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."

Touching the sky - Maria de Villota

Retracing the life of Maria de Villota, who lost an eye testing for Marussia F1

Let’s face it. Motorsport is a male-dominated sport. That perhaps holds true more in the world of Formula One, given the way the sport functions. Even though women are involved in F1 in various ways, we barely get to hear about a female driver driving a Formula One car, let alone testing for a team. Since its inception in 1950, five women racers made it to Formula One, although only two have been able to actually race. Maria Teresa de Filippis became the first female racer to make it to the F1 grid when she qualified for the race in the 1958 season, driving a Maserati. But women have been largely absent from the racing in F1, even though lower racing championships have women enjoy reasonable success. As a motorsport enthusiast and a girl at that, I have always wanted women to take up active roles in the sport, and have been particularly excited each time women have taken up a strategic position in F1. I would be happiest though if a female racer makes it to the Formula One starting grid in today’s day and age, giving her male counterparts a run for their money.

I was particularly excited when Marussia F1 had signed on Spanish racing driver Maria di Villota. I was hopeful of seeing her get a chance to race apart from her role as test driver. However, the ugly side of things are known to show up when least expected. In racing it is in the form of crashes given the speeds involved, especially in F1. Any F1 fan worth his salt will never forget the sad demise of Ayrton Senna at Imola in Italy. Ever since F1 has fortunately not seen a single death, but yes, crashes do happen, serious ones sometimes. Unfortunately for Maria, she fell prey to one such accident even before she could live her dream of actually racing in F1. Over the years, the FIA has made advances in terms of safety, but the risk of accidents cannot be eliminated completely. Intrigued by the way her life has changed since the gruesome accident that left Maria without sight in one eye, I was keen on learning about her, and got in touch with her family.

Maria’s tryst with racing began as a kid. Born in Madrid, she is the daughter of former F1 driver Emilio de Villota who raced in the 80s. She started her racing career with karting in 1996. She was very passionate about racing as a kid since her father was an F1 driver. Her dad however never wanted Maria to race. But Maria knew that she wanted to take up racing as a career when she won her first karting race. She went on to race in various single seater and sportscar categories like the Spanish Formula Toyota 1300, Spanish F3, Daytona 24 Hours, the Spanish GT Championship, Euroseries 3000 and the Superleague Formula and so on. Maria was studying sports science at the same time, and holds a degree in the same from the European University of Madrid.

She got her first taste of driving an F1 car in 2011 when got behind the wheel of the Renault R29 at the Paul Ricard Circuit for a test, hoping to secure a seat as reserve driver. A few months later, she was finally taken by Marussia F1 as test driver for the 2012 season. Unfortunately for her, Maria suffered a crash in her very first test for Marussia, at the Duxford Aerodrome, Cambridgeshire, performing a straight line acceleration run. Her car seemed to have accelerated suddenly whilst slowing down, launching it into the rear of a parked truck. She suffered serious head and facial injuries that took a long time to heal, but she lost her right eye in the process. F1 cars and driving helmets are designed to protect the driver from every possible injury, but the eyes generally get lesser protection due to the visors. Her car reportedly was at a low speed but she suffered fractures in her skull apart from losing an eye.

This was one of those unfortunate incidents where the crash took place in the service area where a support truck was parked. The reason for the crash is still not clear but when internal investigations were carried out by Marussia and by a Health and Safety Executive (HSE), they found that the crash was not caused by a technical issue with the car. Once she recovered, Maria wanted to get back in the cockpit, but had to wait for some time before she even got the clearance to drive on the road. When I asked what she thinks about her new life, she told me “I want to focus on my new life, and help promote safety.” She wears an eye patch now, and wants to work on ensuring testing in motorsport becomes safer in future.

October 2012 is when she made her first public appearance after the crash, having spent several months recovering. However, she suffers from headaches even now and has lost her sense of sense of taste and smell. Talking about the difficulties in her daily life Maria says, "After I recovered, even day-to-day activities were difficult. Catching a bunch of keys thrown in the air or getting a glass of water was a problem, but now it’s a lot better.”

De Villota is one of the ambassadors of the FIA’s Women in Motorsport Commission (WMC) and she says she aims to change the current scenario to open new avenues for women. She took a lot of time to make it to F1 as even a test driver and thinks is it important to encourage talented female racers to try and make it big in racing. She also thinks that road safety has improved a lot but still has a long way to go. She says is not sure if she will ever get a chance to get back into the cockpit of a race car, but looks forward to improve safety. She feels the situation at circuits is under control, but not outside, where other test such as aero are conducted.

Welcoming all readers back!

Hello everybody, hope you guys are doing great and enjoying 2013 F1 season. I know I've been away since many days, may be a year now but I'm back here on my blog page so that I can share all my F1 updates with you all.
 
Whilst doing my full time job at India's best F1 racing circuit, Buddh International Circuit since September 2011, I have also been featuring some of my F1stories in one of India’s leading automotive publication- Overdrive (http://www.overdrive.in/)
 
Whenever you guys have some time off, check out my few F1 stories and let me know your feedback:

• Dehradun to Formula One - Monisha Kalterborn: http://overdrive.in/details/2170/Dehradun-to-Formula-One

• The Indian connection - Bal Sira : http://overdrive.in/details/2162/The-Indian-connection

• A peek at what went into making the 2012 Formula 1 Grand Prix of India a success- Hetal Mehta: http://overdrive.in/details/2448/What-lies-beneath

 
Hence, stay tuned for more updates!

Cheers,

Hetal

Twitter: www.twitter.com/hetalmehtaf1

 

Love speed? Get behind the wheel at BIC

Do you have a valid car/bike driving license and love zipping through the lane? Then the world's fastest racing circuits is waiting for you.

The inaugural Open Track Day was organised at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) on April 22.

The response? Terrific as car/bike lovers couldn’t stop yelling for more.

Not just this. The Jaypee Sports International (JPSI) organised a ‘Taxi Ride’ for those who wanted to enjoy sitting next to the driver and feel the adrenaline rush.

The inaugural Open Track Day was pre-divided for those who got themselves registered for the first-hand experience.

The car/bike slots were divided into three sessions, of 20-minute each, where fans could either choose to go for one or all three.

The cost for a bike and car (one session) was Rs 4,999 and Rs 7,599, respectively.

Those who opted for all the three sessions were given a concessional rates of Rs. 9,999 (bike), and Rs18,749 (car).

I spoke to a couple of riders after the first bike session and found that at the Turn 1, they found it a bit difficult to balance their machines, but they loved driving through Turn 3 and Turn 4.The maximum speed at Turn 3 and Turn 4was 285 kmph.

After the three sessions, the riders got familiarised with the Turns and the Breaking Points. Rest was sheer thrill!

The excitement was such that several drivers had bought new pairs of bike/cars accessories.

I came across following super-bikes and the cars on Open Track Day:

Bikes: Suzuki Hayabusa GSXR1300, Suzuki Hayabusa / 2010, Honda CBR 1000 RR/ 2010, CBR1000RR-2010, Suzuki Hayabusa, Ducati / Superbike 848 Evo, Honda CBR 1000RR, BMW K1300R, BMW S1000RR, M/V Augusta F-4, Ducati 999, Honda CBR 250R, Ducati 795, Suzuki Hayabusa GSXR 1300, Honda CBR 250R, Ducati 795,Yamaha R15, Kawasaki Ninja ZX 10 R, Ninja ZX 12R, Hyosung GT650R.


Cars: Mitsubishi Lancer Invex, Mahindra XUV 500, Mercedes E270, Jaguar XF, BMW 320 D, Honda City, Honda Civic, Maruti 800, BMW X6, Audi A6, BMW 320 D, Hyundai Santafe, Porsche Panamera 4S, BMW, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai I10, Maruti ZEN,Volkswagen Polo, Maruti Baleno and Ford Fiesta.

Aditi, my colleague, interviewed a couple of speed lovers. Check out what they had to say:

Dr. Arun Theraja, Founder of G.O.D.S. Group: “I drove Kawasaki Ninja ZX 10 R. I hit the maximum speed of 280 kmph on Turn 3 and Turn 4 on my favorite turn.The BIC track is 10/10.”
Harsh Agarwal: “I droveWestfield Sport 2000 and touched 190 kmph on Turn 3 and 4. It was an amazing experience and I look forward to come here again.”

Gurvinder Singh: “I rode BMWS1000RR and my second session was fantastic, at 285 kmph on Turn 3and Turn 4.

The car/bike riders had a wonderful day and each one of them wanted to experience the thrill again. Well,they are not far from that.

If you want to be part of the utmost driving experience where screeching tyres, burning rubber, no traffic signals and speed-breakers welcome you, then you have to be here --at India’s only F1 Circuit called Buddh international Circuit at Greater Noida.

The next Open Track Day is expected on June 10.

To book slots, e-mail us at bic.timetrail@jalindia.co.in

Mugello test - driver line up 2012

Redbull Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) - Mark Webber Wednesday (2-05-2012)-  Mark Webber/Sebastian Vettel Thursday (3-05-2012)-  Sebastian Vettel	McLaren Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) -  Oliver Turvey/Gary Paffett Wednesday (2-05-2012)-  Gary Paffett Thursday (3-05-2012)-  Oliver Turvey	Ferrari Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) - Fernando Alonso Wednesday (2-05-2012)- Felipe Massa Thursday (3-05-2012)-  Fernando Alonso
Mercedes Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) - Nico Rosberg/Michael Schumacher Wednesday (2-05-2012)-  Michael Schumacher Thursday (3-05-2012)-  Nico Rosberg	Lotus Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) - Jerome D’Ambrosio Wednesday (2-05-2012)- Kimi Raikkonen Thursday (3-05-2012)- Romain Grosjean	Force India Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) -  Jules Bianchi Wednesday (2-05-2012)- Paul di Resta Thursday (3-05-2012)- Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) - Kamui Kobayashi Wednesday (2-05-2012)- Kamui Kobayashi Thursday (3-05-2012)- Sergio Perez	Toro Rosso Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) - Jean-Eric Vergne Wednesday (2-05-2012)-  Jean-Eric Vergne/Daniel Ricciardo Thursday (3-05-2012)-  Daniel Ricciardo	Williams Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) -  Valtteri Bottas Wednesday (2-05-2012)- Pastor Maldonado Thursday (3-05-2012)- Bruno Senna
Caterham Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) -  Rodolfo Gonzalez Wednesday (2-05-2012)- Vitaly Petrov Thursday (3-05-2012)- Heikki Kovalainen	HRT Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) – n/a Wednesday (2-05-2012)- n/a Thursday (3-05-2012)- n/a	Marussia Tuesday ( 1-05-2012) - Charles Pic Wednesday (2-05-2012)-  Charles Pic/Timo Glock Thursday (3-05-2012)-  Timo Glock

2012 Australian Grand Prix Preview

Many of us were waiting for the Formula One season to kick off and so this week for the first time in the history of Formula One, we will see 6 world champions on the grid with their massive 18’000hp.

Welcome to my blog of Formula One and I hope you all will have an amazing time this season. I bet if you will not ;)

As the first round of Formula One approaches to the Albert Park, many of the F1 teams and their respective crew members have started their way to Melbourne. The circuit itself is in the centre of the city around a lake. It is considered that the circuit is one of the first – rate circuit with the best facilities.

With the twelve days of pre –season testing, looks like all the teams are geared up for this season. HRT car failed to do more laps during the testing whereas only last week Marussia’s car successfully passed its mandatory crash tests.

I reckon Ferrari’s are still struggling to know their F2012. McLaren and Lotus car looked smoother. But yes we have to see this Saturday how these car do well in the competition level.

Red bull looks stronger but the question comes here is that: Will Red bull dominate this year too with the Newey’s design?

Sebastian Vettel: "Testing has been busy over the last few weeks and I think we have made a decent step with the car. You never really know where you are until we get to Melbourne and even then you don't really see what everyone has got until qualifying - so I'm looking forward to getting started.”

The track is clockwise with few blind corner, 90- degree corners, 58 laps, 16 turns and with two DRS activation Zone.

Pirelli, the official tyre supplier of the Formula One had announced last month that for the first race, all the teams will be supplied with the soft and the medium compound tyres.

Hence, to sum up, I would say that this GP has to be the action packed.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Preview

After the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, the 18th race of the season will start from tomorrow at the Yas Marina circuit. Not many of us are waiting to get this season to an end.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix had its first race in the year 2009. The circuit was designed by none other Hermann Tilke. He has designed various other Formula One racing track across the world.

Yas Marina circuit has not been favorite circuit of many drivers but it’s surrounded of high spending hotels, golf courses and the Ferrari World theme park. It has 21 Turns, 55 laps and is 5.554 Kilometers long. It’s an anti- clockwise circuit. Pirelli have confirmed to go for its P Zero white Medium tyre as the prime and the P zero yellow soft as an option.

The track has very less overtaking opportunity; but has a huge grandstand at the Hairpin onto the main straight which offers spectators a nice view of overtaking point on the circuit.

Turn 8 is one of the hardest where at the cars slow down to about 50mph. Hence FIA race director is optimistic about the overtaking opportunity this year as there will be two independent DRS zones. One will between Turn 7 and 8 (F1 second longest straight), following the second onto the kinked straight towards the turn 11.

“The race came in for a bit of criticism last year because the cars found it very difficult to overtake. But there are two DRS zones this year, with two activation points, and they should make a significant difference in that respect” says Charlie Whiting.

Redbull’s Sebestain Vettel had won the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2009. Last year he had clinched the World Champion title at Yas Marina Circuit whereas this year he has already won a youngest Second World Champion title and I am very sure Vettel will win the GP this year too. So far, since the Circuit has inaugurated, Vettel has only won the race twice.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton had a three grid penalty at the Indian Grand Prix for ignoring the yellow flags during the practice session. He is going through a hard phase this year. But he still hopes for an optimistic race results.

“I have some fantastic memories of the Yas Marina Circuit. I started from pole position there in 2009, and I led the race until I was forced to stop because of a brake issue. Last year, I finished second and set the fastest lap, so we head there looking to convert all that potential into a race win.” says Hamilton.

Jenson Button is aiming to win races. I reckon he might seal the second place or you think he will beat Vettel?

"We saw at the last grand prix that even though we didn't have the ultimate speed to catch and pass Sebastian, we made him work hard for the win. The championship may not be at stake any more but we're still aiming to win races and put on a tremendous show." says Button.

As like many drivers wants to get on to the podium. The real battle between Vettel, Button, Alonso and Webber will start from tomorrow. Only two more races to go and the battle will continue for next year.

Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali "In the remaining two races, we want to try and get on the podium and try all we can to get Fernando to second place in the drivers' classification. We will fight hard, as much as we can, for that goal."

We might see another battle between Hamliton and Massa at the Yas Marina Circuit. First we saw in Monaco, Silverstone, Singapore, Japan and then in India.

Force India’s Adrain Sutil shown good result (P9) at the Inaugural IndianGP and rookie Paul Di Resta finished at P13. Adrain managed to score two point s at the team’s home GP. However, Adrian is looking forward to earn some more point s at the Yas Marina circuit.

“It was a difficult race for us last year, but I think this year it should be much better. There are long straights and hairpins, and it’s a track where low-speed corner performance counts. That should suit our car so I think we’ll be okay’. Says Sutil

So let see how interesting the race will be at the Yas Marina circuit. Do you think due to less of high- speed corners, F1 second longest straight, two DRS zone will be a good package for the teams?