see a glimpse into the type of person he is. And this article is 80% true, of course nobody is perfect and we do try to hide some stuff. Only we would know 100% of ourselves. But how many people do you know or for that matter how many F1 drivers would you think is this frank about themselves? I know this article is a bit late and some of you have read it already and dissected it a million ways but this is for the benefit of those who have not. For the original...

P15 y'all. Better get used to it. P15??!! WTF?? Yeah, I know what you mean. For all those who are not aware yet, I am a Lewis Hamilton supporter. Not a die hard (maybe Bruce Willis) supporter as sometimes he does wrong (he's only human) and I give him his due shit. I met him in 2007 when he was in Sepang, Malaysia for his second race of his F1 career. I got to know his dad, Anthony well. We had "roti canai" on the streets of Malaysia and I drove them around, well mostly Anthony. So of course I had an interest in his career from the start. The fact that he is a damn fierce racer who throws the car around corners is also the reason why I'm a fan. So yes, I'm surprised as well to see him finish P15. Well, not really. It happens quite a few times with McLaren reliability lately. And with Mercedes, P15 could be his new jam studio. This is what we F1 fans would know and probably accept. Except some of those zombie die hard supporters out there. Yes you know ...

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 ...

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...

This article is reproduced from an article written by Mike Lawrence (mike.lawrence@pitpass.com) at www.pitpass.com There has been all kinds of speculation about Lewis Hamilton's decision to sign for Mercedes. Is it not possible that, underneath it all, he just wanted a change after so long in one relationship? He came into F1 with a competitive car and has ever since been part of a well-oiled machine. It is part of human nature to see the grass greener on the other side of the fence. Hand on heart, few of us have not experienced that, even if we have done no more about it than to wonder. The pretty wife, the talented kids, the nice home, a delicious meal on the table when we come home, but yet... By all accounts, the basic salary was not the issue. Both sides were offering a lottery win every month for three years. There do appear to be side-issues, however. One reason for McLaren's success has been Ron Dennis's attention to detail, but this can also be tiresome...

Well, it's been decided then. Barely a few minutes after writing my previous post and not having the chance to splatter it all over the internet, that particular post was rendered irrelevant. Lewis Hamilton has signed a 3 year contract to drive for Mercedes Petronas GP team from next season and partners Nico Rosberg (again..thye've been partners before in karting). And Sergio Perez replaces him at McLaren. First off, I want to congratulate Lewis for making a decision that will change his life forever. It was a difficult one which showed on his face for the last few races, maybe even further back. As I have explained in my previous post, it is a difficult decision to make for an F1 driver. Especially one who is so driven to win and who only has 1 world championship title to his name while his younger competitor already has 2. Very frustrating indeed. And the older one might get his third this season. It would seem that his decision to move has been influenced by 3 time ...