Rubens Barrichello has had an illustrious formula one career, Wikipedia tells me that he is the eight highest point scorer ever in formula one. Now that is a big deal. I still remember his feisty driving in his early days with Jordan and Stewart.

He then moved to the Ferrari formula one team. He had a successful stint at Ferrari but was essentially the number 2 driver for the team, always shadowing Michael Schumacher.

How can we ever forget the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, his number 2 status was confirmed when he was asked to hold off on the throttle to let Michael Schumacher go past and win the race. Ofcourse this move was criticized very heavily and Michael himself handed over the winner trophy and podium position to Rubens Barrichello who was in tears.

After his stint in Ferrari, Barrichello moved to Honda  becoming teammates with then novice Jenson Button. He was however outpaced by Button at most races in his seasons at the Honda formula one team. He was never really able to find his footing in the team and soon the Honda formula one team shut shop and the team was bought over by Ross Brawn and rechristened Brawn GP.

This would be Barrichello’s phoenix moment, using some clever rule interpretations, Brawn GP was able to secure the fastest car on the grid, but still Barrichello was behind Button and couldn’t outpace him for most of the season. He however finished third in the championship forcing critics to think that he may still have something in him. But that feeling was shortlived.

Its been downhill since then, he joined the Williams F1 team after Brawn and was a dud. And now the Williams formula one team has decided to replace him with Bruno Senna leaving Rubens Barrichello without a formula one seat for the 1st time in many many years.

There were rumours of Barrichello looking around at other formula one teams but then news reports came out confirming that he would be testing in Indy. Most probably this is the end of the road for the Brazilian, much like Juan Pablo Montoya who joined NASCAR after his formula one stint never to come back.

Lewis Hamilton was on an unconventional three stop strategy and in the end that seemed to have made the difference with his McLaren outclassing the Red Bull of Vettel. The fresher tyres ensured he was able to overtake the Red Bull. It was nice to see strategy again playing a part in the races after the Red Bulls have truly shown technological dominance on the racetrack (Interpretation of Rules again ?, someone please enlighten !). Sebastien Vettel has already won the 1st 2 formula one races and does seem to be on-track for a successful title defense.

Mark Webber was third and Jenson Button took the 4th place. Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg outclassed Michael Schumacher once again and was 5th while the veteran German could manage only 8th. Questions are again being asked about the German’s comeback decision and whether it was a disastrous decision to make. Personally I am proud of him, it takes courage to put your legacy on the line like he has

Sorry for the short and intermittent updates, too much work these day ! But like all things , this too shall pass !

November 14th is celebrated as Children’s Day in India in memory of Jawaharlal Nehru who was the 1st PM of India, what an apt day for Formula One to get its toungest even formula one champion. Sebastien Vettel drove an almost perfect race to clinch the F1 title beating closest rival Fernando Alonso by just 4 points. Sebastian Vettel took the chequered flag at the Yas Marina circuit to win the Abu Dhabi grand prix ahead of all his championship rivals.

The situation that Sebastian Vettel was in was similar to what Kimi Raikkonen was in a few years ago when he had pipped Lewis Hamilton to take the crown despite having the odds stacked against him. After the race Vettel acknowledged that the same was in the back of his head.

One also has to spare a thought for the Spaniard Fernando Alonso who fought valiantly in his Ferrari but couldn’t match the straight line speed of the Renaults in the end. He slipped and slid all over the track but still couldn’t pass the Russian Vikaly Petrov’s Renault.

Fernando Alonso wasn’t the only person to be heartbroken by the result, Vettel also dealt a blow to his teammate Mark Webber’s plans of celebrating his maiden F1 title. Webber finished the race behind Alonso in 8th place and the championship behind Alonso with 242 points losing out on the title by 14 points in the end.

Lewis Hamilton too wasn’t spared by Sebastian Vettel who smashed his record of being the youngest ever formula one champion at the age of 23.

Concluding, We would like to write that this young champion has heart and this surely isn’t the last we hear of him  . This surely was a fitting end for the season.

In other news AT&T Williams F1 have confirmed Rubens Barrichello for 2011. More on that later.

To start winning all you have to do is head on over to the website and register yourself. After registering you will be asked to choose the top ten drivers and that’s it.

If you score high then you get to take home the prizes. I am playing too

Contest Ends 15-November-2010 !

Register for the Race To Finish contest here

Thanks to them we will also be holding a giveaway for some cool Vodafone McLaren Mercedes sometime in the future. Stay Tuned for that !

The Indian Grand Prix which is scheduled to be organised from the 2011 season is very much on track if the officials involved with the track, its construction and operation are to be believed. The Indian Grand Prix circuit which is coming up in Noida near New Delhi in the NCR region has been marred by hiccups with the sports ministry refusing to recognise formula one as a sport and refusing to sanction tax breaks and incentives for the same. The company incharge of the track and the race isnt worried though. The Jaypee Group, one of the leading conglomerates of India is the company entrusted with organising formula one in India for the next ten years.

Mark Hughes who is the former boss of operations at the Bahrain Grand Prix is the man incharge of the Indian formula one circuit. He is very optimistic about the Indian Grand Prix race in 2011. Addressing a section of the media, he was quoted as saying :

“We fully expect the race to go ahead next October,” vice president of JPSK Sports, a Jaypee Group subsidiary, Mark Hughes said.

“The circuit is part of a sports city being constructed 35 kilometres outside the Indian capital on a 2,800 acre site with areas set aside for the Formula One track and a 100,000-seater international cricket stadium,” Hughes added.

“Jaypee Group head Jaiprakash Gaur is passionate about sport and he has a dream to develop Indian youngsters with talent and prospects to progress,” Hughes added. “The sports hub is part of that dream.”

“We expect to complete construction by July 2011 and once the FIA has given its approval we can finalise training for marshals, track officials and medical staff in time for an October race.”

He also revealed details about the track and that formula one teams were sent simulations of the Indian Grand Prix track and asked for their inputs to the same.

“We sent the details to all the teams and they programmed the information into their simulators and gave us feedback on where we could make improvements and add overtaking opportunity points.”

P.S. The logo above is not the Official logo, its a fan logo designed by us.

Apologies for no photo of the winning driver, apparently Red Bull’s media department is not approving our application to use their photos for editorial purposes.

Red Bull really did give Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber wings with the duo grabbing a 1-2 at the 2010 formula one Malaysian Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg was third for the Mercedes GP formula one team (erstwhile Brawn GP) while his teammate Michael Schumacher was unlucky yet again as a nut came off his car’s wheel and he was forced to retire. Before that Michael Schumacher in a strong start had made up 2 places.

Sebastien Vettel proved that if you are good enough and if you drive good enough, victory will come and luck factor will diminish. After 2 unlucky races, Malaysia proved to be third time lucky.

Lewis Hamilton was another the start performer of the day though, the Briton made his way up from 20th on the grid to sixth place. His teammate Jenson Button was 8th at the finish line.

Meanwhile Spaniard and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso called the Malaysian Grand Prix the toughest race of his life. He suffered a gearbox problem and apparently no clutch in the race.

“Right from the start things went wrong. On the formation lap, my gearbox broke, and I had no clutch during the race,” Fernando Alonso said.

“So I had to brake in a weird way. I had to first gear down and then push the throttle hard so it would engage the gear for that corner.

“So it was probably the hardest race of my whole life in terms of driving, because I had to improvise for every corner.

Final Classification of the Malaysian Grand Prix 2010

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts

1 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 56 1:33:48.412 3 25

2 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 56 +4.8 secs 1 18

3 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 56 +13.5 secs 2 15

4 11 Robert Kubica Renault 56 +18.5 secs 6 12

5 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 56 +21.0 secs 4 10

6 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 56 +23.4 secs 20 8

7 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 56 +27.0 secs 21 6

8 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 56 +37.9 secs 17 4

9 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 56 +70.6 secs 14 2

10 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 56 +73.3 secs 5 1

11 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 56 +78.9 secs 13

12 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 55 +1 Lap 7

13 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 54 +2 Laps 19

14 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 53 +3 Laps 24

15 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 53 +3 Laps 22

16 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 52 +4 Laps 23

17 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 51 +5 Laps 18

Ret 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 46 +10 Laps 15

Ret 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 32 +24 Laps 11

Ret 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 12 +44 Laps 10

Ret 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 9 +47 Laps 8

Ret 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 8 +48 Laps 9

Ret 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 2 +54 Laps 16

DNS 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0 +56 Laps 12

Rubens Barrichello’s helmet :

Nico Hulkenberg:

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

Nico Hulkenberg:

Rubens Barrichello  :

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

“Guess who opposed the test with the F60?” was the statement on Ferrari’s website

“A team that hasn’t won anything for years and yet didn’t pass over the opportunity to demonstrate once more a lack of spirit of fair play.”

The obvious reference is to the Williams formula one team.

Meanwhile the Ferrari website has posted an interview of Felipe Massa.

Felipe Massa Post Accident Interview :

How do you feel? What do you remember from the accident?

“It is sort of a strange feeling. I know exactly what happened, that a spring came off Rubens’ car and hit me on the helmet. I know that something happened to me, but I didn’t feel anything when it happened. They told me that I lost consciousness at the moment of the spring’s impact on my helmet and I ran into the barriers, then I woke up in hospital two days later. I don’t remember anything and that’s why what the doctors did had to be explained to me. When I saw Rob (Smedley, his race engineer), he asked me if I remembered Rubens, but the last thing I remembered was when I was behind him at the end of my fast lap in Q2, and than it’s blank. It’s difficult to explain. I’m feeling much better now and I want to recover as soon as possible to get back behind the wheel of a Ferrari.”

Do you want to thank anyone?

“First of all I want to thank God. Then I want to thank the doctors at the race track and at Budapest’s AEK hospital, who have done a lot for me, and Dino Altmann, who came with my family from Brazil and who was extraordinary over the last days.

But I also want to thank everybody who prayed and who wrote to me via my own and Ferrari’s website, hoping that everything went well. So many people wrote to me, also many who aren’t interested in Formula 1, but had heard about what happened to me: thank you so much and I want to tell them that I’m praying also for them. I would have done the same if an accident had happened to another driver: I would have prayed for him that everything went well.”

How much help was the fact that your family was here over the last days?

“My family is important to me. They have always been close to me during my career, victories and defeats, and the most difficult moments. There was only Edoardo at Budapest, but when the accident happened Raffaela, my father, my mother and then my sister came to Hungary. I know that they’ve suffered a lot and I want to thank them. And then there’s another family I have to thank: the Ferrari family. They were great, they helped us in any possible way and it’s a great thing to be part of this group.”

What’s your first wish when you get back to Brazil?

“Coming back to my home, checking that everything is as it was before. Many things have happened over the last days and I want to get back to a normal life. I want to get back into the best possible condition, doing things you do every day.”

For a while your car will be driven by Michael Schumacher: do you have any advice for him?

“Michael doesn’t need my advice! It was him who gave me many tips during my career when we were racing together. He knows how to win, he knows how to drive and he’s great: it was the best choice handing over the car to such a fantastic person and I’m sure that everybody will be happy to see him back on the track again. Although I hope I’ll be back on the track with Ferrari as soon as possible.

In an official media statement, the Williams formula one team had said :

Oxford, UK. 27 May, 2009. Following Monday’s confirmation that the team has submitted its formal entry for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Formula One Teams Association has today decided temporarily to suspend Williams F1 from membership of FOTA.  

Frank Williams, Team Principal: “FOTA’s decision, although regrettable, is understandable. However, as a racing team and a company whose only business is Formula One, with obligations to our partners and our employees, submitting our entry to next year’s Championship was unquestionable. In addition, we are legally obliged under our contract with FOM and the FIA to participate in the World Championship until the end of 2012.”