It was a throwaway remark from Christine in a recent edition of sidepodcast which got me started. While talking about the livery of the newly rebadged Force India team, she suggests that they had perhaps had to drop the original (and much prettier) red colour scheme after pressure from Ferrari - who wanted to ensure that they remained the only red car on the grid. And now I think about it, it's been a very long time since anyone other than Ferrari had a red car on the F1 grid. I might be forgetting someone, but I think the last car other than a Ferrari to be decked out in red was the 1992 Scuderia Italia Dallara. And the only other one I can remember from the 25 years or so that I have been following the sport was the 1990 Life W12. Which was in no danger of being confused with a Ferrari, or indeed with a working F1 car.  read more »

Both the National and the World Touring Car series were in action in the UK this weekend, at two of Jonathan Palmer's circuits - with the WTCC boys at Brands Hatch and the British Touring car series fighting it out at Oulton Park. Both Brands Hatch and Oulton Park are great circuits for tin-top racing. They may not be wide enough or have sufficiently long straights to really suit modern single seaters, certainly anything more powerful than an F3 car, but they're absolutely ideal for less powerful cars which are capable of running door-to-door. The question which struck me, though, is distance aside, which race should the discerning motorsport fan have been at last weekend?  read more »

While I suppose there have been other venues to host major races in Der Fatherland, Ill focus upon what are known to be truly the Big Three, a.k.a. AVUS, The Hockenheimring and the Nordschleife AVUS AVUS was the popularly used acronym for the Automobil-Verkehrs- und bungs-Strae, a racing circuit located on the southwestern outskirts of Berlin, which called for construction to hopefully begin in 1907.  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 »

My first two choices for my series on iconic racing cars from my youth were, in many ways, polar opposites. The Porsche 962 was stunningly, conspicuously successful, where the Metro 6R4's competition history was a story of opportunities missed and what-might-have-been. The 962 had a kind of elegant simplicity about it's design where the 6R4 looked like it could have come straight off the set of Mad Max - all wildly flared wheel arches and giant spoilers. And, of course, while the 962 as a race car, the 6R4 was a rally car.

My final choice falls between all these stools. Both a rally car and a racing car - successful, but never to quite the extent that it could have been, and a car whose beauty, or otherwise, was always very much in the eye of the beholder. The early 1980s saw the replacement of the old Group 1-6 system for rally, sports and touring cars with three new categories - Group C, for sports prototypes, Group B, which was principally a category for ludicrously overpowered rally cars and Group A, for both rally cars (following the death of Group B, it became the premier rally category from 1987) and touring cars. For me, the archetypal Group A touring car was Ford's Sierra RS Cosworth.  read more »

McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh claims Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen did all they could to get out of the way of other drivers in the closing stages of qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The team's drivers are under investigation by the race stewards for the way they appeared to get in the way of Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso during the closing seconds of the qualifying session at Sepang.  read more »

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps 1 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:35.347 1:34.412 1:35.748 17 2 1 Kimi Rikknen Ferrari 1:35.645 1:34.188 1:36.230 13 3 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.227 1:34.759 1:36.613 12 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.392 1:34.627 1:36.709 18 5 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:35.205 1:34.825 1:36.711 18 6 4 Robert Kubica BMW 1:35.794 1:34.811 1:36.727 13 7 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:35.729 1:34.648 1:36.753 13 8 10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:35.440 1:34.967 1:37.009 18 9 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:35.983 1:35.140 1:38.450 18 10 12 Timo Glock Toyota 1:35.891 1:35.000 1:39.656 20 11 16 Jenson Button Honda 1:35.847 1:35.208 15 12 9 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:36.058 1:35.408 12 13 6 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:36.074 1:35.562 12 14 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:36  read more »

Aw shucks, I just realized that its Saint Patricks Day, you know when youre supposed to pinch somebody when theyre NOT wearing green, OUCH! Mary Ellen So with that in mind, I thought Id pay homage to those plucky Irishmen whove boldly sat behind the wheel of a Formula 1 rocket ship and see just whos Kissed the Blarney stone and whos found the luck O the Irish or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, eh?  read more »

I'm reading a fascinating book right now called "The Driver". It's written by Alex Roy, a guy who became famous for setting the fastest time ever to complete the Cannonball Run, the drive from New York to Los Angeles. There's plenty of info about the origins of the Cannonball (and its successor, the US Express) here, but Roy did it independently of any organized event.

What's fascinating for me is what drives Roy. His book, which is very well written, captures the feelings of winning on four wheels that every racing driver strives for. The only difference here is that Roy does his racing on public roads. "That's terrible" you say. "He's putting the lives of innocent people in jeapordy!" True, but Roy's approach is exactly the same as any racing team: obsessive, over-the-top preparation, the spending of large amounts of money in an attempt to improve the chances of victory and a single-minded focus that seeks to eradicate any random factor that could disrupt his racing. To that end, you get the impression that his driving is probably significantly safer than the bulk of people he shares the Interstate highways with.  read more »

Well last 2 weeks have been glorious for the great Lewis Hamilton from the McLaren team. Not only has he won the last 2 races, now it seems like McLaren has overtook Ferrari by a good margin in terms of sheer pace.

Lewis Hamilton i hate to admit seems to be the title favourite right now, with Ferrari still looking to reclaim lost ground and BMW giving a small win here and there, McLaren does look invincible.

However formula one is far more complex than that. An advantage today in Friday practice can turn into a deficit by the end of the weekend during the race. Inspite of the fact that McLaren looked strongest in the Jerez test also, it doesnt mean that that advantage will remain forever.  read more »