Marussia Virgin Racing Launch Their 2011 Car

Marussia Virgin Racing have launched their car to take on the 2011 world championship in a lavish London ceremony. The Marussia name now preceeds Virgin following a major tie up with the Russian sportscar manufacturer and the team at the end of 2010.  It has led to the new car being designated as the MVR-02. [...]

Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/marussia-virgin-racing-launch-their-2011-car/

Chuck Arnold Rene Arnoux Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown

Red Bull under the spotlight


Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel celebrate with Red Bull boss Christian Horner on the podium © Getty Images
Sections of the international media have questioned Red Bull's strategic approach to the world championship. After Sebastian Vettel won the Brazilian Grand Prix from the team's points leader Mark Webber at Interlagos, Der Spiegel noted: "Red Bull gives (Fernando) Alonso wings". Not switching the places means that Spaniard Alonso can take his Ferrari to just second place this weekend in Abu Dhabi and be champion, whereas the alternative strategy would have set up Webber for a straight fight. "It is not easy for Webber to drive in a team that considers him a burden to be up against Vettel," said La Gazzetta dello Sport. Tuttosport noted that it seems "the Austrian team would be happier to lose than to see Webber beat Vettel". "No team orders at Red Bull. Another own goal," headlined La Repubblica. Joan Villadelprat wrote in his El Pais column: "Had Red Bull opted for Webber a few races ago, the Australian would probably now be champion." Red Bull, however, is unrepentant. Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper that "second under proper conditions can often be more valuable than a first". But there is a feeling that the team is not simply giving up the fight for the drivers' title. One columnist in Brazil's Globo wondered if Vettel's radio message in Abu Dhabi might sound something like 'So ... Mark is faster than you'. "I'm always in favour of leaving the fight on the track with equal chances for both sides," said Rubens Barrichello. "But I wonder if they would do that if the situation was in reverse. “Mark has done a great job this year and he has been told by his team what position he is in," said Lewis Hamilton. "Against adversity he has kept at it. I want to see Mark win." Webber believes that, if a strategy is deployed, it will only be on the "last lap" of the season this weekend. "Sebastian is part of a team," said Niki Lauda, who believes Webber should be backed fully by Red Bull. "If he does anything it should be helping Webber and not just on the last lap." Webber is quoted by Bild newspaper: "It makes sense. Otherwise it would mean that Ferrari's team orders would have paid off for Fernando." Red Bull team boss Christian Horner hints that sense will ultimately prevail. "We have already given too many presents to Fernando this year," he is quoted by Autosprint.

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/red_bull_under_the_spotlight.php

Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes Martin Brundle Gianmaria Bruni Jimmy Bryan

All good for revitalised Webber

"All good, mate," is probably Mark Webber's favourite phrase. It's a fair bit more loaded with meaning than it sounds, and it sums up the way he will be feeling after the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Australian's second win in three years in Formula 1's most prestigious race, and his first of the season, had been coming for a while and it confirms Webber's return to form after a difficult 2011.

It will have been particularly sweet as it came at another race in which he has had an edge on team-mate Sebastian Vettel, whose romp to the world title last year was probably harder on Webber than anyone.

When a driver takes 11 wins and 15 pole positions in 19 races, as Vettel did last year, most of his rivals can console themselves with the thought that he has a better car than they do. Not so his team-mate, who suffered through 2011 with dignity and largely in silence.

Mark Webber

Mark Webber (right) is congratulated by Prince Albert II (left) of Monaco after winning the Monaco Grand Prix. Photo: Getty 

This season, though, has seen a Webber more like the one who led the championship for much of 2010 before falling at the final hurdle.

There was virtually nothing to choose between the two Red Bull drivers for most of that season - and this year Webber is back to that position.

Although it has taken until Monaco for Webber to draw level with Vettel on points, the qualifying score is four-two in Webber's favour.

It would almost certainly have been five-one had Red Bull not erroneously decided not to send him out for a second run in the second session of qualifying in Spain two weeks ago, thinking he had done enough to make it through to the top-10 shoot-out.

Out-qualifying Vettel so comprehensively again in Monaco, on a track where all the drivers admit the man in the cockpit can make that bit more of a difference than on more mundane tracks, will have been particularly sweet.

The two Red Bull drivers have been more evenly matched in races this year, but while it took until his Monaco victory for Webber to draw level with Vettel in the championship, that is not necessarily an accurate reflection of their relative pace.

Webber scored four consecutive fourth places in the first four races as Vettel took a win, a second and a fifth. But only in Bahrain was Vettel demonstrably faster - and Webber would almost certainly have taken the second place his team-mate did in Australia had it not been for a pit-stop delay.

A win in Monaco, to become the sixth different driver to win in the first six races of the year confirms - as if confirmation were needed - that Webber is a major contender for the championship again this year.

He admitted after the race in Monaco that "last year was a little bit of a mystery; the gap was sometimes really, really extreme". One imagines Vettel feels very much the same about this season.

Monaco was another example. There was Webber on the front row while Vettel was back in 10th having used up all his 'super-soft' tyres just getting into the top-10 shoot-out - exactly as had happened in Spain.

Red Bull have been struggling comparatively in qualifying all year, but their race pace has been strong almost everywhere. So it was again in Monaco, where Vettel, on a different strategy, suddenly became a factor for victory mid-way through the race.

"That wasn't in the plan," Webber joked afterwards, admitting he had been a little nervous about his team-mate's progress. Eventually, though, the tyres on Vettel's car cried enough - and he had to settle for fourth.

Team boss Christian Horner could not explain after the race how Vettel was so competitive in the race in the same car in which he had struggled in qualifying. But the answer will almost certainly lie somewhere in the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres, the secrets of which are proving elusive to the teams so far this season.

It says something for Red Bull's professionalism and competence as a team that although aspects of their car's performance are flummoxing even a man as brilliant as their designer Adrian Newey, they find both drivers tied on points just three off the championship lead.

Equally, it speaks volumes for the quality of Fernando Alonso's driving so far this year that he is the man they are chasing, despite being in a car that has not yet been fast enough to set a pole position.

The Spaniard was in impressive form again in Monaco. From fifth on the grid, he made another great start and ran fourth to the first pit stops, when he jumped Lewis Hamilton's McLaren thanks to a stunning in-lap, on which he set the fastest times of the race until that point on both the first sectors.

Alonso and Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali both admitted afterwards that he could potentially even have got ahead of second-placed Nico Rosberg and perhaps Webber, too, had he stayed out a little longer. But, as they said, you only know this in hindsight.

Still, third place was enough to vault him past Vettel into a clear championship lead. No wonder Horner said after the race: "Fernando has driven very well. He's going to be a key factor all the way through this championship for sure."

He wisely added that it would be wrong to rule out McLaren, despite another lacklustre performance in Monaco, and the same should also be said of Mercedes.

Mercedes bounced back with a bang in Monaco after a dip in form in Bahrain and Spain following Rosberg's dominant win in China last month.

And after a difficult start to the season, it was Michael Schumacher who stuck the car on pole, which he lost as a result of the five-place grid penalty he earned for running into the back of Williams's Bruno Senna in Spain.

Schumacher was unlucky in the race, tagged by Lotus's Romain Grosjean at the start, and then retiring with a fuel pressure problem after running seventh for a while.

It will take a few more performances like that to convince everyone that the veteran German can be a consistent force at the front, and he is almost certainly too far behind to be a factor in the championship battle.

But his presence at the front, should it continue, will add an intriguing dimension to an already fascinating season.

"All good," as Webber would doubtless say.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/05/andrew_benson.html

Richard Attwood Manny Ayulo Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey

Stefano Domenicali: “The only thing is to keep pushing”

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says that valuable points went astray in Canada, and admits in hindsight the team made mistakes, especially by not pitting in response to Sebastian Vettel’s second stop. However he insists that it was a positive weekend … Continue reading

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/06/11/stefano-domenicali-the-only-thing-is-to-keep-pushing/

Geoff Crossley Chuck Daigh Yannick Dalmas Derek Daly Christian Danner

Happy Fathersday! Show me your El Camino's

Its a car, its a truck, it can be a muscle car, it can be a trash hauler, it can move furniture. Its the perfect vehicle for any dad.  So show em if you got em. Heres one of the three W.I.P.s I have on the bench right now. A 79 El Camino. The plans for this one are as follows. Replace the 6 banger with a VGC Resins 572 Big Block Chevy, a custom cowl because I hate the ugly offset hood buldge that it comes with. Add frame rail cross members, remove the molded in exhaust and add a custom dual exhaust. And maybe a couple of other goodies.     

Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1021045.aspx

Birabongse Bhanubandh Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco Hans Binder Clemente Biondetti

Perez revels in success

Fernando Alonso raced home to clinch first place in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, but you might argue that for all his joy at winning, there might have been someone just slightly happier at Sepang that day. Step forward Sergio Perez. The Mexican might not be a household name just yet but, aged 22, [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/-_7itVK0ToQ/perez-revels-in-success

Alberto Colombo Erik Comas Franco Comotti George Connor George Constantine

Fresh questions over struggling Schumacher

Michael Schumacher's collision with Williams driver Bruno Senna in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix has once again focused awkward attention on the German legend's lacklustre performances for Mercedes.

A senior member of the Mercedes team used the word "mediocre" last weekend when discussing the 43-year-old's driving, and that was before Schumacher clumsily ran into the back of Senna's car in the race.

It was the sort of error you might expect from a beginner, not a man with 91 grand prix victories and seven world titles under his belt.

Coming at Senna from a long way back, Schumacher seemed simply to misjudge the closing speed of the two cars and, caught in two minds about which direction to go, he ran into the back of the Williams.

Schumacher called Senna an "idiot" on the radio as he sat in the gravel trap in the immediate aftermath, and, even after watching replays, he still seemed convinced it was his rival's fault. The stewards disagreed and gave him a five-place grid penalty for the next race in Monaco.

Schumacher's reaction will have surprised no-one in F1 - he has always seemed to lack the ability to accept he can ever be wrong.

In an aspiring young driver, this is a characteristic one might expect. But age is supposed to bring wisdom and, in this aspect at least, it appears not to be the case with Schumacher.

With the passing years comes an inevitable waning of physical abilities, and it is surely now beyond dispute that this has come even to him.

Michael Schumacher collides with Bruno Senna during the Spanish Grand Prix. Photo: Reuters

How long can he go on raging against the dying of the light? More to the point, perhaps, how long can Mercedes accept it?

There is no shame in Schumacher not being the driver he was - one can argue there is honour in him being able to achieve even what he has as he heads into the middle of his fifth decade.

The facts, though, are that he is now no more than a decent F1 driver - and some may argue not even that.

Statistically, this is the worst start to a season in Schumacher's career. But statistics can be misleading - Schumacher actually started the season well. He was the stronger of the two Mercedes drivers in the first two races.

But then came China and Nico Rosberg's qualifying lap, half a second quicker than his team-mate, who was second on the grid.

The gap was explained almost entirely by a stunning middle sector of the lap from Rosberg, which Schumacher, I'm told, justified to himself by Rosberg managing to turn his tyres on better.

That may well have been the reason, but the gap was there nonetheless. As it was again in the race, when that excuse was less justifiable. Schumacher was simply outclassed by his team-mate.

They have been more evenly matched since, but still Schumacher is almost certainly getting no more from the car than a number of other drivers could manage.

The contrast, with what Fernando Alonso is doing in the Ferrari - which is not dissimilar to the sort of thing Schumacher used to achieve in his early years with the team - is stark.

The tragedy of Schumacher's current situation is that it is leading some people to question his earlier achievements of seven world titles; two with Benetton and five with Ferrari between 1994 and 2004.

His criticisms of the Pirelli tyres after Bahrain drew uncomfortable parallels with the bespoke tyres from Bridgestone which Schumacher enjoyed for much of his Ferrari career, a subject that was largely unexplored during his pomp.

Some are beginning to wonder if seven titles really was such an amazing achievement, given the advantages he had at his disposal?

This would be wrong, though. There is no doubt that the Schumacher of the 1990s and early 2000s was an outstanding racing driver, one of the greatest there has ever been.
But that Schumacher belongs to the past.

The current one is out of contract at the end of this season. This, in fact, was the context in which the "mediocre" remark came up.

So what reasons do Mercedes have to keep him on, rather than try for someone else?
Lewis Hamilton, also looking for a new deal in 2013, may well not be available, or interested. Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button are committed to their current teams. Those left are all unproven.

Schumacher may continue to embarrass himself in wheel-to-wheel racing occasionally, but he's close to Rosberg's pace these days - and Mercedes' top management rate their younger driver very highly indeed.

The other reason is less palatable for those who like to consider F1 as the arena in which the very best drivers in the world do battle. It's commercial.

Schumacher's marketing value to Mercedes is huge. After Rosberg's victory in China, vice-president of Mercedes motorsport Norbert Haug delighted in how "fantastic" Schumacher had been in front of 800 guests at the launch of a new road car model in Shanghai the previous night. It had been, Haug said, "the perfect weekend".

Schumacher may no longer be one of the best F1 drivers, but around the world he remains arguably the most famous - and therefore the most valuable to Mercedes off the track. And in Germany, Mercedes' home, he is largely untouchable, voted recently the greatest national sportsman in history.

Ultimately, though, Mercedes are in F1 to win - and it is no secret that, after two disappointing seasons, the pressure on the team at the start of this season was enormous.

It will have been alleviated somewhat by their win in China, but the team have faded after a promising start and currently look no better than they did through much of last year.

In a season as topsy-turvy as this, that could easily change - and, who knows, if everything comes together perhaps Schumacher can win again. After all, who before the weekend would have predicted Pastor Maldonado's victory in Spain?

But, all things being equal, that looks unlikely. For a team with an average car who need to win, is a "mediocre" driver, however famous, good enough?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/05/fresh_questions_over_mediocre.html

Colin Chapman Dave Charlton Pedro Matos Chaves Bill Cheesbourg Eddie Cheever