Mad-ness

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Entertainment, Motorsport, News

Nail biting? Bone biting? You choose. I, myself, chose to simply stare in disbelief. That Vettel guy who I praised a few GPs back for his first win (start to finish, that is), got in front of Lewis barely inside the last lap and pushed him back to the 6th place. That is, one place further back than he should’ve been.

Not a problem, I said to myself. He’ll fight back hard and he’ll dispose of this Vettel, no doubt about it. But as the seconds passed and the distance to the finish shrunk, Lewis didn’t seem like he wanted to fight for that position, or like he was able to do it. Massa finished first, so it was either fifth for Hamilton or nothing at all. Well, if you can call the silvery second spot nothing at all.

At the moment, I must admit I had no idea what happened. Vettel crossed the line and Hamilotn followed shortly. The Ferrari team was jubilant. But hey, so was that chick from the Pussycat Dolls, who was sitting inside the McLaren paddock. “My God,” I said to myself, “isn’t she stupid. She’s clueless about what happened.” But, it turns out once again that I tend to judge beautiful women too hard and that she was right and I were wrong.

Yup, by some cruel twist of faith, both Hamilton and Vettel passed Glock during that last lap, so they finished fifth and fourth, respectively. But, my God, wasn’t Felipe Massa great?! I mean we led the race from start to finish, and when he realised it was all for nothing he took it like a man. Well yes, he cried, but in my opinion that - somehow - made him even more of a man. It was really touching the way the crowd cheered for him, and if you hate Massa then you’re a twat.

I don’t know who deserved to win it the most. I don’t care. Actually, when it’s this tight, it’s hard to tell. Thing is that it was by far the best season in a very (too) long time, and F1 has just won itself a new fan. And Massa too. If hamilton won’t win it next season, I sincerely hope it will be Massa.

Time to be a man

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If you asked me a few days back, I would have said that the Chinese GP is the most important race. Win this one and you’re more than half way there. Hamilton, that is. Now I realise that the Championship is far from over, and no matter how much I’d like for Hamilton to win it (or how much I would hate it if he lost on the last race of the season again) I must say I’m glad the stakes will still be high in Brazil.

But in the end, whether Hamilton wins it or not, he’s still a long way from becoming a real legend. He’ll have to win it next year too. And then the next year once again. And maybe then, when at the beginning of every season he’ll be the favourite, you can call him an F1 legend. Don’t get me wrong Lewis, I think you’re a great driver with a great personality, but don’t let it all go to your head. Schumacher did it, and he turned into a prick for a while. Don’t be a prick and win this one.

In case you still had any doubts

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The KTM X-Bows have secured the first three places in the debut season of the Sports Light Category of the GT4 European Cup. Yes, one - two - three. And this is not extremely impressive because they’ve come ahead of debutants like Donkervoort or Lotus, nor because not even more experienced companies with more powerful cars like Aston Martin, Ford Mustang or BMW Z4M managed to beat them - it’s because the KTM X-Bows that competed had near-standard specifications, with minor revisions made only to meet FIA safety regulations.

I’m telling you, if this car also had a mirror in which the passenger could reflect herself (because it’s a “she” I’m talking about), it would be the perfect car. Or at least the perfect two seater.

Cruze all dressed up

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Chevrolet, Motorsport

This is the car Chevrolet will be outing starting the next WTCC season. It’s based on the recently launched Chevrolet Cruze and it looks as though it’s gone through the hands of some tunner with fine tastes, and that’s something pretty hard to come by. The car is currently undergoing pre-season tests and all kinds of other tests so it will be ready for the first race of the 2009 season which will take place in Brazil. For now, perfromance-wise, they plan not to go below the current Chevrolet WTCC car, the Lacetti, which has won 12 races so far.

Hami left frustrated again

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Entertainment, Motorsport

What has happened to F1? Where are all the boring laps and people shaking hands at the end of the race? Do they really want to win it this time? Every single one of them? Do they want to win it so bad that they’re turning every race into a Destruction Derby? It seems so. It’s Carmageddon time, as The Clash would sing it.

Well, you couldn’t see much from all the rumble and debris flying everywhere, but the main story is that Hamilton finished 12th while Massa got two points after Sebastien Bourdais was given a time penalty. Hamilton’s lead in the driver’s Championship Table has dropped to only five points. All these should make the following two races something to die for, and, given the latest developments, I might just mean that literally.

At night, when the freaks come out

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What the hell was all this? F1 racing at night? Why? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for variety, but before they start throwing a few Tyrannosaurus Rex on the track or randomly place landmines on the pit lane, let me just make one point clear: we want more exciting races, but I don’t think placing obstacles is the way to do it. What’s next? A Siberian snow circuit?

Ask somebody what they liked the most about the race and they’ll say it was the Ferrari engineers running down towards Felipe Massa’s car that looked like a foetus with the umbilical cord still attached. The similar Coulthard incident was fun, too, but I suspect neither of them was appealing for two of the engineers (one for each team) who went to the hospital with a neck brace and a broken angle, respectively.

In the end, Alonso won it. And he deserved it. He dominated the free practice sessions and probably would have qualified on a higher grid position if it wasn’t for some technical problems during the final session. Still, he made the most of the abandons and penalties and cut his way to the lead.

Raikonnen seems to make a habit out of dropping out with a few laps to go until finish, so betting on him running out into the scenery in the final lap next race might not get you very high odds. Hamilton had a quiet race and finished third, thus changing the gap between him and Massa to seven points.

Nothing is done yet, and if we weren’t so close to the end of the season I wouldn’t completely rule out Alonso either.

Who? Who won it? Who’s that?

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The same guy who qualified on the pole position. The same guy who led the race from start to finish. The same guy who became the youngest GP winner and brought the first win for his team, Toro Rosso. You’ll be excused if you didn’t know his name before, but don’t forget it from now on - Sebastian Vettel, or the new Shcumacher, as the German press likes to call him. Good job, laddie, keep it up.

Foto: eurosport.yahoo.com

Hamilton wins the Belgian GP. From third place

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Yep, now he’s won it, a few minutes later he got a 25 seconds penalty that saw him drop two places, behind Massa and Nick Heidfeld. And all this because he cut through a chicane while battling with Kimi Raikkonen for the lead in the penultimate lap.

Have you seen the manoeuvre? If not, check the video below and then come back for a talk. I’m going to commit one of the journalistic faux-pas and tell you that I like Hamilton. Not because he’s British, not because he’s black and not because he races for McLaren, but simply because he’s the only pilot that still acts the way I feel a pilot should.

That said, it’s really hard to judge what the race officials have decided. The way I see it, he cut through, there’s no denying, but the only advantage he got out of that is that he remained in the race, despite Kimi’s attempt to push him out on the grass. It was either that or a crash for both drives so I think he cose well.

Besides, he came behind Raikkonen when he entered back on the track, so there’s no advantage there. What happened after that… well, that’s another story, one that you might tell your grandkids about considering how scarce overtakes have been lately.

So to sum it up, I I’d say that the officials were wrong. It wasn’t an easy choice, as they might be afraid that was it for Hamilton’s manoeuvre to go unpunished, other pilots would do the same thing in the future. Which is absurd, if you ask me. Anyway, the championship table looks the same at the top, with Hamilton just two points clear of Ferrari’s Massa.

Lewis wins it where it most matters

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Actually, I guess we’d all rather have him finish last at Silverstone and win the Championship than win here and come second in the end. But maybe he’ll spoil us and win both. Anyway, a really fantastic race that’s been shaddowed only by the stupid comments some stupid people have been making. Nevermind, though, as long as Lewis keeps winning.

Rossi, second in Great Britain

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Motorsport, News

Some of us find it funny, some of us find it ungentlemanly. Some find it weird, and some find it simply unprofessional. But none of us can ignore the drive The Doctor has had for all of his motoring life. Valentino Rossi has managed to identify himself to motorcycling in such a way that he simply dominates the sport. And the races all revolve around him like nothing else matters.

When he wins, the world rejoices with him. And when he loses, the world does not shed a tear, but waits for the next race, when The Doctor will have every chance to score again. In short, Valentino is for motorcycling what Jack Bauer is for the anti-terrorism war. An inspiration.

That’s the reason I’m so sorry for Casey Stoner, Pedrosa or anyone else competing with Rossi. It must be hard to know you’ll only be remembered as one of the pilots who raced in the Valentino Rossi era.

Results British Moto Grand Prix: Stoner, Rossi, Pedrosa, Edwards, Dovizioso and Lorenzo.