Category Archives: Motorsports

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Hamilton still top dog in Italy but tifosi thrilled to see Raikonnen & Vettel relegate Rosberg to 4th

At the festival of pure speed and racing passion embodied by the legendary Monza track in northern Italy, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton proved once again that he is the fastest man in the fastest machine. Debuting 2016’s advanced engine spec for the factory Mercedes team, Hamilton grabbed yet another pole in Saturday qualifying, his astonishing 15th P1 out of 16 sessions this season. But the Silver Arrows’ overall dominance was upended by Scuderia Ferrari on their home turf, with the recently re-signed Kimi Raikkonen taking a very strong P2 and his more vaunted teammate Sebastian Vettel coming home just a few tenths behind in P3. When Nico Rosberg, running this year’s standard Mercedes engine, could do no better than 4th fastest, the tifosi erupted in unbridled, typically Italian joy. If the two Prancing Horses can make a dynamic duo-type getaway like we saw in Hungary and swamp Hamilton at the start of the race, they may be able to pull off the upset and send all of Italy into paroxysms of joy. However, with an average lap speed somewhere north of 150mph, It could be quite difficult to keep Hamilton down for long at this circuit even assuming that the two blood red Ferraris can get away from him when the lights go out. The other possibility, of course, is that the new Mercedes engine is not quite ready to last an entire race flat out. As the old saying goes, we shall see come Sunday.

Pictures via GrandPrix247.com

Mercedes-powered Williams had a decent day, with veteran Felipe Massa slightly outpacing his younger Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas, P5 to P6. Force India continued to impress with Sergio Perez grabbing the 7th fastest time, while Nico Huldenberg, who just had his contract extended by the team for two more years, ran out of fuel in the middle of Q3 and had to settle for 9th on the grid. Coming off his best race of the year at Spa two weeks ago, Romain Grosjean rode that momentum and was excellent for Lotus, just snatching P8 as the seconds wound down in Q3. Marcus Ericsson would have again found himself rounding out the top 10 for Sauber but he was judged to have impeded Hulkenberg during Q1 and penalized 2 spots on the grid, so Grosjean’s teammate Pastor Maldonado was elevated to 10th position.

Teams Red Bull and Toro Rosso were also penalized for exceeding their engine change limits and so all their cars will start from the back of the field tomorrow. Continue reading →

RIP Justin Wilson — 1978 – 2015

Very sad news today from the world of motorsport — racing driver Justin Wilson has died after suffering severe head injuries in last Sunday’s IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway. The English racer was struck by a large piece of debris at speed when Sage Karam’s car crashed into the wall late in the race. He was airlifted to nearby Lehigh Valley Hospital directly from the track but remained in a coma and passed away this past Monday evening. He is survived by his wife Julia, his two young daughters and his younger brother Stefan, who is also a professional racer. Wilson was 37.

IndyCar’s official statement is here.

The family’s statement with their charitable wishes is here.

Justin Wilson was an extremely talented driver who competed in the highest forms of motorsport on several different teams and in several different disciplines. Along the way, he overcame numerous serious injuries to continue racing, his lifelong calling. Working his way up through karting and the lower development divisions, Wilson then won the 2001 Formula 3000 championship and then got a Formula 1 ride with Minardi in 2003. Due to his unusual height — the lanky Englishman was a very un-pilot like 6’4″ — Minardi designed the car around Wilson. After outperforming senior teammate Jos Verstappen, Wilson jumped to Jaguar for the last races of the season, scoring his first Championship points at the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis. But due to that odd F1 paradox of talented drivers with insufficient sponsorship or personal funds being passed over for less gifted pay drivers, Wilson was bounced from his F1 seat and came to America to find work. And find it he did. He got a ride in Champ Car (precursor to indyCar) in 2004 and won his first race in that series in 2005 in Toronto. Wilson finished runner up or 3rd in that championship from 2005-7.

Wilson continued to race in America when Champ Car merged with the Indy Racing League to from today’s IndyCar series in 2008. He kept winning and worked hard to improve on the alien American oval tracks but always had trouble finding a long-term drive, probably due to the lack of personal money he could bring to a team. His management group eventually resorted to selling “shares” in Wilson to support his racing career. But like a throwback to a 1960s or 70s driver, Wilson hustled and competed in all forms of the sport, carrying his helmet to the 24 Hours of Le Mans early in his career, a win at the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona after several tries, multiple Indianapolis 500 starts, V8 Supercars in Australia and even Formula E this year. Simply put, Wilson was a professional driver who could make any car go faster and improve the performance of a chassis through his experience and valuable technical feedback, particularly on road courses.

And that’s how he came to be driving for Andretti Autosport this past Sunday after being signed for the last five races of the season. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Hamilton back on form for Mercedes with dominant victory at Spa, Rosberg 2nd best; Grosjean surprises with fantastic P3 for Lotus

Photos via GrandPrix247.com

The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Fracorchamps, the first race in anger after the long summer break at a legendary circuit renowned for drama and danger, did not disappoint. While Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton returned to form and stamped his authority on the race from pole to the checkered flag, all behind him was chaos. His teammate and closest rival, Nico Rosberg, had a poor start under the new “no clutch coaching” rules and was swamped immediately by the onrushing Williams of Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez’s Force India and Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull. While Rosberg would fight back to come home 2nd his chances of catching Hamilton were essentially doomed with that sluggish start. And now 28 points adrift, so might Nico’s chances of breaking Lewis’ stranglehold on the Drivers’ Championship.

Aside from Hamilton’s renewed dominance, the other big story of the Belgian GP was Lotus’ Romain Grosjean. The mercurial Frenchman started from P9 after a a 5-spot grid penalty for an engine change on Friday. But Grosjean was undeterred and carved his way through the field, his improved Lotus chassis showing a fine balance of power and stability that suited the always tricky-fast Spa circuit. With the help of a good pit stop he emerged in 7th place on Lap 10. He passed Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull on Lap 18 for P4 and then Perez on Lap 20 to take P3. That seemed to convince Grosjean that was exactly where he belonged. By the end of the race and after another round of pit stops he was in hot pursuit of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for that last step on the podium with the laps — and Vettel’s old tires on a one-stop strategy — running out. And as fate would have it, on the penultimate lap Vettel’s right rear tire blew directly after the two cars tore up Eau Rouge nose to tail. Vettel suffered the ignominy of limping home with nearly the entire field passing him while an emotional Grosjean raced home for a much needed podium for beleaguered Lotus.

Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat, who finished 2nd in the last Grand Prix in Hungary, had another outstanding drive on Sunday. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Qualifying results

The summer break is over and it’s time to get back to racing in Formula 1. And where better to resume the season than the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit? Today was the first time in nearly a month to see who had the speed and who would take pole for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix. And the answer, much as it has been in the last 6 races, is…

Mercedes’ Hamilton picks up where he left off with 6th straight Pole, Rosberg 2nd fastest; Bottas boosts Williams with P3 in Qualifying

Photos via GrandPrix247.com

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the current Drivers’ Championship leader, came back from the summer break and his slow-paced Caribbean vacation just as fast as ever. In typical fashion, the Englishman wrung every ounce of performance out of his car at mythic Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday to grab his 6th consecutive pole position. That made it an astonishing 10 poles for Hamilton in 11 races so far in 2015. Possessing the fastest chassis by far and the fastest driver, the Mercedes factory team has now clinched pole in every race this season. Hamilton’s teammate and closest championship pursuer, German Nico Rosberg, was perhaps running slightly more downforce after his harrowing blown-tire shunt in Friday practice and took P2 to lock out the front row for the Silver Arrows yet again.

Williams got a nice lift after a string of lackluster pre-break results when young Finn Valtteri Bottas was able to secure P3 on the grid. It was a very good effort from Bottas, who surely must have been smarting after learning the news that Ferrari had re-signed the enigmatic and erratic Kimi Raikkonen through next year’s season despite all speculation to the contrary. Bottas’ Williams teammate, former Ferrari hand Felipe Massa, was not as quick in the same machinery and could muster no better than the 7th best time of the day. Lotus’ Romain Grosjean had a remarkably good performance to come home P4 for the troubled team, easily the surprise of the session. However, the Frenchman will still have to serve a 5-spot grid penalty for a gearbox change on Friday. His teammate, the much-maligned Pastor Maldonado, was also unusually strong with the eighth fastest time in Q3. Also stepping up his game was Force India’s Sergio Perez who grabbed an impressive 5th spot on the grid and really seemed to get the most out of his car on this tricky, high speed course.

At the other end of the spectrum Red Bull and Ferrari must have been extremely disappointed, with both teams getting only one car through to the final shootout in Q3. Daniel Ricciardo took P6 but his teammate Daniil Kvyat was bounced out in Q2 and will start P12 after finishing runner up in the last race at the Hungaroring. It was arguably even worse for Ferrari, with their race winner in Hungary, Sebastian Vettel, unable to do better than a P9 start at Spa and the star-crossed Raikonnen suffering what sounded like terminal transmission failure in Q2. The Finnish veteran, who was retained by Ferrari for next year despite all the prevailing omens, will have to fight his way up from 14th on the grid. 20-year-old Toro Rosso rookie Carlos Sainz grabbed the last spot in the top 10, outdoing his 17-year-old teammate, Max Verstappen (P15), who didn’t really push his car after some drive issues in Q2 because he will face a large grid penalty for engine changes anyway.

Top 10 Qualifiers for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix:

POS.	NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	44	LEWIS HAMILTON	MERCEDES	1:48.908	1:48.024	1:47.197	16
2	6	NICO ROSBERG	MERCEDES	1:48.923	1:47.955	1:47.655	17
3	77	VALTTERI BOTTAS	WILLIAMS	1:49.026	1:49.044	1:48.537	19
4	8	ROMAIN GROSJEAN	LOTUS	1:49.353	1:48.981	1:48.561	17
5	11	SERGIO PEREZ	FORCE INDIA	1:49.006	1:48.792	1:48.599	16
6	3	DANIEL RICCIARDO	RED BULL RACING	1:49.664	1:49.042	1:48.639	17
7	19	FELIPE MASSA	WILLIAMS	1:49.688	1:48.806	1:48.685	15
8	13	PASTOR MALDONADO	LOTUS	1:49.568	1:48.956	1:48.754	17
9	5	SEBASTIAN VETTEL	FERRARI	1:49.264	1:48.761	1:48.825	17
10	55	CARLOS SAINZ	TORO ROSSO	1:49.109	1:49.065	1:49.771	1

Complete Qualifying results via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix will also see the debut of a refinement to the starting rules by banning team communication to the drivers as regards clutch bite point and other on-the-fly adjustments durning the warm up laps. That assumed lack of precision could make for a tricky and possibly dangerous start, as the drivers will have to figure out the perfect bite point themselves, which could lead to a stalled car in front of others rocketing forward or just a lurching start in general. Hopefully, despite the good intention of returning more control of the racing to the drivers, the FIA hasn’t gone two steps back on safety.

Tune in tomorrow to see how that tricky start shakes out and whether Mercedes can get back to dominating races the way they’ve dominated qualifying throughout the year. Who knows, maybe a wild card like Force India’s Sergio Perez will finally pull off a major upset on a track that seems to suit him? Find out how it all goes down live on NBC Sports Network here in the states starting at 8AM Eastern. Hope to see you then!

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Results & aftermath

Vettel and Ferrari ascendent in Hungary; Kvyat & Ricciardo take 2nd & 3rd for Red Bull; Rosberg loses chance to pass Hamilton in the points late in wild race

All pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Only in one of the wildest, most topsy-turvey Formula 1 races you will ever see would Sebastian Vettel’s masterful win for resurgent Ferrari seem like the secondary story of the day. But that’s how it felt on Sunday in Hungary in a Grand Prix featuring shunts, punctures, penalties and mechanical failures galore, as well as a remarkable 2-3 finish by Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo in their previously underwhelming RB11 chassis. It was easy to overlook the remarkable achievement of Vettel and his improved Prancing Horse scoring his first-ever win at the Hungaroring when even woeful McLaren managed to finally score double points in 2015. But the German former four-time World Champion stamped his authority on the race the moment the lights went out for the start, making a power move right on by pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes along the outside going into Turn 1. Vettel’s teammate, beleaguered Finnish veteran Kimi Raikkonen, followed close behind the space Vettel had created and all at once both Ferarris had passed both Mercedes. That left Silver Arrows teammates Hamilton and Nico Rosberg duking it out for 3rd. And then, no doubt frustrated by his ragged start, Hamilton lost his composure. The English championship leader tried to shove his way by Rosberg but had to bail out when he got too close going into a turn, sending him skittering off track into the gravel. While he was never stuck and kept rolling, a gaggle of cars passed him as he extricated himself and unlucky Lewis found himself in P10 before the end of the first lap. That seemed to set the tone for Hamilton’s race, as he proceeded to bull his way around the the Hungaroring in a seemingly futile effort to make up by brute force all the ground he lost on that eventful first lap.

Meanwhile up at the front, the race settled into a false sense of calm that belied the even greater chaos yet to come, with Vettel & Raikkonen running 1-2 and Rosberg 3rd. But right around Lap 40 Raikonnen began to experience ERS issues and dropped several dozen horsepower. The continued bad luck for the Finn left him in the unfortunate position of “blocker” for teammate Vettel and it became inevitable that the rest of the contenders would swamp him, which they soon did. With potentially his best car of the year and badly needing a strong result to stay in Ferrari’s good graces Raikkonen instead was forced to retire on Lap 60. At least no one could say that it was Kimi’s fault this time but that probably won’t help him keep his seat.

Prior to Raikkonen’s dropping out there was an eventful Safety Car period initiated when the Force India of Nico Hulkenburg had front wing failure on Lap 43 and shot straight off into the tire barrier. Continue reading →

RIP Jules Bianchi, 1989 – 2015

Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi has passed away at the age of 25. Bianchi succumbed to the severe head injury he received last October at Suzuka in the waning stages of the Japanese Grand Prix, when his Marussia collided with a recovery vehicle on the track under rainy Yellow Flag conditions. Due to the low profile of F1 cars, his head struck the lower edge of the crane at a high rate of speed dealing him the diffuse axonal injury from which he would never recover. Jules was a highly regarded, up-and-coming pilot with connections to Ferrari and after scoring his and Marussia’s first-ever Championship points at Monaco last year it seemed as if the sky was the limit for his career in motorsport. We send our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues and we mourn his premature passing. It seems profoundly unfair that someone so young and talented should have his life cut short in this fashion. But his chosen vocation was a dangerous one. Despite the fact that there had been no fatalities in F1 in 20 years, we can never loose sight of the fact that these drivers put their lives on the line every time they step into the cockpit despite how “easy” it looks on TV.

Jules Bianchi (FRA), Marussia F1 Team. Suzuka Circuit accident 2014.

It has to be said that the FIA’s report on the incident did not exactly cover the organization in glory. It firmly laid the blame on Jules for not lifting enough with the yellow flags waving, although there were conflicting reports as to where exactly a driver might be able to see the yellows and how much he was required to lift. Continue reading →

Cars we want — 2017 Ford GT

No, we don’t usually get into the whole realm of supercars in this feature, as how many of us really have that kind of money? But look at this thing. Ford’s new GT is definitely worth dreaming about… and perhaps cashing out the old 401k a bit early for (I never did say I was a qualified financial advisor). With its pin-up worthy low slung looks a definite homage to the original Ferrari-slaying GT40 prototypes of the 1960s, this is a car that is at once aware of its illustrious heritage and determined to surpass it. Specifically built and marketed for a triumphant return to LeMans in 2016 on the 50th anniversary of the GT40s remarkable 1-2-3 overall finish in 1966, the new iteration will compete in the GTE Pro class of production cars against Corvette Stingrays, Ferrari 458s, Porsche 911s, Audi R8s, and Astin Martin Vantages. Which is maybe a bit unfair since not even those elite rides come close to the estimated 2017 GT’s $400,000 true-supercar price tag. Nonetheless, the Ford Motor Company is shrewdly betting on the historic resonance of their return to Le Mans to motivate a new generation of gearheads to worship at the altar of the Blue Oval. And if they’re not able to afford the GT perhaps they’ll at least pony up for a new Mustang.

With help in racing development from major league motorsport player Chip Gannasi Racing and their all-star lineup of drivers, including the venerable king of sports cars Scott Pruett and the excellent former DTM driver Joey Hand among other potential all-star cameos, preparation will include a twin-track effort in 2016 Tudor Series events in the States and World Endurance Championship races in Europe. Clearly, Ford is aiming to be competitive by the time they roll off the truck for their LeMans debut in mid-June of next year. That may be overly ambitious, as very few Le Mans programs are successful in their first year, and that includes Ford’s rocky early efforts to take it to Ferrari in 1964-5 before breaking through to dominance in ’66. In motorsport, as in all sports and life in general, you’ve very often got to fail before you succeed. But with a pedal-to-the-metal effort fully supported by the factory in Dearborn, the new GT should still get towards the sharp end of the field rather quickly.

As always in endurance racing, the cars’ durability will be key. With an all-carbon fiber monocoque and aluminum front and rear subframes it should be interesting to see how this new GT survives under variable loads at a big, hybrid road-oval course like the 24 Hours of Daytona. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

With late rain at Slverstone Hamilton times it perfectly to hold off all comers; Rosberg settles for a forlorn 2nd place but Vettel grabs a fortuitous podium

All race weekend the weather at the famed Silverstone circuit had been absolutely perfect with plentiful sun and balmy temperatures. But with 16 laps remaining in the British Grand Prix the skies turned dark and rain began to spatter half of the track in a more typical display of English summer weather. That meant it was judgement time for the pit wall strategists, as well as the contenders for the win at the front of the race. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikonnen was the first to make the call to gamble on Intermediate wet tires on Lap 39 but it proved to be a wager made too soon and the Finn made no ground in mixed conditions. By Lap 43, however, the intensity of the precipitation picked up and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton dove into pits to make the switch after several squirmingly slow laps. By the time he exited after his service, the skies opened up and Hamilton seized the opportunity, building a gap on his teammate Nico Rosberg, who had stayed out on dry tires and only pitted on Lap 45. It all broke right for the Englishman at that moment and the racing gods had smiled on Hamilton once again at his home Grand Prix. In that decisive moment, he had essentially won at Silverstone for the 3rd time, a very exclusive club. And so he marched home to a dominant win amidst the hearty cheers of his countrymen, the beneficiary of good timing and good luck. But then, luck is the residue of design and after blowing a sure win in Monaco it would be hard to argue he wasn’t owed one after all.

Photos courtesy GrandPrix247.com

It was hardly Hamilton’s and Mercedes’ usual uncontested victory. Team Williams had a storming start to the race with both Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas overtaking Hamilton and Rosberg directly off the starting line. For a while it seemed as if Frank Williams’ legendary British team could hold off mighty Mercedes and pull the upset. But it wasn’t to be. With Bottas looking the faster of their drivers team Williams did not issue any team orders to have Massa cede the lead to his junior teammate and that seemed to enable Mercedes to keep close despite their unusual starting hiccup. So when the first round of stops came, Hamilton was ideally poised to leapfrog both of the Williams with a typically sterling Mercedes stop. And that was exactly how it played out. Hamilton had a blistering out lap and was able to come around ahead of both Massa and Rosberg after they pitted simultaneously a lap later, as well as Bottas a lap after that. Even worse for Williams, when the rains did come they stayed out too long on slicks while Ferrari called in Sebastian Vettel to change to Intermediates. While their early call with Raikonnen didn’t pay off, the call for Vettel did in spades. Suddenly, in a race in which the German’s Prancing Horse had been nowhere, Vettel was able to reel in several positions including his teammate and both Williams to practically steal the last step on the podium with a fortuitous P3. The unlucky guinea pig Raikonnen finished P8.

That left Williams asking what might have been and relegated Massa to P4 and Bottas to P5. They have got to be cursing the unwanted rain. But they may also be second-guessing their strategy calls earlier in the race and whether they should have let the racy Bottas scoot on by Massa and try to build a gap against Mercedes that might have held up amidst all the whether-related chaos. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Qualifying results

Hamilton grabs historic Pole at Silverstone, Rosberg P2; Massa 3rd fatstest in Quali for Williams

Englishman Lewis Hamilton thrilled the home crowd on Saturday by putting together a blisteringly fast lap at Silverstone to claim Pole for Sunday’s British Grand Prix. The current reigning World Champion and this year’s points leader, who only just turned 30 on July 1st, grabbed his 3rd Silverstone Pole and 46th overall, surpassing Sebastian Vettel for 3rd all-time. Hamilton now trails only Michael Schumacher (68) and Ayrton Senna (65) in the history of F1 Qualifying. Even sweeter, the performance also saw him besting his Mercedes teammate and archrival Nico Rosberg by .12 seconds. After the session the German challenger complained agitatedly of understeer late in Q3, just when he needed the maximum performance out of the car. Whether that was excuse making or an actual technical problem, Rosberg was left hoping for a repeat of his impressive performance in the Austrian Grand Prix two weeks ago where he also started from P2 on the grid but overtook Hamilton on track for the victory. But with Hamilton’s historic dominance in this his home race it’s a bit harder to envision Rosberg duplicating that feat tomorrow.

Team Williams out-performed Ferrari with their qualifying pace on the flat, fast former WWII airfield circuit, with the veteran Felipe Massa edging his Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas, P3 to P4. With the heat on Kimi Raikkonen after a season-long slump and two disastrous efforts in Canada and Austria, the Finnish former world champ was spurred to out-do his usually superior Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel, taking P4 to Vettel’s P5. It remains to be seen if Raikkonen can keep it together in a race, however, and it seems almost certain that his days at Maranello are numbered. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

Rosberg shows toughness and grit with commanding win in Austria, Hamilton 2nd for Mercedes; Williams’ Massa a hard-fought P3

The question in Austria after Saturday’s bizarre Qualifying that saw first Lewis Hamilton spin and then Nico Rosberg gift back the Pole with a spin of his own was whether Rosberg could overcome that error and fight his teammate for the win on Sunday. From the very start of the race Rosberg put that line of query to bed by forcefully grabbing the lead from Hamilton, charging by his English rival into turn one of the Red Bull Ring. After a hairy crash later on that first lap that took out Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari and the McLaren of Fernado Alonso and resulted in a Safety Car for several laps (both drivers were thankfully uninjured), Rosberg re-seized the initiative upon the restart, blasting ahead on this track that seems to suit him and building a lead he would not relinquish. Hamilton was also hurt by his own mental error when he crossed the blend line coming out of the pits on Lap 36. Not only did he emerge behind Rosberg but the stewards assessed a 5-second time penalty on the English Championship leader, essentially dooming his chances of victory midway through the race. With the win, Rosberg closed the gap to Hamilton to a mere 10 championship points and perhaps proved that he is not quite as mentally fragile as he has appeared in the past.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The usual Mercedes dominance left the fight for the last podium position down to the resurgent Williams of Felipe Massa and the very competitive Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Continue reading →

Man's Fine Life

The Return of the Well-Rounded Gentleman