Let's talk a bit more about the rumors

Earlier I wrote about the summer break rumors. So of course there is more! So what else is there that I didn't already talk about? I shall list them below in no particular order and start talking.

1. Lotus finance problems and Infinity Racing coming to the rescue.
2. Bernie Ecclestone gave Lotus money from his own pocket.
3. Pastor Maldonado will join Lotus next year and bring money with him.
4. Lotus took a step forward, got some new parts and they will dominate the rest of the season.
5. Alonso is going back to his old team which is called Lotus nowadays.
6. F1 will not go to Russia next year after all?
7. The Indian GP is also out?
8. Räikkönen's news about going back to Ferrari was just a negotiation tactic.
9. Vettel is moving to Ferrari.
10. Kovalainen's comeback.
11. Sauber's money issues.

Lotus wants to keep Räikkönen for the next season and it sounds very realistic that he would stay. Let's think about the reasons again: less PR and more time for himself, he is clearly the king of the team and the car can fight for high positions. But for how long? What if they don't have enough money?

The Lotus team has said in many interviews that they have everything under control but why doesn't Räikkönen get his salary in time or at all? Why are they promising him money that they clearly don't have?

Räikkönen has been nice enough to let them pay him later. Last year he admitted that he got his salary eventually but very late. They have gotten a lot of sponsors but still the money isn't enough. Now they will probably get Infinity Racing to help them out. I really hope so for their sake because if they don't then they can kiss Räikkönen good bye. I don't think that he likes to wait for his money all the time and listen to their promises that they can't keep.

Maybe Infinity Racing comes to the rescue and wants to buy half of the team? Maybe Lotus will be some day known as Infinity Racing? It wouldn't be a big surprise for me.

I read from a German F1 site called Motorsport-Total that last season they (Lotus) got help from non other than Bernie Ecclestone himself. He paid their debts from his own pocket just to keep them in the series. The problems are much worse than expected. It might even happen that Kimi makes a contract with Lotus but they can't even participate next year because of the finance problems. 

Don't be a fool Kimi! Please go ahed and choose Red Bull. They have the best car and so much money that they own two F1 teams and one F1 track! No other team can say the same.

If Kimi would decide to go to Red Bull anyway then Lotus has a backup plan - pay drivers!

Pastor Maldonado doesn't want to stay at Williams if the car is this bad. I mean the last year's car was faster than this year's. Usually the next car is faster than the older one.

Kobayashi, Kovalainen and Maldonado are the biggest candidates to join Lotus according to some papers and magazines. In my opinion they are not taking Kovalainen cause he doesn't have any sponsors that bring money to the team like Maldonado. Actually Kobayashi doesn't have sponsors either but he has money that he collected from his fans. I heard that he got about 1 million dollars and Maldonado's sponsors have more so that gives the advantage back to Maldonado. Let's wait and see what happens.

Some people (including the Lotus team) believe that Lotus is going to start winning races from now on. Grosjean even said that his maiden victory is just around the corner. I think that Kimi might win one or two races this year but they will not win the championship. It will be Sebastian Vettel again which would be very boring.

If Lotus becomes better and Ferrari doesn't then guess who would be interested to go back to his old team? Mr. Fernando Alonso Diaz of course.. or so the rumor says. Maybe if he gets canned from Ferrari but I don't believe this.

Some people say that Kovalainen has been negotiating with Ferrari. Actually he did last year but Ferrari decided to give Massa another chance. Have they negotiated further? Who knows? Kovalainen and Alonso used to be on the same team back in 2006 when Kovalainen was the test driver for Renault. They came along very well and are now friends. It would be nice to see him at Ferrari but I don't believe this either. He will probably replace van der Garde at Caterham next year and that's it.

If you wanna know more about Ferrari then the newest rumor is that Kimi's "Ferrari deal" was just a negotiation tactic. I think it was Kimi's own managers who started spreading this rumor. Or maybe Ferrari spread this rumor themselves to keep Alonso on his toes. You never know.

Vettel is moving to Ferrari. Nobody believed this right? Why would he change to a weaker team?

Sounds a bit stupid but did you know that Schumacher switched to Ferrari in 1996 even though he was in a winning car? He won 2 championships with Benetton and went to Ferrari even though they didn't have the same speed as his old team. Michael Schumacher predicted that this team is going to be good again in the future and he was so right about that. The team had won their last championship in 1979 and Michael won with them in the year 2000. It took 4 years but it was worth it because he won 5 championships in a row.

What else is there to talk about? The Indian GP running out of money but they will be back in 2015.

The Russian GP is also in the papers right now. They say that they are fighting for money and may not even get to host the GP. I think that they are going to sort it all out. No problems there.

Sauber is now also having money issues even though Gutierrez is bringing money in to the team.

It looks like they are forced to sell a part of the team or everything. We shall wait and see what happens with all of these things I just rambled about..

Tooned: What's It Oil About

 McLaren made a new Tooned episode a week ago with Mobil1 about oil.

Lewis Hamilton Interview and Lap - Top Gear - BBC autos

Lewis Hamilton's first time on Top Gear. Check it out!

If I could make a totally new race calendar

I posted earlier a realistic race calendar with actual race tracks that has been used before.
I also said that I will post another race calendar later with new places where it would be cool to have F1 races.
These will mostly be street circuits but also regular ones. I must explain a bit as well on the side of the suggestion so you would understand a bit better. Some of these might be a bit radical.

I may not choose any existing F1 tracks that have already been used in Formula one. So here we go again...

1. Abu Dhabi - Street circuit. Not the Yas Marina track but the actual streets.
2. Dubai - Autodrome. Check out the circuit HERE
3. Qatar GP - The MotoGP series already uses this track. You can see the track HERE
4. Hong Kong - Street circuit
5. Macau - Street circuit (This is the most legendary circuit in the F3 series just like Monaco in F1)
6. Sahara - African GP in the desert. Almost like Bahrain but with a new track.
7. Canary Islands - Spanish island group next to Africa. European people go there on vacations. They have several circuits mostly meant for go-carts but with a little money you could modify them into F1 tracks.
8. Scandinavia - Each Scandinavian country could take turns. Finns and Swedes love Formula One.
9. Chernobyl street race - This could never be possible because of the radioactivity but still.. it would be pretty cool though if it were possible.
10. Paris - Street circuit
11. Europe - Different countries could try hosting a GP. If it's a success they could stay in the calendar in the future as their own GP (not as the European GP anymore).
12. London - Street circuit. See track suggestion HERE
13. Mugello - They have done testing there so why not a whole GP weekend? See the track HERE
14. Berlin - Street circuit
15. Daytona 500 - One track where the drivers could just put the pedal to the medal and overtake each other for 500 miles in a circle. I think it's time for F1 to try only one track like this.
16. New York - street circuit
17. Hawaii - Actual circuit or in the streets. It doesn't matter.
18. Alaska / Siberia - We could see how the cars would last in really cold weather! The teams would need "ice tires" depending on the weather. Sometimes it's really cold but if it's before winter then it's not that bad.
19. Forest GP - This could never happen but I would love it if F1 could be entirely held on a forest track.
20. Sydney - The season would end in the streets of Sydney, Australia.

This got a bit crazy like I thought but now it's ready! What more can you add to this?

My race calendar

I got this thought today that what if I could decide where every GP was held and when? Or at least do a few changes..

I'm going to list all the tracks below and in which order they would be.

I may only choose from tracks that have already hosted a grand prix.

Later I will also do a calendar of places/countries that haven't got GP's and in my opinion should have them. When I'll do that I can't choose from any existing F1 tracks.

Now I am just going to concentrate on the existing tracks. Here goes..

1. Adelaide, Australia (Februari)
2. Sepang, Malesia (March)
3. Shanghai, China (March)
4. Sakhir, Bahrain (April)
5. Yeongam, Korea (April)
6. New Delhi, India (May)
7. Aida, Pacific/Japan (May)
8. Monte Carlo, Monaco (May)
9. Estoril, Portugal (June)
10. Anderstorp, Sweden (June)
11. Hungaroring, Hungary (July)
12. Silverstone, Great Britain (July)
13. Spa, Belgium (August)
14. Monza, Italy (August)
15. Las Vegas, USA (September)
16. Montreal, Canada (September)
17. Sao Paulo, Brazil (October)
18. Marina Bay, Singapore (October)
19. Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi (November)
20. Suzuka NIGHT GP, Japan (November)

These were the ones that I came up with. Tomorrow when I think about this again I will probably come up with a better calendar or change my mind about a few of them.

If you don't understand why I chose these or if you have something else on your mind then just ask me.

Use the message box on the left ;)

Ayrton Senna Top Gear Tribute

The Top Gear Tribute of Ayrton Senna. No new information for me but it's still great to see him.
Senna is and was the best. Maybe you don't share my opinion but most of you probably do.

Please enjoy another Senna video by pressing play.

Legends of Formula One - Murray Walker

I don't know how familiar you are with Murray Walker but he is a legend in british F1 broadcasting.
If you are british then just press play and watch this for the first time or again.

For you who don't know anything about him - he's been a commentator since 1948 which means that his career is older than Formula One itself!
If this man says something about F1 then you better believe it's true! ..well actually not always because he is also famous for saying weird and funny stuff like this:

"He's obviously gone in for a wheel change. I say obviously because I can't see it"

"With half the race gone, there is half the race still to go"

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough?"

"Anything happens in Grand Prix racing and it usually does"

"Alboreto has dropped back up to fifth place"

"As you look at the first four, the significant thing is that Alboreto is 5th"

"I can't imagine what kind of problem Senna has. I imagine it must be some sort of grip problem"

"He is shedding buckets of adrenalin in that car"

"It's raining and the track is wet"

"And there's just a few more corners for Nigel Mansell to go to win the Canadian Grand Prix...and...he's going rather slow....HE'S STOPPING HE'S STOPPING!"

"and this is the third placed car about to lap the second placed car"

[During a F1 race, describing how the leader can see the driver following him] "... Mansell can see him in his earphone..."

Murrary: "What's that? There's a BODY on the track!!!" James Hunt: "Um, I think that that is a piece of BODY-WORK, from someone's car."

"And there's a 600 foot drop on my left..AND we're doing 120 mph... AND we're approaching a hairpin...OH MY GOD we're going to die..."

Murray: "And look at the flames coming from the back of Berger's McLaren"
James Hunt: "Actually, Murray, they're not flames, it's the safety light."

"...and he's lost both right front tyres" (which may have been accurate back in the days of the Tyrrell P34, but it was from 1995!)


Enjoy the short documentary film by pressing play.