Top Gear S16E02 Review

RichardsF1    Season 16     James May, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, The Stig

The latest instalment of Top Gear hit the BBC airwaves yesterday and the much of this episode concentrates on the Ashes challenge run between the UK hosts and the host of Top Gear Australia.

Now, the Australian show broadcast this episode late last year as part of kicking off its third series – we happened to be present for the studio filming of this episode – and it’s interesting to see the same challenges from the perspective of the UK show, particularly now that Australia was summarily thumped by England in the actual Ashes cricket series!

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Renault’s R31 unwrapped

RichardsF1    Driver Market, F1 2011, Formula 1, Launches     Bruno Senna, Eric Boullier, Fairuz Fauzy, Ho-Pin Tung, Renault, Romain Grosjean

Immediately following Sauber’s launch of its C30 car, the Renault F1 team has taken the covers off its 2011 championship contender, the R31.

Bedecked in its much-discussed black-and-gold livery brought about by heavy investment from Group Lotus, the car was presented by team bosses Gerard Lopez and Eric Boullier, as well as the team’s main drivers Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov.

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Sauber launches C30 challenger

RichardsF1    F1 2011, Formula 1, Launches     Peter Sauber, Sauber

Sauber has become the latest outfit to reveal its 2011 challenger, the Ferrari-powered C30.

The team released a couple of official website snaps before Kamui Kobayshi and Sergio Pérez took the covers off the new car – the first to be designed for the team under the watch of technical director James Key – in a freezing Valencia pit lane.

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He’s back for another try…

RichardsF1    Driver Market, Formula 1     Renault, Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean will be confirmed later today as the second test and reserve driver alongside Fairuz Fauzy at the Renault F1 team’s car launch later today.

After a stint as the outfit’s test driver, the Frenchman drove a few races for the team as Nelson Piquet Jr’s replacement in 2009, and failed to impress, whereby he was dropped by the squad and confined to rebuilding his career in GP2 and the Auto GP series.

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Team Lotus takes the wraps off the T128

RichardsF1    F1 2011, Formula 1, Launches     Jarno Trulli, Mike Gascoyne, Team Lotus, Tony Fernandes

Team Lotus has become the latest outfit to unveil its 2011 car, dubbed the T128, via its website.

Running a green-and-gold livery once again, the car features more yellow notes and more prominent Renault signage, in deference to its new engine partner for the 2011 season.

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Dyer dumped to Ferrari factory role

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Ferrari, Technical

Chris Dyer’s ‘redefined’ role at Ferrari has finally been confirmed, with the Australian race engineer consigned to a factory-based role following an internal reshuffle in the team’s technical departments.

Dyer was pinpointed as the decision-maker in bringing Fernando Alonso into the pits early in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to cover the similarly-pitting Mark Webber, a decision that many believe was the sole reason why Alonso failed to win the 2010 Drivers’ Championship title.

The marriage looks set to to continue…

RichardsF1    Driver Market, Formula 1     Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel has seemingly agreed that recent rumours of a switch to Ferrari can be put to bed.

Despite having been the source of said rumours, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has also confirmed that there is no truth to the recent speculation that Vettel was a possible Ferrari candidate in the near future.

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Mercedes GP gives sneak peek of W02

RichardsF1    F1 2011, Formula 1, Launches     Mercedes GP, Norbert Haug, Ross Brawn

Mercedes GP has released the first official image of its 2011 championship contender, the W02, two days ahead of its official unveiling on Tuesday.

The outfit is part of the majority of the grid avoiding a full-scale launch by opting for a lower-key ‘reveal’ ahead of the new car’s track debut on Tuesday when pre-season testing gets underway. But to give a hint of the look we can expect, the team has issued a CGI mock-up of the new car.

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Three drivers’ birthdays today!

RichardsF1    Birthdays, Former F1 Figures, Formula 1     JJ Lehto, Mauro Baldi

Three former F1 drivers are celebrating their birthdays today: Ernesto Brambilla (77), Mauro Baldi (57) and JJ Lehto (45).

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Before They Were Famous #2

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Before They Were Famous

And just who might this future F1 driver be, posing with such cheekiness for a school photo?