lewis crash! boom! bang!

[ mclaren, monaco, lewis hamilton, formula 1 ]

is this a sign of things to come? lewis hamilton crashed his car to the wall, and it was a huge one. was it a mistake? was it the nerves getting to him? or was he really exploring the limits?

i like how updatef1.com puts it:

It had to happen – the vultures have been circling, waiting patiently, for four races now; Lewis Hamilton made a mistake in second practice for the Monaco Grand Prix.

- read complete article to see how practice 2 at monaco went

cynical aren't these people? not everyone is as kind as haug, forgiving their protege. but it's true, people have been waiting for lewis' first cock up, good (or bad, if you're a cynic) thing for lewis it came during the practice. i do hope he can recover quickly from this accident and continue his superb form.

joining hamilton in the crash list is ralf schumacher, anthony davidson, and adrian sutil. i believe you can expect more during qualifying and the race.

remember, no friday practice for monaco - that has been the tradition. so at the moment, mclaren seems to be ahead of ferrari. alonso beating hamilton, and kimi beating massa. will we see a revenge of the number 2, yet again, during qualifying and possibly the race? only two days left for us to find out.

are you ready for monaco?



previous posts:
are you ready for monaco?
f1 circuit chief sacked for corruption
kimi raikkonen is rubbish
kimi breaks more cars
four consecutive poles for ferrari

f1 circuit chief sacked for corruption

[ shanghai, formula 1 ]

shanghai f1 circuit chief was sacked in midst of a corruption investigation. mr yu zhifei was accused of using company money to buy a house and taking bribes.

The sackings were related to an inquiry into misuse of Shanghai's pension fund.

The scandal has already led to the sacking of Chen Liangyu, who was the city's Communist Party secretary.

Last September he became the most senior party official to be dismissed in more than a decade.

[...]

Mr Yu has been expelled from the Communist Party and is facing criminal charges, the Shanghai Daily and other newspapers said.

The former district chief, Chen Chaoxian, was also sacked and so too was Ling Baoheng, the former director of the city's state-owned asset supervision board.

Despite China's market reforms, Communist Party officials still have control over large parts of manufacturing, banking and real estate.

Corruption is a widespread and growing problem which the Chinese government is struggling to control, says the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Shanghai.

- china's f1 track chief dismissed

corruption may be a problem in china, but at least they are taking necessary steps and doing the right thing. punish those who have done wrong, no matter how powerful or influential they are. rather commendable.

if only some country could learn.



previous posts:
kimi raikkonen is rubbish
kimi breaks more cars
four consecutive poles for ferrari
disapproval for singapore gp?
terrible f1 accident

kimi raikkonen is rubbish

[ ferrari, barcelona, kimi raikkonen, formula 1 ]

there, i said it. as much as i would like to embrace kimi as a driver deserved of high praises, his attitude left nothing to be desired.

Sir Jackie Stewart has questions Kimi Raikkonen's commitment after the Finn stormed away from the Barcelona circuit following his retirement on Sunday.

[...]

However, rather than stay behind to watch team-mate Felipe Massa's victory, Raikkonen was reportedly on his way to the airport less than half an hour after retiring from the race.

The Finn's actions have - not for the first time - raised doubts about his commitment to Formula One, with Stewart claiming that Raikkonen isn't willing to make the sacrifices needed to become a World Champion.

- stewart questions kimi's commitment

so why did he stormed out of barcelona so quickly? for the ice hockey final?

"I asked the team if I could go quickly and I'm pleased they saw that giving me permission was the right thing to do," said Raikkonen.

"I arrived home in Wollerau in time to see the final stages of the ice hockey world championship final, but Finland lost to Canada. Obviously, this just wasn't a good day."

- kimi upbeat despite woes

and i don't understand why is massa always doing the testing. what is kimi doing? partying? for me, kimi is definitely one of f1's most overrated and biggest brats. he's acting like a super star even before becoming one. i just don't get why people can't see it.


look how proud he is:

Kimi Raikkonen has vowed to continue to be his own man - despite whatever input Michael Schumacher has to offer Ferrari these days.

[...]

But when asked whether he would listen to Schumacher if he offered advice, Raikkonen replied: "I still drive the car.

"With my engineers I do what I want, so..."

Finishing the sentence, the questioner inserted: "So no then?" to which Raikkonen merely shrugged his shoulders.

- kimi: 'i'll do it my way'

he reminds me of montoya - too damn proud of nothing, really. just slightly better packaged.



previous posts:
kimi breaks more cars
four consecutive poles for ferrari
disapproval for singapore gp?
terrible f1 accident
from champions to insignificance

disapproval for singapore gp?

[ singapore, formula 1 ]

is this a sign of disapproval for the singapore gp?

The apparent return of street circuits in Formula One is contrary to the sport's push for better safety, according to Marc Gene.

The occasional Ferrari test driver told the Spanish news agency EFE that he is opposed to Bernie Ecclestone's negotiations with Valencia, Singapore and other potential venues for Monaco-style city races.

- f1-live.com

is that why the announcement of the singapore gp has been delayed since the malaysian gp? negotiations are said to be ongoing, but the longer it takes, the more unlikely it'll materialize next year. perhaps due to opposition from the gpda on the grounds of safety, or perhaps the malaysian government has been pressing hard to disallow the singapore gp.

to be frank, i can't decide whether the singapore gp is going to be a good thing for the f1 circus or not. personally, i think it'll be exciting to have another street circuit. and singapore, more so than valencia, or even india, would be ideal. i was just in singapore last weekend, and the city looks ready (in every sense) to transform itself to accomodate f1.

singapore is a 'fine' country well known, among others, for its hardcore cleaniness, no nonsense law, and systematic transportation structure. yet, they are also embarking on an ambitious plan to make it a friendly destination for all. with two new casinos, world class art/cultural theatres, and soon-to-be (?) f1-on-the-street, it is going to be a city very difficult to resist.


on the contrast, malaysia is not comparable to its southern neighbour. after hosting the gp for close to ten years, it has yet to make itself indispendsable on the f1 calendar. it just doesn't appear to be a place 'serious' enough for f1, and there's a malaysian gp just because there's a pretty good circuit in the country. no passion, no commitment, just obligation. plus, we're not even going to talk about the lack of transportation infrastructure, the lack of tourism integration, and the unfriendly frontliners of the country, all of which are super turn-offs for the tourists.

so, when i place myself in the shoes of a tourist deciding to watch a live f1 race in south east asia, presented to me are the malaysian gp (march) and the singapore gp (october), i would probably choose the singapore gp. just because it'd be more value for my money to watch one of the only two street races in the world. plus, i could easily visit malaysia if i were at singapore - just cross the straits.

the malaysian government can't possibly bank on winning if they want to direct compete with singapore. instead, they should try and work together by proposing to have the gps one after the other. then, present an attractive package for the tourists to catch two live gps for one visit to the region. win-win for everyone! ;)

only if singapore is that stupid to agree.



previous posts:
terrible f1 accident
from champions to insignificance
star of bahrain qualifying
missing schumacher and brawn
come! and get some airasia kisses

from champions to insignificance

[ renault, bahrain, flavio briatore, formula 1 ]

how do you go from being back-to-back champions to not being able to win a race? that's renault for you. so far, they haven't won a race, and not even a podium. i'm predicting that they won't even win a race till the midway mark of the season.

funny thing is, the team doesn't know either:

Briatore said: "Unfortunately we do not understand our problems. That is the biggest problem..."

- f1-live.com

now that doesn't help, does it?

it was yet another dismal race at bahrain for the renault, with fisichella finishing 8th. heikki wasn't even worthed mentioning, plus we didn't get to see much of him. so let's hear what he has to say:

Heikki Kovalainen commented, "I made a good start off the line, and overtook both Williams and Trulli's Toyota. Last week, I was side by side with him and he got the advantage - and I was determined that it wouldn't happen again. After that, the rear tyres dropped off quickly on the heavy fuel load and I was struggling everywhere - Trulli got past me, then I tried to defend aggressively against Rosberg, but he overtook as well after the final corner. The car improved a lot in the second stint, and I could see I was catching Fisi and Jarno, and thought that maybe we could do something. But then in the final stint, the rear end was tricky again, and I couldn't maintain the pace of the guys in front. It was a tough afternoon, like we expected, and it was a shame not to score points. We know, though, that the hard work needs to be done back at the factory - and I am confident that they will be pushing to their maximum to improve our competitiveness for the next race."

- gpudate.net

doesn't sound too good at all. as flavio nicely puts it, "this is where we are at the moment, fighting for the final points positions."



previous posts:
star of bahrain qualifying
missing schumacher and brawn
come! and get some airasia kisses
four mirror mclaren explained
traction control axed!

traction control axed!

[ sepang, formula 1 ]

The World Motorsport Council met yesterday and the FIA today announced the decisions that were made with regard to the sporting and technical regulations for next season.

The most significant change to the previously published set of rules is that traction control will no longer be permitted.

Article 9.3 of the technical regulations states: ‘No car may be equipped with a system or device which is capable of preventing the driven wheels from spinning under power or of compensating for excessive throttle demand by the driver. Any device or system which notifies the driver of the onset of wheel spin is not permitted.'

...

read complete article.

other views:
traction control banned in f1 from 2008



what is traction control?
f1technical:

Traction is the possibility for a car to accellerate. As a result of the driver pushing the throttle, an engine revs up and puts down all torque onto the rear wheels in order to speed up. In some cases, and especially with the high power today's F1 engines deliver, more torque is given to the wheels causing the wheels to spin and hence reducing accelleration. A traction control system is a device to prevent or limit such spinning in the wheels in order to increase the ability to accellerate.

How it works
Various traction control systems have been developed for either racing or road car purposes, some of them more efficient then others. Such a system always monitors car variables and intercepts if too much power is being applied to the wheels. Usually this is realised by sensors that measure rotational speed of the powered wheels and compare that to the speed of the car, measured with either sensors at the unpowered - front, in the case of Formula One - wheels or with a sensor (e.g. a pitot tube) that measures the speed of the car itself. In a few miliseconds after the system detect wheelspin in the rear wheels, power is cut to nullify that spin.

...

read complete article on traction control



previous posts:
kimi happier at ferrari
melbourne gp... yawn
damage limitation

kimi happier at ferrari

[ ferrari, melbourne, kimi raikonnen, formula 1 ]

I've never hidden my joy, since the first day I came to Maranello. Now, after the success in the first race with the team, I am - in case this is possible - even more joyful.

totally understandable.

imagine if you've been working in a company, say for about five years, and you haven't achieved what you've expected to, wouldn't you be disappointed? you know you're a talent, and you know you could have done so much more, yet somehow everything just kept falling apart. that would have been five horrible years.

personally, i wouldn't want to work for a company that seems to have the best resources, but somehow lack in management. or a company that seems to have a fantastic brand, but lack results. beautiful office, but with high turnover. cash rich, but poor in spirit.

for a commoner like myself, i could only dream to have the opportunity to leave my shitty company behind, change an environment, and immediately see result. but commaners are not that lucky. but lucky for kimi, i think it's definitely a 'dream come true'.

with that said, nothing can be taken for granted. given the opportunity, you ought to work harder, concentrate, and continue to strive for results in order to remain motivated in the new company. i know i would.

so, 2007 will be a judgement year for kimi. will we see a successful kimi? or will we see him throw all that away?



previous posts:
melbourne gp... yawn
damage limitation