Fernando Alonso - Ferrari 2010

Fernando Alonso crossed the line to take the chequered flag at the F1 German Grand Prix yesterday after Felipe Massa was forced to follow orders from his team, and moved across to let him pass.

The Ferrari team have been fined $100,000 due to a breach in regulations with the case now being referred to the FIA World Motorsport Council for further consideration.

Massa shot past Sebastian Vettel at the outside of turn one while his team-mate took the inside line and was forced wide by the Red Bull as the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton slotted into fourth place.

At the end of the first lap Sebastian Buemi was back in the pits for a new rear wing while Adrian Sutil was also in for a new nose cone.  Jarno Trulli was forced to retire from the race after suffering a gearbox problem on the Lotus as the Force India cars were seen re-entering after it was discovered that the drivers had both been given each others tyres.

Lewis Hamilton had managed to get ahead of Mark Webber after passing him on the inside of the hairpin on the opening lap with Jenson Button sitting in sixth place.

As the race settled down and the front runners had made their first stops it was clear that Massa was struggling on his new harder compound tyres as he was put under pressure from Alonso who attempted a pass on lap 20.  Massa then put in a number of quick laps, creating a 3 second gap before the second Ferrari driver responded and was back on his tail.

It looked that Massa was going to take his first win since his horrific accident 12-months before until he was radioed by his race engineer Rob Smedley informing the Brazilian that “Fernando is faster than you, confirm that you understand”.

On lap 49, Massa was seen to slow down, allowing Alonso to pass him before his engineer once again came on the radio to apologise, making it obvious to all that this had been team orders.

Alonso crossed the line to take the flag, 4 seconds ahead of his unhappy team-mate followed by the Red Bull of Vettel in third.

The two McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished in fourth and fifth places respectively ahead of Webber who had suffered with an oil problem the entire race.

Robert Kubica was in seventh position followed by the two Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finished in eighth and ninth place while Renault driver Vitaly Petrov completed the top ten drivers of the day.

Here are the results;

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 67laps 1hr 27m 38.864s
2. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 04.1s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 05.1s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 26.8s
5. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 29.4s
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 43.6s
7. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +1 lap
8. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
9. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
10. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +1 lap

all results unofficial

Karun Chandhok - HRT F1 2010

The 2010 HRT F1 driver Karun Chandhok is to be replaced at the German Grand Prix by Sakon Yamamoto following his impressive performance at the Silverstone Grand Prix when he drove in place of  Bruno Senna.

The 28-year-old driver ended the British Grand Prix in 20th position for the Hispania Racing team and has been given a second opportunity to drive this time alongside Senna.

Chandhok is expected to race again later in the season with team test driver Christian Klein stating that from now onwards any of the four drivers may get a chance at the race seats.

The Japanese driver has completed 15 Grand Prix starts, initially with the Spyker team now Force India and then the Super Aguri team before joining the HRT F1 team as a test driver in April of this year.

Yamamoto said in an interview;

“The last race weekend was very exciting for me. Now, the team has given me another chance to race on Sunday and I will do my best to prove that it was the right decision.

“I have a lot of good memories of the circuit in Hockenheim. I like the track layout with the passing point at the end of the long straight and also the Stadium sector, which is very challenging. There is always a nice atmosphere with the spectators at the grandstands and I am always looking forward to come back to Hockenheim. Compared to Silverstone, I think we are more competitive and we can achieve a good result again.”

Sebastian Buemi - Scuderia Toro Rosso

The Toro Rosso team drivers are to remain the same for the 2011 season with both Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi keeping their posts.

After confirming the news team boss Franz Tost said;

“I believe our drivers will be well prepared for 2011, which is why they are both confirmed for next year.   It is also logical, because one key role of Scuderia Toro Rosso is to bring on young drivers from the Red Bull Young Driver programme and at the ages of 21 and 20 respectively, both Seb and Jaime certainly still meet the right criteria.

Our drivers still lack F1 experience compared to the majority of their colleagues. Therefore, as they get more track time with every race, I expect to see an improvement in the final half of the season. This is particularly relevant to Alguersuari, because from Hungary onwards, he will be able to rely on the knowledge he picked up after making his debut there in 2009, knowing all the remaining tracks, with the exception of Korea. It is not just a case of their driving getting better, because it is also true that their understanding and engineering feedback improves, which is vital if we are to get the most out of our package.”

Mark Webber - Red Bull's No.2 Driver

Mark Webber is now lying in third place in the F1 championship standings after crossing the line to take the chequered flag at yesterdays British Grand Prix at the newly modernised Silverstone circuit.

Webber was still smarting from the team decision to give his Red Bull team mate the newly developed front wing off of his car just before the start of the qualifying session after the one fitted to Sebastian Vettel’s car broke during the morning session, leaving the German driver to go on and secure pole position.

The Australian driver led the race from the very first corner as he squeezed his car in front of his team-mate Vettel, who in turn touched wheels with the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, damaging the rear wheel of the Red Bull and was forced to return to the pits for new tyres.

Webber set fastest lap after fastest lap ahead of Hamilton and third place man Robert Kubica in the Renault, Nico Rosberg for Mercedes and Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari.  Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa appeared to make contact as they battled for position resulting in the Brazilian driver heading back to the pits after a puncture.

Kubica retired from the race after suffering a driveshaft failure on his car leaving Rosberg the chance at the third step of the podium while a challenging Jenson Button stayed on his tail after moving up from fourteenth place on the grid to fourth.

The safety car was deployed on lap 28 of the race after Force India driver Adrian Sutil ran into the back of Pedro de la Rosa in the BMW Sauber as they headed down the pit straight, littering the circuit with debris.  The incident played nicely into the hands of Vettel who began to work his way back through the field despite making contact with Sutil after finally getting past without either drivers suffering any problems.

Webber, who had created a gap of over 7 seconds on Hamilton until the safety car, finished the race 1.3 seconds ahead of the McLaren driver who was followed by Rosberg and Button.

In fifth place was the Williams driver Rubens Barrichello ahead of the BMW Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi and Vettel who finished in an impressive seventh place from the back of the field.

Adrian Sutil crossed the line in eighth place followed by Michael Schumacher in ninth and the second Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg in tenth.

It was a disastrous weekend for the Ferrari team after Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa’s starting incident and then later Alonso was given a drive-through penalty for taking a short cut when overtaking Kubica on lap 17.  His penalty coincided with the deployment of the safety car which moved him from 4th place back to 15th and out of the points.

The Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari suffered brake failure just 7 laps from the end of the race while Lucas di Grassi failed to finish the race due to an hydraulics problem in the Virgin car.

Here are the results;

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 52 laps 1hr 24m 38.200s
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +1.3s
3. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +21.3s
4. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +21.9s
5. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +31.4s
6. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +32.1s
7. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +36.7s
8. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +40.9s
9. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +41.5s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +42.0s

all times unofficial

Robert Kubica - Renault F1 2010

It has been announced that the current Renault F1 driver Robert Kubica has signed a contract to race with the team for a further two-years.

The Polish driver is currently running in sixth place in the championship for Renault after qualifying within the top ten every race this season.

Despite rumours that Kubica would be leaving the team for Ferrari or Red Bull Racing he had no intention of moving-on and confirmed that he is totally committed to the team.

There is still no confirmation of who will partner Kubica in the 2011 championship as the 2010 rookie driver Vitaly Petrov is under consideration while rumours that the team are hoping to secure the former driver Kimi Raikkonen persist.

Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing 2010

The Red Bull driver Sebastain Vettel took victory yesterday at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain while Mark Webber walked away from an horrendous accident.

Vettel who started from pole position dominated the race from the start followed by Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren and the second Red Bull of Mark Webber as they headed into the first corner.  Webber was soon moved back to five position as he was passed by both the Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

The Australian soon slipped further back to ninth before getting it all wrong on lap 10 when he dropped into the slipstream of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus.  Webber clipped the back of the Lotus, launching his Red Bull into the air and landing on the roof before flipping back over and going at full speed into the tyre wall.  Webber miraculously walked away from the high-speed crash as the safety car was deployed.

The usual mad dash for the pit lane followed the accident leaving Michael Schumacher to lead the Grand Prix followed by the second non-stopper Kamui Kobayashi.

As the safety car entered the pits it was Vettel still in the lead followed by Hamilton, Kobayashi, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica, Sebastien Buemi, Adrian Sutil, Nico Hulkenburg and Alonso.

On lap 21 of the race it was announced that Lewis Hamilton was under investigation by the stewards for passing the safety car.  The McLaren driver pitted on lap 28 to serve his drive-through penalty and rejoined the circuit still in second place.

Timo Glock was forced to make an unscheduled stop when he developed a puncture after coming into contact with the HRT car of Bruno Senna, who also ended up returning to the pits for a new nose cone.  Glock was later issued with a 20 second penalty for ignoring waved blue flags.

It was then announced that nine cars were under investigation for speeding behind the safety car Button, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, de la Rosa, Petrov, Sutil, Liuzzi, Buemi and Kubica. All nine drivers have since been given a five-second penalty added onto their finishing times although it didn’t make much difference to the outcome of the positions.

Nico Hulkenberg was forced to retire with only 7 laps of the race to run after developing a perished rear tyre that damaged the rear bodywork of the Williams.

Vettel crossed the line ahead of Hamilton, Button, Barrichello, Kubica, Sutil, Kobayashi, Buemi, Alonso and de la Rosa completing the top ten drivers.

Here are the results;

1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 57 laps 1hr 40m 29.571s
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +5.0s
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +12.6s*
4. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +25.6s*
5. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +27.1s*
6. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +30.1s*
7. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +30.9s
8. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +32.8s
9. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +36.2s*
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +44.3s

FIA

The Formula One’s governing body (FIA) have fined the USF1 team $414,000 (€309,000) for failing to make an appearance at this years world championship.

The FIA found the USF1 team guilty of having infringed the FIA International Sporting Code, the sporting regulations of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship and the obligations resulting from it’s entry in this championship.

The team have also been be deprived of the right to take in any further competition for life and ordered to pay costs incurred by the FIA for the disciplinary hearing.

A month before the start of the 2010 F1 season, the team initially asked for a delay in their entry onto the grid before asking for a years suspension which was refused.

Robert Kubica - Renault 2010

The Renault driver Robert Kubica will be taking to the circuit of his home-town when the Renault Roadshow event takes place in Poland on 17 July.

The free event is something that the Polish driver confessed to having wanted to do for a long time giving the Polish fans the chance to experience the thrills of the F1 being driven at speed.

The last time a Formula One car was driven in Poland was back in 2007 during a street exhibition but this time the fans will have their fellow countryman driving the last years R29 at the circuit situated in the West of the country.

The 25-year-old driver is currently running seventh in the 2010 championship with 73 points.

Lewis Hamilton - Canadian Grand Prix 2010

Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in the McLaren to take the chequered flag at the Canadian Grand Prix despite being penalised and reprimanded for running out of fuel at the end of his qualifying session on Saturday.  Hamilton was fined $10,000 after stopping on track with an empty tank and a precedent was set to ensure that this is not a regular occurrence.

The Red Bull driver Mark Webber had qualified in second place but was penalised for replacing the gear box on his car and moved down the grid five places.

Lewis Hamilton took the lead at the beginning of the race ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button as a collision between Felipe Massa’s Ferrari and the Force India of Vitantonio Liuzzi occurred.

Within 7 laps of the race most of the front runners were in the pits swapping from the soft to the harder tyre options leaving Vettel in the lead followed by his team-mate Mark Webber. The whole race was to be decided on tyre choices with the Red Bull team drivers choosing different options as the race progressed.  While Vettel chose the option tyre Webber stayed on the primes with the hope of building enough of a lead so as not to lose the lead when he needed to re-pit for his option tyre.  Webber’s hopes were dashed when he was passed one lap before his scheduled stop by Hamilton.

Alonso was sitting in second place in his Ferrari until lap 56 when he was passed by the second McLaren of Jenson Button after getting held up by Karun Chandhok in the Force India.

Robert Kubica was forced to take three stops during his race due to tyre wear and almost collided with the Mercedes of Michael Scumacher emerging from the second stop.  Both cars were jostling for the place over the kerbs in turns three and four, compromising both cars and resulting in Schumacher finishing down in eleventh place.  Kubica was later reprimanded for his dangerous driving when he cut across the track in front of Adrian Sutil to take the entry lane of the pits.

Hamilton took the chequered flag ahead of Button with Alonso in third place.  Vettel finished in fourth place followed by his team-mate Webber in fifth and Nico Rosberg for Mercedes in sixth, Robert Kubica in seventh, Sebastien Buemi in eighth, Liuzzi in ninth and Adrian Sutil in tenth.

Felipe Massa was given a 20-second penalty after the race for speeding in the pit lane after an unscheduled stop when he tangled with Michael Schumacher at the final chicane resulting in a damaged front wing.

Here are the results;

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 70 laps 1hr 33m 53.456s
2. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +2.2s
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +9.2s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +37.8s
5. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +39.2s
6. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +56.0s
7. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +57.3s
8. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
10. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +1 lap

all times unofficial

Jenson Button MBE

This years British F1 Grand Prix takes place on the weekend of 9-11 July at the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire despite the 2009 Grand Prix being hailed as the last before moving the location to Donington Park for 2010.

Donington Park, having failed to raise the required funds for the event, returned the Formula 1 race back to the newly improved circuit of Silverstone.

With Jenson Button being awarded an MBE recently from Buckingham Palace will his winning streak continue at the British Grand Prix for the McLaren team or could it be his team-mate and fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton that stands on the top step of the podium?

Last years British Grand Prix was won by the Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel who dominated the race from start to finish after starting on pole position.

Vettel was followed across the line by his team-mate Mark Webber for a Red Bull 1-2 finish and without any of the problems faced at this seasons last round, when Vettel took Webber out while the Australian, who is currently the championship leader was out in front at Turkey.

The Silverstone circuit has recently had a make-over with many of the new grandstands now completed as part of the multi-million pound investment to modernise the circuit.

Silverstone Circuits Limited along with its owners the British Racing Drivers’ Club unveiled the new circuit with a major new section of the track, tested out by David Coulthard in a Red Bull F1 along with Damon Hill who had a special passenger in his two -seater, His Royal Highness the Duke of York.

Also on circuit were the motorcycling father and son combination  Ron and Leon Haslam representing the worlds of MotoGP and World Superbikes.

The circuits new Stowe Complex, a collection of customer focused test track facilities is based along with hospitality units and Pit garages, has also now been officially opened and work on the new Silverstone Pit and Paddock complex is now well underway.

The majority of the circuit has remained the same under the new designs but now drivers will turn right at Abbey before heading into the new Arena Complex, rejoining the existing track at Brooklands where previously the drivers would have headed into Farm Straight, Bridge and Priory.

Silverstone claims to have created three new overtaking opportunities with the new layout which got the approval of David Coulthard after his first test session who said,  “I’ve raced at Silverstone since 1989 so I’ve seen many different tracks, configurations and this one is one of the best they have come up with.”

The British F1 GP is an event not to be missed, where you can watch some of the greatest Formula One drivers of our time in an exhilarating battle of speed and determination as the teams and compete for the 2010 Championship titles.

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