If you did not get a chance to catch round two of the Formula One world championships and you need to know who wins then I am here to help! WARNING: SPOILER ALERT..
Sebastian Vettel took the victory in a damp (sometimes very wet) Malaysia this weekend with his teammate Mark Webber taking second and Lewis Hamilton grabbing third. Last weekend’s winner Kimi Raikkonen struggled in the wet but still managed to stay in the points by taking 7th place.
For highlights check out the video below and for a post race wrap-up with three very familar F1 fans check out the second video below!
Yesterday was the final race of a crazy and unpredictable 2012 Formula One season. We saw 8 different winners in 8 races at the begining of the season as well as tremendous ups and downs at the front and back of the grid. There was controversy, triumph, elation, and anger. When it was all said and done it would come down to one final race in the home country of Ayrton Senna. Sebastian Vettel came into the weekend holding onto the points lead but thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s win at the USGP and Fernando Alonso’s strong finish, the Spaniard was still very much alive for the championship.
The weekend started off with Lewis Hamilton capturing the pole and his teammate Jenson Button coming in P2, locking out the front row. Right behind the two McLarens were the Red Bull’s of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber respectively. In order for Fernando to win the title he needed to finish the race or finish at least 5 positions ahead of Vettel. When the race started the clouds opened up and provided a wet track for the start. As the pack bunched up at turn 1 Vettel spun which opened up a massive ray of light for Fernando.
For a long time it looked like Fernando might just pull through and get the points he needed to get his third world championship. However, staying ahead meant staying out on dry tires on a track that was becoming increasingly damp. Eventually Fernando had to switch to intermediate tires and just when he did the track dried up again. In fact the entire field made several tire changes to try and cope with very indecisive weather. Despite the shoe swapping Fernando managed to make it to second place while Jenson Button was leading the race. Although, Sebastian Vettel was in 7th place, exactly where he needed to be to finish 3 points ahead of Fernando and win the championship.
Just when it looked like Fernando might start pushing for the race win Vettel moved up to 6th place. Then on the final lap an accident brought out the safety car, locking in the positions thus giving Sebastian Vettel his third straight world championship title. Vettel is only the third driver in Formula 1 history to win three titles in a row. The other two are the great Fangio and none other than Michael Schumacher. To achieve such a task at only 25 years old will definitely put Vettel in the history books.
The finish of this race also meant the end of Michael Schumacher’s F1 career as a driver, Lewis Hamilton’s final race with McLaren, and the end of SPEED’s broadcast coverage of F1 in the United States. Times certainly are “a changin’” Let us hope they are changing for the better.
This year the Chinese Grand Prix was many things, except boring! I really hope that if you missed it you manage to find a re-broadcast somewhere because there was so much action, surprises, passing, and fast laps that I could not begin to tell you about it all in words that would make sense! Instead I will just give you the biggest news (warning: spoiler alert). Nico Rosberg stunned the racing world when he captured his first ever grand prix pole position for Mercedes GP during Saturday qualifying! This was the first time in a few years that a car not belonging to McLaren, Scuderia Ferrari, or Red Bull racing earned a pole position. Heavy stuff indeed!
Then, just to prove that his qualifying achievement wasn’t a fluke, Nico won the race from pole! Yes, you read correctly, Nico Rosberg earned his first Formula One victory after 111 starts! Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton captured 2nd and 3rd spots respectively making the Chinese Grand Prix podium an all-Mercedes affair.
For a full post race report check out SPEED for the juicy details.
At 11am GMT (3am for us “yanks”) the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team debuted their new MP4-27 race car to the world press at large. The car looks beautiful and team principal Martin Whitmarsh assured the media that they would not run into another diffuser problem that famously set the team back so significantly at the start of the season last year. Here is hoping that the man is right because I want to see a much better battle for the championship this year. Sebastien Vettel is cool but watching him destroy the grind every race is starting to get boring! Check out more pictures of the new MP4-27 below.
On the heels of their successful launch of F1 2011, Codemasters is on the verge of launching “F1 Online The Game”. F1 online attempts to bring the fun of F1 racing in a “top-down view” browser based free to play online game. Players can manage their own team, run licensed teams, design their own liveries, and more. There are also several types of game modes including grand prix, quick fire challenges, and obviously multi-player racing. If this sounds like your brand of apple juice then head over to F1OnlineTheGame.com to sign up for a shot at the closed beta. The full version of F1 Online should launch sometime in the first three months of 2012. Check out the first official gameplay video below.
On the “wrap up” tour of the 2011 season the F1 circus landed in Korea for the second annual Korean Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing came into the weekend looking to clench the constructors championship to go along with Sebastien Vettel’s drivers championship. Although for a while it looked like Red Bull’s plans would be put on hold as Lewis Hamilton cleared the cobwebs that have been clogging him up all season and put on a stellar performance by capturing pole position during Saturday qualifying. His pole position was the first by a non-Red Bull driver in almost a year and he held off Sebastien Vettel’s hopes of tie-ing the record for most poles by a driver in a single F1 season.
One would think Lewis would be elated at his accomplishment in light of his recent troubles but during the post-qualifying press conference he was strangely stoic. It seemed like he put all emotion aside and was in full race-mode all weekend. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to keep him in front of the pack. When the race started Sunday Sebastien Vettel was able to make a pass on Lewis for the lead in the first lap and from there we know how the story goes.
Although despite fighting understeer and immense pressure from Mark Webber Lewis was able to hang on to second place while Webber finished third. Sebastien’s win and Mark’s podium secured the constructors championship for Red Bull.
Now we have three more races with a full rid of drivers who have nothing to lose. It will be interesting to see how end of the season will play out.
Formula One made its return to Singapore over the weekend and as you might have guessed, for the most part the race was pretty boring in a competition sense. Once again Red Bull Racing dominated the weekend with a 1-2 qualifying effort and Sebastien Vettel capturing his 11th pole position of the season. When the race got started things went back to business as usual with Vettel running away from the pack and pretty much running his own race eventually taking the race win. Behind Vettel, Mark Webber had his hands full with Jenson Button who edged out the Australian to take second place while Webber nabbed third spot.
There was a bit of action towards the mid pack though as Lewis Hamilton stuck his nose into the left rear of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari. Hamilton was then served a drive through penalty for the collision but that was not redemption enough for Massa. After the race it was reported that Massa went to the media pit and shoved Hamilton as he was still furious about the incident. Instead of decking Massa, Hamilton simply walked away. No word yet if Massa will be reprimanded for coming after Lewis but we don’t anticipate any action from the FIA on that.
As it stands now Sebastien Vettel needs only one more point to mathmatically clintch the 2011 Formula 1 championship which is very likely to happen in Japan next month during the Japanese Grand Prix. At this point the other drivers are already in 2012 mode so we think it is safe to say that we should expect another uneventful race in Japan as well but hey at least we get to see a champion crowned right?
The Formula One season is down to just six more rounds after the past weekend’s Italian Grand Prix and the contenders for the championship are starting to seem less hopeful than they did a short while ago. Why? Well once again in dominant fashion Sebastien Vettel and the Red Bull Racing squad took the victory in Monza which brings the young German that much closer to clinching his second straight championship. Jenson Button grabbed second place and Fernando Alonso took third on Ferrari’s home turf. It is very likely that Vettel will mathmatically eliminate all contenders from the title at the next race in Singapore. Guys like Fernando and Lewis Hamilton have pretty much given up on their championship hopes for this year and are now focusing on race wins to try and finish as high as possible in the final standings.
Looks like the rest of the season will be a fight for second place folks! For a full Italian Grand Prix post race report check out SPEED.
In a very wet Hungarian Grand Prix it was McLaren that returned to form as both of their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button attacked the front row when the lights went out. Due to a costly tire choice the Red Bull drivers suffered and fell off pace but not enough to fade into the background. Lewis had the lead for a good chunk of the race but he was unable to make his tires stretch for the distance and his teammate Jenson took over the lead. Button held off Sebastien Vettel and Fernando Alonso who finished second and third respectively to take the win while Button’s teammate managed to hold on to fourth position.
Many are looking at McLaren’s success in the last two races as a sign that they have finally “figured out” the problem of Red Bull, but with Sebastien holding an 88 points lead over Lewis Hamilton is it too little too late? I guess we just have to keep watching to find out. For a full post-race report check out SPEED.
The weekend was another big one for motorsports fans. Indy Car was doing twin 275 mile races in Texas, Prototypes were in the middle of a 24 hour battle in LeMans, and F1 was attempting to put on a show for racing fans in Canada. I say “attempt” because about 20 laps into the 70 lap race the skies opened up and began dumping gallons of water on the fans, the drivers and the track. The rain got so bad that the race had to be red flagged (stopped) for about an hour and a half as they waited for mother nature to finish her emo-fit. However, before the red flag there was already a bit of action on track, the biggest was when Jenson Button accidentally took out his own teammate Lewis Hamilton as Lewis attempted to make what was either a brave or fool-hearty move on Jenson down the straight. Jenson moved on Lewis and busted his left rear wheel effectively ending his weekend. So that was one car down before the rain even started!
Once the rain let up later on the race resumed and suddenly all the mid-packers were injected with “go fast” juice as Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, and Felipe Massa all began to put pressure on Sebastien Vettel who was up front (of course) and put pressure on each other as they fought to get to the front. No one was sure how the weather was going to play out once the rain let up so each team were taking gambles on what tires to use. Should they stay with intermediates? Go to full slick? Stay on wet tires in case the rain came back? It was a regular tire shuffle as the teams tried to anticipate what mother nature would do next. Most teams switched to intermediates while some took a gamble on slicks as a dry line started to form on the track. Button and his team were among those who decided to stay on intermediates which paid off in spades for the British driver as he made it from mid pack to the front putting pressure on Sebastien Vettel for the lead. On the last lap Vettel finally succumbed to Button”s onslaught and made a mistake in a braking zone allowing Jenson to pass him half way through the last lap and move on to take the win. Vettel recovered and was able to hold onto second place thus protecting his points lead and his teammate Mark Webber got past Michael Schumacher for the third spot on the Podium.
This is only the second race that Sebastien Vettel didn’t win all season so despite being taken down by Jenson Button the young German is not sweating it too much but it was certainly exciting for fans to finally see someone else have at it for a change!
Will we see another driver step up and take it to Sebastien? We have to wait about 10 days to find out when F1 heads to Valencia Spain for the European Grand Prix on the 23rd. Stay tuned!
For a full Canadian GP post race report check out SPEED.