Tense environment between Marussia F1 drivers

The latest news from the Hungarian GP paddock suggested that all is not well at the Marussia F1 garage, with drivers Timo Glock and Charles Pic not having the best of times.

The tension increased after an angry reaction from Timo Glock about the Pic's rash driving qualifying. It is also  interesting to note that Glock was out-qualified for the first time this season in Hungary by his team-mate.

Timo Glock alleges Charles Pic to have slowed him down on his qualifying lap, and points out it's no good speaking with Pic about it because he doesn't understand English.

Maybe he doesn’t understand the English over the radio, It’s pointless. This has now happened two or three times, so it’s something the team needs to solve.”

Frenchman Charles Pic finished the Hungarian GP in 20th place, one place ahead of his German team-mate Glock.

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Lewis Hamilton takes victory at Hungary

Lewis Hamilton held back a late charge by Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen to win his 3rd Hungarian GP and his 19th victory of his career. Raikkonen's team-mate Romain Grosjean completed the podium as the driver's championship leader Alonso settled for a lonely 5th place. The Red Bull duo of Vettel and Webber could only manage 4th and 8th respectively.

The F1 circus now goes on a month long mid-season break and will return with the ever so tough and driver's favorite Spa-francorchamps in September.

The title fight is still wide open with Kimi Raikkonen now announcing his intention very firmly indeed. The Lotus team have been working extremely hard on the car and both drivers have had strong results. With things improving as they are, it won't be long until we see a Lotus driver on the top step of the podium.

After the race, Alonso was a bit surprised that he was still leading the championship and urged his fans that it could be a tough final part of the season as his Ferrari seems to be losing pace with respect to the competition.

So, we meet again in September (2nd to be exact) for the Belgian GP 2012. 

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"Alonso among the best drivers in F1 history" - Andrea Stella

Alonso is among the best drivers in F1 history. That is according to his race engineer, Andrea Stella.

Andrea Stella didn't want to do comparisons between each and every successful F1 driver, but he did say this.

I just think that, when Fernando performs at these levels, there are just a few drivers in history who can stand the comparison.

Andrea also praised Alonso's skill when the track was wet and said that he performs his best in almost all types of conditions. Germany was yet another proof that Alonso is right on the top of his game and it's going to be hard for other drivers to stop him now.

Fernando Alonso currently leads the F1 driver's championship comfortably from Red Bull driver Mark Webber. Alonso is now the only driver this season to have won 3 Grand Prixs.

Next up, the F1 circus heads to the twisty circuit of Hungary.

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Raikkonen delighted with podium, but wants a victory

It was a strong run for Kimi Raikkonen in the German GP. He finished on the podium after the FIA stewards declared Sebastian Vettel's overtake on Jenson Button as illegal.

If not for his poor qualifying effort, Raikkonen could have had a strong chance for a race victory and that showed in his comments after the race with the press.

"It's nice to have another podium, but obviously we would rather get it on the track. Having said that I think we did the best we could from the position we started.

Raikkonen with his consistant form in recent races is now 4th in the drivers championship with a total of 98 points. Kimi says it's been half season so far.

"If you had told me in January that we would be fourth halfway through the season, I think I would have been pretty pleased.

But having that, Kimi believes the team can win a race this season and will push hard for the victory in the remaining second half.

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Alonso dominates in Germany, furthers his lead in the championship

Fernando Alonso won his third race of the season in what turned out to be a 'controlled' race for the 2 times world champion. Fending off Sebastian Vettel for the first half of the race, and then successfully tackling Jenson Button in the latter part, Alonso managed to cross the chequered flag with relative ease and finesse.

The fight for second place came down to a battle between Button and Vettel, in which the German apparently overtaking Button on the penultimate lap.

Vettel's overtake was deemed illegal by the FIA stewards after the race, thereby demoting Vettel to 5th place, resulting in Button promoted to 2nd while Kimi Raikkonen taking the final place on the podium.

Meanwhile, the 100'th race for Lewis Hamilton didn't prove enjoyable when he retired with a technical fault before languishing a lap down after hit by a tire puncture at the start of the race. The race was a one to forget to Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa as well, as he was also a victim of a first lap incident, which forced him to pit for a new nose and losing a lot of positions which he never recovered.

The F1 circus now moves towards Hungary next week with Alonso in a dominating position in the championship.

German GP 2012 - Top 10

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Jenson Button
3. Kimi Raikkonen
4. Kamui Kobayashi
5. Sebastian Vettel
6. Sergio Perez
7. Michael Schumacher
8. Mark Webber
9. Nico Hulkenberg
10. Nico Rosberg

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Fernando Alonso on Pole in a wet German GP Qualifying!

Yet again, Fernando Alonso destroyed the competition in a wet qualifying session here in Hockenheim, Germany. This is 2nd consecutive pole position after what was a similarly dominating performance in Silverstone.

Sebastian Vettel managed to grab the 2nd place with Webber claiming the 3rd place which he will have to forfeit to Schumacher because of his gearbox change penalty. Rosberg and Grosjean are the other two drivers who will be demoting down the grid due to penalties.

Here are the top 5 for tommorow's German GP 2012.

1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:40.621
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 01:41.026
3. Mark Webber Red Bull 01:41.496 (Penalty)
4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:42.459
5. Nico Hülkenberg Force India 01:43.501

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New Upgrades for McLaren and Lotus in Germany

It was a rain-soaked first practice session at Hockenheim on Friday at the German GP, and the focus of attention were two teams in particular. McLaren and Lotus.

New sidepods for the McLaren 2012 challenger have brought up the hopes for the team and in the hands of drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, they expect a return back to the sharp end of the grid.

The new sidepods are not the only upgrade for the McLaren car, because they have also brought a brand new rear wing for this race.

The first practice session the McLaren boys leading the pack, but it's still early in the weekend to suggest the changes and their affects on the car.

Hamilton put it like this...

“I just hope these upgrades can get us back on track, We want to be fighting for wins and top points positions again.”

The other news doing the rounds in Germany this weekend is the new and unique 'Super DRS' of the Lotus E20. The team is optimistic about the new upgrade and hopes it will help them challenge for the top positions come qualifying time on Saturday.

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Bruno Senna wins the 'Lorenzo Bandini Trophy'

There is yet another addition to the 'Lorenzo Bandini Trophy' list in addition to Formula 1 drivers like Fernando Alonso, David Coulthard, and Robert Kubica to name a few.

The latest recepient of the prestigious award is current Williams F1 driver Bruno Senna.

Senna collected his trophy by driving through the beautiful Italian towns of Faenza to Brisighella. This famed award was initiated back in 1992 in honor of Ferrari driver who lost his life in the 1967 Monaca GP.

Senna described his emotions by saying that it was an honour for him to receive such a distinguished award.

He also expressed optimism about his future by saying...

“I've seen some of the names who have won this in the past and what they have gone on to achieve in their careers, so let's hope this is just the start of greater things for me too.

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De Villota crash was not because of the car - Marussia

Team Marussia F1 have finished their investigations and have concluded that Maria De Villota's crash was not due to any technical problem with the car but rather suggesting an unfortunate driver error. The 32 years female F1 driver as a result of the crash lost the use of her right eye and is still being treated for her injuries in the hospital.


Here's the full statement from Marussia F1...

"We are satisfied that the findings of our internal investigation exclude the car as a factor in the accident, we have now concluded our investigatory work and can again focus on the priority, which continues to be María’s wellbeing. In that regard, we continue to support María and the de Villota family in any way we can.”

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Sebastian Vettel wants to win the German GP

Sebastian Vettel has the German GP win in his mind as he heads to Hockenheim, Germany for the next F1 race. A two times world champion, Vettel, has never won at this circuit and will be very eager to visit the top spot on the podium. His best finish to date has been second which was back in the 2009 season, when Mark Webber (his teammate) won the race.

Here's what Vettel has to say about the weekend...

"I’m looking forward to the German Grand Prix, hopefully there will be at least as many people supporting the German drivers as there were in Silverstone last weekend. Hockenheim is only half an hour away from my home town, so I have a lot of friends and family there and it’s always a special crowd to race in front of.  I haven’t won the German GP before and of course, I would like to!"

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Formula Renault driver fixes steering wheel. While driving!

It's all about quick decisions and having a calm approach when it comes to the mindset of a race car driver, but this racer takes it to the next level.

During a Formula Renault 2.0 race, Jeroen Slaghekke was faced with a situation where his steering wasn't working properly. Usually, drivers would head over to the pits to let the pit-crew fix the problem.

But he would rather fix the steering wheel himself than to head over to the pits and lose valuable positions on track.

Now that's a racer!

Watch the video below...

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New Contract For Schumacher?

Ross Brawn has dropped a huge hint regarding the future of the 7 times World Champion Michael Schumacher and his contract with Mercedes team...

Ross Brawn when asked about Schumacher's future with the team said that Schumi is enjoying himself in the team and racing beyond 2012 would be a 'logical and sensible' conclusion.

Schumacher's contract ends at the end of this season (2012) and so far Mercedes haven't signed him up for further racing.

But Ross Brawn's recent comments seem to indicate that Schumacher might stay on and continue his racing career with the team.

Here's what Ross had to say...

"We are focused on Michael for as long as it takes and whatever it takes," Then we will see where we are elsewhere. We haven't discussed (about the contract) but he enjoys himself and if he enjoys himself, why not?

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London F1 GP is 'no joke' : Ecclestone

Bernie is admanant that plans for the proposed London GP track are 'no joke' and things are going ahead as planned...

About a month ago, reports in the media started to surface related to a new GP track, right in the heart of London city. F1 cars racing through historic landmarks like the Buckingham palace, and Trafalgar Square was just too much for F1 fans.

But this news has been shunned by many skeptics who are of the opinion that such a track is not 'realistic' and a bit of a 'sham'.

Ecclestone however believes the track will see the light of day and is serious about it.

"We are getting on with it. It is no joke, 100 percent completely no joke," he told The Guardian.

"With the way things are, maybe we would front it and put the money up for it," he said.

"If we got the okay and everything was fine, I think we could do that."

Only time will tell. Meanwhile, here's the proposed layout...

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Ferrari still tight-lipped over Massa's Future

Ferrari remain secretive as to the identity of the second seat for the 2013 season and beyond.

After Mark Webber's confirmation with Red Bull for the 2013 season, Massa would have hoped for a positive response from Ferrari regarding his own future at the team. But that is not the case as Ferrari remain tight-lipped and refuse to make any hasty decisions.

An anonymous source at Ferrari said that no decision has been made over the second seat as the team feels there is still a lot of time to think over the possible choices.

So it seems that Ferrari will leave this as late as possible, maybe even after the 2012 season to confirm the second seat.

According to rumors going around, several drivers are in contention including Massa, Rosberg, Sutil, and Di Resta.

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Prost not happy with his depiction in 'Senna' movie

When the movie 'Senna' was released last year, Prost was questioned about it and his reply was that he hasn't seen it yet but had a CD of it and would watch at a later time.

It seems that the Frenchman Alain Prost has finally watched the movie. His reactions are not very positive about the movie's depiction of his role in particular.

Talking to journalists at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Prost expressed his displeasure at how he was shown as the 'bad guy' of the movie. Here's what he had to say...

Asked if he was happy with his depiction in the film, Prost said: “Absolutely not. No I don’t agree at all.

“I’m really, I would say, upset, in a way. I tell you why in 30 seconds. Because I spent a lot of time shooting for this. I spent many, many hours trying to explain things.

“We had one Ayrton Senna before Formula One, we had the Senna when we were fighting in Formula One and we had the Ayrton Senna when I retired

“And then comes back the human side of the story with two personalities and people would understand much more what happened when we were fighting, why he was fighting like this, and would have understood much more the last three or four months where he was calling me almost once or twice per week asking me questions, asking me to go back to the GPDA, asking questions about Williams, about safety, about personal life – very big secrets that I will never tell anoybody.

“It would have been good to have that, it was all in the rush that I have done. And at the end they wanted to do a commercial thing going to the good and the bad. I don’t care too much about being the bad boy.

“But what I care is look at that. We are here in Goodwood, we have a lot of fans, it’s history of motor racing. I would have loved to have this end of the story.

“At the end of the day all of what you can see is the human side. Otherwise you have no history, you have no tradition and that is really a big shame.”

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Belgian GP is secured until 2015

Good news F1 fans! The famous Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium is now secured and will feature in the Formula 1 calendar until the 2015 season.

The Belgian GP is widely regarded among fans as one of the best racing circuits in the world, and it's existence in the F1 calendar was looking doubful in the past few years. So this confirmation will only come as a pleasant surprise to everyone in the F1 community.

The circuit officials had the following announcement to make...

"We were able to negotiate a contract extension for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons and there will definitely be a race at Spa-Francorchamps."

Eau-rouge, here we come!

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F1 2012 British GP - Post Race Championship Situation

After yet another exciting race, we have Alonso maintaining his lead of the drivers championship, albeit by a smaller margin.

Mark Webber's brilliant race victory at Silverstone has put him closer to the double world champion in the standings and the fight to the world title is on with Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, and Kimi Raikkonen all close behind waiting for their oppurtunity to strike.

This season has shown us that consistency will win it in the end and Alonso is doing exactly that. He lost the battle in Silverstone to ensure that he can win the war.

Next up, we have Hockenheim, and as always, it's going to be epic!

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Fernando Alonso takes pole in a full wet qualifying session

The two times world champion Fernando Alonso has taken pole position in the last moments of what turned out to be an extended yet exciting qualifying session. With over one hour of the session under red flag due to heavy rain, the qualifying session turned out it's surprises with Alonso taking pole, followed by Webber and the seven times world champion, Michael Schumacher.

Top 10 for tommorow's British GP 2012

‎1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:51.746
2 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:51.793 0.047
3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:52.020 0.274
4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:52.199 0.453
5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:53.065 1.319
6 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:53.290 1.544
7 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:53.539 1.793
8 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:53.543 1.797
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:54.382 2.636

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Schumacher hopes to makes the best of the British weather

Michael Schumacher, widely known as one of the best racers in the business when it comes to wet weather situations, is banking on his experience to produce a strong result in Silverstone this weekend.

In the Friday practice sessions, he was finished the 3rd quickest in what was a very wet track.

Fellow F1 drivers have termed the Friday sessions as a waste but Schumacher remains optimistic and said that it wasn't all wasted.

Michael Schumacher is hoping to make the most of the British summer rain after finishing third quickest in Friday's very wet second practice.

Here's what he had to say...

"There are still things to be learned on days like these and the positive about today's rain was that it is also forecast for tomorrow and Sunday," Schumacher said.

"This meant that we were able to use today to prepare for the race, primarily on the wet tyres. We also tried the intermediates briefly but they were no faster in these conditions.

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Maria De Villota's family says thanks to her fans

Maria de Villota's family have offered their thanks to the F1 fan community for their well wishes, support and the respect everyone gave her after the terrible crash during Marussia F1 testing in UK.

The 32 year old driver, crashed her car straight into a parked lorry and freak circumstances resulted in her losing her right eye. The impact was severe enough for her to be transported straight to the hospital where she remains in care. 

The details of the crash are yet to be known but the FIA and concerned parties have assured that a full investigation will be made. 

Maria's family issued a short statement...

“We, the family, are supporting each other here at María’s side and we take great comfort from the remarkable medical care she has been receiving. We remain positive and this is due, in no small part, to the overwhelming expression of love and support for María from every corner of the world.

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Fernando Alonso: Silverstone will better suit to Ferrari's characteristics

After the epic win at Valencia, Fernando Alonso is all charged up and ready to face the Silverstone circuit. And this weekend, he is expecting his Ferrari will be even better suited to the track. In Valencia, his car was struggling, as we saw in qualifying but Alonso still managed to drive superbly and win the race.

Currently leading the championship by a healthy 20 point margin from Red Bull driver Mark Webber, Alonso feels his car will perform better at Silverstone.

"Silverstone should be a little bit better for us, suit our car better," Alonso said in Thursday's press conference. "In the high speed corners our car is performing quite well, so hopefully me and Felipe (Massa) will do good this weekend.

"The weather is also very important here, anything can happen. The forecast is for lots of rain, so we need to be prepared for all. We will try to have a smooth qualifying, be in the right time on the right lap. Hopefully the car performs well in the race."

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Maria De Villota loses the use of her right eye

After the bizarre crash on Tuesday, the hospital staff have confirmed the news that Maria De Villota has the lose the use of her right eye. The Marussia F1 driver was rushed to the hospital after her car was involved in a collision with a loading tray of a lorry.

Details are still very sketchy, but it is being reported that her head received the bulk of impact.

The whole F1 fraternity has been affected by the news of her crash and we would also like to wish her a speedy recover.

Here's the official statement...

“Maria emerged from theatre at Addenbrooke’s Hospital this morning after a lengthy operation to address the serious head and facial injuries she received in the accident at Duxford Airfield yesterday,” Team Principal John Booth says in a statement.

“We are grateful for the medical attention that Maria has been receiving and her family would like to thank the Neurological and Plastics surgical teams. However it is with great sadness that I must report that, due to the injuries she sustained, Maria has lost her right eye.

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