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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..

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 Grand Prix Of Europe is here again.  The race takes place in Valencia, Spain and never disappoints. It is a street course with 25 turns,3.5 miles, 25 turns (57 Laps total). It is a picturesque track on the Mediterranean with hundreds of yachts pulled in, many here just for the race.  It should be a great race.  The race starts with:

1) Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull

2) Mark Webber – Red Bull

3) Lewis Hamilton – Mclaren

For this race its important to note that in 4th and 5th, we have the Ferrari’s with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.  They do have  a chance.  The Scuderia has made some changes to the F10 and it is apparent.

As the starting lights go off and the cars race toward turn one, Lewis Hamilton jumps into second place and incomes home town favorite Fernando Alonso in third forcing Webber back. Felipe Massa follows Alonso and ends up in 4th, Webber will come out of all this madness in 5th place.  Going in to lap 2 there has been so many position changes its unknown when they occurred.  We have:

1) Vettel, 2) Hamilton, 3) Alonso, 4) Massa, 5) Kubica, 6) Button, 7) Barrichello, 8)Hulkenberg, 9) Webber, 10) Buemi, 11) Schumacher, 12) Sutil….  Who knows what happened. but surely this will be the sign of a crazy race…

As the cars begin to solidify thier racing positions, Hamilton comes over the radio to tell his crew that he had contact with Vettel during the first lap. Alonso’s crew asks him to stay clear of Hamilton as his wing drops bits.

By Lap 8,  Mark Webber is pulled in for new tires, he is released into 19th position.  It appears there was no damage and this was done purely to put Webber in position to have great tires by the time the others come in to get thier tires.. Holy… Whattt???  Mark Webber is back on track  and then Bam!  He Crashes right into the back of Heikke Kovaleinen’s car.  His Red Bull flips over backward in what is the crazies crash this year.. But, he walks away from his destroyed car.  Wow!

After all of the Safety Car pit lane changes, and reshuffling, the safety car positions are established with 1) Vettel, 2) Hamilton, 3) Kobayashi, 4) Button, 5) Barrichello, 6) Kubica, 7) Buemi, 8)Sutil

As the green light goes, the race is on in lap 15, the cars are sliding around due to low temp tires and breaks. The Ferrari’s are wayyy back in the traffic, by lap 20, Massa is in 15. Mercedes and Schumacher are also having a bad race after being stopped at the closed pit lane.  We also hear that Lewis Hamilton is given a drive-through penalty after being shown passing the Safety Car, and possibly, holding back the Ferrari’s in an attempt to ensure the Ferrari’s were not in front of the safety car.

On Lap 28, Hamilton comes in for his drive-through.  Amazingly, he comes back out on to the course without losing any positions.  He is still in second in front of Kobayashi.  There is really no punishment.

The middle of the race has become a bit boring.  There is so much controversy that the discussion is away from racing.  By Lap 41, Kobayashi is still in 3rd place and many of the top qualifiers are stuck in the nether regions of the grid.  There are a few bumps and incidents but all are at the tail and the race outcome is ineffectual.

By lap 45, we find that there are 9 cars are under investigation for jumping the Safety Car.  They are the cars of Button, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, Kubica, Petrov, Sutil, Liuzzi, Buemi, De La Rosa.  It is based on the D-Time,  which is sort of a time teams are required to comply with by race leadership to ensure no racing back to the pits under the Safety Car (basically).

With 6 laps left, its apparent who’s going to win this (famous last words) race.  Kobayashi finally comes in to pit and comes out in 7th place.  Not bad!  With one lap left there is still combat on the track as many of the drivers realize that under investigation, many of the cars may be penalized.  After receiving new tires, Kobayashi is challenging Fernando Alonso in 8th and Buemi in 7th. He’s doing a pretty good job in what is his best race ever as an F1 pilot.  Literally, these positions could end up on the podium if penalties are as harsh as expected by many for those under investigation.

What??  Kobayashi passes Alonso on the last lap… and it sticks, he’s off.  Sauber (BMW/Sauber/Ferrari) has done it.

The race ends with:

1) Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull

2) Lewis Hamilton – Mclaren

3) Jensen Button – Mclaren

Wait, Its not over!  Kobayashi gets Buemi ( Toro Rosso) also and his Sauber gets another car.  He passed 2 cars on the final lap.  Well done for him.  I’ll admit that I was one of those questioning why he was in F1, There you go!

Overall, this was a pretty good race.  All of the controversy, shuffling and technical regulatory issues made this race sort of funky to watch.  It leaves me wondering if the best drivers and constructors (this is a constructors championship after-all) have won this race.

See you two weeks from now at Silverstone for the Grand Prix of Great Britain (British Grand Prix)

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

This is the Grand Prix of Turkey from the Istanbul Otodrome.  It is a dedicated race track, however, the only race that takes place here is Formula One.  It is under utilized and thus, dusty and dirty.  Despite being a tad messy, the drivers… and cars love this track.

The race starts with:

1) Mark Webber – Red bull

2) Lewis Hamilton – Mclaren Mercedes

3) Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull

Some other notable starting positions are Michael Schumacher who starts in 5th place and the first Ferrari of Felipe Massa who starts in 8th place as a 2 time winner.

As the lights go off, the cars jet off and you realize this will be a good race.  Not only is there the standard jockeying for position, but there are legitimate passes going on.  Schumacher is up to 4th position and loses it before the end of the 2nd lap.  The front runners are beginning to leave the pack behind, however the battle between 1 and 2, Webber and Hamilton are in full combat and the race has just started.  By lap 9 the order is still, Webber, Hamilton, Vettel, Button, and Schumacher.

Vettel comes in to swap to the hard compound on lap 15th, and right behind him is Schumacher.  There is no doubt all of the lead cars will be watching these two.

On lap 16, Webber and Hamilton come in,  after swapping tires it looks as though Hamilton’s crew could’ve been done sooner, however, he is held back to let Webber go by.  Vettel gets into second position.  The replay of Hamilton’s pit shows that there was a problem with the right rear.  After all of the pit changes, Button was in first but loses it after he is forced to pit himself.

To add a twist to this race, on lap 21, it appears rain is on the way. Expected in 15 minutes.

By Lap 34, we see the 5th place car (Schumacher) 29 seconds behind the 4th place car of Jensen Button.  The Red Bulls and Mclaren’s (first 4 cars) are unstoppably fast.

This Race is getting boring…

WHAAATTT?   On lap 40, the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel attempts a pass on… The Red Bull of Mark Webber.  Yes, dumb since they are 1st and 2nd right..  Well it gets worse, when Vettel barely has his front wheels ahead of Webber and then cuts him off.  Webber’s car loses less traction then Vettel leading him to spin off track.   What?  Vettel has made an amatuerish mistake with a car from his own team. He has ruined the race for Red Bull unnecessarily.  Vettel has a flat rear.  Hamilton and Button pass the Red Bulls.  Vettel is Done!

Hamilton is now 1st, this brings Schumacher into 4th.  From a Red Bull 1 and 2 to a McLaren 1 and 2.  In the matter of 3 seconds.  this is F1 at its most random and best.

WHAATT?  NOT Again!  on lap 48, Button in the 2nd place McLaren goes up to pass Hamilton in the turn..  This lasts for multiple turns and Hamilton maintains gets back and maintains the position.  The replay shows, that the two actually touched wheels.  There are 8 laps left.

On lap 56, the battle of Alonso and Petrov for 8th place ends with Petrov getting clipped and ending up with a flat tire.  But with new tires Petrov will end up with the Fastest Lap of the race.

But the final Lap brings it to an end.  The race ends with:

1) Lewis Hamilton — McLaren Mercedes

2) Jensen Button — McLaren Mercedes

3) Mark Webber — Red Bull Renault

That was a spectacular race afterall.  This is the type of track that fosters speed and aggression without leaving too much room for unnecessary danger and mayhem.   Ironically, its been announced that the US Grand Prix will be back in 2012, in a purpose built track in Austin Texas.   The same designer who created this track, will also be designing the US Track so it should be amazing.

See you next race in two weeks at the Grand Prix Of Canada in Montreal.

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

The Grand Prix Of Spain starts.  This is the Circuit De Catalunya outside of Barcelona, Spain and the first  race of the year to bring F-1 back to Europe.  This track is always interesting, fast, and windy.  In the previous races, one thing that is clear here.  The people who start at the front tend to win the race.  Despite the fact that “someone” may, or may not have money riding on Michael Schumacher in Vegas,  All drivers will have thier work cut out for them.

This race has been Dubbed the “The Running Of The Red Bulls” because the Red Bull cars seem to be unstoppable.  The Grid Starts with:

1) Mark Webber – Red Bull

2) Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull

3) Lewis Hamilton – Mclaren Mercedes

The Crowd Favorite, “El Nano”, Fernando Alonso starts in 4th and is hoping for an amazing start for sure..

The greatest story of today is Michael Schumacher.  He’s got a new car and he’s been racing faster this weekend.  The Mercedes has been tweaked from previous years’ chassis and modified aerodynamically to produce a machine that  is extremely competitive.  We are witnessing daily, the return of a Grand Champion.  He will be starting in 6th Place.

As the race starts, everyone makes it through.  Massa picks up a couple of spots but most maintain thier positions with little fare through the track.  With the exception of a flat tire for Pedro De La Rosa, there is not much contact is made and the field stretches out to comfortable margins as the drivers solidify thier positions.

On Lap 15, Schumi is in with one of the Ferrari’s and he slams a 3.8 second pitstop. Insane.  By lap 20-23 Jensen Button battles it out with Schumi and can’t make it past as Massa approaches from the rear.  On Lap 25, Button is still chasing Schumi and as they are passing lapped traffic, Massa does not make it past and damages his front wing.  Schumi maintains 5th place… For now

By Lap 31 the front runners are Webber, Hamilton, Vettel, and Alonso.

By Lap 46, Button is still trying to get past Schumacher.

On Lap 55, after Sebastian Vettel has an off, he came into the pit for a tire change. Its not

(c)Samo Vidic/Red Bull Photofiles

clear to me whether he came in to the pit to get tires because he went off into the gravel or whether he went into the gravel because he had a tire problem.  But he comes back out in 4th position after giving a position to Alonso.

What’s Crazy is on lap 59, Sebastian Vettel’s pit calls him up and tells him “be careful, your brakes are about to go”.   Now, its obvious the pits watch a ton of data from the car, but I had no idea they can say with any certainty that level of information… but it appears they are just seeing the temperature rise on the brakes and they extrapolate that he’s running out of brake pad material.  Bummer for Vettel because there are only 7 laps to go.

The race gets interesting with 3 laps left to go… Vettel is struggling to bring his desperately unhealthy car to the finish and not see his brakes explode.  He’s downshifting so much to use his brakes as little as possible.  They later follow up with, “this is too quick, we don’t need this”.  What does this do to you as a driver when your team is saying that over the radio.  That’s gotta mess with your head.

What????!!! with 2 laps left Hamilton is off.. and his wheels are flipping around.   It was a catastrophic wheel or rim failure.  This pushes Alonso into Second, and Vettel into Third… Schumacher is in FOURTH….  Amazing.

The race ends with:

1) Mark Webber – Red Bull

2) Fernando Alonso – Scuderia Ferrari

3) Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull

My impressions of this race were that it was pretty… Standard until the end of the race.  And as I alluded to earlier, the best race of the day has to go to Schumi… He’s taken a team from having a non-player car to a car that CAN be competitive in the future races.  He is having an impact and his years of test driving is pushing the team forward.  Even though any person who had money on this race did not win in his Vegas bid to turn 45 bucks into 1800 smackeroos.  Schumacher actually came closer than ever imagined to make it happen.  Maybe next race!

See you next week in Monaco Grand Prix.  It is perhaps the best, and most historic course of the F1 year, and if you’ve ever been to Monaco (I have), you will let nothing get in the way of watching the Grand Prix of Monaco.

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