Racing Time

RACING TIME

New year, and a new tab for Motor sports. In this new section you will have full HD races of multiple disciplines. Don´t worry about moral matters, all the races are legally “provided” by the official channels of each competition. So enjoy this selection of races…

DTM (HOCKENHEIM 2015)

The DTM has ended… but believe me; in Spain not so many people know it. Here you have both races of the Hockenheim´s weekend. The first race was problematic, with some incidents, and the rainy conditions made the second race a little bit more intense than usual. Hope you enjoy.

NASCAR (CHARLOTTE 2015)

NASCAR race… So what does that mean? Prepare your sofa, prepare some coffee and maybe something to eat. Four hours of non-stop NASCAR racing in the Charlotte motor speedway starting in a beautiful evening and ending in the night. A true resistance race for both the drivers… and the viewers.

REWIND RACE (F1: South Africa 1992)

And now let’s end with a classic F1 race. The South African GP of 1992, with the commentaries of the BBC team of that time (the legends Murray Walker and James Hunt). In a race where Ayrton Senna struggled against the Williams and half of the grid had problems due to the mechanical problems.

F1 Legends: The 1970s

For most people, the 70s and the 80s were the golden era of the F1 championship. Let’s enter into this wonderful period with the greatest drivers of the 1970s, some of them considered as part of the elite of the F1 history.

 

Jochen Rindt

 

Rindt driving his Lotus

-World Champion in 1970.

The story of Jochen Rindt is one of those stories which every expert of Formula 1 must know.

At first, he drove for Brabham and Cooper, but in 1969 he was signed by Lotus. His performance in that year was excellent having in mind that Lotus didn´t have a very good car to fight for the championship.

But the moment of Jochen Rindt in the F1 history started (and also finished) in 1970. He won five races out of nine… but in Monza, the Lotus failed in the “Parabolica” turn, one of the most difficult turns of the championship. However, the grand performance of Rindt during the year made him the first F1 driver who couldn´t, unfortunately, enjoy his own title…

Jackie Stewart

 

Stewart driving his Matra

-World Champion in: 1969, 1971 and 1973.

  

Jackie Stewart, the best Scottish driver ever, is one of the most regular drivers the F1 has ever had.

At first he drove for BRM, with excellent results for a rookie. Then he went to Matra, where he won the championship in 1969 (with the car of the picture). And after that, his golden era started in Tyrrell, where he fought for the title during three years, winning the championship in 1971 and 1973.

But apart from his excellent career, he is also remembered because of his obsession with security. He worked to improve the security in the F1, and some security measures of your own cars were introduced by Stewart back in the 1970s. So please, fasten your seatbelts, Jackie would be proud.

Emerson Fittipaldi

Fittipaldi driving his Lotus

 -World Champion in: 1972 and 1974.

 

Emerson Fittipaldi was the first Brazilian driver who could win the F1 title. If you are a F1 expert, you have probably thought about Lotus after reading his name… but Fittipaldi is something more than the driver of the golden Lotus.

 

At first, he drove for Lotus between 1970 and 1973, where he won his first title in 1972 and reached the victory in 9 races.

After that, he went to McLaren, where he won again the title in 1974 and fought for it again in 1975. Finally he drove for his own team, Fittipaldi, until he got retired in 1980.

 

But the most interesting thing about him is that he still drives sometimes. For example, he drove for Ferrari in 2014 during the World Endurance Championship.

 

  Niki Lauda

Lauda driving his Ferrari

-World Champion in: 1975, 1977 and 1984

 

And I’m finishing with my favourite driver of the 1970s.

 

Niki Lauda started in March-Ford, and then he went to BRM. He couldn´t do anything because both teams were very humble. But in 1974 he was signed by Ferrari, and in that year the great duo began to work, winning in 1975 the title.

 

He almost died in 1976 after the GP of Germany, but he recovered from the accident and came back to win the championship, however James Hunt (from McLaren) was able to win some races and became winner in 1976.

 

In 1977 Lauda won again with a fantastic year. He got retired in 1979 because he was losing the time in Brabham for two years… but then, in 1982, he became driver of Mclaren, where he won his last championship in 1984 against Alain Prost.

F1: 2015 Season

The F1 season is about to start. The Australian GP will open the season this next Sunday. Here there´s a guide of the new season with all the teams of the competition…

 

 

MERCEDES

Nico Rosberg driving his Mercedes

Drivers: Lewis Hamilton (GBR) and Nico Rosberg (GER)

Mercedes is the clear favourite again. After a great victory in 2014, they have been working in their new beast (depicted in the picture), and the results of the tests show us that they have again the best car of the grid.

With one of the greatest pair of drivers of the grid, they are going to assault again the title. However, Niki Lauda (the director of the team) has said that this year their car is not going to be as outstanding as it was in 2014. Should we trust him?

 

 

RED BULL

 

Daniel Ricciardo driving his Red Bull (whose decoration is provisional)

 

Drivers: Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) and Daniil Kvyat (RUS)

Red Bull is in the middle of a transition. The old days of victories and titles have ended, and now they will have to get adapted to the new situation. Their new car is not outstanding, so they don´t have any opportunity against Mercedes.

With the departure of Vettel to Ferrari, Daniel Ricciardo is the new “leader” of the team, and with him we´ve got Kvyat, from Toro Rosso, whose first season in F1 in 2014 was satisfactory… but it may be not enough.

 

WILLIAMS

Felipe Massa driving his Williams

 

Drivers: Felipe Massa (BRA) and Valtteri Bottas (FIN)

Williams, one of the greatest teams ever, is back. After a great season in 2014, they are going to try to obtain something more than podiums.

Their new car, an evolution of the previous one, is showing quite interesting data in the tests. They are close to Mercedes and their drivers are a mix between the experience of Massa and the youth of Bottas.

In case Mercedes fails… Williams is going to be there…

 

 

FERRARI

 

Sebastian Vettel driving his Ferrari

 

Drivers: Sebastian Vettel (GER) and Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)

A new era has started in Ferrari. After the departure of Alonso and the arrival of Vettel, Ferrari has changed all its structure to finally obtain good results.

And the new season looks quite good for Ferrari. Their new car is much better than the one from 2014. They have two drivers that together have five titles… and in general, they have improved.

However, Ferrari has a long-term plan, so they are not very sure about their real performance in the grid…

 

MCLAREN

Fernando Alonso driving his Mclaren

 

Drivers: Fernando Alonso (ESP) and Jenson Button (GBR)

Mclaren and its drivers had hope in 2015… But they are having problems. First of all, the new Honda engine is too complex and they are having problems to understand it.

However, the engine is not the only problem. Alonso had an accident during the tests, so he will lose the first race in Australia. Also, Mclaren is walking through economical problems and they don´t have a main sponsor.

But Ron Dennis, director of Mclaren, says that all these problems should be resolved by the end of the summer. Mclaren indeed needs a miracle if they want victories in 2015.

 

 

FORCE INDIA

The new Force India

Drivers: Nico Hulkenberg (GER) and Sergio Pérez (MEX)

Force India is travelling through a real storm. They didn´t have money to participate in the tests, and the car is not very competitive…

They have two great drivers and a wonderful technical structure… but the economical problems of the team are destroying the ambitions of the staff.

Their objectives for the first races of the season are very humble… they just want to finish the races and, if it is possible, gain a couple of points…

 

TORO ROSSO

Max Verstappen driving his Toro Rosso

Drivers: Max Verstappen (BEL) and Carlos Sainz Jr. (ESP)

Toro Rosso had a relatively great season in 2014. With the departure of Vergne and Kvyat, they will have to battle with two very young rookies.

The data of the test are not very clear. Sometimes they were in the middle of the grid and sometimes they closed the classifications. So it seems like another normal year for Toro Rosso: trying to score and form both drivers.

 

 

LOTUS

Pastor Maldonado driving his Lotus

Drivers: Romain Grosjean (FRA) and Pastor Maldonado (VEN)

Lotus wants to restart in 2015. After a horrible year in 2014, they want to get good results again.

And they are improving. The data of the tests show that they have a good car. This good car and a good pair of drivers should make them get back to the top-10 of the grid.

However, Lotus is having hard times because of their economical problems. They tried to resolve this by signing Pastor Maldonado (whose sponsor carried out a millionaire amount of money), but they are still having problems. Some rumours say that maybe Renault will buy the team to be back on the grid as an official team.

 

 

SAUBER

Felipe Nasr driving his Sauber

Drivers: Felipe Nasr (BRA) and Marcus Ericsson (SWE)

And we end the article with Sauber. This humble team had a very difficult season in 2014, and now they want to start again by signing two fresh rookies (both with a great amount of personal sponsors).

Sauber will fight with Force India for the not so honourable position as the “worst” team of the grid. They are optimistic, but the results of the test show that their car could be not enough to reach the top-10 and the points…

F1 legends: The 1960s

 

We continue with the F1 legends. Today, the 1960s, an amazing decade full of legendary drivers and teams…

 

Jim Clark

 

Jim Clark driving his Lotus

-World Champion in: 1963 and 1965

Jim Clark was the best driver of the 1960s, and is almost considered as one of the best F1 drivers ever. He only drove for the Team Lotus, but both Jim and Lotus were a fantastic pair which changed the F1 history forever. The pair was stronger than ever before when, in 1968, Jim died driving a Lotus in Hockenheim (Germany).

Jack Brabham

 

Jack Brabham driving his Brabham

-World Champion in: 1959, 1960 and 1966.

Jack Brabham was a great driver whose driving style was only overcame by the Clark´s style. Jack started with sporadic and humble participations between 1955 and 1958. However, thanks to the Cooper team, he won the championship in 1959 and 1960. After two horrible years in 1961 and 1962, he created his own team, called Brabham, and won the championship again in 1966. He died of natural causes in 2014.

 

Graham Hill

 

Graham Hill driving his Lotus

-World Champion in: 1962 and 1968.

Graham Hill, another great driver remembered because of his relative regularity (having in mind that we are talking about the 1960s) and his very long career (he drove between 1958 and 1975). He first drove for Lotus, but in BRM was where he won his first championship in 1962. After some years fighting for the championship in BRM, he went back to Lotus and won another championship in 1968. After that, he drove for Lotus, Brabham and the humble teams Shadow and Lola. He finished his career in 1975 driving for his own team, called Hill. That same year, he died in a plane.

Congratulations Lewis!

Today Lewis Hamilton has become the 2014 F1 World Champion. For him, this year has been amazing. From here, I want to congratulate Hamilton, Rosberg and Mercedes, for this great championship… but let´s take a look after the highlights of this 2014 F1 Championship…

 

The invincible Mercedes…

After a great year in 2013, with some poles and victories, the German team wanted to win the championship in 2014… and they have showed no mercy at all. They have won sixteen races of nineteen. From the first race, there was no opportunity to defeat them. And only Daniel Ricciardo could win three victories, only when the Mercedes car failed. How far will last this invincible Mercedes? For now, they have a champion driver and they are the champion team.

 

The fall of Red Bull…

They were champions between 2010 and 2013… But that great era has become to its end. They had a horrible beginning, but slowly they progressed and even won three races. Ricciardo has leaded Red Bull in 2014, while Vettel had a horrible year. So the clear lecture of this championship for Red Bull is that this one has been a transition year. For 2015 their objective is give to Ricciardo, the new leader of the team after the departure of Vettel to Ferrari, and Kvyat a great car to fight again for the championship.

 

A new Williams…

After a horrible decade for them, Williams is back. Thanks to Massa and Bottas, the English legendary team has revived from its ashes. They didn´t start as well as they could, but slowly (like Red Bull) they progressed and they have defeated ancient rivals like Ferrari or Mclaren. They have finished with a considerable amount of podiums and even with one pole. And in 2015, they have warned us… the best is yet to come. Maybe Massa is going to have that championship he couldn´t win in 2008…

 

Another defeat of Ferrari…

And what can I say about Ferrari? Another horrible year and for the first time since 1993, they haven´t won any race. And only two podiums, both of Alonso´s, have made up the results of the Scuderia. From the beginning they couldn´t fight for the championship and only in Hungary they had an opportunity to fight for a victory. As a result, Alonso has got out of Ferrari for 2015 and Raikkonen has dragged with his Ferrari in every race. For the next year the situation is clear, 2015 is going to be a transition year, with Vettel and Raikkonen as their drivers and a changed technical staff.

 

Get well soon Jules!

And finally, I want to remember the very bad luck of Jules Bianchi, who crashed against a crane in the race of Japan. Since his accident, every fan of the F1, including myself, has wished good luck to the French driver in his battle against the dead. We all hope you get well soon Jules!

F1 legends: The 1950s

 

We inaugurate the F1 section with a series of articles about F1 legendary drivers. Today, we are going to talk about the first decade and its legendary drivers…

 

Juan Manuel Fangio

 

Fangio driving his Mercedes.

-World Champion in: 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957.

 

Juan Manuel Fangio is considered as one of the best drivers of all times. His curriculum is quite interesting: Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Maserati and even Ferrari. His techniques were also very curious: before each race, he recognized every circuit, and every turn in them… but he never could memorized the turns of one circuit: Nordschleife, today called Nurbürgring, a circuit which he always hate. In 1958 he decided to get retired after a horrible year.

 

Alberto Ascari

 

Ascari driving his Ferrari.

-World Champion in: 1952 and 1953

 

In a decade dominated by Fangio, Ascari was the only driver who could stop (however, just for 2 years) the domination of the argentine driver. The fans of Ferrari remember Ascari because he was the first champion of the “Scuderia”. After winning those two championships, he went to Maserati in 1954, but that year was horrible for him and the thing was even worse in 1955 with Lancia. Finally, he died at Monza testing a Ferrari´s sports car.

 

Giuseppe “Nino” Farina

 

Nino Farina driving his Ferrari.

-World Champion in 1950

 

“Nino ci fa sognare”, if you recognized that sentence, you are a real fan of Ferrari. Nino Farina was not as successful as Fangio or Ascari were, but for most of the people who watched the F1 at the 1950s, Farina was the best driver. Farina won the F1 Championship in 1950 with Alfa Romeo and stayed there in 1951. After that, he went to Ferrari and stayed in the “Scuderia” for some years, until 1955. He seemed like a gentleman driving… but he was almost a suicidal driver. However he always said he was protected by the providence. He got injured a lot of times, but he continued driving… after all, he was protected…