Top-10 “Seriously Ugly Design Concepts”

RichardsF1    Features, Richard's Top-10    

Modern Grand Prix cars are generally rather ugly things. I know that this comment might cause some angst among the readership, and that many of you will argue that modern cars’ flicks and farings are incredibly forms of art, but many of these things are, to me, very ugly.

These are technical masterpieces, fine-tuned to the tiniest detail in the wind-tunnel and the most complex of CFD models, but they’re still not pretty.

The advent of the carbonfibre monocoque and the continual tightening of regulations since the 1980s have seen Formula 1 cars assume a generally more uniform shape over the course of time. It’s often asked that if one season’s cars were all painted white, could you identify each model?

However, the continually amended rules are written with so many varying loopholes that designers will always find ways of exploiting them.

Sometimes, these concepts are banned as swiftly as they arrive, typically on the grounds of safety or unfair competitive advantage. Other times, these design concepts become part of F1’s visual landscape – an example would be the ‘shark fin’ concept pioneered by Red Bull Racing in 2008 that is near-ubiquitous on today’s grid.

Some concepts prove breathtaking in their beauty and form. Some other concepts, however, are ugly to the core. And in the truest argument that beauty lies very much in the eye of the beholder, let’s have a look at the Richard’s F1 Top-10 “Seriously Ugly Design Concepts”…

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It’s Ralf Schumacher’s birthday today!

RichardsF1    Birthdays, F1 News, Past F1 Figures     Ralf Schumacher

It’s the younger Schumacher’s 35th birthday today!

In between plotting his comeback to Formula 1, we hope the six-time Grand Prix winner has a happy birthday today!

[Original image via The Cahier Archive]

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Greg Rust

RichardsF1    Exclusive Interviews, Greg Rust     Greg Rust, Media, OneHD

Greg Rust

Greg Rust is the face of Australian motorsport broadcasting and commentary in Australia, and is one of the most versatile in his field, fronting the OneHD broadcast for both Formula 1 and MotoGP.

His passion for motorsport started at a very tender age, and being born into a family who loved it was very much the catalyst for this. He performed in the competitive arena in his early twenties, and achieved class wins in rally sprints and khanna crosses, but his favourite discipline was – and still is – karting, and he tries to get behind the wheel whenever his schedule permits.

His ability behind the wheel in the club scene were perhaps not matched by his abilities behind the microphone, and it in this field where he has truly excelled, although he would be the first to admit that he almost fell into the role by accident. He trained at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School and under the tutelage of voice-over king Max Rowley, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Rust earned his stripes commentating for Sprint Kart races and got a big step up when given the opportunity to commentate on the support races for the 1996 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

By 1998, he was part of Channel Ten’s V8 Supercars’ commentary team, working as a pit lane reporter and very much a part of the many award-winning broadcasts the network was part of. Such was his skill and acclaim that he was given the role of pit lane reporter for Channel Ten’s broadcasts of the Gold Coast Indy and Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix events.

As the One network was born, it has seemed natural that Rust would front up much of its bulging motorsports portfolio, and he works passionately to cover the network’s broadcasting of Formula 1, motorcycle racing and rallying, among a host of other disciplines.

Greg kindly accepted an interview request from Richard’s F1 to chat about his career and the enjoyment he gains as the face of motorsport broadcasting in Australia, among a host of other topics in a fascinating and enlightening interview. We extend our thanks to the media team at One for their assistance in making this interview possible.

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Richard’s F1 is on holiday!

RichardsF1    F1 News    

The team at Richard’s F1 will be taking a much-needed and hopefully-deserved holiday in Bali, Indonesia, this week!

But don’t panic! We have a host of articles set to be published this week to keep your appetite going while we’re away, including a new Richard’s Top 10 feature on the “Ugliest Design Concepts” ever to grace the F1 grid!

We’re also publishing an exclusive interview with OneHD’s Greg Rust, who is the host of Australia’s F1 TV broadcast, and a thoroughly experienced motorsports journalist – a great read!

We’ll be taking our laptops along with us, but as we’re unsure of the internet situation in our hotel, I can’t guarantee how frequent or at what quantity we’ll be providing you with the latest news, rumours, analysis and humour of all things motorsport! We’ll certainly be doing our best and we hope that you’ll forgive the momentary slow-down in content.

European GP: Final Classification

RichardsF1    F1 2010, Results    

	Driver		Team	Laps	Result
1.	Sebastian Vettel		Red Bull Renault	57	1:40.29.571
2.	Lewis Hamilton		McLaren Mercedes	57	+ 5.042
3.	Jenson Button*		McLaren Mercedes	57	+ 12.658
4.	Rubens Barrichello*		Williams Cosworth	57	+ 25.627
5.	Robert Kubica*		Renault	57	+ 27.122
6.	Adrian Sutil*		Force India Mercedes	57	+ 30.168
7.	Kamui Kobayashi		Sauber Ferrari	57	+ 30.965
8.	Fernando Alonso		Ferrari	57	+ 32.809
9.	Sébastien Buemi*		Toro Rosso Ferrari	57	+ 36.299
10.	Nico Rosberg		Mercedes GP	57	+ 44.382
11.	Felipe Massa		Ferrari	57	+ 46.621
12.	Pedro de la Rosa*		Sauber Ferrari	57	+ 47.414
13.	Jaime Alguersuari		Toro Rosso Ferrari	57	+ 48.239
14.	Vitaly Petrov*		Renault	57	+ 48.287
15.	Michael Schumacher		Mercedes GP	57	+ 48.826
16.	Vitantonio Liuzzi*		Force India Mercedes	57	+ 49.890
17.	Lucas di Grassi		Virgin Cosworth	56	+ 1 lap
18.	Karun Chandhok		HRT Cosworth	55	+ 2 laps
19.	Timo Glock**		Virgin Cosworth	55	+ 2 laps
20.	Bruno Senna		HRT Cosworth	55	+ 2 laps
21.	Jarno Trulli		Lotus Cosworth	53	+ 4 laps
	Not Classified
	Nico Hülkenberg		Williams Cosworth	49	Exhaust
	Heikki Kovalainen		Lotus Cosworth	8	Collision
	Mark Webber		Red Bull Renault	8	Collision

* Denotes 5-second time penalty applied post-race for running at excessive speed during the Safety Car deployment.
** Denotes 20-second time penalty applied post-race for not respecting the waved blue flags.

European GP: As It Happened

RichardsF1    F1 2010, Race Reviews    

Open the article in full and click ‘Refresh’ to see updated content during the race broadcast.

You’re also welcome to interact with me via Twitter, Live Messenger (search for richard@richardsf1.com) or email. Your comments could be posted to the ongoing article as well!

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It’s Nico Rosberg’s birthday today!

RichardsF1    Birthdays, F1 News     Nico Rosberg

Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg is celebrating his 25th birthday today!

The F1 fans certainly haven’t forgotten about it, and a group were photographed holding this cute banner in his honour.

No doubt the young German will be hoping for a birthday present of a points’ result – failing catastrophic mechanical failure for each of the eleven cars that line up ahead of him on the grid!

We wish Nico a happy birthday today!

[Original image via Twitter]

Webber and Red Bull fined €10,000

RichardsF1    F1 News     FIA, Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing, Rules

The FIA race stewards have fined Mark Webber and his Red Bull team a hefty €10,000 for being released into the path of another car in the Valencia pit lane during Saturday’s qualifying session.

Announced after the session that saw Webber just miss out on another pole position by less than one-hundredth of a second, the FIA statement did not state which car Webber had nearly collected in breaching Article 23.1 (j) of the Sporting Regulations.

Kobayashi downcast over another Q1 knockout

RichardsF1    F1 News     Kamui Kobayashi, Pedro de la Rosa, Sauber

The single point earned in Turkey must seem like a distant memory for Kamui Kobayashi and the Sauber team, which had hoped the good result was finally going to indicate an upswing in the team’s fortunes after a torrid start to its 2010 campaign.

Sadly, this seems far from the case, as the Swiss squad has succeeded – via Kobayashi – in being eliminated in Q1 at the subsequent rounds in Canada, and now Valencia.

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European GP: Post-Qualifying Press Conference

RichardsF1    F1 News     Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, McLaren, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel

TV UNILATERALS

Q. Sebastian, congratulations. Fastest man in final practice, quickest man in Q1, Q2 and when it counts, in Q3. And as the team said on the radio ‘Welcome Back’.

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it is good. The last couple of races we didn’t have a very smooth run. Saturdays usually we were quite okay but then Sundays sometimes was a bit rough but it is good. Those types of circuits, Canada the last time and then here again Valencia in Spain, usually shouldn’t be our strongest but it is good that we are able to put the car on pole and I think our pace is looking good. It was a tight qualifying session in the end. Not much between us all. I had two runs. In the first run I had a huge moment in the first sector and I knew I had to put everything in the second run and it worked and yeah, I am on pole and very happy for today. I think it was a very tough one here especially as we re-introduced the F-duct and a lot of other things to the car and I think some of the mechanics had maybe one hour or two hours this night to sleep, so it is good to say thank you that way and put the cars on one and two.

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