24 Hours of Le Mans, 2011

Guest Blog by @MrWebbi: 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2011 (all words are author's own)

June has not only been a classic month for Grand Prix racing, but it was also a classic for endurance racing too. The infamous Le Mans 24 hour race was an absolute blinder this year – It genuinely had everything – Big-time, life endangering crashes, glamorous machinery, international flavour and the closest finish in decades!

I made the journey from Manchester to my first ever Le Mans this year having wanted desperately to go for the last 10 years or so and never quite managing it. After a very clumsily booked package deal was hastily cobbled together, a friend and I embarked upon the 1200-mile round trip in a diesel van and a Eurotunnel train, hoping to find the amazing sights and sounds this legendary race is famous for.

Well, what we found was an experience I have already pledged to repeat as often as I can. Right from the moment we arrived the fun began (well, perhaps just after we arrived and had some deranged French teenager on a bike - staff - take us to the wrong campsite). 

The camping grounds were instantly recognisable as an international affair, with Danish, German, French and British campers amking the majority, but plenty of Dutch, Belgians, Spaniards and Swiss intermingled too. They were loud but friendly, orderly too, with festival-style facilities in non-festival style conditions (read CLEAN!). A perfect crowd to immerse yourself in to soak up the anticipation. 

The race itself was a classic, with exception to around three hours in total behind safety cars – including one stint where they had to bring out a spare while the original refuelled! 

Audi vs Peugeot was the big rivalry again, with both manufacturers once again running diesel power, and there was extra interest thrown in with the Aston Martin team running in the top class. Resplendent in the all-time great Gulf livery and carrying the numbers 007 and 009, they were by far the best supported team. Unfortunately their two cars managed only six laps between them before retiring.

Le Mans AUDI Safety car, 2010

Lower down the classes, Signatec Nissan had a driver line-up that included a Spaniard by the name of Lucas Ordonez. He had won his place via winning a competition on the Playstation game Gran Turismo 5 and coming through the Nissan/GT5 drivers academy; quite a story for one of the most promising young drivers on track, finishing an impressive second in class in the Playstation sponsored Nissan.

PlayStation stall, Le Mans

Corvettes won both of the GTE classes, and in close proximity they sound like angry thunder (video), providing a soundtrack to the night time that made it almost impossible to fall asleep. A Ford GT, entered by husband and wife team Robertson Racing, managed to finish 3^rd in class, despite it being by far the slowest thing on track. It must have been terrifying to have been overtaken constantly for 24 hours solid, but they earned their place on the podium for fantastic reliability and composure on track.

There were two huge crashes, both involving Audis that provided heart-stopping moments. Both Alan McNish’s and Mike Rockenfeller’s involved clipping a slow GTE car whilst overtaking, sending them hurtling into the barrier, both left wreckages that it looked almost impossible that a human could walk out of alive, but both did exactly that, a testament to the amazing safety structures now mandatory in the sport.

So Audi won overall by just 14 seconds from the chasing 3 Peugeots. Staggeringly close considering how long the race is. Dr Ullrich, team boss of Audi, showed just how much the race meant to them with his outpouring of emotion after the chequered flag had fallen.

Le Mans pit lane, after the race

Crowds flood the track after the gruelling 24hour race

And as for my experience? Well, much beer and broken sleeping patterns mean I can’t coherently explain what it was that made my Le Mans 2011 so utterly compelling and satisfying, beyond a great race, and awesome venue, wonderful people and an atmosphere you wish you could bottle. Worth a week’s camping in changeable weather, worth the marathon drive and even – dare I say it – worth the horrific queues on the Eurotunnel!

Try it yourself, you will be glad you did…

  

Photos from 2010 Le Mans by @duskyBlogF1. For more photos, check out http://twitpic.com/photos/duskyBlogF1

Meio Senna

Ayrton Senna

(Clique para ampliar)

- To meio Senna hoje...

European GP: Race Summary

General concensus from the F1 watching public is that the European GP lacked any real excitement. In fact, it is currently being recommended on Twitter as a cure for insomnia. So I hope you will appreciate my lack of enthusiasm to write at length about a snoozeFest.
Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso driver Main highlights (the ONLY highlights) were (1) an impressive drive by Jaime Alguersuari to finish 8th from 18th which should stall talks about his imminent replacement by Toro Rosso & Red Bull reserve driver, Daniel Ricciardo and (2) a fantastic F1 concert with David Guetta headlining. The most 'interesting' stat of the day was that it was the first race completed by ALL 24 runners, the highest number of finishers ever. Yes, that's how dull the race was. Results were: VET, ALO, WEB, HAM, MAS, BUT,  ROS, ALG, SUT, HEI, PER, BAR, BUE, DIR, PET, KOB, SCH, MAL, KOV, TRU, GLO, DAM, LIU, KAR. Next race is Silverstone, now THAT definitely promises be an exciting race.

TMC

1986
Ayrton Senna e Nelson Piquet
XV Grande Prêmio do Brasil, Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro - Brasil

(Clique para ampliar)

- Bem clássica a foto, mas com grande qualidade.

E olhando os detalhes, como é essa história da TMC Globo? Alguém sabe?

Valencia set for enthralling race

You can tell it has been a while since i last posted on here when my last post is titled "Bahrain to take place in October"! The FIA took some criticism for the way the situation was handled, a situation that finished with Bahrain being cancelled for the season. Personally i think a lot of it was orchestrated, it was a case of going through the procedures for the FIA whilst always knowing the teams would be against things and in the end the race was removed without much face lost for all parties. It was a long winded process though

And then we had Canada. Wonderful Canada. It's hard not to love this grand prix, the drivers breathe in some Montreal air and it seems to bring out mistakes from most of them! It was just a mad day from all the rain to the drama of the final lap. It was a great win from Jenson Button and a very important one for McLaren. Since Spain they've had a very strong car in the races but it is going to need a big streak of points from Button or Hamilton to rein in Vettel in the championship. It's still very much possible but inroads need to be made into the 60 point gap soon.

So onwards to Valencia and stage 1 of 2 for new exhaust rules which some hope will see Vettel's dominance be halted. However it was normal service this afternoon as the German took his 7th pole of the season. Webber pulled out a late lap to join him on the front row ahead of Hamilton, Alonso, Massa and Button.

Whilst Red Bull have had the strangehold in qualifying, the races have been tighter. Coming back to the exhaust changes, this weekend see's the banning of using an engine map in qualifying and then changing it for the race. The only way you can is by plugging in a laptop at a pitstop and that would not be handy. The limit of 10% for off throttle blowing does not come into effect until Silverstone so what you need this weekend is an in between map. I don't know what amount the teams do it (Autosport did suggest Renault had a max of 95% and Red Bull 45%) In qualifying you can run it aggressively as it is just for 1 lap but doing it throughout the race would not be feasible due to fuel and overheating issues. So what the teams need to do is find a medium map, a constant one which will be usable for the whole race. Come Silverstone, things will be even more restricted.

Valencia races have been very processional. In 2009 there wasn't a single overtake. A depressing statistic which shouldn't be repeated tomorrow as we have 2 DRS zones with a combined length of over 1.5km. This should provide some action and i think we'll see the field staying closer than before. The field spread has been quite big in the opening laps in previous years. DRS zones have tended to be about 700-800 metres and i think they should be a bit shorter but for Valencia this sort of length may be what is needed.

This means we could actually have wheel to wheel racing in Valencia tomorrow, a big feature of the 2011 season. We've also seen many incidents. I think it's important to be appreciative of how good these drivers are. It can look so simple on TV but anyone who has been fortunate enough to see the cars in the flesh racing will have got that sensation of speed displayed in front of their eyes. Of course situations get analsyed because they have consequences during a race but we can all be too fickle about certain drivers and dismiss them when really the margins involved are so small and the skill level so high. I'm guilty of this too, i heavily criticised Vettel post race in Spa last year and even was arguing about his race on Twitter with people but that was an overreaction and undeserved. I thought things were getting away from him that day in the heat of the moment but ultimately he recovered to take the title and has driven at a very high level this season and been very impressive as an overall package. So let's not be dismissive of these drivers, they are fantastically talented and some of the racing this year has been excellent.

Tyres key again, the medium compound is proving to be quite a bit slower than the soft tyre so expect the prime tyre to be used as little as possible. A hot day expected tomorrow so may make the medium tyre easier to switch on. The changeover to it and getting it working may be key. In Barcelona, Alonso fell away when the hard tyre came into play and it turned into Vettel v Hamilton for the win. McLaren will hope to get in amongst the Red Bulls so Hamilton can attack for the lead. Lets just hope in a calmer manner for Lewis tomorrow! So Red Bull start as favourites but i think an enthralling race in prospect. Can Hamilton get his season back on track or will Alonso delight his local fans? Let's hope for a fun race

Valencia set for enthralling race

You can tell it has been a while since i last posted on here when my last post is titled "Bahrain to take place in October"! The FIA took some criticism for the way the situation was handled, a situation that finished with Bahrain being cancelled for the season. Personally i think a lot of it was orchestrated, it was a case of going through the procedures for the FIA whilst always knowing the teams would be against things and in the end the race was removed without much face lost for all parties. It was a long winded process though

And then we had Canada. Wonderful Canada. It's hard not to love this grand prix, the drivers breathe in some Montreal air and it seems to bring out mistakes from most of them! It was just a mad day from all the rain to the drama of the final lap. It was a great win from Jenson Button and a very important one for McLaren. Since Spain they've had a very strong car in the races but it is going to need a big streak of points from Button or Hamilton to rein in Vettel in the championship. It's still very much possible but inroads need to be made into the 60 point gap soon.

So onwards to Valencia and stage 1 of 2 for new exhaust rules which some hope will see Vettel's dominance be halted. However it was normal service this afternoon as the German took his 7th pole of the season. Webber pulled out a late lap to join him on the front row ahead of Hamilton, Alonso, Massa and Button.

Whilst Red Bull have had the strangehold in qualifying, the races have been tighter. Coming back to the exhaust changes, this weekend see's the banning of using an engine map in qualifying and then changing it for the race. The only way you can is by plugging in a laptop at a pitstop and that would not be handy. The limit of 10% for off throttle blowing does not come into effect until Silverstone so what you need this weekend is an in between map. I don't know what amount the teams do it (Autosport did suggest Renault had a max of 95% and Red Bull 45%) In qualifying you can run it aggressively as it is just for 1 lap but doing it throughout the race would not be feasible due to fuel and overheating issues. So what the teams need to do is find a medium map, a constant one which will be usable for the whole race. Come Silverstone, things will be even more restricted.

Valencia races have been very processional. In 2009 there wasn't a single overtake. A depressing statistic which shouldn't be repeated tomorrow as we have 2 DRS zones with a combined length of over 1.5km. This should provide some action and i think we'll see the field staying closer than before. The field spread has been quite big in the opening laps in previous years. DRS zones have tended to be about 700-800 metres and i think they should be a bit shorter but for Valencia this sort of length may be what is needed.

This means we could actually have wheel to wheel racing in Valencia tomorrow, a big feature of the 2011 season. We've also seen many incidents. I think it's important to be appreciative of how good these drivers are. It can look so simple on TV but anyone who has been fortunate enough to see the cars in the flesh racing will have got that sensation of speed displayed in front of their eyes. Of course situations get analsyed because they have consequences during a race but we can all be too fickle about certain drivers and dismiss them when really the margins involved are so small and the skill level so high. I'm guilty of this too, i heavily criticised Vettel post race in Spa last year and even was arguing about his race on Twitter with people but that was an overreaction and undeserved. I thought things were getting away from him that day in the heat of the moment but ultimately he recovered to take the title and has driven at a very high level this season and been very impressive as an overall package. So let's not be dismissive of these drivers, they are fantastically talented and some of the racing this year has been excellent.

Tyres key again, the medium compound is proving to be quite a bit slower than the soft tyre so expect the prime tyre to be used as little as possible. A hot day expected tomorrow so may make the medium tyre easier to switch on. The changeover to it and getting it working may be key. In Barcelona, Alonso fell away when the hard tyre came into play and it turned into Vettel v Hamilton for the win. McLaren will hope to get in amongst the Red Bulls so Hamilton can attack for the lead. Lets just hope in a calmer manner for Lewis tomorrow! So Red Bull start as favourites but i think an enthralling race in prospect. Can Hamilton get his season back on track or will Alonso delight his local fans? Let's hope for a fun race

European GP: Qualifying

A harbour-side street circuit in a dry, hot Valencia was the venue of Qualifying for the European Grand Prix.

Drop-Outs from Q1 were the usual suspects of ALG, KOV, TRU, GLO, LIU, DAM, KAR (Alguersuari, Kovalainen, Trulli, Glock, Liuzzi, d'Ambrosio, Karthikeyan)

Q2 got underway shortly afterwards with Ferrari's Massa first out on track. Session was RED FLAGGED when Maldonado stopped in the middle of the track with 8 minutes to go - due to what seemed to be mechanical or electrical failure. At this point, Buemi and Petrov hadn't set a time. Session restarted soon afterwards and all 17 drivers got a time on the board.

However Sutil pushed Petrov out of the top 10 in the last few seconds of Q2. This also means Sutil outqualifies his team-mate for only the second time this season since Turkish GP; partly due to di Resta's lack of running on Friday (Hulkenberg crashed his car during FP1) and a wobble in the last few seconds of Q2. Sutil was later fined €18,400 for 2 incidents of pit-lane speeding in Q2. Mike Gascoigne of Team Lotus suggested that was perhaps for an error in his pit-lane limiter.

Out of Q2 are PET, DIR, BAR, KOB, MAL, PER, BUE (Petrov, DiResta, Barichello, Maldonado, Perez, Buemi) leaving Vettel, Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Webber, Schumacher, Rosberg, Massa, Heidfeld and Sutil to battle it out for the top 10 positions.

With 2 minutes left in the session and with Vettel on provisional pole (Imin36.975), all the front runners went back out including Schumacher who hadn't set a time yet.

Top 10 are: VET, WEB, HAM, ALO, MAS, BUT, ROS, SCH, HEI, SUT

Top 3 Drivers (courtesy BBC.co.uk)

Siga o mestre [2]

1981
Gilles Villeneuve, Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC
Ferrari 126CK, Ferrari 1.5 V6T, Michelin
XXVII Gran Premio Talbot de España, Jarama, Madri - Espanha

(Clique para ampliar)

- No “kartódromo” de Jarama, há exatos 30 anos, Gilles Villeneuve conquistava a vitória mais épica de sua carreira. Pilotando a potente, mas caquética Ferrari 126CK, conseguiu segurar o ímpeto de quatro pilotos para vencer de forma brilhante o Grande Prêmio da Espanha de 1981. Seria a última conquista do piloto que marcou uma geração.

Veja a história completa aqui!

Siga o mestre

1978
Jackie Stewart, Equipe Renault Elf
Renault RS01, Renault 1.5 V6T, Michelin
LXIV Grand Prix de France, Paul Ricard, Le Castellet - França

(Clique para ampliar)

- Liderando o pelotão...

Você também pode ver este post no MotorLance!

Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart 'Car Swap' Mobil1 Event

Few days after another sub-par performance at the Canadian Grand Prix, Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton took part in a 'car swap' event on June 14th with NASCAR Racer, Tony Stewart. (This event was initially scheduled for July). 

Both drivers expressed admiration of each other's skills and seemed to enjoy their time in their 'borrowed' cars. Here are videos of the event (via TheNARLtv YouTube channel)

Bahrain to take place in October

The Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled weeks before it was due to open the 2011 season after an outbreak of violence. Today we have the news that the race has been reinstated onto the 2011 calendar with a date of October 30th, originally the date of the first ever Indian Grand Prix. It will now be the finale of the season (date TBC, likely December 11th)

A lot of fans are unhappy that the race is being held after the media reports from the country in the last months. This is a very complex situation though and it is not easy to just strike a race off the calendar. There are a lot of stakeholders involved. I'm no political expert but with the F1 connections i've followed some of the story surrounding the Bahrain region this year. It is incredible the PR which is delivered from each side. One portrays a peaceful area, working to restore calm and have dialogue amongst the people. The other a very negative story of death, repression and chaos. None of those who have not been there can't say for certain what is going on but i would guess that the real story is somewhere in the middle.

The teams haven't said much. At least two of them would have boycotted the race if it had been held in March. Mark Webber tweeted yesterday that the race shouldn't be held. However Sebastien Buemi on the 'The Flying Lap' show on Wednesday said that he had family living out there and they were reporting peaceful times and that he had no issue about going to Bahrain. I don;t think the actual security of the race would be a major issue. The teams have been going to Bahrain since 2004 and were even planning a pre season test at Sakhir so it has not been an issue before. Compare that with Brazil where attacks have occurred almost annually against team employees.

Now don't be thinking that i'm some sort of Bahrain political supporter all of a sudden because i'm definitely not! I'm just pointing out that F1 travels to other places where security cannot be guaranteed. I tweeted Will Buxton about the threat of protests days before the GP2 Asia race in the area (this was in February when it all kicked off) and he was unaware of any problems or threats. Of course it then started kicking off. Remember London in the student protests? If you didn't know what England was like and seen that on your news channel you would wonder how safe a place it is. Yet we don't get any worries about postponing Silverstone. Security is more of an issue in Bahrain but you can't guarantee it anywhere in the world.

Human rights is the thing here. Are the Bahraini government treating people wrongly and if so should F1 (even if it is nothing to do with them) being going to the region and be connected with such people? Do the sponsors of F1 teams want to have themselves linked with such an area. China has a terrible record of this as well but F1 still heads to Shanghai and the Olympics, one of the biggest sporting events in the world, were held in the country in 2008. I understand that team members and journalists may not want to travel and they should be allowed to decide and not forced to go if they don't want to. The FIA can cancel an event if fewer than 12 cars are available.

The FIA are caught here. They have a backlash about going ahead with a race in a country which some view as a unjust region. I for one really hope that peace and understanding can be found in Bahrain and across the world. The FIA sent their vice president out to Bahrain this week and he was satisfied with what he found. The area has a contract to host a race and the FIA have checked and found the area to be in a good state. The reason why this race should not go on the grounds of the sport itself is on the basis of logistics. It now seems that the season will finish on December 11th. Two weeks before Christmas and drivers could still be racing for points and for a championship. It is too far and really F1 has to be careful. We all love having races but there has to be some consideration for the human beings who are working around the world for so much of the year. F1 can still be a championship without this. Bahrain should have been told that the calendar is full and that F1 would try and return in 2012. It would have been a better solution.

So as i say i'm no supporter of Bahrain politics, i want to see peace in this world, not bloodshed. However i can understand why the race is back on and if the teams boycott it then that will be up to them. I'm just defending the FIA who have so many people to please and so much money riding on different outcomes for different stakeholders. It shouldn't come down to money but sadly it plays a big part in these things. Contracts and deals are in place. People may well skip/boycott the race and if they do then they have a right to do so. I think we should have waited until 2012 but the race is on and it'll be interesting to see what further reaction there is because this will still run for a while yet

Bahrain to take place in October

The Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled weeks before it was due to open the 2011 season after an outbreak of violence. Today we have the news that the race has been reinstated onto the 2011 calendar with a date of October 30th, originally the date of the first ever Indian Grand Prix. It will now be the finale of the season (date TBC, likely December 11th)

A lot of fans are unhappy that the race is being held after the media reports from the country in the last months. This is a very complex situation though and it is not easy to just strike a race off the calendar. There are a lot of stakeholders involved. I'm no political expert but with the F1 connections i've followed some of the story surrounding the Bahrain region this year. It is incredible the PR which is delivered from each side. One portrays a peaceful area, working to restore calm and have dialogue amongst the people. The other a very negative story of death, repression and chaos. None of those who have not been there can't say for certain what is going on but i would guess that the real story is somewhere in the middle.

The teams haven't said much. At least two of them would have boycotted the race if it had been held in March. Mark Webber tweeted yesterday that the race shouldn't be held. However Sebastien Buemi on the 'The Flying Lap' show on Wednesday said that he had family living out there and they were reporting peaceful times and that he had no issue about going to Bahrain. I don;t think the actual security of the race would be a major issue. The teams have been going to Bahrain since 2004 and were even planning a pre season test at Sakhir so it has not been an issue before. Compare that with Brazil where attacks have occurred almost annually against team employees.

Now don't be thinking that i'm some sort of Bahrain political supporter all of a sudden because i'm definitely not! I'm just pointing out that F1 travels to other places where security cannot be guaranteed. I tweeted Will Buxton about the threat of protests days before the GP2 Asia race in the area (this was in February when it all kicked off) and he was unaware of any problems or threats. Of course it then started kicking off. Remember London in the student protests? If you didn't know what England was like and seen that on your news channel you would wonder how safe a place it is. Yet we don't get any worries about postponing Silverstone. Security is more of an issue in Bahrain but you can't guarantee it anywhere in the world.

Human rights is the thing here. Are the Bahraini government treating people wrongly and if so should F1 (even if it is nothing to do with them) being going to the region and be connected with such people? Do the sponsors of F1 teams want to have themselves linked with such an area. China has a terrible record of this as well but F1 still heads to Shanghai and the Olympics, one of the biggest sporting events in the world, were held in the country in 2008. I understand that team members and journalists may not want to travel and they should be allowed to decide and not forced to go if they don't want to. The FIA can cancel an event if fewer than 12 cars are available.

The FIA are caught here. They have a backlash about going ahead with a race in a country which some view as a unjust region. I for one really hope that peace and understanding can be found in Bahrain and across the world. The FIA sent their vice president out to Bahrain this week and he was satisfied with what he found. The area has a contract to host a race and the FIA have checked and found the area to be in a good state. The reason why this race should not go on the grounds of the sport itself is on the basis of logistics. It now seems that the season will finish on December 11th. Two weeks before Christmas and drivers could still be racing for points and for a championship. It is too far and really F1 has to be careful. We all love having races but there has to be some consideration for the human beings who are working around the world for so much of the year. F1 can still be a championship without this. Bahrain should have been told that the calendar is full and that F1 would try and return in 2012. It would have been a better solution.

So as i say i'm no supporter of Bahrain politics, i want to see peace in this world, not bloodshed. However i can understand why the race is back on and if the teams boycott it then that will be up to them. I'm just defending the FIA who have so many people to please and so much money riding on different outcomes for different stakeholders. It shouldn't come down to money but sadly it plays a big part in these things. Contracts and deals are in place. People may well skip/boycott the race and if they do then they have a right to do so. I think we should have waited until 2012 but the race is on and it'll be interesting to see what further reaction there is because this will still run for a while yet