Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton took the victory on Sunday at the Spa Formula 1 Grand Prix after dominating the race in the McLaren from the start.

In an incident packed race which saw the safety car deployed twice, rain was forecast and arrived causing drivers to scramble for the pits for a change of tyres.

Mark Webber had a disastrous start off the line as his anti-stall engaged leaving him down in seventh place by the second corner.  The Australian driver managed to get himself back in contention after moving his way back up to third place.  Fortunately for the Red Bull driver, a bad pit-stop for Robert Kubica in the Renault allowed Webber to take second place where he remained until the chequered flag.

Jenson Button had sat in second position for most of the first part of the race until he was hit by the second Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel.  A mistake by the German driver ended Button’s race after the Red Bull slammed into the side of the McLaren resulting in a drive-through penalty for Vettel who had managed to continue after the collision.  Vettel’s day continued to get worse when he suffered a puncture after coming into contact with Tonio Liuzzi in the Force India.

There was also a coming together on the first lap of the race between Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello, the latter on his 300th Grand Prix starts was left to walk back to the pits on his celebratory weekend.

As the weather appeared to improve more rain was forecast  towards the end of the race giving the teams and drivers a dilemma with their choice of tyres.  As the rain began to steadily increase, the lead drivers tip-toed their way around the circuit while the back markers made a hasty retreat to the pit garages for intermediate tyres.

Hamilton was almost a casualty of the slippery conditions, running out of track and into the gravel trap as he lost all grip.  Fortunately he managed to keep the engine running on the McLaren and got back on track still holding onto the lead and back to his garage for new tyres.

The safety car was again on circuit following the incident with Fernando Alonso at the top of hill when his Ferrari was left stranded after hitting the barriers.

Hamilton crossed the line to take the chequered flag ahead of Webber in second and Kubica in third.  Felipe Massa finished in fourth place followed by Adrian Sutil in fifth, Nico Rosberg in sixth, Michael Schumacher in seventh, Kamui Kobayashi in eighth, Vitaly Petrov in ninth and Viantonio Liuzzi in tenth.

Antonio Liuzzi gained a place in the race after stewards penalised Jamie Alguersuari by adding 20 seconds onto his finish time for cutting the final chicane on lap 42 and was deemed to have gained an advantage.

Here are the results;

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 44 laps 1hr 29m 04.268s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +1.5s
3. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +3.4s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +8.2s
5. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +9.0s
6. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +12.3s
7. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +15.5s
8. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +16.6s
9. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +23.8s
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +34.8s

Fastest lap:

Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 49.069s lap 32

McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are among those involved in what is essentially a five driver race for this years world title. Can they keep in touch and compete with the Red Bull cars and the Ferrari of Alonso?

Lewis Hamilton remains calm in his pursuit and is relishing the prospect of getting the second part of the F1 season underway. Following a relaxing time over the break, he, like everyone else involved is desperate to get behind the wheel and give his all.

Lewis Hamilton

The Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton has been fined for his car stunts in front of Australian fans outside of the Melbourne race circuit.

Just two days before the Australian Grand Prix in March, Hamilton performed a series of burnouts and other moves to impress his fan base ahead of the race, in a borrowed Mercedes until he was spotted by local police.

Although not present at the hearing, the F1 driver pleaded guilty to the charge of improper use of a motor vehicle and was fined 500 Australian dollars.

Mark Webber - Red Bull Racing 2010

The Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber, crossed the line to take the chequered flag yesterday while his team-mate Sebastian Vettel received a drive-through penalty.

Vettel looked to be on winning form once again at the Hungarian Grand Prix until he was given the penalty for not leaving enough distance between himself and the leading driver Webber during the safety car period.

As the race got underway it was Vettel that took to the front at the first corner, split from his team-mate Webber by the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.  As Vettel continued from his fantastic start Jenson Button slipped further back moving from eleventh on the grid to fifteenth by the end of lap 1.

The safety car was deployed on lap 15 of the race after debris was seen sitting in a dangerous place on the circuit, leading to the usual rush of cars to the pit lane for a change of tyres.

The McLaren team were the first in with Button gaining five places after his stop and Hamilton getting the jump on the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.  Hamilton retired his McLaren on lap 24 of the race after developing a gear-box problem.

There was carnage in the pit lane as drivers scrambled to get in and out in record time, leading to an accident that’s been expected for a long time.  Robert Kubica was given the sign to leave the pit box as the Force India of Adrian Sutil was entering his, resulting in a retirement for Sutil.  Kubica also retired from the race following a stop-go penalty eight laps later.  The Renault team were handed a $50,000 fine for the unsafe release of their driver after the race.

The Mercedes team were also fined $50,000 for an incident which occurred around the same time, again in the pit lane when their driver Nico Rosberg lost a wheel exiting the pit lane after a wheel nut came loose.

Webber took the option of not stopping along with the other drivers in the hope that he would be able to make enough of an advantage on get out in front when he did eventually pit and it worked perfectly.

There was more controversy further down the field when the Williams driver Ruben Barrichello made a move to pass his former Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes.  Following a radio message from Barrichello claiming the Schumacher was leaving the door open then slamming it shut at the last minute, Rubens eventually made a move to pass the German on the inside.  Schumacher tried to squeeze the Williams out but instead nearly forced Barrichello into the concrete pit wall.  Barrichello claimed in was one of the most dangerous situations he has ever found himself in and the move has landed Schumacher with a ten place grid penalty at the next Grand Prix in Belgium.

Webber crossed the line to take the win followed in second place by the Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso and a furious-looking Sebastian Vettel in third.

Felipe Massa finished in fourth place ahead of an impressive Vitaly Petrov in the Renault in fifth place and Nico Hulkenberg for Williams for sixth.  Pedro de la Rosa came in seventh followed by Jenson Button in eighth, Kamui Kobayashi in ninth and Rubens Barrichello in tenth.

Here are the results;

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 70 laps 1hr 41m 05.571s
2. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 17.8s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 19.2s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 27.4s
5. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +01m 13.1s
6. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +01m 16.7s
7. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
8. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
9. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
10. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +1 lap

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

Both drivers look forward to this weekend’s German Grand Prix where they expect to be in contention for further points to boost their respective positions at the top of the Drivers Championship.

They also talk about the healthy competition for the ultimate prize of becoming World Champion in 2010 and how they hope new parts on the McLaren will help them keep ahead of the pack.

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

The two British drivers take time out from their hectic training schedules to give their thoughts on the track at Silverstone, their preparations for this weekend, and what their expectations will be for a Grand Prix on home soil.

The pair also speak about what they’ve been doing in their down time whilst back home in Britain since Valencia two weeks ago.

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

Looking forward to this weekend’s race at Valencia for the European Grand Prix, Lewis talks about his main rivals in Spain and his own preparations for the event.

In the second part of the video watch Lewis joined by team mate Jenson Button as they are left to their own devices to assemble a Formula One car without the help of the people that know what to do.

The result is predictably hilarious, lets hope they never have to work in the garage!