Formula 1
Michael Schumacher aims to collect 8th title
Michael Schumacher has revealed that he intends to bag his 8th Driver’s Championship title although it looks like he has better chance of achieving that in 2011 or 2012, which is also when his contract with Mercedes GP Petronas expires unless it gets extended. Mathematically he can still win this year’s championship, but it doesn’t look good at all.
The German who collected two titles with Benetton and the remaining five with Ferrari said, “When I came back the aim was to win another title. That’s what I’m here for, very clearly; I know the final target and where I want to go and I’m confident that I can achieve it.”
“I’m not perfectly happy with my own performance,” he added. “There is an expectation out there which is impossible to meet but I’m not a magician – I just need time and I will take my time,” said Shuey while hinting about his and his car’s lack-of-performance this season.
He also recently said that he will have to raise his game as his younger team mate Nico Rosberg has visited the podium twice this year and thus far scored 90 points in contrast to Shuey’s 36. Schumacher, along with up to six German drivers are currently in Hockenheim for the 2010 German GP.
Jacques Villeneuve confirms tie-up with Durango
1997 Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has come out to the open to confirm his partnership with F1 hopeful Durango.
The French-Canadian revealed that his upcoming team will be a joint venture with Durango and that the team will be based out of Italy. He also went on to say that money will come from corporate sponsorship instead of from personal pockets.
Villeneuve has been gunning for an F1 comeback and he nearly achieved it with Stefan GP, but the team was not given the green light for an entry into the 2010 championship despite USF1′s withdrawal. With Stefan GP, Villeneuve was supposed to sit in the driver’s cockpit.
WIth Durango, he will most probably be involved at a managerial capacity although we shouldn’t rule out the possibility that he will follow the footsteps of former championship rival Michael Schumacher in making a drive return. The Villeneuve-Durango tie-up is joined by other hopefuls including Epsilon Euskadi from Spain, Cypher Group from the US and Serbian’s Stefan GP, which has announced that it is applying for the spot with Cosworth engines.
Lotus Racing to arrive in Canada with aero update
Lotus Racing which has been spending a lot time at the back end of the Formula 1 grid has announced that it will arrive in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix with an aerodynamic update.
The aero update is mostly made up by a low downforce package that will help improve aerodynamic grip at the Circuit de Villeneuve race track. The team’s technical director Mike Gascoyne also said that the track will be hard on brakes although the team has not been facing problems in this area. It is however having major problems with its hydraulic system which has been the culprit for most of the team’s retirements.
“Canada’s a race we all look forward to. It’s a great city and a great race and we’re all glad to be going back to Montreal. It’s a temporary circuit where you often see quite a few people hit the wall, bringing out the safety car more than it’s usually seen. It’s one of those races where it’s possible to pick up points, and we’ve got to put ourselves in a position to do that,” he said.
“We’ve got two very experienced drivers in the car which will help us be there at the finish and that’s the primary goal. It’s going to be hard on brakes, but we’ve had no problems in that area. We’re also bringing a few more new parts, including a low downforce package specifically for Canada, so overall we want to build on the performances we’ve been putting in, aim for bullet-proof reliability, and have two cars see the flag,” the ‘Rottweiler’ said.
Red Bull’s “driver-crashgate” scandal: Who was at fault?
The 2010 Turkish Grand Prix left the Formula 1 fraternity with something to talk about at least for the next couple of weeks. On Lap 41 of the 58-lap race, both Red Bull drivers who were leading the race crashed into each other and handed a precious 1-2 victory to McLaren instead.
Sebastian Vettel was trying to overtake Mark Webber while approaching Turn 12 but that ended in a disaster when the right rear wheel on Vettel’s car accidentally touched Webber’s left front, pushing both out of the track. Vettel retired right away with major damage and Webber was lucky enough to continue racing. He had to change his front wing and went on to finish the race in third place, behind his closest rivals. This event reminds us of the 1999 crash between Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard at the Austrian Grand Prix.
If Webber and Vettel finished in first and second, the outcome would have definitely been different. Instead of extending his lead in the Driver’s Championship, Webber is still leading but just a 5-point lead. Red Bull lost the lead in the Constructor’s battle to McLaren. Its behind by a single point.
There have been mixed feelings about who is to blame for the incident. Some including yours truly and even BBC Formula 1 commentator Martin Brundle consider Vettel as the cause of the accident. He was trying to overtake Webber and he turned right and took both himself and Webber out. He could have backed out. Others including the team are saying that it was Webber’s fault and that he shouldn’t have pushed Vettel to the dusty part of the track. Brundle even believes that Red Bull is favoring Vettel.
“They (the team) clearly disagreed (with Brundle blaming Vettel) and said that Webber should never have been squeezing his team-mate onto the dirty part of the race track when, as a team, they needed to be defending against the ever-present McLarens; there’s some substance to that argument but the bottom line is that Vettel turning right into the side of Webber’s car was not the right answer – he so nearly wiped him out for a second time in the run-off area at the hairpin, too,” he said.
Red Bull advisor and former F1 driver Helmut Marko insisted that the team is treating its drivers equally despite putting blame on Webber. “Sebastian was already ahead, at least two metres ahead, and there was a left-handed corner coming up, so he had to go for the line; but you can’t brake on the dirty side because, for sure now, he knows what can happen, the whole situation was unnecessary. We will talk with everybody quite clearly to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” said the Austrian. He also said that Vettel had no choice but to overtake Webber otherwise he would have been overtaken by Hamilton who wasn’t far behind.
It was also said that Webber was running on fuel save mode at the time while Vettel had at least one more lap before he went into that same mode. It gave Vettel a good opportunity to overtake. “I think Mark put Sebastian on the dirty side, gave him just enough room and Sebastian came across obviously quite aggressively – but he was quite a long way down the side.” team boss Christian Horner told Autosport.
“So, it was very, very frustrating. We saw the McLarens racing each other and giving themselves a bit more room, we’ve seen drivers racing each other previously in Malaysia – which springs to mind as a recent race and they are usually very, very good at giving each other room. Today, for whatever reason, that didn’t happen,” he added.
So who do you think should carry the blame and do you think there is tension between the two drivers? Red Bull is currently in a league of its own and the only team that can challenge Red Bull is itself. Starting with last year Vettel was showing Webber the way but this year it looks like Webber is the one who has the upper hand. This change of ‘position’ could have sparked the tension. However this is only mere speculation at this point. Will we see both Webber and Vettel as partners next season or will one of them leave the team? Time will definitely tell.
McLaren collects 1-2 victory after Red Bulls crash into each other
The Turkish Grand Prix was definitely a good race for the McLaren team but the same can’t be said for Red Bull, which started the race with Mark Webber on pole position. The 58-lap race started off without much drama except when Vettel who started in third place momentarily took over second place from Hamilton, before the Brit took it back a couple of corners later. Mercedes’ Schumacher also made good progress to fourth place but that position was later taken back by Jenson Button. After a couple of laps Webber was leading from Hamilton followed by Vettel and Button.
The race was turning into a two horse race between Red Bull and McLaren and all four drivers were running very close to each other. At times Hamilton was able to get a little too close to Webber but the Aussie managed to keep him at bay. Many laps later after the top runners made their respective pitstops, Vettel managed to jump to second. This meant that Webber and Vettel were running in first and second closely followed by the McLaren duo of Hamilton and Button.
Sebastian Vettel’s damaged Red Bull being towed away.
As more laps were clocked the Red Bulls were looking good for a yet another 1-2 victory that will result in Webber’s increasing his lead in the Driver’s Championship and further strengthening the teams No. 1 position in constructor’s battle. Unfortunately disaster struck on Lap 41 as both Webber and Vettel came into contact while the latter was trying to overtake Webber into Turn 12. On screen, it looked as though Vettel’s car touched the other Red Bull causing both of them go off track.
Vettel turned out as the biggest loser after sustaining major damage which pretty much stopped his race. Webber on the other hand managed to keep on racing but had to pit for a new front wing. He dropped to third while Hamilton and Button were granted first and second. Fans were also entertained with another tussle, this time between the McLaren drivers. Button tried to overtake Hamilton and succeeded but Hamilton managed to snatch the lead back. It was well executed in contrast to what the Red Bull drivers did.
The race ended with McLaren’s 1-2 victory while Webber settled for third. Michael Schumacher finished fourth for Mercedes while his team mate finished in fifth. Renault’s Robert Kubica, both the Ferraris, Force India’s Adrian Sutil and lastly Kamui Kobayashi from Sauber made up the rest of the top ten. Further down the field four drivers failed to finish the race. Both Lotus cars suffered from hydraulic problems while Vettel had to stop due to this crash. Hispania’s Bruno Senna failed to finish thanks to a fuel pressure problem. His team mate Karun Chandhok had fuel pump problems but was classified as a race finisher.
The race was pretty much an exciting one especially with the unexpected coming together between the Red Bulls and some entertaining overtaking moves. The Red Bull crash has already become the talk of town while the Formula 1 fraternity heads to North America for the Canadian Grand Prix on June 13th.
You can view the full race results here.
Webber on the roll! Secures third consecutive pole in Turkey
Looks like Mark Webber is on a charge especially in the past few weeks. The Australian Red Bull driver scored his third consecutive pole position following yesterday’s qualifying session for today’s Turkish Grand Prix. Webber managed to fend off 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton from McLaren who along with his team mate Button, was challenging the Red Bulls.
Sebastian Vettel in the other Red Bull managed third place. The German could have had a higher starting position as he made a mistake on his final run. Button secured fourth place making it a Red Bull-McLaren top four.
Michael Schumacher of Mercedes will start today’s race from fifth place ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg. Just like Vettel, Schumacher could have posted a quicker lap time but he ran wide on his final run and parked his car on the gravel trap.
The final four top ten positions were taken up by Renault’s Robert Kubica, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and finally Kamui Kobayashi from Sauber. Double world champion Fernando Alonso failed to make it into the top ten and had to settle for 12th place. He made a mistake on his penultimate lap which probably affected his final run. The Spaniard later said that the mistake did not cost him an entry into Q3.
Just like all the previous races this year, Lotus Racing, Virgin and Hispania made up the final grid positions. It looks like the Red Bulls will have an exciting tussle with the McLarens later today. The full qualifying result can be viewed here.
US’ Cypher Group secures “significant global partner”
Cypher Group, the latest American company that has revealed intentions of placing a team in the Formula 1 grid has said the it has secured a “significant global partner” to help it achieve its Formula 1-related plans. Cypher Group recently announced its intentions and said that it wishes to set up its headquarters in North Carolina.
However after the announcement of the Austin-bound US Grand Prix Cypher has changed its mind and now plans to set up base in Texas itself, which is a valid move. The group is made up by a number of engineers who were previously attached with US F1, the team that failed to make it the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Cypher Group believes the securing of a US Grand Prix strengthens and highlights the need for a home team. Thus we are currently in contact with a world-renowned F1 manufacturer who, like Cypher Group, realises the potential of a US-based team,” a Cypher spokesperson told GPUpdate.net.
“As we continue to move forward, Cypher Group has secured a significant global partner which, at this time, wishes to remain anonymous. With such a short time frame, it is a great challenge that lies before us; however we believe that, with the support of our partners and America, the possibility of an American Formula 1 team racing on home soil can become a reality,” he or she said.
Three quarters of hospitality area tickets have been snapped up for Singapore GP
We have about four months to go before the Marina Bay street circuit plays host to yet another exciting round of the Singapore Grand Prix and race organizers have revealed that up to three quarters (67%) of the available tickets for hospitality areas have been purchased.
Capacity has also been increased from 10,000 to 10,500. This healthy sales performance could well be due to the return of 7-times World Champion Michael Schumacher with the Mercedes GP team. The 2010 Formula 1 grid is also made up by more teams. As always this year’s event which falls on September 26th should be a spectacle!
