The German Red Bull F1 driver Sebastien Vettel edged Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso to grab the first pole of the 2010 season. Seven time formula one world champion Michael Schumacher who is returning to the track after a sabbatical was seventh in the qualifying with his team-mate Nice Rosberg doing better at 5th place. Vettel’s team-mate was 6th.

Ferrari were the team with most consistent performance in practice and qualifying alike, it seems that this season they might very well be the team to beat, but its still to early to tell.

Newcomer teams like Lotus F1 and HRT F1 (Campos Meta) struggled to make their mark. Some of their times were beyond 2 minutes with Indian rookie Karun Chandhok bringing up the rear for the grid in his HRT F1 car.

Sorry for no qualifying review, but tomorrow, I have an interview with the one of the best schools in India and I wish to get in

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.

“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.”

So these are essentially 2 news items combined into one for your liking plus you will see why we did that. The 1st item is about Jenson Button and his insecurity with Lewis Hamilton due to his long association with the McLaren team. Lewis Hamilton has been associated with the McLaren team since he was a kid (only 12). Jenson Button moves from Brawn GP and is the reigning champion for those of you who werent on this planet last year.

According to The Sun, Lewis Hamilton asked the McLaren bosses : “Is this Lewis’ team?” , he apparently got the reply : “No, it is Lewis’s team and your team.”

Lets hope they keep that promise, we all know what happened when Ronn Dennis claimed the same for Fernando Alonso

Speaking of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, Lewis opened his big mouth again, McLaren had PR people working hard to project Lewis as a nice and likeable young boy, but time and time again he opens his mouth and reveals the arrogant prick he is. Apparently he said “I blew him away” when asked about his season with Fernando Alonso.

Meanwhile Alonso like replied to the comment by saying :

“If I have to answer to all that he says I would use up too much time,”

“McLaren, though, are a good team and when I went there it was a nice moment for me,” Fernando Alonso said

In other news, McLaren will reveal their new challenger on the 29th of January 2010.

We are in British Tabloid mode today (everything written here is in good humour, please don’t give me hate mails ), yesterday as I was going through formula one related news, there was 1 particular item which caught my eye, right there at the headlines was the news about Lewis Hamilton’s break-up. Oh Boy ! , Nothing better to start the day than with the story of one of Britain’s top driver’s break-up with Pussycat Doll singer Nicole Scherzinger (I swear I had to Google to spell her name ).

But it was a refreshing change also, finally the tabloids did something other than focussing on footballers’ wives for a change. Some of the newspapers were sad (LMAO) that such a scandal free relationship met a premature end (2 years is premature ? ), others like us focussed on the humour in the situation.

Meanwhile Hamilton showed his commitment to the sport by saying that he will move on and that it was never a distraction :

“It never was a distraction but I am not going to take my mind off what I’ve got to do by thinking about it.”

For the Indian fans here, wonder when India TV will pick up the story and show it for 6 hours at a stretch , I can imagine the headline (Driver aur Singer ka Rishta toota, iska zimmedar kaun tha ? ) Roughly translated as Driver and Singer Breakup, Who is responsible ?

They might as well lay the blame on Michael Schumacher’s comeback BTW.

Yesterday was a huge day as far as formula one news goes, Kimi Raikkonen decided to take an year off from formula one, he is supposed to return in 2011, apparently he will be spending 2009 as a rally driver. It was becoming increasingly apparent that Kimi would be asked to leave as Alonso was slated to join the Ferrari F1 team for the 1st time. Luca di Montezemolo was very happy with his boys and praised the team of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso as the best F1 driver combo in formula one. Alonso too was very happy and quoted as saying “It’s the first time I can be part of the Ferrari world from the inside and enjoy the atmosphere. I’m impressed and happy.”

Meanwhile Alonso’s sweater seems like a fashion disaster, ok maybe not, but its cute the way he wants to fit into the Ferrari Red theme

So, moving onto Jenson Button, Jenson Button has moved onto the McLaren team from this year’s title winners Brawn GP. He was reportedly as king for too much and Brawn GP dumped him. His manager i read somewhere said that Brawn couldn’t afford him (need to cross check this). Anyway, McLaren is a total Brit team now, so all the British fans are going to be happy. Also its old blood vs new blood as the Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton rivalry is expected to touch new heights with both of them having the same car. Lets see who wins this very Britty fight

Lewis Hamilton reflects on the race in Brazil and handing his crown to Jenson Button.

So now heading into Monaco which is one of the swankiest formula one grand prix, one wonders what next year would be like ? Would there be no Ferrari and Renault ? Its reported that 7 teams wont be filing by next week’s deadline.

So getting back to the GP, Brawn GP’s Jenson Button is on home turf (technically anyway). He would be poised to claim another win and win the season in record time. Lewis Hamilton is also hopeful of resurgence and is hoping that his McLaren would be able to perform. In an interview he was hopeful for a top 5 finish at this week’s event.

In other news Campos racing has applied for the constructor’s places in the 2010 formula one season. They are one of the first (the first?) teams to do so.

Anyway, this weekend is crucial for the survival and future of formula one. The gut feeling inside me says all will be solved though. Till then, Ciao !

McLaren’s ploy to plead guilty to all charges worked it seems at the WMSC hearing. It seems that the WMSC was impressed by Martin Whitmarsh’s sincere plea to the council and it was also moved by the strict action taken my McLaren with regards to removing the culprits.

As expected the Brit press is jubilant, comparing the incident to Michael Schumacher blocking the qualifying grid in an earlier season. A stupid comparison, as there was no proven effort to mislead the stewards there nor was there an effort to mislead the stewards into giving another team a penalty. Anyway, say anything to McLaren and Brit darling Lewis Hamilton and you can expect the wrath of the British media.

The decision itself is significant as there was talk about Lewis Hamilton probably leaving McLaren if they were banned for the season or something like that. What i don’t get is the following, is Lewis Hamilton a kid who can be misguided by people just like that. He obviously saw an opportunity to get more points and demote another competitor and pounced onto it. David Ryan may very well be a scapegoat, how can he force Lewis Hamilton to lie to the stewards. If tomorrow, Hamilton commits perjury, can you blame his legal team or his lawyers ? , absolutely absurd to consider that Hamilton was misled. He knew he was lying and that’s that.

McLaren has this internal crisis management thing all figured out, even in the Stepneygate scandal, they had initially lied about a lot of stuff including the level of the leakage of info. It was only when emails with proof came out that Ronn Dennis admitted to the gravity of the situation. Otherwise there too McLaren had gotten away scot-free.

Bravo Ronn Dennis : Its McLaren – 1 , Fair Play – 0

For the benefit of the readers : The penalty to McLaren will only be applied if its seen that McLaren has breached more F1 rules or new evidence comes to light in this particular scandal.

It seems to be a ploy to reduce their final punishment , just like a prisoner’s sentence is reduced when he pleads guilty and show remorse, McLaren might be hoping for the same. This is the second time in the recent past after the Stepneygate scandal in 2007 that the McLaren team has been accused of brining formula one into disrepute.

The final decision will be taken by the WMSC who can fine the team, suspend the team from the season, or dock points etc.

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton has denied rumours that he is considering leaving McLaren after the liar-gate scandal.

“I am not thinking about it. We have a goal, we have a target and we are working towards it without distractions. I’m enjoying myself  and I don’t abandon my team when things get tough” Lewis Hamilton said

It is alleged that at the post race hearing of the Austalian Grand Prix,  David Ryan had asked Lewis Hamilton to slow down to let Jarno Trulli pass him. Initially it was thought that the Toyota had committed an offence. Trulli was handed a penalty after the stewards heard Lewis’s testimony. However audio evidence later proved that Lewis Hamilton had lied and hidden important data from stewards just to gain one point more. He was disqualified and McLaren were excluded from Race results.

The statement released by FIA read :

“Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has been invited to appear before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday, 29 April, 2009, to answer charges that, in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, it

- on 29 March, 2009, told the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix that no instructions were given to Hamilton in Car No. 1 to allow Trulli in Car no. 9 to pass when both cars were behind the safety car, knowing this statement to be untrue;

- procured its driver Hamilton the current World Champion, to support and confirm this untrue statement to the stewards;

- although knowing that as a direct result of its untrue statement to the stewards, another driver and a rival team had been unfairly penalised, made no attempt to rectify the situation either by contacting the FIA or otherwise;

- on 2 April, 2009, at a second hearing before the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix, (meeting in Malaysia) made no attempt to correct the untrue statement of 29 March but, on the contrary, continued to maintain that the statement was true, despite being allowed to listen to a recording of the team instructing Hamilton to let Trulli past and despite being given more than one opportunity to correct its false statement;

- on 2 April, 2009, at the second stewards’ hearing, procured its driver Hamilton to continue to assert the truth of the false statement given to the stewards on 29 March, while knowing that what he was saying to the stewards was not true.”

In response McLaren released the following press statement on its Media website :

McLaren acknowledges receipt of an invitation to appear at an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on April 29, received this afternoon.

We undertake to co-operate fully with all WMSC processes, and welcome the opportunity to work with the FIA in the best interests of Formula 1.

This afternoon McLaren and its former sporting director, Dave Ryan, have formally parted company. As a result, he is no longer an employee of any of the constituent companies of the McLaren Group.