Perhatian kepada semua peminat pelumba Formula 1 Michael Schumacher! Sempena sambut hari kelahiran beliau yang ke-50, Muzium Ferrari telah membuka sebuah pameran istimewa iaitu ‘Michael 50’. Pelumba F1 tersohor yang berasal dari Germany telah diberi penghormatan di muzium yang terletak di Maranello, Italy dimana beliau telah memberi kemenangan terunggul Ferrari iaitu 5 kejuaraan berturut-turut dari tahun 2000 hingga 2004. (more…)
A very special Ferrari will be featured at Europe’s biggest pre-season motorsport show, Autosport International. The car in question is the legendary F2004, the very F1 car that dominated the 2004 season. It helped Micheal Schumacher to clinch his 7th world championship title. It also secured 15 pole positions that year, 13 for Schumacher.
The F2004 still holds the lap record for seven different racetracks, 5 of which are still part of the Formula 1 calendar. Between Schumacher and teamate Rubens Barrichello, the car managed to secure 12 pole positions during that same season.
Several minor changes were made from the previous year’s specifications that include the rear wing, which was made larger, the rear suspension was redesigned to reduce excessive tyre wear and the exhausts were made smaller, allowing for aerodynamic benefits. It is powered by a 3.0-litre V10 engine that produces close to 1000bhp.
The car will be featured alongside Ferrari FXX-K Evo, Ferrari 488 Challenge and a 488 GTE on the main Ferrari feature, which aims to highlight the Course Clients. This is Ferrari’s exclusive client racing programme, from Challenge car to GT car, through the XX development cars to Formula One.
It’s Ferrari’s way of preparing owners to better handle their vehicles as well as their readiness to handle professional competition. It’s a driving academy worthy of praise. Owners have the support and backing of a professional crew during the sessions.
After an eventful race at the recent Mexico grand prix, Lewis Hamilton has won the 2017 Formula 1 world championship. The race was anything but ordinary for Mercedes-Benz after the British driver was involved with an accident with Sebastian Vettel early in the race.
This shunt forced both drivers to scramble to the pits for repairs and to change tyres, which effectively left them in second last and last place. They were well behind the charging pack once they rejoined the race. What matters worse was that Hamilton was eventually lapped, which placed him in an unfamiliar situation.
Though many wrote off Hamilton’s chances of sealing the championship title in Mexico, the Briton proved his tenacity and unwillingness to accept defeat by clawing back up the order. He eventually finished in 9th place while closest title rival, Vettel, managed a more successful 4th place.
Despite finishing well ahead of Hamilton, it wasn’t enough to stave off his pursuit of a fourth world title. The race was eventually won by Max Vestappen with Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen completing the top 3.
Hamilton, who is now part of an elite club of five drivers who have won four or more world titles, was unhappy with how he won the title. Based on an article published by F1.com, he stated that felt it was a horrible way to win the title considering the drama that unfolded shortly after the race began.
There are only four other F1 drivers in history that have won four or more world titles, which are Juan Manuel Fanio, Alain Prost, Micheal Schumacher and Sebatian Vettel. It’s a proud moment for the Briton, but we are sure he will be gunning for a fifth title next year.
Source: F1.com
McLaren’s Formula 1 team and its engine supplier for the past two and half years, Honda, have decided to part ways after a dismal run of performance since the partnership was forged in 2015. Since switching from Mercedes-Benz powered engines to the Honda ones, McLaren hasn’t been the same.
The team have found themselves closer to the back of the grid, competing with teams that lacked the same technology funding, and driver talent than what the British based automaker had at its disposal. Despite having one of the most talented drivers of this era in Fernando Alonso, the team has failed to impress.
Plagued by constant reliability issues, the under powered Honda units have caused McLaren and Alonso, a great deal of grief. So much so that the Spaniard delivered an ultimatum to his team by stating, if things did not improve soon, he would leave in search of other opportunities.
After allowing all this to sink in, both teams have decided, in a complicated manner, to break-up and go their separate ways. As part of the deal, McLaren will receive Renault engines for the 2018 season, Toro Rosso will switch to Honda power and its driver, Carlos Sainz Jr., would be loaned to the Renault F1 team for the 2018 season.
It’s a complicated break up but it’s one that might allow McLaren to get back to its winning ways. This is especially sad considering that this same partnership allowed Mclaren a great deal of success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Any hopes of both teams rekindling that same success of their glory days will never be realized in the near future.
How well these new partnerships pan out remains to be seen, but rumour has it that Honda might introduce a more powerful engine for the 2018 season. If proven true, McLaren might have jumped the gun by switching to Renault power and allowing Toro Rosso to benefit from its R&D with Honda.
Source: F1.com
Porsche has made it known that it is mulling over the idea of joining Formula 1 as an engine supplier for the 2021 season. The news was reported by Autosport where it mentioned that changes to engine regulations for that time, will allow the automaker to step in.
The article also reported that, Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of Porsche’s executive board and member of the board for finances and IT, met with a number of key people in the Formula 1 fraternity.
His meeting was with Ross Brawn and a number F1 boses at the Italian Grand Prix to help gauge the feasibility of getting involved this late in the game. Porsche has not been directly involved in F1 since the early 1990s but has played a smaller roll in the sport.
This decision to participate was probably due to the F1 governing body moving to simpler and more affordable engines for the start of the 2021 season. Cost is a serious concern for less established teams, which means the new ruling could be beneficial to all.
The Stuttgart based automaker will be pulling out of the LMP1 class of the World Endurance Championship at the end of 2017 citing poor return on investment. It will however, have a works team in Formula E for the 2019/2020 season.
At the moment, Porsche has no plans to field a works team in F1, rather it will be content with supplying engines to teams who are looking for a business partner that will allow them to remain competitive.
Teams like Williams and Red Bull are considered potential customers for Porsche but nothing has been set in stone as yet. Though this may seem like exciting news, the automaker hasn’t given a definite answer of its involvement in the sport.
Source: Autosport
The annual Goodwood Festival of Speed will be taking place from June 29th to July 2nd and will play host to an awesome display of automobiles ranging from the vintage ones all the way up to the latest Formula 1 cars.
In Britain, it happens to be the only event outside the British Formula 1 Grand Prix where so many F1 cars and drivers can be seen in one place. This year, Reigning F1 World Champion, Nico Rosberg will be driving his 2014 Mercedes-Benz W05 F1 car at Goodwood with his replacement for this season, Valtteri Bottas, taking part just a day earlier with his Silver Arrows.
There will be a number of historic and new F1 cars on display from the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Williams. Ferrari celebrates its 70th anniversary this year and will be displaying over twenty single-seater cars to commemorate the occasion. McLaren, Renault and Williams will be celebrating their 40th anniversary in Formula 1 with their own display of amazing F1 machines.
Representing Renault at the event will be current F1 driver Jolyon Palmer and reserve driver Sergey Sirotkin. And for Williams, Alan Jones and Damon Hill will be accompanying the Williams team in celebrating their 40th year in the sport.
In total, there will be more than 60 Formula 1 cars at the event, celebrating sevens decades of the sport.
The Sepang International Circuit (SIC) gears itself up for 2016 despite a challenging year in 2015. (more…)
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