Archive for March, 2010

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F1weekly podcast # 416 - March 28, 2010

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f1weekly @ 2:55 am

Dingo day afternoon in Albert Park

Australian Grand Prix


Bulls and El Matador. German wunderkind Sebastian Vettel took his
second successive pole position of the season in Melbourne, steaming
ahead of teammate and local favorite Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso,
winner of  the opening round in Bahrain, qualified third in his Ferrari.

The right call. Defending race winner and world champion Jenson Button
changed to slicks, went off-track but kept his cool and smooth driving and
rewarded McLaren their first win of the season. Could this be the start of
reverse cage rattling in Woking?

Renault rising. Pole star Robert Kubica finished second. In the halcyon
days of Flavio Briatore he was at one time part of Renault Driver Development
programme. So were Kovalainen, Grosjean and Peter Windsor’s hand picked
“American” (just add Latin), Jose Maria Lopez.

Home grown talent. Mark Webber made his F1 debut in Albert Park
driving for fellow Aussie Paul Stoddard-owned Minardi team in 2002.
Sunday was no walk in the park for him, out classed by teammate both
in qualifying and race he soldiered on for ninth place finish.


Prancing in the park. Fernando Alonso, new in town in Maranello,
held off a late charge from Hamilton but was unable to pass teammate
Massa for a podium finish. His fourth place finish keeps him at the top
of the championship table.


Hulked by Kobayashi. Rising German star and Willi Weber client
Nico Hulkenberg was speared on the opening lap by the Sauber
of Kamui Kobayashi. Hulkenberg and Hamilton both won GP2 titles
in their rookie seasons and also won every championship they entered.

Unwilling Virgin. Gave birth by CFD to Nick Wirth designed cars, which
urgently needs transplant of larger fuel tanks. Sir Richard Branson of
Virgin brand fame and fortune is the rich daddy. Virgin pilots are Timo
Glock and Lucas di Grassi.


Jonesy boy. The last Australian world champion Alan Jones was born
in Melbourne. He gave Shadow their only Grand Prix win, Austria 1977,
in a car which is now owned by an F1Weekly listener. Jones was world
champion three years later in a Patrick Head designed Williams.

Party comes to town. Melbourne is one of the most popular stops on
the F1 circuit. Capital of Victoria State snatched the race from Adelaide
in 1996. Melbourne is now facing taste of its own medicine from Sydney.
Time and Bernie will decide the outcome of this opera.

Button and his Wheel of Fortune!

– Nasir Hameed

Racing regards from California

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Dingo day afternoon in Albert Park

Australian Grand Prix

Bulls and El Matador. German wunderkind Sebastian Vettel took his

second successive pole position of the season in Melbourne, steaming

ahead of teammate and local favorite Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso,

winner of  the opening round in Bahrain, qualified third in his Ferrari.

The right call. Defending race winner and world champion Jenson Button

changed to slicks, went off-track but kept his cool and smooth driving and

rewarded McLaren their first win of the season. Could this be the start of

reverse cage rattling in Woking?

Renault rising. Pole star Robert Kubica finished second. In the halcyon

days of Flavio Briatore he was at one time part of Renault Driver Development

programme. So were Kovalainen, Grosjean and Peter Windsor’s hand picked

“American” (just add Latin), Jose Maria Lopez.

Home grown talent. Mark Webber made his F1 debut in Albert Park

driving for fellow Aussie Paul Stoddard-owned Minardi team in 2002.

Sunday was no walk in the park for him, out classed by teammate both

in qualifying and race he soldiered on for ninth place finish.

Prancing in the park. Fernando Alonso, new in town in Maranello,

held off a late charge from Hamilton but was unable to pass teammate

Massa for a podium finish. His fourth place finish keeps him at the top

of the championship table.

Hulked by Kobayashi. Rising German star and Willi Weber client

Nico Hulkenberg was speared on the opening lap by the Sauber

of Kamui Kobayashi. Hulkenberg and Hamilton both won GP2 titles

in their rookie seasons and also won every championship they entered.

Unwilling Virgin. Gave birth by CFD to Nick Wirth designed cars, which

urgently needs transplant of larger fuel tanks. Sir Richard Branson of

Virgin brand fame and fortune is the rich daddy. Virgin pilots are Timo

Glock and Lucas di Grassi.

Jonesy boy. The last Australian world champion Alan Jones was born

in Melbourne. He gave Shadow their only Grand Prix win, Austria 1977,

in a car which is now owned by an F1Weekly listener. Jones was world

champion three years later in a Patrick Head designed Williams.

Party comes to town. Melbourne is one of the most popular stops on

the F1 circuit. Capital of Victoria State snatched the race from Adelaide

in 1996. Melbourne is now facing taste of its own medicine from Sydney.

Time and Bernie will decide the outcome of this opera.

Button and his Wheel of Fortune!

– Nasir Hameed

Racing regards from California

Download this episode: (right-click and choose "Save file as...")
http://mp3.f1weekly.com/podcasts/03-30-10F1WEEKLY416.mp3

Qualifying - March 27, 2010

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f1weekly @ 2:12 am

Sebastien Vettel takes his Red Bull to pole position for the OZ GP.

Mark Webber settles for a front row start along side his team mate.

Schumacher confronts Fernando Alonso on blocking during a fast lap.

Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, I think obviously first of all it is a great result for both of us and for the team. Mark’s home race, so it is a little bit funny remembering last year from Germany, so kind of revenge but it is a long race tomorrow. But coming back to qualifying, I think we did a good step into qualifying with the car, improving it, and the final session was all about ‘does it start to rain or not.’ Everyone went out. We waited a little bit and the first lap was the quickest and just spot on everywhere until I reached the last three corners. I would say turn 14, the fast right hander, I was still on the edge and okay but after that I think I lost a little bit, especially the last corner onto the main straight. It was a very good lap up to that point. I was very happy. I think the result says it all, so looking forward to tomorrow. It is quite good to start at the front. We don’t know how messy it might get tomorrow, safety car, no safety car. There is always a lot happening in Albert Park but it is good to be on pole. The clean side as well, so I am very happy.

Pos  Driver         Team                   Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault      1:24.774   1:24.096  1:23.919
 2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1:25.286   1:24.276  1:24.035
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari               1:25.082   1:24.335  1:24.111
 4.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1:24.897   1:24.531  1:24.675
 5.  Massa          Ferrari               1:25.548   1:25.010  1:24.837
 6.  Rosberg        Mercedes              1:24.788   1:24.788  1:24.884
 7.  Schumacher     Mercedes              1:25.351   1:24.871  1:24.927
 8.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1:25.702   1:25.085  1:25.217
 9.  Kubica         Renault               1:25.588   1:25.122  1:25.372
10.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1:25.504   1:25.046  1:26.036
11.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes      1:25.046   1:25.184
12.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:26.061   1:25.638
13.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes  1:26.170   1:25.743
14.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari        1:26.089   1:25.747
15.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth     1:25.866   1:25.748
16.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari        1:26.251   1:25.777
17.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:26.095   1:26.089
18.  Petrov         Renault               1:26.471
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth        1:28.797
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth        1:29.111
21.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1:29.592
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth       1:30.185
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth          1:30.526
24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth          1:30.613

F1weekly podcast # 415 - March 25, 2010

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f1weekly @ 6:43 am

F1weekly podcast number 415.

Will the Australian Grand Prix bring the excitement back to Formula 1?

Mark Webber goes to the top of the time sheets in Saturday practice.

Motorsports Mondial with Nasir Hameed.

A look at the history of the Australian Grand Prix:

The first Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix was staged in 1985 as the season finale. The first winner here, and scoring his final Grand Prix win, was Keke Rosberg in a Williams Honda.

Jacques Laffite and Philippe Streiff were second and third respectively for Ligier, powered by Renault.

Lotus driver Elio de Angelis was disqualified for starting from the wrong grid position.

The race took place on the streets of Adelaide.

The 1986 Australian Grand Prix is remembered for Nigel Mansell’s championship hopes going up in smoke after tire fire. Both him and teammate Nelson Piquet lost a certain championship to surprise race winner Alain Prost.

In 1987, Gerhard Berger led a Ferrari one two with Michele Alboreto second. Dr Jonathan Palmer, who now runs Brands Hatch and Formula 2 championship, was fourth in his Tyrrell.

In 1988, Alain Prost led a McLaren one two with Ayrton Senna second. This was the last Grand Prix of the turbo era.

The 1989 race had a lot of rain and some surprises. Winner was Thierry Boutsen in a Williams over Alessandro Nannini in a Benetton. Satoru Nakajima was fourth in a Lotus Judd, and believe it not, set the fastest lap of the race.

This is the race which provided the famous video of Ayrton Senna running into the back of his old British F3 buddy Martin Brundle.

Race was stopped at the two hour mark.

1990. Nelson Piquet in a Benetton winning over the Ferraris of Il Leone Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost.

1991. Only 14 of 81 laps were completed when the race was stopped due to heavy downpour. Senna was the winner with Mansell second and Berger third.

1992. Winner was Gerhard Berger in a McLaren. Fastest lap was set by second place driver in a Benetton by the name of Michael Schumacher. And this weekend Ross Brawn will be singing “baby got back”. And I am sure in a competitive car Michael will be Sir Mix A Lot.

Martin Brundle, who will be doing the grid walk for the Beeb on Sunday, was third back in 1992 in his Benetton.

We continue the Australian Grand Prix rapping with the 1993 edition.

Final Grand Prix win in the life and time of Ayrton Senna, his last drive for McLaren before heading for Williams. Alain Prost was second in a Williams ahead of teammate, our Damon, who set the fastest lap. Jean Alesi found some moteevation in land down under and finished fourth in a Ferrari. Rubinho was in this race also, finishing 11th for Eddie Jordan.

1994. Nigel Mansell takes his final win in the final race of the season in a Williams. Berger was second in a Ferrari. Martin Brundle was third in a McLaren Peugeot. Others in this race included Heinz Harald Frentzen, Mika Salo, Alex Zanardi and F1 reject favorite Jean-Denis Deletraz.

Damon Hill was not in the mood to win the world championship and crashed into Michael Schumacher, who, according to Willi Weber, was shell shocked to become the first German weltmeister.

1995. Final race in Adelaide won by Damon Hill in his Williams. Ligier of Olivier Panis was second. In practice Mika Hakkinen survived a near fatal crash. And man who qualified 15th did not start. Luca Badoer.

1996. Race was walk in the park for Williams team in Melbourne. Dramatic Grand Prix debut for Jacques Villeneuve from pole position and second place in the race. Race was won by teammate Damon Hill.

1997. First Grand Prix win for Mercedes powered McLaren driven by DC. David Coulthard. Schumacher second and Hakkinen third.

1998. McLaren one two. Mika over DC.

1999. First Grand Prix win for Eddie Irvine in a Ferrari. Heinz Harald Frentzen was second and Ralf Schumacher third.

Fisico was fourth for Benetton and Rubinho fifth for the wee Scot, Stewart Racing.

Nasir Hameed.

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Senna - March 22, 2010

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f1weekly @ 6:37 am

SENNA

Ayrton Senna da Silva, racing legend and three times world champion, was born on March 21, 1960 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. After dominating British Formula Ford and Formula 3 he arrived in Formula 1 with the Toleman team.

Splash in the streets. It was in the rain at Monaco in 1984 that

Senna served notice of his talent and desire to succeed at the top level. A controversial red-flag decision by Jacky Ickx robbed him of victory in what was only his fifth Grand Prix start.

Sutton Images

Two tigers in a den. The “Professor” recommended to Ron Dennis Senna would be a good teammate, a decision he would later regret.

Their rivalry was one of the most intense in Formula 1. “The toughest competitor I ever raced against” is how Prost remembers Senna.

Sutton Images

Red 5 meets Samba sizzle. Senna gets a ride from Mansell, man with whom he fought epic battles like Jerez ’86 and Monaco ’92. Both preferred to be in the gravel than give an inch, like at Spa in ’87 on the opening lap. A truly great and intense racing rivalry.


Sutton Images

The Donington Express. Senna was at his supreme and reigned in the rain. The drive at Monaco ’84 was repeated in similar conditions in ’85 for his first Formula 1 victory in Portugal. “My greatest opening lap” is how he had described his ’93 European Grand Prix performance.

Sutton Images

The karter who would be King. The famous yellow helmet  moved fast in the world of karting also. Karting Gurus, Martin Hines and Mike Wilson, karting legend Senna described as the best driver he raced against, had no doubt Senna was special.

– Nasir Hameed

Racing regards from California

Motorsports Mondial - March 21, 2010

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f1weekly @ 8:23 am

Peugeot take an easy 1-2 victory at the Sebring 12 hours.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                        Car                     Time/Gap
 1.  P1   Gene/Wurz/Davidson             Peugeot            12h00m54.362s
 2.  P1   Lamy/Bourdais/Minassian        Peugeot                + 13.817s
 3.  P1   Mucke/Primat/Fernandez         Lola-Aston Martin       + 3 laps
 4.  P2   Pickett/Graf/Maassen           Porsche                + 14 laps
 5.  P2   Brabham/Pagenaud/Franchitti    HPD                    + 18 laps
 6.  GT2  Melo/Bruni/Kaffer              Ferrari                + 36 laps
 7.  GT2  Auberlen/Milner/Werner         BMW                    + 37 laps
 8.  GT2  Muller/Hand/Priaulx            BMW                    + 37 laps
 9.  GT2  Bergmeister/Long/Lieb          Porsche                + 38 laps
10.  PC   Tucker/Bouchut/Wilkins         ORECA                  + 40 laps
11.  GT2  Law/Neiman/Lietz               Porsche                + 42 laps
12.  P1   Drayson/Cocker/Pirro           Lola                   + 43 laps
13.  GT2  Brown/Cosmo/Barbosa            Ferrari                + 44 laps
14.  GT2  Krohn/Jonsson/van de Poele     Ferrari                + 46 laps
15.  GT2  Magnussen/O'Connell/Garcia     Corvette               + 47 laps
16.  GT2  Beretta/Gavin/Collard          Corvette               + 47 laps
17.  PC   Zugel/Jeannette/Julian         ORECA                  + 56 laps
18.  GTC  Gonzalez/Leitzinger/Keen       Porsche                + 59 laps
19.  GTC  Sweedler/Kapudija/Lueders      Porsche                + 62 laps
20.  GTC  Gonzalez/Diaz/Kelly            Porsche                + 63 laps
21.  P2   Dyson/Smith/Meyrick            Lola-Mazda             + 64 laps
22.  GTC  Rodriguez/Bieker/Friedman      Porsche                + 65 laps
23.  GT2  Robertson/Robertson/Murry      Doran Ford             + 67 laps
24.  GTC  Lewis/Vento/Aschenbach         Porsche                + 68 laps
25.  GTC  Richard/Ende/Lally             Porsche                + 85 laps
26.  PC   Wallace/Sutherland/Hildebrand  ORECA                  + 86 laps
27.  GTC  Curtis/Sofronas/Pilgrim        Porsche                + 87 laps
28.  GT2  Sharp/van Overbeek/Farnbacher  Ferrari                + 96 laps
29.  GT2  Sellers/Henzler/Pilet          Porsche               + 112 laps
30.  PC   Feinberg/Marcelli/Weickardt    ORECA                 + 133 laps
31.  PC   Pagerey/Wong/Ducote            ORECA                 + 135 laps
32.  PC   Tucker/Hunter-Reay/Gue         ORECA                 + 143 laps
33.  GT2  Gentilozzi/Goossens/Dalziel    Jaguar                + 356 laps
34.  P1   Willman/Burgess/Ehret          Lola                  + 367 laps
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