Formula One Hungary: Qualifying results and preview

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

The F1 circus tent is currently pitched just outside of Budapest for the Hungaroring Grand Prix, or the FORMULA 1 ENI MAGYAR NAGYDIJ 2010, to give it’s official title. Unsurprisingly the Red Bull’s of Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber continue to dominate, with Vettel putting in a scorching Q3 lap to claim pole position, his seventh of the season. He was over half a second quicker than his Australian team mate and a good 1.2 seconds faster than third-placed Fernando “this is ridiculous” Alonso in the Ferrari. Full results when you click “Read more” below. There may be a bonus video in this for you as well.

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Formula One will come to Cape Town, but not as a street circuit

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Following the successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the nation is chasing other major sport events with renewed vigour, and Formula One is no exception.

Over the weekend, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone reaffirmed his belief that Formula One will come to the African continent this decade, and the leading city is Cape Town. Eccelstone told BBC radio that “We’ve been talking to the people in Cape Town…We’re talking about building a circuit. It’s probably about three years away. That’s what I would like to see. I would hope so. I’ve been hoping that for five years.”

South Africa enjoyed a healthy dose of Formula One from the inception of the sport. Cape Town was the first city to host an international Formula One Grand Prix in 1960 at the Killarney Race Circuit. The following year the saw the likes of Sterling Moss compete at the same facility but poor financial planning by the promoters lost the event for the venue.

The last time a Formula One race was held in South Africa was in 1993, at the Kyalami circuit in Midrand, north of Johannesburg. Kyalami also held a race in 1992, and from 1967 through to 1985. Prior to that, the Prince George Circuit in East London held events in 1962, ’63 and ’65.

The financial benefits are seemingly obvious; Formula One is the single most expensive sporting code per event on Earth, and returns to each track year after year. Mega-events like the Olympics come along once every few decades and place considerable strain on a city’s finances. It has been suggested that Athens 2004 played a considerable role in the Greek financial crisis which struck only this year.

The news spread rapidly and inevitably Dave Gant, CEO of the South African Grand Prix Corporation, was asked to clarify or even ratify the statements.

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Alonso insures thumbs; insurer forbids excessive Playstation usage

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Formula One can be ridiculous at times. Honestly, it’s like a petrol-burning version of Bold and the Beautiful. Obviously feeling a little out of the spotlight, Alonso has gone and announced that his thumbs are insured, to the tune of £9 million.

In a statement that could be straight out of The Onion, a Santander spokesman said: “Alonso’s thumbs are a big symbol as, apart from being essential when driving a Formula One car, they represent a sign of victory and that everything is under control and well protected.”

We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried. So what have we learnt here? Firstly, one requires opposable thumbs to pilot a 900 horsepower racecar. Well, probably. And secondly, Alonso’s chief concern, should he lose one of his precious digits, is not being able to display his happiness after winning a race.

Ciro De Siena

The Bored Identity

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Wooo-hooo! You should have been here last year!

I’m sorry, but is the world suffering from a collective bout of amnesia?  ”The Bahrain Grand Prix was boring” they wailed. “It wasn’t exciting” they cried, gnashing their teeth. Boring you say. Boring? Well, fucking news flash, Formula 1 is boring.

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Full Gallery: Every F1 Car on the Grid for 2010

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Team: McLaren. Drivers: Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

The cars are looking sharp this year, we must say. It seems the liveries are getting more focused in line with the less fussy cars that have been mandatory for two seasons now. There’s loads of brand new teams and of course Lotus is back with (obviously) their traditional colours and USF1 continues to surprise and entertain us. We’ve also got every date on the calendar in a handy, um, list format.

Every car on the grid and race calendar after the jump: (more…)

Secrets Of F1 Success Revealed.

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

A few weeks back I had a bit of a rant about the typo on soon to be shite Campos F1′s website. I prattled on about all the intimate details that need to be considered in order to triumph in the high-tech world of Formula 1. Boy was I wrong.  It seems success is a far simpler task. Read on…

Sheepish unveiling.

Naively, we thought Brawn GP’s sprint then trot and ultimate crawl to the title last year was a once off phenomenon.  But it seems they were merely showing the rest of the floundering grid the way to win championships.  It’s all very easy.

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Driving God Spotlight: Gilles Villeneuve

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Traction control se ma se p@#s.

All in all it was a great day for Frenchy. They must have spilled their Pernod and flicked their Gitanes Filters defiantly at passersby as Jean-Pierre Jabouille (a driver as French as shrugging at Americans) won the French Grand Prix at Dijon-Prenois in a French car (a Renault) on French tyres (Michelin) and powered by a French fuel manufacturer. Unfortunately due to archaic alcohol laws in France, ironically it’s the only race where you aren’t allowed to spray Champagne.

Video, more pictures and full explanation after the jump: (more…)

Campos Meta Unveils “Type-O” On Website

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

A fool and his money are soon giving press conferences.

 

Last season was one of the closest in terms of actual times seperating the cars on track.  Pole position to the last slot on the grid was usually settled by just over a second.  And then for whatever reason the big guns started leaving. Honda, BMW and then Toyota used words like “corporate re-alignment”, “brand re-focus” and “we’re just plain shite” as exit strategies.

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Cue Terrible Bread Puns. It’s Bertrand Baguette.

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Hot off the wires is that Renault is handing a test drive to young French Formula 3.5 Champion, Bertrand Baguette.  So that’s what the crisis meeting in Paris was all about, whether the French car manufacturer could suffer another blow to it’s image by having such a ridiculous surname adorning its cars.

Bertrand_Baguette

Baguette. Pasty.

I’ll get us started then.

Let’s hope Baguette doesn’t roll.

Baguette. A cut above the rest. (Yawn, get used to seeing that one in SA car publications)

Why wouldn’t you let your daughter date Baguette?  He’s only fresh until you leave the parking lot.

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F1 Shocker: Ferrari Says Something True

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Ferrari has long loathed privateer upstarts. The old man himself, Enzo Ferrari, famously referred to the British teams as garagista -garage owners. Now, although I’m not particularly a fan of theirs, Ferrari has it absolutely right.

Check it out by clicking this word. Or this one.

Enzo Ferrari, some time ago.

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