Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna

It has been a while since I last posted something in my blog. Since F1 took a break, I also took break on my F1 addiction and blogging. I was just browsing through youtube F1 videos and stumbled upon this segment from Top Gear. The video is a tribute to Ayrton Senna's extraordinary career and his extreme passion for driving.

In this video, Lewis Hamilton was able to test drive the legendary McLaren MP4/4 as well as provide his insights about how great Ayrton was.

It is unfortunate that I was not able to watch him during his days. Just by watching documentaries about him, makes me want to see him drive and compete. For sure, I will watch him race every time I can as much as I watch Lewis Hamilton now. Senna is probably and arguably the best and most complete F1 driver there is. 

I know one day, people will also talk about how great a race driver Lewis is and how great he is outside the track. Probably not as highly as Ayrton, but as great as he is in his own way. I sincerely hope for him to have a brighter career on and off the race track. And I will tell my kids someday that I watched Lewis every race weekend because he is that good and I am proud to be his fan. 

BBR F150 Italia Fernando Alonso Winner Silverstone GP 2011

BBR BBRC73 1:43 2011 Ferrari F150° Italia Silverstone GP Winner Fernando Alonso

With Alonso being the quickest during FP3 of 2012 Silverstone GP, I thought it was a good time to share pictures of BBR's version of the Ferrari F150° Italia as driven by Fernando Alonso to victory in last year's GP.



Coincidentally 60 years ago in the same Grand Prix, Jose Froilan Gonzalez drove his 375 F1 to take the first F1 victory for the Scuderia Ferrari. Much to the delight of the Ferrari fans during last years British GP, Alonso drove a fantastic race to win the race. BBR's presentation of this F150° has one side of the plexiglass cover printed with a layout of the 375 F1 car. This clearly gives us an idea how F1 cars evolved over the years.

Of course, what is F1 without any drama?! Before this GP, the controversial double diffuser was temporarily banned. It was thought that FIA did this to give Ferrari an edge for this race. Alonso was only P2 during the race but after an error from Vettel's pit stop, it allowed Alonso to grab the lead and eventually win the race.









As of writing, qualifying session is in session! Alonso P5 after Q1. Fernando almost crashed during Q2. Now, 6 minutes remaining in Q2, Alonso down in P16. Red flag appeared and I wondered if the session will still continue. Whatever happens in qualifying, it will be a very exciting race tomorrow!









So can Alonso still win this week? With a bad weather in Silverstone, Alonso's consistency and skill, and if he continues to have lady luck on his side as we saw in past races, I would not be surprised if we see Alonso on the podium tomorrow or even a race win. 

BBR F2008 Felipe Massa Winner Bahrain GP 2008

BBR BBRC05 1:43 2008 Ferrari F2008 Bahrain GP Winner Felipe Massa

In 2008, Felipe Massa had a terrible start to the season. In the first race, he retired due to engine failure. Next race, he spun off the track trying to overtake Raikkonen eventually giving up P2 to retire from the race. But things quickly turned his way during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Although Kubica beat him for pole position, he was able to take the lead after the first corner of the first lap and eventually won the race.



This race gave us a glance of how this season will form for Massa. He was in contention for the driver's championship until the last lap of the last race. He unfortunately lost to Hamilton by just 1 point. For a couple of laps though, he and the entire Ferrari team felt they were champions. Nevertheless, it was a strong season for Felipe having won 6 races, getting pole position 6 times, having 3 fastest laps and placing 2nd overall. 

This is one of the two F2008 BBR models that I have. The other one is the EX16 Constructor's Championship presentation. Still looking for a standard BBR edition of F2008 with the "shark fin" design.

With Massa struggling this season, is this the last time he will drive for Ferrari? Rumors are, Ferrari management are already in discussion with potential replacements. Hamilton, Webber, Vettel, Perez, Di Resta, even Schumacher were rumored to potentially drive alongside Alonso. But soon enough, we will know which rumor is true and which were really just rumors. 

2012 Valencia GP - Lewis' 1st Retirement of the Year

Not the best start for Lewis during Friday sessions in Valencia. Hamilton admitted he struggled because they did not have a good setup for their cars but is confident they will be able to rectify the problems in time for qualifying. Looking at the stats however, its not really that bad as the top 15 drivers were covered by less than a second! This is how close this season has become.

In FP3, things becomes better for McLaren garage. Button finished the session first and Lewis finished 8th. Although this did not bode too well for Lewis, it is still a good result for McLaren as a team as they were still searching for the best configuration for this week's race. Before qualifying, Lewis was still uncertain where they stand and if they made all the necessary adjustments to qualify higher. Interesting to know that Button copied Lewis' car configuration to help him understand better why he is not able to match his teammate's pace. That is how much Button is lost for explanation why he continues to struggle while Lewis seems to make the most out of his car.

Qualifying finally started with the 2 McLaren drivers easily qualified for Q2. Surprisingly, Mark Webber was the first casualty amongst the top drivers. This was caused by problems with DRS. He was practically trying to qualify without DRS which is probably why he is not able to get that 1 second gap he needed to qualify for Q2. With Q1 being close, Q2 is expected to be more exciting. Again, Lewis and Jenson was able to qualify and the surprise of the session are the Ferrari drivers who neither qualify for Q3. Although Alonso is still confident that their race pace is better and a good strategy should earn them good haul of points for this week. Q3 finally started. It was very intense! The difference between P1 and P10 is only less than 0.9 of a second. For quite some time, I thought it will be either Romain or Nico who will take pole position. Vettel and the team opted to run just 1 flying lap in Q3 to save tyres. I was really focused on watching this because Vettel is a master of qualifying. For some reason, he can find the gap he needs in just 1 lap to get pole position. And yes he did! For the 33rd time, he got pole position. Lewis still had the chance to get pole position but ended up ~0.3 seconds slower than Vettel. Pastor Maldonado qualified 3rd.

It was indeed an exciting qualifying session and of course it did not finish without any drama! We saw Vettel again snatching pole in the last few seconds of qualifying. Nico complained that Lewis impeded him and was not able to do a flying lap where he could have potentially have gone for pole. Button being very perplexed about his situation and what happened in Q3 where again, he cannot find any balance and reported tons of locking he experienced only during Q3. Nonetheless, it was a great drive from Vettel, Lewis and Pastor. Vettel and Hamilton also qualified 1st and 2nd in Canada. So I am hoping for a Montreal part 2. Although chances are, Lewis will drop position(s) in the race as their car is not really suited for high track temperature. Although it will help that Valencia is not an easy track to overtake. And usually, the track produces quite a boring processional race which is why pole sitter here usually goes on to win the race.

Just a shout out. At the moment, Lewis has out qualified Button 8 out of 8 times. Who is the #1 driver again of McLaren? I wonder where are the Lewis cynics now. Last year, they talked trashed about Lewis being outdone by Button. I am not happy that Button is struggling believe me. But I am happy that Lewis was able to prove to the doubters that he can still do it.

Start of the race as usual Vettel increased the gap massively. Hamilton did not have the pace to match Vettel and eventually was passed by Grosjean. Things were looking settled already. That is until the safety car was deployed because of the accident with the Toro Rosso of Vergne. Everyone took this opportunity to change tyres without losing position. However, another bad pit stop by McLaren (nothing new here...) caused Lewis to drop to 6th place. Alonso is now up to 3rd place Grosjean in 2nd. Everyone is thinking that Grosjean will be able to overtake Vettel soon as he is matching the Red Bull's pace. Then things gets more interesting. It started with Vettel slowing down and then eventually retiring due to a mechanical failure. And then it was Grosjean's turn to retire also due to a mechanical failure. At this point, Alonso is leading the race followed by Lewis then Kimi. Lewis was losing grip in his tyres and was eventually overtaken by Kimi. This dropped Lewis to 3rd. He kept the position until Maldonado fancied his chances. In my opinion, Pastor will be able to do it in the correct time as Lewis is very limited by the degradation of his tyres. But Maldonado forced the issue and bumped to Hamilton. Lewis retired from the race while Maldonado was still able to finish 10th even with the damages in his car.

In the end, it was a fantastic effort and strategy by Ferrari and Alonso. From 11th on the grid to 1st is a massive drive from him! He is the first driver to win more than once this year. This also ended the streak of a new race winner in every race at 7. Kimi finished second. Rounding up the podium is... wait for it... Michael Schumacher! After 6 long years, he is finally back on the podium! What a great result for Schumi! Albeit he could not done it alone but it is what it is. Webber finished 4th from 19th! Also a great effort from him.

This was indeed a very exciting race with lots of surprises. Valencia was always known as a track that produces boring race but it certainly is not the case for 2012. As a Hamilton fan, well it sucks! Giving the benefit of the doubt, I will need to know the facts and hear from experts whose fault it is. Is it Pastor's fault or Hamilton's or maybe both? Regardless, this is a race that Lewis should quickly forget and start focusing on the next race. No points for Hamilton this week. And Alonso now leads the championship with 111 points. He is 20 points ahead of 2nd place Mark Webber. Wait Mark Webber? The driver who started from 19th in the race is now second overall? Yes that is correct. Hamilton dropped to 3rd place followed by Vettel.

This season is really turning out to be something different and interesting. I am already looking forward to the next race. Bring on Silverstone and Forza Ferrari!

Minichamps 1:43 2008 Scuderia Toro Rosso STR3 Sebastian Vettel

Toro Rosso STR3 Sebastian Vettel 2008 Season

This is Minichamps 1:43 version of Toro Rosso STR3 as driven by Sebastian Vettel during the 2008 F1 Season. The first model is the 2008 race car standard edition. The second one is the Italian GP version where Vettel won his first career F1 race.





It was not a smooth start for vettel in 2008. First four races he retired before being able to see the finish line placing 17th during the 5th race of the season. However in the last 13 races of the year, he finished in top-10 ten times while also winning his first career race during the Italian GP. With this win, Vettel became the youngest driver in F1 history to win a race. This was also Toro Rosso's first podium and first win.

The car mold is the same. The only difference between the 2 models that I noticed are the inlay, the tyres, tyre marks, vettel's helmet and the raised fists in the Italian GP version. For me, this is one of the best looking F1 models created by minichamps.

After his first win, he was started to be called "Baby Schumi" but he was wise to deflect the praises and comparisons to Michael. I guess anyone who can win in a mid-tier F1 car is destined to become a champion. And truly he is a champion. Not once but twice already! And with a strong start so far this season, albeit not that strong compared to last year, I won't be surprised to see him win his 3rd championship of his still young career.