The Ice Man commeth!! This weekend was a return to form for the red team as 2007 world champ Kimi Raikkonen took the win at the Grand Prix of Belgium. Although the competition was shaved down a bit as a massive collison took place before the first lap was complete. A huge pile up in the second turn collected points leader Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, and more than a few others which nicely thinned out the field for Kimi as he dodged the carbon fiber carnage. In a pleasent surprise Giancarlo Fisichella (who won his first pole in several years over the weekend) earned a 2nd place podium and earned the first points ever for the Force India Mercedes team. Good job Fisi! Check out the SPEED post race commentary below.
Ok this has to win the award for one of the greatest conversation starters ever. If you go to the Ferrari Store right now you could pick up a 1:1 scale full replica of the F2008 steering wheel. The every same type of wheel held by Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa last season complete with all the buttons and dials that you’d expect from one of the world’s most advanced race cars. There isn’t a cruise control button though…I checked..
With the Malaysian GP going down this weekend I thought this would be a cool vid to post up. Its a CGI lap of the Sepang circuit. The very circuit that all the F1 teams will be pounding on come Sunday. These videos are always fun before a race weekend.
Talk about your upsets! A team that was created from the ashes of the recently deceased Honda F1 teamrises up gains a sponsor in Virgin, dominates qualifying, and then sweeps their first race in a team 1-2 finish! All of this while both Ferrari’s finished outside of the points!
If you’re lost let me attempt to catch you up a bit. In Late 2008 Honda shocked the racing community by annoucing that they were going to pull out of F1 completely. Naturally this shocked everyone and many were hoping for a big sponsor or someone to pull through to save the team.
After months of rumors and heresay former Honda F1 Team Principal Ross Brawn along with a few other members of management and investors bought Honda’s F1 Team assets and formed the “Brawn GP” team. They also announced that they would retain Jenson Button and Rubins Barrichello for their driver line up. They also shook things up by stating that they wouldn’t become another Ferrari customer and instead chose to source their engines from Mercedes.
Fast forward to this past weekend and the little team that could dominates qualifying with Jenson Buttontaking the pole and his teammate Ruben qualifying 2nd right next to him. Come race day the lights go out, Jenson rockets away to an early lead, and that was pretty much all she wrote. Jenson and Ruben spanked the whole field and brought home a 1-2 victory for their team in its first ever race, a feat that was last accomplished in the 70s!
Check out the Speed Rountable for all the news bits I may have missed
A few days ago Ferrari streamed the reveal of their new F60 F1 Racecar on their website. Naturally video and photos are starting to trickle down. Check out this helmet cam vid of Felipe Massa breaking in his brand new toy on a test track in Italy. Stay tuned for more pics and video.
Recently after the 2008 Formula One season ended, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone announced that he was contemplating getting rid of the points system and incorporating an olympic style medal system. Many feel this idea is madness, others think its a good idea while most don’t understand why he would want to do that in the first place. He had a sitdown with formula1.com and explained why he feels this would be a good move. Its worth the read. If you’ve read it already do you think its a good idea? Feel free to comment.
I know there are a lot of hardcore Ferrari fans who are still dealing with the fact that the 2008 drivers championship went to someone in a sliver car, but things werne’t all bad for the red. Ferrari did manage to win the constructors championship! What better way to celebrate than drop just under $51k USD on an actual 050 Ferrari F1 engine that was used in one of their 2001 cars? Besides buying a complete car this is pretty much the ultimate piece of Ferrari memorabilia! I’d rock it…
In a hard fought season between Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, and Lewis Hamilton a conclusion was finally reached over the weekend in Brazil. As Formula 1 2008 came to a close Kubica and Raikkonen were mathmatically out of the championship chase and it came down to Felipe and Lewis.
As the points stood Lewis only needed to net a 5th place finish to lock out Felipe and secure the title. However it looked as if the Vodafone McLaren team over compensated by litterally setting up the car and their strategy as a 5th place contender. The plan worked out for most of the race however towards the end it began to fail as Red Bull bad-ass Sebastien Vettel snatched 5th place away from Lewis during the last 3 laps while Massa was in first place.
Due to extremely worn and graining tires combined with a wet track Lewis struggled to take 5th back from the blazing fast German but was fading fast. Salvation came for Lewis in the last lap when Toyota driver Timo Glock fell back from 4th place also due to worn tires which allowed both Vettel and Hamilton to blow by. This controversial occurance placed the Brit back into 5th place thus securing his championship crown as he crossed the line.
I couldn’t help but hurt for Massa as he and his team were litterally informed at the last possible moment that they had not won the championship. Cameras captured the very moment when Felipe’s father was jumping up and down cheering then the imediate drain of joy from his face and the other red coats as they were told the unfortunate news that Lewis swooped the title away.
I also couldn’t help but get a tad emotional as I saw Lewis take the title and celebrate with his team, family, and friends. A while back it had been a dream of mine to be the first African American in Formula 1 and to win the title. Obviously that isn’t going to happen now and even though the media has generally tried to keep the issue of race out of the amazing story that is Lewis Hamilton I can’t help but feel proud that history was made. If I couldn’t do it I’m happy that Lewis could. Congrats!
With the season coming to a close and a points lead to maintain Lewis Hamilton decided to conquer the track where he bungled his shot at a championship in his rookie year. Already sitting on the pole from qualifying, as soon as the lights went out Lewis sailed off and that was all she wrote. He lead every lap from lights out to checkered flag.
There was a possibility that Hamilton could have clentched the title but that would’ve only happend if he finished the race 6 points ahead of Felipe Massa. However it wouldn’t be as both Ferraris were constantly snarling at the heels of Lews’ McLaren for the entire race.
Going into the Last Race of the season in Brazil only 7 points seperate Lewis and Felipe while Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica are mathamatically eliminated from contention. Can Lewis make history? Or will Felipe grab the title by force in his home country? Unfortunately we’re going to have to wait an agonizing two weeks to find out!
Well I guess this means Alonso’s win in Singapore wasn’t just a fluke. The Japanese Grand Prix was more of a boxing match with cars between Ferrari and McLaren. While the silver and red were slap-fighting the Spanard shoved them both out of the way and took his spot on the top of the podium.
As the race started Lewis Hamilton decided to bum-rush his way through the two Ferraris while his teammate Hekki followed suit and ran both reds off the track. Later on Felipe Massa returned the favor by nosing in on Hamilton in a corner which spun the brit out. Later on Massa took out some extra aggression on Bourdais who was just minding his business but since we know how the FIA goes it was Bourdais who got the penalty instead of Massa (what a surprize right?).
In all this hub-bub (yes I said it!) Fernando and the Renault squad fought their way to the front with Robert Kubica giving chase and that was all she wrote. Those two remained ahead of the carnage and in the end Alonso crossed the line first with Mr. Kubica right behind him. Kubica’s second place finish keeps him mathamatically alive for the title being only 11 points behind Hamilton.
Formula 1 is fun…
Check out what Varsha and the guys had to say about the whole thing:
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