The weekend marked the end of the long F1 break and we were long overdue for our fix. Things picked up at the historic Spa Francorchamps circuit for the 2010 Belgian GP. The weekend started off with Mark Webber taking control of qualifying and earning pole but Lewis Hamilton was hot on his heels and managed to nab the second spot on the grid. Sebastien Vettel had a bit of a bobble in his performance and qualified fourth.
When the lights went out the next day Mark Webber fell asleep at the wheel and had a horrible start which Lewis Hamilton was more than happy to capitalize on and that was all she wrote. While Lewis was running away from the field Sebastien Vettel was trying to fight his way to the front after some bad tire decisions put him in mid-pack. He actually lost control at one point and slid into the back of Jenson Button, taking him out completely. Vettel’s car was ok but the stewards didn’t like his stunt at all and smacked him with a drive through penalty which pretty much threw him to the back of the pack. Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton drove on to his first race win since June and preserving his championship points lead. While Sebastien Vettel’s championship chances may be totally done all because of a wet track and a bad decision. Check out a full race report on SPEED’s website.
Before the Indy Cars started a boring race that ended spectacularly (you’ll see in the post after this), Formula 1 put on a show in Sebastien Vettel’s hometown of Hockenheim, Germany which temporarily re-named “Vettelheim” in honor of Sebastien Vettel. The weekend started off dramatically with many drivers crashing hard during a rainy practice on Friday and Sebastien Vettel edging out Fernando Alonso for pole position by just .002 of a second at the end of Q3 in qualifying on Saturday. To make things even more dramatic for Sebastien, Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa qualified in 3rd position. This meant Red Bull’s young ace would have to start the race with two angry Ferrari’s right behind him.
It was Ferrari’s performance in qualifying that showed the world that they were definitely not going to lay down and let Red Bull or McLaren take away a championship which they feel is still within their reach. Despite having only one win so far this season (with Fernando Alonso taking the win at the first race in Bahrain) Ferrari strongly believes they have a fighting chance at the driver’s championship.
As the lights went out to signal the start of the race Sebastien tried to pull a classic Schumacher move and slice in front of Fernando Alosno but he failed miserably as both Felipe and Fernando split him and lead the pack 1-2 into turn 1. Felipe was actually the biggest benefactor from Sebastien’s blunder as he took first place with Fernando ducking in behind him. However, things didn’t stay quite in this order for the whole race.
At around lap 19 of the race as Felipe and Fernando weaved through slower traffic Fernando attempted a few moves to pass his teammate but both tries were expertly shut down by Massa. It was at this point (lap 22) that Fernando got on the radio and expressed his frustration stating that “this is ridiculous” expressing that he has a faster pace than Felipe and should be let by. Now, Ferrari can’t simply tell Felipe to “let Fernando pass you” because that would be considered “team orders” which are against the rules in F1. Instead the team got on the radio to Felipe and said something to the effect of “Fernando has a much faster pace than you, please respond if you understand this message.” Felipe did not respond but he did eventually and blatantly let Fernando pass him to take first place.
The race ended with a 1-2 finish by Ferrari with Fernando Alonso taking first and his bitter teammate Felipe Massa taking second while Sebastien Vettel landed third place.
When F1 officials learned of the radio transmission between the Ferrari pit and Felipe Massa they were not happy. They allowed Fernando Alonso to keep his victory however, Ferrari was fined $100k for violation of the “no team orders” rule. They were also submitted to the World Motorsport Council (WMSC) for further possible penalties. That is certainly a tough break for Ferrari who fought valiantly to get a much needed win.
Just after the Formula Drift party was winding down the Formula 1 jump-off at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix was getting started. Silverstone came back this year in a big way. The entire track was refreshed and extended making the total distance just over 3 miles. It was also announced that Silverstone just renewed its contract with the FIA and would be on the F1 schedule for the next 17 years.
With all of that pageantry out of the way the grid got down to business and like half the races so far Red Bull Racing dominated practice and qualifying with Mark Webber taking the pole and his teammate Sebastien Vettel taking the spot right next to him. However despite being next to each other on the front row things were not too friendly between the two Red Bull Drivers. Webber was put-off when the upper brass of the RBR team decided to take a new experimental front wing off his car and put it on Vettel’s car, leaving Mark with an out-dated piece that reduced his straight line speed. Although it didn’t seem to hamper his performance all that much since he ran away from the pack as soon as the lights went out. Meanwhile, in Vettel-ville Sebastian had a major incident at the start and cut a tire. After the tire was replaced in the pits he emerged at the back of the pack. Eventually he fought his way to a 6th place finish but it was Mark Webber who snagged the victory.
Mark is now third in points behind Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton while Vettel sits 4th in points. However the season is only half over so both RBR drivers are more than within striking distance to the points lead. I can’t wait to see how the rest of this season plays out!
While Audi was kicking butt in LeMans, F1 was putting on their own show in another French speaking country. Once again the Canadians got to enjoy the pageantry of F1 while us Yankees had to settle with watching it on TV. If you did get a chance to watch you would have seen Lewis Hamilton dominate the weekend and go on to win the race leading a McLaren 1-2 finish with Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari bringing up third. Lewis drove a pretty masterful race and with his teammate Jenson Button in tow they pulled off a second consecutive 1-2 finish. Lewis and Jenson now lead the driver’s points standings respectively while many are starting to question of the Red Bull show is over. Check out SPEED’s full post-race report for the juicy details.
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend! You may have been too busy BBQ-ing to pay attention to all the racing that went on Sunday so I’m going to attempt to give you all a quick re-cap starting with F1. This weekend the F1 grid landed in Istanbul, Turkey for the Turkish GP (go figure). As usual during practice and qualifying the two Red Bull Racing cars had strong performances. However the real surprise was Lewis Hamilton who stuck his nose in the battle of the two Red Bull teammates and qualified in row 1 for the first time this season.
When the lights went out on Sunday both Red Bull cars attempted to get a jump in the field but they couldn’t shake Hamilton who appeared to be on a mission from the speed gods. Once he found his opportunity he passed a increasingly slowing Mark Webber for the lead. While Lewis worked on building a cap an unexpected battle unfolded between Mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel. For some reason Mark continued to get slower each lap while Vettel got faster. However, Webber fought with everything he could to keep Vettel behind him which led to the two drivers eventually colliding against each other in lap 40. This allowed Lewis and his teammate Jenson Button to move past the squabble leading to a 1-2 finish for the McLaren Vodafone team while Mark Webber limped to 3rd keeping him at the top of the points standings.
You can guarantee there was a long discussion in the Red Bull paddock after the race. You can read a full post race report on SPEED TV’s website. The next round will be in Canada and I’m sure we’ll learn about all the drama before the next race weekend.
I know what you’re thinking but this isn’t a spoiler alert because I checked the listings and they aren’t replaying the Monaco GP race any time soon. So quit your whinin’! Anyway, Webber pretty much dominated the weekend. He was fast in practice, qualified on the pole, and then ran away from the entire grid by leaps and bounds as soon as the lights went out. To celebrate Mark, his car designer Adrian Newey, and team principal Chrstian Horner all jumped into a pool at the Red Bull VIP area. Now Mark and his teammate Sebastien Vettel are tied for first in the driver points. Can this be the begining of a internal team battle for the rest of the season? Who knows!? But I’m glad things aren’t boring! Check out a full race report on SPEED.
In between watching Iron Man 2, celebrating Mother’s Day, and my birthday I tried to keep up with what weekend motorsport news. This weekend Formula 1 was back from its short break and ready to take over Barcelona, Spain. There were a few pics for the win in Spain, namely Fernando Alonso (Spain being his home track), and the young dynamo Sebastien Vettel (just because hes a badass). However it was Sebastien’s teammate Mark Webber who gave an absolutely dominating performance and took the win for Red Bull Racing. Can you believe it? Mark freakin’ Webber! Good job Mark! Check out a full race report from speed by clicking the red text.
Red Bull Racing always has fresh videos right before a big race and I love them for it! In their latest they put their young gun Sebastien Vettel in a simulator to take us for a virtual lap around Barcelona. Oh, don’t adjust your audio Vettel is in fact speaking his native German tongue but no worries because Red Bull tapped Mark Webber to translate. It gets interesting indeed..
The F1 grid landed in Malaysia over the weekend and battled unpredictable weather mixed in with severe heat at the Sepang Circuit. There was a lot of pre-race speculation on the ability of Red Bull Racing to get their ace driver Sebastien Vettel through an entire race. In case you forgot Sebastien had two consecutive DNF’s due to mechanical reasons and both came after dominant performances. The pressure was on the Red Bull garage to complete an event much less win. Fortunately it seems as if the Red Bull team does well under pressure because not only did Sebastien finish the race he won and with teammate Mark Webber right behind himRed Bull Racing got their first 1-2 finish of the season! Now that the fastest driver is in a car with no issues McLaren and Ferrari need to start sweating. It looks like there will be a three-way battle for the title this year.
With the championship already decided the last race of the 2009 Formula 1 season at a brand new track in Abu Dhabi was about making history and having a strong finish to the season. At first it looked like Lewis Hamilton would have all of that as he was the fastest in practice and captured the pole position. When the lights went out he shot to the lead but unfortunately he suffered brake problems which ultimately put him out of the race early. It was the first mechanical retirement for Lewis and the McLaren Mercedes team all year so he couldn’t complain all that much.
With Lewis out all it took was some extra effort and a pit cycle for F1’s newest superstar Sebastien Vettel to take the lead and run away from the field. Once he got open air he was unstoppable and pressed on to a victory and history as being the first driver to ever win a race at the brand new Abu Dhabi race track. Check out the video below for a full post race report via SPEED.
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