Hamilton looks for long-term success at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes is the biggest development in the Formula 1 driver market for three years.

Ahead of the 2010 season, Fernando Alonso moved to Ferrari, world champion Jenson Button switched from world champions Brawn (soon to become Mercedes) to McLaren and Michael Schumacher came out of retirement to replace Button.

Now, the man who most consider to be the fastest driver in the world has taken a huge gamble by switching from McLaren, who have the best car this year and have won five races this season alone, to Mercedes, who have won one race in three years.

To make way for Hamilton, Mercedes have ditched the most successful racing driver of all time.

Schumacher's return at the wheel of a Mercedes 'Silver Arrow' was billed as a dream for all concerned, but with one podium finish in three years the German marque have abandoned the project.


Hamilton leaves a team that has won more races in the last 30 years than anyone else. Photo: Getty

That the announcement was made just five days after the latest in a series of collisions in which Schumacher rammed into the back of another driver after misjudging his closing speed simply rubs salt into the wound.

Hamilton will be replaced at McLaren by one of F1's most promising rising stars - Sauber's Mexican driver Sergio Perez, who has taken three excellent podium finishes this year.

That's quite a shake-up, and it raises any number of fascinating questions, the first and most obvious of which is why Hamilton would leave a team that has won more races in the last 30 years than anyone else - even Ferrari - for one that has won one in the last three.

The explanation for that lies both at his new and current teams.

Mercedes sold the drive to Hamilton on the basis that they were in the best position to deliver him long-term success. In this, there are echoes of Schumacher's move to Ferrari in 1996.

Back then, the Italian team were in the doldrums, having won just one race the previous year. But Schumacher fancied a project, and saw potential. It took time, but by 1997 he was competing for the title, and from 2000 he won five in a row.

The architect of that success was Ross Brawn, then Ferrari's technical director and now Mercedes' team boss. Brawn is one of the most respected figures in F1, and Hamilton is banking on him being able to transform Mercedes in the same way as he did Ferrari.

Undoubtedly, Brawn will have made a convincing case to Hamilton; he is a very persuasive and credible man. It is also worth pointing out that Mercedes - in their former guise of Brawn - have won the world title more recently than McLaren. Button succeeded Hamilton as world champion in 2009.

Mercedes believe that the new regulations for 2014, when both the cars and engines will be significantly changed, will play into their hands.

They are devoting a lot of resources towards that year, and are optimistic they will be in good shape - just as Brawn were, in fact, when the last big rule change happened for 2009.

And Mercedes have a technical team that, on paper, is immensely strong. In Bob Bell, Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis, they have three men who have been technical directors in their own right at other top teams all working under Brawn.

Part of this argument is predicated on the fact that new engine regulations always favour teams run or directly supported by engine manufacturers, on the basis that they are best placed to benefit from developments, and to integrate the car with the engine.

But this is where that argument falls down a little - McLaren may be a mere 'customer' of Mercedes for the first time next year, but they are still going to be using Mercedes engines in 2014, and on the basis of parity of performance.

The love affair with McLaren, who took him on as a 13-year-old karting prodigy, ended some time ago.

Since 2010, Hamilton has been complaining from time to time about the McLaren's lack of aerodynamic downforce compared to the best car of the time.

Through 2009-11, he grew increasingly frustrated at his team's apparent inability to challenge Red Bull. Hamilton is well aware of how good he is, and it hurt to watch Sebastian Vettel win two titles on the trot and not be able to challenge him.

That explains his ill-advised - and dangerously public - approach to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.

This year, McLaren started the season with the fastest car for the first time since, arguably, 2005. But again they could not get out of their own way.

Pit-stop blunders affected Hamilton's races in Malaysia and China early in the season, and then a terrible mistake in not putting enough fuel in Hamilton's car in qualifying in Spain turned an almost certain win into a battle for minor points.

These errors badly affected his title charge and in early summer his management started approaching other teams.

His favoured choice was almost certainly Red Bull, but they weren't interested. They also approached Ferrari, where Alonso vetoed Hamilton. That left Mercedes.

It is ironic that his decision to move teams has been announced on the back of four races that McLaren have dominated.

Meanwhile, Hamilton's relationship with McLaren Group chairman Ron Dennis, the man who signed him up and who promoted him to the F1 team in 2007, has collapsed.

It was noticeable that after Hamilton's win in Italy earlier this month Dennis stood, arms-folded and stoney-faced, beneath the podium, not applauding once. Nor did Dennis don one of McLaren's 'rocket-red' victory T-shirts, or join in the champagne celebrations with the team once Hamilton had completed his media duties.

In Singapore last weekend, it seemed that McLaren still believed they had a chance of keeping Hamilton; at least that was the impression from talking to the team.

But did Dennis already know in Monza of Hamilton's decision to defect? Was Hamilton's sombre mood after that win a reflection of his wondering whether he had made the right decision?

Was Hamilton's ill-advised decision to post a picture of confidential McLaren telemetry on the social networking site Twitter on the morning of the Belgian Grand Prix, the weekend before Italy, the action of a man who had had enough and didn't care any more because he knew he was leaving?

When was the Mercedes deal actually finally signed?

Was it done before BBC Sport broke the story of it being imminent in the week leading up to the Italian race?

Or was it not inked, finally, until this week, on the basis that only now has the Mercedes board committed to new commercial terms with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone?

In which case, was the gearbox failure that cost Hamilton a certain victory in Singapore, and effectively extinguished his title hopes for good, the straw that broke the camel's back?

In short, was Hamilton's decision based on cold, hard logic, rooted primarily in performance, in making more money, or founded on emotion as much as calculation. Or was it a combination of all those factors?

All these questions will be answered in time. Whatever led to Hamilton's decision, it is fair to say that it is an enormous gamble, one on which the next phase of his career hangs.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/hamilton_looks_for_long-term_s.html

Brian Hart Gene Hartley Masahiro Hasemi Naoki Hattori Paul Hawkins

Hamilton glory cannot hide the hurt

Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Italian Grand Prix was his second in three races and McLaren’s third in a row, confirming their position as the form team in Formula 1.

They have won nearly twice as many races as any other team this season – their five compare with the three of Ferrari and Red Bull. No-one else has won more than one.

Just as worryingly for their rivals, the last two victories – Hamilton’s on Sunday and Jenson Button’s in Belgium seven days previously – were utterly dominant.

The retirement of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel with his second alternator failure in a race this season also helped Hamilton move into second place in the championship.

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton (centre) celebrates winning the Italian GP on the podium with Sergio Perez (left) and Fernando Alonso (right). Photo: Getty 

The 27-year-old may be 37 points behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, but there are 175 still available in the remaining seven races.

Alonso is, by common consent, the stand-out driver of 2012, but Hamilton has also driven a superb season and has almost certainly been second best.

Had it not been for a number of operational problems early in the championship, he may well be leading the championship. Even as it is, he has every chance of making a fight of it to the end of the season.

For a man in such a position, after a strong weekend, Hamilton was in a subdued mood after the race, as indeed he was throughout the four days in Monza.

He insisted that the BBC Sport story in which Eddie Jordan said that Hamilton was on the verge of leaving McLaren and signing for Mercedes had not affected him, but it did not look that way.

Whatever was prompting him to keep his answers short and to the point in his news conferences and television interviews certainly did not affect his driving.

He was in excellent form throughout the three days, tussling with Alonso for the honour of being fastest man at Monza.

And once the Spaniard was put out of the reckoning for victory with a rear anti-roll bar problem that left him in 10th place on the grid, Hamilton always looked odds-on for victory.

His task was made easier when Ferrari’s Felipe Massa beat Button away from the grid and held on to second place, with the McLaren never really hustling as it might have been expected to do, until he made his pit stop on lap 19. By then, Hamilton had the race won.

There was no evidence Button would have been able to challenge his team-mate had he got away in second place.

Button did close a little a few laps after their pit stops, but it was clear Hamilton was measuring his pace, and he let Button get no closer than seven seconds before holding him there until the second McLaren retired with a fuel system problem.

It was a mature, controlled drive, just as were his victories in Canada and Hungary. Alonso, who rates him as his toughest rival, will take the threat from him in the championship very seriously.

All in all, it was a tense weekend at McLaren. The Hamilton/Mercedes story made it a difficult weekend for the team and the relationship between their two drivers is frosty, presumably following Hamilton’s decision to post a picture of confidential team telemetry on the social networking site Twitter on the morning of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Button said he was “surprised and disappointed” by his team-mate’s actions, for which read “seriously hacked off”.

“I didn’t concentrate on it too much,” Button said on his arrival at Monza. “I thought it was important to say how I felt. It’s very easy not to say anything; also if you say something you can clear it up quicker. That was the last race. We’ve moved on from that.”

Perhaps, but the body language between the two men was palpably cool throughout the weekend, and they were not troubling to hide it, even in public arenas such as the restaurant at their hotel.

One night, sitting at adjacent tables, they did not even look at or acknowledge each other, let alone exchange a word.

McLaren insiders were relaxed about the situation, though. They like their drivers to race and a bit of edge focuses their minds, one senior figure pointed out.

Hamilton admitted his victory would have been a lot harder had Alonso qualified on the front row, as he looked certain to do before his problem in qualifying.

As it was, Alonso was forced to salvage what he could from 10th on the grid and, typically, he made the most of the situation.

An aggressive and clinical first few laps go him into fifth place by lap seven, but there his progress halted against the back of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.

The world champion was robust in his defence, and Alonso was not able to pass before they made their pit stops together on lap 20.

Ferrari’s slick pit work, consistently among the best this season, almost got him out ahead of Vettel, but the Red Bull edged ahead, forcing Alonso to get past on the track.

When he went for the big move, around the outside of Curva Grande at 180mph on lap 26, Vettel unceremoniously barged him on to the grass, the Ferrari bucking scarily as Alonso wrestled for control.

Understandably, he was furious, although he kept his counsel after the race. It was a sure-fire penalty, in the context of a clarification on acceptable driving which was issued verbally to the drivers at the Spanish Grand Prix and then in written form in Canada.

The assumption was that Vettel was getting Alonso back for a similar situation, with roles reversed, in last year’s Italian Grand Prix. That one, in which Vettel passed Alonso with two wheels on the grass, has rankled with the German ever since.

He has brought it up at every opportunity, and this looked very much like revenge.

The difference was that, then, Alonso left Vettel just enough room, and Vettel took to the grass when he could – just – have stayed on the track. This time, Vettel left no room, and his behaviour was clearly unacceptable.

Vettel has the arrogance and self-belief that is required of all great drivers but there is also sometimes a sense of entitlement about him which is less than appealing.

He got this one wrong, and one hopes that when he watches a video of the incident, he will recognise that himself.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/lewis_hamiltons_victory_in_the.html

John Love Pete Lovely Roger Loyer Jean Lucas Jean Lucienbonnet

Bugatti SuperVeyron


At this point, we don’t know what’s going on with the Bugatti Galibier. Last we heard, it was being significantly altered because the higher-ups at Bugatti didn’t like its design, but that’s not important right now.

What’s important now is Bugatti?s recently announced 1,600-horsepower SuperVeyron ? a car that first made headlines a few weeks ago when the French automaker released some information on it. The latest to come out about the SuperVeyron is that it will make its world debut next year at the 2013 IAA Motor Show.

Jens Schulenburg, Bugatti’s chief vehicle engineer, recently told Autocar about the challenges of building what is essentially the ultimate Veyron. ?The big challenge will be reducing weight, Schulenburg said. "We are looking at some incredible technologies, such as wheels made entirely from carbon fiber. We?re considering hybrids, too.?

Bugatti is looking at shaving almost 550 pounds off of the Veyron Super Sport?s body while developing the SuperVeyron. We also expect Bugatti to bore out its existing 8.0-liter W-16 engine to a 9.6-liter displacement, which will help bump the SuperVeyron?s output to 1,600 horsepower. These extra ponies will net the newest Veyron a 1.8-second 0-to-60 mph time and a top speed that’s expected to reach 288 mph.

Should the SuperVeyron live up to the growing hype it?s been generating, a lot of people could end up forgetting that the Galibier even exists. At least until Bugatti decides to release that model.

We’ll keep an eye on this situation and bring you updates as Bugatti releases more info.

Bugatti SuperVeyron originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 16 November 2012 09:00 EST.

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Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/bugatti/2014-bugatti-superveyron-ar138038.html

Pedro Rodríguez Ricardo Rodríguez Alberto Rodriguez Larreta Franco Rol Alan Rollinson

United States Grand Prix Review: Hamilton Sets Up Tense Finale

Lewis Hamilton earned victory with a hard fought battle over United States Grand Prix favourite Sebastian Vettel. After staring at the gearbox of the Red Bull throughout the race, the Brit charged through ten laps from the end to seal the win. With Sebastian Vettel finishing second and Fernando Alonso completing the podium, the championship [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/tjETNTLiJc0/united-states-grand-prix-race-review-hamilton-sets-up-tense-finale

Francois Picard Ernie Pieterse Paul Pietsch Andre Pilette Teddy Pilette

Full Bull

Sebastian Vettel completed qualifying having set the fastest time in every session in Austin. The German beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position by a tenth of a second, with Mark Webber third and Romain Grosjean fourth, but the Frenchman has a penalty for a gearbox change and so will start ninth. Kimi Raikkonen thus moves [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/full-bull/

David Coulthard Piers Courage Chris Craft Jim Crawford Ray Crawford

Bull run

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber continued to set the pace on Friday in Austin with the fastest times in the second practice session, although the times continue to be a little suspect because of changing conditions at the Texas circuit. Fernando Alonso was third for Ferrari with the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button [...]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/bull-run/

George Amick Red Amick Chris Amon Bob Anderson Conny Andersson

Kymco Super 8 150


The Kymco Super 8 150 is practical scoter which features a pretty sporty style and a practical character. It is powered by a compact 150 cc SOHC air cooled four stroke engine which sends power to the rear wheel by means of a s smooth shifting automatic transmission.

The scooter is pretty comfortable to drive and features well sorted ergonomics. You?ll especially like the modern instrument cluster which hosts various indicators such as speedometer, odometer, fuel gauge and even a digital clock.

You also get a helmet hook and two storage compartments, one found in front, while the other is hidden under the seat.

The stopping power is assured by a front disc brake while the ride is kept in check by dual rear shocks.

The scooter comes with two year limited factory warranty and the MSPR is $2,499.

Find out more about the Kymco Super 8 150 after the jump.

Kymco Super 8 150 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 18 November 2012 21:50 EST.

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Source: http://www.topspeed.com/motorcycles/motorcycle-reviews/kymco/2012-kymco-super-8-150-ar133632.html

Charles Pozzi Jackie Pretorius Ernesto Prinoth David Prophet Alain Prost