Hamilton takes hat-trick win in China

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed his third consecutive race victory, finishing first at the Chinese Grand Prix.

British driver Lewis Hamilton has broken a personal racing record, winning three consecutive rounds in the Formula 1 Drivers Championship.

Hamilton lead from pole, taking the chequered flag at the Shanghai circuit, finishing ahead of his German teammate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton drove away from the start, racing his own race ahead of the rest.

Rosberg endured telemetry dramas throughout the entire Grand Prix, forcing the German to report the data from his steering wheel to the data engineers, costing Rosberg at the very beginning of the race.

Red Bull Racing were unable to catch Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, with the Spaniard able to race his #14 Ferrari to third, despite clashing with former teammate Felipe Massa at the start of the race.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo fell shy of his first podium finish in Formula 1, crossing the line only 1.2s behind Alonso, despite starting the race on the front row.

Ricciardo and German teammate Sebastian Vettel battled mid-race, with Vettel being told by team principle Christian Horner to surrender his position to Ricciardo because the Australian was faster.

Vettel quoted, “tough luck” on the radio communications and let Ricciardo race Vettel for fourth position.

Vettel was outshone by his new Australian teammate, finishing behind the Red Bull rookie in fifth place.

Both Force India drivers scored points, Nico Hulkenberg racing his way to the end to defeat Williams driver Valtteri Bottas for sixth and Sergio Perez falling seconds shy from Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari to finish ninth.

Rookie Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kyvat finished tenth, the 19-year-old consistently scoring points.

McLaren failed to make it into the points, Jenson Button finishing 11th and Kevin Magnussen crossing the line 13th.

Rosberg still leads the Formula 1 Drivers Championship, Hamilton close behind in second.

Mercedes extend their comprehensive lead in the Constructors Championship.

Round 5 of the Formula 1 World Championship will be hosted in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix on 11 May.

Chinese Grand Prix Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time/Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1h36m52.810s
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+18.686s
3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+25.765s
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	+26.978s
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	+51.012s
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	+57.581s
7	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	+58.145s
8	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	+1m23.990s
9	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	+1m26.489s
10	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault	+1 lap
11	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	+1 lap
12	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Renault	+1 lap
13	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	+1 lap
14	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	+1 lap
15	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	+1 lap
16	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	+1 lap
17	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	+1 lap
18	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	+1 lap
19	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	+2 laps
20	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	+2 laps
RET	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	27 laps
RET	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	4 laps

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New F1 is too quiet according to race goers

Australian V8 Supercars, Formula 1, On The Record

By LOREN HAZELWOOD

Kamui Kobayasi crashing out after a brake-by-wire failure. Photo: AP Photo/Ross Land

Australian Grand Prix organisers claim the new F1 cars may have breached race contracts because they were not loud enough.

Fans have also spoken and agreed that the new V6 turbo-charged powertrain cars sound duller than a lawnmower on a Saturday morning.

The Australian Grand Prix Coordination’s (AGPC) organiser Andrew Westacott said the new cars took away the fascinating spectacle of Formula One racing.

“One aspect of it was just a little bit duller than it’s ever been before and that’s part of the mix and the chemistry that they’re going to have to get right,” Mr Westacott told Fairfax radio.

Westacott also mentioned that AGPC chairman Ron Walker told Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone who said that the quieter sound might have breached the race contract.

“Ron spoke to [Ecclestone] after the race and said fans don’t like it in the venue,” Mr Westacott said.

“We pay for a product, we’ve got contracts in place, we are looking at those very, very seriously because we reckon there has probably been some breaches.”

Not only were the big bosses disappointed with the sound of the new cars—the fans and racing drivers were in disbelief with the V6-turbo sound, including NSW Formula Ford Driver, Daniel Holihan.

“They should definitely bring back the V8 or even the V10 and V12 engine, it’s the fans that come to hear the high pitch roar of a Formula One around the city of Melbourne,” Mr Holihan said.

“I was getting more of a thrill watching the rolling starts of the V8 Supercars.”

Although the cars were not as loud—the racing spoke for itself, with the drivers battling for position throughout the whole race, while trying to not break down.

The competition level was high and it was unpredictable who would win the race before it started, with reliability also playing a big part during the first race in Australia.

“I loved the action, the race was very entertaining because it was a complete fresh start for every team and there was a lot of passing going on,” Mr Holihan said.

Not only did the race deliver great action and unpredictability, it also saw controversy unfold as Australian young gun Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified after a fuel-flow sensor error.

Ricciardo’s team at Red Bull have appealed the decision, with the verdict expected to take a few weeks to be announced.

Nico Rosberg was the eventual winner of the race, with McLaren rookie driver Kevin Magnussen replacing Ricciardo for second on his Formula One debut, with McLaren teammate Jenson Button rounding out the top three.

Formula One management are yet to comment on the hybrid-generation cars.

Nico Rosberg takes victory at Grand Prix

Formula 1, On The Record

By LOREN HAZELWOOD

Nico Rosberg crossing the line in Melbourne. Credit: AFP

After a strong pre-season testing, Formula One favourite Mercedes proved too strong at the weekend’s Grand Prix with driver Nico Rosberg taking the victory at Melbourne’s Albert Park street circuit.

Rosberg managed to win the first Grand Prix of the season by over 23 seconds, with Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo crossing the line in second place. However, he was later disqualified due to the fuel flow reading after the race.

Because of Ricciardo’s disqualification, McLaren’s rookie driver Kevin Magnussen stole the show, finishing second on the podium for his first ever Formula One race.

Mercedes was the strong favourite to win right from the start with driver Lewis Hamilton putting the car on pole position during qualifying.

The start of the race saw everything unfold, with Rosberg getting the jump and leading into the first corner.

Ricciardo was right behind in second place, making the country proud as he put the new Red Bull on the front row.

Turn one also saw the first crash for the season with Williams driver Felipe Massa being forced off the circuit after Kamui Kobayashi’s car had a rear brake-by-wire failure, causing Kobayashi’s Caterham to crash into the side of Massa.

With Rosberg and Ricciardo leading the pack, Hamilton started to fall backwards with the Mercedes V6 Turbo-charged engine having a failing cylinder, forcing him to retire early.

Reliability issues also saw current world champion Sebastian Vettel having to retire with the car down on power, while the two Lotus cars raced by Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado both stopped on the circuit with few laps to spare.

The battle of the race was further down the field with William’s driver Valtteri Bottas making a great comeback and managing to finish in fifth position after brushing the wall and damaging his rear right tyre.

McLaren’s new car was looking strong, with driver Jenson Button also finishing on the podium due to Ricciardo’s after-race penalty.

Meanwhile Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished in fourth place.

German Rosberg currently leads the Formula One Drivers’ Championship, with Round Two of the FIA Formula One Championship being held at Malaysia from 28-30 March.

2014 Formula 1 season preview

Fiasco Sports, Formula 1

With cars changing and the future of the sport flashing before our eyes, Fiasco Sports looks at what is changing for the 2014 Formula 1 season.

Source: Formula 1 official

Recent testing at Jerez has shown that luck in Formula 1 can change almost immediately.

Red Bull Racing’s engineers had to fly back to England to work on electrical issues with the new RB10 car, some issues still being unresolved with the new design at the Bahrain testing, with Adrian Newey explaining, “we have gone too aggressive with the new car design, and that has cost us testing laps.”

Source: Ausmotive

Mercedes and Ferrari look to be strong, according to the test days and the amount of laps they have completed and the driver line-ups.

It is set to be a competitive season with Kimi Raikkonen joining Fernando Alonso at Ferrari.

The 2014 season will see three new young drivers step-up from the development ranks to Formula 1, including McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, Toro Rosso’s Danill Kvyat and Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson.

Source: Ausmotive

Due to new weight regulations, teams are required to reconsider car design for the 2014 championship to enhance better fuel consumption as well as using a different size motor, with the 2014 cars using a V6 1.6 litre turbo-charged engine.

Below is a breakdown of what has changed for each individual team for the 2014 championship, including drivers, chosen race numbers and the updates for the team’s cars.

Source: Ausmotive

Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel #1
Daniel Ricciardo #3
RB10: The Renault-powered Formula 1 car requires to be cooled more than any other engine, the new design is too aggressive causing the car to overheat.

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso #14
Kimi Raikkonen #7
F14 T: Ferrari have developed a car retaining last year’s pull-rod suspension, but have changed nearly everything else by increasing the cooling system while keeping adequate aerodynamic downforce and changing the body shape to balance the weight of the car.

Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton #44
Nico Rosberg #6
F1 W05: The Mercedes-powered car includes an elegant design. Mercedes having a strong advantage working directly with the motor suppliers and being able to mould the car to the engine, rather than build the motor to the car like other teams, giving them the edge gaining important laps during testing.

McLaren
Jenson Button #22
Kevin Magnussen #20
MP4-29: McLaren have chosen the “anteater” nose style and the rear wing has completely changed this year, being held up by one single pillar. McLaren will continue to use Mercedes engines for the 20th season, before heading to Honda for 2015.

Lotus
Romain Grosjean #8
Pastor Maldonado #13
E22: Lotus were one team that didn’t feature at the first pre-season test in Jerez, unveiling the car at Bahrain and believing they can be the lead Renault team this year, currently working on optimising the power delivery allowing drivers to more time to get used to it.

Force India
Nico Hulkenberg #27
Sergio Perez #11
VJM07: Force India has changed their livery to a black-dominant colour, utilising an unusual nose design, with the team continuing to partner with Mercedes who will supply the entire drive train.

Source: Ausmotive

Sauber
Adrian Sutil #99
Esteban Gutierrez #21
C33: The Ferrari-powered Formula 1 car has included new elements used for the Ferrari’s F14, while opting for an unusual nose design.

Toro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne #25
Daniil Kvyat #26
STR9: The Renault-powered car began work during the summer of 2012, with the team working on the aero-package of the car and focusing on the development of creating a more current and competitive shape.

Williams
Felipe Massa #19
Valterri Bottas #77
FW36: Due to new regulations, Williams have decided to attach the end plates to a new ‘beam wing’, which is placed less than 150mm above the reference plate, where there are no restrictions, utilising the rear diffuser and making the new innovation just as effective as 2013′s rules.

Marussia
Jules Bianchi #17
Max Chilton #4
MR03: Using a Ferrari engine for 2014, the MR03 compared to other cars on the grid is using a more simplistic design; similar to McLaren they are using a single-pillar rear wing.

Caterham
Kamui Kobayashi #10
Marcus Ericsson #9
CT05: For the fourth year in a row, Caterham will use Renault F1 Sport engines, while unveiling a car with a very unusual nose design in striking green paint.

Source: Ausmotive

Some changes have also occurred with the official 2014 race calendar, with the Korean and Indian races dropped for the Austrian and Russian Grand Prix.

The official Formula 1 Championship will kick off with the Australian Grand Prix held in Melbourne’s Albert Park on March 16, starting the nineteen-round season.

Round	Date	Race
1	Mar 16	Australian Grand Prix
2	Mar 30	Malaysia Grand Prix
3	Apr 7	Bahrain Grand Prix
4	Apr 20	Chinese Grand Prix
5	May 11	Spanish Grand Prix
6	May 25	Monaco Grand Prix
7	Jun 9	Canadian Grand Prix
8	Jun 22	Austrian Grand Prix
9	Jul 6	British Grand Prix
10	Jul 20	German Grand Prix
11	Jul 27	Hungarian Grand Prix
12	Aug 24	Belgian Grand Prix
13	Sep 7	Italian Grand Prix
14	Sep 21	Singapore Grand Prix
15	Oct 5	Japanese Grand Prix
16	Oct 12	Russian Grand Prix
17	Nov 3	United States Grand Prix
18	Nov 10	Brazilian Grand Prix
19	Nov 23	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Written by Loren Hazelwood. @LorenHazelwood

– See more at: http://fiascosports.com/2014-formula-1-season-preview/#sthash.G9w3IMPz.dpuf

Media by Loren Hazelwood

Motor sport media, marketing and content specialist

Mercedes

Hamilton takes hat-trick win in China

New F1 is too quiet according to race goers

Nico Rosberg takes victory at Grand Prix

2014 Formula 1 season preview