Medals instead of points ? , F1 set to go bonkers !Well i am back with a bang, just finished with my written exam, only 2 pracs left. Anyway, Bernie Ecclestone has come up with the weirdest F1 idea i have heard in a long time. He has suggested Olympics inspired medals instead of the usual championship points structure. Infact he has insisted that this would be in place by 2009 Melbourne grand prix. All those who used to make lots of useless facts about championship points will be disappointed.
If the new system is introduced, the driver with the most wins shall win the F1 driver’s championship. Drivers will be given gold, silver and bronze medals. The idea does sound bonkers, but he does have a point. With wins deciding the champion, there will be no point in driving conservatively, so everyone will try and go for the win. Bernie had said :
“All the teams are happy.
“The reason this happens is that I get fed up with people talking about no overtaking.
“It’s just not on that someone can win the world championship without trying to win the race.”
The current point system had come into place to cut off Ferrari’s dominant season in which Michael Schumacher had annihilated the competition. Eddie Jordan however was displeased with the news :
“The points are necessary,” Eddie Jordan said.
“I was one of the first team principals who advocated the points should go down to eighth place because one point is as important to those teams as a win is to McLaren and Ferrari.”
“He is tinkering with something on which he has lost the understanding.
“He thinks that only winning matters.
“When Hamilton lost the race in Spa and it was given to Felipe Massa, can you believe the controversy that would have created had this been the system?
“There has not been enough thought put into this and for him to say that it comes with the full approval of all the teams , I am sorry, I just don’t believe it.”
 Is Timo Glock kidding us all ?
Read this post race Q&A with Timo Glock :
Did you realise the significance of Lewis Hamilton fighting with you on the final lap?
To be honest I was racing for Toyota and my place which is the correct thing to do. I didn’t even know that Lewis was directly behind me. The team told me that Sebastian Vettel was catching me and they kept me updated on his position but I was concentrating so hard on keeping the car on the track. I didn’t even know that Lewis had overtaken me until after the race. I was passed by three or four cars on the final lap and it was not easy to keep track of what was going on.
What kind of a pathetic idiot is Timo Glock ? , we were discussing in college about him and now it really seems that there might be something fishy in the pass. No doubt he is one of the biggest no-bodies of formula one. It really seems as if he didnt defend his position and sort of gifted Lewis Hamilton the championship.
In related news, the British media are as biased as ever in the reporting of this incident. I was shocked to read some quotes on a UK newspaper’s website :
Formula One being the cynical sport it is, it did not take long for Hamilton’s critics to suggest Glock had pulled over to let the McLaren driver through at the last.
Hamilton is a hated figure in Spain because of his infamous row with Fernando Alonso, the former double world champion, while the pair were team-mates at McLaren last year.
Just to add a little to the above quotes, we are an unofficial news source so we can write our opinions, but the level of bias of the British media is too much. And Hamilton is a hated figure in India also, but he didnt have any row with Narain Karthikeyan   Lewis Hamilton wins the Championship !The Brit has done it, Lewis Hamilton has become the youngest ever formula one champion by claiming 5th place in the nail biting Brazilian Grand Prix. He beat his competitor Felipe Massa by 1 point. Mass won the race.
 Felipe Massa starts the mindgames, heat on Hamilton
With the title showdown coming closer, its Felipe Massa this time who has commenced the mindgames. Reacting sharply to reports that his title chances are considerably lesser than Lewis Hamilton’s, Felipe Massa had a lot to say.
“It is impossible to predict what will happen, but I think our car has always been very good at this circuit” the Brazilian Ferrari driver Felipe Massa said.
“I have my people behind me and all the pressure will be on Hamilton, especially when you think about what happened at this race last year.”
“The pressure on me is zero”
“It’s true that I have a harder job ahead of me to win the world title than for Lewis in terms of points but my game plan for the end of the week is more simple than his.”
“The one thing I must do is win. After that it’s just a case of seeing exactly what he has done and how many points we can win back.”
Last year too Lewis Hamilton was heavily favoured to win the title, but it didnt happen as he suffered gearbox problems. Hamilton eventually finished 7th in the last race last year if my memory serves me correctly.
Both Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton are vying for their maiden formula one driver’s title. While Hamilton has a 7 point advantage over Felipe Massa, Massa enjoys home crowd support at Brazil.
If Massa wins the championship , he shall be the first Brazilian since Ayrton Senna to win the title , Senna won the title in 1991.
Massa further exuded his confidence by claiming to know all the tricks and secrets of the Brazilian track.
Well what Massa said is true to a certain extent, he just has to win the race and hope Hamilton is sixth or below in the finish order. On the other hand its even easier for Hamilton, Lewis simply has to finish in top 5 and not care about Massa at all.
P.s. Why do i get this feeling that some penalty might decide the title ?
Image: Ferrari Media Title Showdown : Felipe Massa vs Lewis Hamilton 
The season seems to be ending on a high, the last race shall determine the winner of the driver’s championship. The 2 contenders for the driver’s championship are :
1. Felipe Massa - Brazil - Ferrari - 87 points
2. Lewis Hamilton - Great Britain - McLaren Mercedes - 94 points
Lewis Hamilton is seen to be in the driver’s seat (literally), but in the sport of formula one there is always the scope for upsets. The outcome shall be decided at the next month’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
While Lewis Hamilton has the pace of McLaren on his side, Felipe Massa has the skill and determination of Ferrari at his side. He will be hoping that Ferrari dont falter again and are able to run a clean and reliable race unlike their recent (in)famous ones.
Felipe Massa will also be hoping that Lewis Hamilton will be distracted by his many new year plans. there are rumours of him spending time with girls ranging from popstars to actresses.
And whatever happened to the reigning world champion you will ask ? , Kimi Raikkonen is no longer in the reckoning, he had a few strong races but most of his season has been timid in contrast.
Fernando Alonso had accused McLaren of crass competition but finds himself not even close to a title. But he has hypocritically vowed to support Felipe Massa’s title campaign. I would love to see if he backs up his tyro(ish) remarks with any action ?  Lewis Hamilton one step closer to title, wins in China
Lewis Hamilton came one step closer to winning his maiden formula one driver’s title by winning the 2008 formula one Chinese Grand Prix from pole. His closest competitor Felipe Massa was second in his Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton was fast from the start pulling away easily and making the Ferraris look gasping for pace. What is interesting though is that Kimi Raikkonen had slowed down to let Felipe Massa through much like a lot of the other formula one teams do within their teams. So when are team orders prohibited ? It did affect the outcome of the race. The swap reduced the damage to the Massa championship campaign but may just prove to be futile in the last race.
Fernando Alonso put in another strong(er?) performance to get a 4th place finish. The BMWs were 5th and 6th with Heidfeld finishing ahead of Robert Kubica this time.
The Red Bull of David Coulthard was 10th while teammate Mark WEbber was way back in 14th place.
Force India were as dismal as ever with Adrian Sutil not finishing the race and Fisichella finishing in 17th place (last).
The top 8 drivers were :
1 L. Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
2 F. Massa Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
3 K. Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
4 F. Alonso ING Renault F1 Team
5 N. Heidfeld BMW Sauber F1 Team
6 R. Kubica BMW Sauber F1 Team
7 T. Glock Panasonic Toyota Racing
8 N. Piquet Jr. ING Renault F1 Team
So the title fight goes down to Brazil now, stay tuned for a post on that 
Image: McLaren.com Media Jarno Trulli’s helmet at Fuji Speedway for the Japanese Grand PrixWell, i dont know how many of you noticed the helmet work by Jarno Trulli in Japan for the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix, but here it is :
 Jarno Trulli's new helmet It features Mount Fuji (a cartoon version of it)  Lewis Hamilton gets pole position at Japanese Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton steered his McLaren to a very important pole position today at the Fuji speedway. The rain from the morning had almost dried , and the conditions were ideal for the run of the mill qualifying session. Lewis Hamilton’s title rival Felipe Massa could only manage a fifth, while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen got the second place in his Ferrari behind the Brit.
Heiki Kovalainen made it in 3rd place making sure that McLaren can give a strong challenge in the constructor’s championship. Force India were as usual in dismal form and last place.
The Toyotas also fared well amongst rumours of bankruptcy and financial woes. They got 7th and 8th place respectively.
Result of the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying :
1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.404
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:18.644
3. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.821
4. Fernando Alonso (Spn) Renault 1:18.852
5. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:18.874
6. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:18.979
7. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:19.026
8. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:19.118
9. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:19.638
10. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.167
11. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:18.187
12. Nelson Piquet (Brz) Renault 1:18.274
13. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:18.354
14. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:18.594
15. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:18.672
16. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:18.835
17. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:18.882
18. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:19.100
19. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 1:19.163
20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 1:19.910
Photo : www.mclaren.com , media centre Christmas Shopping Post 1 : What to splurge on !Well you can always say that these are gifts from you to you ! Every week from now till Christmas we will be writing a post aboutwhat all you can gift to people for Christmas 2008, this is all original F1 Memorabilia (but please notice we arent the parties selling).
All items are only from the following 2 stores which in the past have shown to be great ones.
Anyway, Christmas is 3 months away :
Item1 : 1/43 Ferrari F2007 F1 Constructors Championship Special : A 1/43 Replica of the Ferrari F2007 driven by Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen to victory in the 2007 constructor’s championship.
Item2 : Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 2008 Driver Cap : The familiar orange McLaren cap worn by Lewis Hamilton everywhere.
Item3 : AT&T Williams Jim Bamber Car :Awesomely fun car, great gift for the youngsters in the family. Just buy it for the kid and play with it yourself 
Item4 : Ferrari Round Scudetto Metal Keyring : You may not have a Ferrari, but you can have this cool Ferrari keychain. It has a perforated aluminium inspired by the pedal of a racing car and Red rubber disc with Scudetto Ferrari shield.
Item5 : Ayrton Senna double S t-shirts : The man’s no more but the legend lives on.  Star Power again for Force India F1, fans missing !Well i really admire Vijay Mallya for all he has done, he has literally brought formula one to India, bought a team and named it after India and so on. But i dont get one thing, why are actors only the guests present at grand prix fixtures ?
For once i would like fans to be present instead of actors and models to be present at various races of Force India and their names and faces in the Media images. If you are looking for a fan to fly to any grand prix, choose me Mr. Mallya
Take last week’s Singapore Grand Prix for example :
Leo Sayer was present !
Sonam Kapoor and Imran Khan were present !
Even Shilpa Shetty was present !
Some photos of these people below :
 
 
All photos from Force India Media Centre. 
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