Your classic grand prix - race 16

The 1993 Japanese Grand Prix is the selected race in the latest edition of our classic Formula 1 series.

Last week, we asked readers to tell us which of three great races they would most like to see - the 1990, 1993 and 1995 Japanese Grands Prix - and the overwhelming choice was Ayrton Senna's victory in 1993.

The full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme broadcast on the BBC at the time is embedded below, with the shorter highlights of it and the other races linked underneath. There are also short and long highlights of Sebastian Vettel's victory in an incident-packed Suzuka race last year, too.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.


WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1990 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1993 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1995 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2009 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
WATCH LONG HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2009 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX

Because of the Commonwealth Games, the classic races will not be shown on the red button, either on digital and satellite or on Freeview.

I have to say that I was surprised by just how popular the 1993 race was - it outdid the other two choices by something like five to one.

The 1993 race witnessed a great drive by Senna, and was full of action and intrigue both during the race and afterwards, but I have to say I thought the famous crash between Senna and Alain Prost at the start in 1990 would be the most popular choice.

There was all the drama of the start, Nigel Mansell putting paid to his chances by breaking his Ferrari's driveshaft with an over-exuberant getaway from a tyre stop, and the unusual podium of two Benettons and local hero Aguri Suzuki.

The 1995 race also made a strong case for itself - a superb drive from Michael Schumacher, comedy retirements from Williams drivers Damon Hill and David Coulthard (although it's fair to say the team's no-nonsense technical director Patrick Head wasn't laughing) and a battling drive from Ferrari's Jean Alesi before his retirement (also with a driveshaft failure).

Having said that, it is hard to argue against 1993. It was one of Senna's great wet-weather victories after a race-long battle with arch-rival Prost and there was the sub-plot of Eddie Irvine's electrifying grand prix debut.

Drafted in by Jordan for the last two races of the year, the Northern Irishman qualified an excellent eighth, and used his knowledge of Suzuka gleaned from three years in Japanese Formula 3000 to pass Schumacher and Hill at the start.

Later in the race, while battling with Hill, Irvine had the temerity to unlap himself from Senna. And when the great Brazilian, a little the worse for wear, confronted Irvine about it after the race, he did not find the novice as apologetic as expected - the two got into a heated argument which ended with Senna punching Irvine.

A number of you asked on my last blog whether there was film of this argument. There isn't. But the journalist Adam Cooper was in the room with Irvine at the time, and he recorded the whole thing. A transcript of the row was published in Autosport magazine - for which both Cooper and I were working at the time - and you can read it here.

There were also questions about why we had not chosen the 1996 race, when Hill clinched the world title.

The answer is in the name of this series - classic grands prix. Hill is a popular man, and with good reason, but in no way could that race be called an all-time classic in comparison with others we have chosen.

To recap, the title battle had distilled by the time of Japanwhich was the last race of the season, into a fight between Williams team-mates Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

Hill led by nine points going into the race - which meant the only way Villeneuve could be champion was if he won and the Englishman was out of the points.

Villeneuve increased the tension by qualifying on pole, ahead of Hill, but his chances were effectively ruined within seconds of the green light, when the Canadian made a poor start and dropped to sixth, behind Hill, Benetton's Gerhard Berger, Mika Hakkinen's McLaren, Schumacher's Ferrari and Irvine's Ferrari.

Villeneuve managed to get past Irvine, but was still in only fifth place when he retired when a rear wheel came off going into Turn One with 15 laps to go. Hill, meanwhile, led untroubled from the start, going only as fast as he needed to, keen to conserve his car.

A popular result, yes, especially in Britain. But a classic grand prix it was not.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/10/your_classic_grand_prix_-_race_3.html

Ronnie Bucknum Ivor Bueb Sebastien Buemi Luiz Bueno

McLaren MP4-12C GT3 coming in 2012; GT2 to follow in 2013


McLaren’s first supercar, the MP4-12C, is all set and ready to go, so McLaren has moved on to a couple of other projects that will surely excite all of the racing fans out there. Apparently, McLaren is prepping two different racing versions of the MP4-12C: a GT2 and a GT3. The official debut will take place in 2012 with only 15 units of the GT3 scheduled for production. The GT2 will see an even smaller run make it to the production line, but no concrete number has been given.

In order to build the GT3 and GT2-specs racecars, McLaren teamed up CRS Racing, a British firm that has seen their fair share of race victories. The duo have already begun working on the GT3s at the McLaren Technology Center near London with the racecar transformation scheduled to take place at CRS’s workshops near the Donington Park circuit.

Plan on seeing the GT3 version compete in the 2012 race season while the GT2-spec car should be set to go in time for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013.

McLaren MP4-12C GT3 coming in 2012; GT2 to follow in 2013 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 29 October 2010 18:00 EST.

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Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/mclaren-mp4-12c-gt3-coming-in-2012-gt2-to-follow-in-2013-ar99122.html

Alessandro Nannini Emanuele Naspetti Massimo Natili Brian Naylor

Your classic grand prix - race 16

The 1993 Japanese Grand Prix is the selected race in the latest edition of our classic Formula 1 series.

Last week, we asked readers to tell us which of three great races they would most like to see - the 1990, 1993 and 1995 Japanese Grands Prix - and the overwhelming choice was Ayrton Senna's victory in 1993.

The full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme broadcast on the BBC at the time is embedded below, with the shorter highlights of it and the other races linked underneath. There are also short and long highlights of Sebastian Vettel's victory in an incident-packed Suzuka race last year, too.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.


WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1990 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1993 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1995 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2009 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
WATCH LONG HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2009 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX

Because of the Commonwealth Games, the classic races will not be shown on the red button, either on digital and satellite or on Freeview.

I have to say that I was surprised by just how popular the 1993 race was - it outdid the other two choices by something like five to one.

The 1993 race witnessed a great drive by Senna, and was full of action and intrigue both during the race and afterwards, but I have to say I thought the famous crash between Senna and Alain Prost at the start in 1990 would be the most popular choice.

There was all the drama of the start, Nigel Mansell putting paid to his chances by breaking his Ferrari's driveshaft with an over-exuberant getaway from a tyre stop, and the unusual podium of two Benettons and local hero Aguri Suzuki.

The 1995 race also made a strong case for itself - a superb drive from Michael Schumacher, comedy retirements from Williams drivers Damon Hill and David Coulthard (although it's fair to say the team's no-nonsense technical director Patrick Head wasn't laughing) and a battling drive from Ferrari's Jean Alesi before his retirement (also with a driveshaft failure).

Having said that, it is hard to argue against 1993. It was one of Senna's great wet-weather victories after a race-long battle with arch-rival Prost and there was the sub-plot of Eddie Irvine's electrifying grand prix debut.

Drafted in by Jordan for the last two races of the year, the Northern Irishman qualified an excellent eighth, and used his knowledge of Suzuka gleaned from three years in Japanese Formula 3000 to pass Schumacher and Hill at the start.

Later in the race, while battling with Hill, Irvine had the temerity to unlap himself from Senna. And when the great Brazilian, a little the worse for wear, confronted Irvine about it after the race, he did not find the novice as apologetic as expected - the two got into a heated argument which ended with Senna punching Irvine.

A number of you asked on my last blog whether there was film of this argument. There isn't. But the journalist Adam Cooper was in the room with Irvine at the time, and he recorded the whole thing. A transcript of the row was published in Autosport magazine - for which both Cooper and I were working at the time - and you can read it here.

There were also questions about why we had not chosen the 1996 race, when Hill clinched the world title.

The answer is in the name of this series - classic grands prix. Hill is a popular man, and with good reason, but in no way could that race be called an all-time classic in comparison with others we have chosen.

To recap, the title battle had distilled by the time of Japanwhich was the last race of the season, into a fight between Williams team-mates Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

Hill led by nine points going into the race - which meant the only way Villeneuve could be champion was if he won and the Englishman was out of the points.

Villeneuve increased the tension by qualifying on pole, ahead of Hill, but his chances were effectively ruined within seconds of the green light, when the Canadian made a poor start and dropped to sixth, behind Hill, Benetton's Gerhard Berger, Mika Hakkinen's McLaren, Schumacher's Ferrari and Irvine's Ferrari.

Villeneuve managed to get past Irvine, but was still in only fifth place when he retired when a rear wheel came off going into Turn One with 15 laps to go. Hill, meanwhile, led untroubled from the start, going only as fast as he needed to, keen to conserve his car.

A popular result, yes, especially in Britain. But a classic grand prix it was not.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/10/your_classic_grand_prix_-_race_3.html

Rikky von Opel Karl Oppitzhauser Fritz d Orey Arthur Owen

F1 Fanatic round-up: 29/10/2010

Thanks for all your feedback to the proposed changes to the website yesterday. As ever with the kind of thing it ran the gamut from positive to negative but I’ve taken your ideas and concerns on board and they will have a bearing on the final design and layout. The second part of the Jackie [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/yDTiU9iO1fA/

Eric van de Poele Jacques Pollet Ben Pon Dennis Poore

Alonso in champion form after Korea win

Runner-up Lewis Hamilton applauded race-winner Fernando Alonso as they cruised round their slowing down lap at the Korean Grand Prix. Was the Englishman also hailing the 2010 world champion?

Alonso's superb victory in yet another thrilling race has turned the title race on its head - for the umpteenth time this year.

It moves the Spaniard, already a double world champion, into the lead for the first time since the Australian Grand Prix, the second race of the season, at the end of March.

The Ferrari driver is 11 points ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber, who crashed out on the second lap of racing. Hamilton's second place moves him up to third, 21 points behind his arch-rival.

It is a sign of just how close this incredible championship is that all five men who were in contention before this race remain so, even though Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel retired with an engine failure and Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button could finish only 12th after a difficult race in his McLaren.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.


However, with only 50 points still available in the two remaining races, Button - 42 points behind Alonso - must effectively be counted out, as he admitted himself after what he described as "a pretty horrific day". Are you still in the championship, BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Lee McKenzie asked Button after the race. "Not really," he said.

Vettel, too, 25 points (one win) adrift, is in serious trouble, despite having what is undoubtedly the fastest car.

Both those two teams must surely now start to give serious thought to backing their leading driver over the other - as Ferrari have been doing since they asked Felipe Massa to hand the lead of the German Grand Prix to Alonso.

For Red Bull, in particular, it is an agonising situation.

Their emotional investment in Vettel has been clear for a very long time - and it was emphasised yet again when team principal Christian Horner was quoted saying before the Korean race that they were building the team around him for the future.

But unless some disaster befalls Alonso in Brazil or Abu Dhabi, it is difficult to see how Vettel can make up 25 points in two races on a man who has won four of the last seven grands prix, scoring more points than anyone, and whose last four results read: win, win, third, win.

Still, though, Horner told BBC Sport after the race that it was too early to start backing one driver over the other.

"As we saw in this race, different drivers were leading the championship at different points," Horner said.

"Fernando we gave a big gift today, and we need to look at that, but we have seen how quickly things can change.

"At the moment our strategy remains unchanged - this championship will not be over until the last lap in Abu Dhabi has been completed, and we will be pushing flat out until that time."

That is all well and good, but this is surely the point at which Horner - and team owner Dietrich Mateschitz - have to start asking themselves some hard questions and making some equally tough choices.

They have had by far the fastest car this season - a Red Bull has been on pole at 14 of the 17 races - and yet, for a variety of reasons, they find themselves with two races to go with neither driver leading the championship.

Alonso's advantage over Webber is not large - it is effectively the equivalent of a fourth place.

If, therefore, Webber won the two remaining races with Vettel second and Alonso third, Webber would win the championship. But if Vettel won them, with Webber second and Alonso third, then Alonso would be champion.

Complicating the issue is that, on the evidence of this season, the chances of Red Bull taking one-twos in the next two races are pretty slim.

There are two reasons to say that.

Firstly, Red Bull have proven again and again in 2010 that they cannot consistently deliver the results the performance of their car suggests they should.

Sometimes that has been down to the drivers, sometimes the team and sometimes things out of their control, such as the engine failure that hit Vettel in Korea. Whatever the reason, though, it keeps happening.

Secondly, it is far from clear they will, on pure performance, be able to dominate the last two races.

Of the two tracks, Abu Dhabi probably favours Red Bull more than Brazil. But neither of them are 'Red Bull tracks' in the fashion of, say, Suzuka, the Hungaroring, Silverstone or Barcelona. Both remaining events are difficult to predict.

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Alonso, then, will remain a serious threat on pure competitiveness on the track and could well win in either Sao Paulo or Abu Dhabi. As Eddie Jordan pointed out in the F1 Forum, if you were minded to bet on anyone to win the championship, it would be the Ferrari number one.

Alonso drove another fantastic race in Korea. He was the only man anywhere near the Red Bulls on qualifying pace and in the race he buried an undeserved reputation for not being particularly good in the wet.

Although the Red Bull clearly has more downforce than the Ferrari, Alonso never let Vettel off the hook, pressuring him hard throughout the race.

Horner said Vettel had lost a "guaranteed race victory", but it did not look very guaranteed as the Ferrari closed right up to the gearbox of the Red Bull in the laps before its retirement.

Was Vettel managing the gap? It didn't look that way as he made a mistake and ran wide on lap 43, allowing Alonso to gain more than a second on him.

Was he already struggling from a lack of power that prefaced the failure? We may never know. But, until just before Vettel retired, the race still looked to me like a proper, flat-out fight between the German, Alonso and Hamilton.

What a battle it was. What a season it has been. And what a climax it promises to be.

Alonso might be favourite to win the title after what Martin Brundle described as "a champion's drive". But it is still all to play for. And after a year of so many twists and turns, you would be better off keeping your money in your pocket.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/10/alonso_in_champion_form_after.html

Stephen South Mike Sparken Scott Speed Mike Spence