September 29th, 2008 at 07:52pm Under Motorbikes
This weekend MCN is heading to Skegness for the MCN Live! with Carole Nash party weekend and you can download the full entertainment guide here. Click here to book your place now This weekend’s MCN Live! event looks set to…
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September 29th, 2008 at 07:35pm Under Motorbikes
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A review of the book entitled “Wind In My Face” by Canadian author Dorothy Bush.
The book can be of interest to women who are thinking about starting to ride motorcycles in Canada.
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September 29th, 2008 at 05:37pm Under Motorbikes
Austrian firm KTM may be more famous for their hardcore range of offroad-inspired motorcycles, but that doesn’t mean they can’t teach car manufacturers a thing or too about how things are done in the 4-wheeled world. In a recent feature…
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September 29th, 2008 at 05:06pm Under Motorbikes
Tom Sykes, who is currently third in the British Superbike Championship, recently passed his Direct Access Motorcycle Test with Mike from Maverick Motorcycle Training. Tom travelled down from his home town of Huddersfield shortly after claiming two podium finishes in the BSB Championship round at Croft…
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September 29th, 2008 at 04:00pm Under Racing
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September 29th, 2008 at 04:00pm Under Racing
Fernando Alonso scored his 20th victory and 50th podium finish
The inaugural Singapore Grand Prix was a statistical feast for the anorak-wearer.
The 800th F1 championship race saw Nick Heidfeld break Michael Schumacher’s record for most finishes, a first-time race leader, and the first time a driver has ever won an F1 race from 15th on the grid. Read on for more.
Fernando Alonso scored his first win in over a year, his last victory coming at Monza last season. It was his 20th career victory in his 118th start. Alonso has now scored as many wins as Mika Hakkinen and is tied for 11th on the ‘most career wins’ list with his fellow twice-champion.
Alonso scored his 50th podium finish, one fewer than Hakkinen, and again 11th on the all-time list of most podium finishes.
Alonso is the only driver to have won a race from 15th on the grid. That was previously the highest grid position a race had never been won from. On only seven occasions has a race been won from a lower starting position:
16th - Jackie Stewart, Tyrrell, South Africa, 1973 and Michael Schumacher, Benetton, Spa-Francorchamps, 1995
17th - John Watson, McLaren, Detroit, 1982 and Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren, Suzuka, 2005
18th - Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, Hockenheimring, 2000
19th - Bill Vukovich, Kurtis Kraft, Indianapolis, 1954 (when the Indianapolis 500 counted towards the world championship)
22nd - John Watson, McLaren, Long Beach, 1983
The worst starting position a race has never been won from is now 20th, which with 10 two-car teams in F1 today is last on the grid. (More on this here)
And of course, Alonso is the first person to win a round of the world championship in Singapore. He is also the seventh different driver to win a race this year.
Renault scored its first win since the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, which Alonso also won.
Nico Rosberg scored his second career podium, having scored his first in Melbourne. He also led a race for the first time and is the 158th different driver to do so.
Kimi Raikkonen added another fastest lap to his tally, his 35th. It was his tenth this season matching Michael Schumacher’s record for most fastest laps in a season, set in 2004, which Raikkonen matched in 2005.
However he also failed to score for the fourth race in a row, his longest point-less streak since 2002, when he didn’t score for six consecutive races from Malaysia to Monaco. At that time, points were only scored down to sixth place.
Ferrari failed to score a point for the first time in 46 races, a sequence stretching back to the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix (they didn’t score in the previous race in Melbourne). Those 46 races make the second longest points-scoring streak for a team, bettered only by Ferrari themselves from Malaysia 1999 to Malaysia 2003 (55 races). They also have the third longest points-scoring streak, San Marino 2003 to Malaysia 2005 (33 races) but BMW are one race away from matching that (Australia 2007 to present).
Singapore’s podium was the fifth youngest ever seen in F1: Alonso, Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton having an average age of 24 years, eigth months and 19 days. That means four of the five youngest ever podiums in F1 history were achieved this year, in Italy, Germany, Monaco and Singapore.
Nick Heidfeld broke Michael Schumacher’s record for the most consecutive finishes in F1 races, finishing his 25th race in a row since last year’s French Grand Prix.
The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was the 800th race to count towards the F1 world championship. More stats on that to follow later…
Over to you
After Italy Simon C asked: “Is the first night race also going to be the first GP with 12 former race winners on the starting grid?”
Can anyone answer that query?
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September 29th, 2008 at 04:00pm Under Racing
Jonathan Legard, Martin Brundle, David Coulthard, Jake Humphrey & Lee McKenzie
Pitpass claims the BBC has named its 2009 F1 coverage presenters as Jonathan Legard, Martin Brundle, David Coulthard, Jake Humphrey and Lee McKenzie.
Legard has previously commentated for the BBC on Formula 1 on Radio Five Live and has an expert knowledge of the sport. Pairing him with Martin Brundle, who’s won awards for his ‘expert commentator’ role in 12 years with ITV, is an excellent decision.
David Coulthard, fresh from his retirement this year, is expected to be based in a studio with Jake Humphrey, to front the show.
Pitpass scoffs, “the budget is expected to be even less than ITV is spending - come on, how do you expect them finances garbage like ‘Bonekickers’?” But I think the BBC are sensible to see there is no value in flying their principle presenters around the world, especially on the licence-payers’ coin. Does having Steve Ryder and Mark Blundell struggling to make themselves heard in the pit lane add anything to the ITV show? No.
Humphrey’s background covers a range of sports including football, American football, cricket and athletics, with a high-profile slot in the BBC’s coverage of the recent Beijing Olympic games. As none of these sports involve four wheels and an engine I have no idea if he’s any good or not so please do tell me. According to this interview done while he worked on Childrens’ BBC if he had a million pounds he’d spend it on crisps.
Lee McKenzie has been fronting Sky Sports’ A1 Grand Prix coverage and is the daughter of Bob McKenzie, the Daily Express journalist. (He who famously promised to run a lap of Silverstone naked if McLaren won a race in 2004.) She is expected to work as a pit lane reporter, a role currently filled by Louise Goodman and Ted Kravitz. McKenzie won Jim Clark Memorial Award for people involved in motor sport.
Of the current ITV team only Martin Brundle will joining the BBC’s coverage, and not James Allen, Steve Ryder, Mark Blundell, Ted Kravitz or Louise Goodman. When ITV took over F1 from the BBC in 1997 it kept only Murray Walker and brought in an otherwise all-new team.
ITV won a BAFTA for its coverage of the Canadian Grand Prix last year, despite the fact so many fans had complained about them cutting the post-race discussion short ITV had to issue an apology.
Jake Humphrey biography (BBC press office)
Lee McKenzie official website
BBC Radio Five Live Presenters - Jonathan Legard
More on BBC’s 2009 F1 coverage
© http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk - visit the author for more content.
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September 29th, 2008 at 04:00pm Under Racing
Many racing enthusiasts consider this car the most beautiful machine ever made in F1. To figure out which car it is, if that wasn’t enough of a hint, here are some stats:
won 13 GP’s
Pole Positions 17
Fastest Laps 13
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September 29th, 2008 at 04:00pm Under Racing
The Singapore Grand Prix Review. F1’s first ever night race turns lights out on Ferrari. McLaren escape with enough light from their mobile phone screen to head out to Japan in the lead and Renault have just been reminded why Fernando Alonso is worth every penny they pay him.
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September 29th, 2008 at 04:00pm Under Racing
Marc Gene has renewed his contract to test for Ferrari. MArc has done a terrific job so far as a test driver along with Ferrari stalwart Luca Badoer and will, according to Marca, reprise his role in 2009:
“The team does not usually announce these renewals, but yes, I will be staying for a fifth year with Ferrari,” he is quoted as saying from Singapore by the Marca sports newspaper.
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