After an enthralling French MotoGP, which saw Stoner take the top spot and Rossi secure his first podium win of the season, the most heated discussions centre around the decision by officials to penalise Marco Simoncelli for seemingly cutting up Dani Pedrosa.
The twenty-four year-old Italian, who was publicly attacked by World Championship titleholder Jorge Lorenzo for riding 'dangerously', attempted to overtake round the outside, while the two battled for 2nd place. In launching for the apex too early, he left Pedrosa with very little room to manoeuvre or pull up and the Repsol Honda went crashing out of the race on Lap 17.
Simoncelli was penalised with a ride-through, though still managed to finish fifth behind Lorenzo, leaving many believing he should have been blackflagged. Post-race, Pedrosa spoke of his disappointment. Having only just returned magnificiently to top form in Portugal a mere fortnight ago, after a titanium plate was removed from his left collarbone, the Spaniard has discovered he has now fractured his collarbone on the right side, which will undoubtedly impact his claims to the 2011 title.
While Simoncelli sympathised sincerely with Pedrosa's situation, he fervently claimed the manoeuvre was entirely fair, directing doubters to telemetry readings for evidence. The Italian, whose 'Sideshow Bob' styled hair do is as wild as his riding style, is receiving all kinds of debatably unwarranted negativity of late.
Displaying the talent, speed and aggression of a younger Lorenzo, it's surprising the frontrunner, who had a comparatively weak weekend, is finding Simoncelli such a threat. If Lorenzo continues to let Simoncelli get under his skin, he could find himself in a mental battle, fighting demons he's created himself. Though as a newly self-appointed spokesman, campaigning for more safety awareness in motorcycling, we may see the focus shift from his riding to more drama off the track than on it.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Monday, 9 May 2011
Schuey Needs The Boot
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, there is no room for those once at the top of their game and retired, to make a career-changing, media-hyped comeback. It did nothing for Morrissey or music (my other greatest love) and it’s done nothing for Schumacher.
The hotly-anticipated 2010 comeback allowed more recent World Champion title holders an opportunity to compete with the multiple-title winning driver, and no doubt, one of their childhood legends but after a dismal start to his second returning season, Schumacher has had to face an incredible amount of criticism over his inability to “beat” team mate, Nico Rosberg.
In Schumacher’s defence, that’s like expecting your granddad to know his way around better than you – an electronic word processor, great for its day, not a patch on the Office Suite.
I’ll concede that it IS a completely different sport to when he used to rule the championship and it’s almost admirable that he wanted to challenge himself again, but he never seems to learn – and they say that wisdom comes with age! The move he pulled on Barrichello at the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix he claimed initially was to make the race ‘spectacular’, though what would have been more spectacular, though undesirable, would have been a crash of astronomical proportion. Anyone see the crash at Brands Hatch in the same week?! Apologising only after fans and media pressure intensified, you may almost mistaken the German for being arrogant - who'd have guessed?!
Following last season, Mercedes Petronas GP made some vague pre-2011 season claims that he would be in contention for the title in 2011 and with some kind of momentum beginning to build in the Chinese GP, in which he showed signs that he still possesses nuggets of that legendary racing flair, the true, ever-loyal Ferrari fans would have no doubt believed he could be a frontrunner.
But like a certain FIA lion, those fans are incredibly biased and often can’t see the calories for all the pasta and sauce. Schumacher is no longer a racing legend. Race-by-race he comes closer to losing all credibility he’s so carefully crafted in past years, to the point of embarrassment. Do him a favour, Mercedes, lose him before he loses it completely.
The hotly-anticipated 2010 comeback allowed more recent World Champion title holders an opportunity to compete with the multiple-title winning driver, and no doubt, one of their childhood legends but after a dismal start to his second returning season, Schumacher has had to face an incredible amount of criticism over his inability to “beat” team mate, Nico Rosberg.
In Schumacher’s defence, that’s like expecting your granddad to know his way around better than you – an electronic word processor, great for its day, not a patch on the Office Suite.
I’ll concede that it IS a completely different sport to when he used to rule the championship and it’s almost admirable that he wanted to challenge himself again, but he never seems to learn – and they say that wisdom comes with age! The move he pulled on Barrichello at the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix he claimed initially was to make the race ‘spectacular’, though what would have been more spectacular, though undesirable, would have been a crash of astronomical proportion. Anyone see the crash at Brands Hatch in the same week?! Apologising only after fans and media pressure intensified, you may almost mistaken the German for being arrogant - who'd have guessed?!
Following last season, Mercedes Petronas GP made some vague pre-2011 season claims that he would be in contention for the title in 2011 and with some kind of momentum beginning to build in the Chinese GP, in which he showed signs that he still possesses nuggets of that legendary racing flair, the true, ever-loyal Ferrari fans would have no doubt believed he could be a frontrunner.
But like a certain FIA lion, those fans are incredibly biased and often can’t see the calories for all the pasta and sauce. Schumacher is no longer a racing legend. Race-by-race he comes closer to losing all credibility he’s so carefully crafted in past years, to the point of embarrassment. Do him a favour, Mercedes, lose him before he loses it completely.
Saturday, 16 April 2011
Quali report – Shanghai
Vettel (1:33:70) maintained his consistently strong performance in free practice, then going onto secure pole for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. Unlike his team mate, Mark Webber, who’s practice sessions had been fraught with a number of mechanical issues. Taking the RedBull car out on the prime tyres, his Q1 session was riddled with understeer, a lack of speed and non-existent KERS, so he struggled to within the 107% only to have Pastor Maldonado push him out into the cold with a slight nudge and take P10.
Fuming he sulked around the garage, whilst the Ferrari team, for a second race running, put both drivers out on two sets of option tyres. Initially this strategy seemed to be paying off as they secured P1 and P2 in Q1. It was not to last as Petrov, showing glimmers of the underdog spirit, taking P1 back just before the end of Q1. In Q2, the Russian put in a flying lap, which secured P4, until a hydraulics failure brought his car to a complete standstill, much to the dissatisfaction of other drivers, notably Barrichello.
Officials red-flagged the session with just over two minutes to go. Cue a scramble into the pits to ensure access at the restart to the frontrunners. Young Sergio Perez won this minor battle, but failed to stave off Alonso, who would only eventually manage a P5.
The restart offered an exciting end to the session, as drivers battled to gain times that would secure a start from the top ten grid positions tomorrow and the McLarens made good use of this, Button (1:34:42) finishing on the front row for the first time since Italy last season and Hamilton in third (1:34:46).
Schumacher continued his frustrated return to Formula One, failing to compete in the second session and being outshone by his teammate, Nico Rosberg, who secured P4. Not the only experienced driver usurped by his younger teammate, rookie Paul Di Resta (1:36:19) made the most notably drive of the day, taking P8 for Force India, leaving Adrian Sutil (1:35:87) at Q2 in 11th position.
As the Scot returned on the inlap, the green and orange car kicked up a bit of a fuss, which may prove damaging to his efforts. Only tomorrow can confirm that one way or other.
Fuming he sulked around the garage, whilst the Ferrari team, for a second race running, put both drivers out on two sets of option tyres. Initially this strategy seemed to be paying off as they secured P1 and P2 in Q1. It was not to last as Petrov, showing glimmers of the underdog spirit, taking P1 back just before the end of Q1. In Q2, the Russian put in a flying lap, which secured P4, until a hydraulics failure brought his car to a complete standstill, much to the dissatisfaction of other drivers, notably Barrichello.
Officials red-flagged the session with just over two minutes to go. Cue a scramble into the pits to ensure access at the restart to the frontrunners. Young Sergio Perez won this minor battle, but failed to stave off Alonso, who would only eventually manage a P5.
The restart offered an exciting end to the session, as drivers battled to gain times that would secure a start from the top ten grid positions tomorrow and the McLarens made good use of this, Button (1:34:42) finishing on the front row for the first time since Italy last season and Hamilton in third (1:34:46).
Schumacher continued his frustrated return to Formula One, failing to compete in the second session and being outshone by his teammate, Nico Rosberg, who secured P4. Not the only experienced driver usurped by his younger teammate, rookie Paul Di Resta (1:36:19) made the most notably drive of the day, taking P8 for Force India, leaving Adrian Sutil (1:35:87) at Q2 in 11th position.
As the Scot returned on the inlap, the green and orange car kicked up a bit of a fuss, which may prove damaging to his efforts. Only tomorrow can confirm that one way or other.
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Jaguar XJL – Go on, Dad, buy one!
The new supercharged Jaguar is awesome. Not in a sexy way. I mean, it is sexy, well, no not sexy. Sexy is a word for the Zonda or Ferrari 458 – it does things to you without you touching yourself, er, and ‘sexy’ and ‘Dad’ should not be associated.
I’ve always associated Jaguars with old men, which was no doubt emotionally enforced when the white-haired Inspector Morse got into that beautiful Mk II Jaguar – yeah, the one I always wanted as my first car. “Dream on,” Daddy said, understandably.
The XJL doesn’t perform like a Dad car. In fact, it’s pretty nippy, And the semi-automatic version left me surprised. Dropping it down to 1 manually with the flappy paddles, as advised by My Stig, made leaving the lights a lot of fun - stunning given the size of the car. It was less ‘Granddad’ and definitely more executive-style ‘Dad’. So much so, that I’m dying for my Dad to get one. He’d love it, the comfort of the electronically adjustable seats will look after the bones that don’t feel like they used to, while sports-mode will remind him of how young he still is.
The digital speedometer and electronic handbrake were marks of wizardry that made my little face light up and the rear-facing camera, which fed into the touchscreen sat nav system, allowed you to see exactly where the car was tracking to, great news for a girl who admits she struggles to park. Hey! How was I to know what six inches REALLY looked like?!
I’ve always associated Jaguars with old men, which was no doubt emotionally enforced when the white-haired Inspector Morse got into that beautiful Mk II Jaguar – yeah, the one I always wanted as my first car. “Dream on,” Daddy said, understandably.
The XJL doesn’t perform like a Dad car. In fact, it’s pretty nippy, And the semi-automatic version left me surprised. Dropping it down to 1 manually with the flappy paddles, as advised by My Stig, made leaving the lights a lot of fun - stunning given the size of the car. It was less ‘Granddad’ and definitely more executive-style ‘Dad’. So much so, that I’m dying for my Dad to get one. He’d love it, the comfort of the electronically adjustable seats will look after the bones that don’t feel like they used to, while sports-mode will remind him of how young he still is.
The digital speedometer and electronic handbrake were marks of wizardry that made my little face light up and the rear-facing camera, which fed into the touchscreen sat nav system, allowed you to see exactly where the car was tracking to, great news for a girl who admits she struggles to park. Hey! How was I to know what six inches REALLY looked like?!
Sunday, 1 August 2010
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Engineering For Dummies - Blown Diffusers
Force India give us an explanation a child could understand of the component keeping McLaren and Red Bulls more stable than their competitors.
F1 Teams vs. F1 Fans – don’t forget the money starts with us!
Let’s be clear. F1 teams run those cars because the sport is lucrative. In the wake of last weekend’s rule contravention by Ferrari, angry opinions spewed forth, as though the Government had let a dying terrorist out of prison, only to discover his prognosis had improved once he was safely back in his homeland.
Coulthard argued that the teams invest...(read more)
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