2011 season starting soon

Yes!! the F1 season for the year 2011 is starting soon.. With the Australian F1 GP as the first stop, since Bahrain withdrew due to its current national situation.

Australian Grand Prix will start off another season from 25 to 27 Mar.

Much remains to be seen if Michael Schumacher will triumph and improve on last season.  I hope he does.

I guess the teams to watch would probably still be Redbull, Ferrari, McLaren.

There are a number of changes this year.  Different tires - Pirelli, the return of KERS, and the new moveable rear wings.

It will be difficult to predict who will prevail.  Only time will tell how the new changes will affect each team.

Can't wait for the season to begin.

Webber pips Vettel for pole position in Spain

Once again, the two Red Bull drivers are out driving each other in every qualifying.  One moment it was Vettel, and the next moment it was Webber.  In the end, it was Mark Webber who took the pole position.  The only car that went below 1m20s.

Schumi did well and he finally qualifies ahead of Rosberg in the Mercedes GP, which has some radical changes to make the car for suited to Michael's driving style and competitiveness.

Hometown favourite, Fernando Alonso is in 4th, just behind Hamilton in 3rd.  Alonso 4th placing split the 2 McLaren with Button qualifying in 5th.

It will be an interesting race tomorrow.  Hope to see Schumi on the podium soon.

       

Results after Shanghai F1

McLaren got their 1-2 finish in Shanghai.  After the Shanghai F1 Grand Prix, this is how the drivers' and constructors' tables look like.

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Driver's Championship Table:

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	60
2	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes GP	50
3	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	49
4	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	49
5	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	45
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	41
7	Robert Kubica	Polish	Renault	40
8	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	28
9	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	10
10	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes GP	10
11	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian	Force India-Mercedes	8
12	Vitaly Petrov	Russian	Renault	6
13	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	5
14	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish	STR-Ferrari	2
15	Nico Hulkenberg	German	Williams-Cosworth	1

Constructor's Championship Table. 

PosTeamPoints1McLaren-Mercedes1092Ferrari903RBR-Renault734Mercedes GP605Renault466Force India-Mercedes187Williams-Cosworth68STR-Ferrari29BMW Sauber-Ferrari010Lotus-Cosworth011HRT-Cosworth012Virgin-Cosworth0

After 1st race - Bahrain

The season finally got underway with the Bahrain GP. Wow!!! Ferrari did very well, finishing 1st and 2nd. Schumi also did pretty well, finishing in 6th in his first F1 race since coming out of retirement.

Drivers table now looks like this:

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	25
2	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	18
3	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	15
4	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	12
5	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes Benz GP Ltd	10
6	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes Benz GP Ltd	8
7	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	6
8	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	4
9	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian	Force India-Mercedes	2
10	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	1

Ferrari now leads the Constructor's championship by more than double the points from closest rival .... McLaren-Mercedes. The Constructors table look like this after the 1st race:

Pos	Team	Points
1	Ferrari	43
2	McLaren-Mercedes	21
3	Mercedes Benz GP Ltd	18
4	RBR-Renault	16
5	Force India-Mercedes	2
6	Williams-Cosworth	1
7	Renault	0
8	STR-Ferrari	0
9	Lotus-Cosworth	0
10	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	0
11	HRT-Cosworth	0
12	Virgin-Cosworth	0

Start of 2010 F1 season

Yes, this weekend is the start of a brand new season!!!

Practice sessions have started and after the first practice session, here's the standings so far.

Mercedes GP
Nico Rosberg, 1m 57.199s, P8/1m 55.409s, P1
Michael Schumacher, 1m 57.662s, P10/1m 55.903s, P3
Rosberg look good and Schumacher did well too.

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 56.163s, P6/1m 55.854s, P2
Jenson Button, 1m 57.068s, P5/1m 56.076s, P4
Button and Hamilton look good as well.

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 57.943s, P13/1m 56.459s, P5
Mark Webber, 1m 57.255s, P9/2m 00.444s, P17
Red Bull had a troubled day. Vettel only managed 5th fastest.

Williams
Nico Hulkenberg, 1m 57.894s, P12/1m 56.501s, P6
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 58.782s, P15/1m 57.452s, P13

Ferrari
Felipe Massa, 1m 57.055s, P4/1m 56.555s, P7
Fernando Alonso, 1m 56.766s, P2/1m 57.140s, P9
Ferrari still not there yet.

Renault
Vitaly Petrov, 1m 58.880s, P16/1m 56.750s, P8
Robert Kubica, 1m 57.041s, P3/1m 58.155s, P15

BMW Sauber
Pedro de la Rosa, 2m 00.250s, P17/1m 57.255s, P10
Kamui Kobayashi, 2m 01.388s, P18/1m 57.352s, P11

Force India
Adrian Sutil, 1m 56.583s, P1/1m 57.361s, P12
Vitantonio Liuzzi, 1m 57.194s, P7/1m 57.833s, P14

Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari 1m 57.722s, P11/1m 59.799s, P16
Sebastien Buemi, 1m 58.399s, P14/No time, P23

Lotus
Heikki Kovalainen, 2m 03.848s, P20/2m 00.873s, P18
Jarno Trulli, 2m 03.970s, P21/2m 00.990s, P19
The famed Lotus name made its official return to racing, with Kovalainen just acing Trulli in each session. Lotus was the fastest newcomers.

Virgin
Timo Glock, 2m 03.680s, P19/2m 02.037s, 20th
Lucas di Grassi, no time, P22/2m02.188, 21st

HRT
Bruno Senna, No time, P23/2m 06.968s, P22
Karun Chandhok, No time, P24/No time, P24

Teams for the 2010 F1 season

The F1 season is about to start again with the first race in Bahrain. This year there are more teams compared to 2009. some teams have left and new teams have joined the F1.

The biggest comeback would be the return of the legend Michael Schumacher. He is re-united with Ross Brawn under Team Mercedes GP. If the car is good enough, we could see Schumi making a challenge for the Driver's Championship.

Teams for 2010:

1. McLaren

2. Mercedes GP

3. Red Bull

4. Ferrari

5. Williams BMW

6. Renault

7. Force India

8. Toro Rosso

9. Lotus

10. Campos

11. Team US

12. Virgin

Can't wait for the new season to start on 14 Mar 2010 in Bahrain.

Go Ferrari and go Schumi !!!

Singapore F1 Grand Prix

This year, I chose to stay at home and watch the Singapore Singtel Grand Prix on TV. I must say that the feeling is just not the same. Last year, I bought tickets and experienced the F1 by the trackside. You just do not feel the vibration when watching it on TV.

The race started with much incident with Hamilton in the lead at Turn 1, and the rest of the pack made their way round Turn 1 safely. The 2 Brawn cars made up some track position after a good start. Compared to last year, the Safety car was called upon only once. This was when Adrian Sutil had spun his car and poor Nick Heidfeld's car crashed into the Force India's car. Heidfeld damaged his right rear wheel and was forced to retire, while Sutil was still able to drive his "noseless" car into the pits. Safety car was out for a number of laps and it took a brave track marshal to clear the Force India's nose off the track.

After the Safety Car returned to the pit lane, Vettel was applying good pressure on Hamilton, till he had to do a drive-through penalty for pit lane speeding. Mark Webber crashed his car when his car's brakes failed.

After the 61 laps, it was not a driver or team in the chase for the championship titles . The podium was filled by McLaren (Hamilton), Toyota (Glock) and Renault (Alonso).

I think Alonso did a fantastic race, putting behind him the crashgate scandal. It was a well deserved 3rd place for Alonso. Rumours has it that Alonso will be driving for Ferrari next season ... Can't wait to see him in the red car.

Really missed the loud engine noises ... think I will buy myself tickets next year.

Renault cheated?

Seems like Renault has thrown in the towel and decided not to fight the allegations of fixing the 1st ever Singapore Grand Prix. Top 2 men resigned and that could mean that Renault is admitting to the allegations.

Fernando Alonso won the first ever Singapore night race, after surprising everyone with a really early pitstop on lap 12. Renault had earlier (before the race start) hoped for a safety car incident on a very unfamiliar track, so that Alonso could take advantage of an early pitstop. Coincidentally, Piguet Jr crashed on Lap 14, bringing out the Safety Car. From then on, everything played to the Renault's tune.

Fernando Alonso claims he does not know that and now he has an uphill task of trying to defend his Singapore GP crown under all these allegations.

For me, I am hoping that Ferrari could get onto the podium to overcome the disappointment at the 1st Singapore night race.

Go Ferrari !!!

Ferrari wins at Spa, Force India scores

Finally, a Ferrari made it to the top of the podium. Kimi Raikkonen brought his Ferrari home after fending off a challenge from Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella. Kimi made a good start, overtaking a stationary Ruben Barrichello at the start of the race. The Ferrari's KERS was put into good use on lap 4 (after the Safety Car went back into the pits), as Kimi overtook Fisichella.

Giancarlo Fisichella surprised everyone when he qualified in pole position, giving Force India their first pole position. By finishing 2nd, he also earned Force India their first constructor's points. It is truely a remarkable day for Force India.

This was one race where Ferrari finished first and last, with Badoer coming in last. It was evident that Badoer lacks experience as Barrichello easily overtook him when Badoer left a big gap at one of the turns.

All in all, this was a great race for Kimi and Ferrari. Next stop, Italy.

Schumi is not coming back ...

So sad that Michael Schumacher is not making his comeback. That's because of his neck injury.

I was really looking forward to seeing him race in Spain and hopefully in Singapore !!! But his health is far more important than making a comeback to help keep Ferrari's season afloat. Now that job will fall on the shoulders of Ferrari's test driver.

At the same, hope Massa is recovering well.

Schumi could be back for Ferrari in Spanish GP

It was really unfortunate that Messa was injured during the last race. That was a really freak accident. Thank goodness for the helmet. But improving the design of helmets is definitely a must. Hope Messa will recover soon.

Meanwhile, with the Spanish F1 GP coming up in Valencia, Ferrari is one driver short. Guess who has been activated to come out of retirement? It's no other than the seven-time F1 Champion, Michael Schumacher.

Schumi has less than a month now to prepare himself for the race. He has not raced at Valencia and he has not driven the F60 before. With the ban on F1 testing, Schumi could not drive the F60 until practice sessions start in Spain.

It would be great to see the great Michael Schumacher back behind the steering wheel of the F60. He is always exciting to watch. Who knows? He might just turn up in Singapore to race in his first ever night race !!!!!!

British F1 GP - The Bull charges to victory

Red Bull did a 1-2 finish with Vettel at the top of the podium and Webber coming in 2nd. It was a wekend which Red Bull dominated with Vettel being the fastest in Qualifiers.

Vettel had a good start and lead from start to finish. In a crushingly dominant drive, which underlined the major step forward that the Red Bull team have made on high-speed circuits, Vettel pulled away from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn by as much as a second a lap in a series of quick tours, and never looked remotely challenged.

Both Ferraris managed to finish in the points, though I was hoping that they could do better.

Final results:

1st Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 1h22m49.328s;
2nd Mark Webber (Red Bull), 1h23m04.516s;
3rd Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP), 1h23m30.503s.

Turkish F1 GP

Next up .... Turkey !!!!!

Yep, this weekend 7 Jun is the Turkish F1 Grand Prix. This weekend’s race round Turkey’s Istanbul Park Circuit could show the direction in which the world championship battle will go over the next few Grands Prix. The unusual track, which runs anti-clockwise, places a premium on aerodynamic performance and that is bound to favour the Brawns.

The Ferraris will be strong here, and the team are feeling buoyed after their competitive performances in Spain and Monaco.

Championship leader Jenson Button starts favourite. However, I expect Ferrari to make a challenge if they can get the cars to the first 2 rows of the starting grid.

My prediction for this race is Jenson, Kimi, Rubens for the podium.