SILVERSTONE, England-R.I.S.- Whether it was the changing weather or the recent ban on off throttle blown diffusers, the situation did not change for team Red Bull, as drivers Mark Webber and series leader Sebastian Vettel grabbed the top two grid positions for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England.
VALENCIA, Spain-R.I.S.- Sebastian Vettel kept his domination of the 2011 Formula One World Championship by taking his 16th win of his career in nearly a flag to flag victory at the European Grand Prix held on the streets of Valencia, Spain Sunday afternoon. The German ended up winning the race with a ten second gap over home hero Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, with Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber in third.
VALENCIA, Spain-RIS- Continuing his run of success As well as his seventh pole of the season, Sebastian Vettel recorded the circuit’s fastest time in history with a 1:36:975 to lead a Red Bull 1-2 for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Europe on the streets of Valencia, Spain.
MONTREAL, Canada- R.I.S.- Enduring being hit from his teammate, striking the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, speeding through the pit lane , and a two hour rain delay did not deter Jenson Button from being aggressive enough to pass Sebastian Vettel on the last lap to win the Canadian Grand Prix Sunday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. It was his 10th career win and his first of the season. Mark Webber just held off a rejuvenated Michael Schumacher for third.
MONTREAL, Canada- R.I.S.- It might be across the Atlantic from Europe, but it did not deter current World Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel, as the German captured his 21st career pole and his sixth of seven races in the final session with a time of 1:13:014 for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Canada at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa finished second and third respectively, their best qualifying performance this season.
MONTE CARLO, Monaco- RIS - Despite countless attempts to be passed, along with two safety car periods, Sebastian Vettel took advantage of geeting fresh tires at the end to just hold off Fernando Alonso and Jenso Button to win his first Grand Prix of Monaco Sunday in Monte Carlo.
MONTE CARLO, Monaco- After Lewis Hamilton dominated the first two qualifying sessions, Sebastian Vettel continued his great season Saturday by recording a 1: 13:556 fastest pole time in the final period to take pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Monaco at Monte Carlo. Jenson Button was second fastest, and Mark Webber who had been quiet for most of the afternoon was third.
Monaco, 27 May 2011
LONDON, England—RIS—In a legal move that took many weeks to complete, the High Court in London Friday announced that both Lotus teams, Tony Fernande’s, unit, and the Group Lotus Renault sponsored squad, will remain to have their cars with the famous marquee.
BARCELONA, Spain—R.I.S.-- Even after having a problem with his KERS system and a threatening challenge from Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel breathed a sigh of relief as the World Champion just edged out his British rival to win his fourth of this season’s five races at the Spanish Grand Prix Sunday at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Taking advantage of a track he won on last season, Mark Webber posted a 1:20:981 fastest lap time, breaking Sebastian Vettel’s pole position streak at five Saturday afternoon to edge his teammate and start on the front row for Sunday’s Santander Grand Prix of Spain at the Circuit de Catalunya. Lewis Hamilton, who flat spotted a tire on turn 10, survived to finish third.
ISTANBUL, Turkey- A poor Friday showing did not deter Sebastian Vettel from improving on his race weekend, as the defending world champion never had any trouble by taking the Grand Prix of Turkey Sunday afternoon with an 8.8. Second win over Red Bull teammate Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso gave his Ferrari its best finish of the season so far with third place.
ISTANBUL, Turkey-R.I.S.-After being involved in a collision a year ago, Red Bull Racing showed the rest of the grid that they can continue to dominate in formula one as Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished 1-2 in qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Turkey at the Istanbul Otodrom. Nico Rosberg in a fine effort, place his Mercedes third.
One day after wrecking his car in practice, Sebatian Vettel went back to his typical race weekend situation by taking the pole for the Turkish Grand Prix. Not only did he convincingly take the pole, he did it with a single lap in Q3. Teammate Mark Webber similarly hopped out of his car early in the session, satisfied that his run was good enough.
REAL RACERS - Subtitled 'Formula 1 in the 1950s and 1960s: A Driver's Perspective, this volume of rare and classic images from The Klemantaski Collection is a book that every fan of Grand Prix racing and racing historian should have in their collection.
AUSTIN, Texas-R.I.S.- At a formal news conference Tuesday evening, race promoter Tavo Helmund has announced that the 2012 United States Grand Prix track, which is south of this capital city, will be given a formal name.
The 3.4 mile 20 turn circuit will be now known as the “Circuit of the Americas”, and as many as 16 companies are involved with this project.
Paris, FRANCE - RIS - Bahrain Motor Federation and the Bahrain International Circuit have received an extension until June 3rd to decide on the possibility of a race this year. The FIA had originally scheduled the deadline for May 1st but announced the extension today.
SHANGHAI, China -RIS- Taking advantage of a classic passing move just laps from the end of the race, Lewis Hamilton managed to break Red Bull and runner up Sebastian Vettel’s winning streak triumphing by five seconds to win the UBS Grand Prix of China Sunday at the Shanghai International Circuit. Mark Webber drove a fantastic race from an 18th place start to take an impressive third. Vettel still remains 21 points in the world championship ahead of Hamilton.
SHANGHAI, China-RIS- After failing to top the sheets in the first two qualifying sessions, Sebastian Vettel remained calm and posted a 1:33: 706 to win his third pole for Sunday’s UBS Grand Prix of China at the Shanghai International Circuit of the McLaren duo of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, who finished second and third, respectively.
SEPANG, Malaysia- Encountering light rain and a threat from Lewis Hamilton did not deter Sebastian Vettel from winning his second race in a row, as the German took the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia Sunday by 3.2 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button. Nick Heidfeld had a tough battle with Australia’s Mark Webber, but took third.
SEPANG, Malaysia- After winning pole position and the race at the previous round in Australia two weeks ago, Sebastian Vettel kept his early streak going as the German recorded a final session 1:34:870, to take pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit. Lewis Hamilton, who led the final session early on, had to settle for second, while Vettel’s Red Bull teammate, Mark Webber, took third.
Melbourne, AUS - RIS - The cars of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were disqualified during a post-race inspection after it was discovered that both Sauber C-30s were in breach of technical rules with respect to their rear wings. The team plans to appeal the decision.
MELBOURNE, Australia- R.I.S.- After dominating many races in the past during his quest for the world championship, Sebastian Vettel got off to a great start, and never looked back as the German held off Lewis Hamilton by 22 seconds to win his first and the season’s opening Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Sunday. Vitaly Petrov just held off two time world champion Fernando Alonso for third.
MELBOURNE, Australia- R.I.S. -After finishing last season by winning the last race and the 2010 World Championship, Sebastian Vettel picked up where he left off by recording a 1:23:529 final session lap to take pole position for Sunday’s season opener at the Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park in Melbourne. Lewis Hamilton took second for Mclaren, splitting the Red Bull drivers as home hero Mark Webber took third.
As the 2011 Formula One season begins this weekend in Australia, last year’s amazing conclusion and this year’s severe rule changes might make this year the most dramatic season in F1 history.
Melbourne, AUS - RIS - A bit of rain and a change in the front runners marked the Friday second practice session for the Australian Grand Prix. Jenson Button was the fastest in this session, his teammate Lewis Hamilton was second. Fernando Alonso was third followed by Red Bull's Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber.
Melbourne, AUS- RIS - The 2011 season is officially underway with the Melbourne Grand Prix. Today's first practice session saw the familiar Red Bull team at the top of the charts, Sebastian Vettel dominating the session unitl the very last moments when Mark Webber delivered a lap of 1:26.831. Vettel was second. 2010 series champ Fernando Alonso was third followed by Nico Rosberg, and Rubens Barrichello.
DIDCOT, England- After testing their car with the old livery last week at Barcelona, Spain, Williams F1 launched its 2011 version, the FW 33, at their factory in central England Thursday.
The car’s color itself is more of a throwback to the early 1990’s, when the team was sponsored by tobacco manufacturer Rothmans, on their blue and white car. Today, that color returns, but now the squad is represented by their main sponsor, Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, who are also backing the team’s new driver, GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado.
A twitter note forwarded to this writer indicates that the Bahrain GP, opening date in the Formula One season, has been cancelled. Obviously, this is due to a combination of the domestic unrest in Bahrain and to the recommendations from Western governments that their citizens avoid travel to the Middle Eastern nation.
LONDON, England- After earlier being relaxed on the situation, FOM Chairman Bernie Ecclestone is now beginning to admit that the situation to hold the Grand Prix of Bahrain on March 13th is “Not looking very good”.
Oxfordshire, UK - RIS - As expected, Lotus-Renault GP announced the selection of Nick Heidfeld as the replacement for injured Robert Kubica.
Civil unrest in Bahrain has the race organizers concerned about the Formula 1 season opener.
2011 Formula One Schedule
SILVERSTONE, England- After seeing many F1 teams launch their 2011 challengers recently, the Force India squad took the opportunity to be the last team to introduce their VJM- 04 car online to the public on Tuesday.
LONDON, England- After having to suffer through the rookie season being a new team, Virgin Racing announced Monday their new challenger, the MVR-02, for the 2011 Formula One Racing year at the BBC Television studios in London, England.
GENOA, Italy- Competing in the Ronde di Andora Rally near Genoa, Italy, just weeks before the start of the Formula One World Championship, Lotus Renault driver Robert Kubica was involved in a high speed accident Sunday that resulted in multiple injuries to his leg, arm and hand.
BERLIN, Germany- After having to test their previous year’s car recently at Valencia, Spain, Both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button flew quickly to this famous capital city in Germany to unveil Friday morning, the new McLaren- Mercedes MP4-26 in front of many cold and freezing people waiting in attendance in Potsdamer Platz.
VALENCIA, Spain- After three days of intensive testing at the Circuit Riccardo Tomeo in Valencia, Spain, , Most F1 teams will take a week off, before resuming their next evaluations down the coast at Jerez, Spain.
VALENCIA, Spain- Just hours before the first test session of the year would take place, Four teams would officially launch their 2011 challengers for the upcoming year at the Circuit Riccardo Tomeo in Valencia, Spain Tuesday.
Defending World driving and constructor’s champions Red Bull Racing got the morning off with their launch of the RB 7, which will include the same unit of current title holder Sebastian Vettel and his Australian teammate Mark Webber.