Noticias

Circuit of the Americas Summary

The last two races in this year’s season saw a brand new track for everyone and a classic which has been on the Grand Prix calendar for several years. Last week we saw F1 return to the USA at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. With the circuit being freshly laid it made the track very interesting to drive on as it offered little grip to the drivers. Qualifying wise Vettel managed to snatch pole from a very fast Hamilton, and the other title contender Alonso, could only manage 7th. The race as a whole was great. Lots of overtaking, and very large run off areas made it an interesting race with some great moves throughout. Hamilton managed to pass Vettel for the lead to clinch his fourth victory but it wasn’t enough to impact on the title standings. Alonso...

An eighth different driver winning a race and this time it was the ever out spoken Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus. The Lotus team (formally Renault of course) hadn’t won a race since 2008, and it was Raikkonen’s first win since 2009 when he left to try his hand at rallying. He had mixed results in rallying so it is good to see the “Ice Man” back on top in F1.

In Other News…

The Fia have warned all the drivers about bad language during live interviews for the media. This comes about after both Raikkonen and Vettel swore in their post podium interview with David Coulthard. A spokesman for the Fia said there could be disciplinary actions in the future if another instance of bad language occurs during a live broadcast.

Caterham have a new Team Principal. Cyril Abiteboul has become the youngest team boss at just 35 years old. He’s younger than Michael Schumacher!

Another win for Sebastian Vettel sends him 13 points clear of Fernando Alonso in the championship standings with only three races left. The Indian Grand Prix was the penultimate Asian race and we have the race in Abu Dhabi this weekend to look forward to before F1 moves to the Americas.

In Other News…

Nico Hulkenberg has signed for Sauber for the start of next season. He has impressed everyone with his great driving and overtaking this season for Force India, and is now destined for a team slightly higher up the order. The front runner in replacing Nico at Force India looks to be Adrian Sutil who used to race for the team prior to 2011. Jaime Alguersuari has been linked with either replacing Nico or joining him over at Sauber. Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso have confirmed that they are keeping both of their drivers next season. Daniel Ricciardo...

Lewis seemed to have gained his winning ways back, and this could possibly have put him back into championship contention. Going into the race around the Marina Bay Street Circuit Fernando Alonso had a 37 point lead over Hamilton in the championship and almost had the luckiest Ferrari since the Schumacher era. Alonso has been the most consistent so far with only one non points finish caused by a certain Frenchman trying to fly a car. The Frenchman in question, Grosjean, was back to racing after his ban so could he hopefully have some success for a change? Either way, onto the only night race in the calendar.

Qualifying

Speaking of the Frenchman Grosjean, he set the fastest time in Q1 guaranteeing himself a place in Q2 alongside his teammate Raikkonen who also posted an impressive first session time. Q1 saw the familiar faces of Hrt, Marussia and Caterham dropping out at the first qualifying hurdle.

The summer break for the Formula 1 drivers is now over. They have had their time to relax and are greeted by one of the most historic race tracks in the calendar. Spa Francorchamps. The legendary circuit has been part of F1 for well over 60 years (in one form or another) and has always pleased the crowds with great racing, great overtaking and an occasional large incident. The race at the weekend was certainly all of these.

Friday practice is one of those things that you rarely watch. If there isn’t a good news breakfast show on or an early film you wouldn’t even know it was there. Spa’s was utterly washed out. Nothing massively interesting happened bar what could only be described as the longest pad I have ever heard a commentator do. Top marks to James Allen and Jaime Alguersuari (former Toro Rosso driver from 2009 to...