sandrafish9

Thursday, 5 July 2012

Honda CR-Z Hybrid Race Car

Honda is set to bring a new race car to the Super GT series in Japan and true to form, it’s a racing version of the the company’s resident hybrid hatch, the CR-Z.

Certainly, by one look at the car, you can pretty much surmise that this isn’t your ordinary CR-Z. Honda co-developed it with their in-house tuning company Mugen and they proceeded to build something that hopefully performs as good as it looks.

To enhance the car’s racing capabilities, Honda and Mugen enhanced a number of components on the car, including the suspension, rolling stock and aerodynamics.

Then, the attention was turned to its engine, which is to say that they completely modified it to be race-ready. Instead of its rather mundane standard power train, the CR-Z GT was fitted with a 2.8-liter twin-turbo V6 engine that comes with a competition-spec electric assist. Output has been limited to 300 horsepower on account of the car competing at the Super GT GT300 class.

We’re pretty excited to see how awesome-looking race car performs when it makes its debut in the fourth round of the 2012 Super GT series at the end of the month.

Honda CR-Z Hybrid Race Car originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 4 July 2012 20:00 EST.

Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/honda/2012-honda-cr-z-hybrid-race-car-ar131911.html

Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut

Thrilling World Wide Television Coverage...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/oebOre8j2bA/thrilling-world-wide-television.html

Dave Charlton Pedro Matos Chaves Bill Cheesbourg

Model shippment Heat and Storage???

l have been thinking about the high temperatures and the shipping of model kits. We have had as many as 1500 record breaking temps each day and l was wondering how it was afecting model kits being shipped in truck trailers across the us. Does this cause some to warp??

l have also known model builders and collectors to store models in thier attic for space. this time of year my attic is well over 125 degrees. IS it safe to store kits in such heat??? Slusher

Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1023247.aspx

Karun Chandhok Alain de Changy Colin Chapman

Martin Whitmarsh: “These days everything is a surprise…”

Martin Whitmarsh admits that McLaren was surprised by how early Lewis Hamilton found himself in tyre problems in Valencia. Hamilton was the first of the leaders to pit after the start, and also hit more severe trouble in the closing … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/06/26/martin-whitmarsh-these-days-everything-is-a-surprise/

Roberto Bussinello Jenson Button Tommy Byrne

Drivers' meeting 'promises to be very interesting'

Oh to be a fly on the wall at the drivers' briefing ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix next month.

The controversial decision not to penalise either Nico Rosberg for his aggressive defence against Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix or Hamilton for overtaking by going off the track has led to considerable debate within Formula 1.

So much so, that Alonso, a man who weighs his words carefully, has decided to speak out about it. After learning of the ruling, the Ferrari driver said to his 400,000-plus Twitter followers: "I think you are going to have fun in future races! You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!"

Nico Rosberg (left) and Lewis Hamilton may have differing views at the drivers' meeting. Photo: Getty

Alonso had earlier said of Rosberg's driving: "If instead of such a wide run-off area there had been a wall, I'm not sure I'd be here to talk about it."

On the face of it, and at first glance, the stewards' decision does appear difficult to understand.

With both Hamilton on lap 10 and Alonso on lap 24, Rosberg veered dramatically to the inside - and, unusually, right across to the white line that demarcates the edge of the circuit.

Both Hamilton and Alonso went off the track in avoidance, to varying degrees. Whereas Hamilton kept going and succeeded in passing the Mercedes, Alonso backed off and tried for the outside line, but had lost too much momentum to pull a move off.

Article 20.4 of the sporting regulations says: "Manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are not permitted."

So why was Rosberg not penalised?

The stewards said his defence was legitimate because although it was Rosberg who started to deviate from his line first, he did so in a "constant and continuous straight-line manner" and neither Hamilton nor Alonso had "a significant portion of their car... alongside" Rosberg's.

In other words, because Rosberg moved first, he was always clearly in front and it was therefore effectively the other driver's decision to keep moving to the inside to the point that he was off the track.

In Hamilton's case, if you watch the TV footage back, you can clearly see this is the case.

It is less obviously so with Alonso - and the stewards had to use the footage from the Ferrari's onboard camera before they came to a conclusion.

I have not seen the footage, but I'm told it showed again that a) Rosberg moved first; and b) at no point was "a significant portion" of Alonso's car alongside the Mercedes.

During the race, viewers heard Alonso say over his team radio: "He pushed me off the track. You have to leave a space. All the time you have to leave a space."

This, though, is not actually what the regulations say.

A new rule, article 20.3, was introduced this year to formally enshrine that "any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to a corner".

But this only applies when he is making a second move - there is nothing in the rules to stop drivers going right to the edge of the track in their first defensive move.

In other words, you might think - as Alonso did - that Rosberg's driving was unfair, overly aggressive, even dangerous, but the rules contain nothing the stewards could use to penalise him.

There is no obligation, I'm told by a senior figure, to leave room for a rival, unless he is partially alongside. The question then becomes, how far alongside does a driver have to be before the man he is overtaking has to leave him room with his first move?

That's where it starts to get awkward.

"It's no different," a senior insider says, "to a conventional overtaking manoeuvre when one driver dives down the inside, gets halfway alongside and they collide. One guy says: 'You should have given me room.' The other says: 'You weren't far enough alongside.' Often drivers' perception of a situation differs from the reality."

The stewards have to use their judgement, including factors such as speed differential between the cars, when a driver moved, how many moves he made, and so on.

Back, though, to what the rules do say. Article 20.2 says drivers "must use the track at all times". This is why Rosberg said over his team radio: "Hamilton passed me off the track."

Which Hamilton clearly did. So why was he not penalised?

The stewards, I'm told, asked: "What advantage did Hamilton gain by going off the track?" And they concluded that if he had gone to the outside, he was carrying so much momentum he would have passed anyway.

The most obvious of several counter-points to that is: "Yes, but Hamilton did go off the track when you have established he didn't need to, and he did pass him by doing so, so he should be penalised."

At least two leading drivers share this view, I'm told. But you have to bear in mind that Hamilton is not the most popular driver on the grid and his rivals are "always looking for ways to nail him", as one source put it on Monday.

The problem arose in the first place because concrete run-offs surround the circuit in Bahrain. Drivers can use these with impunity, safe in the knowledge that if they are forced off the track they are not going to spin on wet grass or hit a wall.

Had there been grass there, Hamilton would not have been able to pull off the same move (another argument for a penalty being applied) and Alonso might have backed off sooner.

Equally, had there been grass there - or even a wall - Rosberg might well have given them both a bit more room.

The stewards weighed it all up and felt that, in this instance, penalising Hamilton would have been overly harsh.

The result is some drivers believe Hamilton should have been penalised, some believe Rosberg should have been, and Alonso is saying the stewards' ruling gives drivers carte blanche to overtake off the track or crowd their rivals as much as they like.

Which is why that drivers' meeting in Barcelona promises to be so interesting.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/04/unanswered_questions_for_rosbe.html

Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

No need for a flux capacitor - just go to Goodwood

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/09/no-need-for-a-flux-capacitor---just-go-to-goodwood.html

Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi Erwin Bauer

Portland’s Last Waltz - 5yrs After...

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Jimmy Davies Colin Davis Jimmy Daywalt

Four different winners - now pick a champion

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh probably summed up the new Formula 1 season best in the wake of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

"Who's going to predict who's going to win the next race?" Whitmarsh pondered after Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel had become the fourth different driver, for the fourth different team, to win in the first four races. "It could be Red Bull, Lotus, Mercedes, Ferrari, us."

A Formula 1 season has not started in such an unpredictable fashion for 29 years.

Back in 1983, Brabham's Nelson Piquet, McLaren's John Watson, Renault's Alain Prost and Ferrari's Patrick Tambay were the men in question. Only Watson did not go on to be a major contender for the rest of the season, which featured a four-way title fight between Piquet, Prost, Tambay and the second Ferrari driver Rene Arnoux.

Fernando Alonso's Ferrari may not be the best car, but he is making it a contender. Photo: AFP

This year, the winners have been McLaren's Jenson Button, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and Vettel.

Paradoxically, though, on the balance of form over the four races, you would probably say that of those four only Button and Vettel will definitely be championship contenders.

Rosberg's Mercedes car is clearly quick, at least in qualifying, but its race pace has been inconsistent. Alonso has been driving brilliantly in the Ferrari - but on current form the car is nowhere near good enough to mount a title challenge.

THE SEASON SO FAR

For all the unpredictability of the results, and the thrilling spectacle of the races themselves, the same drivers and teams who have dominated F1 in recent years fill the top five positions in the championship.

Victory in Bahrain vaulted Vettel into the lead, ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull's second driver Mark Webber, Button and Alonso.

Of those, Alonso's position is the most remarkable.

At best, the Ferrari is the fifth fastest car behind the Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes. And there have been times when it was probably the seventh fastest - behind also the Williams and Sauber.

Yet the Spaniard has won a race and conceded only 10 points to the world championship leader after four grands prix.

This stunning demonstration of consistency and skill is why it would be hard to look past Alonso if there was an award for driver of the year so far.

If he is to be a title contender this year, though, much depends on the major car upgrades Ferrari are planning to introduce for the next race in Spain - and which will be tried out for the first time at the official F1 test in Mugello next week.

If these do not give Ferrari a significant boost in performance, even Alonso will drift out of contention and, presumably, be overtaken soon by the drivers immediately behind him in the championship - Rosberg and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen

MOST IMPROVED TEAMS - AND OTHERWISE

Just as Alonso is artificially high in the championship - at least in terms of the quality of the car he is driving - so Raikkonen and, arguably, Rosberg are artificially low.

It has been clear from the beginning of the season that the Lotus is one of the very fastest cars on the grid - but scrappy weekends at the first three races prevented the team from scoring strong results.

In Bahrain they finally got it together, and Raikkonen and team-mate Romain Grosjean finished second and third behind Vettel. As BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson explained in his race review, the Finn might well have won.

According to figures compiled by Anderson, Lotus are second only to Caterham in a table that compares their performance last year to this.

Mercedes are some way down the list - but have definitely made more progress than any of the other traditional top teams. Ferrari are at the bottom.

The difficulty in assessing Mercedes' potential, though, is that for all their impressive performance in taking pole and victory in China, their form in the other races has been poor.

The Mercedes is quick in qualifying - thanks in part, no doubt, to its controversial 'double DRS' system - but they are the team whose performance deteriorates the most from practice and qualifying to race.

You can be sure a lot of their work at the Mugello test next week will be focused on this phenomenon.

The next-worst team on this criterion, incidentally, are McLaren.

THE TITLE BATTLE

Ferrari are the most consistent top team (and behind only Sauber) in terms of form from practice to race - a measure of how close a team gets to extracting the maximum from their car.

Red Bull are pretty close behind, even though it took the world champions until the fourth race of the season to record their first win.

One of the reasons teams have been struggling with consistency - both from race to race and within a weekend - is that they are finding it difficult to get the best out of the Pirelli tyres this year.

As Button has said: "Last year, we knew the tyres had high degradation but we understood them. This year, I don't really know what to make of the tyres."

Teams are struggling to keep the tyres in the right window of operating temperature, and different cars work them better in different ambient temperatures. Circuit characteristics also play a role.

Mercedes, for example, have been suffering problems with rear-tyre usage. So China was perfect for them. It was run in cool conditions on a circuit that is 'front-limited' - the front tyres tend to go off first.

Red Bull, by contrast, were struggling to get their car to work properly in China, and the result was their worst qualifying performance of the year. The race was less problematic, but Red Bull's race pace has been strong all year.

In the hotter conditions of Bahrain, on a 'rear-limited' track, Mercedes struggled and Red Bull shone.

Until Bahrain, McLaren had coped pretty well with the varying conditions from race to race, but their struggles with rear tyre wear in Bahrain will have set alarm bells ringing.

PICKING A FAVOURITE

Vettel predicted in Bahrain that, because the teams are all so close in terms of competitiveness, changing conditions will continue to have an effect on form throughout the season.

His team principal Christian Horner added that the season would "ebb and flow".

"It is a matter," Horner said, "of trying to be consistent at the races you can't win and take the maximum out of them. And at the races you can, you need to deliver."

So who is the favourite?

Before Bahrain, you would probably have said one of the McLaren drivers. Now, you might be tempted to say Vettel.

But what about Webber, who has had the edge on Vettel in three of the four races? Or Raikkonen? Or even Alonso, if Ferrari can effect a turnaround with the car.

One thing is clear - it's all very different from last year, when by this stage it was already blindingly obvious that Vettel was going to be champion.

As to who it will be this time, as Hamilton has said: "It's anyone's at the moment."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/04/four_different_winners_-_now_p.html

Eugenio Castellotti Johnny Cecotto Andrea de Cesaris

Alonso celebrates emotional victory at the action-packed European grand Prix

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Allen Berg Georges Berger Gerhard Berger

Hamilton's new 'headspace' wins admirers. And races

Lewis Hamilton was almost overcome with emotion after winning the Canadian Grand Prix and taking his first victory of the season at the seventh time of asking. Which is ironic, because one of the most impressive aspects of his performance was its control.

The McLaren driver admitted he too often let his emotions get the better of him in 2011, and he went away for the winter intending to reset his mental state. His performance at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday was the final confirmation that the world is seeing a new, more potent, Hamilton in 2012.

His change of approach has been apparent from the start of the season. He has remained calm in the face of much adversity when last year he might not have and has never once deviated from his determination that consistency is what will win him the title this season.

Until Sunday, there had been questions about whether he could marry that approach with winning races in the same spectacular style that has earned him such a huge following - not least because winning was exactly what he had not done.

Lewis Hamilton celebrates winning the Canadian GP with McLaren chairman Ron Dennis (left). Photo:Getty

But he drove a superb, perfectly judged race in Montreal to take the 18th victory of his career and the world championship lead – albeit by only two points from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton talked in Canada about the difference between last year and this.
“I think I’m driving the same,” he said, “but last year, every year, I’m able to drive fast, but to remain in the right headspace and remain focused this year is not an issue.”

This new “headspace”, it seems, finally contains room for a skill he has shown only rarely before.

The headlines – and much of the attention – will focus on the exciting last 20 laps in Montreal, when Hamilton dropped to third following his second pit stop and had to make up 15 seconds on Alonso to win the race.

But more impressive was Hamilton’s coolness and awareness of what was going on around him before that.

There have been times in Hamilton’s career when he seemed to look to the team for answers that other great drivers have tended to be able work out themselves.

Brilliantly skilled as his driving is, planning a race had never seemed to be one of his strongpoints. But on Sunday all that changed.

As he led the race during the second stint, he was told by his engineers that Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel were on the same two-stop strategy as he was. He questioned it, saying: ‘Are you sure they’re not doing a one-stop?” He was right; they were wrong.

It was the sort of leading from the cockpit that is more usual from Alonso, Hamilton’s great rival. But on Sunday it was the Spaniard and Ferrari who got it badly wrong, and Hamilton and McLaren who called it exactly right.

“When the guys were behind me,” Hamilton said. “I kinda had a feeling that Fernando would be doing a one-stop, so I knew I had to make a gap while looking after the tyres.
“I was able to make a gap and then hold it, even though Fernando started to pick his pace up. It was one of the best stints I’ve had for a long, long time.”

The final, winning, stint was spectacular to watch. But with the tyres on the cars of Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel fading fast, and Hamilton lapping as much as two seconds faster than them, it was obvious from pretty soon after the McLaren driver’s second stop that he was going to win.

And so, in a moment, the narrative of Hamilton’s season has turned full circle.

Before Canada, the talk was all about how McLaren had taken the fastest car and thrown away their advantage through operational errors – several pit stop problems and the refuelling error in qualifying that cost Hamilton almost certain victory in Spain.

Those criticisms remain valid, and Hamilton did have hiccoughs at both his pit stops in Canada, but the win has finally come – and in a style that suggests strongly it will not be his last.

“I’m definitely not going to change my approach, but I think it’s working reasonably well so far,” Hamilton said.

“I probably definitely had to be more on the limit today to catch the two guys ahead, perhaps a little bit more risky than in the past but it is about consistency this year.

“It’s unbelievable to see just how close it is. We got a win and 25 points and I only have a two-point lead and I think it will stay that close throughout the year. Again, it just highlights how important consistency is.”

On the other side of the McLaren garage, things are not as rosy.

Jenson Button sounded like a broken man after struggling to 16th place, saying he was “confused and very lost” about his lack of pace – which has been a problem since Bahrain four races ago.

“I couldn’t look after tyres, I didn’t have any pace, there was nothing there,” he said, cutting a forlorn figure as Hamilton celebrated.

Why do you think you were so slow, he was asked? “Haven’t a clue,” he replied.

Button started the season with a dominant win in Australia, where he made Hamilton look pretty ordinary, and after a lacklustre race in Malaysia, Button again beat Hamilton in finishing second to Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in China.

At that point, Button looked like the favourite for the title. But since then he has scored two points in four races.

Clearly something is going very wrong somewhere in the set-up of Button’s car for as he put it himself: “I’m not two seconds slower than Lewis and I don’t know what’s going on.”

He is now 43 points behind Hamilton in a season that looks, for all its unpredictability, as if it is distilling down to a battle between Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel, the three finest drivers in the world.

Unless McLaren find some answers soon, Button will be reduced, like the rest of us, to watching it from afar.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/06/hamilton_1.html

Manny Ayulo Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti

Dan Wheldon 1978-2011

Source: http://www.metrof1.com/blogs/metrof1/2011/10/dan-wheldon-1978-2011.html

Colin Davis Jimmy Daywalt JeanDenis Deletraz

Let's celebrate a great British Grand Prix

I must confess, at the start of the year I wasn't sure what to expect from Formula 1 in 2012. The question for me was: how could a sport that has enthralled us so much in recent seasons deliver again - while at the same time hold its own in a year so packed with stunning sporting spectacles?

We've had the European Football Championship, now followed swiftly by Wimbledon and then almost immediately the London Olympics will be upon us. It's a veritable feast for those sports lovers keen to sit down on the sofa in June and not get up again until late August (if I wasn't working I'd be one of them!).

Among such sporting riches I wondered just how F1 would make its voice heard. Well, here we are, almost at the midway point of the season and it seems I needn't have worried.

Due to the fact that my brain has probably only a hundredth of the power of Adrian Newey's and works at roughly a tenth of the speed of Sebastian Vettel's, there are many things I still can't work out about this sport. One of them: just how does it manage to keep on delivering storylines that even Brookside in its heyday would have been proud of?!

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Jake and the team arrive in Silverstone last year.

Since the BBC team and I got involved it's been one drama after another. In 2009 alone we had the Brawn GP 'phoenix-from-the-flames' act, Felipe Massa's nasty accident in Hungary and then Jenson keeping us all guessing until we got to Brazil.

2010 then delivered arguably the most competitive season the sport has ever seen with five drivers in with a shout of the title, and the least fancied of the lot eventually winning it.

Meanwhile, last year was all about the record-breaking domination of our back-to-back champion, as Seb found his feet in the sport - and his place in the history books - with the most amazing performances week after week that all of us, bar Mark Webber, just watched in awe.

And then 2012 arrived. The year of the Union Flag. The year we all celebrate being British, and the Queen being on the throne almost as long as this sport has existed. The year that Wayne Rooney and England would chase glory in the east of Europe, while the likes of Chris Hoy and Usain Bolt would do the same in the east of London.

And among the flotillas, the flypast and the flag waving, Formula 1's job was to remind the British public that if you want to celebrate Britain, then celebrate this sport!

In an age of low profits and high anxiety, it's only natural that we lean on the things we know and trust, and we should include Formula 1 in that bracket. To most of us, it's always been here.

We should not only celebrate it because it employs thousands and contributes millions to the British economy each year. We shouldn't just feel pride because eight of the current teams are based on these shores, or that this was the country where Formula 1 actually began - but because in times like this, what we need is a bit of escapism, something to entertain us. And this sport is currently doing both.

And best of all, this weekend it's the British Grand Prix!

I have incredibly fond memories of this race, and we always try to find a way on the show to tell the story of you, the F1 fans, who attend in your thousands. And whether it's chants of 'BBC' from the grandstand or 'Eddie, Eddie, Eddie' as the crowds gather round us in our pre-show build-up, we appreciate the support you've shown us over the years.

Having arrived on a three-man tandem bike and hovered overhead in a helicopter in the past, we've decided on a quintessentially British, extrovert way of arriving for this year's grand prix. If you're there on the Thursday you won't miss us! I suggest that sometime late-morning you look to the skies and give us a wave... that's all I'm saying.

However, it's the drivers who will again provide the real entertainment this year. And after the British fans braved the rain of 2011 and despite there being no British winner since 2008, I truly hope that this year is a race to remember. As well as a grand prix that lives up to the high standards this season has set.

Will 2012 match up to Mansell's classic win in 1986?

If Valencia is anything to go by then it looks like Silverstone will be a cracker. We won't have the sweltering conditions that some races have given us, but with another mixed-up grid full of mixed-up strategies, once again I hope it will have us guessing until the very end.

And we're also at a crucial stage of the season as far as the title is concerned. Can Fernando Alonso now string some success together and build a championship lead? Meanwhile Mark Webber can really show what consistency can do. If Lotus really harbour title aspirations then now is the time to start turning pace into wins, and what kind of form will Michael be in now he's bagged his first podium since 2006?

And that leaves the three lions. Paul Di Resta continues to show flashes of brilliance and stunning raw speed - surely it's just a matter of time until he makes a move to a big team. But he's also got the likes of Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean battling for the crown of top rookie.

Is Jenson going to be cut adrift after struggling on Saturdays and having to fight for scraps in recent races? And as for Lewis, he may well arrive at Silverstone like a bear with a sore head after the way his Valencia race ended, but I predict he will make it British Grand Prix win number two on Sunday.

So, if you can't make it to the race then don't take down your Jubilee bunting and put the fizz back under the stairs just yet. Chill a bottle, settle down in front of the TV and watch a British love affair unfold that is every bit as special as we've seen so far this summer.

And if you are coming to the race, then make sure you bring that Union Flag. This feels like a year that we've fallen in love with being British again, so as the world tunes in to see what Northamptonshire has to offer on Sunday, let's help make it a race to remember.

And after the race, head to Luffield for the grand prix party, as we're hosting the F1 Forum live on stage and we want you to be part of the show.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/2012/07/lets_celebrate_a_great_british.html

Lorenzo Bandini Henry Banks Fabrizio Barbazza

Horner says Vettel isn’t joining Ferrari | F1 Fanatic round-up

Horner says Vettel isn’t joining Ferrari is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

In the round-up: Vettel "hasn't signed anything with Ferrari" • Haug criticises young driver test row • Ferrari expect Silverstone improvement

Horner says Vettel isn’t joining Ferrari is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/zx2OLZ1sFM0/

Francois Cevert Eugene Chaboud Jay Chamberlain

Should Formula One Expand Further Into Latin America?

In the last 20 years, Formula One has been a sport dominated by Europe. From Schumacher to Hill, Raikkonen to Alonso, and Hamilton to Vettel, the continent towers above the rest of the world when it comes to Drivers’ titles. Since Ayrton Senna’s third and final title in 1991, millions have watched as 19 out [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/RTH644fNP8Q/should-formula-one-expand-further-into-latin-america

Dave Charlton Pedro Matos Chaves Bill Cheesbourg

Few unfamiliar Faces 'Behind the Scenes' of an F1 event

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/F1InsightAFormula1Blog/~3/HQ5_rTpc-QA/few-unfamiliar-faces-behind-scenes-of.html

Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi Erwin Bauer

Fresh questions over struggling Schumacher

Michael Schumacher's collision with Williams driver Bruno Senna in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix has once again focused awkward attention on the German legend's lacklustre performances for Mercedes.

A senior member of the Mercedes team used the word "mediocre" last weekend when discussing the 43-year-old's driving, and that was before Schumacher clumsily ran into the back of Senna's car in the race.

It was the sort of error you might expect from a beginner, not a man with 91 grand prix victories and seven world titles under his belt.

Coming at Senna from a long way back, Schumacher seemed simply to misjudge the closing speed of the two cars and, caught in two minds about which direction to go, he ran into the back of the Williams.

Schumacher called Senna an "idiot" on the radio as he sat in the gravel trap in the immediate aftermath, and, even after watching replays, he still seemed convinced it was his rival's fault. The stewards disagreed and gave him a five-place grid penalty for the next race in Monaco.

Schumacher's reaction will have surprised no-one in F1 - he has always seemed to lack the ability to accept he can ever be wrong.

In an aspiring young driver, this is a characteristic one might expect. But age is supposed to bring wisdom and, in this aspect at least, it appears not to be the case with Schumacher.

With the passing years comes an inevitable waning of physical abilities, and it is surely now beyond dispute that this has come even to him.

Michael Schumacher collides with Bruno Senna during the Spanish Grand Prix. Photo: Reuters

How long can he go on raging against the dying of the light? More to the point, perhaps, how long can Mercedes accept it?

There is no shame in Schumacher not being the driver he was - one can argue there is honour in him being able to achieve even what he has as he heads into the middle of his fifth decade.

The facts, though, are that he is now no more than a decent F1 driver - and some may argue not even that.

Statistically, this is the worst start to a season in Schumacher's career. But statistics can be misleading - Schumacher actually started the season well. He was the stronger of the two Mercedes drivers in the first two races.

But then came China and Nico Rosberg's qualifying lap, half a second quicker than his team-mate, who was second on the grid.

The gap was explained almost entirely by a stunning middle sector of the lap from Rosberg, which Schumacher, I'm told, justified to himself by Rosberg managing to turn his tyres on better.

That may well have been the reason, but the gap was there nonetheless. As it was again in the race, when that excuse was less justifiable. Schumacher was simply outclassed by his team-mate.

They have been more evenly matched since, but still Schumacher is almost certainly getting no more from the car than a number of other drivers could manage.

The contrast, with what Fernando Alonso is doing in the Ferrari - which is not dissimilar to the sort of thing Schumacher used to achieve in his early years with the team - is stark.

The tragedy of Schumacher's current situation is that it is leading some people to question his earlier achievements of seven world titles; two with Benetton and five with Ferrari between 1994 and 2004.

His criticisms of the Pirelli tyres after Bahrain drew uncomfortable parallels with the bespoke tyres from Bridgestone which Schumacher enjoyed for much of his Ferrari career, a subject that was largely unexplored during his pomp.

Some are beginning to wonder if seven titles really was such an amazing achievement, given the advantages he had at his disposal?

This would be wrong, though. There is no doubt that the Schumacher of the 1990s and early 2000s was an outstanding racing driver, one of the greatest there has ever been.
But that Schumacher belongs to the past.

The current one is out of contract at the end of this season. This, in fact, was the context in which the "mediocre" remark came up.

So what reasons do Mercedes have to keep him on, rather than try for someone else?
Lewis Hamilton, also looking for a new deal in 2013, may well not be available, or interested. Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button are committed to their current teams. Those left are all unproven.

Schumacher may continue to embarrass himself in wheel-to-wheel racing occasionally, but he's close to Rosberg's pace these days - and Mercedes' top management rate their younger driver very highly indeed.

The other reason is less palatable for those who like to consider F1 as the arena in which the very best drivers in the world do battle. It's commercial.

Schumacher's marketing value to Mercedes is huge. After Rosberg's victory in China, vice-president of Mercedes motorsport Norbert Haug delighted in how "fantastic" Schumacher had been in front of 800 guests at the launch of a new road car model in Shanghai the previous night. It had been, Haug said, "the perfect weekend".

Schumacher may no longer be one of the best F1 drivers, but around the world he remains arguably the most famous - and therefore the most valuable to Mercedes off the track. And in Germany, Mercedes' home, he is largely untouchable, voted recently the greatest national sportsman in history.

Ultimately, though, Mercedes are in F1 to win - and it is no secret that, after two disappointing seasons, the pressure on the team at the start of this season was enormous.

It will have been alleviated somewhat by their win in China, but the team have faded after a promising start and currently look no better than they did through much of last year.

In a season as topsy-turvy as this, that could easily change - and, who knows, if everything comes together perhaps Schumacher can win again. After all, who before the weekend would have predicted Pastor Maldonado's victory in Spain?

But, all things being equal, that looks unlikely. For a team with an average car who need to win, is a "mediocre" driver, however famous, good enough?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/05/fresh_questions_over_mediocre.html

Tony Brise Chris Bristow Peter Broeker

Renault Fluence

The Renault Fluence was only unveiled back in September 2009, but its youthful history isn’t safe from any early modifications. The French company is already working on a facelift version for the compact sedan, mainly due to the fact that Renault has changed its family identity and most of their models in the process.

As you can see from these spy shots, only the Fluence’s front end has been disguised in its entirety, meaning that that is where we will find the biggest changes. The car’s new front end will get the big Renault symbol in the grille as well as a re-designed front bumper. The headlights will also be redesigned and will be integrated with LED-day-driving lights.

Since the rear end of the vehicle is not entirely camouflaged, we only expect to see small changes. The rear bumper looks as tough it is unchanged, but the fact that the rear lights are camouflaged could mean that they will get some changes in the graphics.

The facelift Renault Fluence will be unveiled by the end of 2012.

Renault Fluence originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 3 July 2012 21:00 EST.

Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/renault/2013-renault-fluence-ar131900.html

Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

The European Grand Prix: One Event, Several Venues

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/F1InsightAFormula1Blog/~3/lScmBzidGW4/european-grand-prix-one-event-several.html