Race Preview: Singapore Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton at Singapore GPStreet circuit with 23 corners.Night race that needs 3,180,000 watts of power to light up the tracks. Singapore Grand Prix is upon us this weekend. Let me hear you RAWR!

In many ways similar to the Monaco Grand Prix, this 61-lap race is famous for its winding street corners, so winding are these corners, in fact, that the Singapore's Marina Bay Street Circuit has some of the slowest average speed in the F1 calendar. The track (aka the streets) are lit up to the point that it is four times brighter than the lights at a football stadium. Slower speed plus brightly-lit tracks means we see the racing actions clearer than usual as the race cars hustle through the streets of Singapore with a gorgeous city skyline as backdrop.

For this track, Pirelli decided that Soft and Supersoft are the optimal tyres to use, which makes sense considering the conditions of this track. I wonder how the teams will play out their tyres strategy, one-stop may be a very tall ask on this track with the number of laps needed.

As if he needs any more luck on his side, Alonso has won twice at this track previously while Vettel and Hamilton both have won once here. Will Alonso keep up his lead in the championship or will Raikkonen surge ahead to number two spot in the championship, thus closing in the gap to Alonso? Will Hamilton be able to focus and win another top spot on the podium while his future for 2013 is still "under negotiation" with McLaren and/or Mercedes? However this may go down, I'll be glued to the monitor this weekend for the Singapore GP actions!

The race this weekend aside, are there any gamers out there who have played F1 video games? I  happened upon a Gamespot video that documented the history of F1 video games. From the hay days with little groups of pixels moving on screen to the real-life-looking simulations that makes you feel like you're on a track driving that Red Bull, it was fascinating to see the evolution of the game and hear from the passionate F1 fans behind building these games. Check out the video below. 

Auction Shows View Through the Lens of Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton snaps a photo from the cockpit of his McLaren for the Zoom Auction (Image Courtesy of Zoom Auction)

Would you like to own a photo taken by your favorite driver or team principal?  What if your bid for a piece of F1 history went to help a charitable cause, would you join in to help those in need?

Sebastian Vettel's favorite view in the Alps (Image Courtesy of Zoom Auction)

This is the concept of the Zoom Auction, a competition between the biggest names in Formula 1 to test their photography skills and auction their images to raise money for charity. Over 50 images make up the collection, all taken by the biggest names in Formula , including Lewis Hamilton, Damon Hil, and Sir Frank Williams. 

In partnership with motorsports auction specialists, Coy's of Kensington, the Zoom auction will be held tomorrow in the ballroom of the Wyndham Grand London Chelsea Harbour in London, England.  The evening event includes a 250 person VIP reception and live auction to be attended by many of F1's biggest names.  Though only a small group of Formula 1's fans will attend the event, anyone interested in participating in the auction is invited to bid remotely. More information about remote participation is availible on the official Zoom Auction website.

The auction is a unique concept, offering the chance for fans to obtain a special piece of Formula 1 history and see the world through the eyes of a Formula 1 driver or team principal. All proceeds from the event go to support the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, a favorite of the Formula 1 Group and official charity of the British Grand Prix.

Ron Howard To Visit Austin For Evening Event

Daniel Bruhl as F1 driver Niki Lauda, speaking with Ron Howard on the set of "Rush." Image courtesy of www.RushMovie.com

I was trying to come up with some sort of too clever by half analogy to compare the post-production of a film with any aspect of racing. The off-season, as teams analyze the gigflooziebytes of data collected over the just-ended season in order to decipher the alchemical formula of God's own chariot for the too rapidly approaching new season? But not really, since all we've seen of the film are a few random photos taken by a casual fan, vertical orientation, on a five-year old Blackberry with a thumbprint on the lens. No, this just isn't possible. There's absolutely no correlation between making a movie and racing a car.

Except when the movie is Ron Howard's Rush, which we've talked about previously, and rather breathlessly at that. It's due to hit theaters in almost exactly one year (and if I might add a personal note, I hope the Alamo Drafthouse pulls out all the stops for some sort of period specific themed bash, as they tend to do so well, hint hint). Lauda versus Hunt. McLarens and Ferraris and six-wheeled Tyrrells and John Player liveried Loti. God I can't wait. Seriously. Let's just drop any journalistic pretense and admit it - I'm going to have friggin' goosbumps all day leading up to the moments the lights go down. I'm as excited about this movie as I was for Star Wars Episode I. Before I actually saw it, obviously.

We're big fans of Ron Howard. By we, I mean the human race. We think his films are almost always walking the fine line that Spielberg so masterfully penciled in, somewhere between fluff and art. I mean that in the best possible way. I mean, his movies do what movies ought to do. They entertain, then they stick with you, and days later you're pondering one short scene or a bit of dialogue, and realizing how clever it truly was. And then you want to see it again.

So for a mere $55, on Thursday, November 1 you will have the opportunity to hear the man himself, and see some exclusive footage from Rush, and maybe even meet him, if you're charming and persuasive enough. It's called The Starting Grid, and it's a special kickoff luncheon at the Downtown Hilton for the 2012 United States Grand Prix here in Austin. For ticket information, visit the official page of the event here. Individual, VIP and group sales are all available. Other speakers include Circuit of the Americas founding partners Red McCombs and Bobby Epstein, as well as Texas Governor Rick Perry and Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell. Proceeds will benefit the Seton Breast Cancer Center and Dell Children's Blood & Cancer Center. So even of you don't get to tell Ron how you think Cinderella Man was an under appreciated work that captures the zeitgeist of the early-oughts, or what have you, you still get to bask in some serious Formula 1 sunshine for a couple of hours and help out a pair of worthy causes.

Oh, before I forget...be sure to follow Ron on Twitter - @RealRonHoward. Rush is scheduled to premiere on September 20, 2013. Just in time for Oscar season. Fingers crossed. 

Race Review: Italian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton takes a commanding lead at Monza (Image by HOCH ZWEI)// Monza

It's hard to see straight across the sea of red. The most passionate, brilliant red reserved for the most famous automobile brand with a horse was all over the grandstands at the Italian Grand Prix. Everywhere around the tracks, there were red Ferrari flags, red shirts, red hats, red hair wigs, like I said, sea of red. Massive crowds of fans gathered at Monza to watch the Italian Grand Prix unfold. And Monza did not disappoint!

At the qualifying, odds on favorite Alonso did very well until he had a mechanical problem, Massa capitalized on that and qualified ahead of Alonso to land at P3 while Alonso had to settle with P10. Hamilton and Button took over the front row of the grid with tremendous drives. Red Bulls were less than stellar at P5 for Vettel and P11 for Webber.

The 1st Lap is always exciting to watch. Hamilton defended his position right away from Button but it was Massa who surged ahead, passed Button then went side by side with Hamilton, though ultimately not able to pass. Alonso, incredibly have gone up from 10th to 6th by Lap 2. There was no stopping Hamilton though, he did a flawless drive and converted his pole to a 3rd win this season.

Perez qualified P12 but stealthily climbed up the positions. He started with the hard tyres, stayed out as long as he could until Lap 29 (!!) and switched to soft tyres after pit stop. This was a brilliant tyres strategy from the Sauber team. Hedid some great overtaking throughout, and with fresher soft tyres near the latter part of the race, he was easily passing other drivers to take home 2nd spot. Perez is definitely a rising star. Some even rumored that he may be take Massa's spot for 2013!

There was a bit of tit for tat playing out between Vettel and Alonso at Lap 26. Last year at Monza, Vettel tried to pass Alonso at one point and wasn't able to make the pass stick, but got slightly wide as Alonso tried to claim the racing line. This move left Vettel with 2 wheels on the grass at high speed. This year, some are calling this a revenge move from Vettel, Alonso tried to pass Vettel at the exact same spot but Vettel didn't leave enough room for Alonso, and made Alonso slid onto the grass on all wheels. As if he's expecting this, Alonso got on team radio immediately to complain about Vettel's move which subsequently got Vettel a drive through penalty. Innocent driving incident or premeditated revenge? We'll never know.

In the end, it didn't matter for Vettel. Both Red Bulls had mechanical issues that caused neither of Vettel or Webber to finish the race. Vettel had mechanical problem and had to stop on the grass at Lap 47, meanwhile Webber flat spotted at Lap 51 and got called in by the team to retire before damaging the car. With a 53-Lap race, to retire at Lap 51 is entirely too painful. It's been a very long time since Red Bull had a double retirement. Are reliability issues rearing its ugly head at Red Bull again? Tell us what’s up, Adrian Newey!

Other drivers with misfortunes include Button, Hulkenberg and Vergne. Button had a fuel pickup issue with his car and had to roll onto grass and retire at Lap 32. Hulkenberg also had car problems and retired at Lap 50. Vergne was out much earlier at Lap 9 getting airborne (and then back down) as a result of spinning out.

All of drama and retirement did not distract Alonso though, who never for a moment gave up with P10, but hustled all the way to land at 3rd spot on the podium. This is an important win for Alonso with him not scoring any points at Spa last weekend and Hamilton taking the most points by winning this race.

We wrap up the race with Alonso leading the championship (still), Hamilton is now 2nd, and Raikkonen 3rd. What a shake up!

The next race will be at Singapore on 9/21 - 9/23. This is one of my favorite tracks to watch - night race, street circuit, Singapore skyline and landmarks as backdrop, not a dull moment. Catch you then!