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. 

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!

2012 Canada GP - Lewis' First Win of the Season

The start of the Canadian GP weekend cannot be any better for Hamilton. In the first and second free practice sessions, Lewis topped all drivers showing hope that potentially, he will get his first win of the season. But after the third free practice, we saw Vettel lead the pace. Worse for Hamilton fans, Vettel drove superbly and flawlessly during the Qualifying session that gave him pole position. He was the only driver to reach the 1 minute 13 seconds mark. Hamilton qualified second and the revived Alonso in Ferrari got 3rd.

Not too set expectations too high so as not to feel down if Lewis doesn't win (as with every race), I thought at least a podium position will be satisfying already especially with the performance of both Red Bull and Ferrari. And we all know the miscues in the pit stops of McLaren. So it will be hard for Lewis to win this race.

I stayed up late hoping for a good race and possibly a win for Lewis. Race started at 2AM Singapore time. I prepared myself so that I can watch the race. And boy am I glad I did! Regardless who won, in my opinion, it was a very exciting race to watch. And it was even more satisfying for me to see the driver I support win the race in a very convincing way. It is not usual to see any driver, overtaking two world champion drivers in the final laps of the race to take the win!

At the start of the race, Vettel was being... well like Vettel. He quickly created a gap for himself to hold a 3 seconds lead over Hamilton. I thought it will be another one of the boring races where Vettel started from pole, created enough separation, and won the race. And for quite some time, it looked like that would happen. Then I quickly noticed Lewis closing the gap. It seemed the tyre degradation is forcing Vettel not to push so much. On the other hand, Lewis was able to push further. After Vettel's pit stop, obviously Lewis took the lead. But I was happy to see that even after Hamilton's first stop, he was able to jump ahead of Vettel! That is the time I started to think that a win is highly probable.

It became a battle of strategies in the end. McLaren committed to a two stop strategy while Red Bull and Ferrari opting to do a single stop. Over the team radio, we can hear Lewis asking the team what strategy Red Bull and Ferrari are on. They initially said that they believe they are doing the same strategy as they were. So Lewis pitted and came in third after his pit stop. Lewis was surely waiting for the others to do their pit stops but it did not happen. McLaren realized that Red Bull and Ferrari might be pushing to the end with the tyres that they have and urged Lewis to push as much as he can. I thought for sure Lewis would be mad if he lost the race because of their strategy. Note that Lewis was very wary of what the other 2 were planning!

In the end, tyre degradation was too much for Vettel and Alonso. They probably pushed up to the limit of their tyres. Because of this, Lewis was able to easily overtake both drivers to lead the race until the checkered flag. This gave Lewis his first win of the season and continues to have a strange pattern of results he had in Montreal where he either won or retired from the race. To add insult to injury, Alonso lost 3 more places finishing 5th while Vettel finished 4th. That gave Lewis the lead for the drivers' championship by 2 points with 88 points over Alonso's 86 and Vettel's 85 points.

With 1 more week to go, I cannot wait for the European Grand Prix. Hoping to see Lewis win again!

Faces for Charity 2012

And so, me and my wife decided to take part on this year's Faces for Charity which was started by Red Bull Racing and Wings for Life team. The goal of the charity is to raise funds for spinal cord injury research. With a minimum donation of 15 euros, you will be able to upload a photo which will be added to Sebastian Vettel's and Mark Webber's race car during the 2012 Silverstone GP. For each donation, Red Bull Racing will match every donation made.

Here are videos of Vettel and Webber appealing to everyone to join this initiative: Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber

This initiative was last done during Silverstone 2007 Grand Prix. During that time, it was David Coulthard and Mark Webber driving for the Red Bull Racing team. Vettel has not driven his first F1 race yet. Here are pictures of the drivers' cars back then. (Photos courtesy of f1fatatic.co.uk)

Coulthard's:


Webber's:


Of course I do not expect to see our faces in the race car. After all, there will be thousands of faces who are joining this good cause. If I can buy an F1 model cars for my collection, then definitely I should be able to contribute to this charity event.

There is still a lot of time to make a donation. Please go to the Faces for Charity home page and upload your photo and make a difference! Faces for Charity 2012

Picture of me and my wife uploaded to the site :)

Remembering Canada 2011

Sadly, no F1 race this weekend but only a few days left before Canada 2012 GP kicks off! It is a great time to reminisce last year's race when Jenson Button drove a superb race for the win in a very wet race that has a lot of drama due to weather and race accidents.

Although it was Jenson's fault that Lewis retired from the race, it was still a great race from him driving at one point from the back of the grid to win the race by overtaking Sebastian on the final lap. Hopefully next weekend is when we will see the 7th different winner in 7 races and hopefully it will be Lewis' turn. :)

Here is a link to the 2011 Canada race edit from F1.com: 2011 Canada GP Race Edit

Enjoy!

Poll: Should Lewis Hamilton continue to stay with McLaren?

With a number of costly mistakes by the McLaren crew that led to Lewis Hamilton losing valuable points, do you think Lewis should sign a new contract with McLaren? Should he even factor these things before deciding to sign or not? 

Lewis is currently in his last year of contract and is yet to confirm if he will sign again with the team or not. What do you think he should do? Cast your vote and let your opinion be heard by voting in the poll in this blog.

2012 Monaco GP Result

Ferrari 2011 Fernando Alonso 1:2 Scale Helmet

Then there were 6. 6 different winners in 6 races. This week, we saw Mark Webber winning from pole position to become the 6th driver to win a GP this year. Completing the top 5 were Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton. How I wish it was Lewis taking his first win of the season. I guess we will need to wait for the next race. Hopefully #7 is his lucky number!

With Fernando finishing ahead of Sebastian, that means he now leads the drivers championship with 76 points. Followed by the Red Bull duo who both have 73 points. Then Lewis with 63 across his name. Since Alonso is now leading the championship, and that I do not have a single Webber model, it's a good time to share some pictures of 2011 1/2 scale helmet of Alonso.

I mentioned before I am also a big fan of Ferrari, so this week's result is still satisfying even though Lewis had a dreadful race!

I must say that I really like Alonso's helmet design. Certainly one of the best looking helmet in the current grid. Here are some more photos detailing the design of his helmet.

schumacher on provisional pole for 2012 Monaco GP

BBR 1:43 2006 Ferrari 248 F1 Italy GP Michael Schumacher

Told myself that I will post a model from my collection whoever has pole position after the Monaco qualifying round. That is if I have a model of that driver. My guess was either Kimi or Lewis. I never thought it would be Michael Schumacher who will be on pole position! Because of the incident with Senna last race, Michael incurred a 5 place grid penalty. That means he will be starting from 6th position at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix. Nonetheless, it was a great drive for Schumi and a well deserved 1st pole position since his comeback with the silver arrows.

Although I must admit I am not a big fan of Schumacher. As a proof, I only have 1 F1 model which is from his last year with Ferrari. The model is BBR 1:43 248 F1 (BG316) driven by Michael Schumacher during the 2006 Italian GP. Michael won this race but did not start from pole. (2nd in the grid)

Although I would like to have more of Schumacher's model, I have not been able to find one at a reasonable price yet. Still looking for BBR EX21 which is a special edition 1:43 model of Schumacher's last win with Ferrari during the 2006 Chinese GP. Tips anyone where I can get one?

Here are some other views of the model. Again apologies for the quality of the pictures. I did not plan on having highly detailed pictures of my collection. I am just fond of taking a few pictures so I can appreciate my collection further. :)

Since I am a Ferrari fan as well, I decided to collect 1:43 BBR models from 2006 onward. Trying to have at least 1 model per year from any race won by Ferrari from any GP. Won't complain if I can buy more than one. (Although I am sure my wife will!) Also, I do not plan to have models of both drivers in the same year. I am only buying the car model of whoever is the #1 driver for Ferrari for a specific year. In the case for 2006 F1 season, it was Michael.

Schumacher's last pole position before retiring was during the 2006 French GP (July 15, 2006). In total, he has 68 career pole positions. This being his 69th. Though I wonder if this will count as he will lose the pole position due to a penalty. I guess we need to wait how many more he can achieve before retiring again. For sure we haven't seen the last of him yet...

Kimi Raikkonen aka "James Hunt"

I read an article on ESPNF1 about Kimi wearing a special helmet designed for this weekend's Monaco GP. No one really knows what is the reason why Kimi decided to use James Hunt's design for his helmet. When asked for a reason, he merely said "I think it's just a different design, a nice design". 

You have to admire Kimi's personality. Very laid back but never lacking in talent and is certainly one of the fastest drivers in F1. I actually like how he handles himself during F1 press conferences. Answering questions without BS. Although we all know that F1 is full of politics. And that is one aspect I think Kimi hates about this sport.

Whoever heard of an F1 driver joining a snowmobile race, and not using his real name so that he will not attract media attention? That sounds something Kimi will do without a doubt. This year, he expressed desire to join the Rally of Finland during the F1 break. But he was refused permission by team principal Eric Boullier. I honestly believe Boullier decided this with the best intentions for Kimi and the Lotus-Renault team. If I was the team principal, I will do the same to ensure drivers are healthy for the rest of the season. Especially now that the team is doing well and has a good chance of winning races this year.

Maybe Kimi wearing this week's helmet is a sign of things he might do in the future. Maybe he will still register for Rally of Finland or some other non-F1 racing using James Hunt or another pseudonym. Maybe not. But that is I think, what people admires about him.

Straight to the point, no politics, no BS, just pure racing.

For the full article from ESPNF1, here is the link: Hunt helmet a 'nice design' - Raikkonen by ESPNF1

first of many... hopefully...

Finally I decided to start this blog to show my F1 addiction (both the sport and collection). Just to set things straight, my favorite team is Ferrari but my favorite driver is Lewis Hamilton. In an ideal world, Hamilton will be driving for the Scuderia team. But this will not happen... not in the foreseeable future. So I am sticking with my preferences.

Here are some other facts:

Other teams I want to succeed: Red Bull Racing, McLaren

Favorite driver not in the modern era: Ayrton Senna

Other drivers I like to watch: Alonso, Kimi, Vettel

As I go along my blog, I will be sharing more information about the things I like in F1.