Formula One Silly Season- Who's Going Where?

It's summer break once again and while the F1 paddock is calm and quiet on the outside, a lot of chaos is brewing under the surface. Sure, teams are busy working on improvements to their cars for the second half of the season but the biggest buzz is around the transfer negotiations.

The driver changes for next season got stirred up by Mark Webber's announcement that he is set to leave Red Bull Racing and Formula One altogether at the end of the season. This leaves the seat open for the future team mate of reigning World Champion and current championship leader Sebastian Vettel. It's one of the most sought-after seats on the grid because of the Redbull's recent success however, rumored favoritism in the team which allegedly hurt the team's relationship with Webber is a big factor to consider in choosing a team mate. Where's Rubens Barrichello when you need him?

Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen is one of the top contenders for the Red Bull seat due to his stellar performance this year so far. He currently sits in second place in the World Championship race 38 points behind Vettel. However, because of the same success, Lotus is keen on keeping him in the team. Obviously Red Bull can afford a more lucrative package for Kimi but he's been known to make odd decisions in his career. Rumors also exploded after the Hungarian GP that Ferrari have offered Kimi his seat back in the team where he won his lone world title. The logical explanation would be becaus ethey finally woke up and realized that Massa is a dead weight right? But no, the seat to be vacated in Ferrari is allegedly that of Fernando Alonso due to recent tensions brought about by the car's lack of performance.

This brings forward the status of Lotus' lineup for next season. With Raikkonen potentially leaving, this leaves a spot open. It's also well known that Romain Grosjean is in danger of losing his job after his never ending series of mishaps and penalties.


Recent success in the Mercedes team means that they will likely retain both drivers for next year. The team has already won three races this year and with his win in Hungary, Lewis Hamilton in now only 9 points behind the struggling Fernando Alonso in the standings. It's starting to look very good for Lewis Hamilton who decided this season to ditch McLaren whose top driver Jenson Button is languishing in 9th place and the other, Sergio Perez is falling off the cliff way down at 12th.

In the lower half of the grid, it's a trial and error circus with names just changing around each season just as each team changes names and livery based on which sponsor is trying to keep in afloat. Once in a while a new star stands out and is lucky enough to be noticed by one of the midfield teams. The bigger teams also use the smaller teams to test out their drivers which are under development. When the dust clears after this years' shake up, who do you want to find in which seat?

Formula 1 Mid-season Driver's Standings

After completing 9 rounds out of 19 ahead of this weekend's Hungarian GP, Sebastian Vettel leads the Formula One Driver's World Championship by 34 points. 

This is by no means a large lead since only one retirement can easily bring his closest rival, Fernando Alonso to within 9 points with a potential 25 points going to him should he win a race. 

This was the fate suffered by Alonso last season when he was enjoying a lead mid way through the season only to have Romain Grosjean smash into him in the first lap of the Belgian GP.

Kimi Raikkonen sits in third place after a promising start of the season where he won the inaugural race in Australia. His stellar performance in the Lotus has other teams sniffing around and rumors of a big move to Red Bull next season have started after Mark Webber announced his retirement. 

Lewis Hamilton is still looking for vindication for his decision to leave McLaren in favor of Mercedes but things are not looking so great for him as he sits in 4th place and his team mate Nico Rosberg sits in 6th sandwiching Redbull's Mark Webber in 5th. I suppose he can have some satisfaction in seeing the McLaren's languishing mid table in 10th (Button) and 12th (Perez) in what would have to be the worst showing of the team in the past 15 years. 

Despite finding his second wind in the later half of the season last year effectively securing his job for this year, Felipe Massa is once again dropping off the grid and drifting further away from his team mate. Alonso sits in second place while Massa is watching from five places away on 7th place.

Another team which is having a disappointing season is Williams with drivers at 16th and 17th, way below the competitive form that the team used to show. 

With still half the season left to race, a lot of things can happen. Vettel looks poised to take yet another World driver's title but Alonso is hot on his heels. At this point, only the top four drivers can realistically take the title albeit not necessarily mathematically. It looks like Vettel is keen on challenging Michael Schumacher's legacy, let's see if anyone can stop him.

Fernando Alonso Extends his Championship Lead

It was once again a fairly exciting weekend of sports action. I started out the week in Hanoi, Vietnam where I went with Django Bustamante and Lee Vann Corteza to compete in the first Hanoi 9-ball Open.

Turns out, the two Filipinos had to meet each other as early as the quarter finals. Django took out Lee Vann and in the semis, unfortunately, Django lost to Stuart Pettman, a snooker player from England. It was, needless to say a terrible finish for our guys. Liu Hai Tao of China eventually took the crown and we flew home in the worst of spirits. Well, we got what we asked for. We said we would be happy with thirst (3st) Tssss... Karma's a bitch  :) That's what we get for making fun of them.

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The saving grace for the night was learning that Fernando Alonso clinched pole position in Germany. The qualifying session got drenched in rain and no one was able to improve on their times after the second session. Fernando managed to get on top but after the past few races, this didn't really mean anything. He has led in a couple of other races in the past only to give up the lead with less than 10 laps to go due to tire wear.

During the race he was unable to pull away and it looked like Vettel would be able to easily catch him and pass him in the DRS zones. However, in a radio conversation with the team, Fernando repeatedly assured everyone that he had things under control and that he was only taking care of the tires. True enough, he kept Vettel and Button a safe second away, just outside the point where they can use the DRS wing to pass him.

Kimi Raikkonen started from 10th and did an early stop. His Lotus seems to really be performing well and he was able to match the pace of the leaders throughout the   race. It was just unfortunate that having started too far back, he got held up quite a lot and by the time he was able to pass a load of cars in front and move up to 4th, the gap to the top 3 guys was already insurmountable.

In the closing stages of the lap, Button's tires started to give out and Vettel was able to catch him. In a rash move with all four wheels on the run off area, Seb passed him from the outside to take second place. Jenson immediately consulted his team to ask if the move was illegal and done off-track. His team agreed and Jenson didn't attempt to regain the spot and just decided to wait for the stewards decision.

Seb was quick to defend himself when Jenson pointed out that he made an illegal pass and the issue was even brought up by Niki Lauda on the podium when he interviewed the winners. In the end, Fernando sat on top with an ever growing lead. Seb got penalized for his illegal pass AND got demoted to fifth. This means.... yes, KIMI got third!!!! He's now just behind Fernando and the two Redbulls in the standings. He could still be the dark horse this year!

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F1 could not have gone any better especially since Lewis didn't get any points this race. Things were starting to look up until Adam Scott went and blew his 4 shot lead at the Open. With only 4 holes to go, it was all laid out in front of him. Tiger Woods was hot on his heels most of the day but fell short and couldn't pull off one of his miraculous last round charges. Scott totally collapsed and rained Bogeys in the end and handed the silver to Ernie Els. Reminds me of how Vijay took it from Sergio some years back. Who says golf isn't exciting?

Fernando Alonso Twists Fate, Triumphs in Valencia

Raikkonen, Alonso, Schumacher

In a race weekend that looked to be every bit the disaster judging from the qualifying results, the European GP turned out to be the best that I have seem in recent memory!

Lewis Hamilton Becomes Seventh Driver to Win in as Many Races in Current F1 Season

The 2012 Formula One Season couldn't be any more unpredictable this season with seven different drivers winning in as many Grands Prix. 

Sebastian Vettel clinched pole position on Saturday and for a short while, it looked like we are going to see a repeat of the past two seasons with him on pole and taking it all the way to the end without any challenges. 

However, that was anything but the case. The start was straightforward enough with the entire grid moving along as if still in formation for the first few corners. Soon enough it was obvious that Sebastian Vettel wasn't going to pull away like he did in recent seasons. The McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso were able to keep up with him easily. 

Webber Sets F1 Record in Monaco

Mark Webber won the Monaco Grand Prix yesterday and set a Formula One record of being the first season the have six different drivers winning the first six races. As of the last race in Barcelona, five different teams have also won each race.

Webber inherited the pole position after the fastest man on track for qualifying, racing legend Michael Schumacher was docked a five place penalty as a result of his clash with Bruno Senna in the previous race in the Circuit de Catalunya.

From the front, it was a fairly straightforward win for Webber who never pulled away but was fast enough to be able to keep everyone else at bay in the notoriously difficult to overtake Monaco track.

Many drivers were praying for rain including the relegated Schumacher as well as Barcelona's race winner Pastor Maldonado who was docked a ten place penalty after a clash with Bruno Senna during the third practice session this weekend.

However, the rain did not come but instead, a few drops of rain fell on the track which was enough to ruin Kimi Raikkonen's race. The Lotus team kept him out on worn out tires for way too long in the hopes of taking advantage of the pit stop to get the intermediate or wet tires ahead of his opponents. Sadly, this only cost him loads of time and sent the flying Finn back several places which found him finishing 9th. The team made a terrible decision which allowed the front runners to pull away from the Finn who had been a strong championship contender prior to this race.

From pole and demoted to sixth, Schumacher's luck never returned and he was hit by Romain Grosjean's out of control Lotus in the first corner. He was able to continue but eventually had to retire.

Michael Schumacher Back on Top! Fastest in Monaco

*formula1.com

In his best qualifying showing since his return to Formula One, racing legend Michael Schumacher has clinched the pole position in this year's Monaco Grand Prix. 

The race stewards however, will rain on the parade as they dock Schumacher with a five place penalty after his on-track clash in the Barcelona GP with Bruno Senna.  The penalty hands the actual pole spot for tomorrow's race to Redbull's Mark Webber. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant surprise for Schumacher loyalists as well and for any Formula One fan in general.

This season is turning out to be the most exciting and competitive in recent memory with five different drivers winning every race of the season so far. Another comeback kid who is making waves is the flying Finn Kimi Raikkonen who has made it to the podium in the last two races. 

Monaco is still considered to be the most prestigious race in the F1 calendar with every single driver wanting this win more than any other race. Schumacher showed the world that he still has what it takes to get out in front. He has in fact been very competitive this year in terms of lap times but reliability issues have stopped him from finishing races and earning points. 

Meanwhile, Pastor Maldonado who won the Barcelona GP was also docked with a penalty of 10 places after he was found guilty of deliberately nudging Sergio Perez during the practice session. 

Pinoy Marlon Stockinger on Pole!

*photo: www.marlonstockinger.com

Before we talk about the thrilling qualifying session in Monaco for the 2012 Formula One GP which will be happening there tomorrow, some other big news just came in.

Marlon Stockinger, the Filipino driver who drives for Status Grand Prix in the GP3 series will be starting the support race in pole position!

The GP3 series holds their races during the same weekend as the Formula One races just to make it clear to those who might get confused. I know that many people still think that Marlon is driving in F1. Ideally of course, with his great showing and steady improvement in the GP3 series, we might just find a Filipino in F1 in the near future. 

Marlon currently sits in 4th position in the GP3 series but with pole position tomorrow, he is set to improve since Monaco is notoriously one of the most difficult tracks to overtake. 

Fernando Alonso Unveils Helmet Design for Monaco GP

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso has unveiled via his official twitter account a sleek metallic new helmet design which was designed for him to wear for this year's Monaco GP

Alonso has been showing a steady improvement in recent races and is currently tied with reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel at the top of the driver's championship standings. 

Filipino Driver Marlon Stockinger gets on the Podium in Barca.

Filipino-Swiss GP3 driver Marlon Stockinger made waves last weekend when he landed second in the GP3 race in the Circuit de Catalunya. Never before has a Filipino driver been this successful so close to Formula One. Step Aside Matteo Guidicelli, Stockinger is the real deal!

*marlonstockinger.com

After qualifying fifth, Stockinger ended up on second place 2.6 seconds behind the race winner. Driving for Status Grand Prix, Marlon feels that he is in a competitive team and has a chance at winning races. This could be our chance to finally get the Philippine flag in Formula One!

Pastor Maldonado Becomes First Venezuelan to Win in F1

Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain-It all started in qualifying when Maldonado unexpectedly bested the big teams and took his Williams up to the second spot in the grid. However in a bizarre mistake made by the McLaren team, pols sitter Lewis Hamilton ran out of petrol  on the way back to the pits after his flying lap.

*photo by planetf1.com

Race stewards docked Hamilton with a penalty which sent him to the back of the grid giving Maldonado a surprise promotion to pole. Now on second, Alonso took advantage of the start and got ahead but was outsmarted by the Williams team during the pit stops.

With Maldonado in the lead, he made Alonso eat his dust the rest of the way in front of a very partisan Spanish crowd. Meanwhile, Flying Finn Kimi Raikkonen fought hard to make it back to the podium for the second race in a row, not bad for a returning driver. By the last lap he was right on the tail of Fernando Alonso. The Lotus team clearly made a good investment right there.

To the delight of the Williams team, their championship hopes have been revived after a dismal string of seasons. with different drivers and teams winning each race so far this season, this is proving to be one of the most competitive seasons in decades!

Fernando Alonso Receives a bonus for Malaysia win

After what looked to be a dismal start of the season for the team, Ferrari were able to pull one back. Alonso started at 8th and Felipe didn't even make it to Q3 (I know, What the?)  However, in a rain-drenched race, the team was able to make the most out of the situation and a combination of superb driving and team strategy put Alonso at the top of the grid and he was threatened only very briefly by STR Ferrari's Sergio Perez. 

Fantastic result. Now who wouldn't want to work for a team like this? Fernando's bonus: