BlogF1

Following on from Hamilton’s win on home soil, there was much to discuss as drivers endured a difficult British Grand Prix. Mark Webber rued his early spin that cost him dearly, Fernando Alonso ran well despite losing out by remaining on the same set of tyres and David Coulthard departed his last British race early with a coming together with Sebastian Vettel. Rubens Barrichello was over-the-moon at claiming a podium for Honda and Nick Heidfeld hopes his recent lack of form is now behind him as he took second for BMW. Continue Reading

Robert Kubica is currently only confirmed at BMW for the remainder of this season, and looking at the Pole’s start to 2008, the Swiss-German squad would do well to extend his contract for as long as they can. However, while Kubica looks to prolong his stay at Hinwil, team boss Mario Theissen has felt it necessary to publicly defend his other driver, Nick Heidfeld. Currently, Robert leads his much more experienced team mate in the championship hunt, and even last year was pressuring the German for points and positions. Continue Reading

I’ve just read something quite absurd. In fact, it is so ridiculous, I absolutely must share. The news centres not on a Formula One driver, but on four-times World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb, who incidentally did have a go in an F1 car recently. It would appear that the FIA aren’t too happy with Loeb’s appearance, and an email conversation between two FIA members has been published. It really is quite hilarious…
…Oh by the way, that’s not a photograph of Loeb, it’s Formula One’s Nick Heidfeld, but you’ll see why it’s relevant in a minute. Continue Reading

BMW driver Nick Heidfeld performed a demonstration run at the company’s Munich factory earlier today. As a way of thanking the staff of BMW who regularly watch the races and follow the squad’s progression around the world, Heidfeld performed a series of donuts and spoke with employees at the plant. World Touring Car driver Jorg Muller was also present, driving his BMW 320si. Team boss Mario Theissen said that transporting factory workers to the races was very difficult to achieve, so wanted to put on a show in order to praise their support for the Formula One operation. Continue Reading

It doesn’t come as much surprise that BMW boss Mario Theissen wants changes to be made to the qualifying procedure as soon as possible. BMW driver Nick Heidfeld was unnecessarily held up while attempting to qualify in Malaysia. The incident can only really be described as ridiculous and dangerous. The videos and article can be viewed via this link, but needless to say Thiessen is backed by an awful lot of people. Continue Reading

Both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have been penalised on the Malaysian grid following the baulking of Nick Heidfeld at the end of qualifying. Both drivers remained on the racing line while the slowed considerably after completing their fast laps. Heidfeld, who was just starting his quick lap, was forced to weave in and out of other cars, compromising his line and ruining his lap time (videos here). The penalty for both drivers is five grid slots, demoting Hamilton to ninth and Kovalainen to eighth. Continue Reading

Nick Heidfeld has had his final fast lap compromised by other drivers on the track during the third phase of qualifying for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix. As the rest of the field had set their hot laps earlier in the session, Nick Heidfeld started his final run just as the others went into fuel-save mode. The result meant Heidfeld was forced to dangerously weave around the other competitors who remained on the racing line. Continue Reading

Over the following four days; today, Friday, Monday and Tuesday, BlogF1 is being handed over to four excellent writers from the field of Formula One blogging. Each writer has submitted a post comparing the team mates from the top four squads, and having read through them, you are all in for a real treat. First up is Clive Allen from F1 Insight. Clive’s blog has become a real treasure to read with well-thought out and explanatory pieces. I’m not ashamed to say I get excited when I see F1 Insight updates in my feed reader.

Today though, Clive is talking about one of his favourite teams, BMW. Take it away my good man… Continue Reading

BMW have to be one of the fastest growing teams on the grid at the moment in terms of overall performance. In 2006 they finished in 5th, improved to 2nd (3rd inc. McLaren) in 2007 and now enter 2008 with a lot of expectations on their shoulders. While BMW finished third in reality last year, can we really expect the squad to improve on this in 2008? With McLaren and Ferrari keeping a firm grip on the top of the grid, it is going to be difficult for the Swiss-German team to break through. They will need a good combination of drivers, car and team to split the front row. It’s not impossible, but I fear BMW will struggle to improve on their current form in the short term. Continue Reading

When BMW unveiled their F1.08 earlier in the month I actually thought it was one of the prettier cars to have been launched thus far, surprising myself as I’ve never been particularly drawn to the Swiss-German cars in the past. But the tight and unspoiled lines combined with the no-nonsense approach to simply developing what previously worked was refreshing among the new-fangled McLarens and Ferraris. However, this morning at Valencia Nick Heidfeld rolled out of his garage with a newly designed nose on the front of his car, and boy does it take the shine of the machine. Continue Reading