photo credit: Flickr/Ezio Armando

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”

photo credit: Flickr/Sara Terrones

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”

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”

photo credit: Flickr/Rich Jones

Nico Rosberg got off to an early lead, especially with everyone held up by Michael Schumacher. Thankfully pit stops kept the race from looking like a Schumi train.

However, one of the front wheels on Schumacher’s car was not properly attached and he was soon out of the race after his pit stop.

At the start, Jenson Button zoomed ahead to P3 at the start of the race. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel continued to fall further behind everyone.

Massa had the lead as he hadn’t pitted, so Nico Rosberg once again regained his lead with both McLarens behind him.

Each round of pit stops brought on excitement. Kimi Raikkonen easily won in the first round when he just flew by Daniel Ricciardo on cold tires, and even battled for position with Lewis Hamilton down the pit lane.

Sergio Perez tried to hold off Lewis Hamilton about halfway through the race, but repeatedly locked up his tires and needed to pit.

And then there was a 5 car battle for fifth place…because of Felipe Massa. Mark Webber, bored with everything, attempted a take off with his car and had it up on the back two wheels. Thankfully he did not get flipping.

Leaders kept switching. Jenson. Nico. Lewis. Jenson. Nico. Lewis. And once again there’s a screwed up pit stop, this time for Jenson Button and he joined the Massa train to the vortex of boring.

But while SPEED was in commercials, Massa pitted, or just vanished; not sure, they never said.  (Just kidding, he was down in 14th at the time.)

But that didn’t make the fight for second through ninth any less competitive. If you just looked at the front of this race for anything, you would be incredibly bored. But when the other points positions got moving, they really got moving.

Grosjean, Maldonado, and Perez had a crazy fight that eventually was ruined by Alonso. Or, he just won it all because he’s Alonso…although he was only back there because he went off (which SPEED never showed).

Webber and Hamilton battled for 5th place, but Webber held it. Vettel nabbed second from Raikkonen, and Raikkonen went off, losing third place to Jenson Button with Hamilton right behind him.

AND BASICALLY I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING BECAUSE RAIKKONEN JUST ENDED UP EIGHTH. FROM SECOND.

And someone he just tumbled the hell down to 12th with both Saubers nearly hitting him going by. The team blamed the marbles but that does not make any sense.

Jenson took second place from Sebastian with four laps to go. Vettel ended up losing positions to Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber as well.

Rosberg’s win was the first for Mercedes in forever but obviously they didn’t have a team for a lot of that time, blah blah blah.

Only one car didn’t finish the race, and nobody crashed into each other badly! Hooray!

» Continue reading “Chinese GP Recap: Nico Rosberg Finally Wins A Race”

photo credit: Flickr/Vi Khoa Duong

The car that looked to be struggling came out on top in a race that included nearly an hour wait while it poured down rain. Fernando Alonso won a very exciting race, while teammate Felipe Massa once again is nowhere near a points position…hmm…

It started to rain about 15 minutes before the race started, so teams put their cars onto intermediate tires. Around lap 5, after Romain Grosjean beached his Lotus in gravel, teams started switching to full wets. On the first lap, Michael Schumacher, Romain Grosjean, and Bruno Senna spun.

And once everyone was on wets, there was lightning and thunder, which means safety car on lap 7. Jean-Eric Vergne stayed on the inters, however.

Basically if anything happened, you couldn’t exactly even see it.

Lap 9: once the safety car got boring as hell, it was time to just red flag the race for the time being. And because the Canadian GP was so awesome last year, the FIA decided to ruin all the fun so races can only be 4 hours long.

This race was already bumped up to 4pm local time from 5pm after the 2009 fiasco, and I just don’t get it. Do they not understand tropical climates? Here in Atlanta, especially during the summer, pop up storms are not uncommon…so obviously when you’re 3 degrees north of the equator, they’re more frequent and year round.

This is two times in four years. All it really needs is just to be moved up at least an hour more.

Rant over. I am a cranky person who has to be up until past 7am because of this and I only took a nap for an hour earlier.

So red flag. What’s exciting during a red flag? People in grandstands doing the wave, a bird standing in the grass looking ticked off, ice cream discussions, farmers market jokes after teams set up canopies over the cars.

Finally, it was announced the race would restart at 5:15 with parade laps behind the safety car to get a dry line going.

Pedro de la Rosa received a drive through penalty for team personnel on track right before the restart.

Lap 13: Safety car in, some cars went in to switch to intermediates, including Jenson Button, while Lewis Hamilton stayed out.

Cars on the inters were faster, so cars that stayed on the wets started coming in…but not Sergio Perez, who took the lead as cars swapped positions for a good two laps. Lewis Hamilton pitted, and McLaren royally screwed up the pit stop.

With an HRT in his way, Jenson Button’s front wing was damaged, so the screw up didn’t really matter. And in the end, Fernando Alonso took the lead from Perez.

Jenson Button at the back of the pack started setting fastest laps, maybe looking like he did in Montreal last summer….only several laps later to say he has no grip. Things never really improved for him.

The only thing interesting with cars still on inters was the battle for fourth among Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, and Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel was able to pass Rosberg with DRS, as was Raikkonen on the next lap.

And on lap 24, Fernando Alonso said it’s raining in turn 4. Jenson Button needed to pit for a new set of tires again.  Alonso continued to set fastest laps from the lead.

Rosberg started dropping dramatically down the grid, and eventually pitted when 16th to get new tires.

With the track drying, it started to get iffy for continuing on intermediates, but of course more rain was expected on track. (Note: it never showed up, of course.)

Sergio Perez started to reel in Alonso, setting fastest lap nearly every time around. It was absolutely fantastic, he started lapping a second quicker than Alonso’s Ferrari. And meanwhile in P17, Massa nearly drove Button off track several times.

Toro Rosso put Daniel Ricciardo on medium slicks, while Jenson Button’s engineer said rain was approaching. Ricciardo’s time was quick, which led to Massa being put on the medium tire too…and then on Button’s radio it was time for slicks too.

Can you say strategic nightmare?

On lap 40, Alonso went in for slicks while Perez stayed out. Ricciardo set the fastest lap. Perez went in on lap 41 for hard tires, and came back out just behind Alonso.

On lap 48, Vettel had a puncture, but was close enough to the pit entrance. And what happened? Karthikeyan again has no concept of space for cars faster than him.

On lap 49, Perez was right behind Alonso. And then Perez took a bit of an off and lost all the time he gained, probably thanks to an engineer having to distract him from just going.  It was no problem for Alonso from there.

With two laps to go, Pastor Maldonado continued to have a horrible time trying to finish as his engine overheated. And on the last lap, Vettel is told to pit…and then stay out…and then yell at him to stop because it’s an emergency.

And thankfully the checkered flag flew…2 hours, 48 minutes after the start.

So..I said Sergio was the drive of the day last race, and he sure as hell is the drive of the day this time around. If only his engineer hadn’t come on over the radio!

» Continue reading “Fernando Alonso Wins The Bizarre Grand Prix of Malaysia”

First race of the season over!

Jenson Button passed teammate Lewis Hamilton right around the first turn and held on to the race lead from then on.

There were several injuries to cars around the first corner, including Bruno Senna, who was able to continue, and Nico Hulkenberg, who was not. Shortly afterward, his teammate Pastor Maldonado took out Romain Grosjean, who had started so well.

Michael Schumacher lost control of his car and dropped out of the race.

Both Caterhams went out around the same time. Vitaly Petrov stopped on the front straightaway and brought out a safety car. Shortly after, Heikki Kovalainen came in with steering problems.

Hamilton had held on to second until this point, when Sebastian Vettel got in front of him. Hamilton was not able to gain enough time on Vettel even with DRS and KERS.

That was not the end of all the fun.

With ten laps left, Felipe Massa completely screwed up Bruno Senna’s Williams. Senna was somehow able to get his car back out, but Massa’s had to be put in the garage..which took them a bit of time for some reason. Race control is going to investigate the ~incident~ after the race.

On the last lap, Maldonado completely lost it and hit the wall, definitely destroying some other drivers’ points finishes, namely Nico Rosberg, who ended up finishing outside the points paying positions.

Sergio Perez started 22nd, but finished 8th, making him definitely the drive of the day. This time it’d be great if that awesome race isn’t negated.

1. Jenson Button, McLaren
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
4. Mark Webber, Red Bull
5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
6. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus
8. Sergio Perez, Sauber
9. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso
10. Paul di Resta, Force India
11. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso
12. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
13. Pastor Maldonado, Williams
14. Timo Glock, Marussia
15. Charles Pic, Marussia
16. Bruno Senna, Williams
Not classified: Felipe Massa (accident damage), Heikki Kovalainen (steering), Vitaly Petrov, Michael Schumacher, Romain Grosjean (accident damage), Nico Hulkenberg

Lewis Hamilton became the first driver not named Sebastian Vettel to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix earlier today.

While Sebastian Vettel had taken off for his usual lead, he suffered an instantaneous tire puncture around the first corner. The damage was done by the time Vettel was able to make it back to the pits and he had his first retirement of the season. Up until today, he had been the only driver to finish all races.

Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team worked pit strategy, hoping the Spanish driver could give himself a big window of time to complete a pit stop and come back out in front of Lewis Hamilton. Things didn’t work out for them at this race for a second year in a row, as an HRT led Alonso into the pits. Alonso was able to finish second, and Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button finished third after battling with Mark Webber all race.

Felipe Massa finished fifth after a good spin, and Nico Rosberg of Mercedes managed to finish sixth. At one point, he was in a podium position, but those hopes quickly faded. He once again finished ahead of Michael Schumacher.

The midpack fight for constructors’ points waged on among Force India, Toro Rosso, and Sauber. It was not a good day for Toro Rosso, and once again not a good race for poor Sebastien Buemi. He retired for the third time in four races after a hydraulics issue. Jaime Alguersuari finished well outside the points in 15th.

Force India fared the best out of the three this race, with Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta finishing 8th and 9th respectively. Kamui Kobayashi grabbed Sauber the last points paying position of 10th, with teammate Sergio Perez right behind him in 11th.

Despite having to start at the back, Rubens Barrichello managed to finish 12th, well ahead of his teammate Pastor Maldonado. Maldonado once again received a penalty, this time for not heeding a blue flag (to let Hamilton pass) in sufficient time. However as a 30 second time penalty added on to his finishing time, it did not affect his 14th place position. Jaime Alguersuari also received one of these penalties, and it too did not change his 15th place finish.

The Renault drivers, with cars unsuited to the slow corners of the Yas Marina track, didn’t fare too badly. Vitaly Petrov, spoiler of Fernando Alonso’s day last year finished in 13th, with Bruno Senna in 16th. Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus, at one point near the points, finished 17th, and once again ahead of his teammate.

There is one race left in two weeks time. It’s hard to believe the season’s almost over. The complete finishing spots results can be found below.

Photo from Flickr user nic_r.
» Continue reading “Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Recap: A Vettel-Less Endeavor, A Hamilton Win”

Sebastian Vettel won his 11th race of the season, also attaining the fastest lap of the race to match his pole position and victory in the first great race in India. It was the first time Vettel has been able to score all three.

Despite all the dust and slow work that almost led to a cancellation, the event was a success, unless your name is Felipe Massa. Massa left Lewis Hamilton no room and the pair collided for the sixth time this season. Six. In seventeen races.

Massa was given a drive through penalty, and shortly afterwards hit a curb and broke his front suspension. No, that’s not a replay from qualifying, where it broke on the right…this time around he needs to break it on the left! And the first shot of Felipe after retiring? Him heading into the stewards’ office to complain about being penalized for closing the door on Hamilton.

Kamui Kobayashi was taken out by contact during the first lap, as was Jarno Trulli’s wing. He was able to continue on, 5 laps down from Vettel at the end, clearly making it worthwhile to have an experienced driver in over Karun Chandhok. Mark Webber again had a fine start, but he was no match for Jenson Button who quickly passed him before DRS was even enabled. Vettel was able to take off and easily cruise his way to a win, of course.

Though Massa-Hamilton was clearly the incident of the race, the fight for points between Toro Rosso and Sauber was a bit less explosive. Both teams are now tied in the constructor’s championship. Toro Rosso more than likely lost out on points when Sebastien Buemi’s engine blew. Jaime Alguersuari finished 8th, and Sergio Perez 10th.

Racing will be back in 2 weeks at Abu Dhabi, only two more races to go this season!

Results follow: » Continue reading “Indian GP Recap: Leave No Front Suspension Unbroken!”

Sebastian Vettel cruised to yet another victory, winning his first race at Spa Francorchamps. Red Bull had a 1-2 finish with Jenson Button finishing third.

Tires were certainly looking to be an issue. Red Bull had hoped to be able to start on new tires, as the front tires from qualifying had blistered badly. However they were deemed to be fine, and so the rule stands: the tires the top 10 qualifiers used on Saturday must be used to start the race.

This was also the first time this weekend it was actually dry on track.

There were casualties at the first corner, namely Jaime Alguersuari who was taken out of the race entirely. Bruno Senna ran into him and received a drive thru penalty, effectively destroying his great position. He managed to finish 13th, however.

On lap 12, Lewis Hamilton was taken out by Kamui Kobayashi. Lewis looked to be unconscious from the force of hitting the wall, as he was very slow to get out of the car. He is okay, and spoke pessimistically about the championship chances for his team to the media, so no damage.
Kobayashi effectively took out two cars and of course, received no penalty for either.

Michael Schumacher, who started dead last, was able to get up into the points, finishing in fifth place. Teammate Nico Rosberg briefly led the race at the beginning before realizing it was Friday and not Sunday, and promptly fell back.

Mark Webber had an awful start, but his excellent work on the harder tires helped him out. Fernando Alonso looked to have second place locked up, but ended up fourth, lost to both Webber and Button.

Both Vettel and Button had car problems towards the end. It looked like something was busted on the rear wing of Button’s car, and the steering wheel on Vettel’s car was blinking maniacally.

Several drivers are now mathematically eliminated from the championship. There are seven races remaining.

Full results under the cut.

» Continue reading “Sebastian Vettel Wins 2011 Belgian Grand Prix”

When you’re already celebrating your 200th Grand Prix, at the site of your first win, you might as well really celebrate and get your second win of the season. Jenson Button won the slightly wet, pit stop filled race at the Hungaroring with ease after things did not go so well for his teammate or Sebastian Vettel.

The race started on intermediate tires before drivers began switching to the supersoft tires. Button pitted before Vettel, and all went well for him from then on. He’s known for his smooth driving and tire maintenance for a reason.

Lewis Hamilton made a total of six pit stops compared to Button’s three. Hamilton also had to serve a drive through penalty for his recovery after a spin that put Paul di Resta on the grass in an attempt to avoid an accident. Of course, if you are stuck watching SPEED, this penalty was completely unfair and harsh to David Hobbs, because Hamilton can do no wrong. Moan moan moan. Lewis managed to finish fourth, ahead of Mark Webber.

Lewis’s race was ruined by the second appearance of rain. He was one of several drivers who changed to intermediate tires, and it did not pay off. McLaren has already said it was his decision, so it’ll be interesting to see if that’s really the case tomorrow when five million angry Hamilton stories show up.

Sebastian Vettel finished second thanks to Red Bull keeping him off the inters during the second part of the race. Fernando Alonso finished behind him, despite many off track visits. Teammate Felipe Massa had it worse though, as he clipped the wall with his rear wing after an off.

Nick Heidfeld’s Renault burst into flames right outside the pit lane. I gave Heidfeld’s jump out of the car a 9.5 out of 10.

Neither Team Lotus car finished the race, sadly. At one point, Heikki Kovalainen was ahead of several cars that are typically higher up finishers.

Tire strategy did not pay off for several other drivers, including Nico Rosberg and Kamui Kobayashi. Sergio Perez and Adrian Sutil, who both qualified well, were relegated to midfield finishes thanks to a wild first lap.

The race was filled with pit stops, by last count I believe there were around 90 total. One of the Virgins decided to make it a bit exciting during the second wind of rainfall and slide himself into the pit area for his team.

And now, the summer break is upon us. I expect to only have posts every other day during it, since not much should be going on. When we’re back in session, it’s time to race at Spa, one of my favorite races of the year. Hopefully the next couple of weeks go by fast!

Practice Makes P1′s Star of the Race: Sebastien Buemi! He started 23rd, quickly made his way to 14th, and finished in the points. I think Toro Rosso forgives you now for your repeated grid penalties. At least I would, considering he finished further up in the points than his teammate. And even better, he has no grid penalty for next race…for now.

Practice Makes P1′s Rage Award of the Season goes to….SPEED channel OF COURSE. Here I am thinking the worst is over because Fox races are done. Nope, commercials meant missing the true glory of the car fire. David Hobbs has no idea how to be impartial and it’s absolutely ridiculous. We did not see the podium or the post race interviews because SPEED has to go to NASCAR raceday, a program that takes place HOURS before the actual race and is TWO HOURS long. Guess how long an F1 pre-race show is? Half an hour, AND you don’t even get one before a race shown on Fox. This is the last race for an entire month, and I’m supposed to wait till 6:30pm now to see what happens after the race. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

This has been a rant. Perhaps the summer break will give Hobbs time to nap. These 8am starts must be hard on him.

Race results are below the cut!

» Continue reading “Hungarian Grand Prix Race Recap”