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Marussia recruit Bell and bolster technical ranks

Marussia have secured the assistance of former Mercedes technical director Bob Bell, and announced new appointments to their technical and engineering teams, as they look to implement an 'ambitious' plan to improve their Formula One racing fortunes.

Bell, who will act as technical consultant to the team, is the most high-profile arrival. A former Renault F1 team principal, his career has also featured spells at McLaren, Benetton and Jordan, and includes winning two Formula One constructors' titles. He left Mercedes at the end of last year.

Marussia have also appointed Luca Furbatto as their new head of design. Furbatto, who will serve under technical director John McQuilliam, previously held the role of head of design at Toro Rosso, and before that spent close to a decade with McLaren. Gianluca Pisanelli, meanwhile, joins in the role of chief engineer, having served most recently as head of engineering operations at Caterham.

“We're delighted to welcome Bob, Luca, and Gianluca," said Marussia team principal John Booth, who believes the appointments will help Marussia progress to the next level.

"As ever in Formula One, we rely on the experience, tenacity and drive of our colleagues, so we're delighted to welcome our new teammates. Each of them brings a huge amount of experience from within the sport, adding further dimensions to our existing technical and engineering capability.

"It's been a dramatic but rewarding start to our 2015 season, and we're only now able to settle into more of a rhythm, allowing us to look to the future. Our focus this season is to re-build the foundations of the team and develop our internal capabilities. Whilst we seek to optimise our performance during the remainder of the 2015 season, we can also turn our attention to the next exciting chapter in our story - 2016 and beyond."

Marussia lie tenth in the 2015 constructors' standings, with their best results so far this season two 15th places, in Malaysia and China.

(source: f1.com)

2015 Canadian Grand Prix preview

The Monaco Grand Prix is behind us and now it's time to move to Canada! The track is in Montreal and there has always been entertaining races. I have no doubt that this will be one of the best races this season.

What about the previous races in Canada? This is actually the place where Hamilton took his first victory back in 2007. I remember people saying that Hamilton was leading the championship because he had better consistent results than Alonso, Räikkönen and Massa. The three other "better" drivers had won races but Hamilton was still leading the championship with podium finishes (2nds and 3rds). Then in Canada he showed everybody that he is a superstar who is also able to win races. He also won the race after that in the US.

The same race in 2007 was also the race where Robert Kubica had his terrible accident. The following year he won the race. 
Here's a video of the accident:



What else has happened in Canada? In 2011 Canada offered us the longest F1 race in history (4:04:39.537). Sebastian Vettel was leading the race from the start till the last few laps and made a small mistake. Jenson Button was behind and overtook him right away and won the race. He was waiting the whole day for Vettel to make a mistake and he finally did. Sebastian Vettel was soooo frustrated...



Speaking of frustrated who remembers what happened in 1991? Nigel Mansell was about to win the race and was already waving to the crowd on the last lap but then his car broke down. Nelson Piquet was behind him and won the race for Benetton.



I have always enjoyed the Canadian Grand Prix and will most likely enjoy this one as well.


Then it's time for my predictions again!

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari

Surprise: McLaren will show some improvement in Canada.

Remember to post your own predictions to our F1-4-LIFE PREDICTORS LEAGUE.

The rules:

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. If you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points same if you get 1 correct. eg. 2nd you get 5 points. If a driver wins the race and you said he would come 2nd or 3rd no points would be awarded. Same if he came in another position, and you predicted that wrong. A table will be posted up every race weekend. The point scoring system will change once the cars become more competitive. Everyone will say a merc 1,2 so it won't be close or fun.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick! like the Mercedes.

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MH & MW. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway. We may also come up with some other prize if it helps.

THIS TIME YOU ALSO GET BONUS POINTS! PREDICT POLE POSITION AND FASTEST LAP CORRECTLY TO EARN 2 EXTRA POINTS!

 That's it for today and if you want to send me feedback then email me: f14lifeblog@gmail.com

FIA opens grid to prospective new Formula One teams

Formula One racing's governing body, the FIA, has launched a selection process that could bring a new team onto the grid for the 2016 or 2017 world championship.

Candidates must formally express their interest before June 30, after which they will be sent more detailed criteria. The FIA says full submissions must be registered by September 1, leading to a final decision on September 30.

The selection process will prioritise the "overall long-term interests of the championship" and all applicants will undergo a due diligence process to include assessment of:

• the technical ability and resources of the team
• the ability of the team to raise and maintain sufficient funding to allow participation in the championship at a competitive level
• the team's experience and human resources
• the FIA's assessment of the value that the candidate may bring to the championship as a whole.

The FIA's statement added that "In the event that no applicant is considered suitable by both the FIA and the commercial rights holder, no additional team will be selected".

American squad Haas are set to become the 11th team on the grid when they join next year. An additional entrant could therefore boost the grid to 24 cars.

(source: f1.com)

FIA press conference schedule - Canada

Fresh from his agonising defeat in Monaco, Lewis Hamilton will likely be centre stage when he appears in Thursday's FIA press conference in Montreal alongside Max Verstappen - whose crash led to the Briton's reversed fortunes - and Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa, who memorably collided in Canada last year. On Friday meanwhile Ferrari's James Allison and McLaren's Matt Morris will be amongst the senior team personnel facing questions from the media. The line-ups in full...


Thursday, June 4, 1100 hours local time (1500 hours GMT)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull), Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), Felipe Massa (Williams), Sergio Perez (Force India), Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso)

Friday, June 5, 1600 hours local time (2000 hours GMT)
James Allison (Ferrari), Matthew Carter (Lotus), Graeme Lowdon (Marussia), Paddy Lowe (Mercedes), Matt Morris (McLaren), Rob Smedley (Williams)

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

(source: f1.com)

Monaco GP (Full Race)

Winners and Losers - Monaco

Hamilton drove like a winner but felt like a loser.

The dramatic end to the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2015 gave us one rather lucky winner, and another very obvious loser, in Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. However, there were plenty of other fascinating plotlines being played out behind them, with those involved experiencing some very contrasting fortunes. We take a team-by-team look at the real story of Sunday’s 78-lap race…


Mercedes

Nico Rosberg, P1
Lewis Hamilton, P3

What can one say about Mercedes? They win and lose as a team, of course, but in reality it was only Hamilton - who so deserved to win - who really lost out. Granted Mercedes missed out on a one-two finish, but they got a one-three so it was hardly disastrous. But for Hamilton, who had comprehensively outdriven Rosberg on his home circuit, the bizarre decision to bring him alone in for a late stop was the most bitter of all pills to swallow for the newly re-signed world champion.


Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, P2
Kimi Raikkonen, P6

Ferrari’s race pace, at least in Vettel’s hands, was good enough for them to have won had they been able to qualify on the front row. The German kept Rosberg honest throughout, and though he lucked into P2 through Mercedes’ mistake with Hamilton, he kept the pressure up and deserved that luck. Raikkonen was again patchy, but he deserved fourth or fifth and was unlucky to get beaten to the latter by Ricciardo.


Red Bull

Daniil Kvyat, P4
Daniel Ricciardo, P5

Red Bull looked much better here, and Kvyat easily had his best F1 showing on his way to fourth. When Ricciardo, who drove his usual sensible but feisty race, was faster on fresh tyres at the end the Russian duly conceded the place to him. But when Ricciardo had failed to dislodge either Hamilton or Vettel by the final lap, the agreement was that he would hand it back, which he did. 22 points brings the team within striking distance of Williams.


Force India

Sergio Perez, P7
Nico Hulkenberg, P11

Force India wanted to spring a surprise and they did. Perez drove a terrific race which thoroughly deserved seventh, perhaps even sixth. Hulkenberg was unlucky to get turfed off by Alonso at Mirabeau on the opening lap, but had himself done something similar to Massa at Ste Devote. After a stop for a new nose he drove hard and fast and just missed a point.
McLaren

Jenson Button, P8
Fernando Alonso, Retired lap 42, gearbox

At one stage McLaren seemed set for a double points score, but Alonso’s car, running ninth, lost gears and failed on the 42nd lap. Button, however, fought hard for eighth with qualifying-style laps every time, and the MP4-30 was more competitive than at any time so far this season. Four points for the new McLaren-Honda alliance was a major boost, Alonso’s retirement notwithstanding.


Sauber

Felipe Nasr, P9
Marcus Ericsson, P13

Nasr was one of the stars of the race, making up places in the first-lap melees and driving the wheels off his C34 to score two unexpected points. Ericsson was also pushing hard, but less lucky making progress early on.


Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz, P10
Max Verstappen, Retired lap 63, accident

Besides Hamilton, Verstappen was the star of the show. He was pushing along hard in eighth on merit then took seventh when Perez pitted, but a long stop when the right rear wheel wouldn’t go on properly cost him 27s. He fought back from that, then used a set of supersoft tyres fitted on lap 46 to really claw his way back towards the points. He cleverly latched on to Vettel and slipped past rivals when the Ferrari driver lapped then, but eventually came unstuck when he went over Grosjean’s rear wheel under braking for Ste Devote. That was the incident that turned the race, and for the accident he received a five-place grid penalty for the next round in Canada. Sainz did a fine job not just to climb to the final point after starting from the pit lane, but also to make a set of soft Pirellis last from the 12th to the 78th lap.


Lotus

Romain Grosjean, P12
Pastor Maldonado, Retired lap 6, brakes

Lotus deserved better than 12th, but Grosjean lost time in the Verstappen incident when he’d been running eighth, and Maldonado was an early retirement with brake problems.


Williams

Valtteri Bottas, P14
Felipe Massa, P15

Williams’ whole weekend was a disaster. Compounding basic lack of grip and traction, Massa got taken off by Hulkenberg at Ste Devote on the opening lap and had to pit for a new nose. Their failure to score, and Red Bull’s fourth and fifth places, brings the latter within striking distance for third place in the constructors’ stakes.


Marussia

Roberto Merhi, P16
Will Stevens, P17

Yet again both Marussias finished, but finally Merhi got the better of Stevens, who lost a lot of grip and time after sustaining front wing damage early on.

(source: f1.com)