HRT confirms Yamamoto, Senna for Hungary

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Bruno Senna, Hispania Racing, Karun Chandhok, Sakon Yamamoto

HRT has confirmed that it will retain the same driver line-up it used for the German Grand Prix – that being Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto – for this weekend’s Hungarian event, leaving the team’s regular driver Karun Chandhok out in the cold for another weekend.

Yamamoto reportedly comes armed with some $5M in much-needed sponsorship backing, and has deputised for both Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok at the British and German Grands Prix, respectively.

HRT team owner all but confirms Toyota tie-in

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Hispania Racing, Toyota

Hispania Racing Team owner José Ramón Carabante has all but confirmed speculation that his struggling outfit is set to start a technical tie-in with Toyota from the 2011 season.

Team boss Colin Kolles had admitted at last weekend’s German Grand Prix that a technical collaboration with the Japanese marque’s Cologne-based former F1 operation would be a “good option” for HRT.

Under the two-year agreement, HRT – whose technical partnership with this year’s chassis builder, Dallara, has been terminated – will use Toyota’s GQ and windtunnel, staff and the designs of its as-yet unraced TF110 car.

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Top Gear S15E04 Review

RichardsF1    Season 15     James May, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, The Stig

Broadcast a week ago in the UK, the Top Gear team produced another spectacular episode for their fans’ enjoyment, with tonight’s episode featuring a special challenge.

More on that later…

The episode opens with Jeremy Clarkson comparing the latest offerings in the high-priced drop-top market: the Audi R8 V10 Spyder and the Porsche 997 Turbo Cabriolet. While both are for sale at identical prices, the Audi is equipped with the more powerful engine, while the Porsche is lighter. But which one emerges on top?

Looky-Likey #7

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Looky-Likey, Max Mosley

Max Mosley, the man formerly in charge of all things automotive (particularly F1)

Charlton Heston, the man formerly in charge of all-things automatic (particularly MF1 machine guns)

Audi unveils A7 Sportback

RichardsF1    Motoring    

Luxury car maker Audi has taken the wraps off its latest model in its bulging portfolio, with the A7 Sportback being unveiled.

As the manufacturer’s answer to the Mercedes-Benz CLS and BMW 5-Series Gran Turismo, the Q7 Sportback – first shown off as a concept car at last year’s Detroit Motor Show – is a cross between a coupe and a large sedan, which will go on sale in Australia in early 2011.

Australian International Motor Show already oversubscribed

RichardsF1    Motoring     Australian International Motor Show

The 2010 Australian International Motor Show (AIMS) is already oversubscribed, with high demand for space from Australia’s leading car companies, event organisers have confirmed in their latest press release.

The hugely anticipated show will be held at Sydney’s Convention & Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour from 15-24 October, marking it as the first major motor show in Australia since the Melbourne event in March 2009 and the first in Sydney for two years.

The 2010 show will be the first under a joint-venture arrangement that will see the show alternate between Sydney and Melbourne each year.

Support for this year’s show has been so strong that event organisers have been struggling to cater for each manufacturer’s requests for floor space at the venue.

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Button and Michibata back together

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Jenson Button, Martin Whitmarsh

It would seem that Jenson Button has copied Lewis Hamilton in the relationship stakes – by reuniting with his ex-girlfriend.

It was confirmed in May that the defending World Champion and his long-time squeeze, Japanese fashion model Jessica Michibata, had split.

Shortly after the break-up, Button rebuffed prying media questions about the parting of ways by jokingly suggesting that he had now hooked up with McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh!

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Schumacher contests speeding charge

RichardsF1    Formula 1     FIA, Michael Schumacher, Rules

Michael Schumacher is contesting a road speeding charge, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Police slapped the seven-time World Champion with a €140 fine for allegedly being behind the wheel of a rented Weismann sports car snapped exceeding the 100km/h speed limit by 20km/h.

But the German is denying that he is depicted behind the wheel in the speed camera’s photograph.

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Ford unveils new Explorer

RichardsF1    Motoring    

The Ford Motor Company has finally unveiled – after months of teasing a captive audience via Facebook – an updated version of its Explorer model.

Does anyone else find it remarkably similar to a Range Rover, or is it just me? That front grill and ‘floating’ rear window are very much trademarks of Range Rover styling.

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The ‘team orders’ debate

RichardsF1    Features    

Yesterday’s German Grand Prix has brought the elephant in the room – that elephant being team orders – back into conversation among F1 fans, professionals, pundits and the media alike.

The controversial 2002 Austrian Grand Prix

Indeed, the reactions have said plenty. Commentators were left pondering how Ferrari would wrangle its way out of its drivers switching positions in front of a TV audience of millions. A TV audience that was marvelling at Felipe Massa’s strongest performance of the season, ready to claim a poetic win exactly a year after his life-threatening smash, was instead left disheartened.

The casual observer might be left pondering whether F1 is truly a sport. The more seasoned fan – perhaps more familiar with the scope and history of F1 – might view this differently. It is indeed understandably, and acceptable, that fans from all spectrums will view yesterday’s race very differently…

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Cruise & Diaz tear up the Top Gear track

RichardsF1    Top Gear     James May, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, The Stig, Top Gear

Top Gear secured arguably their highest-profile ‘Stars in a Reasonably Priced Car’ on the latest episode of the series, which broadcast in the UK on Sunday night.

Promoting their action comedy Knight and Day, actors Cameron Diaz and the world’s most precocious scientologist Tom Cruise were the guest stars given the opportunity to thrash the KIA Cee’d around the show’s test track to bid for the fastest lap time of all.

Both managed to knock over the 1:45.5 record held (and set just two episodes previously) by Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint, with Diaz cursing and swearing her way to a time of 1:45.2, and Cruise immediately beating that with a 1:44.2.

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Honda Indy Edmonton Review

RichardsF1    IndyCar, Race Reviews    

Controversy was the order of the day at the Edmonton Indycar race today, as Helio Castroneves crossed the finish line first, took the chequered flag, but was later disqualified for failing to serve a drive-through penalty for blocking Will Power very late in the race. This handed victory to Scott Dixon, who had managed to pass Power for 2nd place in the same corner. Our IndyCar correspondent Matt Lennon dissects a controversial race in Edmonton…

Following a late yellow-flag caution period, the race restarted with two laps remaining in the 95-lap contest. Will Power took an opportunity to attack race-leader Helio Castroneves into Turn 1, and moved out from the slipstream to the outside of the corner to attempt a pass around the outside. Castroneves held the inside line, and with Power very wide on the right, moved a little to the left to improve his speed and his chances through the corner. IndyCar officials viewed this as an attempt at blocking, and swiftly penalised Helio with a drive-through penalty.

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Media frenzy over Ferrari team orders

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Christian Horner, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Helmut Marko, Martin Whitmarsh, Media, Rules

The Ferrari team orders scandal is the best news that rival team Red Bull has received all year, as for once the Milton Keynes team is not the one trying to shy away from the scathing media spotlight.

This time it’s Ferrari doing the dodging of the spotlight – and the questions, one might add – after their ham-fisted management of the German Grand Prix in which Felipe Massa ceded a potentially popular win to his team-mate Fernando Alonso.

The post-race press conference made for very interesting viewing, with the media getting well and truly stuck into Alonso and team. Some reporters suggested that the Spaniard risked winning a “dirty” championship, and went as far as to compare yesterday’s race victory with that of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, the source of the ‘Crashgate’ scandal.

Rubens rubs it in!

RichardsF1    Formula 1, Top Gear     Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello, The Stig, Top Gear

While Rubens Barrichello might never be in a position to take a race win with Williams this season, there is certainly one particular triumph he has been very keen to trumpet.

Following the British Grand Prix, those who weren’t glued to the World Cup Final broadcast on TV would have discovered that Rubens became quite the cult hero when he set the fastest ever time on the Top Gear show’s ‘F1 Star in a Reasonably Priced Car’, hauling the ageing Suzuki Liana around the track in a record time of 1:44.3 – the fastest time set by any celebrity in any car during the show’s history, and even quicker than that of The Stig.

The Brazilian had been gagged about his appearance on the show during the British Grand Prix weekend, and this meant that Germany presented him with the first opportunity to hit Sir Frank Williams up for a pay rise gloat about his achievement.

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Could Yamamoto stay in the HRT cockpit for Hungary?

RichardsF1    Driver Market, Formula 1     Bruno Senna, Christian Klien, Hispania Racing, Karun Chandhok, Sakon Yamamoto

It seems that Sakon Yamamoto might yet be in the Hispania Racing cockpit for a little longer…

The Japanese driver – reportedly armed with some $5M in sponsorship – has competed in two Grands Prix this season, replacing Bruno Senna for the British Grand Prix, and Senna’s team-mate Karun Chandhok for the German Grand Prix.

However, Chandhok – from whom the logos of his chief sponsor, Jaypee, were still visible on the car at Hockenheim – is adamant that he will return to the fray at next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

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