European Grand Prix - Race Summary

A very chaotic European Grand Prix for us this season.

Things were pretty calm from the beginning of the race until lap 14 when Red Bull's Mark Webber collided with Lotus Racing's Heikki Kovalainen.  Webber was approaching a turn from the long straight and caught up to Kovalainen very quickly.  As Webber was in the slipstream behind the Lotus, also known as drafting for those who've seen Days of Thunder, he rapidly closed the distance between the Lotus and both cars attempted to move out of the way, but Mark hit the back of the Lotus and went up in the air flying, flipping backwards and finally landing right side up.

Mark came out of the crash without a scratch and walked away fine.  The race ended early and took him completely out of the points for the championship, hurting Red Bull for the constructor points as well when they were in the contention for a first and second position for Vettel and Webber.

While this crash occured, the safety car came out and caused a whole new set of problems for the rest of the grid, incuring a drive through penalty for Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes.  Hamiltons penalty looked like it was going to push him back to third, but due to his distance between Kamui Kobayashi of BMW Sauber he was able to remain in second position.  This severely upset Fernando Alonso of Ferrari who remains to be very critical of the penalty, saying it wasn't severe enough. 

Following the end of the race, 9 other cars came under investigation for not lining up behind the safety car in a timely manner, and incured a five position penalty added to their finishing position, moving some out of the points and some others back in.

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See Speed TV's recap video here

European Grand Prix - Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber of Red Bull are back at the top of the grid in Position 1 and Position 2 after a stellar qualifying performance today.  Just behind them is Lewis Hamilton in McLaren looking for a repeat of the Turkish Grand Prix where a Red Bull conflict caused Vettel to be knocked out and pushed Webber backwards allowing both McLaren cars to move up to P1 and P2 for the finish. 

Reb Bull has made it very clear that both drivers are racing but not at the expense of damaging their cars and losing positions, costing both the drivers and Red Bull team points for the World Championship.  Both drivers seem to be on the same page as of the Canadian Grand Prix but it still looks like Vettel is looking to make his mark on the grid and get back in the lead of the Driver's Championship.

US F1 Fans can watch the race on FOX on race day, June 27th at 11am Central Time (GMT: -6).

Canadian Grand Prix - Race Summary

A very interesting race for us last weekend!  The key to the race was tire choice, something that is a new factor to many racing fans not adversed in F1.  Due to the temperature, one of the hottest of the year so far, and the new rules this year that require one lap on each set of two tire types, the strategy helped determine the outcome of the race.  Tire wear because of the heat was a large problem and helped contribute to rapid wear of the tires, causing many teams to have to pit earlier and more often than necessary.

Lewis Hamilton made the right choice and thanks to his strategy, won the race with his teamate from McLaren, Jenson Button, right behind him.  Visit SPEED TV to catch a video recap with the Speed TV commentators and a comprehensive discussion of each team and their performace in the race.

Will tires be a big problem in Valencia, Spain for the European Grand Prix?  Bridgestone has adjusted it's strategy to aid in the process and says that it won't be a problem...your thoughts?

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Tilke's History with Texas

An article released at the Austin American Statesman last night explains some interesting background on Hermann Tilke and his relationship with plans to develop a new track in Texas just a few years ago.  The track was supposed to be a private venture designed as a sort of boutique-raceway for wealthy enthusiasts (at $25,000 per membership) and located in the western hill country of Austin.

Austin American Statesman - Tilke's History with Texas

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Turkish Grand Prix - Race Summary

Wow, what an interesting turn of events at the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend!  Mark Webber has been at the top of his game in the last two races by achieving pole position (the top position for starting the race) and by wining the race as well!  The Turkish Grand Prix was Mark's chance to make this a hat trick, with three pole positions and three race wins in a row.

 The race started out pretty calm, Mark Webber lead the race with Sabastien Vettel (his teamate) in third between the two Mclaren cars, in second Lewis Hamilton and fourth Jensen Button.  Thanks to a quick pitstop and a slight delay for Hamilton in the pits, Vettel managed to emerge into second place behind Mark Webber and stayed there for a majority of the race.  It wasn't until lap 41 of 58, that Vettel managed to draft Webber enough to pass him on the left going into a hard left turn.  While Vettel was moving up, he shifted to the right towards Webber but Mark stood his ground and Vettel collided with him.  The damage took Vettel out of the race completely and allowed the two Mclaren cars to move up to first and second.  This was a devistating blow to the Red Bull team as well as Webber, who finished third in the race overall.

 The controversy surrounding this move has developed into a Webber versus Vettel press war and raised the concern over team strategy in races.  This has been an ongoing issue in F1 where teamates are constantly trying to compete against eachother as well as the other drivers.  As of this point, it looks like Red Bull has resolved the issue and will make sure to be careful in the future to make sure the drivers race competitively but don't risk putting eachother in danger of dropping out of the race or worse, an accident.

 Next weekend the race will move to North America in Montreal, Canada.  If anyone is venturing out that way, have a great trip and let us know how the race goes!!!  Share your pictures and stories on our Facebook group or send them to us and we'll put them up with a special thanks to you!

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Michael Schumacher likes new race in Austin!

Michael Schumacher - Enthusiastic about new race in Austin

"Certainly, it’s one of the beautiful places around the world to go to and enjoy some good times, lots of great opportunities." said Schumacher. "For me, naturally, I love to go and race there as it allows me to spend some days before the race to hang out there and enjoy it. But more important for most of the manufacturers that are involved in Formula One, America is a very important market. If you think of how many countries like Brazil, Argentina, all those countries in South America, how many we had of those guys at Indy, then we should have even more, because logistically it’s easier to go to Texas than all the way up to Indy. Hopefully, that’s the case because one of the points that we have been missing is the sort of excitement that Formula One can create and can give to the fans that are in America."

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