Marussia F1 Auction

I have just seen the very sad news that all of the remaining cars (without engines), manufacturing and office equipment of Marussia F1, are to be auctioned off on the 16th and 17th of December (link here). Browsing through the images of what is to be auctioned, you can't help but think how much money, time and effort it must have taken to set up Marusia as living, breathing F1 team and to think that it will all be auctioned off, bit by bit now, is a little heart breaking. I guess it really is easier to destroy rather than to create...

He did it...! Hamilton is F1 Champion





A slightly delayed congratulations to Lewis Hamilton after winning on Sunday and sealing the championship with his eleventh win of the season! Most impressive. A real shame about Rosberg's woes and it would have been nicer to have had no mechanical gremlins creeping in and helping decide the outcome but Nico's wish to stay out to the end of the race was a great thing to see - maximum respect!



A brief look at the final standings and you mostly find the usual suspects... apart from one or two conspicuous new names in the form of Daniel Ricardo and Valtteri Bottas. As for Daniel - what a fantastic guy and what a fantastic year! Who would have thought that he would have 3 wins to Vettel's 0 at the end of the year! He has totally outshone his more illustrious team mate. Maybe Christian Horner was right and Vettel was just resting this season after 4 tiring campaigns. With Bottas, I am not the biggest fan of his as it is clear he quite blatantly wants to completely destroy Massa whilst driving in the same car and I get the sense that, like Rosberg, he may resort to slightly underhand methods to achieve this...

Nico Hulkenberg! What does this guy have to do to get offered a decent drive??! Talk about consistency - throw this guy in a wheelbarrow and he'll score consistently and get the max out of the car (or wheelbarrow) and the season. The previously highly regarded Perez trails at 59 points versus Nico's 96. Ron, forget about Magnussen and Button and hire this not so secret gem!

Now we head into the F1 abyss that is the winter break I will have to get by on the drips of F1 related news over the next few months. The Abu Dhabi F1 test and confirmation of Alonso's move to McLaren should get me through to the beginning of December at least... :)   

Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg: 'They'd even race eating pizza'

Great BBC F1 article about Lewis and Rosberg growing up and racing together  here . ; )



Alonso out and Vettel in at Ferrari

Well the news that everyone was waiting for and already knew has been confirmed today by Ferrari. Alonso is out and Vettel is in. The reading of both driver's official statements as well as Ferrari's is very interesting looking at the choice of words used by all parties concerned.

 



 

You have to almost agree with Helmut Marko though - has Vettel been lured by the myth and illusions of the Ferrari name? Alonso was lured in too and look where that got him - 5 frustrating years where he almost won the Championship 3 times (but was firstly let down by a bad strategy call by the team in 2010).

 

My view would be that Ferrari is most definitely not the same team that Schumacher helped build given that most of the senior management and technical staff of the team then were not even Italian. Now that Ferrari has been handed back to the Italians, you can't help but feel that emotion and politics have slowly crept back into the running of the team. They need technical talent from outside the team again to get them back on track and they could do worse than to re-hire Ross Brawn but as team principal!

Will Stevens to race for Caterham in Abu Dhabi...

Will who?! Yes, suspend your disbelief! Will Stevens will be racing for Caterham in Abu Dhabi...

Full story here.



Who will drive for Caterham F1 in Abu Dhabi?



 

With the confirmation of Kamui Kobyashi driving for Caterham in Abu Dhabi, the question remains as to who will be sitting in the other car over the weekend, with a number of potential drivers displaying an interest or laying claim to the seat.

 

Apparently Andre Lotterer has declined the opportunity, which is quite telling I believe. After all, the team will likely be running on a skeleton crew and the question has to be asked as to how far short of their normal performance the team could possibly perform? I could be doing them a huge injustice but anyone would query what state the team is in after the stories that have been coming out over the last few weeks, from bailiffs seizing equipment to the whole team requesting to be laid off last weekend?

 

I sincerely hope the team can put on a good performance and gain a respectable result by the end of the race. Being fair, the fact that the team will even be at Abu Dhabi in the first place is a huge achievement, particularly noting that their stronger placed rivals, Marrussia, are now part of the F1 history books (or maybe not judging by this article on Sky click here).

 

I would hope that this year's GP2 champion, Jolyon Palmer, seizes the opportunity to grab his first taste of F1 and the chance to get noticed. Although such a move would be not without its risks considering the odds against achieving a decent result. There is a story going about that the fortunate Max Chilton with his financial backing will actually get the seat. Watch this space... 

F1 Season Decider Abu Dhabi: Rosberg or Hamilton?

 

 

So who will be celebrating come the fireworks at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this Sunday? An article I saw on the Official F1 site (click here) confirmed what I spoke about in a previous post with regard to Hamilton's 17 point lead providing little comfort given the double points situation for the last race. Glad to hear that this gimmick is likely not to be repeated next year!

 

There is talk of reliability playing a factor and this would be another sad way to end the championship (unless it was Rosberg's car that was falling out of the race...!) I hope that this does not play a factor in the final result.

 

Ultimately, comfort has to be found in the previous results achieved by the two drivers in Abu Dhabi with Hamilton unquestionably enjoying the better form (winning in 2011 and almost again in 2012 and only failing once to finish outside the top 2 when he has finished).

 

However, on a final note, I had a dream last night in which Hamilton crashed out in the race and Rosberg went on to win the race and the championship - I was very, very disappointed. But then Massa was still driving for Ferrari in the dream so I am hoping it wasn't an accurate premonition of the future... 



New Senna: 'Driven to Perfection' Collection

I was very pleased to find that the official Senna collection of merchandise has been heavily expanded / extended across a number of products which look to be of the very best quality. I am of the opinion that they should have done this years ago but am very happy that this has come through now.

 

Browse the full collection through the link below at Grand Prix Legends:

 

Grand Prix Legends - Full Senna Collection

Magnus Walker's 'Streetable Racecar'



This post is a tribute to Magnus Walker's 'streetable racecar', which I think is a car that is very memorable thanks to a great colour scheme and great decals. As Magnus says on Jay Leno's garage (link below), driving this car for him is like slipping into a pair of comfortable sneakers and given the sheer mileage he has put in the car, it has earned the worn in look the hard way. What I like best is the way Magnus is always ready to take this car to the track, drive it hard once there and then cruise back home after the event. very cool...

YouTube Link: 1971 Porsche 911T - Jay Leno's Garage

Caterham F1 to race in Abu Dhabi!

So, late on Friday, just before leaving work I saw that the crowdfunding effort for Caterham F1 had suddenly ballooned from just over 50% of target (£2.35 mln) to 79%...! An amazing effort and sure enough a review of the latest F1 related news revealed that interim Team Principal Finbarr O'Connell had confirmed Caterham F1 intended to race in Abi Dhabi... :)

Link to the Official F1 site story

Michael Schumacher Website Relaunch



20 years on from his first World Championship, achieved on Sunday 13th November 1994, Michael Schumacher's official website has been relaunched to celebrate this milestone and allow fans to share their messages and memories of Michael's career. Impressive images and even more impressive details of Michael's F1 records litter the various pages of the revamped website (link below). Enjoy!

Official Michael Schumacher Website


Telegraph article on the website relaunch:

Telegraph Article

The Formula One Shop



After attending the Goodwood Revival over the last couple of years there has been one merchandise stand that has really stood out and been the one where I have actually forked out the cash and bought a couple of items.

 

 



The first item was a framed photo of the famous picture of the four potential 1986 F1 World Champions and the second was a Grandprix Originals Gulf Replica Jacket (navy blue). Both have which I have been very pleased with. : )

 



Link to the website: http://www.theformula1shopandmore.com/

Magnus Walker - Morning Drive around the Block!



Morning Drive around the Block

Found this video on YouTube the other week - wish I could wake up in the morning and get out and do this! A very cool way to start the day... As Magnus would say, GET OUT AND DRIVE.

Crowdfund Caterham’s return to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix





Here's a chance to give a helping hand to the struggling Caterham F1 team and if you donate a large enough amount, get your hands on some F1 related merchandise or even parts from an F1 car!

Crowdfund Caterham’s return to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

News stories relating to this effort:

BBC Caterham Story

Sky Caterham Story

Hamilton vs. Rosberg



So we are coming up to the final race of the season and Hamilton looks, after the Brazilian GP, to have shown a chink in his psychological armour with his spin while trying to jump Nico at the first round of pit stops. As usual Hamilton could not hide his disappointment at not beating Rosberg after the race but then that's what makes him a real racer. Nico's comments about Hamilton's spin after the race did not reflect well on him and he then had the cheek to already start talking about winning the last race in Abu Dhabi! A quick check of past results reveal that Hamilton is the only one of the two that has previously won there...

The fact that Hamilton can finish 2nd to Rosberg and still win the Championship must make him feel slightly more comfortable but from another point of view, you can say that the championship is Hamilton's to lose; one silly mistake in qualifying or the race could rob him of the second championship he has been chasing for almost 6 years. Hamilton's mental strength comes from his Dad, as Lewis openly admits in his own book, and it has been interesting to see Lewis' Dad in attendance at most of the last several races. I think he will need to keep his father very close in Abu Dhabi if he wants to prevail... 





Magnus Walker - Urban Outlaw

This post is a tribute to the guy that inspired me to start my own blog, the now legendary Magnus Walker. When I attended the Goodwood Revival this year I paid a visit to the impressive Porsche Classic stand and noticed an unusual character there. On enquiry I was told that this fellow was Magnus Walker who has become famous for restoring and customizing older Porsche cars. After investigating about him on the internet once I was back home, I realized this guy is one of the coolest guys I have ever come across and quite inspiring - what he has achieved is most impressive! Most impressive of all is his Porsche collection which includes his now signature 277 'streetable racecar'. Magnus you are a Legend and I rue the fact that I missed my chance to speak with you... : (  Hopefully you will be back at Goodwood next year. ; )

Magnus Walker's now famous Urban Outlaw Documentary

Link to Magnus' Blog 'MagnusWalker911.com'

Formula Student at UniS

After being involved in the initial stages of the University of Surrey's initial efforts in participating in Formula Student, I was very happy to make a recent trip back to the university, some 7 years later, to see how far they had come. Impressive to say the least! Pictures below:

Surrey wins highest ever placing 2014

An Afternoon's Racing

Not bad for an afternoon's racing: finished 4th at Nurburgring and 2nd in a race at Monza (see pic') on the Raceroom online sim' up against at least a dozen other people from across Europe in each race. Qualified 2nd in Monza and was down to third at one point but managed to finish at least where I started... the actual winner wasn't decided until the very last straight which was cool.

Hopefully I will be able to record a few races going forward and share them online... :)

2014 Brazilian F1 Race Prediction

Bearing in mind Murry Walker's famous line 'Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does!' it is always bold to try to predict the outcome of a race before the weekend has even begun but I thought I would give it a try...

I have a hunch that Hamilton could repeat his previous feat and seal the championship in Brazil this weekend.

Part of this feeling comes from the fact that rain is forecast for both days (could still change). With the momentum with him (Hamilton) and Rosberg probably a little desperate to keep the championship alive to the last race, so as to try and take advantage of the mickey mouse double point rule, I can see this as a recipe for success for Hamilton.

So I am predicting a Hamilton win with a Rosberg out of the points or DNF due to making a mistake of some sort (although I could just be biased and want Hamilton to win regardless!)

IWC Schaffhausen Mercedes F1 Exhibition held in the Selfridges 'Wonder Room'

Silverstone warm up and flying lap!

This was me (video link above) about a year ago participating in the IWC Schaffhausen Mercedes F1 Exhibition held in the Selfridges 'Wonder Room'. I achieved the fastest lap by a member of the public (1:39.8) and despite mistakes still nearly matched Lewis Hamilton's time (1:37.9) and he had quite a few more laps than I did!

Link to Hamilton at the exhibition below:

Lewis in the at the exhibition.

RaceRoom is the best racing game you've never heard of

Link to original article!

This article sums up very well what is one of the best racing sim's out there! Sad to realise that with the demise of Simbin we will not get to see GTR3 but I guess this sim gets as close as we are going to get to what it would have been... ; )