Category Archives: Motorsports

F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Formula 1 returns to Austria for the first time in over a decade at the newly-christened Red Bull Ring. Would the namesake’s team uphold Red Bull pride on Qualifying day amidst the short and tricky track in the Alps? Or would the German Mercedes team continue their overpowering display of prowess? Come with me below the fold to find out… Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

A thrilling Canadian Grand Prix just went down with Mercedes’ perfect season on the line and their two pilots fighting to be the Silver Arrows’ top dog. Would 2014’s script continue play out exactly as it had for the first six races with a Mercedes on the top step? Or would another team and driver finally get to taste victory in Montreal? Join me below the fold to find out…

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F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Another Mercedes 1-2 as Rosberg grabs second Pole in a row without drama, Vettel back on form to take 3rd on the grid in Canada

After the contentious qualifying session in Monaco two weeks ago where Lewis Hamilton openly speculated that his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg caused a deliberate yellow flag to thwart his final fast lap, Rosberg responded by grabbing a straightforward Pole position in Montreal at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, besting his teammate by less than a tenth of a second. Once again the two factory Silver Arrows were untouchable with Hamilton’s 2nd position over half a second quicker that the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, who wrung the most out of his underpowered chassis to take 3rd on a course that demands speed in the long straights. After showing signs of coming out of his season-long funk in the last couple of races it seems the German 4-time World Champion is primed to at least hold off his junior teammate Daniel Ricciardo for Best of the Rest honors come Sunday. But barring mechanical issues, Team Mercedes look to continue running away with the Championship points with the only real drama seemingly to be which of their two excellent pilots will come out on top from week to week.

Full Qualifying results below courtesy of Autosport.com:

Pos Driver                Team                 Time           Gap   
 1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m14.874s         
 2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m14.953s  +0.079s 
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m15.548s  +0.674s 
 4. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes    1m15.550s  +0.676s 
 5. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes    1m15.578s  +0.704s 
 6. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault     1m15.589s  +0.715s 
 7. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m15.814s  +0.940s 
 8. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault   1m16.162s  +1.288s 
 9. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m16.182s  +1.308s 
10. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari              1m16.214s  +1.340s 
Q2 cut-off time: 1m16.255s                                   Gap **
11. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m16.300s  +1.246s
12. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes     1m16.310s  +1.256s
13. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes 1m16.472s  +1.418s
14. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m16.687s  +1.633s
15. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault   1m16.713s  +1.659s
16. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari       1m17.314s  +2.260s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m18.235s                                Gap *
17. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault        1m18.328s  +2.578s
18. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari     1m18.348s  +2.598s
19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari     1m18.359s  +2.609s
20. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault     1m19.278s  +3.528s
21. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault     1m19.820s  +4.070s
22. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       no time

Race day is tomorrow at 2pm Eastern on NBC here in the US.

RIP Sir Jack Brabham, 1926 – 2014

The Australian triple Formula 1 World Champion Sir Jack Brabham has passed away at the age of 88. Among his many accomplishments, Sir Jack was the first and only man to win the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships in a car of his own design (1966).

Photo from www.brianwatsonphoto.co.uk

From his son David, a fantastic racer in his own right:

On behalf of the family, Jack’s youngest son David said: “It’s a very sad day for all of us. My father passed away peacefully at home at the age of 88 this morning. He lived an incredible life, achieving more than anyone would ever dream of and he will continue to live on through the astounding legacy he leaves behind.

What more can one say? Sir Jack raced in the greatest era of Formula 1 against the best drivers, won 3 championships, left on his own terms and lived to become a beloved figure in his golden years. He may have departed this world but he goes on now to join his rivals and friends Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt among others in that great paddock in the sky. What a legacy and we should all be as lucky to shuffle off this mortal coil as accomplished and fulfilled as this great man. He truly left nothing undone. Godspeed, Sir Jack.

Motorsport Books — The Cruel Sport by Robert Daley

The companion piece to Robert Daley’s seminal Cars at Speed, The Cruel Sport is ostensibly more of a coffee table picture book. With its oversized dimensions featuring beautiful black and white photos of Formula 1′s golden era taken while Daley was a correspondent for the New York Times in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, The Cruel Sport captures the romance and danger of Grand Prix motor racing during its mythic past. Shots of the greatest drivers of the era — Phil Hill, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Dan Gurney, Jackie Stewart, et al — doing what they do best make up the bulk of this great tome with the text secondary and spare.

Scene from 1964 GP of Holland (Photo by Robert Daly)

Scene from 1964 GP of Holland (Photo by Robert Daley)

The fantastic record of the state-of-the-art cars of this era — thin, gasoline-filled aluminum monocoques surrounding the driver like a casket with a giant engine newly moved to behind his back — pay tribute to the beauty of the Ferraris, Lotuses, BRMs and all the other land rockets of the pre-safety, pre-downforce era. Interspersed throughout are brief profiles of the drivers and circuits written in Daley’s inimitable wry, Hemingway-esque prose. Showing through, as in all his writing on motorsport, is the paradoxical ambivalence of at once being highly attracted to the derring-do of the men’s wondrous achievements as pilots and revulsion at the wonton waste of life inherent during this era of Formula 1, when the death of drivers and spectators was nearly guaranteed several times a season.

Death of Lorenzo Bandini, Monaco, 1967 (Photo by Robert Daley)

In fact, the footnotes to the photos in the closing “Photo Identification” section are practically another book unto themselves, with detailed ruminations about the deaths of Graham Hill by plane accident in the 1970s and Jim Clark at Hockenheim in a Formula 2 race in 1968, among many other anecdotes. And Daley’s quietly devastating recounting of the death of Lorenzo Bandini in a Ferrari at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix and his journalistic need to photograph it (the horrifying shot of Bandini trapped beneath his burning Ferrari is the fitting endpaper of the book) makes for essential reading in and of itself as a shattering piece of self-reflective journalism, motorsports notwithstanding. In short, along with Cars at Speed, The Cruel Sport is a must have volume for any serious racing fan and anyone who cherishes the bittersweet history of Formula 1 and the men who lived & died it in its most glorious years, as told by its finest, most clear-eyed chronicler.

Check out more of Robert Daley’s life and work at his website, robertdaleyauthor.com.

F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

No point in putting it below the fold at this late date and no time to go into detail…

Hamilton earns another Pole as unstoppable Silver Arrows lock out front row with Rosberg 2nd; Ricciardo carries Red Bull hopes at 3rd

Complete coverage for the 3 rounds of Qualifying here via F1.com.

Top 10 Qualifiers for the Spanish Grand Prix below:

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.238 1:26.210 1:25.232 16
2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:26.764 1:26.088 1:25.400 19
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:28.053 1:26.613 1:26.285 16
4 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:28.198 1:27.563 1:26.632 17
5 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:28.472 1:27.258 1:26.960 18
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:28.308 1:27.335 1:27.104 18
7 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:28.329 1:27.602 1:27.140 16
8 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.279 1:27.570 1:27.335 18
9 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:28.061 1:27.016 1:27.402 16
10 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:27.958 1:27.052 No time 11

 

Complete Qualifying results here at Formula1.com.

The race can be seen live tomorrow morning at 7:30am Eastern on NBCSports channel here in the States.