Rio de Janeiro To Make F1 Bid

It has been rumored that Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor Eduardo Paes is planning to make a bid to bring Formula 1 back to the city, a move which could jeopardize Sao Paulo’s continuation as the sole host of the sport in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro last hosted an F1 race back in 1989 at the Jacarepagua circuit.

Although Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit was the venue for the first ever Brazilian Grand Prix back in 1973, Rio de Janeiro has also hosted Formula 1 on numerous occasions at the Jacarepagua circuit. The first race at the venue was in 1978, and the track hosted F1 consistently between 1981 and 1989. Although Eduardo Paes is eager to see Brazil host two races, Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor is also prepared to snatch away Formula 1 from Sao Paulo.

“Be prepared Sao Paulo because I am going to steal the Formula One from you!” Exclaimed Eduardo Paes, as the Mayor announced Rio de Janeiro’s plans for a new international speedway. However, these controversial plans could well be scuppered, as the Interlagos circuit has a contract with Bernie Ecclestone and the Formula One Management until 2015.

What happens beyond 2015 remains to be seen, however with Formula 1’s calendar expanding at a phenomenal rate, two races in Brazil is highly unlikely. Already Spain has had to remove the European Grand Prix from Valencia, and begin alternating the venue with Barcelona as hosts of the Spanish Grand Prix.

The same has already happened in Germany with the Hockenheimring and the Nurburgring and with a race in New Jersey and Russia planned for 2014, the future F1 calendar could look very different in years to come, potentially leaving only a handful of races in Europe.

Picture Copyright © Lotus F1 Team

Luciano Bacheta Drives Williams FW33 At Silverstone

Newly-crowned FIA Formula 2 World Champion, Luciano Bacheta, received his first taste of Formula 1 machinery earlier today at the Silverstone circuit. This test, competed in last year’s FW33 car, was part of his prize for clinching the Formula 2 Championship. The 22-year-old led the Championship from start to finish, in utterly dominating fashion.

After clinching the Championship last month at the legendary Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Luciano Bacheta was awarded a test drive with the Williams Formula 1 team. This prize has been awarded to numerous F2 World Champions before him, and has enabled Bacheta to complete enough mileage to qualify for an FIA Super License which is required for all drivers to compete in Formula 1.

“Today’s gone very well for me.” Explained Luciano Bacheta, “I’ve had a good mix of wet and dry running which has been a perfect way to learn how the car works and adapts. Just to be around a team like Williams is a special experience and I’ve gained so much from the day.

“I’m still taking it all in and I am sure that it won’t be until I go away and reflect that I’ll realize quite how brilliant it was. The car is just a pleasure to drive, better than anything I’ve driven before, so I’d love to have some more experience of Formula One in the future.”

The Briton competed around the International layout of the Silverstone circuit, and carried out five sessions throughout his day with the team. Sir Frank Williams was highly impressed with the way Bacheta won the Formula 2 title, which included four consecutive wins at the beginning of the season.

“I’d like to pass on my congratulations to Luciano for winning the F2 title, a feat made all the more impressive by the way he achieved it with an unprecedented four consecutive wins at the start of the season.” Said Sir Frank Williams, “No doubt he learnt a lot from today’s experience and it will stand him in good stead for his future career which looks very promising indeed.”

Luciano Bacheta was sensationally dominant throughout the Formula 2 season, winning the opening four races of the season, not to mention his splendid display of consistency which saw him only retire once all season. Bacheta has impressed Sir Frank Williams this season, and is unarguably set to continue his path up the motor sport ladder next season.

Picture Copyright © Williams F1 Team

Susie Wolff Gets Maiden F1 Outing At Silverstone

Susie Wolff got her first taste of Formula 1 machinery yesterday around the Silverstone International Circuit, at a Williams F1 Parter Event held at the home of British motorsport. This saw the team roll out many of their legendary cars such as the FW08 and the FW18. Wolff drove last season’s Williams FW33, completing two 50km runs.

British driver Susie Wolff joined the Grove-based outfit in April 2012 as the team’s development driver, a role which has since coincided with her ongoing career in the German DTM series. Before yesterday’s partner event, Wolff had only ever worked on the team’s simulator. Albeit in slightly tricky conditions to begin with, Susie Wolff explained her first ever run in an F1 car as an incredible and exhilarating experience.

“It was incredible to experience a Formula One car for the first time.” Explained Susie Wolff, “I’ve done a lot of simulator work since I joined the team but nothing compares to the exhilaration of driving the real thing. The conditions were a little tricky as it was quite damp at the beginning of the run but the track soon dried out. The team also did a fantastic job preparing me for today, giving me all the information I needed so that I was always in control.’’

Throughout the day, Bruno Senna drove the Williams FW08 from the 1982 season, which saw Keke Rosberg to victory once throughout the 16-race season. Pastor Maldonado drove the FW18, a car which propelled Damon Hill to his one and only Drivers’ Championship in 1996. Together, both Damon Hill and then team-mate Jacques Villeneuve won 12 out of the 16 races throughout the 1996 season.

Picture Copyright © Williams F1 Team

2012 Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix Preview

Only several days after Sebastian Vettel’s excellent display of dominance at the Japanese Grand Prix, Formula 1 has moved swiftly on to Yeongam for the third running of the Korean Grand Prix. First held in 2010 in utterly treacherous weather conditions, the Korean Grand Prix will once again be held around the Korea International Circuit.

With Fernando Alonso spinning out of the Japanese Grand Prix after only 371 meters, the Drivers’ Championship has once again been flown wide open with Sebastian Vettel taking a masterful race victory to reduce Alonso’s Championship advantage to only four points. Kimi Raikkonen remains 3rd in the Championship, but has yet to win a race this season and will be at a minor disadvantage for the next two events as the Finn will need to learn both the Korea International Circuit and the Buddh International Circuit in India.

After being officially confirmed back in 2006, Korea held their first Formula 1 race in 2010. The race was held at the brand new Korea International Circuit, which was subject to major speculation that it would not be ready in time for the date set for the inaugural event. Regardless of these allegations, the race organizers remained positive, stating that the track construction was well ahead of schedule. After race director, Charlie Whiting, visited the track only thirteen days before the race, it was declared that the Korea International Circuit was fit to host its first race.

The inaugural race was held in extremely inclement weather conditions, with the race being delayed for roughly forty minutes before the safety car initially led the opening 17 laps. Once the race turned green, carnage and mayhem ensued which resulted in both Red Bulls failing to finish and Fernando Alonso taking an important victory for Ferrari ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa.

Last year’s race was won by the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, only a week after he clinched his second consecutive Drivers’ Championship at Japan. Lewis Hamilton secured pole for the race, breaking Red Bull’s sensational run of fifteen back-to-back pole positions which began at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Ex-Formula 1 driver Martin Donnelly will reprise his role as the driver representative steward at this weekend’s Korean Grand Prix, a role last held by the Ulsterman back in June for the Canadian Grand Prix. Donnelly incidentally carried out the same role during last season’s Korean Grand Prix, which was the first time he was chosen by the FIA for the role of driver representative.

The DRS zone for this weekend’s Korean Grand Prix has once again been situated along the tremendously long straight after turn 2, however the designated zone has been extended by 80 meters with a hope of increasing overtaking maneuvers into turn 3. The detection zone for DRS is situated 90m before turn 1, with the activation zone situated 320m after turn 2. This comes after the DRS zone for the Japanese Grand Prix was shortened, resulting in little overtaking maneuvers into turn 1.

The Korea International Circuit is by far one of the least exciting venues visited by the Formula 1 fraternity throughout the season, largely due to its design reminiscent of other tracks designed by Hermann Tilke. Either way, it will once again play host to a pivotal chapter in this unique Formula 1 season. Just like in 2010 during it’s inaugural year, the Korean Grand Prix has the ability to greatly alter the Championship standings ahead of the final races of the year.

Picture Copyright © Pirelli

2012 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix Preview

As we digest a scintillating Australian Grand Prix weekend, there’s barely enough time to catch our breath as the F1 circus moves swiftly on to Kuala Lumpur for the 14th Malaysian Grand Prix held at the Sepang International Circuit. 

This race, which is run late in the day, can sometimes be hit by heavy tropical storms, like back in 2009 when the race was red flagged after only 31 laps. That particular year, the start time of the race had been moved from 3pm local time to 5pm local time, which led to heavy rain striking the circuit mid-race.

Last weekend in Australia, we saw a highly competitive field as Jenson Button crossed the line to win his third Australian Grand Prix for McLaren. Ferrari suffered a dismal weekend after Felipe Massa retired with suspension issues and Fernando Alonso was put under immense pressure from Pastor Maldonado in the Williams. HRT were the only team who failed to qualify after failing to set a time within the 107% rule, and will be hoping for a change of luck this weekend.

The Malaysian Grand Prix has had a history of first lap incidents, as it features a tight right-hander which then leads into an even tighter left-hander as it’s first two corners. With 24 cars scheduled to head down into turn 1 on Sunday, it’s hard to imagine everyone completing lap 1 without some missing pieces of bodywork.

The Malaysian Grand Prix was first run as part of the Formula 1 World Championship back in 1999, in a memorable race where Michael Schumacher returned after breaking his leg and dominating the race. Eventually he handed the race victory over to team-mate Eddie Irvine, who was locked in a Championship battle with McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen. Unfortunately both Ferrari’s were disqualified after a technical infringement, however the decision was overruled shortly after.

Before the Malaysian Grand Prix became part of the F1 calendar, it held Tasman Series races between 1968-1972, Formula Pacific races between 1973-1974 and 1978-1982, a Formula Atlantic race in 1975, a Formula 2 race in 1977 and a Formula Holden race in 1995. All of these races were held on the Shah Alam Circuit, a 3.69km circuit which was opened in 1968 and eventually closed in 2003.

Since the first race in 1999, eight different drivers’ have won the Malaysian Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen won his first race at the venue in 2003 for McLaren, and also won the 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix racing for Ferrari. Jenson Button won here in 2009, after the race was halted due to torrential rain on lap 31. Button’s team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, has never won here and will be hoping to change that fact on Sunday.

Pirelli have opted for the medium and hard tyre compounds for this weekends race, which will give the teams’ their first taste of the harder compound in 2012. With the changeable weather at Sepang, many teams’ are wary of the possibility of rain hitting the track. 

For the second race weekend in succession, Johnny Herbert will be the drivers’ steward for this weekends Malaysian Grand Prix. The former British Grand Prix winner had a relatively trouble-free Australian Grand Prix, and will be hoping the drivers’ continue behaving themselves this weekend.

The DRS Zone for this weekend has remained the same as last season, with the detection zone just before turn 15, and the activation zone just after turn 15 meaning the drivers’ will get to use the device down the start-finish straight.

With such an exciting race weekend in Australia last weekend, the Malaysian Grand Prix is expected to continue the trend on a circuit which, coupled with the heat and humidity, is one of the toughest the drivers’ will encounter.

Picture Copyright © Mercedes AMG F1

Giancarlo Serenelli Completes GP2 Grid

As the teams’ and drivers’ of GP2 arrive at Kuala Lumpur’s Sepang International Circuit for the opening round of the 2012 GP2 Series, the final vacancy on the grid has been filled as Giancarlo Serenelli has been confirmed for rookie team Venezuela GP Lazarus. The Venezuelan driver will race alongside Italian Fabrizio Crestani.

New team Venezuela GP Lazarus, formerly Team Lazarus, were founded in 2009 and have since raced in the EuroSeries 3000 and Auto GP. For 2012, they replace Super Nova Racing who had raced in GP2 since the series inception back in 2005.

Giancarlo Serenelli has previously contested in the Auto GP Series, racing in the first round at Monza earlier this month. In 2011, Serenelli won the Latam Challenge Series Championship for the third time in his career. He had won the Championship in both 2010 and 2008 previously. 

After taking part in the final GP2 pre-season test at Barcelona, Serenelli will get his first taste of GP2 race action this weekend. The GP2 Series returns to the Sepang International Circuit for the first time since 2008, when the now defunct GP2 Asia Series raced on the circuit.

Picture Copyright © Daniel Kalisz/GP2 Series Media Service 

Rubens Barrichello To Test For IndyCar

It has been reported by The Associated Press that an anonymous source has told them that Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello is allegedly lined up to test for IndyCar’s KV Racing Technology. This comes a week after Barrichello was officially replaced at Williams by fellow countryman Bruno Senna. 

KV Racing Technology, who receive technical support from Lotus, are set to have a two day test session at the Sebring International Raceway, with the team testing the new Dallara chassis that is set to be introduced to the IndyCar Series in 2012. 

The source from The Associated Press also stated that Rubens Barrichello has not made any future plans beyond the test session with KV Racing Technology. With close friend and fellow countryman Tony Kanaan already racing for the team, there is an obvious lure for Barrichello to join the IndyCar Series which already hosts three South American drivers in Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Venezuelan driver E.J. Viso. 

Rubens Barrichello, who spent the majority of his 19 seasons in Formula 1 as second man to team-mate Michael Schumacher, will be hoping that if he does join the IndyCar Series in 2012, he will have the ability to be competitive.

The 2012 IndyCar Series kicks off on March 25th when the Honda Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg gets underway in Florida.