This special guest Article is written by Vinod Jacob , an automotive engineer and a freelance journalist covering travel and automotive topics. Have you ever wondered how the racing car mounted cameras brings to you the drivers view without any vibration of the car when it goes flat out?  read more »

THE evolution of grand prix cars since the modern world championship started in 1950 is as fascinating as the characters involved. As the regulations have changed, designers have come up with some ingenious creations. And there have been some that have not been so good. Remember the Tyrrell six-wheeler from 1977?  read more »

Behind Clive's list over at F1 Insight , but well ahead of the annual Autocourse list, here is the annual Motor Sports Ramblings top 10 drivers list. It's only a personal view, and I think a case could be made for any of my top 3 drivers as the being the driver of the year. Nonetheless, after much indecision, I have arrived at my list. 10. Rubens Barrichello Youre in your sixteenth season of Formula 1. Youve spent six years in a championship winning team, playing second-fiddle to the greatest driver of his generation. Now you find yourself in your third year with Honda, a team which, over the last couple of years, seems to determined to take great leaps backwards. It would be easy for you to become entirely demoralised, to cruise-and-collect on your way to retirement.  read more »

After winning the German Grand Prix, a journalist asked Lewis Hamilton if he was surprised that Felipe Massa didn't defend his second position more strongly than he did. "All I can say is that, if that had been me, he would never have got past." he came straight back. It was a response which has left him open to accusations of arrogance - which were duly and predictably hurled about the internet - but I can't help but think he did no more than speak his mind, and come to that, that he was probably right.

It's hard to imagine that Hamilton - or Alonso or Kubica for that matter, would have made it so easy on the run down into turn 4. I know that back seat drivers are a pain in the arse, and I know that it's easy to be an armchair critic, but even as the move was taking place I was thinking "No, Felipe, don't leave a gap down the inside. Lewis will nail you if you do that." And sure enough, he did.  read more »

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa silenced a lot of voices today at Bahrain by running an almost perfect race to clinch the 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen was second. Lewis Hamilton finished outside the points and lost the championship lead due to it. The Pole on pole Robert Kubica was third for the BMW team. Nick Heidfeld claimed a calm fourth place behind teammate Robert Kubica. Young Heikki Kovalainen got McLaren F1 fifth place. An interesting point in the race was when Lewis Hamilton ran into the back of Fernando Alonso, it made him pit and eventually this resulted in him being out of points. Some people say Fernando brake tested Lewis Hamilton, but i really dont think it was anything like that. I have seen the videos again and again and they look highly inconclusive. Later on Lewis Hamilton was apologetic to the McLaren F1 team : “I am really disappointed and feel like I had let the team down” “You need to pick up the pieces and then deliver points. I didn’t do that.  read more »

1 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 57 Winner 2 10 2 1 Kimi Rikknen Ferrari 57 +3.3 secs 4 8 3 4 Robert Kubica BMW 57 +4.9 secs 1 6 4 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW 57 +8.4 secs 6 5 5 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 57 +26.7 secs 5 4 6 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 57 +41.3 secs 7 3 7 10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 57 +45.4 secs 11 2 8 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 57 +55.8 secs 8 1 9 12 Timo Glock Toyota 57 +69.5 secs 13 10 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 57 +77.1 secs 10 11 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda 57 +77.8 secs 12 12 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 56 +1 Lap 18 13 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 56 +1 Lap 3 14 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 56 +1 Lap 16 15 14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 56 +1 Lap 15 16 19 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 56 +1 Lap 21 17 18 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 5  read more »

The Bahrain Grand Prix turned into yet another self-imposed defeat for Lewis Hamilton — as was amply prefigured in the qualifying sessions. Hamilton increasing resembles the nursery rhyme character who, “When she was good, she was very, very good. When she was bad, she was horrid”. In Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton was horrid. What’s more he knows it. Starting [...]

McLaren have been moved back to the last of the garages in Bahrain behind tailenders Force India formula one. However we are seeing some allegations of this being a trick to get McLaren onto a better place in the pits in order to nullify the disadvantage to them posed by the penalty last year while the FIA insists its for satisfying the rule criterion. It seems that Bahrain had tried to get them middle garages. There are some conflicting reports on the intentions behind the action. The Bahrain organisers meanwhile apologised to McLaren fans for depriving them of ‘team action’. As for me, i really have no clue what effect this will have on the race and the teams but prima facie it seems to assist McLaren. Instead of garages 15-18 McLaren shall now occupy garages 33-35 which seems to offer more advantage to teams. We understand that it is in line with the rules and regulations of the sport for McLaren, which scored no points in the 2007 constructors championship, to take the final set of garages, However in Bahrain we do our utmost to ensure that fans of each team get to sit opposite their favourite teams pit garages to see the action unfold. Sadly on this occasion we must apologise to McLaren fans and accept that this is force majeure. said Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chief Operating Officer at the BIC.  read more »

While Ferrari and McLaren are fighting for the top spot, BMW makes a surprise appearance. But how big of a surprise? Find out from ITV’s coverage of the Bahrain GP:

2008 F1 Sakhir Bahrain GP torrent (ITV)  read more »

The Force India formula one team talks about its home grand prix in their latest release. Every team member is enthusiastic about the race and their new aero package. Giancarlo Fisichella also talks about his horrible accident, he reckons, it looked worse that it was. Read the whole press release here :

1 July 2008 - The British Grand Prix later this week will mark the mid-point of Force India’s debut Formula One World Championship season. It’s an appropriate place for the team to reach this milestone given the Silverstone Circuit, where the race is held, is right opposite Force India’s HQ. 

As such, the British Grand Prix is seen by many as the team’s ‘home’ race. Although preparations continue as normal, with the cars re-built at the factory and then taken on a transporter over to the circuit, it does make the event a special one for the team and their families.  read more »