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Motorsports Mondial - May 9, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:38 AM

Photo: HRT formulaoneteam

Dani Clos will take part in the first free practice session at the Spanish GP

Spanish driver Dani Clos will step into the F112 for the first time on Friday to take part in the first free practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix which will take place at the Circuit de Catalunya. 23 year-old Clos will substitute teammate Narain Karthikeyan for that session and will join Pedro de la Rosa for the first 90 minutes of practice in Montmeló.

It will be history in the making for HRT Formula 1 Team at the Circuit de Catalunya since this will be the first time that two Spanish drivers hit the track forming a part of a Spanish team at the Spanish Grand Prix. It will be a moment to remember for Spanish motorsport and a great opportunity for Clos to prove his worth in front of his home crowd.

After having completed 377.67 kilometres at the helm of the F111 in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi last November and having joined the team as an official test driver in February, Dani Clos will take another step on Friday and will fulfill another vital aspect of his testing role by completing his first laps at the wheel of the F112. A car that will be brining a series of aerodynamic upgrades for this important Grand Prix.

Dani Clos: “I’m delighted to have this opportunity. It’s something I’ve fought for all my life; to make my debut in Formula 1 and, above all, to be able to do it at the Circuit de Catalunya which is something very special for me. Besides, I’m extremely lucky to be able to do it with a Spanish team, alongside another Spanish driver who I admire and at home. I can’t ask for more! It’s the ideal situation and I’m proud to be where I am with the people who have always been with me and still are. I hope to extract a lot of data from this practice session, contribute with positive things to the team and do my job in the best way I can. I feel 100% ready and I can’t wait for the moment I step into the car and hit the track”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal HRT: “I’m very proud and happy that this moment has arrived and that we’ve given Dani the chance to get in the car on Friday’s first free practice session at such a special and important Grand Prix as is a home Grand Prix. In this first contact he will drive next to Pedro de la Rosa and will have the chance to drive the new F112 for the first time. It’s an important session given the short amount of time on track that we have and more so when you take into account the various aerodynamic upgrades which we have brought. Dani is a great driver and I have no doubt that he will do a good job. Besides, this debut also represents another step forward in our desire for HRT to serve as a platform for young drivers to make it into F1”.

DANI CLOS – PROFILE AND CAREER SUMMARY

Dani Clos was born in Barcelona on the 23rd of October 1988. With a renowned trajectory in karting, Clos made his debut in single-seater racing in 2004 in Formula Renault Italia 2.0, going on to win the Championship in 2006. A year later he joined Renault’s F1 programme and took part in the Formula Three Euroseries. In 2008 he entered Williams F1′s young drivers’ programme and finished in 2nd in the 24H Barcelona race. In 2009 he made his debut in the GP2 series, with a 3rd place finish in Portimao being his best result. In his second year in GP2 he achieved his first win in Turkey alongside various podium finishes. Last year, Dani Clos took one win and two podiums in what was his third season as a GP2 driver. Also in 2011, he took part in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi with HRT F1 Team, completing total of 377.67km in one day and leaving a very good impression on the team. In 2012, Dani Clos joins the HRT Formula 1 Team as its official test driver.


Motorsports Mondial - March 26, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:54 AM

 “Sun came up for extraordinary driver”

Photo. BBC

Alonso all the way. The Spaniard delivers a Senna/Schumacher style victory. No más palabras.

Magnificent Malaysia win puts Alonso in elite company and top of the Championship. Sergio shines at Sepang.

Fernando Alonso did it in the 2007 European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring and the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway. Now he has done it again, this time in Sepang at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Spanish double world champion won a race he had no business winning.

Rain arrived shortly before the start and the two McLarens led the field after the safety car pulled in. Lewis Hamilton started from pole for the second race in a row. A slow pit stop, problem with rear jack, would allow Alonso to slip into the lead.

Jenson Button, the McLaren winner in the season opener in Melbourne, lost his chance of a second successive win after making contact with the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan and requiring a new front wing.

The track was drying but in the late stages threat of more rain returned. With most cars now running on intermediates teams pleaded with their drivers to stay on the track as long as possible.

While the red Ferrari of Alonso kept blazing away in the lead, the Ferrari-powered Sauber of Sergio Perez was running a strong second and then came the “The thriller in Malaysia.”


Photo. BBC

“I’m on a Mexican radio.” Sergio Perez was second and almost became his nation’s first F1 winner since Spa 1970 and Pedro Rodriguez.

The Mexican driver from Guadalajara started to gain on the Oviedo Oracle, and was looking a real threat to become his nation’s first F1 winner since Pedro Rodriguez at Spa-Francorchamps in the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix.

Perez came within striking and DRS zone and a change at the front was widely expected, but the dream was too much to be true. A slight error, after being told by team, “we need the position,” saw the Sauber driver run wide, giving Alonso much needed breathing room and allowing him to grab an improbable win, his first since last year’s British Grand Prix.

Photo. BBC

Hamilton in a hurry. Two races, two poles and two podiums. The 2008 World Champion trails ex-teammate by five points in the standings.

Hamilton, battling worn-out tires and another slow pit stop, made it to the podium for the second time in two weeks. He is now second in the championship behind his ex-McLaren teammate.

For the Ferrari team, with their ugly Prancing Pig, this was just what the Doctor and Luca di Montezemolo ordered.

The New York-educated lawyer was elated and quoted on www.ferrarif1.com saying, “I am very happy about this victory; today it rained in Sepang, but in the end the sun came out for us!

“Once again, Fernando drove an exceptional race, confirming his status as an extraordinary driver, from every point of view.”

Mark Webber was the only Red Bull driver in the points, finishing fourth over 17s behind Alonso.

Photo. Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

The Ice Cream Man took his first F1 victory in Malaysia, 2003, and Sunday recorded the fastest lap of the race.

Kimi Raikkonen was fifth for Lotus and also set the fastest lap of the race.

Career high sixth place finish was recorded by Bruno Senna in his Williams.

The two Force India drivers, Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, were seventh and ninth respectively; split by Jean-Eric Vergne, the Frenchman scoring his first championship points with Toro Rosso.

Michael Schumacher, who started from the second row, claimed the final championship point from his tenth place finish; ahead of fellow German and defending race winner, Sebastian Vettel.

Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) and Romain Grosjean (Lotus) were the only two retirements from the 56-lap race.

Victory also takes Alonso past 27 Grand Prix wins for Jackie Stewart. Schumacher, Prost, Senna and Mansell are now the only drivers ahead of Alonso, an incredible achievement for a driver who only started his F1 career in the early part of this century.

Sunday’s win has also placed Alonso at the top of the championship table with 35 points. Five points behind in second is Hamilton, he is five points ahead of teammate Button.

Webber 24 points; Perez 22 points and Vettel on 18 points complete the top six.

Round three is in Shanghai, the Chinese Grand Prix on April 15th.

– Nasir Hameed

   Greetings and sensational Sepang regards.


Motorsports Mondial - March 22, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:51 AM

Photo: gp2media

GP2 Malaysia Race Preview

The newly rebranded Caterham Racing embark on the first race of the GP2 season this weekend in Malaysia, the first home race of the season for the Anglo-Malaysian team. The unique atmosphere around one of the most technical circuits of the calendar is a favourite amongst drivers, with the combination of long high-speed straights and tight twisting complexes making the track a tough challenge, but wide enough to create plenty of overtaking opportunities.

Following six days of testing in Jerez and Barcelona the series joins Formula One for the second Grand Prix of the year, with the team’s drivers Giedo van der Garde and Rodolfo Gonzalez both looking forward to the first race of the year in the sweltering Malaysian conditions.

Phill Spencer “I think the whole team is looking forward to getting back to racing. Winter testing went very well with Giedo on the pace straight away and Rodolfo and getting up to speed quickly. We have been working hard on all elements of our race weekends over the winter, in particular focusing on our pitstops, and we have a lot to look forward to in our second season. I feel more confident this time around. The organisation, procedures and the car are second nature to us and if we start this season as we did in 2011 we are in good shape and should be heading for podiums.”

Rodolfo Gonzalez “I am really excited to be in Malaysia for the first event of the season, particularly because the weather here is nice and warm, just like home! After the tests in Spain I have been focusing on all aspects of my race weekend and I am looking forward to putting it all into practice here – my driving, qualifying strategy, the set ups – we just have to get right and put it all together. We want to see progress this weekend and qualify as far up the grid as possible – that’s a reasonable goal and one that gives us something to aim for.

“The track here is good – there are some tough braking points and as the track temperature today was 48 degrees it will definitely be tough on the tyres. It will be interesting to see if people fall off the pace due to tyre degradation during the races this weekend and strategy will be even more important here, especially with the use of the new tyre compounds. Whatever happens, I am sure the competition is going to be as tough as ever and we’ll do the best job we can to fight, right from day one.”

Giedo van der Garde “I am feeling pretty confident and the team is too. We had six very good, productive days of testing and I feel happy with where we are at the moment. I raced here a long time ago and personally I think this is a nice track to compete on. The surface is very smooth and it’s pretty technical – a lot of the corners blend into one another and it doesn’t have a lot of the long straight / slow corner we see elsewhere, so it’s pretty different to the tracks we have been testing at. You have to be fit here because of the heat and humidity and this will have a big effect during the race, but I’m feeling really good – I’ve been training hard and I’m sure I’ll deal with the heat just fine. The most important thing now is to be at the front in qualifying and from there work hard on the race.”

Humphrey Corbett “I am really looking forward to this weekend. We have prepared for this race extremely well and I am very happy with how our cars are performing in both qualifying and race trim. We have done some very quick pit stops recently, but we need to be more consistent – every second counts so we have been working hard on making sure we can be the best in the pitlane at every aspect of a race weekend. The drivers seem happy in qualifying and race modes and it will be very interesting to see during races who has done their homework and who manages to look after their tyres well.  Many of the teams seemed to be doing a lot of qualifying runs in testing and not many long runs. We took the opposite approach so I am keen to see what happens here where managing the tyres will be key to successful races.

“Last season GP2 was very new to me, I have been here many times in the past with Formula One and know the track well, so now with a season under our belt I feel a lot more relaxed approaching this race. We have good people right across the team, two good drivers and a lot of reasons to be positive about the year ahead.”


Motorsports Mondial - March 20, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:51 AM

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix Preview

Paul Di Resta on Sepang

Paul, you got your season underway with a point in Melbourne – do you think you can deliver a repeat performance in Sepang this weekend?

That will certainly be the aim. We picked up a point in Melbourne at the very last moment, but we were quite fortunate with the way the last lap unfolded and so it was a nice surprise. As I said after the race, we struggled for consistent race pace in Melbourne and it will be interesting to see if we can improve on that this weekend on a circuit with very different characteristics.

How have you spent your time between the two races?

I left Melbourne on Sunday night because it was important to get to Malaysia and start acclimatising as soon as possible. Sepang will be a tough fitness test and I’ll see how well the work over the winter has prepared me. I definitely feel in good shape at the moment.

Would you say the Malaysian Grand Prix is the most physically demanding race of the season?

It’s up there alongside Singapore as one of the toughest races of the year, simply because of the heat and humidity. While you are driving it’s not too bad because you get some air flow through the car, but you really feel the heat when you’re sitting in the car in the garage with the heat soak from the engine and the tyres. That’s when you’re most uncomfortable in the cockpit.

Nico Hulkenberg on Sepang

Nico, what better way to put a disappointing race behind you than by getting back in the car just five days later…

I’m glad that we have back-to-back races because I just want to get back in the car. Seeing how the race developed it was frustrating not to be out there fighting for points, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’m now fully focussed on Malaysia because there’s no point thinking about what might have been.

Do you feel you have to make up some lost ground in Sepang because of your lack of mileage in Melbourne?

The way the Melbourne weekend unfolded means that there are still a lot of questions to which I don’t know the answers yet. That’s because I didn’t do the usual heavy fuel runs in the wet on Friday and I didn’t get a feel for the performance of the tyres over long runs. All I can do is rely on the feedback from Paul and his race data, and try and learn as much from that.

Tell us your thoughts about the Sepang circuit?

The lap has a nice variation of high and low speed corners and there are two long straights. So you have to find the right balance between top speed and having enough downforce for the corners. The high temperatures and the track surface also result in quite high tyre degradation so it’s important to find a race set-up that is quite easy on the tyres.

Pedro de la Rosa: “Our two main priorities for Malaysia are to have DRS and improve the power steering in this short time that we have whilst being away from Europe. In Australia we were only able to complete 7 timed laps so I need get more track time, get to know the car better and improve the set-up. If we can achieve this then we could have a good Grand Prix. Sepang is probably the toughest track of the year both for car and driver. Mechanically it’s very demanding because besides there being a lot of consecutive high-speed corners it is very hot and humid. Cooling is key for the car as is hydration for the driver”.

Narain Karthikeyan: “It wasn’t an easy first weekend for us in Melbourne but the team is working hard and we hope to complete the maximum amount of kilometres with the new car so that we can have it in prime conditions for qualifying and the race. The team is working on solving the reliability issues that we encountered, so I’m confident that things will go better in Malaysia. Sepang is a circuit that I like a lot and a place where I have raced numerous times. This was the only Grand Prix out of the eight that I took part in last year that I didn’t finish, so this year I’m looking to firstly qualify and then finish the race, that is the main objective”. 


Motorsports Mondial - March 19, 2012

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f1weekly @ 12:34 AM

“Excited Nervous”


Photo. Reuters

Mumm in Melbourne. Jenson Button goes three in four to win season opener. Two McLaren drivers on the podium. Two Aussie mates in the points. Maldonado meets the wall on final lap.

Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix with authority; beating teammate and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton at the start and holding-off Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps.

Victory was Button’s third in Melbourne in the past four years, and the first all McLaren front row since the 2009 European Grand Prix in Valencia when Hamilton shared the front row with Heikki Kovalainen.

Button’s papito, John, was elated in his usual race-day pink shirt and claimed his son was “nervous, but excited nervous” before the race.

Michael Schumacher ran third in the early stages before grinding to a halt with gearbox issues.

Button and Hamilton were headed for a one-two finish after their second pit stop for tires; then the safety car was deployed as Vitaly Petrov parked his Caterham along the pit wall. This allowed Sebastian Vettel to change tires and he got the jump on Hamilton.

Vettel came within striking distance of Button late in the race but was happy to claim second step on the podium. The winner in Melbourne last year said, “I’m very happy with myself today – I think it was the most we could have achieved.”

Pole-winner Hamilton never had the pace to threaten Button and came under threat of losing his podium spot from local man Mark Webber who finished behind the Briton in fourth; his best place in his home grand prix.


Photo. Getty Images

Take Five. Alonso, as usual, hauled in important championship points and is already asking the Italian team to change thinking to save the season. Teammate Massa crashed out with fellow Brazilian Bruno Senna.

Fernando Alonso, in his usual fighting spirit after the blues in qualifying, came home fifth. “I am happy I managed to bring home a useful number of points.” The Ferrari star came under intense pressure from the Williams of Pastor Maldonado in the final few laps of the race.

The Venezuelan driver crashed heavily on the final lap of the race after a tremendous drive. Even Alonso felt sorry for him. “When I saw he’d gone off the track I breathed a sigh. I am sorry for him, because it’s a real shame to finish a race like that.”

Kamui Kobayashi was sixth in his Sauber-Ferrari.

Photo. William West. AFP/Getty Images.

Clear Channel. Kimi’s comeback was hampered by communication issues but he was in the points at the end. Teammate Grosjean was impressive in qualifying but was taken out early in the race.

The Comeback Kid, Kimi Raikkonen, was seventh for Lotus. His teammate, Romain Grosjean, started from the second row but fell victim to wheel banging with Maldonado’s Williams shortly after the start.

Mexican Sergio Perez did a repeat of last year and made only one pit stop. He was rewarded with eighth place finish.

Daniel Ricciardo made it two Aussie mates in the points, taking ninth in his Toro Rosso, his first world championships points. Final point was snatched by Paul Di Resta for Force India. His teammate and another Comeback Kid, Nico Hulkenberg, for the second time in Australia was taken out on the opening lap.

The 58-lap race featured six world champions for the first time in an F1 event.

The fastest lap was recorded by race winner at 1:29.187

Photo. Getty Images 

Vergne gone wild. F1 debutant Jean-Eric Vergne was impressive in Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso. He set the sixth fastest lap of the race and was highest placed of the three French drivers.

Two French drivers made their Grand Prix debut. Jean-Eric Vergne was first man out of points in 11th and surprisingly had the sixth fastest lap of the race. Charles Pic was 15th in his Marussia-Cosworth albeit two laps down. His teammate Timo Glock was 14th and a lap down.

F1’s Asian fusion follows next weekend at Sepang with the Malaysian Grand Prix. 

– Nasir Hameed

   Greetings and Fair Dinkum regards.


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