Category Archives: Cars

F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Results & aftermath

Marussia Driver Jules Bianchi was critically injured Sunday

Marussia driver Jules Bianchi was critically injured Sunday

The Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, already under threat from a menacing offshore typhoon, was marred by a freak accident in rapidly deteriorating weather late in the race when Marussia driver Jules Bianchi lost control at Dunlop Curve and collided at high speed with a recovery tractor on the circuit. The promising 24-year-old Frenchman, who scored Marussia’s first and only Championship points at Monaco this year, aquaplaned and his low slung car appeared to submarine the edge of the tractor, which was on the scene attempting to remove Adrian Sutil’s beached Sauber after he had also lost control on that exact corner. Bianchi was taken by ambulance to a local hospital (the mandatory medical helicopter appears to have been grounded by the weather) where he was diagnosed with a severe head injury, underwent emergency surgery and is now listed in critical but stable condition. This is the worst on-track incident in Formula 1 since 2009 when Felipe Massa was hit in the head during Qualifying at the Hungaroring by a spring that had come off of the car in front of him. Having only just seen the recently released video of the incident, this accident looks must worse than Massa’s and I can say without exaggerating that it is remarkable that Bianchi survived the shunt. It is also remarkable that the hurtling vehicle did not collect any of the safety personnel on the scene.

Formula One World Championship, Rd15, Japanese Grand Prix, Race, Suzuka, Japan, Sunday 5 October 2014.

The Bianchi incident prompted a red flag that prematurely ended the race on lap 45 and overshadowed what had been an exciting day of wet weather strategy and dynamic racing. Lewis Hamilton was declared the winner and in truth it looked like no one had anything for the Englishman even had the race gone the full 53-lap distance.  Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes Pole over Rosberg by mere thousands of a second, Ricciardo a strong 3rd

Hamilton-F1-Singapore-Quali2014

It was truly last man standing Saturday under the enchanting lights of the Singapore street circuit as Englishman Lewis Hamilton pipped his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by a very Bondian .007 seconds to take Pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Even as it seemed that first the Williams of Felipe Massa and then the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo had done enough to grab the top spot, the Silver Arrows surged in the dying seconds of Q3 as they have so frequently this season. Ricciardo was left with the consolation of 3rd position on the race grid, while Massa was pushed down to 6th when the other Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel took 4th and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso grabbed 5th.

It made for a strong day for the Scuderia a week after long-time leader Luca Di Montezemolo got the sack by Fiat-Chrysler chairman Sergio Marchionne with the big boss also taking over Ferrari’s race operations. If not for software issues that brought Kimi Raikkonen’s Q3 session to a premature end Ferrari’s resurgent day might have been even better. With the tight Singapore street circuit favoring downforce and handling over top line speed, as well as almost always featuring a Safety Car period due to shunts, it could be Red Bull’s or Ferrari’s chance to upend Mercedes’ seemingly inevitable script of weekly victory.

Rounding out the top 10 were Massa’s young Williams’ teammate Valtteri Bottas in 8th, McLaren’s rookie Kevin Magnussen out-qualifying veteran teammate Jenson Button again for 9th and Torro Rosso’s 20-year-old Russian sensation Daniil Kvyat grabbing 10th.

Top 10 Quali results:

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:46.921 1:46.287 1:45.681 17
2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:47.244 1:45.825 1:45.688 19
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:47.488 1:46.493 1:45.854 12
4 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:47.476 1:46.586 1:45.902 15
5 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:46.889 1:46.328 1:45.907 16
6 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:47.615 1:46.472 1:46.000 20
7 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:46.685 1:46.359 1:46.170 14
8 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:47.196 1:46.622 1:46.187 18
9 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:47.976 1:46.700 1:46.250 18
10 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:47.656 1:46.926 1:47.362 21

 

Full Qualifying results via Formula1.com.

Live coverage of tomorrow’s night race at the beautifully lit Marina Bay Street Circuit, one of the most visually captivating and physically demanding on the schedule, begins tomorrow at 7:30am Eastern on NBCSports.

Cars we want — Maserati Ghibli S Q4

All right, so the Ghibli is Maserati’s “entry level” 4-door model with all the attendant compromises that implies for such a storied luxury marque. But it still flies that stylish Trident flag very impressively. Especially considering you can have all that panache and performance in a 5-seat sedan for a bit over $70k for the deluxe “S” version, certainly comparable with the attractive but Teutonically restrained (and much, much more common) Audi S7 and Mercedes CLS.  And if the interior quality is not quite up to the Germans in terms of quality and tech savvy, the sexy exterior and only-from-Italy engine note is guaranteed to turn many more heads. And isn’t that a big part of why you fall in love with Italian luxury cars in the first place?

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In its most appealing “S Q4” configuration, the Ghibli features rear-biased all wheel drive and a Maranello-designed twin-turbo 3.0 liter engine that puts out an impressive 404 break horsepower with 406 lbs of torque, which can shoot the rather hefty 4100 pound chassis from 0-60 in a decent 4.7 seconds. With the option to control the 8-speed automatic transmission semi-manually via the steering wheel paddles and the symphonic Sport mode selected, the Ghibli excels as a mid-size performance machine, more growling jungle cat than sedate sports sedan. Of course, you pay the price in gas mileage for all that uniquely Italian exhilaration at just about 20mpg highway and so you’ll constantly be filling its 21-gallon tank. But that’s because you’ll be driving the hell out of this beautiful machine.

Maserati-Ghibli-5

Quibbles about the Chrysler-borrowed interactive touch screen system, which probably controls too many facets of the interior functions, and seats that look great but are not actually that comfortable are put aside when you put your foot down on windy, uphill roads and the Ghibli really begins to shine. With exceptional power-to-weight distribution and road handling ability, especially if you opt for the pricey but telepathic Skyhook adaptive suspension, plus an ingenious system for electronically controlling the torque distribution between front and rear, the car seems to perform better the faster you go and the curvier the road. Chances are, it will have you singing like Pavarotti as you blaze your way up California’s Route 1 or New York’s Taconic. Control, power and finesse in a beautiful package that always turns heads, all at a price that won’t break the bank? Now that’s amore.

maserati-ghibli-04

Road & Track’s positive review of the S Q4 is here.

Car and Driver’s rather less complimentary review is here.

And a video review from Hooniverse.com:

F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results and aftermath

Hamilton regains momentum with determined run to victory at Monza, Rosberg 2nd after error; Massa 3rd, Bottas 4th for Williams to move team ahead of Ferrari

F1Italypodium2014

(Pictures via the excellent GrandPrix24-7.com)

After yet another stroke of misfortune for Mercedes’ driver Lewis Hamilton at the start of the Italian Grand Prix it would have been easy for the Englishman to play it conservative and cede victory to Nico Rosberg, his teammate and archrival for the Drivers’ Championship. But “conservative” has never been in Hamilton’s vocabulary. Facing an electronic problem to start the race at the spectacularly fast Monza circuit that pushed Hamilton from Pole to 4th in the space of an eye blink, the feisty former champion fought his way back to harass Rosberg until it was the German who blinked. Directly after both had stopped for their one and only tire change, Rosberg was still leading the race on lap 29 but locked up his tires for the second time while breaking for the first chicane. Rather than flat-spotting them he again took the slow runoff route and this time Hamilton was close enough to pounce and take command of the race. Hamilton never looked back and still had plenty of rubber and fuel at the end to hold off Rosberg by over 3 seconds. After his unforced error it would now seem to be Rosberg’s turn to have a moment of doubt as to whether he can hold on to his most cherished dream, to be crowned World Champion of F1. One thing is for certain: Hamilton will keep on coming to grab another Championship no matter what fate throws his way. He’s already had a season’s worth of bad luck with 6 rounds left to be run and he is still a mere 22 points behind Rosberg overall lead. The current points leader had better buckle up and toughen up if he wants to be crowned champion because Hamilton looks to have regained the upper hand in the mental war between the two contenders.

Felipe Massa came home a distant 3rd for Williams. The veteran Brazilian, who saw so much success and heartbreak when he was a driver for Ferrari, was warmly cheered by the fans after his strong if unspectacular drive for the last spot on the Podium. His young Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas had good run after a poor start from 3rd on the grid forced him to fight with several drivers, most notably McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, to regain positions. Bottas was able to fight his way to 4th and in doing so lifted Williams, whose disastrous 2013 campaign seems like nothing but a bad dream now, over Ferrari for 3rd place in the Constructors’ Championship. Not at all coincidentally, it was announced that both drivers will be retained by Williams Martini racing for 2015, completing a very ecstatic weekend at Monza for the team.

At the other end of the spectrum, the great Scuderia Ferrari had an awful day at their home Grand Prix, which is just a pleasant ride on the autostrade from home base in Maranello. Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Apologies but due to logistical difficulties I was not able to file my report on the Belgian Grand Prix until now. But here’s what went down on Sunday in the Ardennes at Spa-Francorchamps…

Surging Ricciardo takes 2nd straight win for Red Bull, Rosberg relegated to 2nd after early race incident with Mercedes teammate Hamilton; Bottas grabs another strong 3rd for Williams

F1 Grand Prix of Belgium

The echoes of Senna-Prost grew a little bit stronger Sunday at Spa as Mercedes teammates and Championship contenders Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton clashed early on lap 2, damaging Rosberg’s front wing but catastrophically puncturing Hamilton’s right rear far from the pits. The Englishman, who had been ahead as Rosberg tried an inside move when tire and wing came together, then had to limp home as his tire delaminated and began buggy whipping his bodywork for nearly 4 miles. While his Silver Arrow was able to continue it put him so far back in the pack that eventually the team retired the car in order to save the engine for future use, earning Hamilton zero Drivers’ points after starting from 2nd on the grid. Rosberg, who had won the Pole in wet conditions on Saturday, was able to soldier on despite an off sequence pit stop for a front wing change, showing great pace as the race wound down and coming home in second place and with a tidy 18 Championship points. Afterwards, the acrimony between the teammates was palpable with claims by Hamilton that Rosberg had stuck his nose in deliberately to “prove a point” and Rosberg putting it all down to a racing incident but certainly not apologizing. Mercedes team management was less than thrilled with the loss of Constructors’ points from the clash and vowed to give both drivers a stern talking to. But then again, it’s racing not a Sunday drive in the forest so these things happen between intense competitors and any ill will generated by them only serves to spice up the Championship going forward, especially with Mercedes running away with it. I say keep it up, lads!

Almost lost in all that controversy was another outstanding performance by Red Bull junior driver Daniel Ricciardo, who took advantage of the Mercedes infighting to run away to victory. Continue reading →