F1heaven

Get well soon Bobby K

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Turnbull) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:28:00 +0000

As you will know, Lotus Renault GP driver, Robert Kubica was involved in a serious rally accident earlier today in Italy. He sustained serious injuries but they aren't thought to be life threatening.

From everyone, we are all wishing you a speedy recovery and hope to see you back on track very soon.

Best wishes,
The whole Formula One Community.

Should Alonso fear Schumacher?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:03:00 +0000

As part of the brilliant VivaF1 Blogger's Swap Shop, Matt Bacon of the Final Sector asks if Schumacher will be a threat to Alonso and his other rivals.

Last week Alonso during a press event said that he fears Michael Schumacher this season, a lot of people were quick to write off Schumacher’s first season but there were some glimmers of his former self like the defensive moves coming into corners or the move on Barrichello in Hungary which was highly aggressive move pushing him painfully close to the barrier. I don’t think you can ever write off Michael Schumacher as a contender as he was not the 7 times world champion for nothing but Formula one has changed a lot since then there is no in season testing which Michael used to do a lot of for Ferrari as he has a good technical knowledge of the sport and the cars involved.

The whole discussion depends on the Mercedes GP W02 if it’s a decent car or not if it’s a bad car to begin with compared to the Ferrari then Alonso has nothing to worry about to begin with but we know that everything in F1 moves very fast so who knows what happen. there are so many variables going into the 2011 season for teams, Kers is back and you know have a moveable rear wing when your 1 second behind the car in front. So in conclusion I think there is loads of reasons for and against the statement but we wont know until the red lights go out in Bahrain. I think the 2011 car will be built around Michael Schumacher as they are paying him enough money to drive for them, a insider from the team said that the car is exceeding expectations on the grip and down force front.

By Matt Bacon

Final Sector

Fantasy League: The Rules

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:34:00 +0000

Welcome to the first ever F1heaven Fantasy League! In this post I'll be explaining the rules, I hope it isnt too complicated, but it should be understandable.

Winning

To win the game, you must get the most World Championship points accumulated by any drivers you pick. The points that each driver gets in the real championship will be reflected in the game.

Money

You start off with 20,000 and have the ability to buy as many drivers as you wish with that money. If a driver does well, their value will increase and you will have the chance to sell them for a profit. With the extra money, you can then buy more/better drivers. However, a driver's price can go down with poor results.

Wildcard

The Wildcard is completely free and you can pick any driver you wish. However, once chosen, you can not change this driver. You can use your wildcard for no more than 5 races and you can pick at any time what race that will be. You will get the points the driver gets but not the money.

So that's it, have fun and happy fantasising!

You can play the Current round here: Rd 1: Bahrain

Fantasy League: Pre Season Selection

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:23:00 +0000

Welcome to the first F1heaven Fantasy League. The form below is for the Bahrain Grand Prix and as it's the first race, i'll give everyone until midnight GMT on Friday the 11th of March.

To check up on the rules, see here

Dawning Chorus for Bird?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 21:07:00 +0000

As part of the Viva F1 Blogger's Swap Shop, guest writer Phil Jackson gives us his thoughts on Sam Bird's future.

The final weeks of the season have been pretty impressive for anyone keeping an eye on Sam Bird.

With an extended stay in Abu Dhabi providing the perfect stage for the GP2 driver, ending his rookie season, to show his talent.

A 15 place jump in the GP2 feature race and 3rd place in the rookie test time sheets just adding to an ever growing list of achievements the young Brit has racked so far in his fledgling career.

Having gone from, an unrepresentative, 18 placed grid slot Bird put on an impressive performance to climb all the way to third at the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi. A course renowned for its limited overtaking spots, just ask Fernando Alonso.

The feat is even more extraordinary when you consider it took place in GP2, a formula with 24
identical cars making up the grid.

In the week that followed Bird got his first serious taste of Formula One during the young drivers test at Abu Dhabi. The full two day test with Mercedes GP undoubtedly coming due to an outstanding season in GP2.

Bird performed strongly on what is clearly one of his favourite tracks. He was given an important
role of testing the new 2011-spec adjustable rear wing for the Mercedes team, whilst also achieving an impressive third on the time sheets.

Bird’s CV, at 23, is pretty impressive. Two years in Formula BMW UK from 2004 onwards, finishing as runner up in the championship in ’05, was followed by a third place championship finish in Formula Renault UK in ’06. Progression through the ranks of F3 in ’07, ’08 and a hectic ’09 were rewarded with a GP2 seat for 2010.

Bird has performed well in GP2, and despite having abysmal luck through-out the year finished in fifth in his rookie season.

What does the future hold?

Seats in Formula One are rapidly becoming notoriously hard to pin down, with even talented drivers missing out. Nico Hulkenberg, for example, looks to have been shunned out even after that pole in Brazil.

Ousting him from his seat at Williams is GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado. Who, despite strong
running all season and a decent end of season test outing in Abu Dhabi, is rumoured to have got the seat due to a substantial cash backing.

But this does not mean that raw talent cannot reach the big time, and Bird should not be deterred.

Prior to the “rookie tests” in Abu Dhabi, Bird was concentrating on cementing his GP2 future, before looking into the pressure cooker of Formula One.

“I hope to be in GP2 next year, if not with the same team [ART] then with a very good team and try to win the title. But it’s too early to say on an F1 role” he told Autosport in early November.

Despite the massive British involvement in Formula One as a whole, there is currently a lack of
British drivers out on track.

Hopefully, from a patriotic point of view, Bird’s early promise can be a sound nesting, before his
career can start to fly in Formula One.

By Phil Jackson

Vettel Closes the Gap on Alonso

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 17:36:00 +0000

So it wasn't the fairy tale race we expected where Hulkenburg went from start to finish to win for Williams. But nevertheless it was a superb race, yet again another 1-2 for Red Bull. Also, Red Bull claimed their first ever Constructor's Championship after just 6 seasons.

From the very first corner, Sebastian Vettel lead the race after overtaking Nico Hulkenburg and Mark Webber quickly followed suit into second. So for another race it was a race dominated by the team from Milton Keynes. As both drivers finished ahead of Alonso, they close the gap on him, Webber being just 8 points off the leader and Vettel 15.

Alonso had a pretty good day, although not as good as he would have liked. He goes to Abu Dhabi under even more pressure to keep the Red Bulls away from the Driver's Crown. He finished 3rd today, after overtaking the struggling Hamilton on soft tires.

Mclaren had a poor day really, their results may have been good being 4th for Lewis and 5th for Jenson, but it still meant that Button is out of contention and Hamilton's chances are quickly diminishing. On the plus side, Jenson drove a corker of a race from 11th to 5th, just like he has done in past races this season.

The pole sitter, Nico Hulkenburg, obviously didn't do quite as well as he did in qualifying. He dropped two positions to the Red Bulls quickly but as he got more settled, he kept both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton at bay for a considerable amount of time. He ended the race in 8th, a decent showing from the young rookie.

The Brazilian fans were left disappointed by their nation's drivers. Both Massa and Barrichello having poor showings. Felipe found himself in a number of scraps and could only muster 15th, behind fellow Brazillian Rubens Barrichello, who had his usual dose of home Grand Prix bad luck by getting a puncture following a overtaking move. Bruno Senna finished 21st.

Mercedes drivers Schumacher and Rosberg finished 6th and 7th, which was a decent result for the team. Force India driver Adrian Sutil put in a good drive going from 22nd to 12th whilst his teammate suffered a nasty crash into the barrier, signalling the only safety car of the race. Sauber had a pretty strange day, Kamui Kobayashi looked tame and gave a few overtakes away but at the halfway stage started attacking again to finish 10th whilst Heidfeld was unlucky to receive a drive through for blocking after the safety car and finished a lowly 17th.

Renault could only get a 9th place from Kubica and a 16th from Petrov as the likes of Mercedes and Williams seem to give them more and more competition. The sister Red Bull team, Toro Rosso had a impressive race, even without achieving points both their drivers finished well, a 11th for Alguersuari and a 13th for Buemi.

The best of the new teams was again Heikki Kovalainen in 18th followed by his teammate Trulli in 19th position. Virgin driver Timo Glock followed in 20th whilst Di Grassi retired, leaving the Hispania cars of Senna and Klien in 21st and 22nd.

Classification
P Driver
1 Sebastian Vettel
2 Mark Webber
3 Fernando Alonso
4 Lewis Hamilton
5 Jenson Button
6 Nico Rosberg
7 Michael Schumacher
8 Nico Hülkenberg
9 Robert Kubica
10 Kamui Kobayashi
11 Jaime Alguersuari
12 Adrian Sutil
13 Sébastien Buemi
14 Rubens Barrichello
15 Felipe Massa
16 Vitaly Petrov
17 Nick Heidfeld
18 Heikki Kovalainen
19 Jarno Trulli
20 Timo Glock
21 Bruno Senna
22 Christian Klien
NC Lucas Di Grassi
Ret Vitantonio Liuzzi

F1heaven Returns

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:43:00 +0000

Welcome back! It's been a long time, too long in fact, since I was last updating the site. But after two months of work F1 heaven is back for good. We've been gone since the British GP for a couple reasons but after being away from the site I've realised how much it means to me. So that is why I've bought it back.
There may be a couple issues and there a few pages which I've yet to fully complete, but the neccessities are here and ready and I hope you like them.
Last time round, there were two of us working on the site but now, unfortunately it's just me. That means I'm looking for budding writers who would like to give up some time and write for us. Our aim is to give writers somewhere to post their articles and become better known. If you want more info about writing for us give me a mail at: f1heaven@googlemail.com
So, I hope you enjoy the site and look out for a couple posts coming out over this weekend and our magazine later this month.
Thanks for coming back,
Joe

Site Maintenance

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:48:00 +0000

Hey guys, we're trying some stuff out on the site over the next few days, sorry if anything goes badly wrong!

Magazine Issue 2

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:51:00 +0000

It may be a week late but as they say better late than never, our Magazine is released! With a new look and more inside, this months mag is the best yet!

Read it in full screen here, Link
Download it as a PDF here, Download

Please comment below and give us some feedback!

Williams run out of time to fix car

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 25 May 2010 16:50:00 +0000

After both of their cars experienced major crashes at Monaco, it has been a race against time for them to build new parts. Unfortunately, they have run out of time and will revert to an old specification at Istanbul. Surely, though, it would make sense for teams to have a spare part. I mean really, this is what my friend has dubbed a 'Virgin-level' mistake (sorry Timo fans!). Unfortunately, these are becoming all too common in F1, for example, McLaren left a bung in Jenson Button's radiator, AFTER BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz told them it was there. With the new points system, where we have already seen Lewis Hamilton punished for failing to finish a race, although not through fault of his own, will these mistakes have a significant mark on the championhip result?
Your views please, comment, tweet us @f1heaven, f1heaven@gmail.com

Image from attwilliams.com

Silverstone gets Revamp

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:45:00 +0000

The BRDC, Silverstone's owners have today unveiled the new track layout as part of it's 17 year contract with F1.

The new track will host both the MotoGP and the Formula 1. The new configuration, which lengthens the track by 0.472 miles to 3.666 miles, is the first stage of a two-year development plan. By 2012 Silverstone will have a new paddock area and pitlane, moving the start line to the National Straight.

More to come Tomorrow!

NEW: Magazine issue 1

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 09:13:00 +0000

Yes that's right! We are now making a monthly magazine! This month is just a trial to make sure everything goes to plan. So this issue is a bit smaller than what we will do in the future. If you want to see anything in the magazine for issue 2 then send us an email f1heaven@googlemail.com

Click here where you can see it in full screen.
Or alternatively, download a .pdf for offline use! Download

Update: We are proud to announce that we have become a featured magazine by our publisher Calameo!

Mclaren Dominate an Eventful Friday in China

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:35:00 +0000

Mclaren once again dominated a friday, this time with Jenson Button setting the fastest time of the first Practice Session with a 1:37.677. However in the second Practice session his team mate Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the day with a 1:35.217 , showing that straight line speed definitely is an advantage here in China.

The day was dominated by Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Buemi's crash in FP1. The crash was caused by an upright failure and meant that both front wheels blew off and left Buemi skidding off towards the gravel at almost 200mph

More to follow shortly!

Classification

First Practice

Position	Driver	Team	Fastest Lap
1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:36.677
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	1:36.748
3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:36.775
4	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	1:37.509
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:37.601
6	Robert Kubica	Renault	1:37.716
7	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1:37.745
8	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:37.980
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:38.008
10	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:38.098
11	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:38.161
12	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:38.375
13	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:38.421
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:38.569
15	Paul Di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:38.618
16	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1:38.678
17	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:39.939
18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	1:41.531
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	1:41.779
20	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1:41.830
21	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	1:42.181
22	Bruno Senna	Hispania-Cosworth	1:43.875
23	Karun Chandhok	Hispania-Cosworth	1:43.949
24	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari

Second Practice

Position	Driver	Team	Fastest Lap
1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.217
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	1:35.465
3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.593
4	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	1:35.602
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:35.791
6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:35.995
7	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:36.254
8	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:36.377
9	Robert Kubica	Renault	1:36.389
10	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:36.604
11	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:36.944
12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1:36.986
13	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:37.421
14	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:37.431
15	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1:37.657
16	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	1:37.804
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:37.867
18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	1:39.624
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	1:39.947
20	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1:40.233
21	Karun Chandhok	Hispania-Cosworth	1:41.008
22	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	1:41.107
23	Bruno Senna	Hispania-Cosworth	1:41.345
24	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari

China Session Times

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:49:00 +0000

Here is a list of all the times the Formula One sessions will be taking place this weekend:
Local Time ( British Time )

Friday 16th April 2010

Chinese Grand Prix Free practice 1 – @10:00-11:30(03:00-04:30)
F1heaven WONT be offering Live Commentary for this session.

Chinese Grand Prix Free practice 2 – @14:00-15:30(07:00 – 08:30)
F1heaven MAY be offering Live Commentary for this session. (TBC)

Saturday 17th April 2010

Chinese Grand Prix Free practice 3 – @11:00-12:00(04:00 – 05:00)
F1heaven WONT be offering Live Commentary for this session.

Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying – @14:00-15:00(07:00 – 08:00)
F1heaven MAY be offering Live Commentary for this session. (TBC)

Sunday 18th April 2010

2010 FORMULA 1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX– @15:00(08:00)

F1heaven MAY be offering Live Commentary for this session. (TBC)

Malasyia GP Review - Red Bull find their Wings

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:19:00 +0000

Red Bull have finally overcome their reliability curse as Sebastian Vettel lead his RB6 to a Red Bull 1-2 with Mark Webber just behind. Again, Webber impressed in Qualifying but he found himself without luck in the race. Vettel jumped him at the start and as people expected the Aussie to jump Vettel, he had a problem in the pits due to a stuck front right wheel nut and had to settle with 2nd. The Red Bulls have looked hot all season but they have been unable to make the most of their speed because of reliability problems. If it wasn't for mechanical problems, Sebastian Vettel would be on a perfect 75 points now, but it's too late for ifs and buts.
Nico Rosberg followed the Red Bull's in 3rd. Mercedes had a pretty mixed day, Schumacher retired halfway through with a problem with his front right tyre. Whilst Renault kept up their momentum from Australia as Kubica earned 4th place, although Petrov, who started the race with a lot of expectation, had a poor race and went backward throughout before retiring.
Mclaren and Ferrari had great races for all their drivers. With Mclaren in 17th and 20th with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton respectively, the British team had a lot of work to do! But at the start both Jenson and Lewis overtook many cars.

More to come shortly!

Classification

Pos	Driver	Team	Race time	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:33:48.412	25
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	+00:04.849	18
3	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	+00:13.504	15
4	Robert Kubica	Renault	+00:18.589	12
5	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	+00:21.059	10
6	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	+00:23.471	8
7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+00:27.068	6
8	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	+00:37.918	4
9	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	+01:10.602	2
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	+01:13.399	1
11	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	+01:18.938
12	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	lapped
13	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	retired, 54 laps
14	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	lapped
15	Karun Chandhok	Hispania-Cosworth	lapped
16	Bruno Senna	Hispania-Cosworth	lapped
17	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	lapped
18	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	lapped
19	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	retired, 32 laps
20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	retired, 12 laps
21	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	retired, 9 laps
22	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	retired, 8 laps
23	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	retired, 2 laps
24	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	did not start, 0 laps

Webber Masters Malaysian Mayhem

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:16:00 +0000

Mark Webber has won pole position after a chaotic, rain filled qualifying session. Webber set the fastest time of the 3rd session which was water logged throughout. His pole setting time of 1:49.327 was over a second faster than second placed man Nico Rosberg for Mercedes. This pole for Mark Webber means that Red Bull have had 3 pole positions out of 3 this season, but Red Bull are still yet to bring this speed to the race.

More to come shortly!

Classification

1	Driver Mark Webber	Team Red Bull-Renault	Q1 1:51.886	Q2 1:48.210	Q3 1:49.327
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	1:52.560	1:47.417	1:50.673
3	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:47.632	1:46.828	1:50.789
4	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:49.479	1:47.085	1:50.914
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:49.664	1:47.346	1:51.001
6	Robert Kubica	Renault	1:46.283	1:46.951	1:51.051
7	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1:50.301	1:48.371	1:51.511
8	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	1:52.239	1:48.400	1:51.717
9	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:48.467	1:47.792	1:51.767
10	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	1:49.922	1:48.238	1:52.254
11	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1:47.952	1:48.760
12	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:47.153	1:48.771
13	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:48.945	1:49.207
14	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:48.655	1:49.464
15	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	1:52.875	1:52.270
16	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1:52.398	1:52.520
17	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:52.211	1:52.211
18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	1:52.884
19	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:53.044
20	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:53.050
21	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:53.283
22	Karun Chandhok	Hispania-Cosworth	1:56.299
23	Bruno Senna	Hispania-Cosworth	1:57.269
24	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	1:59.977

McLaren shine on Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:38:00 +0000

Lewis Hamilton has hit back at his critics today by comfortably setting the fastest time in both practice sessions. Both McLarens have shone today with Button coming in 3rd and 4th for the British outfit in a hot and humid Malaysia. However Jenson Button says he has been struggling with the balance and set up of the car, something that he isn't good with adapting to.Lewis on the other hand set the quickest time of the day with a 1:34.175 was .266 seconds quicker than second placed Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull however have had another day of reliabilty problems. In Free practice 2, Webber went off with a suspected engine/gearbox failure and Sebastian Vettel, the favourite for the race complained about a lack of power steering. So the difficult season looks likely to continue for Red Bull. Webber finished 20th with his team mate again driving strongest with 2nd. Mercedes had a good day, In FP1 they had a solid outing with 2nd and 4th for Rosberg and Schumacher respectively. Then in FP2 they had another good show with 3rd and 5th. So things look on the up for the team. Whilst theres been a swap around with Ferrari as they see themselves look quite slow today. It is unclear whether they were heavy but there was definite problems with Massa's car, around the bottom of the diffuser area. Alonso came in 8th then 7th and Massa finished with 11th then 14th. So all in all, not a fast day for the scuderia although they probably did have more fuel. Although the team did say this on their twitter during FP2

"There is a lot of work to do to prepare the race: we can foresee a very difficult weekend," Ferrari's Twitter update during FP2

Also, Kubica kept his momentum from his second place podium in Australia and got his Renault up to 6th in FP1 and then FP2 he made a good 5th. A very strong show from the team that was plagued by controversial issues off the track and a slow car on the track last year. F1heaven covered FP2 today and we'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who read our live commentary! We will be back for FP3 tomorrow. Free Practice 1 Classification

1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.921
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	1:35.106
3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.207
4	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	1:35.225
5	Robert Kubica	Renault	1:35.402
6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:35.479
7	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:35.955
8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:35.959
9	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:36.043
10	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:36.100
11	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:36.451
12	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:36.503
13	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:36.645
14	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1:36.712
15	Paul Di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:36.891
16	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:36.899
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:37.802
18	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1:38.278
19	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	1:39.460
20	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1:39.755
21	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	1:40.159
22	Fairuz Fauzy	Lotus (Test driver)	1:40.721
23	Bruno Senna	Hispania-Cosworth	1:41.832
24	Karun Chandhok	Hispania-Cosworth	1:41.966

Free Practice 2 Classification

1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.175
2	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:34.441
3	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	1:34.443
4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.538
5	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	1:34.674
6	Robert Kubica	Renault	1:35.148
7	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:35.581
8	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:35.660
9	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1:35.872
10	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:35.957
11	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:36.018
12	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	1:36.221
13	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:36.325
14	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:36.325
15	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:36.602
16	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1:36.813
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:37.415
18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	1:38.454
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	1:38.530
20	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:38.786
21	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1:39.061
22	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	1:39.158
23	Karun Chandhok	Hispania-Cosworth	1:41.084
24	Bruno Senna	Hispania-Cosworth	1:41.481

Thanks for reading, and please comment below and say what you thought of both Friday Practices! Joe

Why we need freedom in F1

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 18:15:00 +0000

Formula One and Space are surprisingly very alike. NASA spend millions, if not billions of dollars on research and development each and every year. Whilst F1 teams also spend millions on research and development. So over the years we have had great inventions come from these pinnacles of science down to us in everyday use.
Formula 1 has had a great relationship with innovation since it's birth. Over the years we've had lots of truly great ideas completely revolutionise the way we live. F1 has given us most recently, KERS. KERS is now starting to enter itself into the commercial car market inside more expensive cars at the moment, but I believe before long, KERS will show up in a strong majority of road cars. 2009 was the year we had KERS in F1 and in that season, Mclaren were the only team that used it from beginning to end. So Mclaren clearly mastered KERS but now it is Ferrari who have released the first KERS Road Car - the 599 HY-KERS. This is very interesting for how the future may look like, we could be seeing electric cars that charge their batteries under braking.
But quite possibly Formula 1's most renowned invention was traction control. It now appears in just about every new car, and it has been a benchmark of safety engineering. And there's others too, the development of carbon fibre, ground effect and monocoques. F1 has brought loads of new safety designs including the driver's safety cell and ABS. It has even developed disc brakes, mid engine mounting and computer controlled suspension. All these components are well set in everyday life now and a lot more new technology will show up in road cars soon.
So, where am I going with this? Well, over the last few years, The FIA and the like have been 'dumbing' Formula 1 down. There are now more restrictions this season than I can remember in the past.
Professor Rick Delbridge, told BBC News;

(New regulation and cost pressures are) "closing the spaces where innovation is encouraged - or even allowed"

So if F1 has no innovation and is dumbed down then everyday objects could also suffer from the same fate. The last time Formula 1 teams were truly 'free' to develop was probably the late nineties. At the moment we are at a huge moment in history over the next few decades we will see a transition from fossil fuels to green energy. So with the long CV that F1 has in finding new solutions, green fuel may not be a bad idea. Personally I'd love to see bonuses for teams who choose to develop their own green car, just like the budget cap gave teams less restricted rules. I'm all for new technology and I cant wait to see what the future holds. Joe

I'm sure that what I've said will be pretty controversial! So give us your thoughts below, I cant wait to see what you think!

Malaysia Session Times

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:23:00 +0000

Here is a list of all the times the Formula One sessions will be taking place this weekend:
Local Time ( British Time )

Friday 26th March

Malaysian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 @ 10:00 - 11:30 (03:00 – 04:30)
F1heaven WON'T be offering Live Commentary for this session.

Malaysian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 @ 14:00 - 15:30 (07:00 – 08:30)
F1heaven WON'T be offering Live Commentary for this session. (It will be decided last minute!)

Saturday 27th March

Malaysian Grand Prix Free Practice 3 @ 13:00 - 14:00 (06:00 – 07:00)
F1heaven MAY be offering Live Commentary for this session. (TBC)

Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying @ 16:00 (09:00)
F1heaven WILL be offering Live Commentary for this session.

Sunday 28th March

2010 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX @ 16:00 (09:00)
F1heaven WILL be offering Live Commentary for this session.

Any live commentary session will start around 5 minutes before the start. To go to our Live Commentary page then click Here

F1heaven reserve the right to change any plans for the live commentary sessions

Aus Review - Red Bull in a china shop

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:16:00 +0000

Wow. What a race!
Compared to Bahrain, Australia was the complete opposite. There was hardly a lap without any action, something interesting happened constantly. But that's what we really need, a race where it keeps you at the edge of your seat, one where the audience are surprised all the time and get to see their favourite driver show their skills. This is what F1 has to be. Still, there was the fact that there wasn't the amount of overtaking there should be, at multiple points during the race, there was 'trains' behind certain drivers. Let's say Massa in this instance, Massa at one point had 4 drivers behind him, and drivers were still struggling to pass anyone. It has improved but still hasn't hit the mark where it needs to be.

For the race, people thought Red Bull would be unstoppable. However, the race didn't quite go to plan for the team. At the start things were mixed up due to rain, multiple collisions and a safety car. Webber slid down the grid pretty quickly, but things weren't over yet; Vettel was still strong in front. Webber started the hard climb back up the pack and things seemed alright for Red Bull.
But during the mid-point of the race Red Bull suffered yet another reliability issue, this time it was in the form of the right front brake (disc). The big, burly, bullish team are now looking fragile, as if the bull is ready for the abattoir. So now Red Bull only had one man, home favourite Mark Webber. He followed Hamilton into the pits and came out following him. On the new tyres they caught Alonso and the 'Massa train'. Lewis took a go at Alonso but it didn't work out. So he let back and let Alonso carry on. Leaving Webber to smash into the back of him. This summed up Red Bull's day and left them only bringing home 2 points from such a perfect opportunity.

As for McLaren, they had a great race. Button won an incredible race in the end. The awesome thing was though, was that he won it not by being on pole, but by putting in a cool drive and making a outstanding decision on tyre choice. Hamilton however, was a different story, starting in 11th the odds were against him. But he put in a great drive and at one point it looked like a McLaren 1-2 would be the result. Then the British team told him to pit for a set 0f new tyres, so Lewis had to get back all the places he had previously earned. It didn't work out like that though as he immediately started struggling with his car as he got close to Alonso. Later he got caught up with the Webber incident and ended 6th.

"It was one of the drives of my life," Hamilton said. "Unfortunately because of the strategy I got put back and then I drove my heart out today and I think I deserved better. Everyone else in front of me did one stop and I did two."

Ferrari had a fairly lacklustre performance, they had a good pair of results but the car didn't really look fast at any point during the race. Massa probably had the best day in the red car but that's because no one could get past him. The prancing horse seemed to be limping today.

Robert Kubica, however had a completely surprise performance on Sunday for Renault. He finished second which is an admirable performance in the car he's got and from where he started.
Again, at the slow end of the grid it was Lotus who dominated. Heikki Kovaleinen was the fastest of the new teams and Karun Chandhok made his team Hispania become the second new team to finish a race.

All in all it was a great race and definitely worth getting up for! Let's just hope that Malaysia can give a spectacle as good as today. Red Bull are incredibly fast but they do have some major mechanical issues, Ferrari are looking fast but aren't anything special in the race and McLaren aren't particularly fast but have a wicked race pace. So with the top three teams like this, the season is looking pretty good! Joe Ryland

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	58	1:33:36.531	4	25
2	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	58	+12.0 secs	9	18
3	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	58	+14.4 secs	5	15
4	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	58	+16.3 secs	3	12
5	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	58	+16.6 secs	6	10
6	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	58	+29.8 secs	11	8
7	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	58	+59.8 secs	13	6
8	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	58	+60.5 secs	8	4
9	6	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	58	+67.3 secs	2	2
10	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	58	+69.3 secs	7	1
11	17	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	58	+71.3 secs	17
12	22	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	58	+74.0 secs	14
13	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	56	+2 Laps	19
14	20	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth	53	+5 Laps	22
Ret	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	41	+17 Laps	23
Ret	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	26	+32 Laps	24
Ret	5	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	25	+33 Laps	1
Ret	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	9	Engine	10
Ret	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	9	+49 Laps	18
Ret	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	4	+54 Laps	21
Ret	16	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	0	Accident	12
Ret	10	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	0	Accident	15
Ret	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	0	Accident	16
Ret	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	0	Hydraulics	20

Aus Preview - Party In The Park

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:46:00 +0000

This weekend, Formula One rolls into Albert Park, Australia.
Given the lack of spectacle served up in Bahrain most people in the
sport are wishing for a good race this time out.The new rules that were implemented for the first time at Bahrain didn't deliver what we anticipated, however, we can’t judge things too much yet.Not all races can be epic however much we want them to be.

At Bahrain we saw the majority of the grid just pit once, leaving a long boring mid-race section where not much happened. The race ended up becoming a procession and throughout the week Formula One and the FIA have been receiving
bad press for the rule changes. But to be fair, all this begs this question to
be asked to the doubters, when was the last truly exciting Bahrain GP? And
honestly the answer is there hasn’t really been one.The track itself is the primary issue and isn't made for overtaking. As a result most years are exactly the same as this year's race.

For only the second time in fifteen years, Albert Park is not hosting the
first Grand Prix of the season.Historically Melbourne always gives us a pretty good race to watch. Safety cars are often a feature of the race. In 2008 there were three safety cars which really shook things up and in 2006 there were four safety car
periods. So you can always expect an exciting race.

Albert Park has been one of my favourite tracks since I started watching Formula 1. I don’t know why but it's the fast, tight circuit surrounded in concrete barriers that makes it so great. The drivers need to push the maximum out of their car but any mistake will send them into the barrier. We get a on the edge of your sofa race!

The track itself shares many similarities to the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Canada. Both of the tracks are unique, and they're in a class of their own. Technically street races but they have more room than the likes of Monaco and Singapore. I'd like to call them 'crossover' tracks
The driver still has to be anxious about the solid grey wall just metres away fromhim but these two tracks flow better and have more room to give the driver the speed.It's why we get the accidents and the races which are shaken up constantly.

An interesting fact is that in the last 10 years, the winner of the Australian Grand Prix has gone on to win the World Championship of that year 8 times. But with such a close pack this year I'm sceptical to whether this will hold true this season. Alonso did well last week and both Ferraris looked very fast but I think that Red Bull may just have an advantage at this stage. Especially if Webber is on form, he'll want to get a home win this weekend.

The track is 5.3 kilometres long and is bumpy and very fast, around 225km/h on average. This helps give an exciting race even if there isn't much overtaking.

Who is looking strong coming into this race? It's hard to tell really, in the last 4 years there has been 4 different winners in 4 different teams. So really the winner will be the driver in the strongest car, so don't go expecting any surprises or topsy-turvy grids here. That being said, the smart money will be on Ferrari to continue their early season dominance. But of course McLaren and Red Bull will be on the chase and within the next race or two we should be seeing very close racing.

The secret of a quick lap at Melbourne is relatively high downforce and a good front end. So Ferrari and Red Bull should be looking good but will McLaren have enough downforce to compete for the top step of the podium? One team were seriously overlooked last week in Bahrain - Force India. After scoring their debut points last year, they have carried the late season form into 2010, once again reaching the third qualifying session on merit. If they're able to maintain this kind of form throughout the development race 2010 could be the breakout year for the Silverstone based team.

Personally I am really excited about the race at Albert Park, it should
be infinitely better than the processional race served up Bahrain. I just hope not too many people have switched off because of the poor show. To be honest Bahrain is never a good race but one good thing has come from it, many of the drivers are now giving their own ideas on how to improve the show. So hopefully the ideas may be implemented in the coming seasons.

So remember the date, the 28th of March at 07:00 AM GMT for the second round of the 2010 Formula One World
Championship at Albert Park, Australia. Let's just hope we have a party in the park rather than a gentle stroll this weekend.
Written by Joe Ryland / Edited by Adie Brown of F1Weekender

Australia Race Times

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:21:00 +0000

Here is a list of all the times the Formula One sessions will be taking place: Local Time ( British Time )

Friday 26th March

Australian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 @ 12:30 – 14:00 (01:30 – 03:00)

Australian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 @ 16:30 – 18:00 (05:30 – 07:00)

Saturday 27th March

Australian Grand Prix Free Practice 3 @ 14:00 – 15:00 (03:00 – 04:00)

Australian Grand Prix Qualifying @ 17:00 (06:00)

Sunday 28th March

2010 FORMULA 1 QANTAS AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX @ 17:00 (07:00*)

*The British time stated here is BST (GMT +1) due to the 1 hour change at midnight. So if your alarm clock doesn't automatically change you will want to wake up at 06:00. Annoying hey?

Bahrain Circuit Diagram

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Ryland) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:43:00 +0000

Hey everyone!
This is a new idea i had for the site.
i'll be updating the circuit diagrams thoughout the season until i have all the tracks. I have made this diagram myself but all the facts have been taken from the FIA. i hope that hopefully whoever reads this can give me a bit of help such as asking for certain features to appear in future diagrams. so please comment!

I have also noticed how bad the image is looking. Dont worry though i'll sort it out soon enough :)

McLaren Rear Wing Legal

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:36:00 +0000

I can confirm that McLaren's rear wing has been declared legal, after Red Bull issued a complaint. All 12 cars have been inspected and are ready for tomorrow's 7:00 GMT Practice 1. This also confirms Hispania GP, ex-Campos, will be competing, as they are yet to run a official test.

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:31:00 +0000

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton recently did an interview for Radio 1, which you can watch in full below. Jenson Button said that "there are 4 teams that are very competitive" and Lewis, "i feel that we've got a good package, but it's still gonna be tough" there's also the usual Radio 1 fun and games but the interiews make for an interesting listen, so have a look!

Radio 1