| 2008 Hungarian F1 GP - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-08-04 00:07:09 | | 2008 Hungarian GP was not as dull as it often is. Unfortunately most of the excitement came in form of refueling fire and technical problems of the front runners. The only real racing for positions I could see (except the race start) was between Barrichello and Button in the very early stages of the race. [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| 2008 German F1 GP - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-07-21 00:34:12 | | I do not want to say this was the best race of the season but it sure was entertaining. We could see some serious racing with overtaking up and down the grid, we had a safety car following a crash (luckily without any serious injury), we could see a serious strategy blunder and impressive recovery [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| 2008 French F1 GP - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-06-23 00:51:57 | | We sure have seen better races then 2008 French GP but we still got few servings of racing excitement despite utter Ferrari domination.
The only chances for others to mess with Ferrari were either at the race start, rain intervention or something going terribly wrong for one or both Ferrari drivers. At the race start all [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| 2008 Canadian F1 GP - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-06-09 07:49:41 | | The race start was little disappointing - all the cars made it and for the first 13 laps the race was rather uneventful. Lewis Hamilton pulled away from Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen. He looked like the man to beat. The only excitement came from Nelson Piquet overtaking every car that got in his [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| 2008 Monaco F1 GP - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-05-26 04:00:30 | | It has been suggested several times that the surest way how to secure an exciting F1 race is to sprinkle the track with water. It looks like we had just about the right amount of water to create an exciting race. We had changing weather, we had changing strategies, we had the top drivers making [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Turkish F1 GP 2008 - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-05-12 02:23:04 | | First point to make about this race is - the race had flying start (see the picture above). Second - we actually had a race. There were cars that raced each other ! Third point to make about this race is a question - would Lewis Hamilton even start the race under 2005 rules that [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Spanish F1 GP 2008 - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-04-29 06:29:54 | | It has been busy few days for me and it took me 2 days to finish the Spanish GP review. Here it comes finally… I apologize for a dull format without pictures this time .
Four races, three Ferrari wins, two 1-2 finishes, red cars leading both championships and Ferrari friendly Turkey track next … [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Bahrain F1 GP 2008 - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-04-07 00:44:19 | | Two drivers started this race with new gearboxes, 14 drivers had new engines in the backs of their cars. Felipe Massa at the end seems to have kept his engine from Malaysia and clearly it did not do him any harm…
Many expected Ferrari to dominate this race, thanks also to their winter test on Bahrain [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Malaysian F1 GP 2008 - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-03-23 12:38:54 | | After the crazy Australian GP it looked for a while we may have another mad weekend in Malaysia. The rain and storm predictions however did not materialize (yet again ) and so we had an opportunity to see what the form of the teams is under normal conditions (if the usual heat and humidity [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Australian GP 2008 - Wolf’s Race Review | | 2008-03-17 00:44:07 | | What a race. When I posted a video from the most exciting Australian GP race start I did not really expect we will see something similar this year. At the end, we had a spectacular race that so many cars did not finish, that the last 2 cars that broke down actually scored points.
It has to [...]... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - Belgian GP - Race Review | | 2007-09-17 06:54:00 | | The 2007 Belgian GP hardly can be called a classic race, but it was sure one of the better ones this season, with quite a bit of an on track action. Most of it was down the grid though …Ferraris were class of the field this weekend, clearly better than McLarens. This was quite a turnaround after Monza, but that’s what we got used to this year. Both teams are very close and the pendulum swings from track to track…We had no serious carnage at the start this time, however the stunt Alonso pulled on Hamilton could have caused one. Whether the move was deliberate I am not able to tell, but it sort of looked like it. This was something I would understand if the car next Alonso was all red, but doing this to a team mate is quite unexpected. It looks like Ron Dennis prefers this season to end as peacefully as possible. He told ITV:"It was absolutely fine.They weren't too aggressive and they're racing drivers. No-one would blink if it was opposing teams."Exactly, no one would blink if it ... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - Italian GP - Race Review | | 2007-09-10 06:52:00 | | The Ferrari home race finally brought at least some racing action. The lower pit lane speed limit made 1 stop strategy feasible and eleven drivers opted for it. For some it meant shot at a point finish, for some it was only way to compete. They were all clearly helped by the safety car early on in the race and this for sure assisted some proper racing later on.McLarens looked to have upper hand over Ferraris after all the weekend. The Ferrari case was not helped by Massa early retirement. The Maranello guys should do something about their reliability issues…Raikkonen however managed to climb ahead of Heidfeld right after the race start and after Massa’s retirement took his 3rd spot. He was not that much faster than Heidfeld at that stage though. When Hamilton made his first pit stop on lap 18, Ferrari crew played some dummy and made themselves ready for Kimi’s first stop too. However Raikkonen kept on making extra laps, and made his first stop on lap 25, 7 laps later than Hamilto... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - Turkish GP Race Review (with video) | | 2007-08-27 06:08:00 | | It is said to have to say that the Turkish GP did not live up to the expectations. If even this excellent track can’t offer decent racing than what can (other than rain or safety cars)? This is a topic for another post that will be coming up next (you can subscribe to RSS feed to get all the future posts). To prove Sir Jackie Stewart wrong again, the race was again decided on lap 1, if not on Saturday… The dirty side of track fears of McLaren drivers materialized, both lost track positions, Hamilton to Raikkonen, Alonso to both BMWs. This ruined Alonso’s chances for a win, and all he did was praying for miracle. Even if he would not say that after the race, it was quite obvious, he tried more less nothing to get ahead of Heidfeld …Massa won (or Kimi lost) the race on Saturday. Massa’s last qualifying lap was excellent while Kimi made a small mistake. There was to be no fight for position on the track between the Ferrari team mates. This time Kimi had no luck during pit stops ... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - Hungarian GP Race Review With Video | | 2007-08-06 06:33:00 | | In this review I will focus on the race itself. What I think of McLaren and Ferrari camps is here and in another post as well.For race results click here:McLarenHamilton did not do much wrong during the race. Heidfeld starting from the dirty side of the track was never a threat to him and Kimi on P3 was a bit too far behind to challenge him at the start. At times Kimi was getting quite close but without a mistake the overtaking was out of the question. Pit stops posed the only danger. But when both Kimi and Hamilton came in at the same time for the first stop and left without change in the track position Hamilton could have begin to believe the race is in the bag.Alonso had a tough task to salvage something from the race after being demoted to P6. He lost few places early on, but clawed them back and at the end made up 2 more places to finish 4th. Not a bad result.FerrariKimi made a good start. He gained a position and kept it for the rest of the race. He also recorded the fastest lap ... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - European GP Race Review | | 2007-07-23 07:00:00 | | The rain threatened several races this year, finally it came. Finally… As we have it in F1 these days, only changing track conditions or safety car confusion result in exciting races.It looked like everybody expected the rain to come in the early stages of the race. But clearly not on lap 1 and not a rainstorm. Video here. The cars sliding around and out and over, that was one mayhem. Kimi not able to hold the line and sliding out of the pitlane exit back to track for another very slippery lap. Several cars parking it in the gravel next to each other one by one … And Marcus Winkelhock leading the race on his race debut in the worse car of them all … Awesome…Then the reason prevailed and race was stopped. I must admit, at that moment all I was able to tell was that Winkelhock had the lead. Half an hour later the race was restarted behind the safety car. Another 2 hours later Alonso crossed the finish line ahead of Massa, Webber and Wurz.McLarenAfter the heavy crash on Saturday, ... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - British GP - Race Review | | 2007-07-09 05:37:00 | | British GP provided quite interesting race. As it is becoming a habit the strategy in pit stops decided the final order. But thanks to Massa we could also see some serious on the track overtaking.I expected Raikkonen to win after the qualifying. He was all over Hamilton during his first stint. Once Hamilton disappeared into the pits, it was pretty clear Kimi will get ahead. There was still Alonso to deal with. But once Alonso went for his second pit stop, Kimi did several quick laps, opened up a gap and came back from his last pit stop ahead of Alonso with few seconds to spare. At the end pretty convincing win. Massa’s misfortune helped Kimi to climb to 3rd in championship.Massa’s car stalled at the start. What followed was impressive recovery from 21st to 5th. It may have looked like the backmarkers and midfield cars made it easy for him to pass. But with nothing to loose it was Massa’s aggressive drive that made it look easy. Then for last 11 laps he kept trying to get better o... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - French GP Race Review (with video) | | 2007-07-02 07:30:00 | | Here are few videos:Race start:Alonso’s move on Heidfeld:Race highlights:It took them quite some time, but Ferraris returned to the top. They were helped by not so perfect start from Hamilton and Alonso being way down the grid did not harm them too. But even without this sort of luck they did seem to be faster than McLarens last weekend. It looked like easy win for Massa for big part of the race. But once Kimi got ahead of him after 2nd round of pit stops, only mistake by Kimi would change the order. There was probably no way Massa would challenge Kimi, same as Kimi did nothing 2 weeks ago in USA. Felipe blamed traffic and his probably right. But he also tried not to blame anybody in particular when he admitted that the midfield cars were engaged in a fight themselves. Bad luck for Massa, good start and good luck for Kimi, almost perfect result for a team. Kimi needed this result badly …Not a weekend to remember for McLaren. The 3 stop strategy for Hamilton did not make much sense.... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - US GP Race Review (with video) | | 2007-06-18 07:24:00 | | Another race, another great performance from McLaren and Lewis Hamilton. He won in Montreal fair and square. But his job was made a bit easier as his main rival had the bad luck with the safety car. Those chasing him were no match for him and he could only throw the race win away by himself. Indianapolis was totally different story. Alonso was quicker over the whole weekend except the Q3 session in qualifying and that is what made the difference at the end.F1 2007 Usa GP Race Start IndianapolisUploaded by ErcoVidHamilton took full advantage of his pole position, made a good start and defended well at turn 1. After that he had Alonso on his tail for the whole race. The gap between them was less than 3 seconds all the race with some wheel to wheel racing on occasions. I really can’t remember when was the last time we saw such a close and real fight between team mates. I can understand Alonso’s disappointment at the end after finishing second in a marginally quicker car. But, he could... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - Canadian GP - Race Review (with videos) | | 2007-06-11 08:53:00 | | And we had an exciting race. I was not alone predicting several safety car deployments and that is what happened. What a shame that the safety car periods lead to penalties and black flags. But that is topic for separate post.Lewis Hamilton finally made it to the top of the podium. And that means the end of the discussions about him leading the championship without winning the race. I do not really want to add up to the Hamilton hype but he did not put a foot wrong yesterday, won it from start and 4 restarts to the finish. He had his lead wiped off 4 times by safety car but he was never really challenged. He now finished on the podium 6 times in the row, in all his F1 races and is a worthy championship leader.Fernando Alonso blames safety car for his result, but sorry Fernando, that is one lame excuse. His drive was poor, not sure if the car was not handling well, but he went out to check the grass few times before the safety car came out. Race Start VideoNot sure if this was his worst... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - Monaco Race Review | | 2007-05-30 06:34:00 | | It was interesting weekend in Monaco. What a pity that the rain that mixed up the free practice on Saturday did not last till the qualifying session …The domination of McLarens did not come as a big surprise. The test in Paul Ricard indicated that the silver cars are best suited for this tight track. But the gap between them and Ferrari was a bit bigger than expected. The case might be that Massa settled for comfortable 3rd knowing that he has no chance challenging the McLarens.There is a lot of stuff said about the alleged McLaren team orders. Yes, it was very obvious that Hamilton was faster than Alonso after 2nd pit stop and then slowed down. But realistically, what chance of actually overtaking Alonso without Alonso making mistake did he have? Probably zero … Telling Hamilton to “cool it off” was what any other team would do in the same situation. Switching his strategy from 1 stop to 2 stop is different story though but still there is no guarantee that 1 stop strategy woul... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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| Formula 1 - Spanish GP Race Review | | 2007-05-14 05:08:00 | | The qualifying results and the grid positions did not help much to make this race predictable. McLarens are still behind Ferrari on the race distance, but they can match them pretty closely on one lap pace. Both Alonso and Hamilton are pretty good starters. So we had 4 very closely matched cars close together on the grid and the order after 1st corner could have been any combination Ferraris and McLarens.Massa still has the Sepang start fresh in his memory and good for him. Alonso probably knew his only on track overtaking chance will come in the first corner and he went for it. Massa this time did a perfect job and relegated Alonso to 4th place. From this moment on Massa’s only competition for race win was his own car and his mechanics. They tried to fire him same as they did to Schumi not that long ago, but he did not even notice and went on to win the race, clocking the fastest lap in process. Kimi was not that lucky, his car broke down early in the race. Sometime that time it beg... | | By: Formula 1 And Stuff Around It | | |
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