In their latest guise, Force India took to the Australian grid earlier this year in a shower of glitz, glamour and gutsy goals. Eight months later, and very few of the goals have been met, but that doesn’t mean Force India have endured a bad year, far from it. In fact, the back-row minnows have, at times, looked pretty healthy in terms of pace. Unfortunately to the throng of fans the world over, the occasional upturn in pace doesn’t make a season, but things aren’t looking too bad for the Silverstone-based squad. Continue Reading
Force India were expected to announce this weekend a technical alliance with McLaren and Mercedes for the 2009 season. The deal, that has been at the negotiation tables for some time now, would see the Silverstone-based outfit receive a complete engine, KERS and transmission package - it could even extend to a customer car depending on the regulation changes. However, Force India’s current contract with Ferrari needs to be dealt with first before any signatures can be put on McLaren headed paper. Continue Reading
The fifty-third photograph to feature in BlogF1’s caption contest. You know the drill, think of something funny and witty to say and leave it as a comment below. Number 53 is a humorous shot of Kimi Raikkonen driving a coach back in his McLaren days - 2006 I think. I’ll leave the witty remarks about his potential career change up to you. Continue Reading
Despite staying away from the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend at the request of the Bahraini Royal Family, Max Mosley is still hitting the headlines as the Formula One teams break their silence and openly criticise the FIA president over his recent behaviour. German manufacturers BMW and Mercedes issued a joint statement which made it very clear they wished to distance themselves from Mosley. Honda and Toyota have issued statements effectively saying the same. And finally, Max responded to these statements in a manner which I feel inclined to describe as a little cry-babyish. Continue Reading
Mercedes today unveiled the SL63 as the official 2008 safety car and the C63 Estate as the medical car. Both cars have been developed by AMG and the Performance Studio and will be present at all races to assist the safety of the drivers. And once again, Bernd Maylander will be at the helm should the need arise during a race. The modifications made to the models are quite lengthy, but needless to say the cars are generally faster than their road-going counterparts thanks to weight savings and a professional driver behind the wheel. Continue Reading
The Stepneygate saga refuses to go away and recently members of the McLaren team have been speaking to officials and authorities. They have given their version of events as Italian prosecutors proceed with legal action towards the team that accepted confidential data from then-Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney. The issues were originally thought to be isolated but following an investigation by the FIA last year, were found to be more serious and much more widespread throughout the McLaren organisation. And now, following raids on McLaren employee homes by Italian investigators, including that of Ron Dennis, rumours have been spreading around the media that Dennis has been fired. A rumour that is ridiculous to even suggest given the complexity of his involvement with the TAG McLaren Group. Continue Reading
Below are some more photographs from the launch of the new McLaren MP4-23 that will campaign for the 2008 world titles. The quality of the images isn’t great (maybe they were taken by one of those mobile phones they all seem to be holding?) but it does show the car from a couple of different angles. Interestingly, both Ferrari and McLaren seem cagey about showing the rear end of their cars, with both launches limiting photos to top, front and side. Never the less, the cars will be taking to the circuits soon so I’m sure some new images won’t take too long to filter around the web. For now though, I’ll let you play the game, Why is Bernie at the McLaren launch?Continue Reading
It has been a busy week for Formula One, and this close of season appears to have been a chaotic mess of activity, what with all the hearings, controversies and penalties. Added to this that a twelfth Formula One is supposed to be in the making (or not) and the 2008 driver lineups are not yet complete, a lot of teams are keeping themselves busy trying to secure their futures and do well enough in the final Grand Prix of the year to move up the tables. For now though, we have a Wikipedia vandal, a feel-good story from Zanardi and the possible buy-out of STR from the A1GP boss. Continue Reading
