The 2010 Ferrari F1 Challenger - Unveiled

The 2010 Ferrari F1 Challenger is ready to be unveiled. Here are some pics.

    

Santander assumes the role of principal sponsor considering the amount of coverage they’ve been given on the car, hope Alonso lives up to the Spanish bank’s expectations. It’s intriguing however for Santander to try to cash in on Lewis’ popularity in the UK, the new building blocks ad being an example.

Fernando Alonso and McLaren

Last week I stuck my neck out with the following comment in my personal blog.

McLaren needs Alonso as much as Alonso needs McLaren. There aren't too many options for the double world champion. The only place that would look like a promotion is Ferrari but Italians and Spainards are not good bedfellows. Alonso will not go from McLaren, I'm sticking my neck out on this one. Simply because the McLaren car this year is a rock solid package, it has completed every race it has started and except for just two failures during qualifying - Alonso's engine block and Hamilton's tyre, the car has performed incredibly well. I'm doubly sure that the research and development effort of McLaren is immensely being benefitted by Alonso's experience.

The press this weekend has been reporting the same news and looks like I guessed it pretty right, atleast for this season. Today's race in Istanbul should be an exciting one.

Identify this guy

Who is this guy and what is he doing at Nurburgring?

Formula 1 diary - French Grand Prix

On a personal front the French Grand Prix being conducted for the last time in Magny-Cours was a disappointment for me as a McLaren fan. Alonso started from 10th after facing gearbox problems during qualifying. His gearbox got welded to the engine which had to be cut off and replaced with a new gearbox. A change of engine would have been an easier option but he would have had to start from the end of the grid in such a case.

The two Ferrari's had a perfect start with Massa taking off from 1st and Kimi grabbing the 2nd position in the first corner after starting 3rd from the grid beating Lewis who started 2nd. Alonso managed a flying start getting into 7th position after starting from 10th. Robert Kubica followed Lewis all through the race. The race was thrilling in two sections particularly. The first was Alonso's battle with Nick Heidfeld before his first pit stop, the Spainard clearly had the faster car but Nick's clever driving saw Alonso at his wit's end attempting all sorts of heroic stuff. He would go on to overtake Nick after his second pit stop but lost a lot of time meanwhile.

This was a race where strategy took over when all other tricks drivers had in their bags failed. Sample this, Massa leads most of the race till he stops for his final stop and get's out behind Kimi who is yet to pit for tyres and fuel. Kimi pits and get's ahead of Massa and goes on to win the race, what is that? Absolutely determined driving and good strategy. McLaren's strategy was found lacking in many areas. Getting Lewis to pit the third time for softer tyres and fuel added about 20 secs to his lap time. At one point a charging Lewis had closed the gap between him and Massa to about 8 secs with 20 laps to go.

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts

1 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 70 1:30:54.200 3 10

2 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 70 +2.4 secs 1 8

3 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 70 +32.1 secs 2 6

4 10 Robert Kubica BMW 70 +41.7 secs 4 5

5 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW 70 +48.8 secs 7 4

6 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 70 +52.2 secs 5 3

7 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 70 +56.5 secs 10 2

8 7 Jenson Button Honda 70 +58.8 secs 12 1

9 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 70 +68.5 secs 9

10 11 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 69 +1 Lap 11

11 8 Rubens Barrichello Honda 69 +1 Lap 13

12 15 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 69 +1 Lap 14

13 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 69 +1 Lap 16

14 17 Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 69 +1 Lap 18

15 4 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 69 +1 Lap 6

16 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 68 +2 Laps 22

17 20 Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 68 +2 Laps 21

Ret 19 Scott Speed STR-Ferrari 55 Technical 15

Ret 21 Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 28 Accident 20

Ret 23 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1 Accident 19

Ret 12 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1 Accident 8

Ret 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Ferrari 0 Accident 17

Over to Silverstone next weekend, the circuit where Mika won the GP in 2001 with a 3 pit stop strategy while all/most other cars were on 2 stops.

Formula 1 Diary - US grand prix

McLaren have been right on top with their car's performance and reliability this year and the US grand prix was a testimony to their sheer domination. The first four cars that finished were the one's that started from the same positions on the grid. There were two instances where Alonso challenged Hamilton but couldn't get past due to superb driving by the latter. Turn 1 this year didn't provide too many crashes, only 6 cars retired from the race. McLaren go to France from here with 106 championship points in their kitty and Lewis leads the drivers championship with 58 points with Alonso on 48. With some upgrades expected on the car in France McLaren could emerge stronger.

Felipe Massa had a decent race and help up the challenge from fellow team mate Kimi Raikkonen in the finishing stages. Kimi lost 4 places in the starting lap but fought back agressively to gain all of them back. He was also set the fastest lap of the race at 1m13.117secs which could be signs of the Finn fighting back. Nick Heidfeld was driving well until his car simply gave up on him. Ferrari and Sauber have good cars and are the one's that can challenge McLaren. Surprisingly the Torro Rosso Car of Luizi was the fastest in terms of top speed hitting 335 kmph in the straight section from Turn 13 to Turn1.

1 Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1h39:09.065

2 Fernando Alonso Vodafone McLaren Mercedes +1.518

3 Felipe Massa Scuderia Ferrari +12.842

4 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari +15.422

5 Heikki Kovalainen Renault +41.402

6 Jarno Trulli Toyota +1:06.703

7 Mark Webber Williams F1 +1:07.331

8 Sebastian Vettel BMW Sauber +1:07.783

9 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault +1 lap

10 Alex Wurz Williams F1 +1 lap

11 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri +1 lap

12 Jenson Button Honda Racing +1 lap

Can someone ask the Indianapolis Motoring Speedway authorities to do some publicity and get the stands filled? It's appalling to see stands vacant in the main straight track of the race.

Lewis Hamilton's first GP win

In April I quoted Lewis talk about getting his first GP win sometime this year and I was looking at one after the championship fights were settled. Last week in Montreal Lewis tasted success by clinching the first place for McLaren. It was a flawless drive for Lewis and the opposite for Fernando who kept spinning many times. Lewis Hamilton is already leading the championship points and Ron Dennis should be one happy man. Now if only Fernando Alonso take full advantage of his team and car, McLaren will be one unstoppable force this year. Ah, do I smell constructors championship for McLaren?

Formula 1 Diary - Malaysian Grand Prix

The second race of the 2007 season kicked off in style. The first corner saw Alonso take the lead and close fight between Hamilton and Massa for about 8 laps till Hamilton established his place in the 2nd position. McLaren's race all the way with a one-two finish which saw Ron Dennis back on the podium for the Constructor's trophy and Alonso and Hamilton take 1 and 2 respectively. The last 10 laps of the race were scary with Kimi Raikkonnen closing in on Hamilton and almost was going to take off the 2nd position.

1 Fernando Alonso Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1h32.14.930

2 Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes +17.5 secs

3 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari +18.3 secs

4 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber +33.7 secs

5 Felipe Massa Scuderia Ferrari +36.7 secs

6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault +65.6 secs

7 Jarno Trulli Toyota +70.1 secs

8 Heikki Kovalainen Renault +72.0 secs

9 Alex Wurz Williams F1 +89.9 secs

10 Mark Webber Williams F1 +93.5 secs

11 Rubens Barrichello Honda Racing +1 Lap

12 Jenson Button Honda Racing +1 Lap

13 Takuma Sato Super Aguri +1 Lap

14 Scott Speed Toro Rosso +1 Lap

15 Ralf Schumacher Toyota +1 Lap

16 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri +1 Lap

17 Tonio Luizzi Toro Rosso +1 Lap

18 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber +1 Lap

Formula 1 Diary - Australian Grand Prix

The inaugural race of the year turned out to be closely fought and full of suspenses and surprises. The biggest one being rookie Lewis Hamilton getting a position on the podium in his debut F1 race. It turned out to be a particularly good start for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton took 2nd and 3rd places respectively. The 1st place was bagged by Kimi Raikkonnen driving his first race for Ferrari.

1) Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari 1h25m28.770

2) Fernando Alonso Vodafone McLaren Mercedes +7.242

3) Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes +18.595

4) Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber +38.763

5) Giancarlo Fisichella Renault +66469

6) Felipe Massa Scuderia Ferrari +66.805

7) Nico Rosberg Williams F1 +1 lap

8) Ralf Schumacher Toyota +1 lap

9) Jarno Trulli Toyota +1 lap

10) Heikki Kovalainen Renault +1 lap

11) Rubens Barrichello Honda Racing +1 lap

12) Takuma Sato Super Aguri +1 lap

13) Mark Webber Williams F1 +1 lap

14) Tonio Luizzi Toro Rosso +1 lap

15) Jenson Button Honda Racing +1 lap

16) Anthony Davidson Super Aguri +2 laps

17) Adrian Sutil Spyker F1 +2 laps

McLaren - F1 2007 season

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team has released pictures of the new car (MP4-22) and the driver for this season. The MP4-22 is by far the best looking car in the lineup for this year, I hope in terms of performance they are able to break the reliability jinx. Day 1 of testing in Valencia saw Alonso retire in the last 5 minutes of testing with a "minor oil leak" but the fact that he did 102 laps and was the first on the track was good news. Day 2 of testing was mildly hampered by wet track conditions but no car problems.

Jax is a big fan of Ferrari and I wonder where his loyalities are this season. Can't wait till the first race, keep watching this space for more.