after france, kimi takes england

[ ferrari, silverstone, lewis hamilton, formula 1 ]

apologies for missing the french gp as i have been extremely busy with work. but what an exciting gp, with kimi winning a lucky race. a good ferrari 1-2 nonetheless, and now ferrari may well be back into championship contention.

the atmosphere at silverstone must have been awesome. celebrities of any sort and motorsport fans from all corners of the world created such sights and sounds for the historic circuit. i can imagine the place packed with enthusiasm, all excited about the possibility of their star winning the home gp. however, it was not meant to be for lewis.

soft vs hard
ferrari started on the soft tyres, while mclaren were on the harder tyres. interesting to see how the tyres significantly affected the outcome of this race. although ferrari was definitely quicker on the first two stints, but they weren't able to utilise the speed as much as they should have. having to change into the hard tyres at the last stint was definitely risky, but kimi was able to get the job done. lewis, on the other hand, had the tyre strategy all wrong as he ran most of the race on the harder tyres, and was left far behind by kimi and alonso in third. the soft tyres at the end just wasn't enough.

a nervous lewis hamilton
mclaren may have compromised lewis' race strategy by putting him on pole, in order to create a hype for raceday. the low fuel hard tyre strategy that hamilton was on was not a competitive as kimi's low fuel soft tyre strategy. as a result, lewis needed to defend aggresively against kimi at his tail. he was making mistakes and locking up pretty often, and eventually the pressure must have gotten to him, and it was evident when a pitstop fumble revealed a jittery lewis. could this silverstone mistake be the beginning of the lewis fall?

superb overtaking skill
having to start from the pitlane after a computer glitch, massa stormed from last up to 9th in just 12 laps. overtaking at silverstone is difficult, due to the fast corners nature of the circuit, but massa managed to show how it should be done. due to his amazing recovery, he managed to come out 7th after his first stop. brilliant. damage limitation from massa by finishing 5th at the end of the race. could have been another 1-2 for ferrari though.

podium streak
lewis grabbed his 9th consecutive podiums, as he managed to be on the podium in every race so far this season, which is pretty amazing, especially for a rookie. alonso must have been glad he's on a higher step than lewis, and to do so at lewis' home gp. but i'm sure lewis wouldn't care; besides, he's still leading the championship with only eight more races to go. perhaps podium is the way to go.

sss
should have been zzz, but sss = sleeping scott speed. like all other backmarkers, speed ignored blue flag while chasing for track positions. after being passed and rudely waved off by alonso, speed was distracted by alonso and didn't manage to see wurz passing him on the inside. speed closed the door, and ended up breaking his own suspension, ending his race. goodbye speed, it was nice having you.

star sports sucks
enough said.

winner of the race
kimi won this race fair and square. he raced hard in order to keep close with lewis, had a brilliant pitstop strategy, grabbed the fastest lap, and then come away with the win. a second successive win for kimi, and the driver with the most wins (three) this season. is he now comfortable and ready to take over the number one spot at ferrari?

loser of the race
a suspension failure ruined ralf schumacher's race. after beating his teammate jarno trulli in qualifying for the first time this season, ralf didn't get any luck and ended the race with nothing to shout about. very unfortunate.



previous posts:
lewis and his american dream
sato's awesome pass on alonso
lewis triumphed, alonso slaughtered
lewis hamilton grabs another headline
monaco recap

lewis and his american dream

[ mclaren, indianapolis, lewis hamilton, formula 1 ]

it was an action-packed american gp, with plenty of teammate rivalries and decent overtaking moves. best of all, no safety car.

back-to-back
although ron dennis said lewis won the canadian gp "fair and square", alonso said that lewis was lucky to win as it was a lottery race. well, nothing can be said about lewis' win at america, and it was truly "fair and square". having the clean start and holding strong through the first few corners, lewis made it extremely difficult for alonso to take the win from him. not even a near overtaking move by a two-times world champion could intimidate the cool, calm, and collected lewis. brilliant!

alonso frustrated to play second fiddle?
everyone saw that crazy swerve down the pit straight by alonso. he said it was to cool his car down, but i'd like to think it had something to do with his frustration - and he was sending some signals to his crew. what made the move more suspicious was that it came right after alonso's failed attempt to overtake lewis. i'll just leave it as that.

kimi to play second fiddle, as well
i'm sure some people were excited to see kimi chasing massa's tail till the chequered flag. it may look like "kimi has returned to form", or that "kimi is back"; however, these people choose to ignore the reality that kimi was on the preferred tyres for the race, while massa wasn't. and the fact of the matter is, kimi was slow in his qualifying, then he screwed up his start by dropping two places, and throughout the race he was behind massa. he looked like a number 2 driver to me (but drawing too huge a salary for that kind of performance). like my dad says, "he should be sacked after one season." wise man, i must say.

testing to bring fortune for ferrari
it was quite an embarassing performance, and ferrari just wasn't prepared for monaco, montreal, and indianapolis. while last year montreal and indianapolis were the tracks that saw a ferrari resurgence, this year they were the tracks that mclaren utterly dominated. jean todt was clearly glad they are moving to testing at silverstone next week. apparently, he was hoping the new developments would bring their performance back to pre-monaco days. for inter-team competition's sake, let's hope he's right.

bmw making headlines
not with heidfeld, who retired due to hydraulic leak. but with vettel, a 19 year old 'boy', scoring a point on his debut. he became the youngest driver in f1 history to score a point, which brings up the issue of whether formula 1 is getting too easy. i think there may be a point, but let's not take away credits from vettel. i can't remember what i was doing when i was 19, but i definitely wasn't scoring f1 points for bmw.

winner of the race
fisichella had a gallant run, and made numerous impressive overtaking moves. his moves on wurz and liuzzi were particularily sweet, revealing a pretty efficient spot on the circuit to overtake. prior to this, his attempt to pass button was pretty good as well, driving side by side through numerous corners. for a mr. nice, he didn't look very nice at all. briatore must have been proud, but unfortunately, no point for that run.

loser of the race
ferrari for losing their winning streak at indianapolis. 3rd and 4th may be a result mediocre teams celebrate, but ferrari isn't supposed to be a mediocre team. more importantly, ferrari is moving further away from the championship, and is miles behind mclaren in terms of speed judging by this race. another year without championships? very likely.



previous posts:
sato's awesome pass on alonso
lewis triumphed, alonso slaughtered
lewis hamilton grabs another headline
monaco recap
wonderful video by shell

lewis triumphed, alonso slaughtered

[ mclaren, montreal, lewis hamilton, formula 1 ]

yup, there were mclaren fireworks alright, but it only lasted till the first/second corner. alonso attempted a do-or-die move on lewis, but failed miserably. not only did he lose the lead, he lost his position to heidfeld and he lost his car. a stop-go penalty didn't help either.

sato shamed alonso
alonso's day went from bad to worse when he wasn't competitive enough to hold back takuma sato in a super aguri. with just two laps to go, sato went on the outside of the straight to overtake alonso before the final chicane. it was a fantastic move, and the crowds loved it. granted, alonso was probably more concerned of the championship to ensure he didn't lose all his points.

lewis' maiden win, with many more wins to come
lewis on the other hand, rampaged on from the lead and never looked back. not even four safety cars could create a dent on his charge. for a rookie to handle the safety car periods with ease was nothing short of superb. he really did put the more seasoned drivers out there to shame. lewis is definitely a driver full of confidence, and if he continues to stay hungry and humble, there's just no stopping him. 6 races and a first win, that's pretty good.

damage limitation
lewis' win gave mclaren a very comfortable lead. it really looks like a year for mclaren. although alonso's race was totally wrecked, it was actually damage limitation for team mclaren. alonso benefited from massa and fisichella's black-flag incident, kubica's horrid crash, and four safety car periods to keep in touch with the rival and to score a couple of points. for modern f1, every point counts.

one safety car too many
circuit gilles villeneuve always delivers grand prix excitement. the races were never boring, year after year, promising plenty of actions. this year was no difference. however, i just think there were too many safety cars and too little racing. the walls of champions continued to punish drivers, claiming a handful of drivers. the worst hit driver was kubica, his car damaged beyond recognition. thanks to the strong fia crash-test regulations, kubica was lucky to walk off with just a broken leg (bmw statement).


winner of the race
who else? lewis... who now leads the world championship by 8 points.

loser of the race
backmarkers, except sato, for continuing to show a lack of class under challenging circuits such as the circuit gilles villeneuve.



previous posts:
lewis hamilton grabs another headline
monaco recap
wonderful video by shell
lewis crash! boom! bang!
are you ready for monaco?

monaco recap

[ mclaren, monaco, lewis hamilton, formula 1 ]

extremely busy for the past week and couldn't slot a time for a post. furthermore, the blogger of f1 @ c.c.c.p. will be out of town (and his blog workstation/tv) for a long period of time. hopefully, i can find time to watch f1 live and to continue with my posts.

anyways, here's a recap of what the monaco gp brought us:

0 overtaking
that was basically the whole story wasn't it? we didn't see any overtaking, at least not on tv, for one and a half hour. quite pathetic. 1-2-3-4 stayed as 1-2-3-4, not even the pitstops could rattle the front runners.

mclaren's awesome speed, a one-off?
the mclaren of alonso and hamilton managed to lap everyone except massa. they even managed to lap some cars not once, but twice. when the silver cars have crossed the line and were celebrating through half of the circuit, massa claimed third only about one minute later. mclaren were truly on a rampage, but was it a one-off for the monaco show? according to alonso, it was.


team order from ron dennis
that shouldn't be a surprise. monaco is notoriously difficult to overtake, and for lewis hamilton to attempt and screw up the party for mclaren would be crazy. the sensible thing to do would be to hold position until the end. however, ron did reveal that if there was a safety car period, anytime during the race, hamilton would have won. and given the very high possiblity of a safety car period at monaco, i would say ron is actually favoring lewis.

kimi continues to disappoint
kimi's weekend was ruined by first screwing up his qualifying through what seemed like an amateur mistake. he hit the barrier and drove through the curb so hard it snapped the front suspension of the ferrari, and was unable to contest for q3. during the race he was consistently stuck behind horrible traffic and horrific strategies. last year, michael managed to finish 5th from last, 22 on the grid (+17), this year kimi could only managed 8th from 16th on the grid (+8). the only good thing for him during the weekend was he proved that 'parking' at rascasse isn't necessary a means of cheating.

another red bull dnf
webber has been quiet recently. well, i would shut my trap too if i have been retiring 3 out of 5 races, and to finish no higher than 10th position for the remaining two races. but of course it isn't entirely his fault. the red bulls are designed by adrian newey, and his cars are well known to be insanely unreliable during its initial stages. we'll see if redbull can fix its unreliability and produce a similar result as spanish gp.

good bye schumacher?
it seems that the topic of conversation around the paddock has been the soon-disappearance of the name schumacher from f1. with michael gone last year, it is possible that ralf will lose his seat this year. ralf's contract has yet to be extended, while jarno is set to stay at toyota. worse still, toyota is honest about their hunt for a new driver.


winner of the race
yeah mclaren was clear winner with their one-two (both qualifying and race) and fastest lap, but i'd also like to give credits to fisichella/renault for finishing fourth, speed to finish 9th from 18, and alex wurz for finishing ahead of nico although nico way out-qualified alex.

loser of the race
toyota and honda share the title. i wonder how long are they going to continue embarassing themselves in the world motosports arena. their dismal display can't be good for their names.



previous posts:
wonderful video by shell
lewis crash! boom! bang!
are you ready for monaco?
f1 circuit chief sacked for corruption
kimi raikkonen is rubbish

kimi breaks more cars

[ ferrari, barcelona, felipe massa, formula 1 ]

i tell ya, this kimi is a car breaker. he's a fast driver, but he'll drive the shit out of any car given to him. frankly, i won't be surprise to see more car failure for kimi this season. i think peter sauber had it right: kimi needs to get more technical, in order to understand his car. if kimi's attitude doesn't change, perhaps ferrari should think about grabbing hamilton.

speaking of hamilton, he is leading the championship! for a rookie in only his fourth race, that's just amazing. granted the season is still very long, so i don't think it would stay that way till the end. or could it? we all know that f1 is all about consistency, and for the moment he is having that. plus he is such a calm and mature kid, and most importantly he has a great attitude. future champion, for sure!

the reigning champion, however, was blamed by the media for making a wrong judgement. naturally, alonso blames massa for the incident, but it was pretty clear that alonso gave massa no space, and they had to touch. it was a racing incident, and alonso lost out. he may have won the race if he had given massa more space, as the next corner would have been his. however, it was basically over from then on.

as i've predicted, the win would be easier with the lighter fuel load. massa stormed away after the first corner and never gave lewis or alonso a chance. i got to say, it is looking very good for massa to lift the championship (and progressively bad for kimi). why? he's driving perfectly, he's calm (not even the fire could startled him), and he has the team behind his back. he is probably just a nicer bloke to work with, as compared to kimi.

speaking of predictions:

i'll make some predictions for the race. ferrari one-two, and alonso third. heidfeld continues to get fourth, with hamilton not managing to finish for the first time. one of the renaults (kovalainen perhaps) scraping for top eight, trying to fend off a super aguri. hahahaha... and coulthard will be up there somewhere as well.

- four consecutive poles for ferrari

1. ferrari one-two: half right - ferrari one
2. alonso third: correct!
3. heidfeld fourth: wrong :(
4. hamilton not finish: wrong :(
5. one of the renault fighting for top eight: correct! although wrong driver
6. renault trying to fend off super aguri: correct, simply amazing!!!
7. coulthard up there: correct!

4.5/7, i think i'm getting pretty good at this. especially number 6, i think i can see the future. ;)

winner of the race:
super aguri for getting their first championship points, and other perks that come with it. congratulations to sato for achieving that for the team, and significantly beating the two honda factory cars (incidently, they are 'celebrating' their first top ten finish). i believe the real party will be at the super aguri's camp tonight.

loser of the race:
toyota just can't seem to do well. after trulli put a toyota at sixth, the best qualifying of the season, the car died after the warm up lap. what gives?



previous posts:
four consecutive poles for ferrari
disapproval for singapore gp?
terrible f1 accident
from champions to insignificance
star of bahrain qualifying

missing schumacher and brawn

[ ferrari, sepang, michael schumacher, formula 1 ]

first off, wasn't i right to say the first corner will determine everything? alonso passing massa and hamilton passing both kimi and massa before the first corner sealed the race for mclaren. although the ferrari was a quicker car in the first stint, they were not able to overtake the stunning mclaren.


ferrari must be missing micahel schumacher and ross brawn. the race at sepang fell apart for ferrari, with the uninspiring drive from the drivers and the horrible pitstop strategy. in this race, they seemed to have lost the touch.

let's start with felipe massa, from a hero on pole to fifth place loser after around 10 laps. his drive was amateurish, even behind a rookie with two f1 races under his belt. massa's overtaking maneuvers on hamilton were silly to say the least. he tried it once and failed, but then he decided to try it again at the same spot only to end disastrously. he was ballsy, i got to give him that, but silly. furthermore, he threw away his chance to be the number 1 driver in ferrari.

nothing very exciting from kimi either. i'm sure he tried as hard as he could, but it was truly uninspiring. i wonder if michael could have done more. and after the first pitstop, kimi was miles away from hamilton. i wonder if brawn could have done better. are they really the missing pieces?

furthermore, is this the beginning of the downhill for ferrari? personally, i hope not. sepang hasn't been kind to the scuderia recently, so i'm hoping this is just a one off this season. without ferrari there at the top, this season could well be mclaren's for the taking. within three weeks, mclaren has improved tremendously. they weren't lying when they said they have closed the gap to ferarri. in fact, they have surpassed ferrari. so game on!

overall, the race was alright. the first part was very exciting, with hamilton doing a fantastic job of holding back massa. he didn't crack under pressure, not with massa and also not with kimi. this kid is brilliant! now, i think the lewis-hype can get started. he is full of confidence and determination as well, announcing to the team that he will get a win. he just needs to qualify better, and the wins will be his.

i particularly liked ralf's overtaking maneveur on scott speed. ralf set speed up fabulously by making a few dummy moves, tricking speed to go to ther wrong side and opening up the corner. and with that, ralf coyly swerved in and take the spot. however, a horrendous drive for him as he dropped around 10 places to finish close to the bottom.

just a mention on poor nico, running brilliantly throughout the race but only to have the car breaking down. his teammate, wurz, however, redeemed the race for william with an amazing drive up to ninth, beating webber who qualified among the top ten. maybe it is the airasia sponsorship that helped - "now everyone can fly!" including wiliams.

winner of the race:
i think there are plenty of winners. rubens managed to come from the pit to climb to midfield, passing his teammate who qualified better. wurz, as above. mclaren, for getting their first win and one-two since 2005. so this is a tough one and no clear winner, but i'd like to say williams are definitely winners as they have found their momentum back to the glory days.

loser of the race:
simply massa.


bye for now. see you next year, sepang!



previous posts:
exciting qualifying for sepang
come! and get some airasia kisses
four mirror mclaren explained
traction control axed!
kimi happier at ferrari

melbourne gp... yawn

[ mclaren, melbourne, lewis hamilton, formula 1 ]

the last i blogged was july of 2006, nearly a year ago. i don't remember why i stopped. i guess it just happened.

i have been busy. so yeah i've contemplated about starting again. so much have changed, and so much so foreign. but i'll try.

i won't start with all the pre-season and winter testing crap, and i definitely don't want to talk about the history. so i'm just going to mention a little about the melbourne gp. judging by the title of the post, i'm sure this will be straightforward.

yeah, yawn. i thought it wasn't the most exciting melbourne gp. looking back a year ago, the first race of the season was much more exciting as compared to this year's. the build-up wasn't there, and the melbourne gp just felt like a seat warmer for the upcoming races. and the result, just too predictable.

except for that wild crash involving senior citizen david coulthard and seasoned test driver alex wurz, it was basically a walk in the albert park. david, oh, david.

i got to say, mclaren look stunning. although a little slow-er, they are heading the constructor championship. with great hamilton and alonso in the team, the potential is definitely there. if mclaren were listed in the stock market, i'd suggest a 'strong buy' at the moment for great roi. renault, on the other hand, are utterly disappointing. 'sell', i'd say!

sepang is next, another one of those 'yawn' races. weather is the only unpredictable element that could pump some excitement to the race. if reliability is an issue, then prepare to see a whole bunch of engine failure and/or retirement. we will see if hamilton and kimi's melbourne display was a fluke or not. we will also know if massa is destined for ferrari driver number 2.

as for the melbourne gp:
winner of the race:
lewis hamilton. 1st rookie to be on the podium for the debut since jacque villeneuve. he could have come in second, but i think mclaren needed that alonso advantage (ie. 2 points) at the moment.


loser of the race:
honda 'myearthdream.com' is such a joke. honda is losing out to the super aguri team with the old honda car, that's how shit the car is. get real, and lose that fugly paint job.



previous posts:
damage limitation