The future of motorsport?

Yesterday Toyota pulverised the electric car lap record around the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife with its TMG EV P001 driven by Jochen Krumbach (via Axis of Oversteer). Peugeot’s old record of 9:01.338 is in the bin. The new benchmark is 7:47.794. To put it in perspective, the official lap record for any car round the Nordschleife […]

What’s going on with the F1 calendar?

What a tangle Formula 1 has found itself in, again. The sport has ended up on the front pages for the wrong reasons yet again. The problems with rescheduling Bahrain The reinstatement of the Bahrain Grand Prix is somewhat of a surprise. Clearly the situation in Bahrain is not the sort of circumstance where you […]

Stefan Mücke, the racetrack is no place for revenge

I have become a big fan of the FIA GT1 World Championship in the past year or so. The recently-revamped championship has done what had previously seemed impossible — it has made GT racing exciting. But it has also developed a reputation for some pretty poor driving standards. No race goes by without some silly […]

Why I am finding F1 less gripping in 2011

There have been four grands prix in 2011 so far, and they have been widely hailed as a great success. There is no doubt that the races have been action-packed, with something always going on. But I wasn’t feeling it quite as much as many others were. I thought the Chinese Grand Prix was okay. […]

Why did McLaren rely on Race Control to tell them the obvious?

One of the most incredible moments of the Australian Grand Prix was when Jenson Button gave up trying to overtake Felipe Massa properly and cut the chicane at turn 12 instead. It’s easy to see why Button became impatient — he was clearly faster than Massa for several laps, but just couldn’t quite find a […]

Is the Korean circuit still “quite dangerous”?

The Formula 1 world is bracing itself in anticipation of the unexpected when the travelling circus makes its next stop at Yeongam in Korea. The saga of the troubled construction of this new venue has been well documented. The latest setback came last week when newly published images appeared to show that a construction crane […]

A manipulated sport

The way the race and the incidents during it were managed raise doubts that could see F1 lose some credibility again, as it was seen around the world. –Ferrari statement, 27 June 2010 It’s a shame, not for us because this is racing, but for all the fans who came here to watch a manipulated […]

Is it time to tear up the FIA rule book?

In terms of racing, this year’s race at the Valencia Street Circuit was easily the most successful of the three that have been held so far. Although arguably it was mostly as a result of the shake-up that occurred after Mark Webber’s horrendous accident with Heikki Kovalainen — which we really do not like to […]

When is a green flag not a green flag?

Up until yesterday, it had been a good year for F1. The spotlight has been on the racetrack rather than the stewards’ room. It had even reached the stage where some people — including me — were asking if the stewards were being too lenient. Overall, it seems as though the reign of Jean Todt […]