Alain Prost Interview about Raikkonen and Alonso at Ferrari in 2014

Here is an interesting interview with Alain Prost talking about two champions in the same team.

He clearly has experience when we talk about this topic because he has been teammates with Lauda, Rosberg, Senna, Mansell...

After this we also get some words from Damon Hill.

The 2013 Indian GP review

First of all congratulations to Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel for their 4th world title. Alain Prost also won 4 titles in his career but not as fast. When Prost was in Sebastian's age he hadn't won anything yet.

People may say that he only wins because of Red Bull but I don't really believe in that. Mark Webber drives a very similar car. I believe that the car isn't exactly the same but it's close. Also in 2010 and 2012 Alonso had a very good car but didn't win. And yes I know that the Ferrari sucked in the beginning of the season but he didn't lose that much when Vettel didn't really win either.

That's it for the congratz and now let's focus on the race shall we!

The start was great for Mercedes. Hamilton almost overtook Vettel in the beginning but didn't have room to pass. Even though Hamilton got a good start Rosberg had better luck in the race.

Giedo Van Der Garde blamed Max Chilton for causing an accident "again" and called him an idiot on the radio.

Räikkönen, Webber and Alonso were fighting for positions but then they ran into each other. Webber jumped over the side and touched Kimi and right after that Alonso made contact with Webber and Button. Alonso dropped to 10th place and was forced to make an early pitstop. That was the end of Alonso's race because he couldn't really get higher up after that. Massa on the other hand drove a much better race for a change.

Almost all drivers with soft tires made very early pitstops including the world champion Sebastian Vettel. At first it looked like a stupid idea but eventually Vettel was at the top again as usual.

Nico Hulkenberg overtook Valtteri Bottas from the outside of the track and right after complained that Kimi is driving over the curves. It didn't give Kimi an advantage so it didn't matter. Hulkenberg on the other hand got a penalty for driving outside of the track and not giving the position back to Bottas.

Grosjean was driving from side to side behind Gutierrez and couldn't pass him. He complained on the radio that Gutierrez is holding him back. I'm sorry to say this but even a blind dog could have seen that Gutierrez was driving straight and did NOT change his line. What was the problem? If you wanna pass him you have to overtake him! HELLO!!

Mark Webber retired again! I mean what the hell?! WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO HIM AND NOT VETTEL? I have wondered about this topic before and I am wondering again till I get an answer. It was very sad of course and I would love to see him win a GP before he retires at the end of this season.
It would be awesome if he would win the last race and then retire. I think Jackie Stewart managed to do that when he retired. I am pretty sure that he did. Correct me if I'm wrong..

Then I was very surprised when I realized that Team Lotus is trying to get Kimi to finish with one single pitstop. WHAT?!? WHY?! He drove with the first set 8 laps and the tires were ruined. Then he got the harder tires and they thought that they would last till the end.. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?! Then it seemed that he obviously couldn't finish and dropped from 2nd to 7th.

The Lotus team were really angry with Kimi when the tires were starting to fail and he couldn't let Grosjean pass right away. He couldn't move to the side in the fast corners and he was also obviously worried to lose a spot to Massa (right after he lets Romain pass). They said "GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY KIMI" on the radio. My jaw dropped when I heard this. How can they talk to him like that when they didn't say anything to Romain after Spa 2012 when he almost killed Alonso?! And what if Kimi would have wanted to fight against Grosjean even though it was very difficult? Lotus has stated that there isn't going to be any team orders..

What is going on at Lotus? Are they this grumpy about Kimi leaving? I don't blame him for leaving. I totally understand. Could you imagine Red Bull saying that to Vettel or Ferrari to say that to Alonso?! No never.. 

Some fans of Kimi Räikkönen have said that they will kill Alan Permane's family for shouting at Kimi. I know that it was very rude but please guys.. calm down! That's a bit too much.

Here's a clip with the radio conversation:



Right after he let Grosjean pass there was Massa right behind passing him as well just like he knew it would happen.

Then it didn't really matter that much to come in to the pits and change tires. Right after that Kimi was flying and got the fastest lap.

Vettel took the checkered flag and won not only the race but his 4th championship. He made a few donuts in front of the crowd and got a 25 000 euro penalty. Again I must say WHAT THE HELL?
This was almost as ridiculous when Alonso gave Webber a ride and they got penalized.

Anyways Vettel ended the GP weekend like a superstar and the crowd weren't booing for a change. Guess the "fans" finally realized what sportsmanship means and cheered for the champion. I am not a Vettel fan anymore but I still give a lot of respect for the guy even though the sport has become more boring because of him.

Then finally the guesses and the actual results. Here are my guesses:

Pole position: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull 

The race:

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

(If Hamilton has problems with his car or himself I believe one of the Lotuses will take his place)

Fastest lap: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

Surprise: Valtteri Bottas, Williams. He may finally take a point to Williams this weekend. Maldonado has already taken one point for the team and they haven't scored anything else this season.

Actual results:

Pole position: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull - CORRECT

The race:

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull - CORRECT
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - I knew that a Mercedes would be up there at least..
3. Romain Grosjean, Lotus - I knew that if Hamilton has problems one of the Lotuses will take his place and that's what happened.

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus - WRONG

Surprise: Valtteri Bottas did not get his first point even though it looked like it would come true in the beginning. Unfortunately the Williams isn't good for anything this year. It may be that the one point Maldonado got will be the only point. I hope I am wrong because I always cheer for the classic F1 teams such as Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Mercedes, Lotus etc.

So this was it for today. In the morning I am leaving for Dubai where I will spend 5 days and then it's Abu Dhabi baby!!

I'll try to write the Abu Dhabi GP preview on the plane. I should have time to do that when the flight is 6 hours.

1986 British Grand Prix

Ladies and gentlemen! Haven't posted these for a while so here is the 1986 British Grand Prix.

Commentary by Murray Walker and James Hunt.

FIA press conference schedule - Singapore

Among those facing the media at Marina Bay on Thursday will be the Ferrari-bound Kimi Raikkonen and the driver who has been tipped by many to replace him at Lotus, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. Meanwhile, Friday’s press session includes the man who could decide Hulkenberg’s fate, Lotus team principal Eric Boullier. The line-ups in full...

Thursday, September 19, 1800 hours local time (1000 GMT)
Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber), Sergio Perez (McLaren), Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Adrian Sutil (Force India).

Friday, September 20, 2315 hours local time (1515 GMT)
Eric Boullier (Lotus), Robert Fernley (Force India), Tony Fernandes (Caterham), Franz Tost (Toro Rosso), Claire Williams (Williams).

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

2014: A lap with the new Mercedes-Benz V6!

What do you think about the new F1 sound? I feel like this will be the end of an era and the start of a new one.
The sound is so different in my ears.. but maby I will get used to it.

When I have watched a Formula One grand prix live at a track the sound is very loud. This sound will definetly be more quiet. Maybe you wont even need earplugs that bad anymore?


I

Formula 1 1984 Monaco Grand Prix

Have you seen the movie "Senna"? In the beginning of the movie they show clips from the Monaco GP 1984. Senna almost beats Prost in his first season with a Toleman-car (not a good car at all) and could have won if they would have continued the race.

This was the race when everybody's jaws dropped. The race where people learned the name Ayrton Senna and remembered it forever.

If you don't have the time to watch this video then let me explain a few things for you.

This was Senna's first season and he had one of the worst cars. This team was almost like Caterham is today but it didn't matter to Senna. It was the beginning of his career and the only thing he wanted right now was to score a few points.

It rained at the Monaco GP in 1984 and it was very hard to drive but not for Senna. He was the best driver in the rain ever! Everybody was struggling and some of them even hit the walls and retired.

Senna starts to overtake the others like it was the easiest thing in the world. He even overtakes Keke Rosberg and Niki Lauda with this terrible car! He sets the fastest lap and almost catches Prost in the lead.

Prost is aware that somebody is behind him and fast as hell. He gets worried and wants to stop the race ("because of the rain"). We all know that the problem was not the rain it was Senna. And when they stopped the race Prost slowed down and Senna just flew by him in top speed. It was obvious that Senna would have won if the race would have continued.

Senna couldn't believe that he was on the podium. He waved his hand up in the air like he had won it all. That was the first time ever Senna stood on the podium in Formula One.

Now enjoy the full Monaco GP from 1984! Click on the video and be amazed.

The race is commentated by Murray Walker and James Hunt (the 1976 world champion).

Bonus information: Toleman was struggling with money and became Benetton, then Renault and now they are known as Lotus and has Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean driving for them.
Benetton won 1 constructors and 2 drivers championships, Renault won 2 constructors and 2 drivers champonships. Let's just wait and see when Lotus wins a championship..

2013 Hungarian Grand Prix -review of the race

First of all congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for his maiden victory with Mercedes. He really deserved it after a lot of bad luck with the tires and other stuff trough the season. Is Lewis going to be a strong competitor for the rest of the season? Does he really have a chance for the title this year? I would say no but you never know what is going to happen.

Second thing I really enjoyed was Kimi's and Sebastian's fight for 2nd place. Even though Red Bull is a better car Kimi showed that he can beat Sebastian if the chance comes. I must say that I lost a little respect for Sebastian when he told his team that Kimi didn't give him enough room when he tried to overtake. That was rubbish from my point of view. Maybe Sebastian just couldn't keep his head cool like the Iceman did. It's amazing how Kimi never breaks under pressure.

Third thing that I wan't to say is congratulations to Williams for their first point of the season! Sad that Bottas had to retire for the first time of his career in F1 but I think the team gets over it quickly.

Fourth thing that comes to my mind is Grosjean. Sad that he could not take advantage of a good opportunity. I really had faith that he could be fighting for the victory.

Now let's see what I said earlier about the race and if it came true:

"I still think that Räikkönen is going to be higher up than Grosjean" YES

"in the long runs Lotus and Ferrari are strong when it's hot weather and Mercedes is not." YES and NO

-Lotus was good just like I suspected but Ferrari wasn't. Rosberg's Mercedes engine overheated but Hamilton won!

"Let's hope that we see a new winner tomorrow or somebody who hasn't won in a while.

Maybe someone like Kimi (last victory in Australia), Lewis (never won with Mercedes) or Romain (never won a race)?" YES 

-Lewis took his first victory for Mercedes.

"Which drivers are usually good in this race? -Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton" YES

-Kimi was 2nd and Lewis won again!

My race predictions: 

1 - Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus

2 - Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

3 - Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

YES and NO -The drivers were all correct but in wrong order.

Fastest Lap - Fernando Alonso NO

-Fernando did the 8th fastest lap and Mark Webber was fastest.

Possible surprises - I believe McLaren will remind us that they are still in this sport.

-They did pretty ok but in my opinion the biggest surprise was the lack of Ferrari's speed.

Tomorrow I shall talk about the F1 break and how to survive without Formula One for a month.

The Hungarian Grand Prix's qualifying session

1	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:20.363	1:19.862	1:19.388	15
2	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:20.646	1:19.992	1:19.426	12
3	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:20.447	1:20.101	1:19.595	15
4	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:20.350	1:19.778	1:19.720	16
5	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:20.652	1:20.183	1:19.791	15
6	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:20.867	1:20.243	1:19.851	17
7	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:21.004	1:20.460	1:19.929	15
8	19	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	1:21.181	1:20.527	1:20.641	14
9	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.612	1:20.545	1:22.398	16
10	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:21.264	1:20.503	No time	13
11	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:21.471	1:20.569		17
12	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	1:21.028	1:20.580		13
13	5	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.131	1:20.777		10
14	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	1:21.345	1:21.029		12
15	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:20.816	1:21.133		15
16	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	1:21.135	1:21.219		13
17	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:21.724			11
18	14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:22.043			11
19	20	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	1:23.007			8
20	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	1:23.333			7
21	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	1:23.787			8
22	23	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	1:23.997			8