As Sebastian Vettel slides past the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne on the run down to Turn 4, the yellow flag indicators can clearly be seen showing on his dashboard, either side of the timing screen. This would seem to suggest that the pass is illegal, which could result in a penalty for the German. (Video | YouTube)
This is the moment which could ruin Sebastian Vettel’s hat-trick of Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship crowns.
The shadow of the Hockenheimring of old is still visible through the treeline, but the circuit’s new identity has proved just as entertaining (Image | f1techincal.net)
Formula 1 returns to one of its most prestigious events this weekend at the 59th championship edition of the German Grand Prix. The famous Hockenheimring hosts the event for the 33rd time since its debut in 1970.
It’s an event steeped in history and has been won repeatedly by some of the greatest names of the World Championship era – from Alberto Ascari and Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s through Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and into the modern era, with Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton all multiple-winners of the event.
L-r: Martin Whitmarsh, Bob Fearnley and Ross Brawn flaunt the new FOTA “white shirt, black trousers” uniform (Image | FOTA website)
A number – a small number, perhaps, but a number nonetheless – of interesting quotes emerged from the second English Formula One Teams Association Fans’ Forum. The forum, held Tuesday at the Williams GP base in Grove, Oxfordshire, allowed F1 fans from around the country to pose questions to team chiefs Ross Brawn (Mercedes), Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren) and Bob Fearnley (deputy team chief, Force India) in a 45-minute question-and-answer session.
The session, which took place after an autograph session with Pastor Maldonado and an hour or so looking around the Williams GP museum, featured questions from a variety of different fans with, it should be said, differing levels of F1 understanding and vocabulary (one nigh-incoherent individual rambled on for almost two minutes without posing a question). TAP, as you would expect, had a few questions lined up, but we never got near the microphone…
Keep an eye out | The Armchair Pundits will be bringing you reaction to the forum event tomorrow. (Image | Robert Schatten)
This evening sees the second annual Formula One Teams’ Associaton UK Fans’ Forum, one of a number of such events FOTA organises worldwide on an annual basis.
This year the event is being held at Williams GP’s Grove headquarters, and with an autograph session with Pastor Maldonado already visited, The Armchair Pundits have taken their seats in the conference room.
Keep your eyes peeled here over the next few days for reaction to the event, featuring analysis of any particularly pertinent points and a summary to the forum experience as a whole.
Flying high: Red Bull’s Mark Webber became the sixth different race winner this season after holding off Nico Rosberg to take the chequered flag. (Image | The Daily Mail)
Mark Webber took his second victory on the streets of Monte Carlo to become the sixth different winner in the opening six races of the 2012 Formula One season. Webber, who was granted pole after Michael Schumacher was demoted to sixth, drove faultlessly as he held back Nico Rosberg of Mercedes. Fernando Alonso took the final podium place and surprisingly leads the championship ahead of Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Webber, something few in the paddock would have predicted before the first race in March.
A fire in the Williams garage, which began over half an hour after the race ended, will be the lasting memory of the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix (Getty)
Pastor Maldonado achieved a memorable first win in seven and a half years for the long-embattled Williams F1 team, but the occasion was marred by the hospitalisation of four team mechanics – and five more, four from Caterham and one Force India member – following the outbreak of a horrific fire in the team’s garage following the race.
Reports soon emerged from sources such as BBC.co.uk and Autosport.com that the fire had been caused either by a KERS or fuel explosion, possibly linked to the retired car of Bruno Senna which had been recovered to the pits after stopping out on track. Thick black smoke engulfed the pit lane as fire-trained mechanics from several teams rushed to join the firefighting effort.
The event cast an unhappy shadow over what should have been a memorable day for Williams, whose founder Frank Williams had his entire family at the race to celebrate his 70th birthday. Williams, who has been in a wheelchair for over 25 years following a car accident, was in the garage at the time of the fire but was reportedly evacuated safely.
Lewis Hamilton was instructed to stop on the track after delivering a pole-position lap, but McLaren were unable to avoid falling foul of the stewards (Autosport.com)
Lewis Hamilton will start today’s Spanish Grand Prix from the final place on the grid after he pulled over at the end of Q3 without sufficient fuel to reach the pits and provide a one-litre sample for testing. Hamilton had just banged in a lap which was good for pole position by a clear half-second, ahead of surprise packages Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso.
The idea that McLaren could have failed to ensure that Hamilton was safely stocked for fuel highlights another glaring issue for a pit crew which has struggled under the pressure of in-race pitstops on several occasions this year already, and continues to demonstrate vulnerability in ensuring the absolute accuracy of its work.
The beautiful Sepang circuit, opened in 1999, is known for its twin straights, twisting corners and highly unpredictable weather (MotoGP.com)
There are many talking points around the Formula 1 paddock ahead of this weekend’s second round of the season in Sepang, Malaysia. Last weekend’s curtain-raiser in Melbourne provided F1 fans with a couple of surprises – McLaren out-qualifying Red Bull caught most casual fans by surprise, while the struggles of Ferrari have heaped more pressure on Stefano Domenicali and his technical team. So what should we be looking out for as the teams prepare to go racing again?
The Armchair Pundits 