Click here to read the rest of European F1 GP 2008, Valencia
I have to say, the inaugural race at Valencia that transpired is a bit of a letdown. The track, albeit a street circuit, promised a lot more than it delivered in terms of racing. There were very little overtaking or wheel-to-wheel stuff. However, thanks to the Ferrari team, there were still plenty of controversies that will set tongues wagging.
Looking at Felipe Massa this time round and the waning challenge from BMW-Sauber, by Alan Ng.
For those who read the first Formula 1 midseason report, you would probably wonder why I only mentioned Felipe Massa briefly while giving full attention to Kimi Raikkonen.
After all, the two drivers have been pretty much equally strong this season with neither gaining an upper hand for long.
I don’t know about you but being a Ferrari fan myself, I don’t really see Massa as the kind of driver I would like to support to be the champion somehow. He’s more like Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello than Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen. This is purely my own bias but I know I’m not alone here 
I think it’s mainly because he’s not the type of driver that will raise your heartbeat level during a race. He’s brilliant when he’s in front and when the car’s working for him (think Bahrain and Turkey) but when the chips are down, so does his level of skills (at least five spins in Silverstone!!). There’s still the question of his mental strength. Being a Brazilian, Massa is a very passionate about his driving but in order to do well in F1, you really need a calm, collected and cool head to be on top of things.
Having said that, he is keeping Ferrari ahead in the constructors’ championship, delivering when Kimi hit trouble in previous races. That is why he’s only 3 points behind Kimi with much more to play for in the last seven races. But this then poses a dilemma to the Ferrari team. Which driver to back for the final push in the championship? For now, because these two guys are so equal, resources have to be split equally between the two of them.
Compared to the Mclaren team where Lewis Hamilton is much more stronger than Heikki Kovalainen, this is an obvious disadvantage to Ferrari and only time will tell if the driver equality strategy will work for Ferrari.
BMW-Sauber started this season with a very clear objective, that is to get their first win. Hence, they came out with a very revolutionary car, in terms of design, compared to the previous season. And guess what, they got the win they wanted in the Canadian GP with Robert Kubica. As a Malaysian, it feels quite good knowing that Petronas is now sponsoring a GP-winning team.
And it’s all thanks to the consistency of their Polish driver, Kubica. He was scoring consistently in 7 of the first 8 races and got that win in Canada not because he had the fastest car but because he was able to keep up and push when needed. It all paid off when Hamilton “conveniently” took Raikkonen out at the pitlane. I would dare wager that if you had put Robert Kubica in one of the top two teams in the beginning of the season, he would be miles ahead in terms of points by now, such is the rate of mistakes being made by the Ferrari and Mclaren drivers this season.
Having said that, BMW-Sauber is definitely looking towards the 2009 season as their pace has slowed down considerably since the win and teams like Toyota, Renault and Red Bull seemed to have overtaken them in terms of speed. I guess the team feels that with the raft of changes in the 2009 rules, it is better to concentrate their development resources in the new car and they know they can’t be caught for third place in the constructors’ championship. All these strategies are being carefully and meticulously planned and executed by team boss and mastermind, Mario Theissen.
I really can’t wait for the 2009 season to begin where for sure, we will definitely see much better racing from the teams but for now, let us sit back, relax and enjoy as the F1 circus descends on Valencia next weekend.
A quick look at the F1 season so far and its top two protagonists, by Alan Ng
The F1 season is now in its traditional summers’ break before resuming racing on the 22-24th August weekend at a spanking new street circuit in Valencia. 11 races have gone by and it’s still anybody’s guess, who’s going to be the drivers’ champion this year.
The rule changes introduced this year have really thrown up some interesting races, especially with the ban of launch control and traction control. Of course, there’s still not enough overtaking and most of the time, fans have to wait till the pit-stops before they can see some real action.
The 2009 season will be even more interesting as F1 goes back to using slick tyres and most of the aerodynamic pieces on the car (which caused the hard-to-overtake situation) will be banned.
But before we jump too far ahead, let’s assess the 2008 season so far. Click here to read the rest of Formula 1 2008 Mid-Season Report: An Intriguing Season So Far
BMW Web TV interviewed Robert Kubica on the BMW Sauber F1 Team’s recent double victory at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Canada. Robert Kubica finished the race first with team mate Nick Heidfeld coming in second. Coulthard in a Red Bull Racing RB4 came in third.
The BMW Sauber F1 Team is currently in second place in the contructor’s championship lagging only 3 points behind Ferrari. Kubica currently leads the driver’s championship. Watch the interview after the jump. Click here to read the rest of BMW Double Victory at Montreal, Interview with Robert Kubica
F1 driver Nick Heidfeld takes us through a walkthrough of two of the world’s Formula 1 tracks - Montreal and Monaco. The vocal walkthroughs are accompanied by fantastic cockpit views that show us just how fast F1 cars go through the circuit.
Watch the two videos after the jump. Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Montreal and Monaco Circuit Walkthrough
Jenson Button, Testing, RA108, Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona
Honda Malaysia will be having Honda F1 Roadshows in four locations around the country. The first roadshow will begin this Friday to Sunday (29th February to 2nd March) at Queensbay Mall Penang. Next the roadshow will come to the Klang Valley during the weekend of 7th to 9th March and it will be held at Sunway Pyramid. Then the show will go down south to City Square Johor Bahru from 14th to 16th March 2008, before having its last stop at One Utama New Wing between 20th and 23rd of March 2008, this time for 4 days - Thursday to Sunday.
Honda Malaysia says these Honda F1 Roadshows are organised to inspire and spur common car racing spirit with Malaysians. Improvements to its Formula 1 race machine, codenamed RA108 this year, will also be introduced. Besides providing information on the F1 sport, the roadshows will also give have interactive and fun games with prizes to be won.
I’m sure alot of you have watched this video pitting an F1 car driven by David Coulthard against a Mercedes Benz E50 and a Mercedes Benz A160 on a race track, it’s one of the more popular car-related videos on the internet.
Now before you say it is not a fair race, the A160 and the E50 actually got a big head start, but the Formula 1 car still managed to catch up in the end.
The A160 isn’t exactly the fastest thing on the road, and the E50 while having a large displacement isn’t meant to be a track weapon. This video brings the stakes closer together, pitting Coulthard in an F1 car once again against Mercedes-Benz cars.
This time the cars are the Mercedes Benz C200K Coupe, the Mercedes Benz SL55 AMG, and the Mercedes Benz CLK DTM.
Check out the video after the jump.
Click here to read the rest of McLaren F1 Car vs Mercedes Road Cars, Part 2
Click here to read the rest of Anything you can do I can do better F1 Ad
This amusing advertisement has Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in a little spot of rivalry, both being two of the youngest people in F1 at 26 and 22 respectively. Both drive for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team. Of course, at the end they meet big brother. The song playing in the background is “I can do anything you can do better”, originally performed by Annie Oakley and Frank Butler. Hat tip thanks to Damien O.Y. Watch the video after the jump.
No prizes for guessing which car wins this race, but still it’s a fun watch. Tiff Needel drives the F1 car while Vicki drives the BMW M5. It’s amazing to see how easily the F1 car overtakes the BMW M5 when they are going side by side, plus watch out for them to announce the big difference in average speed around the track! Click here to read the rest of BMW Williams F1 car vs BMW M5
If you watched the Canadian GP during the weekend, I’m sure you’ll be talking about Robert Kubica’s crash during the race, when he made contact with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli on the approach to the hairpin. The impact basically destroyed the car’s nose cone and exposed Kubica’s legs to some possible major damage. However, I guess an angel was watching over him as he ended up unhurt and has been released from the hospital.
For those who did not see the crash, video after jump.
Related Crash Posts: Click here to read the rest of Robert Kubica Crash at 2007 Canadian GP
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