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Posts Tagged ‘kimi’

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Motorsports Mondial - May 13, 2012

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f1weekly @ 6:26 PM

Head & Shoulders

Venezuela, the land of motor cycle legend Johnny Cecotto and ‘Caballo Viejo,’ now has a Formula 1 Grand Prix winner.

The “Pay Driver” posted his first victory in the top tier of motor racing on Sunday in Barcelona.

Pastor Maldonado’s “Montmelo Moment” saw him start the race from his first pole position, following Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification for running on empty after posting the fastest time on Saturday.

Local legend Fernando Alonso got the jump on Maldonado at the start and looked set to become season’s first two-time winner in the early stages. Alonso would stay in command till his second pit stop when Maldonado assumed the lead.

In other on track incidents Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes collected Bruno Senna’s Williams; not surprisingly, each driver blaming the other. The German driver was given a five grid place penalty for the next round in Monaco.

Defending double world champion Sebastian Vettel was given a drive-through penalty for ignoring yellow flag; Massa also endured the same penalty.

Alonso was expected to mount a challenge on Maldonado after the final pit stop, and the Malaysian Grand Prix winner was, in the words of David Hobbs, “all over Maldonado like a cheap suit.”

Maldonado was reminded by his team on more than one occasion to look after his rear tires. Alonso also had a very fast closing Kimi Raikkonen to deal with; the Lotus driver had made a late final stop and was closing on the race leaders more than a second per lap.

In the end Raikkonen ran out of laps to snatch second place from Alonso, who in turn was unable to push his Ferrari and Pirelli tires any further to delight the fans with a home win.

So it was Pastor Maldonado scoring his first F1 victory and also giving the fabled English team their first victory since the 2004 season ending Brazilian Grand Prix, when another Latin American driver, the effervescent Juan Pablo Montoya, won in his final race for Williams.

Romain Grosjean was fourth for Lotus, Kamui Kobayashi fifth for Sauber, followed by the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, and McLaren of moral pole winner Hamilton. His teammate Jenson Button was ninth.

Nico Hulkenberg in a Force India held off a strong charge from the second Red Bull of Mark Webber to claim the final championship point from tenth place finish.

Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix was round five in the 2012 Championship. Each race has been won by a different driver from a different team.

Maldonado is season’s second first-time winner following Nico Rosberg’s maiden success in Shanghai.

Veni, Vidi, Venezuela

Before Maldonado two other drivers from Venezuela raced in Formula 1.

Ettore Chimeri raced in the 1960 Argentine Grand Prix in an ex-Fangio Maserati 250F. Two weeks later he was dead after crashing his Ferrari in practice for a race on an airfield near Havana.

Motor cycle champion Johnny Cecotto was teammate to Ayrton Senna at Toleman in 1984. His final race was that year’s Dallas Grand Prix before his F1 career came to a crashing halt at Brands Hatch in preparation for the British Grand Prix.

Crowded at the top

In the championship, Alonso’s second place finish has propelled him to joint lead with Vettel, both on 61 points each.

Hamilton, still winless this season, is third with 53 points. Raikkonen is fourth on 49 points, one ahead of Webber.

Button, winner of season opener in Australia is sixth with 45 points, four ahead of Rosberg.

Rosberg’s teammate, Michael Schumacher, and Alonso’s teammate, Felipe Massa, both have only a couple of points to their credit.

Red Bull leads the constructors’ championship with 109 points. McLaren second on 98 points and Lotus third with 84 points.

Heidinado

In another first, SpeedTV skipped the post-race press conference of this historic win to show a Chelsea football game.

What’s next? Mud wrestling from Macon on a rainy night in Georgia. 

 

– Nasir Hameed

   Greetings and Benton regards from Barcelona.

 


F1Weekly podcast # 574 -

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f1weekly @ 9:38 AM

F1weekly podcast number 574

Special Interview with Inder Lal from McLaren F1

Pastor Madonado takes his first victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Pastor: “It was so close. We were looking to manage the tyre degradation so I couldn’t push that hard, just to keep the tyres alive for the end of the race and Fernando got very close,” said Maldonado.

There were some moments where he was so close especially at end of the straight, but I was managing the gap and controlling everything.

Our pace today was very strong, the car was fantastic, so was the team. We did a small mistake at the last pitstop but it did not affect our performance.

I think it’s a wonderful day, unbelievable for me and all the team,” he said. “We have been pushing so hard since last year to improve race by race and here we are.

It was a tough race because of the strategy as well, it was hard especially because of rear tyres, after a couple of laps we were struggling with them, but I need to say I am pretty happy because car was so competitive since the first lap.

It will be a great opportunity for us to be strong again,” said Maldonado. “We need to keep continuing like that to develop it as soon as possible. Consistency will be the most important thing in this championship.”

Kimi Räikkönen: “I had a very good start and had a chance to overtake on the outside, but we did not have enough speed and I hit the limiter in fifth gear. I am a bit disappointed because if everything had gone right in the first part of the race, we could have won. There was no issue with the speed of the car, but it is so close between all the teams that if you have a small problem or a small issue it can cost so much.

Our car can do it, but everything has to fall into the right place to be able to get on to the top step. My first stint was okay, but I didn’t have the speed to stay with the cars in front. We changed the tyres and it seemed to be pretty good, but we were too far away. At the end we needed a few more laps and we could have fought for the win. We’re not far away from it and so far we’ve made good steps forwards; the car feels strong everywhere.”

Romain Grosjean: “We lost position at the start and with it a bit of front wing too! It was cooler today which didn’t suit us so much. Despite this, I am very happy with P4 especially when you look at yesterday where I missed all of the final practice session.

Both cars finishing strongly in the points is great for the team. It was pretty difficult for me at the start of the race as it was hard to get the front working properly with the wing damaged, but we made some changes and at the end of the race the car was really flying. I think we made the right decisions today; if you told us we could finish third and fourth at the beginning of the weekend we’d have taken it.



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Motorsports Mondial - May 12, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:26 PM

HAMILTON DISQUALIFIED FROM QUALI GOES TO THE BACK OF THE GRID.

Lewis Hamilton has been demoted from pole position to the back of the grid for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix for having too little fuel at the end of qualifying. It is the latest incident in a catalogue of pit‑lane gaffes for McLaren this season.

The decision means the Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado will start on pole, the first for Williams since Nico Hülkenberg in the rain of Brazil in 2010, with Fernando Alonso alongside for Ferrari. A McLaren spokesman said: “We accept the stewards did not agree with our interpretation of force majeure. Our aim is now to maximize the points we can score tomorrow.”

Hamilton had completed his triumphant lap and was midway round his slow-down lap when his McLaren team ordered him to stop because of a “technical problem”.

FIA rules state a car must return to the pits after qualifying and then have a litre of fuel remaining for a sample to be taken. Whitmarsh claimed 1.3 litres was ultimately extracted, but clearly the additional 0.3 litres – over and above the required one litre – would not have been enough to see Hamilton return to parc fermé. There was substantial doubt that Hamilton would have had that much fuel left after completing his slow-down lap. An F1 car will use about two litres of fuel every lap.

Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button also struggled, managing to secure only 11th – now upgraded to 10th – after failing to find the right setup to resolve understeer. McLaren’s performance here was merely the latest in a series of misfortunes to plague the team.

 


Motorsports Mondial - May 1, 2012

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f1weekly @ 2:33 PM

 

Photo: lotusf1

Lotus F1 Team completed only morning session running due to inclement weather on the first of three days testing at the delightfully located Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello in Italy. Jérôme D’Ambrosio sampled the E20 for the first time, completing 40 trouble free laps. Because of today’s weather-induced reduced running, Romain Grosjean will drive for the next two days – contrary to the original plan of Kimi Räikkönen running tomorrow and Romain only on Thursday – due to the uncertain weather predictions for the next two days.

Jérôme D’Ambrosio, Lotus F1 Team Third Driver:
“It was great to finally get my hands on the E20 and I’d like to thank the team again for giving me this opportunity. It’s a fantastic car and I felt confident with it straight away, especially in the dry. It’s a real shame we’ve been limited by the weather today in terms of what we could achieve, but we had known for a few days that rain was forecast so it’s not a big shock. We managed to complete 20 laps in both wet and dry conditions which gives me a good knowledge of the car and will help me be a better asset to the team with this experience.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“It was not the most ideal day, but in spite of the weather we managed to get some useful laps on the board. Of course, it was the first taste of the E20 for Jérôme who was very happy with the car including his seating position and all the controls. This is important, as it means he will be much better prepared if called upon again further into the season. The mixed conditions, running intermediates to start and then switching to the medium compound slicks, also gives us a good base line for Romain over the next two days. We’ve opted for one driver for the next two days so we can make better use of the time after losing this afternoon’s running.”

James Allison, Technical Director:
“We had a busy programme lined up for Jérôme including a fair amount of aerodynamic work, sensor measurement work and of course preparing foundations for Romain over the next two days. We’ve been able to do some of that work in the limited dry running that was available, but there is now a lot more we need to fit in to Wednesday and Thursday. The important thing is we now have base line to build on, so the next two days should be much more productive.”


Motorsports Mondial - April 25, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:40 AM

Photo: caterhamf1

Caterham F1 Team Rodolfo Gonzalez, Vitaly Petrov & Heikki Kovalainen for Mugello T04

Caterham F1 Team has confirmed that Rodolfo Gonzalez will be joining race drivers Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen at the fourth official test of the 2012 F1 season, taking place at Mugello, Italy from 1st to 3rd May 2012.

Gonzalez, currently competing with Caterham Racing in the 2012 GP2 series, will be in the car on 1st May. Vitaly Petrov will take over on 2nd May and Heikki Kovalainen on 3rd May.

Rodolfo Gonzalez: “I am very excited about getting back into an F1 car at the Mugello test, and want to thank Caterham F1 Team for this opportunity. It will be my third time in an F1 car with this team and it will be another good chance for me to further my experience at the top level of global motorsport. I took part in the young driver tests in 2010 and 2011 with the team, so to be able to help their development programme mid-season is another good step in my career and something that I can take lessons from back into my GP2 season with Caterham Racing.”

Riad Asmat, Caterham Group Chief Executive Officer: “Rodolfo is developing well and we are very pleased we are playing an active role in his growth as a driver. He did a good job for us when he took part in the young driver tests, and we expect him to work to the plans he is given, deliver what we ask him to on track, and provide the engineers with the sort of feedback someone with his experience should. His day with the F1 team in Mugello will also help his ongoing development in GP2 and that will be good news for Caterham Racing, so for everyone involved this is good news.”


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