Our Facebook page has it's 1st birthday today!

The F1-4-LIFE Facebook page has got over 10 000 likes in it's first year and I couldn't be more proud. It feels great that I have reached so many F1 fans and got you all on the same page.

Thanks for the first year and may there be many years to come!

This is one of the shortest posts ever but I said everything that matters.

Anthony Ehrnrooth
F1-4-LIFE

Gutierrez: Mexico’s F1 return is 'greatest news of my career’

Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez has described the return of Mexico to the Formula One calendar for the first time in more than two decades as "some of the greatest news in my career so far".

Organisers recently revealed that Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which last saw official F1 action in 1992, is set to host a round of the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship, and for Gutierrez the news couldn’t come soon enough.

“It's really a dream come true for many of us,” said the 23-year-old from Monterrey following the announcement. “A Mexican Grand Prix would be the most fantastic experience for me - to race in front of my people. Mexico has a long F1 history, so the fascination for F1 is still in their genes.”

Gutierrez, one of two Mexicans - along with Force India’s Sergio Perez - to have recently broken onto the F1 grid, believes his previous taste of competing on home soil hinted at just how great a reception Formula One racing’s return will receive.

“I had the chance to race once in Mexico City, back in 2008, when we did the world finals of Formula BMW, and it was a great experience,” he said. “I think it was an introduction to what it can be. Now we will be going into the biggest thing in Mexico and to really physically share the sport with our fans and our supporters.”

Indeed, although Mexico has not held a Grand Prix in 22 years, the country shows no sign of losing its F1 appetite. When Perez carried out a demonstration event in his home town of Guadalajara just prior to his 2011 debut, between 150,000 and 200,000 people lined the streets to watch.

“This was one of the best days of my life,” Perez exclaimed at the time. “It was a great, great experience. I have never experienced something like this before with so many people cheering me. I’m proud to be Mexican, and I’m proud to receive all this support.”

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, named after legendary Mexican racing siblings Pedro and Ricardo, first hosted F1 racing in 1963 and was a championship fixture for the next seven years. It then returned to the calendar in 1986 and staged a further six Grands Prix. Famous winners have included Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, and now the event is set to provide many more classic Formula One moments. 

“I have good feelings about it, because all these years that Mexico has been involved in Formula One with obviously first Checo [Perez] and now myself,” Gutierrez continued. “We are both in F1 and I think this is a great step to have a Grand Prix.”

The famous circuit is expected to undergo a programme of improvements and upgrades in time for the 2015 race, when it will be capable of welcoming around 150,000 spectators. 

(source: f1.com)

This is how it feels like to drive in Spa!

The next race is going to be in Spa so here's an exciting video for you. I will probably post some more videos from Spa before the next race.

Chilton to race at Goodwood Revival

Marussia’s Max Chilton will become the first contemporary Formula One driver in nine years to compete at the UK’s famous Goodwood Revival meeting next month, when he climbs behind the wheel for the September 12-14 event.

British driver Chilton, who is in his second year of F1 competition, will race in the Shelby Cup, a one-off event being held to mark 60 years of the small-block V8 engine and the 50th anniversary of one of the most iconic cars to ever use the powerplant, the Ford Mustang.

With only cars powered by small-block V8s eligible for the race, Chilton will share a 1965 Mustang with Richard Dutton, boss of the successful junior single-seater squad Fortec Motorsport.

The last current F1 driver to take part in the Revival was Vitantonio Liuzzi in 2005, while former world champion Damon Hill was also an active Formula One competitor when he raced at the inaugural event in 1998.

The Revival routinely attracts famous F1 faces, past and present, both on and off the track. Last year saw Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey among the race winners, partnering former Indy 500 winner Kenny Brack in a Ford GT40.

(source: f1.com)

Happy birthday Nigel Mansell!

No driver fought harder to get into Formula One racing and few fought harder when they got there. Hugely determined, immensely aggressive and spectacularly daring, he was one of the most exciting drivers ever. With his win or bust approach - 31 wins and 32 crashes - he became the most successful British driver and ranks third in the world in fastest laps, fourth in wins and fifth in poles. With the Union Jack on his helmet and a chip on his shoulder, he was both quick and controversial. His awkward personality made him some enemies, his heroic performances made him millions of fans. Nigel Mansell was a driven man and it showed.

Born on 8 August, 1953, near Birmingham, Nigel Ernest Mansell first drove a car in a nearby field at the age of seven. That same year he watched Jim Clark in a Lotus win the 1962 British Grand Prix at Aintree and decided then and there to emulate the great Scot, an ambition no doubt entertained by countless other small boys. Few of them would have persevered through Mansell's many misfortunes. 

After considerable success in kart racing, he become the 1977 British Formula Ford champion, despite suffering a broken neck in a testing accident. Doctors told him he had come perilously close to quadriplegia, that he would be confined for six months and would never drive again. Mansell sneaked out of hospital (telling the nurses he was going to the toilet) and raced on. Three weeks before the accident he had resigned his job as an aerospace engineer, having previously sold most of his personal belongings to finance his foray into Formula Ford. Next, Mansell and his loyal wife Rosanne sold their house to finance a move into Formula Three. In 1979 a collision with another car resulted in a huge cartwheeling crash he was lucky to survive. Again he was hospitalised, this time with broken vertebrae in his back. Shortly after this, stuffed with painkillers and hiding the extent of his injury, Mansell performed well enough in a tryout with Lotus to become a test driver for the Formula One team. In his Formula One debut, at the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix, a fuel leak in the cockpit left him with painful first and second degree burns on his buttocks. 

Mansell became very close to Lotus boss Colin Chapman and was devastated by his sudden death in 1982. He stayed with the team for two more years, then moved to Williams in 1985. Near the end of that season, having no victories to show for 71 Grand Prix starts, Mansell suddenly blossomed into a prolific winner, starting with the 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, where he wept on the podium. In a span of 18 months he won 11 races, yet lost out on two World Championships he was poised to win. In 1986 a burst tyre in Adelaide destroyed his season at the last possible moment. In 1987 it was a serious qualifying accident at Suzuka that injured his back again (a spinal concussion) and handed the title to his hated Williams-Honda team mate Nelson Piquet (who called Mansell "an uneducated blockhead" and took verbal shots at Rosanne). For Mansell (who never physically attacked Piquet as he had Ayrton Senna after they collided at Spa), the highlight of 1987 was his scintillating late race charge to beat his least favourite Brazilian at Silverstone. Mansell was simply unstoppable, setting lap records 11 times in the final moments as he reeled in the other Williams. On his victory lap, as thousands of patriotic fans in the feverish grip of 'Mansellmania' flooded onto the track, their hero stopped to kiss the tarmac at the spot where he'd overtaken Piquet at 180mph. 

Mansell thrived on adversarial situations, using them to fuel his motivational fires, and if they didn't exist he seemed to go out of his way to create them. His 'me against the world' mentality caused conflict. At Williams, Patrick Head said "he thinks everybody is trying to shaft him at all times" and Frank Williams called him "a pain in the arse". The media also tired of Mansell's chronic complaining. But the fans loved him for the pure, palpable aggression with which he raced. Even that wasn't enough to overcome the deficiencies of the Judd-engined Williams cars in 1988 and when an opportunity arose at Ferrari Mansell seized it with both fists. 

His 1989 debut with Ferrari began with a win in Rio and throughout the season he flogged his Ferrari for all it was worth, endearing himself to the fanatical Italian tifosi who called their moustachioed British hero 'Il Leone' (The Lion). At the Hungaroring, where overtaking is supposed to be impossible and where he had qualified a seemingly hopeless 12th, Mansell stormed through the field, scraped past Senna's McLaren in a breathtaking manoeuvre and won the race. In 1990 the wheels came off Mansell's Ferrari bandwagon when Prost became his team mate and out-manoeuvred him politically. At Silverstone the 'British Bulldog' theatrically threw his gloves into the adoring crowd and announced he was retiring at the end of the season. A couple of months later he made a U-turn and announced he was returning to Williams. In 1991 he won five times in the Williams-Renault but lost out on reliability to McLaren's Senna, who took the title. The next year Mansell dominated, winning nine of the 16 races in his Williams-Renault FW14B, but shortly after he was declared the 1992 World Champion he again announced his retirement. His grievances with Williams included a dispute over money and anger that the despised Prost might be his 1993 team mate. Williams offered a last-minute incentive of whatever conditions he wanted but Mansell stalked off to IndyCar racing in America, where he immediately dominated, even on the unfamiliar high speed ovals, and became the 1993 IndyCar champion. 

In 1994 Williams persuaded him to return for the final four races, the last of which, in Australia, he won in stunning fashion from pole position. The next year he raced twice for McLaren but decided the car wasn't up to his speed. And so, after 187 hard races in 15 tumultuous seasons, 41-year-old Nigel Mansell left Formula One racing for good.

He retired a rich man, operating several business enterprises, including a Ferrari dealership and a golf and country club (he played golf to a professional standard) and lived the good life with his wife Rosanne and their three children. 

"I had my fair share of heartaches and disappointments," he said of his career, "but I also got a lot of satisfaction. I only ever drove as hard as I knew how."

Happy birthday Nigel!


(source: f1.com)

1982 Austrian GP Österreichring - Full Race

I am pretty sure I haven't posted this earlier. Enjoy ;)

Comparing the 2014 teammates after 11 Grand Prix's

Sorry for not posting this yesterday as I promised but here it is now only one day later ;)

So I am going to compare the teammates with each other. I was supposed to post the qualifying results yesterday and the race results today but because I am late with this I will post them both in the same post.

First points, then qualifying and then race results.
If there is a retirement the point doesn't count. That's why there isn't always a total of 11 points.

Let's begin!

Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton, 191 pts, 2nd, best result 1st (Malaysia, Bahrain, China, Spain, Great Britain)
Nico Rosberg, 202 pts, 1st. best result 1st (Australia, Monaco, Austria, Germany)
Qualifying: 7 - 4 Winner: Rosberg
Race: 5 - 3 Winner: Hamilton

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, 88 pts, 6th, best result 3rd (Malaysia, Canada)
Daniel Ricciardo, 131 pts, 3rd, best result 1st (Canada, Hungary)
Qualifying: 7 - 4 Winner: Ricciardo
Race: 6 - 1 Winner: Ricciardo

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, 115pts, 4th, best result 2nd (Hungary)
Kimi Raikkonen, 27pts, 12th, best result 6th (Hungary)
Qualifying: 9 - 2 Winner: Alonso
Race: 10 - 0 Winner: Alonso

Williams
Felipe Massa, 40 pts, 9th, best result 4th (Austria)
Valtteri Bottas, 95 pts, 5th, best result 2nd (Great Britain, Germany)
Qualifying: 7 - 4 Winner: Bottas
Race: 4 - 3 Winner: Bottas

Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, 69 pts, 7th, best result 5th (Malaysia, Bahrain, Monaco, Canada)
Sergio Perez, 29 pts, 11th, best result 3rd (Bahrain) 
Qualifying: 9 - 2 Winner: Hulkenberg
Race: 5 - 3 Winner: Hulkenberg

McLaren
Jenson Button, 60pts, 8th, best result 3rd (Australia)
Kevin Magnussen, 37pts, 10th, best result 2nd (Australia)
Qualifying: 6 - 5 Winner: Button
Race: 8 - 2 Winner: Button

Toro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne, 11pts, 13th, best result 8th (Australia, Canada)
Daniil Kvyat, 6pts, 15th, best result 9th (Australia, Great Britain)
Qualifying: 6 - 5 Winner: Vergne
Race: 2 -2

Lotus
Romain Grosjean, 8pts, 14th, best result 8th (Spain, Monaco)
Pastor Maldonado, 0pts, 19th, best result 12th (Austria, Germany)
Qualifying: 10 - 1 Winner: Grosjean
Race: 3 -1 Winner: Grosjean

Marussia
Jules Bianchi, 2 pts, 16th, best result 9th (Monaco)
Max Chilton, 0 pts, 21st, best result: 13th (Australia, Bahrain)
Qualifying: 8 -3 Winner: Bianchi
Race: 7-1 Winner: Bianchi

Sauber
Adrian Sutil, 0 pts, 17th, best result 11th (Australia, Hungary)
Esteban Gutierrez, 0 pts, 20th, best result 12th (Australia)
Qualifying: 6 - 4 Winner: Gutierrez
Race: 3 - 1 Winner: Sutil

Caterham
Kamui Kobayashi, 0 pts, 22nd, best result 13th (Malaysia, Monaco)
Marcus Ericsson, 0 pts, 18th, best result 11th (Monaco)
Qualifying: 9 -2 Winner: Kobayashi
Race: 4-1 Winner: Kobayashi

Let me know if you guys want me to write about the drivers (teammates) more specifically. I might just post some more of this same subject if there are more than a few requests.