Formula One German Grand Prix 2009
Be sure not to miss the German leg of the the GP Championship.
Date: July 12, 2009
Venue: Nurburgring
City: Nurburg
Country: Germany
Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix 2009
Be sure to book your ticket for the this exciting leg of the Formula One Grand Prix action.
Date: July 26, 2009
Venue: Hungaroring Circuit
City: Magyar
Country: Hungary
Formula One European Grand Prix 2009
Don’t miss this thrilling leg of the F1 GP Championship.
Date: August 23, 2009
Venue: Valencia Street Circuit
City: Valencia
Country: Spain
Formula One Belgian Grand Prix 2009
Be sure not to miss this thrilling leg of the Formula One Championship.
Date: August 30, 2009
Venue: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
City: Spa
Country: Belgium
Formula One Italian Grand Prix 2009
Be sure to catch the Italian leg of the Formula One GP.
Date: September 13th, 2009
Venue: Autodromo Nazionale Monza
City: Monza
Country: Italy
Button makes history
Sunday, 29 March 2009, was a very important day for the Brawn GP racing team, as it was to be their debut as a Formula One racing team, and the stakes were high. After Honda decided that they no longer wanted to be a part of F1, Ross Brawn, the team principle took the chance to take over the team and see how far they could go. It is obvious that the change is exactly what the team needed, as they exploded on the Melbourne track for the Australian Grand Prix.
In 1950, the Alfa Romeo F1 team won their debut race, followed by the Mercedes team in 1954, who managed to pull of the same feat. And on Sunday, the Brawn GP team became the first team since 1977, to win their debut
It seems that the other teams were constantly running into trouble, with Felipe Massa (Ferarri) losing his steering and an unfortunate Kimi Raikkonen spinning out on the 48th lap. Two crashes also sent drivers out of contention, with Robert Kubica (BMW) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) crashing into each other a mere four laps before the end of the race and the collision between Nick Heidfeld (BMW) and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) also effecting Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Mark Webber (Red Bull). Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) finished in fourth position, followed by Timo Glock (Toyota), Fernando Alonso (Renault), Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Sebastien Buemi (Red Bull).
But the day undoubtedly belonged to Brawn GP, with Button commenting after the race: “This is where we deserve to be, after the difficult times we have had. Roll on the season, I am so excited about this year.” When asked about the finish, Jenson Button had this to say, “This is a fairytale ending for the first race. Some people may say it’s a pity the race finished under the safety car but I don’t care, I won the race and that’s all I care about.”
Honda Quits F1 Racing
There’s no debating that the global recession is hitting every aspect of the economy hard. Auto manufacturers seem to be having an especially tough time and this has understandably led to Honda Motor Co.’s decision to withdraw from Formula One racing.
After sales in the U.S. started plummeting with the economic recession, Honda Motor Co. has had to make some tough calls. The U.S. was the company’s most profitable market. But their sales plummeted a striking 32% during the month of November alone – the worst drop the company has seen since 1981. Weak consumer sentiment and economic slowdown are the main reasons for the fall, neither of which have a quick-fix solution. Instead, Honda has had to take a long hard look at how the company is run and has chosen to re-focus its efforts in the industry. With regards to making cars, this means cutting down on luxury car development and speeding up the development of diesel engines, hybrid cars and compact cars. Honda’s F1 operations were carefully considered and eventually it was decided that they were unsustainable and expensive. The decision to leave F1 and the subsequent laying-off of assembly workers and reductions in production costs has slashed at least 20 billion yen (US$216 million) off the company’s productions costs. The engineers that were involved in those facets of the industry have been reassigned.
President Takeo Fukui said: “This difficult decision has been made in the light of the quickly deteriorating operating environment facing the global auto industry. Honda must protect its core business activities.”
Further, the company has decided not to supply engines to other teams and their Brackley, England-based team is up for sale. If the team is not bought, it will be the second team to leave the sport. The last team to quit was Honda-backed Super Aguri which folded earlier this year due to lack of funding. That will leave only nine teams to compete in the sport, and it seems this could be the start of a rather scary trend. According to Max Mosley, president of the F1 ruling body of the FIA, teams spend as much as $1.6 billion on the Formula One racing series each year. That amount is clearly unsustainable and, with the current economic conditions and current scandals that have unraveled in the sport, may ultimately see the disappearance of the sport altogether. However at this point other teams seem determined to continue.
Honda is not leaving off motor sport altogether. The company hopes to continue racing in the MotoGp motorcycle series as well as the IndyCar series.
F1 Championship Point System to Change
For years now the F1 Championship has been functioning on a points system: The drivers will collect points based on where they finish in the race during the course of the season and the person with the most points wins. It seems a flawless system – until you look at it a little more closely.
At first glance a person would assume that a driver would have to almost always win in order to come out on tops. But that is not necessarily the case. A person could finish in the top five consistently and, with a bit of luck, the other drivers finishing in the top five could always be different. Not only is it theoretically possible to win the F1 championship without actually winning a race – it has happened in both Formula 1 and other motor sports where the points system is used. The points system also allows drivers to play it ‘safe’, since they do not have to push the envelope to gain a win if they are in second place with a good number of points already behind them. Because of this, there is often no over-taking when cars should be fighting to be at the front. The exciting and crowd-drawing ‘edge’ to the sport is lost some, since spectators find themselves wondering why the drivers don’t even try to overtake.
Now it seems that is all about to become a thing of the past. The 2009 Formula One season is set to get off to a flying start with a medal system. Commercial F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has decided that the best way to stop drivers from sitting back and taking it easy is to erase the points system altogether. He has suggested that the FIA award the top three competitors in each race with a gold, silver and bronze medal. By the end of the race season, the driver with the most gold medals will receive the championship trophy while silver and bronze medals will act as tiebreakers. So far it seems that both the FIA and the various F1 teams are more than ready to support the change. Indeed, the concept has already been given the go-ahead for the 2009 Formula One season.
The change will put a new spin on a lot of current racing strategies. It will also throw into perspective current driver capabilities. It is interesting to note, for example, that Massa would have won the 2008 championship instead of Hamilton if the medal system had already been in place. Or would he? Perhaps both would have been pushed harder to succeed and their true abilities and talents would have shone through. One thing is for sure: racing fans can certainly look forward to an exciting 2009 racing season!
German Grand Prix Review
The German Grand Prix was perhaps one of the most unexpected races of the season. The surprising part wasn’t that Lewis Hamilton took the winner’s trophy, it was that the Ferrari Team performed dismally, with Massa only just managing to scrape together a third place.
It is a well-known fact that while Formula One Racing might be considered to be a science, with the performance of carefully tuned high performance vehicles being improved year after year by small scientific discoveries, it is really the art of driving that makes the biggest difference between a good race and a great race. The sport is physically and mentally challenging for the driver and it takes endurance, fitness, alertness and, most of all, skill to run a good race to the finish. For years now Ferrari has been dominating the sport, taking home one winner’s trophy after the next and maintaining a seemingly vice-like grip on the “Constructors Title.” They had the best drivers, the best cars and won the most races. But lately it seems they have hit a giant oil slick in their racing strategies. The cars are not performing the way they should and the drivers are not racing to their fullest potential. It is sad to see, but it gives other teams a chance to truly shine. And that was exactly what happened at the German Grand Prix this weekend.
In the beginning Raikkonen seemed to have the fastest car on the track and he was doing well. Light rain brought into question the use of tires better suited to the conditions and Team Ferrari chose not to put on new wet intermediates. The decision was strongly disputed and in the end it proved to be Raikkonen’s downfall. The result was that other teams such as Honda and McLaren could push to the front. By the end of the race all eyes were on Lewis Hamilton whose McLaren Mercedes car was screaming around the track in first place, after carefully climbing his way forward. Being able to take home the win in his home country must have only added to the joy Hamilton experienced at the event. The 23-year-old was clearly ecstatic and critics are wondering if they are going to see this youth blossom into one of the greatest drivers Formula One has ever seen. However, the fact remains that since other first class drivers such as Raikkonen and Massa were out of the picture, it is hard to tell exactly how he would perform against these more seasoned drivers if they were driving at their peak. Only time will tell exactly how good a driver he has the potential to become.
Rubens Barrichello also made good use of the rain, managing to climb the overall ranks somewhat during the course of the race. In the end it was Nelson Piquet for Renault who took second, and Felipe Massa of Ferrari who took third. The three were followed by Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren Mercedes) respectively.
10th Anniversary of the Malaysia Grand Prix
The Formula One (F1) Malaysia Grand Prix attracts thousands of auto racing fans from around the world. As the biggest racing event in Malaysia, the Grand Prix is always an exciting occasion, but the 2008 event, set to take place on the weekend of 21 to 23 March 2008 at the Sepang International Circuit, promises to be the most exciting yet. Marking the 10th anniversary of the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix, the organizers have a program of events lined up that they are confident will draw record crowds and prove to be highly entertaining for spectators.
In addition to the thrill of the Formula One race, the inclusion of the GP2 Asia Series and the new Speedcar Series as support races at the Malaysia Grand Prix will provide auto racing enthusiasts with additional excitement. As in previous years, the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and Formula BMW Asia will also form part of the program. The new Speedcar Series is a stock car racing championship which features identical V8 620bph stock cars that are not fitted with electronic driver aids, thereby becoming purely a test of driver skill.
The Sepang International Circuit is considered by many to be one of the most technical circuits in the Formula One series. Combining long high-speed straights with tight twisting turns presents an interesting challenge to auto racing drivers. The track itself is wide and allows opportunity for overtaking, which keeps the excitement of the race at fever-pitch. Add to this a festive atmosphere which is distinctly Malaysian and it is clear to see why the Malaysia Grand Prix is so popular among drivers and spectators alike.
Following the 2007 Formula One race the Sepang International Circuit completely resurfaced the 5.543 kilometer track. Additional safety features included the construction of tarmac run-off areas at seven of the turns as well as extended kerbs at six of the stretches. In addition to improving the safety of the track, all the facilities, including hospitality suites and race offices, were also upgraded. There is no doubt that the Sepang International Circuit and the organizers are ready to welcome the 125,000 auto racing enthusiasts that are expected to gather for the 10th Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix.
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