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Formula One is back after their 4 week break.  This is the Grand Prix Of Belgium from Spa Francorchamps.  The track winds its way through the Ardiennes forest.   The weather has been a mess all weekend but anytime there is a race on this track, either it just stopped raining, it is raining, or the rain is on the way.  Spa has both the fastest turn and the longest lap in the F-1 season.

The race starts with:

1) Mark Webber – Red Bull

2) Lewis Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes

3) Robert Kubica – Renault

The first Ferrari is brought by Felipe Massa in 6th Place.  Michael Schumacher was given a 10-spot starting penalty and starts in ….  He has 6 recorded wins on this track — although he did physically win another race only to have his car disqualified post-race in another race.

Right as the cars pull up to the starting grid to begin the race, the reports of rain start coming in… Everyone’s on slicks.  The lights go off and the race starts.  — Mark Webber has a terrible start that allows Hamilton to take 1st, followed by Kubica, and Button right behind him.  While still in lap 1, all of the cars drive off the track like there is no chicane right in front of the pit lane and starting grid.  Alonso and Barrichello make contact in the mayhem when Barrichello cant slow his car down.

After his contact, Alonso is into the pit and changes to Intermediate tires.  There is big rain on the track.  The Safety Car is out.  The Safety Car is back in at the start of Lap 4 and the two Mclaren’s are off.  The rain has seemed to stop in most places.  By Lap 6 Schumacher has made it up from 21 to 12th on the track.  He his flying to a respectable finish.

By Lap 14, the drivers are expecting rain, they just cannot get it together to plan out farther than lap-by-lap.  But there will be rain.  Its standard racing…. UNTIL lap 17 when Vettel attempts to make a pass on Button when his car loses traction and he spins right into the side of Buttons McLaren, taking them both into the overrun area.  Both cars limp into the pits.  Vettel gets new tires and a front wing.  Button seemed to have more damage with some steam flying out of the side of the car (which would be radiator damage) but we’ll see.  Yep, his race is over!  He’s not going to be happy.

On lap 18 and after all of the madness,  its Hamilton, Kubica, Webber, and Massa.  Vettel does draw a drive through penalty.  Not sure if it is entirely deserved but… That’s racing.

By Lap 23, Schumacher is up to 5th position.. Whatt???  This is after starting in 21st  Oh yea!  I am rooting for him.  By lap 24 its Hamilton, Kubica, Webber, Massa, Schumacher.  But Hamilton and Schumi have yet to pit.  Schumi would be passed by Sutil for 5th and he doesn’t even fight it.  He no doubt remembered what happened last time he put on a crazy pass..  It led him to a 10 position grid penalty that gave him a bad start for this race.  Great judgment.

Vettel is having a bad day and on lap 27, he gets in the way of Liuzzi’s Force India car and ends up with a gash on this rear left tire.  It promptly goes flat and he’s gotta make his way around the entire 4.06 miles of track before he can get in the pit.  Ouch!  He will be nowhere in contention for points now (I suspect).  He’s back in the race in 20th position.

The rain hits on lap 34.  The cars start coming in.  Hamilton, Kubica, and Webber all stay out.  Just as Hamilton’s telling his pit that its getting heavier and heavier, he slides off the track and into the gravel pit..  Hearts sink… but he keeps the car moving and brings it out.  Meanwhile, EVERYONE else is changing to intermediate or wets (tires).  Schumacher makes his stop and is good to go for the race.

Hamilton, Kubica, Webber are all in, although, Kubica slides in and loses a position in the pits to Webber. Massa also pits and maintains 4th.  Whoa, On lap 38, Fernando Alonso’s car goes bye bye… Its his suspension!  There is a yellow and where his car is will no doubt bring out a Safety Car.  Yep, Safety Car out!

The cars are compressed due to the Safety Car  If the safety car pulls in we’ll have 4 laps left.  Anything could happen here.  Hamilton brings the cars together and darts at the green flag.  Everyone seems to survive, until Trulli spins out in the middle of the track.

The race ends with:

1) Lewis Hamilton – Mclaren Mercedes

2) Mark Webber – Red Bull

3) Robert Kubica – Renault F1

Overall, this was a pretty tactical race with much of the teams strategies blown as far as the weather goes.  You just can’t predict the weather at Spa.  Congratulations to Rubens Barrichello on making his 300th start in F1.  Good Man!  Spa never seems to disappoint and it has not this year either.  Neither will the next race.  See you in 2 weeks for the Grand Prix of Italy from Monza.

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

This is Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix.  Its a beautiful day with no rain in sight and the sun is shining.  It is a great day in Budapest for a race.  The track is a smooth and amazingly fast 2.7 miles, 15 turns.

Its been a year since Felipe Massa was smashed in the head during qualifying on this track.  And the last race, Massa was forced to give up a position to the whining Alonso.  Ferrari fans are pissed.. as they should be.  There shall be no team orders this go-around.  The situation is so bad, the teams, racers, drivers, and fans alike have been unsettled by this and pushed the controversy.  The question though, is whether this argument is based on the “team orders”, or the fact that it was “Massa”.  Formula One will go on.  This race starts with:

1) Sebastian Vettel — Red Bull

2) Mark Webber — Red Bull

3) Fernando Alonso — Scuderia Ferrari

Some other notable starts include that Massa is starting in 4th, Hamilton’s McLaren is in 5th, Jenson Button starts in 11th, and Schumacher will be starting in 14th position.

As the lights go out, the cars dart off and immediately, the 3rd place Ferrari of Alonso jumps past Webber and splits the Red Bulls.  Massa maintains the 4th position and the cars are off.  Red Bull has to be happy that Vettel actually got a great start and maintained his position.  Vitaly Petrov has an amazing start as he secures the 5th position by passing Hamilton (despite it being short lived)

In Lap 2,  Alguersuari is out with a blown engine.  By Lap 5, the field is set and the race is on.  By Lap 6, Vettel is 6.3 seconds ahead of the 2nd place Ferrari.  The only question is whether, Vettel will be able to maintain this pace.  But lap 10 its 8.5 seconds. I gotta say, I’m beginning to respect Kamui Kobayashi, 13 laps into the race and he’s gained 8 positions since the race started.  By anyone’s measure.  That is phenomenal.

On lap 15, the Safety Car comes out.  This brings the field together.  The cars start diving into the pits for tires and mayhem ensues.  Vettel is in and out and behind the Safety Car.  Alonso is in, and has stacked Massa.  Alonso pulls out and Massa is in a second later.  As Massa leaves, Hamilton is right in front of him.  Massa lost a position.  Adrian Sutil, has made contact with Kubica’s car as Kubica’s team released him right into Sutil.  Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes loses a rear wheel as he leaves his pit.  What?!?!  The wheel winds its way through 4 pits before being deflected and bouncing around 20 feet.  Luckily no one is hurt.

Under the Safety Car (lap 17), the order is (1) Webber – no pit, (2) Vettel, (3) Alonso, (4) Hamilton, (5) Massa, (6) Barrichello – no pit, (7) Petrov, (8) Kobayashi.  Wow, what a change of fortunes.

On lap 18, the Vettel holds the track up so Webber can go.   The safety car is in and the race is on.  Webber must go if he hopes to maintain a lead from Vettel for any length of time.  This will be made even more difficult as he has yet to change tires and the Hungaroring requires 30 or so seconds to get in clean and maintain a position.

On lap 24, Hamilton is out of the race.  Appears to be driveline/transmission related.  Kubica’s race is over; most likely from the damage in the pit.  Vettel is under investigation for holding up the field.  By lap 28, Webber is pushing, by lap 30.  Whoa;  Vettel is getting a drive through penalty.  by 32, He drives through but it seems pretty fast for the pit lane.  With no class, he gestures to the race officials as serves his penalty… for something he did.  By 35, Webber has not pitted, and is still on his original tires.  He wants to ensure that he can pull in to the pits and get out before he loses a position.

By Lap 41, Vettel has caught up to Alonso’s Ferrari.  Mark Webber has the Delta-time.  He should be able to retain his position when he pits.  On lap 44, Webber is in… He makes his pit and is out.  Webber Retains his position.  By lap 49, Webber is dominating.  Alonso and Vettel are fighting.  It doesn’t look like Vettel will be able to pass in the absence of another factor (mistake, Traction, etc.).

By lap 59, Webber is leading the race by 20 seconds… Ouch.  On Lap 62, Barrichello, is trying to snatch to position the 10th position.  Schumacher’s not having it.  With 5 laps left, Barrichello goes for the past, Schumacher blocks him severely and almost causes an accident.  By lap 68 (of 70) Webber is going to win.  Schumacher is under investigation for the blocking incident. — NOTE: At the posting of this, Planet F1 is reporting that Schumacher has been given a 10 grid Penalty towards his next start at Spa.

The race ends with

1) Mark Webber – Red Bull

2) Fernando Alonso – Ferrari

3) Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull

Felipe Massa gains the 4th position, Vitaly Petrov finishes in 5th, Nico Hulkenburg in 6th.  Its great to see these racers who don’t get many wins this high up in the results.  Red Bull has gained the Constructors championship and the Drivers Championship.

Overall, This has been a great race.  Special props go to Petrov and Kobayashi.  They have run great races today and both should be proud.  Petrov has blunted some of his critics and Kobayashi continues to improve with every race.  Positions changed and everyone fought for every position.

See you August 29th for the Grand Prix of Belgium from Spa Francochamps.

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

Hockenheim Germany is a great location for a race in central Germany.  Regularly threatened with rain, this race always gets a bit risky.  For 2010, everyone is saying that the chance of rain is minimal… But remember;  This IS central Germany and the weather does what it does.

Sebastian Vettel is on fire for his home Grand Prix and if he gets a great start (and there are no major accidents), he could take it all the way.  The problem for him however, is that he only got the pole position by less than a second.  The Ferrari’s are right behind him… Both of them!  and obviously, they are quick.  This is setting itself up to be a spectacularly unpredictable race.  The race starts with:

1) Sebastian Vettel — Red Bull

2) Fernando Alonso — Scuderia Ferrari

3) Felipe Massa — Scuderia Ferrari

Webber is starting in 4th, and Schumacher is starting in 11th place.  He’s back there.. But it is Schumi and you can always hope that he makes it through the grid and captures a win..  Right??

The Race Starts with:

The lights going out and the cars drag racing to the first turn.  Vettel tries to block out the second place Ferrari (Alonso) from passing him but the second Ferrari (Massa) is on the other side of the track and is passing.  As Vettel must slow down for the turn, both Ferrari’s squeeze him out and pass him.  He’s down to third.  Hamilton is putting the moves on other cars and is quickly moving up the field.   There is a local yellow flag as one of the Toro Rosso cars loses its rear wing.  [Didn't this happen within the last 2 races also?].  3 cars hit the pits.  Replay shows that one Toro Rosso crashed into the other.  This is a bad day for both of them.

By Lap 4, its Massa, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Webber, Button, Kubica, and Schumacher wrapping up the top 8 positions. Schumacher is up 3 positions…

The Ferrari’s take turns capturing fastest lap of the race.  Its early and as the cars burn off fuel the lap times will only get faster.  By Lap 12, only 3 cars are on the 18s,  on lap 13 Vettel comes in for a tire change, as he shoots back out, Alonso brings his Ferrari in, Webber in turn brings his Red Bull in.

Massa comes in on the 15th Lap, followed by Hamilton.  As Massa makes it back out on track the positions are:  Button (Yet To Pit), Massa, Alonso, Vettel.  Lap 18 brings the greatest skirmish for position of the race when Kubica pits his car and as he leaves the pit lane, Schumacher is screaming to gain Kubica’s position.  Heading in to turn 2, but by turn 4 Schumacher has the front but is off line and can’t make it stick.  Kubica retains the position.

On Lap 21, the Ferrari’s probably see Vettel in thier rear view mirrors now, their only hope is that they get past traffic fast and Vettel does not.  As they race, they are also not making time on Button first place Red Bull (who has yet to pit).  Button is trying to build up seconds in the hope that he can have enough time to pit and still come out in first position.  We’ll see!  looks like there is also a threat of moisture on the track as some of the on car cameras are catching rain droplets.

The Ferrari’s battle it out as Alonso tries to snatch the position from Massa.  Massa is not having it.  The good thing is that Alonso is forcing the faster pace reminding Massa that this is a race.  Massa responds and is back into racing.  On lap 22 Button brings his car in.  Massa regains the top position and the Ferrari’s are back to First and Second Positions.  Massa regains the fastest lap.  This is Massa’s race to lose at this point…  On lap 26, He is Flying.  He is destroying utterly Alonso.

Still to lap 32, the Ferrari’s are still exchanging fast laps.  And then on lap 49, it comes down the radio… “OK, Fernando is Faster than you”, which means Massa, pull over and let Alonso past.  What??  Massa has led the race from lap 1 and now the team wants him to let Alonso past… F-No.  Team orders are illegal so every team must use code and I’m sure sitting in his car, Massa must be pissed-the-hell-off.  I’m angry for him and I hope he doesn’t concede the position.  Go Massa Go!   … and unfortunately, he lets Alonso past.  The way he does it is by pulling over and slowing down drastically to let him go.  Disgrace From the Scuderia! Disgrace from Alonso!

OK, by lap 61, Vettel is making a move on Massa.  If Vettel makes a pass, it should be Ferrari who takes the beating because, instead of likely having a First and Second place finish, they may end up with a First and Third place finish.  If Alonso was that good, he should have been able to pass (PERIOD).  I guess whining will get you everywhere if you’re Alonso.

By lap 63, Vettel has got the fastest lap, and Massa has stretched out his lead a bit.  With 3 laps left, the field is pretty much stabilized.  The Race ends with:

1) Fernando Alonso — Scuderia Ferrari

2) Felipe Massa — Scuderia Ferrari

3) Sebastian Vettel — Red Bull

Photo from Planet F1 (click)

This was a great race all around.  Very competitive, few incidents.  Still not happy with Massa’s treatment and don’t think I will.  Even in racing (Which by definition requires that the best competitor wins) it should be obvious, that in this race;  The best did NOT win.  Alonso, was allowed to win this race and Massa was forced to lose.  This race will always be tainted in my mind.

PLANETF1 has the best coverage on this issue. Check them out.

This should be the last race on Fox for the year.  See you at the Grand Prix of Hungary in 1 Week.   See You Then!

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

Grand Prix Of England is one of the(apparently the) oldest in Formula One.  Silverstone is a historic track and has even been used as a bomber base during the last World War.  It is currently undergoing some changes by adding another straight and some quick turns to make the course longer, now at 3.6 miles long.

Starting with:

1) Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull Renault

2) Mark Webber – Red Bull Renault

3) Fernando Alonso – Scuderia Ferrari

Some of the other notables. Hamilton is in 4th, Massa is in 7th, Schumacher starts in 10th place, Jenson Button will start in 14th place.

Once the lights go out, the cars dart off, Vettel does what he can to stop Webber (his teammate) from passing, but he cannot. Hamilton jumps into third. Alonso’s Ferrari is pushed back to 5th. After the first chicanes Vettel is off course, as he comes back on track, he is forced off again. Not looking good for Vettel.

By the end of the first lap, We have Webber (1st), Hamilton (2), Kubica (3), Rosberg (4), Alonso (5). So much happened during the lap its worthy of watching a few times.. Massa and Vettel will both come in at the end of lap two with punctured tires on thier right-rears. Into Lap 7, Vettel will be the last person on the track… but, he’s one of 2 people who have changed tires so that might work for him.

Moving into lap 12, not much is happening. The positions are beginning to solidify and there is very little passing, no accidents, or really, nothing. Webber’s 1st place Red Bull is just jamming, Hamilton in 2nd decided to back off a bit. Schumacher came in to the pits for tires.

By lap 13, teams are coming in to pit, everyone is going to the Hard Compound tires. By 14, Hamilton has gained Fast Lap while Kobayashi makes a Pit Lane exit pass on Schumacher stick. Hamilton Pits on the 17th lap and comes out still in 2nd place. Webber also pits on 17th and makes it out before Hamilton comes through and retains 1st Position.

On Lap 20, Robert Kubica’s car appears to give up the ghost. He backs it in to his garage. Normally, if a car is done. The driver parks in nose first into the pit. We’ll see.

On Lap 28, the Safety Car is out.  It was brought out because Pedro De La Rosa’s  rear wing disintegrated on track.  This is going to be an interesting turn of events as the field is brought back together.  The complaints begin with Ferrari penalties and Vettel complaining.

With lap 31, the cars are back into it.  Schumacher makes his way back up to 8th place, Button is up to 4th place (after a 14th start). This is turning out to be a great race in the second half.  On lap 40, Massa slides his Ferrari right into the pit land… and just drives in for tires.  Of course the pit crew is not ready and searches for tires.  At the same time, Vettel makes a pass with Schumacher and after a quick defense, Vettel’s car just has more grip and power.  He makes the pass stick.

With 12 laps left, Vettel is on a tear! and With 8 laps left, there is a Local Yellow,  the Toro Rosso of Alguersuari is off the track and out of the race.

With 4 laps left, everyone is fighting for positions.  Vettel is still trying to get around Sutil for 7th place.  Schumacher is right behind him waiting for any mistakes.  With 2 laps left, Liuzzi bumps him and forces him into the pits for a tire change.  The battle between 4 Germans is impressive.  With Sutil, Vettel, Schumacher, and Hulkenberg all with thin 2 seconds, all of the drivers are trying to pass someone, and/or hold position.  All can use the extra points and none will give up with 1 lap left.

Finding no other way to pass, Vettel dives in and causes contact with Sutil and gains the position, Schumacher tries to pass, but Sutil has it.  He goes back to attempt to pass Vettel but cannot get up there.

Race ends with:

1) Mark Webber – Red Bull Renault

2) Lewis Hamilton – Mclaren Mercedes

3) Nico Rosberg – Mercedes

Other notable finishes are Button’s drive from a 14th position start to secure 4th.  Kobayashi has a second good race and collects a 6th place finish which is outstanding.  Vettel ends up in 7th, Sutil in 8th, and Schumacher finishes in 9th.

The race in general was interesting and the track “improvements” are pretty good.  The bumps on the track showed how fragile these cars can be.  Wings and other parts have been flying off the cars all day.  Other cars have been flying off the track.  But this is Silverstone… At least it didn’t rain.

See you in two weeks for the Grand Prix of Germany at Hockenheim(ring).

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

The greatest Dodge commercial ever in my opinion; maybe besides some of the late 1960’s musclecar commercials when they didn’t try to hide the power and speed of the cars.  Go on With Your Bad Selves.

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..