Lewis Hamilton is in India today as part of a promotional event for his team-sponsors, Vodafone. The event called "Hot Laps with Lewis Hamilton" will see competition winners get a ride in a SL 63 AMG Mercedes on the Madras Motor Sports Club track with the 2008 F1 Championship winner.
These videos show similar events held at Goodwood in 2007 and at the TopGear track in 2008, so these lucky winners have a fantastic day ahead of them.
Having this much fun in a non-F1 car might just be the remedy Lewis needs for last week's upset at Monza.
More details and Photos to follow....
Friday, September 17, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Alonso wins Italian GP, Webber regains lead in F1 Championship table
The Italian Grand Prix has delivered for the home fans or 'tifosi'. It couldn't have been a better race for the Ferrari team; losing the lead at the start line to Button but Alonso kept close to the McLaren driver and confidently regained the lead by leapfrogging Button with a perfect pitstop.
Massa also held his own to keep his 3rd position and finish on the podium. Webber is the biggest winner from this race being the only leadership contender to collect points in the last 2 races. Webber now has 187 points, 5 clear of his closest rival, Lewis Hamilton, who suffered right front tyre damage early on the race from a collision with Massa and did not finish the race.
Mathematically speaking, two more drivers fall out of the Championship fight ,with 5 races to go to the end of the season - Sutil and Schumacher. This should signal to Mercedes to get behind Schumacher's team-mate, Nico Rosberg, for a fight with the leaders. The top 8 drivers are separated by 79 points, which is just over 3 race wins.
As the F1 circus leaves the last European race of the calendar, RedBulls are poised to dominate in the rest of the races and will be hoping for better luck with their reliability to pick up their first Driver and Constructor's Championship.
Next race Singapore in a fortnight on 24 - 26th September.
(Image from www.telegraph.co.uk)
Massa also held his own to keep his 3rd position and finish on the podium. Webber is the biggest winner from this race being the only leadership contender to collect points in the last 2 races. Webber now has 187 points, 5 clear of his closest rival, Lewis Hamilton, who suffered right front tyre damage early on the race from a collision with Massa and did not finish the race.
Mathematically speaking, two more drivers fall out of the Championship fight ,with 5 races to go to the end of the season - Sutil and Schumacher. This should signal to Mercedes to get behind Schumacher's team-mate, Nico Rosberg, for a fight with the leaders. The top 8 drivers are separated by 79 points, which is just over 3 race wins.
As the F1 circus leaves the last European race of the calendar, RedBulls are poised to dominate in the rest of the races and will be hoping for better luck with their reliability to pick up their first Driver and Constructor's Championship.
Next race Singapore in a fortnight on 24 - 26th September.
(Image from www.telegraph.co.uk)
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Hamilton rues F-Duct decision
Qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix is complete and Alonso has delighted the "tifosi" by topping the timesheets to claim pole position for his team's home grand prix. His team-mate also gets a good start tomorrow, having qualified 3rd.
However an interesting situation is brewing at the McLaren garage: both drivers decided to have different set-ups for the qualifying season and the results has been significant enough to cause some head-scratching.
Button, the current World Champion, who is the newbie at McLaren, decided to run the 'F-Duct' device during this afternoon's session. The F-Duct, pioneered by McLaren cuts drag and helps with straight-line acceleration. He describes his set-up as having higher downforce (@ 00.56s in this clip).
On the other hand, Hamilton decided to ditch the device, having found no significant advantage over the practice sessions on Friday. This meant his set-up was of a lower downforce than his team-mate's and meant the corners were tricky for him. He would later describe his car as "sliding everywhere".
In Q1, where the slowest 7 drivers are knocked out, Lewis posted a time of 1:22.830, 0.255s faster than Button. In Q2, Button was faster than his team-mate by just 0.04s. In Q3, where the top 10 drivers' starting position for the race tomorrow is decided, Button dramatically increased his gap to Lewis by 0.539seconds!
Button starts in 2nd place tomorrow, while Hamilton starts in fifth. We do not know how much of an effect tyre-choice or the increasing track temperature might have played but it does seem like one side of the McLaren garage will be head-scratching overnight. Nonetheless, the race is tomorrow and we all know how different race day is to the qualifying sessions.
(image from PlanetF1.com)
However an interesting situation is brewing at the McLaren garage: both drivers decided to have different set-ups for the qualifying season and the results has been significant enough to cause some head-scratching.
Button, the current World Champion, who is the newbie at McLaren, decided to run the 'F-Duct' device during this afternoon's session. The F-Duct, pioneered by McLaren cuts drag and helps with straight-line acceleration. He describes his set-up as having higher downforce (@ 00.56s in this clip).
On the other hand, Hamilton decided to ditch the device, having found no significant advantage over the practice sessions on Friday. This meant his set-up was of a lower downforce than his team-mate's and meant the corners were tricky for him. He would later describe his car as "sliding everywhere".
In Q1, where the slowest 7 drivers are knocked out, Lewis posted a time of 1:22.830, 0.255s faster than Button. In Q2, Button was faster than his team-mate by just 0.04s. In Q3, where the top 10 drivers' starting position for the race tomorrow is decided, Button dramatically increased his gap to Lewis by 0.539seconds!
Button starts in 2nd place tomorrow, while Hamilton starts in fifth. We do not know how much of an effect tyre-choice or the increasing track temperature might have played but it does seem like one side of the McLaren garage will be head-scratching overnight. Nonetheless, the race is tomorrow and we all know how different race day is to the qualifying sessions.
(image from PlanetF1.com)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Provisional 2011 F1 Calendar
The provisional 20 race calendar for the 2011 season has been released by the FIA. Notable changes are a new venue in India and the swap between Brazil and Abu Dhabi at the end of the season.
13 March - Bahrain
27 March - Australia
10 April - Malaysia
17 April - China
8 May - Turkey
22 May - Spain
29 May - Monaco
12 June - Canada
26 June - Europe
10 July - Great Britain
24 July - Germany
31 July - Hungary
28 August - Belgium
11 September - Italy
25 September - Singapore
9 October - Japan
16 October - Korea
30 October - India*
13 November - Abu Dhabi
27 November - Brazil
13 March - Bahrain
27 March - Australia
10 April - Malaysia
17 April - China
8 May - Turkey
22 May - Spain
29 May - Monaco
12 June - Canada
26 June - Europe
10 July - Great Britain
24 July - Germany
31 July - Hungary
28 August - Belgium
11 September - Italy
25 September - Singapore
9 October - Japan
16 October - Korea
30 October - India*
13 November - Abu Dhabi
27 November - Brazil
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Ferrari Team-Order hearing
Ferrari team-order saga will finally be heard by the World Motor Sport Council on Wednesday 8th September after they were accused of orchestrating a win for Alonso, by a coded message to Massa asking him to move aside for his team-mate.
Having already been fined $100,000, there is speculation on what extra penalties they will incur. Some say that Ferrari might be docked their Constructor's Championship points while the drivers retain their points (similar to what happened after McLaren's Spy-gate affair), the drivers could lose their points from that race or Ferrari might get another hefty fine.
If the second option is selected, then this would promote Vettel to pole position (gain 10 points) and the other championship contenders i.e. Hamilton, Button and Webber would also gain several points. The main effect of this would be that:
(a) the gap between 1st and 5th driver in the standings increases from 41 to 72!
(b) Vettel's gap to Hamilton is reduced by 4 points, from 31 to 27
(c) Kubica and Rosberg leapfrog Massa in the standings.
However this is highly unlikely, but Vettel must be hoping for a change in his fortunes to put him back in contention for the Championship this year.
Roll on Wednesday 8th; Ferrari could really do without THIS impetus to perform well at their home-race at the Autodromo di Monza, Italy which is on the weekend after the hearing.
Having already been fined $100,000, there is speculation on what extra penalties they will incur. Some say that Ferrari might be docked their Constructor's Championship points while the drivers retain their points (similar to what happened after McLaren's Spy-gate affair), the drivers could lose their points from that race or Ferrari might get another hefty fine.
If the second option is selected, then this would promote Vettel to pole position (gain 10 points) and the other championship contenders i.e. Hamilton, Button and Webber would also gain several points. The main effect of this would be that:
(a) the gap between 1st and 5th driver in the standings increases from 41 to 72!
(b) Vettel's gap to Hamilton is reduced by 4 points, from 31 to 27
(c) Kubica and Rosberg leapfrog Massa in the standings.
However this is highly unlikely, but Vettel must be hoping for a change in his fortunes to put him back in contention for the Championship this year.
Roll on Wednesday 8th; Ferrari could really do without THIS impetus to perform well at their home-race at the Autodromo di Monza, Italy which is on the weekend after the hearing.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
In or Out? Mathematically speaking....
With six races left in the F1 2010 calendar, most teams have already started focusing their design efforts on next year's car as they are mathematically out of the running for the Championship - short of a bizarre deduction of points from the current Championship leaders (the 3 new teams never had a shot, to be honest!).
So those that still have a chance are the top 10 scorers in the table. Although most F1 fans and pundits are concentrating on the top 5 drivers (Hamilton, Webber, Vettel, Button and Alonso) seperated by 41 points, given that their teams are still developing THIS year's car and cannot afford to become complacent with the title race.
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