Car on the crane - usual sight in Macau

There is still the 2010 F1 season to finish but the annual Macau GP (November 18-21, 2010) is also getting closer and closer. For those who may not know the street race weekend features the final round of FIA WTTC championship, Macau Motorcycle GP (definitely not suitable for fainthearted), Formula BMW Pacific, Macau GT Cup and few other support races. The star event however has since 1983 been the Formula 3 race (1983 winner – Ayrton Senna). The names on the entry list may not be the household ones yet but it may not take too long…

Since I started attending the Macau GP regularly I had the chance to watch in action guys like Bruno Senna (2007), Kamui Kobayashi (2007), Sebastian Vettel (2005), Lucas di Grassi (2005), Robert Kubica (2005), Adrian Sutil (2006), Jaime Alguersuari (2008), Sebastien Buemi (2007), Nico Hulkenberg (2007), Lewis Hamilton (2004), Nico Rosberg (2004).

In total 20 current Formula One drivers have raced in Macau GP F3 race (Kovalainen (2002), Trulli (1995), Button (1999), Webber (1997), Schumacher (1990), Heidfeld (1996), Barrichello (1991), Liuzzi (2002) and even Yamamoto (2001)). Macau GP is definitely worth watching.

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Here are the results of round 17 of the prediction game. This was in general rather low scoring round thanks to several usual top ten finishers retiring from the Korean GP. Still score over 20 was necessary to win this round. The highest one belongs to Clive Einkamerer – 21 points !

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Car on fire next to concrete wall… When there are no marshals on hand the drivers have to do the job. First there was Heikki Kovalainen in Singapore …

Heikki Kovalainen - The Firefighter

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Fernando Alonso wins 2010 Korean GP

Fernando Alonso won the wet inaugural Korean GP ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. It was a bad day in office for Red Bull. Mar Webber spun off at early stages of proper racing action, Sebastian Vettel blew his engine while leading comfortably with only few laps to go. As a result Alonso takes the championship lead with two races to go.

2010 Korean GP – Race Result:

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Lewis Hamilton +14.9
3. Felipe Massa +30.8
4. Michael Schumacher +39.6
5. Robert Kubica +47.7
6. Vitantonio Liuzzi +53.5
7. Rubens Barrichello +1:09.2
8. Kamui Kobayashi +1:17.8
9. Nick Heidfeld +1:20.1
10. Nico Hulkenberg +1:20.8
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Advantage Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel will start the Korean GP from the pole position, his team mate Mark Webber will line up next to him on the front row. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton form the second row ahead of Rosberg, Massa, Button, Kubica, Schumacher and Barrichello.

2010 Korean GP – Qualifying Results

1. Vettel – 1:35.585
2. Webber – 1:35.659
3. Alonso – 1:35.766
4. Hamilton – 1:36.062
5. Rosberg – 1:36.535
6. Massa – 1:36.571
7. Button – 1:36.731
8. Kubica – 1:36.824
9. Schumacher – 1:36.950
10. Barrichello – 1:36.998

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Robert Kubica fastest in final practice in Korea

Robert Kubica posted the fastest time in the final practice session for 2010 Korean GP (1:37.354) with Hamilton, Alonso and Webber within 1 tenth of a second behind.

Saturday Practice Times:

1. Kubica – 1:37.354
2. Hamilton +0.048
3. Alonso +0.072
4. Webber +0.087
5. Rosberg +0.275
6. Massa +0.601
7. Button +1.065
8. Hulkenberg +1.147
9. Schumacher +1.276
10. Sutil +1.278
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Five title contenders and Bernie Ecclestone ahead of 2010 Korean GP

The inaugural Korean GP weekend begins today with the first practice sessions. Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the morning session (1:40.887) ahead of Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher. As the green slippery track keeps rubbering in we can expect significantly quicker times in the later sessions.

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F1 comes to Korea this weekend for the very first Korean Grand Prix. The venue seems to be far from finished and we are yet to see how the very fresh tarmac will cope with the power of F1 cars. At the moment however the plan is for the race to go ahead – it is time for round 17 of our prediction game. Just for the record, the last time F1 had to cope with crumbling track Lewis Hamilton crashed into Kimi Raikkonen in the pitlane and Robert Kubica won his only F1 race to date.

The race starts on Sunday October 24 at 3pm local time.

The predictions have to be placed before the start of the qualifying session (Saturday October 23, 2pm local time). Predictions can be changed, amended, there is no limit on the number of changes as long as they are made before the start of the qualifying. Predictions that arrive after the start of qualifying will not count.

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Here are the results of round 16 of the prediction game. There were several impressively high scores and Enigma’s 25 points from round was under serious threat. The highest one belongs to Pgirish13, Saigon56, Duncan B and mcw3 – 24 points ! We also have for the first time this season change at the top of the provisional standings !

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F1 drivers do come up with special helmet designs from time to time, quite often for Monaco GP (see 2008 and 2010), for home GPs (see Piquet’s and Barrichello’s specials for 2008 Brazilian GP) or to pay a tribute to another driver (see David Coulthard for Colin McRae for example). Sebastian Vettel however seems to be coming up with new helmet design for almost every race … Here is the collection of Vettel’s lid designs in 2010 (now updated with Vettel’s helmets used during Korean, Brazilian and Abu Dhabi GPs):

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the images.
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1-2 finish for Red Bull in Japan

Sebastian Vettel won an eventful 2010 Japanese GP ahead of his team mate Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. Jenson Button finished 4th, Hamilton 5th, Schumacher 6th. Sauber duo Kobayashi and Heidfeld took 7th and 8th places in front of Barrichello and Buemi. Lotus took advantage of seven cars retiring – Kovalainen finished 12th – a result that likely will seal the valuable 10th place in constructors championship for Lotus.

Lucas di Grassi crashed out on his way to grid, Petrov, Hulkenberg, Massa and Liuzzi after the race start. Kubica retired from P2 after loosing his rear wheel while still behind safety car. In the later stages of the race Sutil’s engine gave way and Rosberg crashed out from P6 after what looked like mechanical failure.

2010 Japanese GP – Race result:

1. Vettel
2. Webber +0.9
3. Alonso +2.7
4. Button +13.5
5. Hamilton +39.5
6. Schumacher +59.9
7. Kobayashi +1:04.0
8. Heidfeld +1:09.6
9. Barrichello +1:10.8
10. Buemi +1:12.8
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2010 Japanese GP - Qualifying - Top three

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber locked the all Red Bull front row for the afternoon race in Suzuka. Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd but will be relegated 5 places following his penalty for gearbox change. Kubica finished 4th and will line up on row 2 with Alonso. Jenson Button will start from P5 but he will have the advantage of longer stint after qualifying on hard tyres.

1. Vettel – 1:30.785
2. Webber – 1:30.853
3. Hamilton – 1:31.169 (+ places penalty)
4. Kubica – 1:31.231
5. Alonso – 1:31.352
6. Button – 1:1:31.378
7. Rosberg – 1:31.494
8. Barrichello – 1:31.535
9. Hulkenberg – 1:31.559
10. Schumacher – 1:31.846

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