Category: Formula1

  • Bernie Ecclestone does an ad-vantage

    F1 superemo, 80 years old Bernie Ecclestone is a man you hardly can associate with failure. On 25 November, Bernie had been attacked by a group of unknown strangers last month outside his offices in Knightsbridge, as thieves made off with his personal belongings including Jewellery after bruising him badly – including his £11,000 Hublot watch.

    Instead of being shy and feeling embarrassed, the advent business man that he is, he immediately called up CEO of Hublot and shared his picture with a bruised eye and under lip with an idea for an advertisement, with a caption – “see what people will do for a Hublot”. Both with an equal sense of humor agreed to it as a brilliant PR opportunity, then came up the advertisement which showed up (un-edited) in the local newspapers yesterday.

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  • Group Lotus to become Renault title sponsors

    For the next season until 2017, Group Lotus will be the title sponsor for the Renault F1 Team, the Forumla1.com website has reported. This comes as a significant move by Proton, the owner of Group Lotus brand name. Lotus, famous for making exotic sports cars, is a British marquee and was active in Formula1.

    Next season onwards, the team will be known as Lotus Renault GP. Group Lotus will also become major equity partners in the Renault team with current owners Genii Capital. Mean while, Renault will continue to support the team as a supplier of engines and technological and engineering expertise.

    Does this mean that Renault is finally planning to exit the Formula1 team management? For sure, this move points fingers to that question. Renault has bagged great bargain here. While it wont own the team, but it will have its brand prominent. Lotus is very exited about this new development.

    To quote from Formula1.com: Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar said: “I can think of no better platform for automotive brand communications than motorsport and F1 is the very pinnacle of open-wheel racing. We’re well aware that there has been a lot of controversy around the usage of our brand in F1 and I’m delighted to be able to formally clarify our position once and for all: we are Lotus and we are back.”

    The Malaysia backed Lotus Racing, the team that brought the Lotus name back to Formula1 (under licence) managed by Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes last season will be known during the 2011 Championship season as Team Lotus. They will continue to compete next year under the new name and they are switching their engine supplier from Cosworth to Renault.

  • F1 season gets set go!

    Brilliant! Finally we have the F1 season starting today.

    The show stealers at the first practice session were Force India’s Adrian Sutil (Well it gives me some patriotic shot in my arm) and Robert Kubica for Renault. Tonio had a fine run to be the 7th fastest while the 7 time world champ Schumi ended up 10th fastest.

    This line up does not necessarily help predict the actual result since this is a time where you do practice sessions and testing and changes over the weekend for the race on Sunday.

  • Red Bull display their machinery

    Come Sunday and all the F1 fans can feast their eyes with a RBR F1 car doing rounds on the recently inaugurated Bandra Worli sea link. The RBR 02 2005 car of David Coulthard will cruise on the sea link. The authorities had given their NOC to the event management company for the event with a raider. The election commission has to also approve since the state elections are just so close. Initially plans were put on hold but with their approval coming, the car can zoom.

    But there is a catch. The Red Bull team will not be able to display the true speed. David will have to run the car just 20kmph above the pit land speed. That is not exceeding the 100 kmph. This might be a bit disappointing for all the F1 fans and Red Bull. Hope to catch the glimpse of the RBR.

  • Fisi to race with Ferrari

    Last week’s hero for Force India F1 team will now be racing for the Italian team, Ferrari. This move comes after the team removed Lucas following a dismal performance. Fisi, who has years of experience is also an Italian. For every F1 driver, driving behind the wheels of a Ferrari is a dream and Dr. Vijay Mallya has not stayed in the way for the Italian’s career. Fisi will race for rest for the races behind the Ferrari and will also have a reserve seat for next year. Is Ferrari also keeping its options open should Massa take time in his recovery.

  • Go Go Go Force India! Fisi puts Force India F1 on Pole

    Go Go Go Force India! Fisi puts Force India F1 on Pole

    Go Go Go Force India!

    That is what happened to all the Indian News Channels. And without any doubt, this one was the best news that came to all the Fans of Formula1 in India.

    A day when there were no clear favorites for the Pole position in this weekend’s Belgium Grand Prix, Fisichella breaking the barrier for Force India F1 came as surprise to many. But Formula1 is always a game that throws in surprises.

    The team that always used to be the back – benchers last season showed some promise at this year’s season so far. However, this is the biggest boost for Force India (using the Mercedes Engine) till date. Fisi stormed in to P1 after Qualifying in top six for Q3 and Q2. The Toyota of Jarno Trulli, again an Italian, was also performing brilliant as compared to its recent races and the 3rd on the Pole was the BMW of Nick Heidfeld.

    But the news is Giancarlo Fisichella has now scored a Pole with Force India, with scoring 3 others with others.

    Best of Luck!

  • Micheal is Back!

    Following the dreadfull accident of Filepe Massa last weekend, and no possibility of him returning to race this reason, Ferrari were left with no credible option than to approach the 7 time world champion to race for them. This is a great news since I always believed that Micheal left Formula1 business unfinished, especially since his last race where he finished his race with a punctured tire. Hope he gets atleast some podiums this season and a win will be like icing on the cake.

  • Its my favorite team in Finals: I just love the moment

    Having been considered as this year’s back benchers, Royal Challengers pulled up their socks and now are in the finals of the second edition of IPL.

    To be frank, I lost interest when they were on the waining way in the initial days and was not eager to watch the IPL matchs. When the news started ringing that they can be in the Semi’s is when I got on!

    Say the Mallya affect. I am a fan. I love both of his teams, my first love being the Formula 1. (more…)

  • A big leap for the Indian: Narain Kartikeyan

    The fastest Indian in the world is now proud of another feather in his car er… cap. Narain has been roped in by Team Kolles for the LeMans 24 hour race as well as the European Le Mans series after he impressed the owners during tests in the Audi R10 TDI LMP1 Sports car. Narain will take part in the 24 hour endurance race at Le Mans on June 13-14. The first race for Narain on the Team Kolles car will be at the European Le Mans Series in Spa which will take place on Sunday.

    Will this mean that his sponsers, the Tata Group and JK will sport their logos on this iconic sports car? The Tata’s and JL’s will get an exposure like never before.

  • Aryton Senna Documentary: By an Indian Director

    Aryton Senna Documentary: By an Indian Director

    The news is that a new documentary is being created to honour and remember the legendary F1 driver Aryton Senna who died in a race crash. The three times world champion, Aryton was regarded as the best ever evey my Micheal Schumacher.

    Asif Kapadia will direct the film and it will be written by Manish Pandey and produced by James Gay-Rees , Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner with Kevin Macdonald and Manish Pandey as its executive producers. The permission has been taken from the Senna Family. FIA also will support the documentary by providing the video clips which were never in public domain. The film is shot bu Working Title Films.

  • Lewis may quit McLaren: Team in a tight spot

    Lewis may quit McLaren: Team in a tight spot

    The future of McLaren Mercedes Benz Formula1 team is in soup again. Following the liar gate scandel (as it is referred now) the F1 governing body FIA may take a decision that pushes the the whole team into darkness. Defending Champ is ready to quit McLaren if the team is apparently debarred from contesting in most of the races and / or like during the Spy Gate scandel, ruled out of Championship points.

    It certainly a disaster for McLaren. The team’s engine partners, Mercedes Benz might just enable an opportunity to Lewis in the form of a soft transfer to BrawnGP, which is also powered by them.

    His future now lies in the hands of World Motor Sport Council during the hearing.

  • BRAWN GP: The NEW Name in F1

    BRAWN GP: The NEW Name in F1

    In an interesting announcement which was expected, the future of Honda Racing F1 team has finally come out. Honda Racing F1 has sold the Honda Racing F1 Team to their current Team Principal, Ross Brawn. Brawn, former Ferrari F1 team principal, put forth a management buyout of the troubled team after the sudden retirement announcement by Honda from F1.

    The Press Release issued by BrawnGP website starts with the line which says: Future of the Honda F1 Racing Secured.

    Brawn has retained his two drivers, the Brazilian Rubens Barichello and the Briton Jenson Button, while Brawn will remain the Team Principal.

    Brawn’s new website’s welcome message reads;

    On behalf of everyone at Brawn GP, welcome to our new team and our new website BrawnGP.com

    I would like to take this opportunity to thank you – our fans, our partners and our media colleagues – for your tremendous support during the past few months. It has been a challenging period but we have now achieved a very pleasing conclusion to the strenuous efforts which have been made to secure our future. We have also been left in no doubt as to the level of enthusiasm for the team and our ambitions.

    Our focus now is on preparations for the first race of the 2009 calendar in Melbourne on 29 March. Over the coming weeks we will bring you the very latest news and pictures from the build-up to the Brawn GP team’s debut season plus our plans for the development of BrawnGP.com

    The Website is still under construction owing the sudden announcement. The Logo of the team shows good language. It reminds me of the logo BMW M3 has.

    Brawn GP Official Website

    The Name chosen for the new outfit seems a bit odd to me. Agreed that every race is called a Grand Prix as F1 teams have the very term “F1” in their team names. None the less, its good news coming in for Formula1. A team is not exiting the scene when the first Grand Prix is right under the nose.

    Other noticeable development is the Engine supplier, and its McLaren. As the grapewine was on the Net, Mercedes Benz will provide engines to the new Team. McLaren has already agreed to be the supplier for India’s ForceIndia F1. According to FIA rules, an Engine supplier is not allowed to provide engines to more than two teams.?

    In this case, McLaren is already providing engines to its own Team and FIF1. However, FIF1 Team Principal Vijay Mallya has not taken any objection, instead has given his approval to McLaren for providing the engines to Brawn GP for a period of one year, because he did not wished any team to leave the grid.

    McLarens has scored a double whammy this time around, getting two deals right under the nose of FIA, while the biggest Looser is going to be Ferrari.

    Good Luck Ross Brawn. Wish you a Happy Gran Prixing. Mr. Williams, do you see your past?

  • A New Car for ForceIndia F1

    A New Car for ForceIndia F1

    The new car for ForceIndia F1 has finally seen the light of the day. The car which is using the McLaren Mercedes Benz engine and KERS system is widely believed to change the fortunes of the Grove based outfit which was the only team not to score a single point last season.

    For the first time in their career graph has McLaren Mercedes Benz provide a package for another F1 rival. You can call it another affect of the recession in the F1, the big daddy of motorsports. This move is beneficial to both the parties. For McLaren, it means revenues of a few million dollars more and for ForceIndia, it spells better chances of scoreing points.