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The Formula 1 circus show has begun for 2012 Melbourne Grand Prix recently. The race was entertaining as the cars were bunched up again with 17 laps to go due to the safety car coming out after a racing incident. So it was basically down to the wire. However, the Malaysian Grand Prix happens this coming weekend (the 25th of March 2012) over at Sepang and the carnival has started early for some. The newly minted Lotus F1 Team (Lotus bought out the Renault F1 team last year) have started the ball rolling displaying their latest challenger, the E20. It was displayed and driven in front of the Malaysian public at Proton's Power of 1 Event. Donuts and all. Driven by former F1 Champion Kimi Raikkonen and newbie Romain Grosjean, Raikkonen did quite well coming in 7th over at Melbourne while Grosjean did not finish. It wasn't too long ago that a powered by Renault car propelled Fernando Alonso to two world championships and it is a good platform for any car manufacturer to gain entry into F1. Of course we have to note that Renault is an automobile manufacturer in their own right and must have decided that they had to spend tons of money on their own in Formula 1. That is why they must have become enginge suppliers. It makes perfect sense money-wise and so we now have the Lotus F1 Team

And so Sebastian Vettel was crowned this year's Formula 1 driver's champion after winning the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix in Suzuka recently. He only needed 1 point to win and came in third behind race winner Jenson Button and second place Fernando Alonso. This is his second championship in a row and it also makes him the youngest driver ever to win back to back championships. His performance was, as usual, immaculate and somehow he makes winning so very easy. Of course some people may say that it is down to the car. Red Bull's engineers really constructed a fabulous race car this season but one must note that there are two drivers per team and Vettel seems to be able to out drive and out pace his team mate Mark Webber most of the time. So you've got to hand it to him for actually being bloody talented in the first place. Now add the fact that there are former world champions racing against him this strengthens his case even more. We have two time champion Fernando Alonso (who drove a fantastic race this time around), one time champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button and also multiple world champion Michael Schumacher rounding up the list of champions. What Vettel is doing is quite incredible as someone so young can drive so maturely and fabulously quick in all the races to date. The 2011 F1 races will continue, but since we already know who the driver's champion is should we continue watching upcoming races? While the constructors championship is still an open book (but with Red Bull far ahead), does it warrant us to continue watching F1 or just wait till next year? The next race is something new, the Korean GP, on the 16th of October. Results 01. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h30:53.427 02. Alonso Ferrari + 1.160 03. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 2.006 04. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 8.071 05. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 24.268 06. Schumacher Mercedes + 27.120 07. Massa Ferrari + 28.240 08. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 39.377 09. Petrov Renault + 42.607 10. Rosberg Mercedes + 44.322 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 54.447 12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:02.326 13. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:03.705 14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:04.194 15. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1:06.623 16. Senna Renault + 1:12.628 17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:14.191 18. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1:27.824 19. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1:36.140 20. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 21. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 22. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps 23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps DNF Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 35 photo credit: planetf1

The recent Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix was interesting. I suppose the weather helped again as it rained and we got to see defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel as well as previous World Champions Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso losing it with either a spin or having some off the track incidents. We also got to see a level headed ex-world champion Jenson Button winning the race in a McLaren. Lady luck must have been with him as the Hungarian Grand Prix was mainly led by Lewis Hamilton who drove the other McLaren. Now other than that this race marked Button's 200th race and incredibly his 11th race win. I suppose this basically means that Formula 1 is tough as this chap has been racing for so long and actually won the driver's championship once yet he only has eleven wins around his belt. It must be as he has to fight four other world champions out there (the chaps mentioned above and Michael Schumacher too). Anyway, it rained and as usual that sort of weather makes racing so unpredictable. Aside from the spins and slips by the race leaders and challengers, one other reason Jenson Button won was his decision not to come in of intermediate tires when everyone seemed to want to use them. He opted for the prime tires in a slightly damp track and kept it on the track when others seemed to be slip-sliding all around him. From what I have seen, the Red Bull cars are still the cars to beat on race day but when the weather comes into play, tire strategy, patience and skill comes into play. One other incident that is actually worth writing about is the fact that Nick Heidfield's Renault actually caught fire in the pits (at around lapd 20). This happened as the Renault was stationary for quite a while and upon exiting the pits, his car caught fire. Heidfield managed to scramble out of the car and the car experienced a small explosion while the track marshalls were trying to put the fire out. One marshall was hit by flying shards of carbon fiber and it was a nearly a safety car incident. It wasn't, but if the safety car was brought out, the outcome of the race may be altered. Anyway, as I posted earlier, mid-season is usually when Formula 1 gets interesting. No one knows what will happen after this upcoming 4 week break from racing. The next race is scheduled on the 28th of August at Spa, Belgium. Results 01. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h43:42.337 02. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 3.588 03. Alonso Ferrari + 19.819 04. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 48.338 05. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 49.742 06. Massa Ferrari + 1:17.176 07. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 08. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 09. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap 10. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 12. Petrov Renault + 1 lap 13. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 2 laps 14. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 2 laps 15. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 2 laps 16. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 2 laps 17. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 4 laps 18. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps 19. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 5 laps 20. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 5 laps Retirements Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 56 Schumacher Mercedes 27 Heidfeld Renault 24 Trulli Lotus-Renault 18 photo credit:planetf1

[extract] If you

Okay people, the second race of the 2011 Formula 1 Grand Prix had just concluded and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel has won the 13th Malaysian Grand Prix held on Sunday, the 10th of April 2011. Two races on and Vettel is faultless to date. After Melbourne a couple of weeks ago he has done it again. Second place went to McLaren's Jenson Button and third place to Nick Heidfield of Renault, who must have surprised some F1 pundits as he was a last minute replacement for Robert Kubica, who suffered a pre-season rally car accident that was pretty bad. The top 10 grid positions at the start was as follows: 1.Vettel, 2.Hamilton, 3.Webber, 4.Button, 5.Alonso, 6.Heidfeld, 7.Massa, 8.Petrov, 9.Rosberg and finally, 10.Kobayashi. The race started off with concerns of rain but as the lights went out everyone was moving in on everyone. Third grid spot Mark Webber had a fault with his KERS and was overtaken by quite a few people behind him till he ended up ninth. Michael Schumacher from eleventh ended up eighth. Heidfield from sixth up to second place. I suppose the amazing thing was there was no major accidents or damage towards all the participants with the exception of Rubens Barrichello who unluckily suffered an early tire puncture. One of the newer drivers, Kamui Kobayashi, driving the Sauber Ferrari drove spiritedly. I suppose this was to make up for Sauber's disqualification in Melbourne for an illegal sized rear wing. He was in a skirmish from the start. On Lap 4 to Lap10 he was involved in a scuffle for position with Mark Webber . It only ended when Webber pitted for tires. This was one of the first few tire changes of the race due to everyone predicting that it was going to rain soon. By Lap 12 just about everyone came in as there was sign of rain on the track. It did rain but those that thought it was going to be a long and heavy one were disappointed. Those that changed to intermediates or wets must have been truly disappointed as it rained lightly and it dried up quickly due to the heat on the track. It was a little chaotic but nothing really dramatic happened. I suppose some teams wanted rain to even up the playing field. That didn't happen and things were seemingly the same from this point onwards. The only piece of accident excitement that happened was when Vitaly Petrov driving the Renault went airborne after running wide and then crashing. There wasn't any real threat towards race leader Sebastian Vettel at all throughout the race. At the very best, Lewis Hamilton, who was second behind Vettel tried a push but he was at best, 6 seconds behind. This attempt was thwarted when Hamilton's car suffered problems with his left tire. Hamilton's troubles left him with a seventh placing at the end of the race. Sebastian Vettel/Red Bull had won a rain free Malaysian Grand Prix. Jenson Button finished second some 3 seconds behind with Heidfield, Webber, Massa and Alonso coming up after that. It was quite a good race that showed off a lot of Pirelli tire changes -with three to four tire changes due to the teams unsure whether it was going to rain or not and also because the tires were temperamental with some strange handling characteristics. It looks like Pirelli is still getting some slack for their tires in their first year of being the sole tire supplier in F1. Some also had problems with the DRS wings and some had KERS that decided to take a holiday instead of working on the track. But sometimes, especially during Formula 1, it is better for us viewers, fans and enthusiasts that things don't go as planned. But can I add some non-race issues to this year's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang? The first is that if you drove there from Kuala Lumpur you'd expect a 10 minute drive from the toll booth as you exit the ELITE highway. But what I cannot fathom is how can things get so bad in the middle of nowhere (Yes, Sepang IS in the middle of nowhere) you need over an hour to park your car and it isn't close to the track. Then you add the humidity and overall temperature to the situation it gets close to unbearable. And secondly, parking during F1 events are usually expensive, but a jump from RM5 to RM50? That's a tenfold increase. And if most are aware, a successful event needs regular people to fill up an event and local Malaysians do not earn in Euro, US Dollars or even Singapore Dollars. I can bet you that the locals will stay away from next year's F1 because of these two issues. Imagine battling through the traffic jam and then reaching the parking only to find out that it costs a bomb. You already know that a cheap 'night market' standard burger will not cost RM1.50 but at least RM5-10. It may be cheap to the tourists from Europe but as I said, its the locals who actually make up most of the crowd on the hillstands and cheaper grandstands. The Malaysian man on the street who drives a normal Perodua or a Proton to Sepang isn't too happy actually. Oh, by the way, it is great to see Ol' man Schumacher still able to duke it out with the younger boys. Ninth position is pretty good in my opinion. Makes a good role model for people in their forties (which is actually just around the corner for yours truly). BUT...This isn't the end. Both Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren were each handed a 20 second penalty for overly aggressive driving against each other. Their jostle for third place was actually quite a jostle. Alonso's front wing made contact with Hamilton's car and forced Alonso to the pits to finish in sixth as well as forcing the stewards to slap him with the penalty. Hamilton's penalty came as a result of very aggressive defensive driving on the previous lap. But since both were given penalties, but the race results have not changed as somehow both of them had quite a buffer from the car right behind them. Look towards the end of this article for the official results. The ones below were the results at the end of the race not at the end of the race stewards final decision. Actually they shouldn't have been given any penalty as it did make the race slightly more interesting. Somehow racing as if their lives depended on it isn't allowed anymore. Race Results 01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h37:39.832 02. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 3.261 03. Heidfeld Renault + 25.075 04. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 26.384 05. Massa Ferrari + 36.958 06. Alonso Ferrari + 37.248 07. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 49.957 08. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:07.239 09. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:24.896 10. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:31.563 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:45.000 12. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap 13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 15. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap 16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 17. Petrov Renault + 4 laps Not classified/retirements: Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 47 D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 43 Trulli Lotus-Renault 32 Perez Sauber-Ferrari 24 Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 23 Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 15 Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 9 Revised Results 01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h37:39.832 02. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 3.261 03. Heidfeld Renault + 25.075 04. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 26.384 05. Massa Ferrari + 36.958 06. Alonso Ferrari + 57.248 07. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:07.239 08. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 69.957 09. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:24.896 10. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:31.563 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:45.000 12. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap 13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 15. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap 16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 17. Petrov Renault + 4 laps photo source: planetf1

[extract] Fernando Alonso of Ferrari wins the inaugural Korean Formula 1 Grand Prix and is ahead in the Driver

[extract] Sebastian Vettel finally wins something after dominating qualifiying and sometimes in the races itself but failing to capitalize on it. He came out first in Suzuka, Japan at last weekend

Okay. The results for the Formula 1 Grand Prix, Singapore. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari wins. Sebastian Vettel comes in second and his team mate in the other Red Bull, Mark Webber was third. The Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix started off nicely without a pile up. This is good as we all know the fact that this race is run like Monaco, a street circuit and the starting grid was led by Fernando Alonso, Seb Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Mark Webber. However, this changed when Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi suffered a broken suspension from a knock on lap 4. This first major incident caused that beautiful Mercedes-AMG SLS Safety Car to be deployed and some of the teams decided to make their tire changes then. Mark Webber was thhe first among the front runners mentioned and because of this, he rejoined in 11th but as we know, he made it to 3rd in the end. The thing about this race was that as it was a street circuit, the surfaces aren't paper smooth and the crash barriers are close. Overtaking isn't something easy to do and this enabled front runners Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel to actually pull away from everyone including Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. This and the fact that if the car you were running was on the harder compound that Bridgestone brought to Singapore could not match the pace of those shod with the softer compound tires. Hamilton and even Mark Webber found this out the hard way. Ferrari's choice to keep with their strategy meant that Alonso made a stop around lap 29 and so did Vettel of Red Bull. This round of pit lane drama ensured that Vettel closed up on Alonso but his efforts were thwarted by Kobayashi of Sauber-Ferrari crashing in lap 32, then his stricken car getting hit by Bruno Senna driving for HRT-Cosworth. This meant a Safety Car situation and a procession of Formula 1 race cars following it until the debris of the crash was cleared. In fact, right before this, Kobayashi caused Michael Schumacher to hit a barrier due to his aggressive overtaking move. Schumacher was lucky that he didn't suffer any suspension damage. Lap 36 was a sad lap for Lewis Hamilton. Fighting for position with Mark Webber basically caused him to try a move on Mark Webber but he lost out when they touched, causing Hamilton's McLaren to suffer from a broken suspension. This is the second retirement in two races for Hamilton. His championship title race by now is severly compromised. Prior to this in lap 35, Nick Heidfield in the other Sauber-Ferrari had tangled with Michael Schumacher and had to retire. Schumacher pitted for a new nose cone and finished the race in 13th , out of the points of course. Yes, a lot of tangling and crashing. I suppose this was due to the tight track and their willingness to actually go for it or actually racing. Right up to the end of this night race, Alonso had to fend off the charging Red Bull of Vettel and I thought this charge was almost saved by the burning Lotus of Heiki Kovalainen if not for the race stewards decision to carry on while the track marshalls move the stricken Lotus to safety. You also get to see Kovalainen asking for a fire extinguisher to put out the fire himself. A Formula 1 driver putting out their own car's fire. Quite unusual indeed. Alonso basically worked hard to win this time in Singapore, making this a consecutive win since his victory at Monza a few weeks ago. And the Lion City looks spectacular with all those lights and the good weather.

After a mid-season break, the Formula 1 Grand Prix is back again with the Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francochamps, a circuit both spectacular and emotive. The La Source hairpin, the downhill plunge to Eau Rouge, the forest setting and the longest lap distance in the Formula 1 World Championship which according to the Formula 1 drivers, a fabulous track to race on and a fantastic race for us to watch. This time, Lewis Hamilton driving the McLaren wins the pretty damp and wet race. The start was good for Hamilton, passing pole position Mark Webber of Red Bull. Then sometime on lap 2 it started raining causing havoc and cars were everywhere, on and off the track causing a Safety Car to be called out. Rubens Barrichello (his 300th F1 race by the way) driving for Williams retired due to a crash. The incredible thing was that it only rained for a short period causing those who changed tires to the intermediate compound during the Safety Car period to suffer as the track started drying soon enough. One driver who suffered badly was Fernando Alonso, who suffered from the Barrichello crash and two tire changes in a short period caused any chances of a podium for him to disappear. Hamilton slowly but surely pulling away from second placed Jenson Button (Petronas Mercedes) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull). Vettel on lap 17 was caught out by some water on the track at the final chicane, lost control, zig zagged and drove right smack into the Mercedes of Button. The Red Bull really speared its way into the Mercedes destroying the car's radiator, Button could therefore not continue. Vettel pitted for a new front wing and was later handed a drive-through penalty. Tough luck as both as championship contenders. Hamilton sometime after lap 36 nearly hit the barriers as it started getting wet again and nearly everyone had to pit for wet tires. By then, Hamilton was still in the lead, Mark Webber second, Kubica of Renault third with Filipe Massa of Ferrari in fourth. In fact the rain made proper havoc after that. In lap 39, Alonso spun and the Ferrari stalled right smack in the middle of the track. This prompted another safety car as Alonso could not get it moving again (Formula 1 cars do not have a starter and has to be started by a race engineer). Three championship contenders were now out at this time. Alonso with his spin, Button after being taken out by Vettel and Vettel himself out of the points due to his crash and drive through penalty mentioned above. By then, even after the restart of the race Hamilton had managed to pull away from Webber all the way to the finish. This has enabled him to garner the first place's 25 points, making him the current leader in the Drivers' Championship. This isn't a comfortable lead as Mark Webber trails by a mere 3 points. This is Lewis Hamilton's first victory at Spa, a milestone for him of sorts. The drive and driver of the day has to go to Michael Schumacher. He started in 21st place due to a penalty. He made it all the way to 6th position before being pipped by his team mate Nico Rosberg (who also started quite far back in 14th) in the final laps of the race. Amazing drive from Schummi anyway. Hats off to the man. The Results 01 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1hr29.04.268 02 Mark Webber RBR-Renault +1.5 secs 03 Robert Kubica Renault +3.4 secs 04 Felipe Massa Ferrari +8.2 secs 05 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +9.0 secs 06 Nico Rosberg Petronas Mercedes GP +12.3 secs 07 Michael Schumacher Petronas Mercedes GP +15.5 secs 08 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari +16.6 secs 09 Vitaly Petrov Renault +23.8 secs 10 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari +29.4 secs 11 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes +34.8 secs 12 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari +36.0 secs 13 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari +39.8 secs 14 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth +1 Lap 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault +1 Lap 16 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth +1 Lap 17 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth +1 Lap 18 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth +1 Lap 19 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth +1 Lap 20 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth +2 Lap Did Not Finish Fernando Alonso Ferrari +7 Lap Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +29 Laps Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth +39 Laps Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 43 laps -Barrichello DNF photos:planetf1

The upcoming McLaren MP4-12C will make its first public outing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which takes place from Thursday 1- Sunday 4 July 2010. Event goers and enthusiasts alike will also get the chance to see McLaren's new supercar in action as reigning F1 champion Jenson Button and 2008 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton will drive the MP4-12C up Goodwood Hill on Saturday and Sunday respectively in the Supercar Run. Following their test of an 'XP Beta' 12C prototype at Goodwood Motor Circuit in March this year, Jenson and Lewis will now get behind the wheel of the further developed version called the

[extract] Right. It has been a tiring weekend for me with the World Cup and all. This had nearly made me forget that the European Formula 1 Grand Prix was held over the last weekend in Valencia and Sebastian Vettel claimed his second victory of the season. This race

Formula 1 in Canada was interesting and McLaren gets another 1-2 win with Lewis Hamilton taking 1st after starting on pole position (his second win of the season) and Jenson Button taking 2nd place. Fernando Alonso driving the Ferrari rounded up the top three by coming in 3rd place. This also makes McLaren taking the lead in the manufacturers championship too. The race was thrilling as even at the start, we get to see Formula 1 race cars bumping into each other as we got to see Liuzzi of Toro Rosso Ferrari taking up to three bumps at the start. By lap 2 Kobayashi hit the wall and limped back to the pits joined by Felipe Massa of Ferrari. Before that Liuzzi of Force India and Pedro de La Rosa entered the pits for the starting scraps. Laps 4 to 13 was really happening as everyone was overtaking or trying to overtake someone. In lap 13 Michael Schumacher driving the Petronas Mercedes pits from third place and comes out in seventh place and is dicing with Robert Kubica of Renault. The two are fighting collide, not heavily, bouncing across the kerbs. Kubica's front wing appears to be damaged and pits. It is still bumper car like in the start. The reason for this is that the tire choices and tire change strategy seem to be assisting some better than the other. Some chose to run the softer compound earlier and this seems to be the best choice, as shown by Schumacher in the earlier part of the race (of course he later seemed to have suffered from tire wear right at the end). Lap 40 was also fun to watch at Liuzzi and Massa were dicing it out and Massa came out the loser and was forced wide. Lap 44 and 45 was also fun as Mark Webber had to fight it out to gain a few positions by Hulkenberg and Sutil, which were having their own tussle. Even the final 10 laps were interesting, as everyone in the top 12 were fighting for position. And ultimately, a big loser in this was Michael Schumacher as he had defended, and lost positions to Buemi, Liuzzi and Sutil. The latter two taking the final points positions of 9th and 10th. It could be very bad tire wear making Schumacher's car uncontrollable right at the end. The actual final results, though, will only be confirmed after the stewards investigate an incident between Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil and another between Schumacher and Felipe Massa for all those bumper car maneuvers and other overtaking encounters. And that will only be done after the race. As I write this, nothing has been confirmed as yet but it shouldn't change the top three positions anyway. So many events had happened during this race in Canada and this from a track that was dropped from the Formula 1 Grand Prix last year. Somehow for 2010 it was brought back. And it seems it was worth it as there were lots of thrills, overtaking and spills. The next race is European Grand Prix at Valencia in two weeks time Results 01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h33:53.456 02. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 2.254 03. Alonso Ferrari + 9.214 04. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 37.817 05. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 39.29 06. Rosberg Mercedes + 56.084 07. Kubica Renault + 57.300 08. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 09. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 11. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap 12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 15. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap 16. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 2 laps 17. Petrov Renault + 2 laps 18. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps 19. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 5 laps Did Not Finish Glock Virgin-Cosworth 50 Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 43 De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 31 Senna HRT-Cosworth 14 Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 2

Formula One driver Jenson Button has broken up with his model girlfriend, Jessica Michibata. Button dated the lingerie model for around 18 months but decided to call time on the relationship just after the Monaco Grand Prix due to problems in maintaining a long distance relationship.

Time flies when you're having fun and befor you know it, another Grand Prix race has come and gone. This time, Lewis Hamilton driving for McLaren-Mercedes claimed victory at the Turkish Formula 1 Grand Prix held at Istanbul last weekend. It was Mr Hamilton's first victory in a while (ten races). It was also a nightmare for Red Bull even though their drivers started in pole and in third position too. Hamilton started the race in second position. The nightmare was basically due to an overly enthusiastic Sebastian Vettel trying to overtake his teammate and pole sitter Mark Webber resulting in a crash. Now before we get to that let's start with a bit of trivia. Istanbul F1 Grand Prix of 2010 was Ferrari's 800th race in Formula 1 by the way and they started it badly by qualifying in 8th and 12th place. So critiques and fans are thinking about what is wrong with both Alonso and Massa before the race started. it was a good race for Lewis Hamilton as from the start he kept up the pressure on pole sitter Mark Webber only losing out to third position holder, Webber's Red Bull teammate, Sebastian Vettel moving into second when the McLaren pitstop crew had a small problem during the tire change. Now being someone who's young, fired up and already a world champion, Hamilton continued the chase and kept up the pressure on Vettel. I suppose it was this relentless pressure and also the fact that Webber won the last two F1 Grand Prix races prior to this made Vettel try something drastic, like try fit his Red Bull into Webber's Red Bull. This impulsive action basically caused him to crash out of the race and made Webber limp his way into the pits for repair work. This unfortunate turn of events (if you looked at it from Red Bull's camp) was capitalized by both Hamilton and his team mate Jenson Button which took over first and second positions respectively. Now these two world champions somehow nearly did some similar damage themselves by actually racing each other instead of pacing themselves to the end. Button actually too the lead on one occasion and they did rub into each other. But in the end, Hamilton pulled through and stayed in top position till the very end. Amazing. If both drivers of McLaren did the same mistake as the Red Bull ones then it would have been a real tale of not learning from other people's mistakes. Actually I do not think they learnt from other people's mistakes (in this case Red Bull's blunder) as they still fought for the lead. McLaren was just plain lucky in my opinion. Anyway, Lewis Hamilton claims his first victory of the 2010 season. Mark Webber somehow manages to still make third, looking a little depressed ahead of Michael Schumacher (it seems that the new modifications on the Mercedes-Brawn-Petronas made recently paid off), Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. Not a bad 800th outing for Ferrari considering they started in 8th and 12th as stated above. Next race: Canada 13th June 2010 Results 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h28:47.620 2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 2.645 3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 24.285 4. Schumacher Mercedes + 31.110 5. Rosberg Mercedes + 32.266 6. Kubica Renault + 32.824 7. Massa Ferrari + 36.635 8. Alonso Ferrari + 46.544 9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 49.029 10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.650 11. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.944 12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:07.800 13. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 15. Petrov Renault + 1 lap 16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 19. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps Did not finish Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 53

Who says Monaco will be a race where it becomes a procession or a 'follow the leader race'? This time the 2010 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix was action packed and there was action down to the wire. The final two laps were run under a safety car and just before the end of the final lap, the safety car pulled in and there was even an overtaking move made by Michael Schumacher on Fernando Alonso, which he somehow managed to pull off. Pole sitter Mark Webber won this race which was totally action filled. Sebastian Vettel made it a 1-2 finish with Robert Kubica of Renault coming in third. The Monaco street circuit is a yearly glamour event for the F1 circus. You get to see movie stars, billionaires and pop singers aside from the usual motorsport people. The tight circuit is somehow loved by the drivers as it requires a lot more concentration due to the narrow track and the barriers. The race started with Webber blasting away from the lead while Robert Kubica of Renault tries to hold off Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, but he can't do it and it's a Red Bull 1-2 through the first corner. Ferrari's Massa is fourth ahead of McLaren's Hamilton followed by Barrichello, Schumacher, Rosberg, Liuzzi, Sutil, Button. Although everyone made it past the first corner, Nico Hulkenberg, crashed at the exit of the tunnel causing the safety car to come out and also causing Jenson Button of McLaren to retire from a cooked engine (pic above) (caused by the slower safety car speeds and an error by the McLaren team on failing to remove an engine cover). This was the first of four safety car incidents. The second one was in lap 32 when Rubens Barrichello decided to stuff his Williams into the barrier. The third was when a drain cover coming lose at around lap 44. The final one was a real stunner in itself but it also caused another interesting event to happen, which I will get to right after this. The final safety car incident was caused on lap 76, two laps before the end. Jarno Trulli of Lotus tried to take Force India's Chandhok but hit him and the Lotus was airborne and landed on Chandhok's car. By this time everyone thought that the race would end with a safety car and with all the positions already settled. But Michael Schumacher had other ideas and right at the end, just after the safety car had pulled in he overtook Fernando Alonso to clinch sixth. I mean, if you blinked or started to rush for the loo, you'd miss it. Alonso must be miffed, as he started last from the pits, made his way though all the backmarkers and then at the last corner get taken by Schumacher. Then again, being seventh from last is a fabulous result anyway. Webber and Vettel are now tied in the Drivers' standings on 78 points each and Red Bull hold a 20-point advantage over second placed Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship. It was a great race at Monaco this weekend. Four safety car incidents, lots of crashes, tactics and last minute action made it a great race. Actually, having more chances to view that new Mercedes SLS Safety car is a good thing too. POST RACE UPDATE: Michael Schumacher was demoted from 6th to 12th for his overtaking move which was deemed as illegal after a post race investigation. Mercedes will not appeal the result of the investigation. Tough luck Schummi! The Results: 1. Webber -Red Bull-Renault 1h50:00.000 2. Vettel -Red Bull-Renault + 0.448 3. Kubica -Renault + 1.600 4. Massa -Ferrari + 2.600 5. Hamilton -McLaren-Mercedes + 4.300 6. Schumacher -Mercedes + 5.700 7. Alonso -Ferrari + 6.300 8. Rosberg -Mercedes + 6.600 9. Sutil -Force India-Mercedes + 6.900 10. Liuzzi -Force India-Mercedes + 7.300 11. Buemi -Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 8.100 12. Alguersuari -Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 9.100 13. Petrov -Renault + 4 laps Retirements: Hulkenberg - lap 1 - crash Button - lap 3 - engine failure De la Rosa - lap 23 - mechanical Glock - lap 24 - suspension Kobayashi - lap 27 - technical Di Grassi - lap 28 - hydraulics Barrichello - lap 31 - crash Senna - lap 62 - mechanical Kovalainen - lap 62 - technical Trulli - lap 75 - crash Chandhok - lap 75 - crash Petrov - lap 76 - wheel problem Sources: Free TV and PlanetF1.com (for the pics)

Jenson Button wins the 2010 Shanghai F1 Grand Prix. The 2009 World Champion started fifth on the grid and his decision to stay on slicks when everyone else pitted for intermediates as well as Nico Rosberg spinning saw him move to P1 on lap 20. He maintained in that position till the end and insisted after the race that his victory was down to the team's ability to make the correct decisions when it mattered. The Shanghai race ended with Button 1st, his teammate Lewis Hamilton in 2nd and Nico Rosberg of Brawn Mercedes Petronas in 3rd. The bad news of the day was that Red Bull may have started the race in P1 and P2 on the grid but that's not where they finished after falling foul of the changing (quite wet) conditions. The other Brawn Mercedes Petronas driver, a certain Michael Schumacher finished 10th, behind Ferrari's Massa who somehow managed to slip pass Schumacher somewhere at the end of the race. After starting ninth on the grid, Schumacher nearly had a top-five finish following a row of pit stops due to the changing weather weather. However, aside from a small battle with Lewis Hamilton, he quickly slipped back to the middle of the pack and was even grappling for grip at times. Schumacher admits it wasn't a good weekend for him all-round, but says he enjoyed his battle with Lewis Hamilton. It was a pretty interesting race with the safety car coming out twice. The weather playing an important part in making things interesting and nearly everyone, with the exception of Jenson Button went in and out of the pits. Good decision making from the team and from him. Mclaren were really good in that the fastest lap of the race was also snapped up by Lewis Hamilton. Things should get even better as the teams now head to Europe

Yes, things are much better this time around in Melbourne, Australia. The Quantas Australia Formula 1 Grand Prix 2010 saw Jenson Button of McLaren Mercedes taking the chequered flag, Robert Kubica of Renault taking second and Ferrari's Phillipe Massa coming in third. But the good thing was it rained and there was racing instead of a procession of cars. This fact played a real part in Button's victory as he gambled on an early tire change from intermediates to full race slicks very early on. It wasn't like Bore-rain, where I almost fell asleep while watching the telly. It had the racers maintain their track position lap after lap. It had overtaking this time unlike Bahrain, the rain in the early part of the race. As it was a wet start, entertainment happened from the start. Car crashes and all. Pole Sitter Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing had a decent start, as did Felipe Massa from fifth splitting the Red Bulls (who started in pole and in second) by Massa. Fernando Alonso who started in position 3( P3) dropped back. Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button got into a predicament as Alonso closed the door at the corner. Michael Schumacher got nudged and his front wing damaged (for which he had to pit). Button lost ground as he took avoiding action and cars passed by. A Toro Rosso (Buemi) headed for the gravel as the Sauber driven by Kamui Kobayashi which lost a front wing on the way to Turn 3 pitched him right into the barriers, then his car bouncing off across the track and taking out both Nico Hulkenberg and Sebastien Buemi. Three car casualties and not even one lap completed the Race Director Charlie Whiting called for the safety car. You see, rain makes entertaining racing. It was Jenson Button's decision for a very early pitstop (lap 6) that allowed him to win. After deciding that the intermediate tires were not doing well for him, he came in for slicks and it nearly cost him as upon leaving the pits, he lost control and went straight on turn 3. Two laps later almost all of the front runners came in for slicks with the exception of the Red Bulls which seemed okay on intermediates. Sebastian Vettel's seems to have gotten into an unlucky streak of starting on pole and then the car letting him down. In Bahrain, engine trouble was the cause and this time, the brakes had locked up and he ended in the gravel. The reliability of the Red Bull in question. Lewis Hamilton of McLaren also had bad luck and bad team decision. McLaren, had decided to call for a tire change without consulting the driver and according to Hamilton, this cost him a podium finish. Maybe it was down to inexperience on Hamilton's side and a bad mistake by the team. As some said that as driver he would have a choice to say 'no' to his race engineer. Even an experienced team like McLaren can make bad decisions. On the point of bad luck, Hamilton tangled with Mark Webber not once, but twice, the second time costing him to end his race at P6 instead of P5 and Webber a front wing and getting P9 with a possibility of a penalty at the next race in Sepang. Nico Rosberg of Mercedes Petronas capitalizing and getting P5 instead. It was fun. Even at the tail end of the race Michael Schumacher on the last 10 laps had overtaken two cars clinching P10 for the last point scoring position. Rain equals unpredictability in Formula 1 and this is a good thing. Maybe we don't need the Gatling Guns, batterin rams and missiles after all. Just add water to the race track instead. Sepang would be equally fun if it rains. I just hope it does not rain till all racing was stopped like last year. Results 1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h33:36.531 2. Kubica Renault + 12.034 3. Massa Ferrari + 14.488 4. Alonso Ferrari + 16.304 5. Rosberg Mercedes + 16.683 6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 29.898 7. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 59.847 8. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:00.536 9. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 1:07.319 10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:09.391 11. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:11.301 12. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1:14.084 13. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 2 laps 14. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps Did Not Finish Glock Virgin-Cosworth 41 Vettel Red Bull-Renault 26 Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 25 Sutil Force India-Mercedes 12 Petrov Renault 10 Senna HRT-Cosworth 5 Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1 Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1 Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1