Alvin's Formula One Blog

CONCLUSIONS FROM THE ITALIAN GP Original article HERE Pressure point, Monza magic, Nico's chances are slipping and more in our Conclusions From The Italian GP. Pressure Point At Spa all the talk was about a right-rear tyre, and at Monza it was all about a left-rear tyre. "No questions, just execute," were the words relayed to Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes pitwall urged the Championship leader to pull out more of a gap over Sebastian Vettel in the closing stanza of the Italian Grand Prix but were reluctant to give their man a reason for the request. Hamilton duly won by around 25 seconds, but the nature of the messages suggests that Mercedes feared the repercussions of official sanction over a potential breach of the regulations. After the race Mercedes were indeed summoned by the stewards because Hamilton's left-rear tyre pressure was 0.3psi lower than the mandated minimum. Although Hamilton's 40th career victory was briefly at risk, the officials d...

At the end of 2013 F1 bid farewell to its normally aspirated V8s and embraced brand new power units that combined a hybrid V6 turbo engine with two energy recovery systems - the MGU-K that works under braking, and MGU-H which harvests energy at the exhaust. Monza 2014 offered an ideal opportunity to compare and analyse the performance of modern low downforce-spec F1 cars with their previous counterparts. The recent Grand Prix emphasised an important point: the 2014 regulations have greatly enhanced the cars' efficiency while maintaining - and even increasing - their level of performance. Renault takes a look and explains the differences and improvements made so far. A two-second gain in a single year 2013 saw F1 cars fitted with normally aspirated V8s delivering around 800bhp (that's 590kW without the extra 60kW provided by the KERS). Monza's speed traps recorded single-seaters clock around 340kph, with pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel posting a lap of 1:23.755 in quali...

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...

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...

Spa and Monza may have a greater percentage of the lap spent at full throttle, but the combination of corners, the relentless flow through the high speed sections and radial turns, esses and hairpins makes Suzuka one of the toughest challenges of the year for F1 engines. Suzuka is above average in terms of power sensitivity, not quite in the top five but not far off. There are long portions of the track where the throttle will be fully open with the engine running at close to maximum revs, for example the 130R corner, a curved straight 1,250m in length that stretches from the exit of turn 14 to the chicane leading onto the pit straight. Drivers will reach nearly 200 mph during this section. The high speed Esses are similar in profile to the Maggotts and Becketts complex at Silverstone ; a flowing sequence of interlinking turns that sees the car change direction rapidly at very high speed. This section is also combined with appreciable changes in pitch. The driver will ent...

What can I say? It was shaping up to be a great race and in a way it was. Lewis was on pole, Sutil in the Force India was P2, even Liuzzi was up there in 7th. A lot of cars were on a one stopper which should have mixed up the strategies. For the first time in years, the start of the Italian GP at Monza did not have a first turn smash up . That first turn is notoriuosly tight and is at the end of a long straight. Either there is a mash up there or people would be all over the place cutting corners. Surprisingly, everybody got through safely. The only close call was when a few cars touched here and there causing damage to front wings like Kubica. The worth mention was Brawn GP and Ross Brawn. A brilliant strategy from Ross, with both his drivers starting from 6th and 7th but with a one stopper and the pace that they had, they managed to win the race with a 1-2. The thing that wrecked my weekend was when after chasing down Button from 4s to 1.2s, Lewis was pushing too hard and crashed h...

That was one of the tightest qualifying ever. It was bright and sunny in Monza, a perfect day for getting the tyres up to temperature and pushing the car through Parabolica. McLaren did an excellent strategy and both cars got into the groove pretty easily and quickly in every session. Q3 was the most interesting as Lewis did a fast 2 lap run on the soft tyres to make sure he stayed near the top and then with a few minutes remaining changed to the harder tyres for the banzai lap that got him the pole from Sutil. He was surprised though at his pace. And talking about Sutil, what a performance. He was on fire the whole day and would have gotten pole if not for a small mistake in the last lap. In fact, the situation tells us a few facts about the current balance of power. It seems that Force Indis has found the sweet spot on their car since Spa. It has performed incredibly fast and well balanced. Not only was Sutil fast without KERS (a he managed to stay about 2 tenths apart from Lewis)...

Well, that pulled the carpet from under me. I know of the possibility of this happening because of the reported rumours but I didn't really put any thought into it. Now I'm pleasantly surprised . I'm really happy for Fisi now that he's got into his dream drive (being an Italian and all) and a competitive car. The question has to be asked though, who will replace him at Force India? More importantly, will he remain a driver at Ferrari next year with the return of Massa and possible arrival of Alonso or will he become a test driver? I guess that depends on his performance but given his age and the lure of Alonso's potential, it's more than possible that he will become a test and reserve driver. And Stefano confirms it: "Furthermore we considered what could be his role inside the team in the near future, also taking this year's experiences into account. He will be the reserve driver in 2010." McLaren better wake up now, especially Heikki as they need...

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Tuesday 30th June 2009 Ferrari will reportedly confirm the signing of Fernando Alonso at their home race, the Italian Grand Prix. Rumours of his pending move to Ferrari have dogged Alonso for the past three years, however, instead of joining the Italian marque he spent the 2007 season at McLaren before returning to Renault. But his days at Renault are reportedly numbered. Spanish daily Diario AS is claiming that on the Friday of the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari will confirm that Alonso will be joining them next season, having signed a five-year contract. It is not known, though, whether he'll be replacing Kimi Raikkonen or Felipe Massa, who have both had a trying start to this year's campaign. But whoever stays, his days too could be numbered as AS speculates that Ferrari are also interested in signing Sebastian Vettel for the 2011 season. Source : Planet F1

Monday 15th September 2008 Sebastian Vettel's victory heralds the birth of a new superstar... A New Superstar Is Born After last Sunday's sinister controversy and behind-closed-door machinations, victory for the infectiously-joyous Sebastian Vettel and the renamed Minardi team was the sweet tonic to Spa's harsh gin. In another mad, mad race, Vettel's performance was the solitary act of sanity. The start-to-finish manner of his victory is worth emphasising because, while F1 has witnessed plenty of unexpected victories before, few have occurred from pole position. Vettel didn't just display skill in Monza, he also demonstrated the temperament and composure of a champion. The next one may be a long time coming, but this will be just the first of many victories. A star is born with a very special talent. Toro Rosso Are Competitive To further underline the point that this was not a fluke victory for either driver or team, take a glance at the fastest laps charts for the ...

What a race ! This Italian GP has got to be one of the best races of the season (unless the stewards spoils it again afterwards) after Spa. And after the crap at Spa, the F1 world has got enough incentive to continue watching F1. And I can say, everybody nomatter what team or driver they support were happy that Vettel won as Vettel is a rising superstar and he is such a nice person. I am not so happy though because Lewis couldn't take Massa. I was hoping that he could at least beat Massa to increase his lead in the WDC. But his lead has been cut by 1 point, at least he's still leading. It does make the title battle hot up though and the next few races is crucial for him. Mistakes cannot be made from this point onwards. Lewis did make a mistake though as during his one and only stop, he didn't go for wet tyres, instead opting for extreme wets which proved disastrous. If he went for inter, he would at least have taken Massa if not finished on the podium. Oh well, here's h...

Well, it had to happen someday and that day was yesterday. Lewis did not make it into Q3 as usual. It was a combination of factors: He and engineer Phil Prew made the wrong tyre choice to start Q2 which was the wet tyres, not the extreme wets. When Lewis came back into the pits to change tyres, race control called him in to weigh his car. Hmm..suspicious? That wasted more time. He waited after everybody else had gone out in Q2 and set their times before going out. The more important point here is point 3. Why did he have to waste so much time in the pits while everybody else had the sense of urgency to go out and set a time before the rain got worse? I noticed that this season he has been so relaxed in this regard. Last year he was always the first to go out to set times. I know he has matured but it looks like over-confidence. In a way it's good because he has to learn the lesson sooner or later. With just a 2 point lead, you don't become so over-confident and relaxed like tha...

Well this qualifying has turned to be a complete reversal of the common order with Sebastien Vettel claiming his first ever pole and becoming the youngest ever pole sitter in F1 history . See the times here . The highest position big gun was Massa at P6. Kubica only managed P11 and Kimi and Lewis P14 and P15 respectively. I have no idea what happened to Lewis as he just couldn't manage to improve his time over a few laps. McLaren or Lewis did make a mistake starting Q3 with intermediates because right after that the rain got worse and Lewis had to pit for extreme wets. Somehow he just couldn't improve. It's unreal. Tomorrow's race is going to exciting to say the least. At least Lewis has another extra set of extreme wets unused. I hope he can produce some is magic as he has started at the back before and gone on to win. He has to as the the WDC is too close with 2 points separating him and Massa.

The race is this weekend, today is free practice and the rain is expected . Woohoo! It's gonna be another great race or maybe not, depends on what kind of stewards they'll have there. Keith of F1Fanatic has made his predictions of the outcome of the race and how it's gonna pan out here, so check it out. Personally, whether wet or dry I'm putting my money on Lewis to win as he needs to push his world championship effort. I do pray for rain though. Rain is good cos then it would hurt FIArrari a lot as Massa and Kimi are both not very good in the wet . We saw at Silverstone and Spa. In fact, Massa is already worried at the prospect of rain and was wishing it would not rain. In your dreams!

The next race is coming up pretty fast, just the week after the last race. I feel this 2 weeks is kinda compact compared to the 3 week summer break. Although I should be happy that this month has 3 races in it, I'm a bit down after what happened at Spa. Yep, it's not over yet. The petition to return the results is going strong. For those of you supporting Lewis, please file your petition here . It's important because as Pat Symonds of Renault puts it, it has serious repercussions for the future. Who wants to go all out to race when the stewards are a bunch of amateurs who don't know much about racing. And last but not least, here's Alonso being the asshole that he is. Aww..how sour.

Wow, this Belgian GP row has not died down one bit. In fact, it's gotten stronger. Comments from all sides, from fans to drivers to ex-drivers to stewards have been flying all over the place. Today, a statement from one of the stewards shows that the penalty was just based on a FIA"T" ruling that states simply that a car must always be on the track at all times. If a car leaves the track for whatever reason, that car gets a penalty. Simple as that. Their conclusion to the penalty did not have any other factors taken into account. Funny, I seem to remember seeing half a dozen other cars left the track on the opening lap, including Massa. Why don't those other cars get penalties too? I'm glad McLaren are going ahead with the appeal . We've got to show the FIA"T" that they can't push us fans around anymore to protect their sweety FIArrari to keep winning championships until kingdom come. This weekend is the Monza race and the stewards here better...