Sunday, April 27, 2008

Spain 2008 : Kimi Raikkonen extends championship lead in Spain

Another race of attrition today along with a serious looking crash by Heiki Kovalainen. In turn 9 what looked like a left front wheel rim broke sending Kovalainen straight and hard into the tire barriers. Thankfully he will be ok with what looks like no serious injuries.

Kimi Raikkonen led the race from start to finish with perfect pit stops, smooth driving, and a fast (not fast enough according to him) car winning the Spanish Grand Prix in fine style.

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

Spanish F1 GP 2008 - Qualifying : Alonso gives Renault 2nd Position in Spain

First qualifying since all the new aero parts and there certainly is some improvements and changes in the top 10. First is Renault and wow, Alonso 2nd after holding pole until Raikkonen pulls out a last lap to squeeze by Alonso. It’s a good bet that Alonso was light on fuel and will be one of the first to pit in the race. Both Renault in Q3 with Piquet in 10th. Now that’s an improvement for Renault with their new fin and Alonso driving.
BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica looked great throughout, but last laps of Q3 send him to 4th when Raikkonen and Alonso battled for pole. BMW sits 4th with Kubica and 9th with Heidfeld.

It was up and down for McLaren all through qualifying and in the end, they still need some speed from that car. Hamilton finishing 5th with Kovalainen in 6th.
Down the grid a bit and disappointment for Honda who had hoped for at least one car in Q3, but not today. Barrichello just missing in 11th and Button 13th.

Both Williams made it to Q2, but that’s as far as they got. Nakajima out qualified his team mate Nico Rosberg by 3 places and starts 12th with Rosberg in 15th.
Mark Webber did his job well today covering for a David Coulthard who failed miserably. Webber into Q3 and will start 7th ahead of Jarno Trulli in 8th and Heidfeld in 9th. His team mate Coulthard, the fast Coulthard in morning practice didn’t even make Q2 and will start 17th in more crash territory. Coulthard did have trouble with traffic and said he wasn’t able to get his tires up to temperature.

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Friday, April 25, 2008

Spanish F1 GP 2008 - Testing

Kimi Raikkonen gave further credence to the suggestion he will be the man to beat in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona by dominating both practice sessions.Formula One's reigning world champion, who also leads this year's drivers' standings by three points, edged the morning session by just 0.050secs from Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa.
In the afternoon's 90-minute session, when the teams run heavier fuel loads, Raikkonen topped the timesheets again ahead of Renault duo Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso.

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Thursday, April 24, 2008

F1 2008 - Spanish Grand Prix Preview

They’re on their way back to Catalunya and this time, let’s race. I don’t know about you, but this little early season break of 3 weeks seems like the off season again. Wondering if Alonso will bail on Renault, if DC will retire, Massa gone from Ferrari…ok, ok enough of that. On to the circuit.

The Catalunya circuit is so well known to F1 drivers because of its history and popularity in testing. The circuit is so popular because it offers just about everything a team would want to test on. Long straights, medium and high speed turns, and a few low speed turns ask a lot of the F1 car and driver as well. Not surprising a lot of testing is done here. Some cars will have a new look with horns and fins and holes in the nose etc. This is the race featuring the biggest upgrades.



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Sunday, April 6, 2008

Bahrain 2008 : Massa Rebounds a Ferrari 1-2 !!!

Felipe Massa rebounded from his shaky start to the 2008 season by beating teammate Kimi Raikkonen to victory in a Ferrari-dominated Bahrain Grand Prix.

Pole-winner Robert Kubica took another podium for BMW in third, ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld - a result that puts the team into the lead of the constructors' championship for the first time in their short history.


But it was a disastrous day for pre-race championship leaders Lewis Hamilton and McLaren. The Briton lost seven places off the line with a very poor start, then hit former teammate Fernando Alonso and broke his front wing. He could only finish 13th, while teammate Heikki Kovalainen was a quiet fifth.

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Saturday, April 5, 2008

Bahrain F1 GP 2008 - Qualifying : Kubica gives BMW Sauber maiden pole in Bahrain

Another great qualifying and this time its BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica grabbing pole on his last flying lap inching ahead of Felipe Massa of Ferrari. As has been the norm lately, BMW-Sauber kept a low profile right up until qualifying and then showed what they really had.

For most of the weekend, Felipe Massa was the story as he topped the time charts just about everywhere he could including in qualifying right up to the end only to lose pole to Robert Kubica. So far Kimi Raikkonen is flying under the wire and finishes in 4th outside second row and watching Massa take all the Ferrari glory.

Lewis Hamilton showed no ill effects from yesterdays shunt and managed 3rd best time just over a tenth off Massa. Topping the top 5 is Heikki Kovalainen who still needs to find something extra from himself and his MP4-23 to challenge the new 3 team competition now including BMW-Sauber. However, Nick Heidfeld is frustrated with his car or shall I say his inability to get comfortable with it. He’s not liking the tight and twitchy car as much as Robert Kubica and it showed today with his 6th grid spot behind Kovalainen.

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Friday, April 4, 2008

Bahrain F1 GP 2008 - Testing


It’s great to see some driving action again rather than the boring politics. Mr. Mosley’s tryst with hookers and lack of inputs from the pits made the racing junkie yearn for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa led teammate Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari one-two in the first free practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Williams' Nico Rosberg took third with a late qualifying-style run, ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen.

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