WordPress is a jerk.

So let’s see, what has gone on in the past week? First if you missed Sebastian Vettel on Letterman…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsc_62uNcKI

Definitely haven’t been trying to upload that for a week! Warning: if you can’t stand David Letterman, don’t even press play. His absolute obsession with Indy (as in the track) just ruins it.

- Some former drivers participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this past weekend. It’s the first time in years I haven’t watched the entire thing but I was feeling rather apathetic towards it considering the lack of Peugeot. The usual ex-F1 suspects participated, with a few new faces. Sebastien Buemi, and Kazuki Nakajima, Karun Chandhok all made their first ever appearances at Le Mans. Things did not go too well for Buemi or Nakajima, as Toyota’s debut lead to neither car finishing. Chandhok’s team placed 6th overall.

For Anthony Davidson, it was quite a weekend. His Toyota prototype went flying through the air and landed him in the hospital with two broken vertebrae. Things were better for Giancarlo Fisichella, who brought his team home to a first place finish in their GT class.

- Michael Schumacher is being touted as the next winner of a race, which would be the snorefest that is Valencia, according to Paul Hembery from Pirelli. Kind of a weird thing for him to suggest given Schumacher’s criticisms of the tires so far this season.

- Lotus F1 are hoping to finish the season fourth in constructors points. Romain Grosjean is pretty close to victory that he’s appearing in my dreams as my roommate.

- Sauber is also hoping a win isn’t too far off, given Sergio Perez has had two podium appearances so far this season.

- There’s a new round of calls for cost cutting measures, which should come as no surprise. The FIA is hoping measures can be set in place for next season, but time is running out.

Circuit de Monaco (image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

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.

image credit: Lotus F1 Official Site

If you’ve been paying attention to anything involving Finns in sports lately, you’ll notice Angry Birds are EVERYWHERE. From Heikki’s helmet, to the IIHF World Championships’ mascot Hockey Bird, Rovio’s bird characters will be found.

A couple days ago, it was revealed that Rovio is making a Heikki version of Angry Birds. There’s not much known yet, but it will be released in about a month.

Don’t think the game makers were leaving out Kimi Raikkonen. Actually, the Ice Bird in the newest game, Angry Birds Space, was inspired by the world champion known as the Iceman.

But that’s not all, Rovio is sponsoring Raikkonen’s team, Lotus F1, for the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix. Lotus is celebrating their 500th Grand Prix, and Rovio is celebrating their 1 BILLIONTH game download. Angry Birds will be the team’s “official angry partner” for the iconic race, complete with the adorable branding above.

There will also be a Lotus F1 version of the game that can be reached through the team’s Facebook page beginning on Wednesday.

If you choose to watch this video, don’t have the sound up too loud. Definitely don’t have the sound up too loud if you’re sharing the room with some crazy birds who then go crazy for the noise.

photo credit: Flickr/Mypoorbrain

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”

Shanghai International Racing Circuit Layout (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Sorry this is so late, I thought I was going to be downtown for about 2 hours max and it turned into 4 1/2 rather quickly.

Thursday April 12
First Practice Session: 10:00pm

Friday April 13
Second Practice Session: 2:00am
Third Practice Session: 11:00pm

Saturday April 14
Qualifying: 2:00am

Sunday April 15
Race: 3:00am

SPEED will show a pre-race show beginning at 2:30am. Second practice is also live, and the others can be streamed on SPEEDtv.com. All times eastern.

Last year’s winner: Lewis Hamilton, McLaren

What to expect: First and foremost, last year’s winner will be starting off with a five grid spot penalty for a gearbox change. Secondly, Lotus lodged a protest regarding Mercedes’ f-duct wing. The FIA deemed it once again to be legal, and the matter was unanimously rejected by the stewards. So seriously guys, jsut suck it up and make your own now.

Weather: Weather looks to be overcast, maybe rainy for the first two practice sessions, and then possibly rainy Sunday morning. It shouldn’t be a problem. Temperatures are forecasted to be mild, in the 60s.

Tires: Tire compounds for the race will be the white/mediums and yellow/softs. Tire strategy played a huge role in last year’s race and we should expect the same thing once again. A three stop strategy may be the way to go, as it worked last year.

DRS: The same DRS zone as last year will be used again. The detection zone will be at turn 12, with the activation zone the back straight.

Check back here for updates on practice and qualifying, I’m not sure I will make it to the second session, but I’ll have you covered in the morning!

Actual lotus flowers around the world are embarrassed to share the name right now. Photo credit: Flickr/gadgetdan

Sorry for this becoming like, Lotus Makes Tons Of Problems, but this is seriously bizarre.

Group Lotus (for those who already have headaches, the title sponsor company for Lotus F1) posted a photoshopped picture of Dany Bahar both on their website and on Facebook from sniffpetrol.com, a motorsport/car humor site, along with a statement that more resembles a crazed rant.

In the statement, Group Lotus attacks Tony Fernandes, Mike Gascoyne, and Joe Saward. According to this statement, Saward is not an independent journalist, but an active director for the Caterham group.

Fernandes is of course team owner and Gascoyne chief technical director of the team…but according to this statement, Gascoyne has “gone missing” because he is “looking for the 30-40 points he predicted last season.”

Fernandes is also attacked because he wishes his team was still Lotus.

WOW.

Now for the actual facts in the statement than the pretty trashy attacks, right?

Let me just copy straight from the statement what the deal is with Lotus F1. If you don’t want to read, it basically says the earlier reports that Group Lotus is not the title sponsor are wrong.

Group Lotus’ branding and marketing rights and subsequent activities remain unaffected by the new agreement until at least 2017. Alongside continued branding and title partnership status, Group Lotus is also the exclusive master licensee for all Lotus F1 Team merchandise.

The new agreement was reached following Group Lotus owners Proton providing team owners Genii with a £30m loan which is repayable within three years. In order to secure the loan Genii used 100% of the F1 team’s assets as collateral meaning that under the conditions of the loan agreement Proton have been given full title guarantee to all plant, machinery, show cars, computers, office and the Lotus F1 Team headquarters.

In addition Proton retains the rights to purchase 10% of the F1 team. Another 10% share option will be activated if the team default on their loan obligations with Proton.

So there you have it. Unorthodox as hell, weird, but eventually it gets to the point.

I used to want a Lotus Exige badly but I think I don’t anymore, knowing it may be paying the salary of someone who thinks a photoshopped photo is actually what everyone thinks, leading to a rant.

But hey, at least it made them FINALLY address the story!

photo credit: Flickr/Frank Starmer

Another day, another series of crap from Bahrain International Circuit officials.

Grand Prix chairman Zayed Al Zayan says it’s “armchair observers” (I’m sitting on a bed, thank you) and “scaremongering extremists” creating misconceptions about Bahrain.

Well if you want to be honest, you could just say “I have a lot at stake here and would like to this go on,” instead of blaming everyone else.

Earlier today, the circuit issued a press release via Dragon Associates, a PR firm based in London. London, as you may recall from things like maps and anything about the upcoming Summer Olympics, is not in Bahrain. If you can’t find someone in Bahrain to back you up, I think there might be a problem.

Anyway, the press release cites a number of people saying the race should go on, including a couple Lotus F1 team members.

But shortly after, Lotus said they were releasing a statement about this press release. The quotes in the press release were used without the team’s permission. They were taken from a confidential document that was only shared with other teams.

The full statement from Lotus appears on their website, and it’s short enough that I’ll include it:

Earlier today, the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) issued a press release attributing quotes to our team showing support for the Bahrain GP. These quotes were part of a full internal and confidential working document, that was also sent on a confidential basis to all F1 team managers last week. Lotus F1 Team is one of 12 contestants of the Formula 1 World Championship and we would never try to substitute ourselves for the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which is the only party entitled to determine if a Grand Prix should go ahead or not, and we endorse the FOTA statement that was issued earlier to this effect.

Additionally, Bernie Ecclestone claims he has met with protest leaders in Bahrain, and has suggested they hold a press conference during the Grand Prix weekend.

Is it just me or does the problem never seem to be the people protesting, but what the government or police do in response to them?

Photo credit: Flickr/Jose Mª Izquierdo Galiot (and his username is mypoorbrain, which is what I am saying right now)

Just call yourself Orchid F1 already or something and stop it.

Group Lotus, the reason Lotus has its name, is no longer the title sponsor for the team. They will continue to be Lotus F1 but without Lotus.

This is after the great Lotus obnoxious situation of 2011 with a Lotus Renault (this Lotus) and Team Lotus (now Caterham).

The team is owned by Genii Capital, and Gerard Lopez, owner of Genii, says everything is cool because Lotus has acquired some excellent sponsors so they won’t be suffering without Group Lotus’s money.

Great. But can you really use the name now when you’re probably going to remove everything that says Lotus from your cars?

This story contains the word Lotus 12 times.

Lotus is now on the page so much you now hate everything about how much they have confused you.

photo credit: Flickr/stratman2

Q1: Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets in the final practice session, with Red Bull and Lotus right behind, and Ferrari not so much.
Early in the first session, fastest times were exchanged among Mercedes, McLaren, and Lotus drivers. AT the very end, Mark Webber took the top spot from Michael Schumacher. HRT actually is within the 107% rule.
Knocked out, P18-24: Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso; Vitaly Petrov, Caterham; Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham; Timo Glock, Marussia; Charles Pic, Marussia; Pedro de la Rosa, HRT; Narain Karthikeyan, HRT
Q2: After five minutes, only Kimi Raikkonen and the Saubers had posted any times. And then Pastor Maldonado went into the gravel and damaged his car. Raikkonen held onto the time on top followed by both McLaren drivers, both Red Bull drivers, and both Mercedes drivers.

Knocked out, P11-17: Pastor Maldonado, Williams; Felipe Massa, Ferrari; Bruno Senna, Williams; Paul di Resta, Force India; Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, Nico Hulkenberg, Force India; Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber

Q3: Kimi Raikkonen headed out first, followed by Mark Webber. Jenson Button and then Lewis Hamilton were fastest of all. Lewis stayed on top the entire time, with Michael Schumacher starting third. Sebastian Vettel could only manage sixth. Both Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen receive 5 grid spot penalties, so Vettel will actually start fifth.

1. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren: 1:36.219
2. Jenson Button, 1:36.368
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes: 1:36.391
4. Mark Webber, Red Bull: 1:36.461
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus: 1:36.461 *
6. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull: 1:36.634
7. Romain Grosjean, Lotus: 1:36.658
8. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes: 1:36.664
9. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari: 1:37.566
10. Sergio Perez, Sauber: 1:37.698 » Continue reading “Malaysian GP Qualifying: McLaren Starting 1-2 Yet Again”

photo credit: Flickr user eltham_mob

Can we start with the things? Yes we can. My favorite feature on Autosport is the behind the scenes article after races. Here is the article for the past weekend. If you are interested in Lotus F1′s playlist, I put it all together on Spotify. The only problem was the Red Hot Chili Peppers song, but I found a cover band that sounds just like them. At least to me, I don’t listen to them on the regular.

You’ll need Spotify, and then you can click here and have a listen!

Funny, since some teams decided they don’t care for Mercedes’ rear wing, Ross Brawn has decided to talk about other teams’ exhausts as bending the rules. Renault powered cars did well last year (for the most part) thanks to blown diffusers. They were banned for this season.

In summary, blah blah blah blah blah. Team principals are grown children.

Kimi Raikkonen says he will be on the podium for this weekend’s Grand Prix, McLaren says they’ll be even quicker, Williams says things have taken a complete 180 for them. So if everyone is doing so well…well, I guess we have to wait for a whole new round of way-too-early race activities this weekend.