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Post by Panda on Mar 24, 2015 14:02:09 GMT 1
In non-F1 news, it's been confirmed Lewis Hamilton's brother Nicolas will take part in five rounds of the BTCC this year, starting at Croft in June.
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Post by Panda on Mar 24, 2015 17:32:40 GMT 1
KIMI! CALM DOWN! YOU'RE GETTING TOO EXCITED!!
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Post by Shireblogger on Mar 24, 2015 18:24:37 GMT 1
It's the bloke in the final shot, waving the chequered flag so half heartedly, and with one hand in his pocket, that I want to shout "get a grip man, and stand up straight, its a real privilege to wave the flag when a Ferrari flies past".
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Post by Panda on Mar 25, 2015 14:34:04 GMT 1
The new Indycar season starts this weekend. Just two British drivers this year - Jack Hawksworth and James Jakes, though Jay Howard will drive in the Indy 500. Simona de Silvestro returns to the field for the opening race after her unsuccessful attempt to get an F1 race seat with Sauber (join the club). No word on a permanent seat for her. There's currently no seat for Mike Conway, despite winning two races last year (probably because he doesn't race on ovals anymore after his massive Indy 500 crash a few years back). Currently no seat for Justin Wilson, either. Will Power is the defending champion, having won his first title last year.
Once again, the season is quite compressed, consisting of 16 races in just five months, finishing at the end of August. The schedule is split quite evenly between different types of tracks, with six races on ovals, five on street tracks and five on road courses.
Schedule: (o) = oval Mar 29: St. Petersburg Apr 12: Louisiana (NOLA Motorsports Park) Apr 19: Long Beach Apr 26: Alabama (Barber Motorsports Park) May 9: Indianapolis (Grand Prix course) May 24: Indianapolis 500 (o) May 30-31: Detroit (two races) Jun 6: Texas (o) Jun 14: Toronto Jun 27: Fontana (o) Jul 12: Milwaukee (o) Jul 18: Iowa (o) Aug 2: Mid-Ohio Aug 23: Pocono (o) Aug 30: Sonoma
Confirmed full-time teams and drivers:
AJ FOYT Takuma Sato (Japan) Jack Hawksworth (GB)
ANDRETTI Carlos Munoz (Colombia) Marco Andretti (USA) Ryan Hunter-Reay (USA)
BRYAN HERTA Gabby Chaves (Colombia)
CFH Luca Filippi (Italy) (road & street courses only) Ed Carpenter (USA) (ovals only) Josef Newgarden (USA)
CHIP GANASSI Scott Dixon (New Zealand) Tony Kanaan (Brazil) Charlie Kimball (USA)
DALE COYNE Carlos Huertas (Colombia)
KV Stefano Coletti (Monaco) Sebastien Bourdais (France)
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN Graham Rahal (USA)
SCHMIDT PETERSON James Hinchcliffe (Canada) James Jakes (GB)
PENSKE Will Power (Australia) Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Helio Castroneves (Brazil) Simon Pagenaud (France)
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Post by Shireblogger on Mar 25, 2015 16:16:32 GMT 1
I went to the IndyCar race in Toronto last year. I bought a weekend ticket, grandstand seat on the start/finish straight, 2 Indy races, great set of support races, unrestricted access to the support race pits, 5 minutes walk from the train station, etc, all for under £100.
The racing is usually close and exciting and the drivers are far more accessible to the fans than F1. Its a good package, and I wish it was free to view on British tv.
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Post by Shireblogger on Mar 25, 2015 19:41:54 GMT 1
IndyCar photos from last year:- Juan Pablo Montoya Scott Dixon Indy Car Pit Lane during qualifying Marco Andretti pit stop with Will Power rolling past
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Post by Shireblogger on Mar 25, 2015 19:44:23 GMT 1
Race 2 gets underway Into Turn 1 Mike Conway pulls into the pits with the field behind the safety car - the move which ultimately wins him the race Tony Kanaan takes the chequered flag in 2nd place
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Post by Shireblogger on Mar 25, 2015 19:47:13 GMT 1
Mercedes AMG in GT support race pit Aston Martin Racing pit Cockpit of Johnny O'Connell's Cadillac GT3 racecar Formula Off-Road, with Robbie Gordon driving the orange beast
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Post by Panda on Mar 26, 2015 13:59:49 GMT 1
Great photos SB! Wow, Montoya's looking old... Like a slightly chubby Mourinho.
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Post by Panda on Mar 27, 2015 17:06:25 GMT 1
Nice to see the Manor cars out during practice. Touch & go whether they'll race on Sunday. Stevens was just inside the 107% time in both practice sessions and Mehri was just outside in both...
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Post by Shireblogger on Mar 27, 2015 17:28:46 GMT 1
Nice to see the Manor cars out during practice. Touch & go whether they'll race on Sunday. Stevens was just inside the 107% time in both practice sessions and Mehri was just outside in both... It's quite an achievement to be close to the 107% time, given the recent history of the team. After all, Magnussen's qualifying time in a McLaren was 106.6% of Hamilton's at Melbourne.
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Post by Panda on Mar 27, 2015 18:00:12 GMT 1
Indycar update - the official web site has live streaming of practice available. I have a feeling that service won't extend to the race itself.
Justin Wilson has signed up to drive for Andretti at the two Indianapolis races.
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Post by paulgilb on Mar 28, 2015 23:29:21 GMT 1
Grid for Malaysia:
1 Hamilton 2 Vettel 3 Rosberg 4 Ricciardo 5 Kvyat 6 Verstappen (equals his father's best qualifying) 7 Massa 8 Bottas 9 Ericsson 10 Grosjean (2-place penalty for pit-lane infringement) 11 Raikkonen 12 Maldonado 13 Hulkenberg 14 Perez 15 Sainz 16 Nasr 17 Button 18 Alonso 19 Merhi (outside 107% but allowed to start due to having lapped sufficiently fast in practice) 20 Stevens (no time in Q1 but also allowed to start)
Vettel splits the Mercedes pair just as he did in qualifying last year in Malaysia.
In other news, Franck Montagny has been banned from motor racing for 2 years after taking cocaine.
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Post by paulgilb on Mar 30, 2015 22:54:38 GMT 1
Well what a race! Mercedes going from even-more-dominant-than-in-2014 to being-beaten-on-merit in the space of 2 weeks. And a great performance all round from Ferrari, with Raikkonen finishing 4th despite an early puncture.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Mar 31, 2015 19:32:05 GMT 1
Malaysia is a Ferrari strong circuit. We'll see how they do at China. A Hamilton and Rosberg strong circuit.
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Post by paulgilb on Mar 31, 2015 23:04:07 GMT 1
Some stats/facts that I discovered/read elsewhere:
Every driver to have won with a Ferrari engine has won with Ferrari.
Both of Ferrari's last 2 turbo-powered wins have halted a streak of wins by a dominant team (following Italy 1988).
First time a team other than Mercedes or Red Bull won a race since Spain 2013 (Alonso for Ferrari).
6th is the highest a teenager has qualified since Ricardo Rodriguez in Italy 1961 (who started 2nd). 7th is the highest a teenager has ever finished.
76th time that the German national anthem has been followed by the Italian one - the reverse has never happened.
Ferrari have already led more laps in 2015 than they did in 2014. Vettel has led 46 times as many laps in 2015 than he did in 2014.
4th time (after China 2007, Hungary 2008, Belgium 2008) that both Toro Rossos have finished ahead of both Red Bulls.
First time neither McLaren was classified since USA 2006 (both crashed out on lap 1).
4th time (after China 2010, Germany 2010, Bahrain 2014) since points were awarded to the top 10 that only 5 teams have scored. Of these, only Germany 2010 was a 'bad' race.
Both the pole-sitter and the winner achieved these feats for the 40th time.
Both of this season’s races have seen Rosberg lead all bar 56 laps.
5th mechanical retirement in 5 races Malaysia for Maldonado.
First time Hulkenberg has failed to score in Malaysia.
First time Toro Rosso have got both cars into the points in Malaysia.
4th Malaysian win for Vettel – his joint best at any circuit (along with Suzuka).
Kvyat equalled both his best career start (5th) and best career finish (9th).
Bottas has exactly 200 points to date.
The Force Indias have started 13th and 14th in both races so far this season.
First time since Austria 2014 that Rosberg has not started on the front row.
23rd consecutive season in which at least 1 lap has been led by a Ferrari-powered car – equals their own record (1950-72).
50 races without a pole for Ferrari – only trails 59 races from 1990-94.
First time since Abu Dhabi 2009 that Alonso has dropped out in a dry Q1.
68 podiums for Vettel – equals Barrichello.
9th consecutive podium for Hamilton – his joint longest run (together with his first 9 races).
3rd time (after 2005 and 2014) that Raikkonen has had to complete almost an entire lap of Sepang with a puncture.
Verstappen is the first Dutch driver since Verstappen (Austria 2001) to score in a race in which more than 6 cars started.
Ricciardo scored more points in this race than he managed in his first 3 Malaysian GPs combined.
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 5, 2015 11:28:29 GMT 1
Last night saw the latest Formula E race in Long Beach, won by Nelson Piquet Jr who took the lead at the start and never lost it (apart from the pit-stops). He becomes the 6th different winner in the first 6 races.
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 11, 2015 22:28:22 GMT 1
Grid for China:
1 Hamilton 2 Rosberg 3 Vettel 4 Massa 5 Bottas 6 Raikkonen 7 Ricciardo 8 Grosjean 9 Nasr 10 Ericsson 11 Maldonado 12 Kvyat 13 Verstappen 14 Sainz 15 Perez 16 Hulkenberg 17 Button 18 Alonso 19 Stevens 20 Merhi
5th Chinese pole for Hamilton (and 3rd in a row).
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Apr 12, 2015 12:02:49 GMT 1
I've never understood why a race ends under SC. Just throw the chequered flag early!
Now it is Silverstone action on motors tv from the 6 hour endurance race.
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 12, 2015 21:38:26 GMT 1
Bit of an anti-climax there with the Safety Car, although I'm sure they could have cleared Verstappen's car more quickly and had 1 lap of racing, which could potentially have been eventful!
As for the rest of the race, it had its moments (thanks to Verstappen's overtakes, Maldonado's antics, and the Button-Maldonado battle), but was largely disappointing, mainly due to the lack of any particular action up front.
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