Interlagos

And here comes the last race and the last race preview of the 2008 Formula 1 season. The honour to host the season finale goes again to Brazilian Grand Prix. And same as was the case in previous 2 seasons the result of the final race will decide the championships. Worth mentioning is that with the exception of the Super Aguri guys all the drivers that started the 2008 season back in Melbourne will be on the grid with the same teams in Sao Paulo. I do not really remember when was the last time no driver got fired or replaced during the F1 season …

The main attention will of course be on the Hamilton vs Massa title fight. Lewis Hamilton may be leading the championship race by 7 points but as last year proved that may not mean much. And after the unpredictable season we have had so far with all the surprising results and all the points and races thrown away by both Hamilton and Massa I would not take anything for certain.

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Here comes the final race video preview of the 2008 F1 season - video preview of 2008 Brazilian F1 GP:

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This edit includes:
- look back at some recent races
- the 2007 3 way title fight
- road to Brazil
- preview of the Interlagos track
- and some Brazilian tunes

If for any reason the video above does not load properly or quick enough you can watch it also on Facebook, Vimeo, Dailymotion, YouTube and of course at the F1Wolf Club.

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Shanghai F1 Track - Ultramodern but where are the crowds ?

The 2008 Formula 1 season is reaching its climax. It is time for the Chinese Grand Prix. The last 2 Shanghai races were affected by rain. Both started wet but later turned dry. Ferrari mastered these conditions best taking advantage of bad tyre calls by the main competitors. In 2006 the looser was Fernando Alonso (although he still finihed and podium and later went on to win the championship), the winner Michael Schumacher. In 2007 it was Lewis Hamilton who suffered on the drying track and after delaying his pit stop for at lest a lap too long he beached the car in gravel at the pit lane entry. He could have claimed the title in Shanghai. Instead he started his great title giveaway. Again there was a Ferrari car to take the advantage, Kimi Raikkonen’s win in Shanghai set up that exciting grand finale in Brazil … Ferrari also won the inaugural Chinese GP in 2004 when Rubens Barrichello dominated the weekend. While we are talking about Ferrari, Schumacher and Barrichello - both these drivers scored their final F1 wins on this track (although Barrichello may still in theory win some F1 race). The only non Ferrari win in Shanghai so far was Fernando Alonso with Renault in 2005.

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Japanese GP 2007

After the amazing Singapore GP experience it is time to move to Japan and for second year in a row to Fuji Speedway. Although this will be the second GP on the revamped Fuji track it still remains sort of an uknown quantity. Torrential rains turned the 2007 Japanese GP into a speedboat race and so we are yet to see how the Formula 1 car racing here looks.

The 2007 race was a bizzare spectacle. The race had to be started behind the safety car and continued in that fashion for 18 laps. Ferraris messed up the tyres and had to pit following the orders from FIA (hey, there really are times FIA rules against Marenello). At that point it looked like that blunder handed the 2007 title to Lewis Hamilton (before he handed it to Kimi).

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The 2008 Formula 1 tour of Asia continues this weekend in Japan. Here is the video preview of 2008 Japanese Grand Prix.

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This edit includes:
- views of the surrounding areas
- flashback to 2007 Japanese GP
- track preview with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima
- all accompanied with Japanese tunes

If for any reason the above video does not load fast enough you can watch this video also on Facebook, at F1Wolf Club or on Dailymotion.

More 2007 Japanese GP action footage in these posts from last year:

- Webber Vettel crash video:
- Massa vs Kubica fight:

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2008 Singapore GP

Formula 1 is heading to another new venue - The Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore. The added excitment is the fact that the Singapore GP will be the first ever Formula 1 night race. The new track, the unknowns of the F1 racing under artificial lighting combined with predictably unpredictable tropical weather may be the perfect mix for another surprise result. Or maybe not.

The main attention will again focus on the title fight. Following yesterday FIA ruling the gap betweem Hamilton and Massa remains at only 1 point. There are still 6 drivers who can in theory win the 2008 title - Hamilton, Massa, Kubica, Raikkonen, Heidfeld and Kovalainen. Realistically however only Ferrari still has both drivers really in the title fight and even that may not be the case after Singapore GP. Ferrari camp would probably hope the track stays dry, McLaren perhaps would not mind a bit of rain. But it should also be remembered that there were occassions when even Hamilton lost it in the wet … So can it rain ? Well this time of the year in Singapore often rains after sunset, it however hasn’t rained that much this year (at least that is what my sources in Singapore have been saying).

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As I will be heading down to Singpore later this week, the race video preview is here earlier than usual. So here is the preview of the first Formula 1 night race - 2008 Singapore F1 Grand Prix.

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This video edit features
- photos from Singapore
- interviews with Nico Rosberg, Christian Danner, the Toyota guys Timo Glock, Jarno Trulli, Dieter Gass, Richard Cregan and John Howett
- flying (virtual) lap on Singapore street track with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel
- and the man with the magic light switch

Warning - the noise level of some parts of this video edit is purposely higher.

This video is also available on F1Wolf Group on Facebook and Dailymotion

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Here is the video preview of 2008 Italian GP.

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It looks back at the previous Italian F1 GP winners, Christian Danner and Nico Rosberg introduce the Monza track and then it all ends with look into the F1 aero work.

If for any reason the video does not work, you can also see it on Facebook or the F1WolfClub pages.

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Michael Schumacher, Robert Kubica, Monza 2006

Monza is the very last of the very high speed circuits in Formula 1. It is not the banked oval track anymore (the last GP that raced on that one was in 1961) but it is still the fastest one on the Formula 1 calendar. About 70% of the track is on full throttle and the top speeds can reach close to 340 km/h. In the past the engine failures were quite common in Monza. These days it is different, the engines seldom blow up (unless they are called Ferrari this season ). What can make the difference is having to run in Monza with the same engine that finished the other engine tough race in Spa … Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Nelson Piquet, Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Sebastien Bourdais and Giancarlo Fisichella should all have fresh engines for the Monza race. I suspect that following his crash in Spa, Kimi Raikkonen may also opt to go fresh. This is where Ferraris may have some advantage over their McLaren rivals.

Aerodynamicaly the cars run with a minimum amount of downforce to achieve the maximum amount of top speed. Therefore in Monza the cars run with the tiniest of wings.

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The video previews are back with a look at the Belgian F1 GP:

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This video includes:

- Look back at all the Belgian Grand Prix winners since the Spa returned to calendar in 1985
- Race preview with Nico Rosberg and Christian Danner
- The H.A.N.S. device and how it protects the driver
- The P.S. with brief flashback to 2005

This video can also be viewed at F1 Wolf Club, on Facebook and on also on Dailymotion

Music: music.podshow.com

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