Canadian Crash Prix

The 2008 Canadian Grand Prix was an incident filled race.Just 13 out of 20 drivers managed to finish the race.Robert Kubica and BMW won their first Grand Prix.Here's what Robert Kubica managed to do last time he was in Canada-



Last time around,he left the circuit on a stretcher,with broken legs.This time,he managed to leave with a trophy and the taste of Champagne in his mouth.Wondering what happened to Hamilton and Raikkonen?Read on..

This race also raised a question on the rule which says that the pit lane exit is to be closed during the first lap behind the Safety Car.This what Hamilton managed to do in the pits while driving within the pit lane speed limit of 100km/h-



One silly rule ruined the race for 2 top drivers.Hamilton has himself to blame but what about Raikkonen?I feel that this rule is silly and should be scrapped off at least for circuits like Montreal and Magny Cours which don't have wide and long pit lanes.

Sayonara Super Aguri

Super Aguri,the F1 team which made its debut a couple of years ago has left the Formula 1 circuit due to lack of funds.This also means that Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson are now carless and also jobless(doesn't matter). Although they didn't do anything great in these years,Takuma Sato is always a good source of entertainment with his aggressive driving.The team was running on borrowed funds since the end of the 2007 season.

As a result of Super Aguri's withdrawl,there will be just 10 teams and 20 cars on the grid for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

New F1 Regulations 2008

There have been some changes in the regulations this season.This is a brief account of all these changes.

Engine-No change in the regulations related to engine changes.One engine needs to last for 2 races.If an engine is changed before a race,a penalty of 10 places on the starting grid will be awarded.However,the engine can be changed if a driver fails to complete a race due to some engine failure.

Gearbox-The new regulations say that a gearbox has to last for four races.Penalty for a gearbox change is 5 places on the starting grid.However,a gearbox can be changed if a mechanical failure prevents the driver from finishing the race.

No more Traction Control-A Traction Control System basically is something which is designed to prevent loss of traction and the control of a car when excessive throttle or steering is applied.According to the new regulations,every car must have a standard ECU(Engine Control Unit) issued by FIA.This ECU does not have traction control capabilities.This can be a problem for some drivers as they'll have to be extra cautious.

With traction control,drivers can apply full throttle and turn simultaneously without losing traction.Without traction control,they just can't go flat out on turns without losing control of the car.The 2008 season will be a true test of the skills of the drivers though I feel that driving with TC isn't easy either.

Traction control has always been a big topic of discussion.Different people have different views about it.I personally feel that TC should be used and checking if a driver is able to drive like a machine is pointless.

F1 Season 2008

The 2008 F1 season starts tomorrow,15th March 2008.Its needless to say that the first race is the Australian Grand Prix.Qualifying starts at 8:27 am IST.The race starts at 10:00 am IST.This is the last Australian GP morning race.Next season onwards,Australian GP will be held in the evening to make it convenient for Europeans.

This season will have a total of 18 races and will be very exciting.To bridge the gap between the last season and this one,I've decided to give you a list of teams(constructors) along with the drivers.Quite a few drivers have moved so its time to get used to this new list.

1.Ferrari-No changes in the scarlet horse team with the usual drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.I'll be supporting Ferrari throughout the season.Not to forget,they'll have Michael Schumacher behind the pit wall. :-D

2.McLaren-Lewis Hamilton had a great last season and will continue with McLaren.Alonso has moved to Renault after having a bad season as a number 2 driver of the team.This gives Heikki Kovalainen a seat in the silver car.

3.Force India-India finally have a team in the F1 circuit.Vijay Mallya's Force India will be making its debut this weekend.I expect a few championship points from the team and ask my fellow Indians to keep a limit to their expectations.Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella will be the two drivers driving Force India.My prediction is that Force India will get better as the season progresses as they have no lack of funds.

4.Renault-If you ask me what I expect from Renault,I'll say nothing.Even though Fernando Alonso has returned,I don't think Renault will not be good enough.Alonso's teammate will be newcomer Nelson Piquet.

5.Honda-They might improve their performance as they have Ross Brawn as their team boss.Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button will be desperate to perform after a bad season last year.

6.Red Bull-David Coulthard and Mark Webber will be driving for the Red Bull team.

7.Toro Rosso-Two Sebastians will be driving the STR cars namely Sebastian Vettel and newcomer Sebastian Bourdais.

8.Williams-Nico Rosberg will try to perform like his father in the Williams car like last year.He has a new teammate,Kazuki Nakajima.

9.BMW Sauber-Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica seem to be happy with BMW Sauber and with each other.Thus they haven't signed any new contracts.

10.Toyota-Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock will be driving for Toyota this season.

11.Super Aguri-Last in my list and perhaps last in the constructors championship too.This is a perfect description of the Super Aguri team.Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato will continue to drive for Super Aguri.My advice to them-Keep Looking for new contracts.

And The Champ Is.........Kimi

I know it sounds bizarre and a bit difficult to believe but Kimi Raikkonen is the 2007 Formula 1 world champion.He won the Brazilian Grand Prix and got some support from Hamilton and Massa to be the world champion.


The race is extremely interesting and here's how the drivers ended the season in terms of championship points-

1.Kimi Raikkonen-110 points
2.Lewis Hamilton-109 points
3.Fernando Alonso-109 points

It was really close.The situation looked like it was scripted in Raikkonen's favor.Felipe Massa did a great job to hold on to 2nd position.I had mentioned in an earlier post that Hamilton had a terrible start but he did well to finish 6th.The rookie has had a great season and has a great future ahead.

Obviously Ferrari are the constructors champions with 204 points and will the the benefits for the next season.This means that they will be getting their cars numbered as 1 and 2.They also will have the privilege of having their pit garage closest to the entry or the exit of the pitlane.

For now,Kimi Raikkonen is the world champion but there are some matters with the BMW cars which need to be looked into.In case the drivers are disqualified,Lewis Hamilton will be the world champion and it will be really sad for Kimi.

Here are the last lap of the race-



PS-Kimi Raikkonen is now officially the world champion.FIA has rejected McLaren plea against the decision to spare the cars blamed for fuel inconsistency.

Brazilian GP:Lewis Blows Up The Start

Here's a post made a on the Brazilian Grand Prix 2007,few laps into the race.Lewis Hamilton didn't have a great start and ended up at 8th position at the end of first lap.Massa,Raikkonen and Alonso had a perfect start to the race.At the end of the 3rd lap Lewis Hamilton managed to get back 7th position.The start of the race was filled with incidents.Mika Hakkinen was there to witness the race.In the current situation,if the positions don't change,Kimi Raikkonen can easily be the world champion.Lewis Hamilton seemed to have a drive shaft failure on the 8th lap as a result of which Hamilton found himself at 18th position.This has almost ruined the race for Hamilton.But his car was back to normal after some moments on anxiety.Hamilton was having problems with shifting and he was working frantically to shift gears.Now,it may be safe to say that it's going to be either Kimi Raikkonen or Fernando Alonso.

Felipe Massa was light on fuel and had to pit on the 20th lap.He rejoined at 3rd position.Kimi Raikkonen had a pitstop on the 21st and Fernando Alonso on the 22nd lap.
Here are the current track positions-
1.Felipe Massa(1 stop)
2.Kimi Raikkonen(1 stop)
3.Fernando Alonso(1 stop)
13.Lewis Hamilton(1 stop)

I had problems publishing this post as every time I tried to do so,Lewis Hamilton would overtake someone and someone would enter the pits.

Massa Grabs Pole At Home

Felipe Massa just clinched pole position at the Brazilian Grand Prix 2007,the last race of the season.Lewis Hamilton qualified behind him at 2nd position and has to retain his position or simply finish on the podium to win the drivers championship title.But of he finishes third,Alonso mas to finish 2nd or worse.Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso will start on the 2nd row and will attempt to win the race to win the championship.The race is going to be a really interesting one and I'm looking forward to Ferrari victory.

Unfortunately,I will not be the first person to tell you the race results as I won't be able to make a post at night.In fact I have a test at school so I'll make a delayed post for everyone who would hibernate for 12 hours or those who would stay away from their Television sets and Computers for about 12 hours.

F1 POISED FOR EXCELLENT FINALE

After the Japanese and Chinese Grand Prix,the F1 2007 season will have a nail-biting finale at Brazil at the Interlagos circuit on 21st October.Kimi Raikkonen,Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso will be battling out for the Driver's championship.The task for Alonso and Raikkonen is simple.They have to win the race and hope for the rest.

Lewis Hamilton has a simpler job for the Brazilian Grand Prix.He has to finish on the podium to be sure of a championship.Here are the standings-

Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	McLaren	107
Fernando Alonso	Spain	McLaren	103
Kimi Raikkonen	Finland	Ferrari	100
Felipe Massa	Brazil	Ferrari	86
Nick Heidfeld	Germany	BMW Sauber	58
Robert Kubica	Poland	BMW Sauber	35
Heikki Kovalainen	Finland	Renault	30
Giancarlo Fisichella	Italy	Renault	21
Nico Rosberg	Germany	Williams	15
David Coulthard	Great Britain	Red Bull	14
Alexander Wurz	Austria	Williams	13
Mark Webber	Australia	Red Bull	10
Jarno Trulli	Italy	Toyota	7
Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Toro Rosso	6
Jenson Button	Great Britain	Honda	6
Ralf Schumacher	Germany	Toyota	5
Takuma Sato	Japan	Super Aguri	4
Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italy	Toro Rosso	3
Adrian Sutil	Germany	Spyker	1

Here are the one sided constructors championship standings-

Ferrari	186
BMW Sauber	94
Renault	51
Williams	28
Red Bull	24
Toyota	12
Toro Rosso	8
Honda	6
Super Aguri	4
Spyker	1

The Brazilian Grand Prix will be a race to watch out for.

FERRARI DESTROY MCLAREN

Ferrari literally destroyed McLaren by winning the Belgian Grand Prix in style.Kimi Raikkonen lead a Ferrari one-two followed by the two McLarens who were about 18 seconds behind them.In short,Ferrari dominated the weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.Since Spa is a very long circuit,the cars enter the pit lane from the wrong side after the end of the race.Kimi Raikkonen celebrated by spinning his car 540 degrees to enter the pits.Ferrari will celebrate this win as after this win here are the championship standings-

Driver's Championship-

Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain		McLaren		97
Fernando Alonso	Spain		McLaren		95
Kimi Raikkonen	Finland		Ferrari		84
Felipe Massa	Brazil		Ferrari		77
Nick Heidfeld	Germany		BMW Sauber		56
Robert Kubica	Poland		BMW Sauber		33
Heikki Kovalainen	Finland		Renault		22
Giancarlo Fisichella	Italy		Renault		17
Nico Rosberg	Germany		Williams		15
Alexander Wurz	Austria		Williams		13
Mark Webber	Australia		Red Bull		10
David Coulthard	Great Britain		Red Bull		8
Jarno Trulli	Italy		Toyota		7
Ralf Schumacher	Germany		Toyota		5
Takuma Sato	Japan		Super Aguri		4
Jenson Button	Great Britain		Honda		2
Sebastian Vettel	Germany		Toro Rosso		1

Constructors Championship-

Ferrari	161
BMW Sauber	90
Renault	39
Williams	28
Red Bull	18
Toyota	12
Super Aguri	4
Honda	2

As you can see McLaren's points are undecided.They were robbed of all points but they have appealed against it so let's hope for the worst for them.

SPA:FERRARI DOMINATE QUALIFYING

Don't misinterpret the title of the post.This isn't a sponsored post about some spa.I'm talking about Spa-Francorchamps,the circuit where the Belgian Grand Prix is held.For the past week my blog has had a temporary transition into a sports blog.With the increased number of sporting events these days,I had to do this.

Ferrari dominated qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix with Kimi Raikkonen at pole position and Felipe Massa at 2nd position.The McLarens will be on the 2nd row of the grid.

Spa-Francorchamps or Spa in short is the longest F1 circuit.I bet GQ knew this one.The race has just 44 laps.I've raced at Spa in EA Sports F1 2002 and let me tell you that this circuit is difficult to memorize if you are not a professional racer.Basically,it takes a bit longer to get used to it.The length of the circuit also makes qualifying challenging.The drivers have to leave the pits much before they usually do.

I hope Ferrari does well today during the race and grabs a one-two.Ferrari does not have any championship rivals as McLaren have no points.The Drivers championship will be much more interesting.

Perfect Punishment-McLaren Robbed Of Points

FIA is a great organization when it comes to taking decisions regarding punishments.I definitely appreciate the quality of punishments they award.McLaren were robbed of all their championship points when they were found guilty in a spying affair on rivals Ferrari.They deserved this sort of punishment.They were also fined $100 million.They were found guilty of leaking secret Ferrari technical information.

McLaren were still lucky enough to prevent a 2008 ban.They were almost banned for the next season.Bernie Ecclerestone however saved their future.This is what I call a perfect punishment.I don't think that their punishment would be reduced further.

NIGHTMARE WEEKEND FOR THE SCARLET

The Italian Grand Prix,the home race for Ferrari is always an interesting one.Interesting because Ferrari always manage to dominate the race.But the story last weekend was completely different.

On Saturday,Kimi Raikkonen crashed during morning practice.McLaren dominated qualifying with a one-two start.Fernando Alonso started the race at pole position.Ferrari was still hopeful with Massa there.

Sunday was even worse.Alonso managed to win the race followed by Hamilton.Kimi Raikkonen managed a 3rd position while Massa failed to finish the race.I was fortunate enough to miss this disastrous weekend as I was busy doing other work while this was happening though I did manage to watch a few laps.

MASSA CONVERTS POLE LEADING FERRARI 1-2

Felipe Massa has started many races this year at pole position.The story was the same at Istanbul,Turkey on Saturday-25th August 2007.Ferrari dominated qualifying with Massa clinching pole position and Kimi Raikkonen qualifying on row two,just behind Massa at 3rd position.The McLaren cars did pretty well too but my concentration will be on Ferrari for this race as it was a Ferrari dominated one.

The race had a perfect start with Kimi Raikkonen making a good start and overtaking Lewis Hamilton to take second position.The race was dominated by Ferrari for the rest of the race.The Ferrari drivers developed a good gap between them and Lewis Hamilton's Mclaren.

The race had just one retirement as a result of Mark Webber's Mechanical Failure.Lewis Hamilton was looking set for yet another podium finish but a front tyre puncture 14 laps before the finish denied him the 3rd position and he finished 5th.Thus Fernando Alonso finished 3rd and Nick heidfeld finished 4th.

As a result of the Turkish Grand Prix,Ferrari have closed in on McLaren.McLaren now lead the constructor's championship by 11 points.Also is just 5 points behind Hamilton and Massa is not far behind.For a clearer idea of the intensity of competition here are the Driver's championship standings-

Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	McLaren	84
Fernando Alonso	Spain	McLaren	79
Felipe Massa	Brazil	Ferrari	69
Kimi Raikkonen	Finland	Ferrari	68
Nick Heidfeld	Germany	BMW Sauber	47
Robert Kubica	Poland	BMW Sauber	29
Heikki Kovalainen	Finland	Renault	19
Giancarlo Fisichella	Italy	Renault	17
Alexander Wurz	Austria	Williams	13
Nico Rosberg	Germany	Williams	9
Mark Webber	Australia	Red Bull	8
David Coulthard	Great Britain	Red Bull	8
Jarno Trulli	Italy	Toyota	7
Ralf Schumacher	Germany	Toyota	5
Takuma Sato	Japan	Super Aguri	4
Jenson Button	Great Britain	Honda	1
Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Toro Rosso	1

Here are the latest Constructor's Championship Standings-

McLaren	148
Ferrari	137
BMW Sauber	77
Renault	36
Williams	22
Red Bull	16
Toyota	12
Super Aguri	4
Honda	1

F1 2007 SEASON UPDATE

My pal Srinivas demanded this post,so here it is.Today,I'll give an update on the latest F1 drivers championship and Constructors standings.I feel that this post was necessary due to large interval between races.Here are the drivers championship standings-

Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	McLaren	80
Fernando Alonso	Spain	McLaren	73
Kimi Raikkonen	Finland	Ferrari	60
Felipe Massa	Brazil	Ferrari	59
Nick Heidfeld	Germany	BMW Sauber	42
Robert Kubica	Poland	BMW Sauber	28
Giancarlo Fisichella	Italy	Renault	17
Heikki Kovalainen	Finland	Renault	16
Alexander Wurz	Austria	Williams	13
Mark Webber	Australia	Red Bull	8
David Coulthard	Great Britain	Red Bull	8
Nico Rosberg	Germany	Williams	7
Jarno Trulli	Italy	Toyota	7
Ralf Schumacher	Germany	Toyota	5
Takuma Sato	Japan	Super Aguri	4
Jenson Button	Great Britain	Honda	1
Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Toro Rosso	1

Here's an update on the constructor's championship standings-

McLaren	138
Ferrari	119
BMW Sauber	71
Renault	33
Williams	20
Red Bull	16
Toyota	12
Super Aguri	4