For Formula 1 motor sports, the impending appeal on behalf of McLaren is something they really must do. It sounds fruitless and it really is, but in competition you have to cover all your angles even if it means a board room championship. What makes this appeal so controversial lies in what I wrote in my previous post which alluded to ‘the world against McLaren’ and that on paper, rules were broken that may or may not have altered the outcome. The fact that nothing was done seals the deal for McLaren.

I have watched this race on video twice and concentrated on the two points I consider the real reason for the collapse of Lewis Hamilton. One is his transmission glitch and the other, the third pit stop. As I watched, Lewis may have been able to reach the 5th position needed to win but not with the third stop.

In brief, here’s how I see it however muddy it may be. The transmission glitch cost Lewis around about 30 seconds. Given this, and his pace after the correction, and that he still had 63 laps to go, the possibility for 5th was there. Read on… At lap 22 at his first pit stop, he had moved up to 10th place and 5th was still possible or was it.

I see his original plan was for a long middle stint on soft compound tires and a short finishing stint on the super soft tires (just like Alonzo) having possibilities, but here’s where things changed in my mind. Instead of this, he received the super soft tires and was sent out for a short middle stint of only 14 laps. These tires were predictably slower so putting him on a short stint with them would free up a long finishing stint on the faster tires. Sounds good on the surface, but there are just too many variables that always come into play and this is what happened.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 0 Comments. Leave one because we like them.

Back from holidays now and ready to go again. I managed to collect as much news as I could about the final race and I do love a race where I spend a good amount of time pacing around the room, however this race has offered so much news and speculation I cannot even begin to put it all together a full week later. I will however, touch on one topic that has angered me for most of the season and maybe made me ( here’s those words) a bit of a ‘conspiracy theorist’.

What I have been reading and hearing for a couple of days is a resurrection of the ‘rules for Ferrari and rules for everyone else.’

Ferrari fans be angry, but at least finish reading.

This issue consistently rears it’s ugly head and far too many times makes me think twice and shake my head. The latest on this touchy issue is what Damon Hill had to say on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Rules are rules,” Damon said. “The FIA have found some teams are in breach of the regulations. If this had been something McLaren had done during the season, do you think the FIA would have insisted that their cars were legal or illegal? I think on past performance they’re prepared to persecute McLaren for any infringement that they’ve made this season.”

One could see that he may have a point. McLaren have been attacked left and right from the get go and punished for any irregularity whereas others just blow away with fresh F1 news.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 1 Comment

An old Track, Interlagos has been around since 1973 and is built on undulating terrain which is always a favorite for drivers and fans alike. It was drastically modified in 1990 when it was shortened from it’s original length of 7.829m ti 4.397m to comply with the newest FIA track length regulations. Interestingly enough, Interlagos is one of the few tracks that is driven counter clockwise.
The redevelopment of the track consisted of major changes effecting speed and making it a much safer track. Three long straight sections were removed as well as two high speed corners. The track has become more technical and still has high speed sections, but is very bumpy throughout. It also features one of the longest pit-lanes in F1. The pit-lane starts just before the start line and merges back onto the track after the S do Senna section and just before Curva do Sol.

Race Weekend

Thursday 18 October
15h00: FIA press conference

Friday 19 October
10h00 - 11h30: First free practice
14h00 - 15h30: Second free practice
16h00: FIA press conference

Saturday 20 October

11h00 - 12h00: Third free practice
14h00 - 15h00: Qualifying
15h00: FIA post qualifying press conference

Sunday 21 October

14h00 - 16h00: Brazilian GP
16h00: FIA post race press conference

Brazilian GP Info

No of Laps: 71
Race Distance: 305.909 km
Lap Record: 1:11.473 - JP Montoya (2004)
2006 Winner:Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
Track Lenght: 4.309 km
Corners: 13 (left:9) (right:4)
Top Speed: 325 Km
Downforce: high

[tags]Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos[/tags]

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 0 Comments. Leave one because we like them.

This years Chinese Grand Prix seemed almost predictable at the start with Lewis Hamilton walking away with the championship title with at least a second place. Fernando Alonzo almost resigned himself to that fate just the day before when he had his temper tantrum. Now, 24 hours later, how things have changed.

The biggest factor in this race was weather and even more so than in Japan. In Japan, it was consistently raining and wet tires were the only choice. Today in China, rain on, rain off, rain on, rain off. This was the story all throughout the race making tire strategy extremely difficult and one that impacted Lewis Hamilton the most.

With a wet track to start and on and off again rain, all teams elected to start the race on medium wet or intermediate tires and see where the weather would lead them. For the first half of the race with the track gaining a marginally dry racing line with plenty of wet patches, this was clearly the best choice and the top 4 drivers remained as qualified with Lewis Hamilton pulling out a gap of up to 9 seconds over Kimmi Raikkonen and over 17 seconds over Fernando Alonzo in 4th place. As the race wore on, tires wore down and began resembling slicks as the racing line became drier lap after lap. At first pit, the major players refuelled but elected not to change tires, instead remaining on the worn down medium wet tires.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 1 Comment

Qualifying Results for 2007 Chinese Grand Prix

1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:35.908
2. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:36.044
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:36.221
4. Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:36.576
5. David Coulthard RedBull Renault 1:37.619
6. Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:38.013
7. Mark Webber RedBull Renault 1:38.153
8. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:38.455
9. Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:38.472
10. Jenson Button Honda 1:39.285
11. Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:36.862
12. Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:36.891
13. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:36.959
14. Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:36.991
15. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri - Honda 1:37.247
16. Nico Rosberg Williams Toyota 1:37.483
17. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:37.251
18. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:37.290
19. Alexander Wurz Williams Toyota 1:37.456
20. Takuma Sato Super Aguri Honda 1:38.218
21. Adrian Sutil Spyker Ferrari 1:38.668
22. Sakon Yamamoto Spyker Ferrari 1:39.336

My drive of the day would have go to David Coulthard. David has always been one of the smoother drivers on the track and today was his day. The track suits his Red Bull and he drove the car to a very respectable 5th place.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 0 Comments. Leave one because we like them.

Today, justice was done. This was a long and stupid investigation, complete with the usual unsubstantiated Hamilton bashing. Frankly, this type of witch hunt makes me sick and I’m glad it’s over.
Three parties involved in the incident where Hamilton had been accused of erratic driving behind the pace car during the Japanese Grand Prix got together to put this matter to bed. Mark Webber, Sebstian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton all appeared before stewards to explain what happened and in the end, all were happy and no one was punished. Even Vettel had his 10 place penalty reversed.
This race was held under terrible driving conditions as was evident by a number of drivers constantly complaining over their radios about how bad it was. When I watched the race and it was the same race that those crying foul watched, I saw other drivers passing each other unintentionally while behind the pace car. What they said about that was that the weather was so bad you could pass someone and not even know it. Immediately after Sebastian Vettel returned to the pits, he was in tears and admitted that the incident was his fault. He said that while watching Lewis, he failed to concentrate just for a second on Mark Weber in front of him. He also said he would apologize to Mark as soon as he could and admit fault. Just as Vettel admitted the crash was his fault, Weber was fuming in the pits about what Vettel had done. Hmm, I guess a lot of people conveniently forgot this being so happy to find another way to bash Hamilton.
The fact that Mark Webber didn’t submit an official complaint tells us that when cooler heads prevail and all evidence is looked at impartially, yes, impartially, a favorable conclusion is reached.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 0 Comments. Leave one because we like them.

Here is another of Hermann Tilke’s track designs and carries his usual trademark long back straight followed immediately by a hairpin turn. Born in 2004, Shanghai Circuit is one of the newest circuits on the F1 travelling road show and it’s location is in vast contrast to the just run Fuji circuit. The teams travel only a short distance from rolling foothills of Mount Fuji in Japan to the bustling metropolis of Shanghai, China. Curiously, this track resembles and by accident, the Chinese character shang, the first word in the name of the city Shanghai. It also means ‘ascend’ or ‘above’.

The race track itself is 5.4km long and is equally divided into 7 left and 7 right hand turns. With the combination of the turns and straights along with gradient changes, we will surely see top speeds up to and over 327 km/h on the long straight and down to the low 80 km/h range through tight turns.

track Stats:

Track Length: 5.5 km
Laps: 56
Total Distance: 305 066 km

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 1 Comment

The battle between Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica was a classic. This would have been a great battle in dry conditions, but considering that it was extremely wet, this is a great highlight reel.
Both Massa and Kubica wouldn’t give an inch pushing each other all over the track and off. Worth watching a few times.

Massa vs Kubica Battle In Fuji 2007

[tags]Massa and Kubica, massa, kubica[/tags]

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 1 Comment

If you didn’t know how good Lewis Hamilton is, you do now. Lewis Hamilton drove his Mclaren Mercedes flawlessly in a rain drenched and action packed thriller today to capture the 2007 japanese Grand Prix. Teammate Fernando Alonzo who couldn’t match the pace and drove a ragged race, crashed hard in the later half leaving the drivers championship Lewis’s to lose.
From daybreak, it was apparent the weather was going to play the biggest part in this years race and it didn’t disappoint. The race began behind the safety car and continued for the first 19 laps. Race radios were crackling with complaints from drivers about the appalling conditions and indeed they were.
Early in the race, it was reported that Ferrari chose to race on intermediates and were forced to come in to the pits right away to change to full wets rejoining the race at the back of the field. What on earth happened there. It appeared to me that every other team, media person, and even the fan at the farthest reaches of the stadium knew they were told to start on full wets. Ferrari adapted to a new strategy of a one stop race hoping to gain track position as the race went on.
A promising race for Jenson Button was trashed when in turn 1, Nick Heidfeld challenged him up the inside knocking Jenson’s front wind off and sending Heidfeld spinning off the track. After a few laps without a wing, Jenson finally gave in, pitting for a new one and exiting the pits well down in the race order.
Felipe massa’s day went from bad to worse when he was struck by a spinning Alex Wurz sending him spinning as well. Luckily massa’s Ferrari was undamaged and he continued into the mist and rain.
By this point it was clear that Hamilton was charging hard to win this race and show everyone what he was made of. Alonzo already over 2 seconds behind and dropping.
The biggest break for Hamilton was when Alonzo pitted and came out in the middle of traffic slowing him down even more allowing Hamilton to widen his gap to over 14 seconds.
Treacherous conditions continued and in spots seemed worse as the race went on. What was amazing to me was that very few cars pirouetted off the track. Most seemed in control throughout with the exception of a few who simply had brain cramps.
First Kubica (who I admire quite a bit) feeling a little to confident charged straight into Hamilton punting him momentarily off the track giving Kubica the place. Hmm where is your head Robert. This stupid move cost Kubica a drive through penalty and Hamilton a vibration.
Later, on lap 42, Fernando Alonzo lost control of his Mclaren in turn 6 and slid hard into the wall ending his race and maybe his championship challenge.
Lap 47, under the guidance of the safety car, catastrophe for the Red Bull organisation Sebastien Vettel chose to watch Lewis Hamilton’s car instead of Mark Webber in front of him and in that split second of inattention thumped his car into the back of the Australian’s. Both cars were out, though Vettel was able to hobble back to the pits to retire his car in tears.
Was Mark Weber angry about this? A dimwit at Itv (who I won’t name here) raced over to him sticking a microphone in his face and was clearly surprised when Weber threw the “f” word in on live TV. Interview over and I hope some red faces in the media.
Suddenly, after effectively starting from the back of the grid, both Ferrairis at lap 52 were Massa 3rd and Raikkonen 5th. After a couple of hard charges at 4th place Coulthard, Raikkonen flew past him and took 4th place behind Massa.
Here’s where it stinks. Lap 59 with Massa still in front of Raikkonen, Ferrari ordered Massa in to the pits for new tires and a splash of fuel (clearly not needed and could only be team orders) giving the position over to Raikkonen who could then challenge Heiki Kovalainen for second place and even more important championship points. Now I don’t believe Ferrari was trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes with that ‘team order’ move and they certainly didn’t, but these tactics I don’t like one bit. Race for the place, end of story.
From this point on, Hamilton, lap after lap widened his gap over second place Kovalainen and Raikkonen was not able to get by Kovalainen for second place.
This was a terrific race. Usually I don’t really enjoy watching a wet race, but this one was special. I think every driver who took to the grid today drove a great race. The conditions brought out incredible bravery and skill in all participating.
In the end, Lewis Hamilton has proved to all of his critics that he IS the best out there and deserves the championship. With barely 500km of wet in an F1 car, he drove lap after lap smoothly without ever making a mistake. His fast pace and incredible skill literally broke Fernando Alonzo and caused all of the 4 leaders to take chances just to get close.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 0 Comments. Leave one because we like them.

Fog and rain were the initial story in Fuji today, but soon into the 1st qualifying session at least the fog abated leaving only a slow drizzle of rain and a bunch of nervous drivers.
Not only is this the first F1 race in 30 years at this redesigned track, but with little practice this morning in the rain, qualifying began with not one driver putting in more than a lap or two in the rain.

By the time qualifying was over, the rain had all but stopped and the track was in most sections just damp. This gave opportunities to lesser drivers and drivers needing good results and they didn’t disappoint. Both Jenson Button and Sebastion Vettel made it into Q3 placing high.

Jenson Button’s a guy whose career is fast fading away with Honda Racing and I can’t help but scream at him to get out. He’s talented, fast and can drive even this pitifully slow Honda fast. Today he proved it in the rain.

Things looked up for Jenson Button and Honda on the latter’s home turf, thanks to the effect of the wet track on car performance. Button was able to remind people of what he can do as he lapped in 1m 26.913s to shade Mark Webber’s Red Bull by a thousandth of a second. (f1.com)

“It was really tough,” Button said. “The track was drying all the team but that was just making it more and more greasy all the time.
Button said one of the keys to his position was his decision to use scrubbed intermediate tyres in all three parts of qualifying.
My other performer of the day is Sebastian Vettel. I was first impressed with Sebastian when he stepped in to drive in place of injured Robert Kubica. The result, 8th place in the BMW.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 0 Comments. Leave one because we like them.