It was yet another crazy race for Formula One at the Belgian GP but someone’s got to win and this time, it’s Lewis Hamilton who’s clinched the victory. The race saw the safety car out twice and two periods of rain.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber had a bad start to his race despite sitting at the pole, dropping to sixth of the pack. Hamilton was never really challenged after catapulting himself ahead of the pack though he saw himself running off the track twice due to the rains.

Renault’s Robert Kubica clinched third place while Ferrari’s Felipe Massa followed with Force India’s Adrian Sutil followed. This win pushes Hamilton at the top of the championship while Webber has to settle for second place after finishing after the McLaren wonder.

Other title contenders like McLaren’s Jenson Button (defending champion), Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso all suffered setbacks in Belgium. Button and Alonso were forced to retire while Vettel finished pointless after a drive-through penalty.

Check the results after the cut.

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The team formerly known as the Hispanic Racing Team now known as HRT Formula One team is in quite a mucky situation that even driver Bruno Senna fears that the team might not survive until the next season.

The team managed to field its racers photo-finish but the team hasn’t really performed so far. With financial struggles even with the takeover of Spanish businessman Jose Ramon Carabante, the team’s progress has been stymied.

The car they’re using hasn’t been tested and not further developments has been done to the car. Senna said that the team’s participation in the next season is uncertain and funding for development has been non-existent.

Many of the new entrants have been struggling to find their place in the highly competitive field. The FIA imposed budget caps in order to help smaller teams participate but as far as we can see, the new, smaller teams are struggling. The sport is still for big teams with big pockets.

Source: Autocar

Interesting twists and turns this Formula 1 season. After years of not-so-impressive performances, Mark Webber might just find 2010 to be his year.

The Red Bull pilot manage to place first in the Hungarian GP to take the driver’s championship lead, wrestling it away from former leader Lewis Hamilton when the McLaren driver retired.

Joining Webber at the podium are Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Webber’s Red Bull teammate, Sebastien Vettel. The race was a bit of a disappointment for Vettel who just squandered six out of seven pole positions this season.

Alonso got a lucky break after Vettel was penalized for not maintaining the proper distance when the safety car went out.

The McLaren boys had a tough race, with Hamilton retiring and Jenson Button only managing to finish eight in the race.

And Ferrari did it again. They made Rubens Barrichello do it for Michael Schumacher and they made Felipe Massa do it for Fernando Alonso in the recent German GP.

Ferrari should have been content with the one-two finish but they had to make Alonso come out on top. The pass came on lap 49. Alonso easily overtook Massa in turn six.

Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley allegedly told Massa, “Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?” While Massa argues that his decision to let Alonso pass was his own, the message from Smedley does come off as a violation.

The case has now been forwarded to the World Motor Sport Council and Ferrari’s slapped with a $100,000 fine. It’s not as dramatic as the dead-heat attempt done by Barrichello and Schumacher but it’s twice as ugly for Ferrari.

Sometimes, you just have to know when to shut up. That’s a lesson Bruno Senna just had to learn the hard way. HRT F1 booted out Senna from his position after he erroneously sent a scathing email to his boss.

Reports say that Senna made very harsh criticisms on HRT boss Colin Kolles’ handle on things only to send the email to Kolles. Maybe Senna doesn’t use Gmail or forgot about the undo feature.

HRT replaced Senna and gave his driver’s seat to Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto for the British GP. Initially, it was played as a business move to tap revenue streams from Japan.

Lucky.That’s one word to describe Red Bull Racing F1 driver Mark Webber after surviving a horrific crash in the Valencia GP. Extremely lucky would be two words.

Just check out the video if you missed the action, just view the video above. Webber struck Lotus’ Heikki Kovaleinen’s rear in the 9th lap of the race.

The force and speed propelled Webber’s car to flip in the air before skidding a long way to settle in the tire wall.

“I have a bit of swelling in some places, but I’ll be fit for Silverstone,” Webbed told reporters On his Twitter account, he said “Feeling good this morning, roll on Silverstone.”

Red Bull has something to smile about after the debacle of previous races with Sebastian Vettel’s win in Valencia. The McLaren boys can celebrate as well after clinching second and third place finishes respectively. (Lewis is the faster driver!)

Vettel’s teammate, Mark Webber, did not fare so well even after starting second on the grid after a poor opening lap. He’s also lucky to escape unhurt from a horrific crash in lap nine of the race after colliding with Heikki Kovalainen in his Lotus.

Hometown hero Fernando Alonso also had a disastrous race finishing only ninth but eventually got bumped to eighth as other drivers got penalized due to speeding while the safety car’s out. Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa also had it bad, finishing only 15th.

The win boosted Hamilton to top place and six points clear off Button with Vettel at third.

Comebacks have not been so kind to guys named Michael. Michael Jordan was the greatest to have played the game and he sucked when he came back a second time. Michael Jackson, well, may he rest in peace. As for Michael Schumacher, many fans would’ve probably appreciated it if he just stayed retired.

Critics got more ammo to use for pot shots at Schumacher after an atrocious performance at the Canadian GP which saw him get involved in incidents with Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuizzi. Schumacher, however, believes that he’s doing okay for a guy his age making a comeback.

“I don’t think there are many guys around the world who, at 41, come back after a three year break and compete at this high a level,” said Schuamcher. I don’t take them seriously because there are different elements to Formula One, and one part is showbusiness.”

It was a pretty bad display from Schumacher and I am one fan who thinks he should have just stayed retired.

Source: Autocar

Ferrari might not be performing as well as they would’ve expected this season even with a powerhouse line up of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. But that isn’t deterring the drivers especially Massa from staying with Scuderia.

Massa, who has made an impressive comeback since his accident in the 2009 season, has decided to stay with Ferrari until the 2012 season.

“I am happy to be given the opportunity to drive for Ferrari for a further two seasons,” said Massa.

Massa posted quite an impressive resume since joining Ferrari in 2001. He has driven in 69 races, winning 11, finishing for a podium spot in 30 and started at pole in 15.

Luca di Montezemolo’s got the cred to call out all the Formula One new teams. He’s running Ferrari and Ferrari’s like the Real Madrid of motorsports. In an interview, di Montezemolo hinted that other cars were a ‘joke’.

The Ferrari boss wants changes in the sport like adding a third car in the field instead of letting smaller teams (which have proven to be unable to cope with the technical superiority of the more established teams).

Ferrari and the other teams have been ardently critical of the budget caps intended to level the playing field for smaller teams.

“There is a need to have compettive teams,” he said. “F1 is like soccer. It needs heroes and it needs big teams. You cannot equalize everything. We need to avoid having too many small teams as it means too many compromises.”

He’s also in favor of shorter races.

Source: Autocar

Mark Webber has signed a one-year contract extension with current team Red Bull for the 2011 season. That should give Red Bull executives a sigh of relief especially after the crash debacle involving him and teammate Sebastian Vettel in the Turkish GP.

The Aussie has been performing brilliantly winning Barcelona and Monaco – critical wins for Red Bull for the season. It’s understandable if Webber had reservations after Turkey especially since he was initially blamed for the crash but it seems that he can look past that.

“The decision to extend for a further year was a mutual one; it’s widely known that I’m not interested in hanging around in Formula 1 just for the sake of it and at this stage of my career, I’m happy to take one year at a time,” Webber said.

Quite honestly, Webber might look like the quickest driver out there but we think it’s just the brilliance of the engineering that helps him dominate. But he’s definitely a choice pilot for any team. He’s winning and at the end of the day, that’s what’s important.

Kudos to Red Bull for the decision.

The British wonder boy has finally delivered a result many McLaren fans will surely be proud of. Former world champion Lewis Hamilton has won his first race of the reason in the Turkish Grand Prix.

But Hamilton can’t take all the glory in this one as he benefited from some heated jostling between Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. Webber, the pole sitter, was leading until Vettel tried to overtake his Aussie teammate in lap 40 of the race.

The clash resulted in a DNF for Vettel and Webber slipping to 3rd place behind defending world champion and McLaren driver Jenson Button. Vettel, pointless in the race, also dropped in the drivers’ standings.

The race marked an impressive win for the team McLaren. In the spirit of competition, Button even challenged Hamilton with 9 laps before the checkered flag.

Comeback kid Michael Schumacher finished an impressive 4th for Mercedes GP. Co-driver Nico Rosberg finished 5th.

Webber continues to lead the drivers’ board with 93 points with Button close at 88. Hamilton currently sits at third with 84 points.

Lewis Hamilton was slapped with charges months after an incident concerning some spirited driving while in Australia.

However, he doesn’t have to personally appear in court to settle the issue especially since the court date’s set during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

Hamilton was flagged by Oz police after he caused his Mercedes to do a wheel spin start and flicked the back a bit. His car was impounded after the incident and charges were filed since.

To resolve the case, Hamilton need not appear in court on August 24. Instead, he can have a local lawyer to represent him and pay the fine (which, in F1 driver standards is just a paltry sum) on his behalf.

Oh the things famous people can get away with.

Remember this bit when Lewis Hamilton was nabbed by Australian police after displaying some spirited driving during his stay down under for the Australian GP.

Hamilton revved his Mercedes and set off with wheel spin prompting officials to flag Hamilton and even impound his Mercedes.

Now, Australian officials have formally charged Hamilton for the incident and a hearing has been set on August 24 in Melbourne. Hamilton is set to compete in the Belgian GP by then.

No word yet whether or not Hamilton will have to be physically present during the hearing but that should be an unnecessary bother for the former champion.

Pretty dumb way to present yourself with unnecessary hassles. That’s the folly of youth for you.

Even former Formula 1 participants think that the sport has become a place exclusively for rich people. Former Toyota team principal Tadashi Yamshina dubbed today’s F1 as “elitist.”

Toyota have had problems of late and the sales crash of last year prompted the Japanese giant to exit the sport. One of the reasons being that the sport has had minimal trickle-down effect to the technology they use for road cars.

“There is a big gap between Formula One and Toyota’s actual car users,” Yamashina divulged to Automotive News. “F1 remains the pinnacle of auto racing, but its image grew too elitist.

Yamashina goes at length to compare the fanfare of 24 Hours of Nurgburgring where fans are allowed to mix and mingle with the drivers and their crews.

Volkswagen has been contemplating participating in the sport but the is hoping for rule changes to make the racing tech more in tune with everyday cars.

Source: Autocar

Jenson Button’s chances of retaining his title got pretty mucked up after he was forced to retire in the last Monaco GP.

Button was forced to quit after his car’s engine failed all thanks to the McLaren mechanic who forgot to remove a cooling bung from one of the sidepods. What a pretty costly cock up.

You just have to wonder whether McLaren’s a bunch of kind-hearted souls ’cause they allowed the mechanic to keep his job. Now this leads me to believe that despite all the controversy behind F1, some professions are more cut throat.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh says, “I’m sure the guy who did not pull it out is gutted. I feel sorry for the guy. We all make mistakes.”

Looks like there’s a lot of credence to the claim that Red Bull has got the quickest machines this season as they continue to showcase their speed.

Red Bull Racing clinched another one-two finish this time, Mark Webber coming first and teammate Sebastian Vettel nipping at his heels. Renault’s Robert Kubica took third while Ferrari’s Felipe Massa came in fourth. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton came fifth.

Battle for sixth was between old rivals Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) where Schumi seemed to have clinched it only to be denied by race stewards due to a safety car rule. The ruling dropped Schumi to 12th.

The safety car appeared four times due to a crashes by Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barichello, a crash between Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandhok, and a loose drain cover.

With the win, Webber and Vettel now sit atop the tables with 78 points with Fernando Alonso sitting at third. Defending champion Jenson Button sits at fourth.

Source: BBC

Lewis Hamilton was on his way to a podium finish in the last Spanish GP only to crash during his penultimate lap to the disappointment of McLaren fans.

Now the wreckage has yielded insight on what had caused the young Brit to skid through gravel and plow into a tire wall.

Initially, the crash seemed to have been caused by a tire puncture but engineers have not determined that the puncture was caused by rim failure.

“The analysis of the part came back and, as we said at the time, we did not believe that the deflation was caused by a puncture or a tyre failure in that all the evidence told us that the rim failed, which caused the deflation,” said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

Source: Autocar

Red Bull’s showing the real advantage of their cars as they dominate the Spanish GP once again. Mark Webber dominated from pole to finish to secure a win in Spain. Teammate Sebastian Vettel managed to nurse a damaged car home to clinch a podium at third. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is sandwiched in second.

The race was not without drama with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton dominating in most of the race at second only to be pipped by a tire puncture leading to a crash in the race’s penultimate lap. Vettel also suffered brake problems but managed to ease it home to manage an amazing third.

It looks like the new car gave Michael Schumacher a bit more fighting grit as the old German managed a fourth place victory a full second ahead season leader Jenson Button who only managed to finish fifth. Despite the finish Button retains his lead over all drivers but Alonso is now 3 points close at Button’s heels.

Michael Schumacher hasn’t really impressed in his comeback this season. Blame it on age. Blame it on not being with Ferrari but the maestro has failed to secure a finish better than 6th. He’s even trumped by teammate Nico Rosberg for a number of occurrences already.

Anyway, Mercedes won’t let the maestro go down without a better fighting chance. The team will be providing his with a car with a redesigned chassis that’s supposed to minimize understeer. Schumacher is known to prefer a car that oversteers.

The winning-est driver of all-time, Schumacher re-entered top-flight competition this season re-joining Ross Brawn with Mercedes GP. Schumacher quit the sport back in 2006 and attempted a comeback last season when Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was injured in a crash.

No matter how you think of it, Volkswagen might have made the right moves waiting for FIA regulations to change before entering motorsports’ top-flight competition.

Don’t get too excited though if you’re a VW fan. This intent doesn’t mean that a VW team is imminent. The company has clarified that it is keen not on fielding an entry, they’re intent in entering the sport as an engine supplier. Well, at least for now.

While it makes sense for the like of Ferrari and McLaren to work the sport since they build fast supercars anyway, it doesn’t really make much sense for a company that makes daily-driven cars to toy with technology that they can’t readily slap on to their fleet.

With the FIA constantly trying to lower the bar for entry (standardizing technology and even trying to impose a budget cap), Volkswagen can now, at least, find a good compromise between top-tier publicity and experimenting on hardcore technology that they might be able to trickle down to their mass production.

What’s up with these old foggies not knowing when to let go. I thought that Michael Schumacher’s still got it to dominate the sport but his showing, so far, has just lent credence to the idea that he’s way past his prime and that racing is best left to the young(er) turks.

So what’s the deal with former world champion Jacques Villeneuve preparing to make a comeback? The guy almost made a comeback this season if not for the denied entry of Stefan GP.

“I’m pushing on anyway,” said Villeneuve. “Last year showed that teams change their drivers during a season. And the return of Schumacher and de la Rosa is a sign that experience is appreciated once again.”

While Villeneuve won a handful of races, he’s just no Schumacher so we all doubt his ability to make even decent finishes especially if he’ll be driving for a lower tier team.

It looks like the next the Formula 1 battle will be for tire supply. For quite a while Bridgestone has commanded the role of sole supplier for all teams.

But with impending rules that aim to make Formula 1 technology more in tune with production car technologies, other tire makers are gearing up to pip Bridgestone’s position.

Pirelli’s the first to announce that it will be making an offer to Formula 1 teams as sole tire supplier for the 2010 season. The bid will be made just before the party hits Spain for the Spanish GP.

Pirelli’s not the only one, though as Michelin and Cooper Avon are also set to pitch bids.

Stuff like these make me think that Formula One drivers have turned in pansy prima donnas.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso warned McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton that Hamilton’s aggressive driving wouldn’t stand for the rest of the season.

Hamilton has pulled a few moves this season that many would consider dangerous in today’s world of health and safety.

Those moves include weaving in front of Vitaly Petrov and bumping wheels with Sebastian Vettel in the pitlane.

“Lewis has had some warnings and if he does something in the next race, however little, there will be penalties because of the last two races,” said Alonso.

Former FIA president (and alleged purveyor of fetishes) Max Mosley hurled some pretty heavy-hitting criticisms on Ferrari and its boss Luca di Montezemolo.

Mosley claims that the biggest thing going for Ferrari in Formula 1 is the team’s budget and that the team wouldn’t fare as well if the playing field was leveled.

This is due to Ferrari’s history of protesting impositions of a budget cap on the competition. Mosley claims that if Ferrari were to compete with teams with the same budget, Ferrari would fail.

Even Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo did not escape Mosley’s lashing, calling the Italian a “weak character.”

“Luca is very, very good with people and he’s certainly a very personable, pleasant person, but in my opinion he’s also a very weak character, so he’s easily led,” said Mosley.

Source: Autocar