racecitysynthetics.com » Formula 1

Aggressive driving not just about overtaking

Mason — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:13:03 +0000

Lewis Hamilton was still making positive noises about his car and world championship chances, despite seeing a second-place finish in Spain disappear with a burst tyre. In the same race, Sebastien Vettel saw the reliability issues that have dogged his season so far reappear with a break problem that meant he had to nurse his car through the final 12 laps.

These issues have made me think whether these problems were purely down to engineering issues, or whether the type of driver could result in more reliability issues. Being an aggressive driver does not just mean making daring overtaking manoeuvres, but simply driving in an aggressive way and causing much more wear and tear on tyres, breaks and suspension. Could this mean that a velvety smooth driver like Jenson Button will always suffer fewer set-backs than Hamilton and Vettel?

FIA leaves teams in suspension

Mason — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 10:43:14 +0000

Following a complaint from McLaren against Red Bull, the FIA has moved quickly to clearly state the rules regarding ride height within F1. McLaren accused Red Bull of having a device that adjusted the ride height of the car between qualifying and the race proper. If this was true, then cars that qualified with a light fuel load would have a great advantage as they could adjust the suspension so that the car still has sufficient ground clearance when fully loaded with fuel.

With Red Bull strictly denying any such device, the FIA stated: “Any system, device or procedure, the purpose and/or the effect of which is to change the set up of the suspension whilst the car is under parc ferme conditions, will be deemed to contravene Article 34.5 of the F1 Sporting Regulations.” This means that if the accusation is true, Red Bull could find themselves in hot water….

Vettel wins in Malaysia

Mason — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:43:11 +0000

Red Bull put their reliability worries to one side as they came home with a one-two in the recent Malaysia Grand Prix. Technical issues in the previous two races put paid to their hopes of victory, but this time everything went right. Sebastien Vettel had an outstanding start to the race, overtaking team-mate Mark Webber (who started on pole), and held on throughout the race to take the win.

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg finished in third, whilst British drivers Hamilton and Button came home in sixth and eighth. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso’s 7th place finish ensured that he leads the championship.

However, following a worryingly tedious first race of the season, the championship is starting to look very interesting indeed with the top seven drivers separated by only nine points!

Final Tests in Barcelona

Mason — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:00:58 +0000

The final group test ahead of the new season takes place at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya between February 25-28.

This will be the last time the drivers will have to put the power to the metal ahead of the opening race in Bahrain the following month.

So far in the tests the Red Bull, Renault and McLaren have all showed their speeds and impressive speeds on low fuel loads however many are keeping their eyes open for Ferrari who have yet to show all their cards only showing speed through the long stints many are interested know what power the Ferrari really has.

Virgin Racing

Mason — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:42:14 +0000

Another new team to F1 backed by Sir Richard Branson’s named Virgin Racing Formula 1 team has become the first of the new entrants to unveil its car named the VR-01.

The new drivers for the Season Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi are relishing the opportunity of racing for such a small team in F1 as this is going to be a new and exciting year for Virgin racing and hope to build the team in to a success.

The new car has been driven by the drivers for over two months now on the simulators now to get the feel and had its first run out on Silverstone earlier this month.

Countdown to Bahrain March 14 2010

Mason — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:02:31 +0000

With the F1 Season fast approaching with the first race getting under way on 14th March in Bahrain not only are the drivers going to be glad to be back in action but the fans and supporters and fans are too.

This Season has that feeling that it is going to be very exciting with new teams joining the campaign such as Lotus and driver changing teams the rivalry between them all should make for some good racing and action.

The opening race in Bahrain will see millions tuning in to see the start of what is going to be a great season.

First Russian to join F1

Mason — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:27:20 +0000

When you think of Russia and the amount of money in the country and number of Russian billionaires you would think that there would be more Russians in the F1 Sport but you would be wrong.

The Renault team are about to make history with the first Russian driver set to raced for them in the 2010 season.
Vitaly Petrov has officially been unveiled as the second driver for Renault the 25 year old has been racing in GP2 since 2006 and now is ready for the step up. The contract may only be a one year contract but this could be all he needs to shine and show what a good driver he is.

Could Kimi Raikkonen be returning to McLaren?

Mason — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:52:03 +0000

After a manic week of Speculation in F1 linking Kimi Raikkonen with a return to McLaren this increased after the Finn’s management team were seen visiting the team’s Woking base.

I don’t know if this is going to be a good thing for current driver Hamilton as Raikkonen has previously said that he is only interested in an F1 drive that would give him the chance to fight for race wins and a second title, and I am sure Lewis want to be battling also for his second title and race wins

Raikkonen could be set to rejoin the team he competed for from 2002-2006 but only time will tell and I am sure we will find out within the next week.

Kamui Kobayashi set for lotus

Mason — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:00:34 +0000

For me this guy was undoubtedly one of the stars and biggest surprises of the final two races of the F1 2009 World Championship campaign. He seems an exciting driver and defiantly one to watch for the next campaign.

Reports have revealed that he would be interested in joining newcomer Lotus next year, after an anticipated deal with Toyota came to nothing when the Japanese manufacturer announced its immediate withdrawal earlier this week.

Kamui Kobayashi showed that he can play with the big boys of F1 with his two stunning performances in Brazil and the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Toyota bites the dust

Mason — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:00:15 +0000

Shocking news that will shock many F1 supporters is that automaker, Toyota Motor Corporation have announced its immediate withdrawal from Formula One.

The decision once again has caught Formula One by surprise, with the team signing the 2009 Concorde Agreement, about the future of the sport it was therefore widely assumed that the Toyota team would be fully committed to Formula One until the end of 2012.

The company president Akio Toyoda told the press the TMC would withdraw from Formula One because they needed to cut the costs and needed to focus on its core business, and added that this was a very painful decision for the company.