The morning of Saturday 20 August 2011 at Silverstone was warm and sunny. It was difficult to imagine that the weather would be a problem. As I was staying in a campsite just a stone’s throw away from the circuit, I thought nothing of just heading there in a t-shirt. The morning was brilliant. As […]
Is Vettel now the most complete driver in F1?
Another grand prix, and another Sebastian Vettel victory. In terms of race results, it is now on a par with Michael Schumacher’s 1994 campaign. Five wins and a 2nd place from the first six races. It is difficult to get much more dominant than that. For the 2010 World Champion, 2011 is looking much easier. […]
When will something be done about flying wheels?
One of the most worrying trends in F1 is the increasing tendency of wheels and tyres to come loose and fly off. Since refuelling was banned for the start of the 2010 season, the speed of tyre changes has become easily the most crucial element of a pitstop. With the greater number of pitstops this […]
Hamilton’s major weaknesses exposed in Malaysia
Whether you like or dislike the philosophy behind Pirelli’s tyres, which have been designed to be dodgy, there is one undenable benefit. It leaves those that cannot manage their tyres exposed. Lewis Hamilton has long had a repuation for ruining his tyres too quickly. Up to this point, it has only bitten him once in […]
72 mandatory pitstops per race
Hi, I’m Guy Slick, Chief President and Vice Team Operations Principal of Scuderia Schattspeed Formula 1 Grand Prix Engineering Solutions Racing Team, and representative of the Formula One Teams’ Association. As you know, at Fota we are always looking for ways to improve the show in order to acheive maximum optimal audience satisfaction. To this […]
Is this the year to start watching MotoGP again?
It is a given that I love motorsport. But there is also no doubting that my interest is primarily in cars, especially single-seaters. Over the past ten or so years I have always kept an eye on MotoGP, but it is a relationship that blows hot and cold. Last year in particular was a pretty […]
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 […]
F1 2010 mid-season rankings — part 1
I can hardly believe we are already more than halfway through the Formula 1 season. It has gone by so quickly. Normally I look at the performances of the drivers at the halfway point. But this year I haven’t felt as able to keep on top of everything, so instead I will look at the […]
Trouble brewing at both Red Bull and McLaren?
I was absolutely buzzing after the Turkish Grand Prix, a race that had almost everything you could ask for. Even though superficially all the pre-race hype had Red Bull easily in the lead, it turned out that McLaren have turned up the wick and give them a really hard fight. Red Bull hung on to […]
The declining standard of F1 television coverage
In my previous article about the post-Bahrain backlash, I noted that I thought the main reason why people felt that the race was boring was down to something fully within Bernie Ecclestone’s control. It is the most important thing to the vast majority of fans, although in the rush to blame the presence of heavy […]