F1 news - 2014

Hello everyone! Wishing you all a very Happy New Year 2014. Hope this year brings you lots of happiness, success & may all your wishes comes true !! 

 It's been a while now that I've been off from here and so would like to apologies all my readers for not keeping you updated with the F1 news, gossips etc.

 Although there are no on ground F1 activities going on now but there are lots of things happening around the F1 world. One of the most important news which is highly been shown in the telly or in the newspapers is on Schumacher's skiing accident which occurred at Meribel on December 29th & how he is battling for his life now in Grenoble hospital. He has undergone two brain operations so far & remains in a medically induced coma.

According to the latest statement issued by Schumacher's wife Corinna on Tuesday, she said "Please support us in our common fight with Michael. It is important to me that you leave the doctors and the hospital so that they can work in peace." 

On the more side on F1 news, McLaren has announced the unveiling of its MP4-29 to take place on Friday January 24 online. Whereas, The Brackley based team - Mercedes will reveal the W05, during the first winter test of the year at Jerez in Spain on January 28th.

 The Enstone based team - Lotus will miss out its first pre-F1 test at Jerez. According to Lotus technical director Nick Chester, said "We're going to keep our car under wraps a little longer than some other teams," he said. "We've decided that attending the Jerez test isn't ideal for our build and development programme. "We are likely to unveil the car before attending the Bahrain tests, and in Bahrain we should really be able to put the car through its paces in representative conditions."

German Grand Prix Preview

Out of 19 races so far, it’s the tenth race of the Formula One season in Germany on this weekend at the Nurburgring circuit. Also, it will be the midway point of this season.

I know you guys are much excited as I am for the coming Grand Prix because it will have six German drivers on the grid and after all it will be Vettel’s and other fellow German drivers home GP which will make more exciting to watch and so I reckon it will action packed race as always.

Nurburging circuit is situated around the village of Nurburg and in the Eifel mountains. It has 16 turns, 60 laps and is 5.1 kilometers long.There will be a single DRS Zone. The DRS will start at turn 10 and at the exit of turn 11 the drivers will be able to activate the rear wing.

"The DRS zone has been set for the straight before the tight chicane, so we should see some good overtaking. There's always good action at the first corner: it's nice and wide, with a variety of lines, which gives drivers an opportunity to pass." Says FIA race director Charlie Whiting

Pirelli have confirmed to go for its P Zero white Medium tyre as the prime and the P zero yellow soft as an option. Unlike what we saw at the British GP where half of the circuit was dry and half was wet. So the tyre strategy will be important. It’s not yet confirmed if will see the rain during the race.

"Although they sit next to each other in our range, there is still a significant difference between the P Zero Yellow soft and the P Zero White medium tyre,"

"as we saw on the last occasion that this combination was used at the Grand Prix of Europe in Valencia." Says the Motorsport Director of Pirelli Paul Hembery.

Moreover, the circuit has less overtaking opportunities which will be a struggling point for the drivers. The weather here is not so favorable.

The last race was held in Nurburging was in 2009 and in 2010 the race was held in Hockenheim. Similarly like Spain who enjoys two grand Prix per year in Valencia and Barcelona, Germany had two grand prix per year. But due to excessive hosting fees, it has been a struggle to host the race at the both of the circuits.

Unlike British GP where we see a real passion from the Home crowd, will see the same craziness from the fans of the Germany. After all the two World champion drivers will be racing across the circuit and most important part is that they will have their own home team too Mercedes which will make the atmosphere more cheerful.

British GP which was two weeks back from now, we saw the action packed race. Notably the
following-
• Teams order, bad pit stop error of Redbull.
• Wheel nut problem with the Jenson’ MP4-26 car.
• Force India had a error in the Pit stops.

and offcourse many things to add on. However, the luck was with the Prancing Horse. Alonso did a great job. He drove well .They upgraded their car before the start of the British GP but this doesn’t really clear that it was a new upgrade on their car or it was of because blown-diffuser regulations??

“We have a few more updates coming for this weekend at the Nurburgring and then one further update for Hungary the following week. We are keeping the pressure on to develop as much as we can before the summer break,” says Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali.

Well last year it was Ferrari’s who had one-two finish by a Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and in 2009, Redbull had a one-two finish by a Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. But this year we have been seeing how the Redbull is dominating in many of the races and so it will be a real fight between bulls, Prancing Horse, McLaren and Mercedes.

Although Force India did not gain any point at the British GP but so far the team is doing a great job. The performance is getting better and better. “a total of 21 points separates it from what would be an improved sixth” says Force India Chairman and team principal Dr. Vijay Mallya

I hope we get to see some fantastic performance by Adrian Sutil as he will be racing at his home GP.

McLaren had a bad time at the British GP. Two drivers have defiantly a strong car to compete and also they have been always closer to the Redbull. But this weekend will a tough one.

Apart from the top teams, I reckon Renault looks more competitive this weekend as they too have upgrades on their cars for the Germany Grand Prix.

So what do you think will McLaren have a tough time considering that Ferrari’s are back in the competition through the mid point season? Will the home crowd for Vettel will be a bonus for him to win the race? Or you think Mercedes drivers will have enormous pressure to show their best performance at the Germany Grand Prix or may be a surprise win from Schumi?

Indian Grand Prix could be scheduled for the December 4

Indian grand prix which is schedule for 30th October, 2011 can be moved to 4^th December, 2011.  Since  March, the situation in Bahrain was under the thread of emergency for 3 months from now, is set to host the race at Sakhir.

According to the leading motorsports website Autosport “Formula 1 chiefs are considering a move to make the Indian Grand Prix the season finale on December 4, AUTOSPORT has learned, as a way of slotting the Bahrain GP back on the calendar”.

There has, however, been many positive reports on the Bhuddh International Circuit since construction began two years ago.

Formula 1’ Chief Bernie Eccelstone, Bahrain Officials and the Formula1’ world body FIA are in talks to host the Bahrain Grand Prix on 30^th October which will reshuffle the slot for the Indian GP to December 4 and continuing with the Abu Dhabi GP on November 13 to the F1 Calendar.

"We completely sympathise with the problems that are happening, and we all understand that it would not have been possible to keep the grand prix as the first race of the championship, “says FIA president Jean Tod.

Indian Grand Prix organisers are waiting for the approval from the FIA. However, homologation is set for 1^st August and race on 30^th October for now. 

JPSI are not sure about the confirmation and so by June 3 the decision will be affirmed by the FIA.

For more information regarding IndianGP, Please visit: http://www.facebook.com/IndianGP