All-action Button thrills in Canada

One of the most spectacular races in a very long time produced an appropriately stunning win from Jenson Button in the Canadian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver came from last place to first in the space of 30 amazing laps on a track that, while it regularly produces the best race of the Formula 1 season, has never produced a race quite like this one.

It will surely go down as one of the most amazing grands prix in history and Button's performance matched it.

For a long, long time, Sebastian Vettel appeared to be on the way to another imperious victory, but the German made his first mistake in what has been a virtually flawless season to hand his English rival a fully deserved victory half way around the last lap.


"An amazing day," said a scarcely believing Button as he sat down in front of the media a few minutes after climbing out of the car.


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And as if to underline just how incredible it was, how much the end result turned on the right decisions and the right breaks at the right time, the heavens opened again no more than an hour after the end of the race, in even more dramatic fashion than they had in the course of an afternoon that left almost everyone involved dizzy.

For more than half the race, Button appeared completely out of contention.

He collided with team-mate Lewis Hamilton - an incident for which he apologised even though it appeared to be at least as much Hamilton's fault; made five pit stops to change tyres; survived a collision with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso; and visited the pits a further time to serve a drive-through penalty for going too fast when the safety car was deployed.

Button was last at the penultimate of four restarts under the safety car, with 30 laps to go.

And yet he sliced through the backmarkers with the clinical precision he displays when he is on top form and timed a final pit stop to change to slick tyres perfectly - only one lap after Mark Webber made the call himself, one that was instrumental in moving Vettel's team-mate from the midfield into podium contention.

Those final 20 laps were some of the most exhilarating I have witnessed since I started watching F1 30 or so years ago, as Button closed in on the lead at a pace Webber described as "on a different planet from the rest of us".

With 15 laps to go, Vettel looked unassailable as he pulled away in the lead and Button homed in on a battling Michael Schumacher, who produced by far the most convincing drive of his comeback so far, and Webber.

A final safety car on lap 57 was what put Button into victory contention. He would have easily passed Schumacher and Webber, but the safety car reduced Vettel's lead from a probably uncatchable 10 seconds to zero.

At the restart, the German pulled it out to 3.1 seconds again while Button battled to get past Webber and Schumacher but the Englishman was in range.

He closed remorselessly in - 1.6secs, 1.3secs, 1.1secs, 0.9secs - and Vettel buckled under the pressure.

Hamilton paid generous tribute afterwards. "Jenson drove absolutely amazing," he told BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz as he filmed his behind the scenes report for this website.

"With all the commotion going on, the pressure he put on Vettel at the end, I knew he was going to get him."

Despite his error, Vettel is still in a very strong position in the championship. He actually extended his lead by two points and is now two wins and a fifth place clear of his closest rival, which is now Button following Hamilton's retirement.

His mistake proves that he is beatable if he is pushed hard enough, as was the case last year.

But Hamilton - who still seems the man with the biggest chance of overhauling him for all Button's genius on Sunday - will need to get his act together again if he is to do so.

His controversial collision with Button led to his visiting the race stewards to explain his actions for the sixth time in seven races - an extension of a record that led to the McLaren driver coming out with his now-infamous Ali G remarks after the last race in Monaco.

In the midst of Hamilton's reaction, one phrase was particularly telling. Where does your season go from here, he was asked. "Onwards and upwards," he replied. "Go to the next one and try to stay out of trouble."

Hamilton at least finished an incident-packed race in Monaco. In Canada, where in hindsight he could have won, there were more errors.

He was in the wars as soon as the drivers were released following a safety car start, colliding with Webber in an incident Hamilton admitted was his fault.

Two laps later, as he fought to make up lost ground, came the collision with Button.

It was a racing incident - Button should probably have seen Hamilton, who should probably have realised the gap was going to close.

But who was to blame is not really the point. Hamilton does seem to have turned into a magnet for trouble this year, and there seems little doubt that the situation is arising out of frustration at helplessly watching another title slip away.

Be that as it may, a slight change of approach is required if Hamilton is to deliver fully his fantastic potential.

"It's the nature of Lewis's attacking style," said David Coulthard as he analysed the Button-Hamilton collision on BBC One. "It's easy to knock someone when they're involved in a series of incidents, but it's why Lewis has so many fans around the world.

"This is just a phase he's going through. He believes he's the best driver in the world. Right now McLaren are not able to give him a winning car, and he's getting frustrated.

Lewis Hamilton was penalised twice by the stewards at the Monaco Grand Prix a fortnight ago

Lewis Hamilton was penalised twice by the stewards at the Monaco Grand Prix a fortnight ago. Photo: Getty

"He wants to win, and that passion, that drive, is what's causing him to get up close and personal with other cars. If I was his management, I'd be saying: 'Chill. Everyone knows you're a great driver, just enjoy it.'"

Heading into the weekend, Hamilton named Ayrton Senna and Gilles Villeneuve as two legendary drivers to whom he would like to be compared.

Undoubtedly Hamilton shares their speed, their verve, their charisma, and their good looks. But he also shares their occasional tendency to go over the limit.

That is, of course, what has given all three their enormous global appeal but in all three cases it also led to races lost through going too far.

Hamilton might well think he fancies his chances against Vettel in a Red Bull.

And, brilliantly as the world champion is driving at the moment, Hamilton is not alone in thinking that is with good reason. What a battle it would be.

But, apparently under contract to McLaren until the end of next season, that prospect is probably not a possibility for the foreseeable future.

Hamilton has to do battle with what he has and make the most of it. If he is to do that, he must stop fretting about Vettel and relax into his racing. In that, he could learn a thing or two from his team-mate.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/06/all-action_button_thrills_in_c.html

Raul Boesel Menato Boffa Bob Bondurant Felice Bonetto Jo Bonnier

Formula 1 doesn?t get much friendlier than this

When it comes to Formula One, we?re used to teammates being at each other?s throats. In F1 right now, you wouldn?t exactly describe Red Bull pair Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber as best mates and there certainly isn?t any love lost between them. Going back a bit further, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were often [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/WzIZu54bqGM/formula-1-doesnt-get-much-friendlier-than-this

Mark Webber Volker Weidler Wayne Weiler Karl Wendlinger Peter Westbury

Last chance for tickets to an Audience with Joe

Joe Saward will be hosting another of his “Audience with Joe” events on Friday, July 8, in the Music Room of Stowe School, just down the road from Silverstone. The event will allow F1 fans to ask one of the sport’s most experienced journalists, who has not missed a race in 23 years, anything they [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/last-chance-for-tickets-to-an-audience-with-joe/

Gilles Villeneuve Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Villeneuve Sr Luigi Villoresi Emilio de Villota

'69 Chevrolet Nova E/Stock

My new project is this one. '69 Chevy Nova from Revell. I'm building this as a E/Stock drag racer. I'll be using the Stock car category rules, to make the car look autentic. Really great kit! I think, it looks good with the racing parts. First I painted the engine and installed few parts to it. Also drilled holes for the spark plug wires, which I'm going to add next. Also painted the chassis plate and fuel tank. Some rear axle system building, and now it's pretty close for being ready for assembly. It needs only the sway bar. Also sanded bit of the slicks. Body is already primered.

I also put the headers together...

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/964654.aspx

Art Bisch Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk

Ferrari boosted as Pirelli confirms soft/hard tyres for Silverstone

Pirelli has confirmed that it will bring its soft and hard compounds to Silverstone. There had been some question of a medium/hard combination being used, but Pirelli has decided to take a punt on the soft, while knowing that it … Continue reading

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/06/29/ferrari-boosted-as-pirelli-confirms-softhard-tyres-for-silverstone/

Otto Stuppacher Danny Sullivan Marc Surer John Surtees Andy Sutcliffe

Circuits weigh into engine row

UPDATED AT 1925 BST

After months of drawn-out and occasionally bitter wrangling, Formula 1's switch to 1.6-litre turbo engines for 2014 was rubber-stamped on Wednesday by the FIA world council, the sport's legislature. In theory, that should be the end of the matter.

But it may not be that simple. It has emerged in the last few days that many of F1's circuits share F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone's concerns about the new engines.

He believes the ear-splitting screech of the current 2.4-litre V8s is a critical part of the spectacle of F1 and that the introduction of the new engines, which will have a different and probably more muted sound, will reduce the sport's appeal.

Those with long memories in F1 have raised an eyebrow about Ecclestone's new concern for trackside spectators. This is a man who, until this latest political battle, appeared to some observers to have an eye only for the TV audience, from where much of the sport's income comes.

The circuits, though, are a different matter. Because of their contracts with Ecclestone's companies, the only way they can raise revenue out of F1 is through paying spectators. Costs are high and margins are tight. So if numbers will fall, they have a problem.

The circuits had already expressed their concerns privately to the F1 teams and the FIA but their worries became public courtesy of an article in a Sunday newspaper.

It claimed all the tracks apart from China and Korea had signed a letter to the FIA saying they would consider dropping F1 in favour of IndyCars if the new engines were adopted.

The story appeared in a newspaper to which Ecclestone often speaks, was written by a journalist who has close links with him and featured quotes from Ron Walker, chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, who, you guessed it, is close to Ecclestone.

Neil England - the non-executive chairman of Silverstone, who deals with Ecclestone regarding the British Grand Prix - described the report as "a slight misrepresentation of the situation". Silverstone had not, he said, been signatories of any letter but they had made clear their discomfort about the new engine rules.

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Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey on 2014 engine rules

England does, he says, see the "media value" of the new engine - Ecclestone himself has described it to me as "PR" - but says he would prefer to focus on the "things that make a difference".

He agrees that the noise is a large part of F1's spectacle and, while Silverstone support attempts to reduce F1's carbon footprint, they feel a bigger impact could be made in other ways, such as producing co-ordinated travel plans for spectators and teams.

England denies he has been lobbied or manipulated by Ecclestone. "He's concerned and has an awareness that it's a potential issue," England says. "I don't feel manipulated and I don't think that's what happened."

Someone on the other side of the argument had a succinct response to that. "Of course they've been pressured by Bernie!" he said. "They've read all his nonsense about engine noise for weeks and weeks and weeks!"

As I said, the argument has got a bit heated.

The new engines were the brainchild of the F1 teams and they have been enthusiastically embraced by FIA president Jean Todt - with whom, incidentally, Ecclestone does not see eye to eye.

The idea behind them was two-fold:

- to popularise and make 'sexy' a direction road-car manufacturers were already heading with their engines

- and to insulate F1, in a world of diminishing fossil fuels and climate change, from charges that it was wasteful by playing a role in the increased development and sales of more efficient road cars.

The idea is that, by using these engines in F1, the public will increasingly understand that an exciting car can have an efficient, small capacity engine and regenerate as much energy as possible. In addition, it will speed up the development of the technology by exposing it to the white-heat of F1 competition.

Those in favour of the engines, then, say that to dismiss the new rules as having only "media value" somewhat misses the point.

It may be true that persuading spectators to get more buses and trains to a grand prix rather than driving their private cars would reduce carbon emissions more effectively than changing the engines in the F1 cars themselves. But it could also be said that if a significant proportion of the world's car users switched to more efficient vehicles, the effect of that would be exponentially larger again.

Those backing the new engines counter the arguments about noise as follows:

- F1 previously used turbo engines of almost exactly the same size as those being introduced in 2014 back in the 1980s (1.5-litre turbos as opposed to 1.6-litre turbos). No-one complained about the noise then. In fact, that time is remembered as a golden era.

- Audi and Peugeot use turbo-diesel engines at the Le Mans 24 Hours sports car race and have done for several years. These sound infinitely less dramatic than the new F1 engines will do - they are diesel, for a start, and they rev much lower - but spectator numbers at Le Mans haven't reduced. The event still attracts around 250,000 people.

- Many of the 'rebels' are old romantics who hark back to the glory years of the 1970s and the sounds of some of the engines used then. But they forget that the supposedly evocative Matra V12 and Ferrari flat 12 revved to no more than 12,000rpm, exactly what had been the initial limit imposed on the new turbos.

- No one knows whether spectators will object to the sound of the new engines because no one knows what they will sound like. That's because they haven't been in a car yet.

Following the intervention of the circuits, the rev limit of the new engines has been raised from 12,000rpm to 15,000rpm.

According to someone intimately involved with the negotiations over the new engines from the very beginning, this was done in response to the concerns about the noise, "even though we were quite confident that the sound was not going to be anything like as bad as most people feared".

It remains to be seen whether this will assuage the concerns of both the circuits and Ecclestone, although the fact England called for a "period of consultation" suggests not.

But there are many in F1 who believe Ecclestone is devoting his energies and concerns in the wrong direction.

As Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn put it: "There are many considerations we have to make when we are changing the power-plant in F1. Obviously the technology in the automotive field is changing and the big question is how relevant do we need to be and how relevant do we want to be?

"The technology we're working on with these new engines is the technology that is going to become commonplace in road car engines in the future: small capacity, turbocharged engine, direct injection, special Kers systems.

"We don't want to end up as a dinosaur in five or 10 years."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/06/circuits_weigh_into_engine_row.html

Bill Vukovich Syd van der Vyver Fred Wacker David Walker Peter Walker