Eddie Jordan backs Lewis Hamilton for the 2010 formula one title

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Launch

Former formula one team owner Eddie Jordan seems to have picked Lewis Hamilton as his favourite driver for the 2010 formula one season. The prediction is important because last year’s formula one champion Jenson Button will be driving the same car as Lewis Hamilton disregarding the fact that McLaren has had Lewis Hamilton with them for a long long time and in the past there have been some pretty strong accusations of favouritism within the team.

Eddie Jordan

“I can’t get my head away from Lewis Hamilton,” said Eddie Jordan.

“He’s sharp. He’s got talent and the return to the sport of Michael Schumacher will only add to that aggression for him to succeed.

“It is perfect for him. My money wouldn’t be anywhere but on Hamilton.”

But more interestingly Eddie Jordan seemed to be hinting that the testing times at Valencia didnt matter where Felipe Massa proved to be the fastest. Eddie insisted that the McLaren team would eventually come through. One may remember that he had called Hamilton’s chances slim in the 2007 season when Hamilton was new to the grid. The fact that he is praising Lewis Hamilton now does seem to be a pretty strong backing for formula one’s young Brit sensation.

“If anybody understands about trying to fool the bookies into a false sense of security, then this is what’s happening.

“I wouldn’t put any credence at all on what’s going on at the moment. What matters is what happens in Bahrain on that first Sunday.

“We saw how bad McLaren were in the first half of last season. I went on record saying it was the worst car ever and they still came back.

“I think the momentum is with McLaren and Hamilton is a class act.”

New Photos from the Mercedes Petronas 2010 Challenger launch

Mercedes Petronas 2010 challenger

Mercedes GP revealed their new challenger on 25th January 2010. Stupid me thought that a new media ID was needed to access the site, turns out the BrawnGp era ID works on the media site, so we have the new photos of their challenger and ofcourse of Michael Schumacher who looks 30 and not 41 and also Nico Rosberg who looks 16 :P

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Narain Karthikeyan awarded Padma Shree (Indian Civilian Honour)

Just got the following press release from Narain’s camp :

Narain Karthikeyan 2009 Padma Shri

“The Fastest Indian in The World”, Narain Karthikeyan has been honoured by the Government of India by bestowing upon him the Padma Shri Award in recognition of his distinguished contribution in the sphere of sports. This is a great honour, not only for Narain himself, but also recognizes Indian Motorsport for the first time in history. Up to 2009, only 2,255 people have been granted this distinct honour.

Upon learning of his award, Narain said, “I am deeply honoured and humbled by the Government of India in receiving this award. It is truly a great day, not only in my life, but also in the life of Indian Motorsport. I have countless people to thank and credit for this achievement – first and foremost of which is my family, without whose unrelenting support, my career would not have taken the path it has. My sponsors, the Tata Group, Bharat Petroleum, JK Tyres and Amaron, who have supported me for so many years, as well as MRF Tyres, with whom I have recently entered into a partnership, have also been crucial to my success as a racing driver. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every person at all of these companies who have supported and believed in me for so many years. Last, but not least, I owe a huge debt of thanks to all of my fans, who have cheered me on through all of my successes. I dedicate this award to all of them.”

The Castrol Motorsport Rankings powered by Autosport, the world’s leading publication on motorsport, were recently launched at the Autosport International Exhibition in Birmingham, UK. In these first ever definitive motorsport ranking system, Narain Karthikeyan has been rated as the top Indian racing driver in the world, ranking 126th out of 2,000 drivers in the overall world classifications, a massive 1,353 points, and 75 places ahead of his nearest Indian rival.

Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello for Williams F1 in 2010

Lets take a look at the Williams F1 team, they have changed both their drivers this season. They have gone in for the experienced + rookie combo (we know that doesnt always work out BTW). They have managed to rope in Rubens Barrichello from last season’s champions the Brawn GP team plus the new German in town Nico Hulkenberg who recently topped the GP2 driver’s championship.

Apart from GP2 , he has some impressive performances in Formula 3 and A1GP. Rubens Barrichello will surely have his plate full.

Nico Hulkenberg:

Nico Hulkenberg at Williams

Rubens Barrichello  :Rubens Barrichello at Williams

They would be using the Cosworth engine and do retain AT&T as their main sponsors.

Yamaha scared of losing Valentino Rossi to Ferrari

Valentino Rossi Testing Ferrari Team

Days after Valentino Rossi confirmed that he has no plans to join formula one, Rossi clocked excellent times testing a Ferrari formula one car. At the end of test of testing Valentino Rossi had clocked around 600 kms. Valentino tested the F2008.

Ferrari’s official release read:

Valentino was extremely happy with his lap time of 1.21.900, clocked on the penultimate lap, almost over the time limit the team was allowed to use the Catalan track: “We kept the last three quarters of an hour to try a ‘time attack’ with little petrol and fresh tyres. I would have given anything for such a lap time.” Rossi said that he had much more fun compared to his last experience in Mugello in November 2008. “It’s more fun here, because it’s a little bit easier. It’s more effort in Mugello, but this track here is really wonderful, with motorbikes and cars, although I have to say that turn 10 is a little tight (the one with the spins) and you’re braking much later.”

Luca Baldisserri commented on the “Doctor’s” adventure positively: “We tried different set ups and he improved a lot: this means that the driver learns quickly and has room for improvement.” Before Valentino left the track he wanted to thank the whole team: “I want to thank Ferrari, but especially Domenicali and Montezemolo, for giving me this present.”

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But Yamaha wasnt that pleased :D , they were worried that Ferrari might gobble up their star instead of another MotoGP team.

“I have to be worried about these excellent times because Valentino really could get the desire to change sport” Yamaha team manager Davide Brivio was quoted as saying

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