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F1 Season Just One Week Away

The highly anticipated 2010 Formula One drivers championship is just a week away.

The 2010 F1 season will fire up in Bahrain with the first practice on Friday 12 March. The race takes place on Sunday March 14 at 3.00pm local time.

This season sees the return of seven-time F1 drivers champion Michael Schumacher who will be driving for the Mercedes GP team. Schumacher won 92 Grand Prix races before retiring after the 2006 season.

With Schumacher on the grid there will be four f1 driver championship winners in the field.  The 2009 winner Jenson Button  teams up with the 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton at McLaren while Fernando Alonso, the 2005-06 champion is now driving for Ferrari.

The Red Bull drivers, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel will be hoping to add themselves to the list. Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz expects nothing less.

The 2010 season does not see as many rule changes as in more recent season however there is one big change that radically changes how races will be run. Refueling has been banned in F1. Teams will still need to make pit stops to change tyres but refueling is gone.

After some of the problems last year it is a good thing. It removes the danger factor of something going wrong when a F1 car refuels.

The points system in 2010 also has changed from past seasons. The winner receives a bigger rewards and scoring goes all the way down to position 10. The new F1 points system is as follows.

1st 25, 2nd 18, 3rd 15, 4th 12, 5th 10, 6th 8, 7th 6, 8th 4, 9th2, 10th 1.

For each F1 race weekend each driver will get 11 sets of tyres. Six sets are primes and five are options. Three sets are to be used on Friday and returned used or not. If a driver reaches the Q3 session the tyres they used have to be carried over to start the race.

With engine changes the penalty is 10 grid positions at the race it is changed and at the next race.

An interesting change for 2010 is that the third driver can be used on Friday as long as they use the engine and tyres allocated to the nominated race driver in that team.

The 2010 season sees a few new drivers enter the fold. Williams have a rookie with German Nico Hulkenberg joining the team. Another rookies are Vitaly Petrov from Russia who joins the Renault team, Karun Chandhok with HRT, his teammate is Bruno Senna the nephew of the late great Ayrton Senna. Lucas di Grassi driving for Virgin is another making his F1 debut.

What are you most looking forward to in the Formula One drivers championship for 2010? Do you think Schumacher can make a winning return to F1 and will the champion come from the group of four previous winners or will a new face appear?

2009 Sports Year in Review January-June

This is my personal review based on what caught my eye in 2009 on and off the sports fields.

Going back to the start of 2009 it was NFL playoffs that caught my eye. In the end we saw the surprising Arizona Cardinals meet the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Superbowl. The Steelers pulled off the win with a late touchdown to break the hearts for Cardinal fans. The final score was 27-23.

Also early in the year I enjoyed the Australian summer of tennis. It always gets off to an early start with the Hopman Cup in Perth, along with the Brisbane and Sydney tournaments in the lead up to the Australian Open. At the Australian Open tennis we saw Roger Federer lose to Rafael Nadal in the men’s final and Serena Williams started her climb to the no. 1 ranking with an easy win over Dinara Safina.

The highlight from a local point of view was the performance of Jelena Dokic at the Australian Open. She made good use of her wild card and defeated three seeded players as she reached the quarter finals before losing in three sets to Safina.

In February there was sad news from a personal point of view. This came with the passing of Mike Whitmarsh the beach volleyball player.

World Cup soccer qualifiers took place in February with the Socceroos heading to Japan to claim a scoreless draw.  In other news we saw the return to professional cycling for Lance Armstrong. He would later place third in the 2009 Tour de France.

Nick D’Arcy had his sentence handed down after his assault on a former swimmer just after being named in the 2008 Australian Olympic swim team. He came back to swimming and won a place on the World Championship squad only to have that taken away from him.

In March the F1 season got underway with the Australian Grand Prix. It was here we saw the start of something big for the newly formed Brawn GP team. Jenson Button took the race and set off on a winning streak that established a nice lead in the Formula One driver’s championship.

In April the NBA finals were underway and the Bulls and Celtics were doing it all. They put on one of the most memorable series in history as they had so many matches decided in OT. In the end the Celtics advanced 4-3.  In the NFL no. 1 draft pick was Matthew Stafford from Georgia who was picked by the Detroit Lions.

In May the big news in Australian sport was the Matthew Johns sex scandal. This former NRL player and high profile media personality was forced from his media job after he became the fall guy for a sex scandal which took place in New Zealand back in 2002. Also in May we saw Manchester United claim the English Premier League title. Liverpool ended the season in second place.

At the French Open tennis we saw a big upset as the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal was bundled out in the fourth round by Robin Soderling. This was good news for Roger Federer as he finally won the French Open and on the way completed a career Grand Slam. Federer also added the Wimbledon title to his list of Grand Slam wins to give him 15 overall. Federer was to go on and reach the final at the US Open where he was to lose to Juan Martin Del Potro in five sets.

In June the LA Lakers won the NBA Championship after they defeated the Orlando Magic 4-1. The Socceroos continued their rivalry with the Japanese soccer team as they defeated Japan in Melbourne in the final World Cup qualifying match for both teams. They had both already wrapped up their places at the finals to be held in 2010 in South Africa. On this occasion it was again Tim Cahill that played a starring role to help the Socceroos to a come from behind 2-1 victory.

That’s all for now, watch out for part two…

Schumacher Confirmed as Mercedes Driver for 2010 F1 Season

Yesterday I wrote about the likely return to Formula One racing for seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. Overnight it was confirmed the Schumacher will race for the Mercedes team. This is the outfit that purchased the 2009 championship winning Brawn GP team.

The return to formula one for Schumacher will see him paired up with fellow German Nico Rosberg. He will also be reunited with Ross Brawn. He previously raced with the help of Brawn at Benetton and Ferrari and his involvement with Brawn was key to the return.

Schumacher has high expectations and will be looking for Formula One drivers championship number 8 as he competes in 2010.

“Mercedes GP Petronas represents a new challenge for me both in a sporting and a personal context,” said Schumacher. “It is a new chapter in my racing career and I am really looking forward to working with my old friend Ross Brawn and my companions from my days with the Mercedes Junior Programme.

Schumacher also said it was tough to end his association with Ferrari as he had spent a big part of his career with that team.

At BBC’s website you can see an interview with Michael Schumacher where he discusses his return to Formula One.

February 1, 2010 is the first time that Schumacher will be allowed to test the car that he will race when the Formula One season starts on March 14, 2010 in Bahrain.

In the season ahead F1 fans will get to see Schumacher go head to head with 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton and another young gun of F1, Sebastian Vettel. It will also be interesting to see the battle between those three drivers and defending Formula One champion Jenson Button. Button of course won his championship for Brawn GP and he has now moved to McLaren who are also powered by Mercedes.

I can’t wait for the 2010 season.

This Time Schumacher is Back?

There has been plenty of speculation that Michael Schumacher will make a return to Formula One in 2010. This time he will not be racing for Ferrari but the Mercedes team. This was Brawn GP in 2009.

It has been reported in the German newspaper Bild that Schumacher has actually put pen to paper and signed a one-year contact to drive for Mercedes in 2010.

Schumacher was almost back in F1 in 2009 after looking to fill the seat for injured Felipe Massa. Injury kept him away on that occasion as he suffered neck pain in the physical prior to a planned comeback.

Schumacher now 40 has 16 years in Formula One behind him including 91 race wins in a 16-year career. He is a seven-time Formula One driver’s champion.

There should be plenty of interest in the opening race in the 2010 Formula One season which takes place in Bahrain on March 14, 2010. We will of course see the all-Brit team of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button take to the track racing for McLaren. On top of that Fernando Alonso is in a Ferrari and we will have the Red Bull team looking to go on from their strong performance in 2009.

Bring it on!

Button Joins Hamilton at McLaren for 2010 F1 Season

It seems in Formula One when you hear something won’t happen it will. Just recently I was reading that Jenson Button would not join Lewis Hamilton at McLaren. The next thing you know it has happened. The same thing happened with Giancarlo Fisichella and his move to Ferrari. Denials were followed by his move from Force India to Ferrari. 

Now we know that Jenson Button the 2009 F1 drivers champion is indeed teaming up with the 2008 F1 drivers champion, Lewis Hamilton at the McLaren team. It marks the first time there will be a pairing of two British world champions since Graham Hill and Jim Clark at Lotus in 1968.

Button leaves a team that under different names he was part of since 2003.

Searching for a fresh challenge is why Button moved on from Brawn as he said on F1.com “So, although I won the world championship with Brawn GP last year, and I’ll never forget that, I was always adamant that I wanted to continue to set myself fresh challenges. So that’s why I’ve decided to join Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.”

With two F1 drivers champions in the camp it will be interesting to see how the team functions at McLaren in 2010 and beyond. Will the drivers get along or will we see bickering that has taken place in the past handicap the team. It should be an interesting season in 2010.

McLaren came on strong in the second half of the 2009 season. Can they carry that form over into the 2010 season?

What do you think of the partnership of Hamilton and Button? I know many British F1 fans would be excited with this announcement. I can’t wait for the season ahead.

Sun Sets on 2009 Formula One Drivers Championship

The 2009 Formula One Drivers Championship concluded in style at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The track was making its debut in Formula One. The race was the first dusk-night race in F1.

The setting was spectacular and the final duel between Mark Webber and the 2009 Formula One Drivers Champion, Jenson Button was the highlight of the race.

Early in the race it was Lewis Hamilton who got away from pole position and established a handy lead. Based on his late season form you would have tipped him for the win. Luck was not on his side and the 2008 champion was forced to retire when excessive right rear brake wear made it too unsafe to safely continue. His team pulled him from the race on lap 20.

With Hamilton out of the way Sebastian Vettel was unchallenged. His teammate Mark Webber could not match the speed of the German and it was Vettel who crossed the line in first.

After Webber went to the soft tyre for the final stint his car was more of a challenge to get around the Abu Dhabi track. Button closed in to attempt to take second place from the Australia however Webber did just enough to keep him at bay.

The win for Vettel saw him take second in the drivers championship while Barrichello was third and Webber fourth.

The top eight in the final points table was as follows

Jenson Button 95
Sebastian Vettel 84
Rubens Barrichello 77
Mark Webber 69.5
Lewis Hamilton 49
Kimi Räikkönen 48
Niko Rosberg 34.5
Jarno Trulli 32.5

In the constructors championship it was Brawn Mercedes on 172 who took the prize. Red Bull Racing were second on 153.5 and McLaren Mercedes were a distant third with 71, just ahead of Ferrari on 70.

Formula One racing fans now have to look ahead to March 2010 when the new season will blast off in Bahrain. There are 19 races on the 2010 F1 calendar.

Webber Wins Brazilian F1 GP Button Claims F1 Drivers Championship

Australia’s Mark Webber has made it a good day in motor sport for Australia. He has followed up from Casey Stoner’s win in the MotoGP at Phillip Island with a win in the Brazilian Formula One grand prix.

More important than Webber’s win was the fact that Jenson Button finally can lay claim to being the Formula One driver’s world champion. After Rubens Barrichello fell from starting on pole to position eight and Sebastion Vettel getting fourth, left Button with an insurmountable lead.

Brazil has not treated its home drivers well the past two years and has been a happy hunting ground for the Brits. Who can forget the dramatic race last year when Lewis Hamilton stole the title from Felipe Massa in the closing seconds of the race. This year Barrichello had luck go against him after he suffered a puncture to take away any hope he had to force a decider in Abu Dhabi.

The race overall was not without drama. Once again there was some first lap casualties as Adrian Sutil, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso crashed out of the race. Trulli was not impressed with Sutil and had a confrontation with the Force India driver as the two walked away. The race stewards likewise were not impressed with Trulli and hit him with a US $10 000 fine for his behaviour. They ruled the crash a “racing incident”.

McLaren were also fined US $50 000 for unsafely releasing Heikki Kovalainen with his fuel hose still attached during a pitstop. Kimi Raikkonen who trailed Kovalainen in the pits was showered with fuel and was briefly engulfed in flames as the fuel caught fire. Luckily nothing worse came from that incident.

Back to the on track action Button managed to avoid the cars flying off around him and jumped several places early in the race as we saw the safety car used to clean up after lap one incidents. He then later worked his way through the field to complete the race in fifth spot.

So after a blistering start to the season when Button won six of the opening seven GP’s Button is finally champion with one race left to contest in 2009.

Congratulations to Jenson Button the 2009 Formula One Driver’s Champion. Along with individual honours Brawn GP also wrapped up the constructors title.

Button is now on 89 points, Vettel moved to second on 74, Barrichello is third on 72. The race win takes Mark Webber to 61.5 points for fourth place in the driver’s championship.

Here are some quotes regarding Jenson Button from past British champions.

“Jenson’s done a fantastic job. He was out of a job over Christmas, and really he didn’t know that this season was going to happen. He’s been there through all the pain and I’m really delighted for him.” – Damon Hill 1996 Formula One World Champion.

“Brawn have done an amazing job and Ross a master. But it takes a driver to get the job done at the end of the day, and Jenson did it. Well done to him.” – Sir Jackie Stewart Threetime Formula One World Champion.

Full list of results for the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix

F1 – It is now Barrichello or Button?

After rain played a big part in qualifying at the Brazilian F1 grand prix it appears that the title ambitions for Sebastian Vettel have ended. Rubens Barrichello on the other hand is in the best position possible to challenge F1 driver’s championship leader Jenson Button. The Brazilian grabbed pole position in front of his home fans. Button will start from 14th position while Vettel is all the way down at 16th. The Formula One drivers championship now looks likely to only be a race for Button and Barrichello.

In Q1 the rain fell which resulted in the session being delayed for 14 minutes as officials waited for conditions to improve. More rain and more delays was the order of the day. Q2 started 18 minutes late before heavy rain ended it after just two minutes. It then took over two hours before the cars could make it out onto the track to complete the qualifying.

Who knows what will happen in tomorrow’s race however it would appear extremely unlikely that Vettel could go all the way from 16th on the grid to get a race win. If he does he would really deserve to be champion. Even if he did he still has to get another win in the final race of the season while at the same time Button and Barrichello get poor results.

Mark Webber is where his team mate would like to be as the Australian will start the race from P2 and Adrian Sutil continued the late season form for Force India as he grabbed P3.

01. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:19.576
02. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:19.668
03. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:19.912
04. Trulli Toyota 1:20.097
05. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:20.168
06. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.250
07. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:20.326
08. Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:20.631
09. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:20.674
10. Alonso Renault 1:21.422
11. Glock Toyota 1:21.960
12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.231
13. Grosjean Renault 1:22.477
14. Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:22.504
15. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes no time
16. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:25.009
17. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.052
18. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.192
19. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1:25.515
20. Fisichella Ferrari 1:40.703

Vettel Keeps F1 Drivers Championship Alive

Sebastian Vettel has done all he could do to keep alive his chances for the F1 drivers championship. In qualifying he lead the way and took pole position. In the Japanese Grand Prix he has made the most of his pole position to win the race to close to within 16 points of Jenson Button for the championship.

Jenson Button completed the race in 8th spot with Rubens Barrichello in 7th position. The top three was rounded out by Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton.

Vettel dominated the race. He pulled away early and it was a late safety car stint that bunched the field after Sebastien Buemi crashed out with around 10 laps to go. The safety car released the field with just four laps to go and once again Vettel raced off into the distance to comfortable win the race.

The championship now heads to Brazil with Button, Barrichello and Vettel still in with a chance to win the championship.

Button Extends Lead in F1 Driver’s Championship

Lewis Hamilton has won the Singapore F1 Grand Prix after leading from start to finish under lights on a hot and steamy Singapore night. Timo Glock driving for Toyota was second and Fernando Alonso driving for the controversial Renault team completed the podium.

The big news was Red Bull’s failure to once again take advantage of Jenson Button’s low grid position. Sebastian Vettel could only manage fourth place, just one spot ahead of Button’s fifth place. Mark Webber was forced to retire after brake failure.

In more good news for Button, he actually extended his F1 driver’s championship lead by one point after Rubens Barrichello came home in sixth. Button had started from 11th on the grid.

Vettel had been gifted second position in the race after Williams’ Niko Rosberg crossed the white line coming out of the pits and was awarded a drive through penalty. Ironically Vettel suffered the same fate after allegedly speeding in the pits. His penalty dropped him to fourth and most likely ended his championship claims.

Vettel despite being 25 points behind Button with a maximum of 30 points available is still not giving up hope as the grand prix circuit heads to Japan.

Following the Singapore GP Button leads the championship on 84, Barrichello 69, Vettel 59, Webber 51.5, Raikkonen 40 and the Singapore race winner is on 37 points in sixth.

In the contructors race Brawn is on 153, Red Bull Racing 110.5, Ferrari 62, McLaren 59, Toyota 46-5, Williams 30.5, Renault 26, BMW 21, Force India 13 and STR 5.

The next race is the Japanese grand prix which takes place on October 4.

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