Alvin's Formula One Blog

Fantastic but simple analysis of what could be going on in Alonso's head and what are his options if Ferrari keep going down the toilet as they are right now by ESPN feature writer Nate Saunders. I was screaming in agony when I heard Alonso was going to Ferrari because at the time Ferrari were still quite strong and I knew what Alonso was capable of. But alas, the team has floundered. I'm sharing this article in its entirety as I could have not written it any better than what Nate has done and I truly find it worthwhile reading so I wanted to share it with as many people as possible. The original article is HERE . Ferrari's PR department may well have leapt for joy when they saw Nico Rosberg finish Monaco qualifying in the Mirabeau slip road. The bad blood which followed at Mercedes provided a compelling narrative for the rest of the weekend and buried the news everyone had been talking about earlier that week, which centred around a certain Fernando Alonso. The new...

The season is finally over. It has been a long journey and now we look forward to the 2014 season with all the changes. Hoping there won't be a Vettel/Red Bull domination again after 4 years in a row. Here is a superb race analysis of the last race in Brazil before we move on. As usual it was done by James Allen with input from Mark Gillan and the Williams F1 team. The full report is HERE . The Brazilian Grand Prix ended the 2013 season on a high note, with an exciting race, which was a real journey into the unknown for the drivers and strategists because it was a dry race that came at the end of a wet weekend. The Pirelli medium and hard compound tyres were selected for the weekend, but the first time they came out of the tyre blankets was as the cars went to the grid. This made for an interesting race, where teams had to feel their way as the race unfolded, with no data on tyre wear or degradation and a persistent threat of rain, which fell lightly in the final thir...

Well there it goes, another season ends and another one awaits. It has been a long season with ups and downs, many new records set, new controversies achieved, new rules being made and broken in the same season but the defining topic has been Sebastian Vettel's domination...again. In a word..boring. The season was over about halfway when Vettel was just unchallenged from pole to flag. I did not bother to watch the last 2 races as I knew what I would read the following morning. James Allen put it nicely to recap what this season means with so many "eras" ending: It was the end of an era in many respects; the last race for V8 engines, the last race for Mark Webber and possibly a few others who don’t know it yet, like Paul di Resta, depending on driver market movements in the coming weeks. It was the last race, for the moment at least, for Cosworth engines and Felipe Massa’s last race for Ferrari. And maybe Ross Brawn’s last race at the helm of Mercedes. If so, will ...

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We've been seeing it the past few seasons. We've also seen it more pronounced this season. Vettel seemingly able to spurt ahead at the starts, then pull out a 2 second gap by lap 2 then pull away sometimes up to 30 seconds by three quarters of the race, pulling away 1.5 to 2 seconds a lap and still setting fastest laps near the end of the race. All this while Mark Webber, virtually in the same car can't. How does he do it? Is it the car? Is it some tricks Red Bull have hidden in the car? Is Vettel superhuman? Well, James Allen has gotten hold of his F1 buddies to come out with an analysis and it seems to explain how that is possible. Although the cynic in me still is not happy for 1 person to monopolise the championship for 4 years running. Read the full article HERE . Never one to hand out praise readily to his team mate, Mark Webber said after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday, “Seb was on another planet today and was very, very strong in the first stint. He was ...

The Korean Grand Prix is a Formula One race held in South Korea. After months of speculation, on October 2, 2006 it was confirmed that the event would actually take place in 2010, and would be hosted by the Korea International Circuit. It has also been revealed that the race will be promoted by a public-private company. The deal is for seven years with a five year option that would ensure the race to be held until 2021. Despite this earlier confirmation, the South Korean Grand Prix was not included on any of the provisional 2010 calendars floated by Formula One Management. Following approval of funding for the event, however, Korea was given the date of 17 October on the 2010 calendar published by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) on 21 September 2009. On December 10, 2009, the organisers of the event announced that they were on schedule, with a plan to finish the circuit on July 5, 2010, though they admitted that their largest problem lay in finding accommod...

This article was written by James Allen with the input of JA on F1 technical adviser Mark Gillan, former Williams F1 team chief operations engineer in order to analyse and understand what made Vettel so untouchable in Singapore and whether we should just pack up and go fishing instead for the rest of the season. This issue was blown up recently when former team owner Giancarlo Minardi who was at the race questioned Vettel's engine sounds as he was going round. "From my suite, I chose some mainstays as a reference point in order to monitor and compare the drivers' way of driving. I was impressed by Vettel's neat way of driving on that stretch of the track. He was able to drive all that stretch without making any corrections, unlike all his rivals (also his team-mate). On the same stretch, Sebastian was able to [accelerate] 50 metres before any other driver, Webber included. The thing that surprised me the most was the engine's output sound. Besides speeding up...

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 ...

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...

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...

First, let me get my frustration out, not out of the way, just out because it is always there. I, and quite a bit of other F1 fans waited for almost 4 weeks for some F1 action to satisfy our hunger. Not only was there no F1 action for 4 weeks, there was hardly anything to read for 4 weeks too. And the next race after that was Spa, the best track ever in F1 and the world. It was supposed to be a fantastic race with overtaking, team strategy changes due to the weather and balls out overtaking on Eau Rouge. Instead what did we get? A yawnfest courtesy of Sebastian Vettel. And from lap 1 at that! And he never looked back, never was really challenged and the RB6 never had any problems. It was another perfect race for Vettel and Red Bull. Well, half of Red Bull at least. The other half with Mark Webber seems to be having all the problems with a clutch issue on the formation lap. Again he got a bad start and was swallowed by the field. Why is that? Is Red Bull putting all resources in...

It's been a very quiet and slow 3 weeks into the summer break. We have another week plus to go until the next race in Spa. A fantastic track, one of my favorites and the best on the calendar. For the meantime, here is a ranking of the drivers this season based on performance as done by Keith of F1Fanatic. This list gives ranking from number 22 down to number 6. The top 5 will be published soon. The Formula One field of 2013 features five champions, five rookies and a dozen more drivers vying to come out on top. Separating out the driver’s contribution from the advantage or disadvantage handed to him by their car is always a challenge, but that’s exactly what the Driver Rankings aims to achieve. Drivers 22 to 7 here. The second part of the 2013 half-term driver rankings features the drivers in the lower half of the top ten. Drivers 10 to 6 here. If you enjoyed this posting, please do share it with your network so more people can enjoy it as well. Also, check out my t-shirt des...

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The Canadian Grand Prix (known in French as the Grand Prix du Canada) is an annual auto race held in Canada starting in 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario as a sports car event before it alternated between Mosport and Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Quebec after Formula One took over the event. After 1971 safety concerns led to the Grand Prix moving permanently to Mosport. In 1978, after similar safety concerns with Mosport the Canadian Grand Prix moved to its current home on Île Notre-Dame in Montreal. In 2005, the Canadian Grand Prix was the most watched Formula One GP in the world. The race was also the third most watched sporting event worldwide, behind the first place Super Bowl XXXIX and the UEFA Champions League Final. Montreal is always one of the most interesting races of the season from a strategy point of view. With a very high likelihood of safety cars, a low grip surface and v...

The Monaco Grand Prix is a Formula One motor race held each year on the Circuit de Monaco. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world, alongside the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The circuit has been called "an exceptional location of glamour and prestige." The race is held on a narrow course laid out in the streets of Monaco, with many elevation changes and tight corners as well as a tunnel, making it one of the most demanding tracks in Formula One. In spite of the relatively low average speeds, it is a dangerous place to race. It is the only Grand Prix that does not adhere to the FIA's mandated 305 kilometres (190 mi) minimum race distance. The first race in 1929, was organised by Anthony Noghès under the auspices of the "Automobile Club de Monaco", and was won by William Grover-Williams driving a Bugatti. The event was part of the pre-Second World War European C...

The European leg of the season is upon us and some say this is where the real order will be known and where the real racing for the championship will start (for some teams at least). Why is that? Well, the reason is because for the last 4 flyaway races, the teams have had to pack whatever they needed for those races and make do with what they have. It's too far away to design something, test it and put it on the car say between Melbourne and Sepang. So most teams learn as much as they can from those races in order to redesign the car for Barcelona. Hence sometimes the cars at Barcelona can be called chassis B. Circuit de Catalunya aka Circuit de Barcelona is situated to the North of Barcelona in Montmeló, Noth-East Spain. It is most famous for annually hosting the Spanish F1 Grand Prix although is also home to Moto GP, and GT racing competitions as well as other racing events. At 730 metres, the run from the grid to the first corner at Barcelona is the longest of the season. ...

Hmm, 3 weeks is a long time in F1, no? After waiting 4 months for action, we got 4 races then suddenly all quiet. Seems like 3 weeks is longer than 4 months. Only God knows how I made it through the winter. Anyway, we'll have the start of the European season next week in Barcelona. That should be fireworks as teams will be bringing big updates to their cars there. The order will be jumbled up again, not to mention the changes made by Pirelli to the hard tire. We'll see. In the meantime, who the hell is Dougie? Well that would be Dougie Lampkin. He is the 12 times FIM Trial World Champion. And what the hell is the FIM Trial? Well, it's a motorcycle event. What?? Motorcycle? Blasphemy! Actually not. Since we're all motorsports fans generally and F1 fans specifically, we are allowed to talk about other motorsports besides F1. Any sport that uses a motor falls under motorsports, not just F1 or cars. So what is the FIM trials? According to Wikipedia: Motorcycle tria...

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...