Fox rant: they totally sped the race up, did anyone else notice? I am usually pretty sensitive to movement on TV and I just noticed the race seemed WAY more chaotic than it should have been, plus the cuts in commentary seemed edited. It was just weird. Thankfully towards the end it seemed like the cars were moving at their actual speed.

So, we finally have a two-time winner in home country hero Fernando Alonso. Alonso started 11th and managed to finish first after both Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean suffered alternator problems. His move up the grid was not as impressive as Mark Webber finishing fourth, given the fact there was clearly a problem with Renault powered cars.

Okay I don’t like Alonso.

On the plus side, this was actually an interesting race in Valencia since not every car finished. Hell, not every car even started. Timo Glock did not race because of his stomach bug.

Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in the very last lap by Pastor Maldonado. Hamilton would not give up the position to Maldonado and squeezed him out.

Jean-Eric Vergne and Heikki Kovalainen collided, as did Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna (and later Massa), as did Vitaly Petrov and Daniel Ricciardo, and so on. So there were cars taken out, which sadly makes this race more interesting.

Maldonado and Vergne both received penalties. Vergne has a 10 spot penalty and a $25,000 fine for the next race. Maldonado was penalized 20 seconds this race, dropping him down to 12th. He had finished 10th, and Hamilton had been unable to continue. Fair enough.

Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher joined Alonso on the podium.

Jenson Button managed to finish in the points, although it was just 8th. Both Force Indias finished in the points, as did Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez, and Bruno Senna.

Senna had to serve a drive-through penalty after Kamui Kobayashi smashed into the back of his car. It did not look like Senna’s fault whatsoever, especially given Kobayashi later also hit Felipe Massa.

Next time around we head to the UK for a race that sucks less.

Results
01. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
02. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus F1
03. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
04. Mark Webber, Red Bull
05. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
06. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
07. Paul di Resta, Force India
08. Jenson Button, McLaren
09. Sergio Perez, Sauber
10. Bruno Senna, Williams *
» Continue reading “Alonso Becomes First Two Race Winner This Season”

Sorry this is late, I’ve been somewhat out since last night due to what I think might have been food poisoning. NOT fun. Also we continue to have on and off WordPress issues here at Aerys where it decides none of us should ever be able to load the new post page.

Let’s start with someone who feels like I do. Timo Glock did not qualifying today due to a stomach bug that’s been bothering him since Thursday. The stewards decided he can race tomorrow if he’s feeling better.

So that made Q1′s knockout group the slow six instead. If you thought it would still be the usual suspects, you would be wrong.

Mark Webber will start 19th in tomorrow’s race due to hydraulics problems with his DRS system. Jean-Eric Vergne was also knocked out. However, Heikki Kovalainen made it to Q2 for the first time ever in the Caterham!

Q3 knockouts: Jean-Eric Vergne, Mark Webber, Vitaly Petrov, Pedro de la Rosa, Narain Karthikeyan, Charles Pic, Timo Glock (did not qualify)

In Q2, Heikki also left the other Toro Rosso behind, making his way to 16th place. Both Ferraris also failed to get out of Q2, much to the disappointment of Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo, who is attending this race for some important reason or another. Michael Schumacher also failed to make it to Q3. The same can be said of Bruno Senna, who continues to be completely outpaced by his teammate.

Q2 knockouts: Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa, Bruno Senna, Sergio Perez, Heikki Kovalainen, Daniel Ricciardo

Q2 was a fiercely fought battle, with the top thirteen cars all within three-tenths of a second of each other. The same could not be said for Q3.

Sebastian Vettel put on an absolute flyer of a lap, leaving the rest of the drivers well over three-tenths of a second in his dust. Lewis Hamilton was the closest competitor, with a time of .32 seconds longer than Vettel’s time. Love him or hate him, it’s absolutely amazing to watch Vettel get in the zone and qualify like this.

Vettel is now tied for most career poles with Jim Clark and Alain Prost at 33. With 34, he’ll take the third most spot for himself. He’ll then still have to get 30+ pole positions to make it up to Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher’s numbers, but considering he’s gotten 33 at the age of 24, this might not take too long.

Pastor Maldonado continues to impress while in Spain. He’ll start third tomorrow. The Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen will start fourth and fifth respectively. Nico Rosberg starts sixth, Kamui Kobayashi seventh, and the Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta eight and tenth respectively.

Jenson Button will start ninth, perhaps finally overcoming his problems in the car.

Lewis Hamilton had to meet with the stewards after Nico Rosberg complained that he slowed him down, but no further action was taken due to there being tons of traffic on the track at the time.

Remember, the race is on a tape delay in the states tomorrow. Practice Makes P1 will NOT ruin the results for you beforehand, promise. Blacking yourself out from social media is quite difficult, but I wish everyone the best if they’re choosing to take the same route.

Friday June 22
First Practice Session: 4:00am
Second Practice Session: 8:00pm

Saturday June 23
Final Practice Session: 5:00am
Qualifying: 8:00am

Sunday June 24
Race: 8:00am**

All times Eastern. In the US, you can watch the second practice session and the qualifying session on SPEED, and the other two practice sessions on their website.

**THE RACE WILL NOT BE SHOWN LIVE but on a tape delay on Fox at 2pm on June 24.

Last year’s winner: Sebastian Vettel

What to expect: The usual borefest that is Valencia. Maybe we’ll get an eighth different winner.

Weather: It was disturbingly hot there today, apparently reaching 98 FREAKIN DEGREES. Thankfully it’s going to cool down dramatically, but it’ll probably still be that hot on the track come Sunday. It should be sunny, maybe a little cloudy, for the whole weekend, so don’t expect rain to perk this race up.

Tires: Softs and mediums are the compounds of choice for this street circuit. Pretty sure we’ll once again see hardly anyone going out for Q3 since everyone will want to use the soft tires.

DRS: There will also only be one zone in Valencia this year, a change from last year. The detection point will be prior to turn 8, with the activation zone after turn 10.

Sorry this is hardly even 200 words. I seriously can’t stand this race. I’m glad it’s wasted on tape delay.

And yes, since I cater to an American audience, I will not update this blog until the tape delayed race is over. I am a nice person on occasion.

There have now been seven different winners in this completely crazy season of Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton finally got his first win at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Before the start though, there was one grid penalty…guess who. Pastor Maldonado needed a gearbox change thanks to the damage from his qualifying spin. He started 22nd because of it.

Sebastian Vettel led the race until the pit stops started.

There wasn’t much in the way of collisions or other problems…unless you are HRT. Neither car was able to finish, despite things looking good for de la Rosa this time around. Jean-Eric Vergne had to come through the pits for a drive-through after speeding in the pit lane.

This was also not a great race for Jenson Button, who continued to struggle, or Michael Schumacher, who had to retire after his DRS wing became stuck open. In a great turn of events, it wasn’t so bad for Romain Grosjean for once.

Felipe Massa looked to be doing much better than he has, until he spun around and ended up in 12th. It was a non-eventful race for him after that point.

Fernando Alonso looked to have it in the bag after Hamilton had to make another pit stop. Towards the end of the race, the Ferrari driver began to slow dramatically and ended up in fifth place. Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez, and Sebastian Vettel were all able to get by him. Vettel’s chances to be on the podium were lost after his very late pit stop.

Tires once again played a massive role in the race, but thankfully the wear didn’t turn the race into a snorefest. There were some great battles, and Vettel’s pass on Alonso at the end was fantastic.

Results
01. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
02. Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1
03. Sergio Perez, Sauber
04. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
05. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
06. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
07. Mark Webber, Red Bull
08. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus F1
09. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
10. Felipe Massa, Ferrari

» Continue reading “Seven Races, Seven Winners: Lewis Hamilton Wins In Montreal”

Qualifying begins at 1pm Eastern on SPEED in the United States. Come back to this post for live updates when we get started!

1:01pm: If you have SPEED on, you’ll see things that are clearly not Formula 1 cars….and they aren’t even going to show it live as is, it’ll be on a delay. So, so much for a live blog with them…looking for other options.

1:04pm: So yes, everywhere else in the world, qualifying in Formula 1 is going on. Currently Paul di Resta has the fastest time in Q1 with just over 15 minutes to go.

1:06pm: Massa already going off. Surprise!

1:07pm: His teammate now has the fastest lap time. Since I haven’t updated at all about practice, Sebastian Vettel was fastest this morning. Lewis Hamilton was fastest in both sessions yesterday.

1:10pm: Halfway through, Sebastian Vettel has yet to set a lap time. Pedro de la Rosa is outside of the 107% rule, and the other 5 at the bottom are Heikki Kovalainen, Jean-Eric Vergne, Timo Glock, Charles Pic, and Narain Karthikeyan.

1:14pm: On his second lap out, Vettel goes P1. Petrov is now in the knockout zone.

1:20pm: With Q1 over (and just starting on SPEED, sucks), Jenson Button’s up in second! The knocked out cars have not changed, although the order did. Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov, Jean-Eric Vergne, Pedro de la Rosa (seriously), Timo Glock, Charles Pic, and Narain Caboosekeyan.

1:28pm: Q2 is underway!

1:34pm: Sebastian Vettel once again is on top halfway through the session. I’d tell you who’s in the knockout zone, but there’s no timing showing on the screen sooooo…

1:37pm: Okay, I think this is what I just saw on the BOTTOM which isn’t as helpful: Di Resta, Maldonado, Senna, Kobayashi, Perez, Ricciardo, Alonso are in the knockout zone. Alonso has just gone to P2 though.

1:40pm: Seriously I’m amused that I start watching Sky and I can’t even get times. That’s not their problem though but it’s just like watching qualifying shouldn’t be this difficult, right?

1:44pm: Q2 over..but not before Pastor Maldonado makes a ridiculous spin and somehow saves the car. Drivers not making it to Q3 and starting 11-17th: Kobayashi, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Perez, Senna, Maldonado. Jenson Button got lucky with Maldonado’s spin.

1:50pm: Q3 is go! Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button head out immediately.

1:54pm: Massa is first somehow. Now Lewis, and now Sebastian. Too hard to keep track without times on the side!

2:02pm: Sebastian Vettel finished on top for Q3, so once again pole position is his! Lewis Hamilton will start next to him, and Fernando Alonso is third.

Starting Grid
01. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
02. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
03. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
04. Mark Webber, Red Bull
05. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
06. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
07. Romain Grosjean, Lotus
08. Paul di Resta, Force India
09. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
10. Jenson Button, McLaren

11. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
12. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus
13. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
14. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso
15. Sergio Perez, Sauber
16. Bruno Senna, Williams
17. Pastor Maldonado, Williams

18. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham
19. Vitaly Petrov, Caterham
20. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso
21. Pedro de la Rosa, HRT
22. Timo Glock, Marussia
23. Charles Pic, Marussia
24. Narain Karthikeyan, HRT

Friday June 8
First Practice Session: 10:00am
Second Practice Session: 2:00pm

Saturday June 9
Final Practice Session: 10:00am
Qualifying: 1:00pm

Sunday June 10
Race: 2:00pm

All times Eastern. This race begins SPEED’s absolutely annoying move to showing races on Fox, typically on a time delay after this one. You can watch the second practice session and the qualifying session on SPEED, and the other two practice sessions on their website. A pre-race show will be shown on SPEED before the race at 1:30, and also a post-race show at 4pm.

Last year’s winner: Jenson Button

What to expect: Organizers had to cancel the typical open house in the pit lane today thanks to threats from the immature student protestors in Montreal. Because if you can’t have your way, you should ruin the fun for everyone else…I learned to stop doing that when I was 5.

Anyway. Red Bull are now not allowed to use the floor their car has had for the past few races. It was declared legal to use in Monaco, but it had to be changed for this race. There was talk that they would lose their last win, but that’s kind of ridiculous when the car was deemed fine. Haters. You’re even making Mark Webber mad and you know what happens when you make Mark Webber mad…

McLaren hopes to get their butts into gear once again, considering the poor performance of Jenson Button lately.

Of course, there’s still no sign of who could possibly win this race, because it could entirely be a seventh different driver for the season. Cue continued arguments about whether or not this unpredictability is good for racing/fans/etc. I think since we’re all different people, we all just have to shut up and deal with it. Though personally I enjoy it, and I find it stupid that team principals and what have you, as in people who are not fans, try to tell us how we think.

Weather: The race should be nothing like last year, with temperatures for the weekend in the 70s. There’s a 60% chance right now for rain tomorrow.

Tires: Once again, the tires are softs and supersofts. Tire wear will be key, as the track is not exactly used by cars any other time of the year. As rubber is laid down during practice sessions, the track will progressively become faster.

DRS: There will be a single DRS zone in Montreal this year instead of the two zones last year. The one zone will be located from turn 11 until the final chicane. Word is the second zone on the start/finish line was removed because overtaking was way too easy last year.

Well duh, just ask the winner who went from last to first.

Tomorrow I think I’ll touch on how obnoxious it is to hear blase journalists and people like Alain Prost say the unpredictability and close racing is bad. GET. OVER. IT. Sorry we don’t all get to travel to Monaco and get paid for it. Jeez.

First of all, the two drivers involved in yesterday’s antics in practice ended up dead last on the grid. Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez ended up starting P23 and P24 respectively after gearbox changes.

Mark Webber managed to win from pole today in Monaco, as the rain everyone kept talking about never happened during the race.

One driver, Jean-Eric Vergne, did attempt the gamble on intermediates at the end of the race, which led to him falling out of the points positions.

The first corner of the first lap was chaotic, with Romain Grosjean spinning out and causing a safety car to be brought out so his car could be removed from the track. It was the only time the safety car was needed all race.

Maldonado made his win in Spain look like a total fluke this weekend as he hit the wall on the first lap, taking himself out of the race before it even started.

Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa both had to retire after being involved in these incidents. De la Rosa’s wing was taken out in Maldonado’s crash, and Kobayashi went airborne in the Grosjean incident, and later had to retire because of suspension damage.

Michael Schumacher was also involved in the Romain Grosjean incident, but was able to continue on until problems with fuel pressure took him out of the race.

Jenson Button and McLaren’s woes continued. Button could not get around Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham. Button eventually had to retire towards the end of the race after a spin in his attempts to pass the Finn.

Kovalainen was almost in the points, but lost a few places after an incident with Sergio Perez, who also had a horrible day. Perez impeded Kimi Raikkonen on his way to the pits, causing Raikkonen to lose a position. Perez was given a drive through penalty for the late turn towards the pits.

Sebastian Vettel led the race for a good amount of time as he started on the soft tire. Red Bull were hoping for rain, which never came, but Vettel was able to maintain fourth place.

Lewis Hamilton didn’t enjoy himself much either, after complaining something hit his head near the pit boards, and also whining about not being kept up to date about drivers pitting. Both Fernando Alonso and Vettel were able to come back out of the pits ahead of Hamilton.

Webber makes an unprecedented sixth different winner in as many races. He is also one of the few drivers to win at Monaco from pole. This is however, the second win for Red Bull this season, so they easily have the lead in the Constructor’s Championship now.

Next race is in Montreal, which means I won’t fall asleep towards the end. Although I didn’t miss much of anything, it seems. Webber was able to hold on to his lead, despite having a train of cars behind him. Nico Rosberg was also on the podium once again, joined by Alonso.

Results after the cut: » Continue reading “Mark Webber Wins Monaco GP, Becomes Sixth Different Winner This Season”

Let me just say there’s nothing like waking up and finding out the Pastor Maldonado of last season is back and purposely crashing into people.

Maldonado hit Sergio Perez, barely giving him any room, during final practice. Maldonado eventually also just crashed out of the practice session. He has a ten grid spot penalty for the race, joining Michael Schumacher’s five spot for his incident last race.

So, not surprising that not even 5 minutes into Q1, Sergio Perez crashed out of qualifying. Perez looked completely unable to steer his car.

Drivers had to switch onto the supersoft tires, as the usual cars who qualify in the top ten were way down the charts, not even meeting the 107% rule! But all was well in the end, unless you were in a McLaren.

Knocked out in Q1: Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov, Timo Glock, Pedro de la Rosa, Charles Pic, Narain Karthikeyan, Sergio Perez

Many cars started off on the supersofts for Q2. Jean-Eric Vergne lost his car and took off his front wing, knocking it under the front of his car. He limped his car back to the pits, probably ruining many a fast lap for cars that had to pass him.

With under 3 minutes left, Felipe Massa pulled off a time under 1 minute, 15 seconds, finally dethroning Nico Rosberg’s time. With that time, it was the first Q3 appearance of Massa this season. Finally.

Kimi Raikkonen barely squeaked through to Q3, but Jenson Button failed to make it out of Q2. Button joins the Force Indias, Toro Rossos, Kamui Kobayashi, and Bruno Senna. That’s two races in a row where Button has failed to get out of Q2.

Knocked out in Q2: Nico Hulkenberg, Kamui Kobayashi, Jenson Button, Bruno Senna, Paul di Resta, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne

During Q3, more cars posted times in the 1:14 range. All cars were out on track for the last 90 seconds.

Mark Webber looked to be taking pole, and then Michael Schumacher went fastest.

…And while he held up a finger to indicate his number one status, and his engineer said pole position!…you’ve got that five grid spot penalty.

So, Schumacher will start sixth, and Mark Webber is actually on pole. That makes two races in a row where the driver who actually qualifies for first doesn’t start first. You are all terrible people.

Starting grid with two current grid penalties (hopefully no more come along):
01. Mark Webber, Red Bull
02. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
03. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
04. Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1
05. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
06. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
07. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
08. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus F1
09. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India (was not in Q3, starts P10 because of Maldonado’s penalty)
» Continue reading “Mark Webber On Pole Because Grid Penalties Are Awesome!”

Thursday May 24
First Practice Session: 4:00am
Second Practice Session: 8:00am

Saturday May 26
Final Practice Session: 5:00am
Qualifying: 8:00am

Sunday May 27
Race: 8:00am

SPEED will show a pre-race show beginning at 7:30am. Second practice is also live, and the others can be streamed on SPEEDtv.com. All times eastern.

Last year’s winner: Sebastian Vettel

What to expect: It’s the most wonderful time of the F1 season!

The Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 make one of the best weekends in racing. Grands Prix have taken place in Monaco since 1929, and the glitz and glamour of this F1 weekend are well known.

Well, Monte Carlo is pretty glamourous anyway.

The chicane where Sergio Perez crashed last year has been changed. The tarmac has been slightly lowered and the barrier has been moved back 15 meters.

With tire degradation playing such a major role in races lately, it’s hard to tell who could have the best chances this weekend. Lotus hopes to continue improving, and Pastor Maldonado and Williams would love to win again. We could easily see a sixth different winner, though!

Weather: It looks like it’s going to be rainy, sadly. The chance of rain is highest on Thursday, with storms, which could make practice sessions difficult. There’s also a 60% chance of rain on Saturday and 50% on Sunday. This could always change, but we might be seeing a wet qualifying session and race, or possibly just wet qualifying, or hopefully no rain.

Tires: This weekend will be the debut of the supersoft tires for the season. The other compound will be the soft tires. And with the weather, there might actually be no debut of supersoft tires. In other interesting tire news, Paul Hembery has said Pirelli is ready at any time to supply teams with Q3 only tires if they would like.

DRS: The drivers are not allowed to use DRS in the tunnel during practice and qualifying. The DRS zone for the race will be the start-finish straight.

Pastor Maldonado managed to pull off a win at Circuit de Catalunya today, despite Fernando Alonso’s best efforts to win his home Grand Prix. Alonso took the lead in the first corner, but was not able to hold on to it.

Maldonado is the first Venezuelan winner of a Formula 1 Grand Prix, and this is also Williams’ first win since 2004.

Sadly, it has not been that great of a day after all for Williams. About 90 minutes after the race ended, fuel exploded causing a fire, and several team members from Williams, Caterham, and Force India had to be treated for burns and smoke inhalation.

The race also did not go so well for Bruno Senna. Michael Schumacher crashed right into the back of him around turn 1. Senna had moved over in what looked like a block, but the stewards apparently didn’t find that to be the case. Schumacher has been given a five spot grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen finished third, although he was right on Alonso’s tail at the end of the race. Romain Grosjean finished fourth, and Kamui Kobayashi stormed his way to fifth, which included a brilliant pass on Jenson Button.

Sebastian Vettel managed to finish sixth, despite being handed a drive-through penalty for failing to slow down for yellow flags near the Schumacher-Senna incident. Felipe Massa also received the penalty for failing to slow, but he only managed to finish 15th.

Lewis Hamilton, who had to start at the back of the grid after being excluded from qualifying, finished in the points in 8th, and one place ahead of his teammate.

Results
01. Pastor Maldonado, Williams
02. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
03. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus
04. Romain Grosjean, Lotus
05. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
06. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
07. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
08. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
09. Jenson Button, McLaren
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India

» Continue reading “Pastor Maldonado Wins Spanish GP”