F1 In Your Living Room

To anyone who has spent a lot of time building a realistic(ish) F1 simulator out of sofas, cushions and any other household items they could get their hands on, I must apologise but the simulator above far out rates yours.

The simulator can be bought exactly as it is seen above for a ‘mere’ $115,000 in CostCo. If you don’t live in the states, you could be left with a hefty FedEx bill to have it shipped to you.

It’d be worth it though. It’s run off an Inter Core i7 processor gaming PC with 16GB of RAM. For anyone not tech-savvy – that’s pretty nice. Furthermore, there are three 23 inch LCD screens to give you a nice peripheral view of the game. To top it off, the simulator is equipped with a built-in 5.1 surround sound system.

Strangely, all the fancy-pants technical mumbo-jumbo you’ve just read about doesn’t even make up a tenth of the price of the simulator. The remaining $100,000 or so is down to the super-realistic chassis the player sits in. Unfortunately, the simulator doesn’t move as the driver does in-game, but the carbon fibre shell adds to the realistic nature of the simulator and would also be a snug place to take a nap, I’d imagine.

Sato Says No To Formula One Return

Takuma Sato is not looking to make a return to Formula One.

Sato, who claimed his inaugural IndyCar win recently in Brazil, left Formula One in 2008 when the Super-Aguri team he was driving for went bankrupt and left the Jap without a drive.

He made the transition to America where he races in IndyCar and when asked on making a return to Formula One, said “Formula One isn’t the only racing. I had a great opportunity to come here with Jimmy and since then, my focus is 100% in Indy. My first focus is to win races here, win the 500 and win the Championship.”

Despite telling NBC that he was happy with IndyCar, the 36-year-old did reflect on a last-gasp missed opportunity, “I had a huge opportunity with the Toro Rosso team, but unfortunately at the end of the day for some reason that didn’t happen. That was a really shocking moment. Then after that, as well, I had a little opportunity but it just didn’t happen.”

Honda Announce F1 Return

Japanese car manufacturer Honda announced today that it is to make a return to Formula One.

The brand was synonymous with McLaren during their glory days where Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost raced in the famous red and white McLaren. Now, Honda is to reunite with McLaren. The partnership will commence in 2015 when Honda will supply engines and the energy recovery systems to McLaren.

The deal was announced this morning when Honda held a press conference online and were joined by McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh. It comes as McLaren and Whitmarsh and have come under heavy fire from critics for a dismal start to their 2013 campaign which has effectively ruled the team out of a 2013 Championship.

F1 is also preparing for a huge change in the engine regulations, out with the V8 engines and in with the new, more environmentally friendly – and quieter V6 engines. Honda have already began work on the engine in their R&D facility in Tochigi.

The deal will also end the 18-year-old partnership between McLaren and Mercedes.

Sir Richard Branson – The Air Hostess

Meet Sir Richard Branson – entrepeneur and billionaire turned Air Hostess.

Once you’ve gotten over the shock of the photo above, you’ll probably want to figure out why you’re eyes saw that. It all relates to a bet between himself and Tony Fernandes. Tony the owner of AirAsia and the Caterham F1 Team and Richard the owner or Virgin airlines and the Formula One team of the same name. Back in 2010 when Branson owned Virgin Racing and Fernandes owned Lotus, the two billionaires made a bet.

The bet was as to whose team would finish higher in the 2010 Championship. Being billionaires, they saw it as pointless to hold a bet over money and so elected that the forfeit be the loser donning an Air Hostess uniform and serving the winner on a flight. At the end of the season, Virgin were 12th and Lotus were 1oth; Branson had lost.

As a result, Sir Branson shaved his legs, donned make up and fish net stockings aswell as the full stewards uniform. He got his own back however, spilling juice on Tony Fernandes mid-flight between Australia and Malaysia.

All over, Branson reflected brightly on his time as the flight crew, later joking, “I always wanted to be an air hostess.”

Alonso Escapes Post-Race Penalty

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has been given the all clear by stewards following a post-race investigation.

The Spaniard won this afternoon’s Spanish Grand Prix, his first win at the Circuit de Catalunya since 2006, in front of adoring home crowds and pulled over mid-way through his parade lap to accept a Spanish flag from a marshall. He then drove the rest of the lap waving the flag and then placed it over the No.1 marker board in the pitlane.

Stewards however, took a dim view of this and launched a farcical investigation into the incident, demanding that Alonso be at a meeting of the stewards at 17.30 to explain his actions.

Alonso appeared and apparently talked sense into the stewards as he was given the all-clear for “receiving an object after the end-of-race signal”.

His car was also removed from scrutineering as the FIA wanted a closer look at the winning car’s under-belly. This also came to nothing and the F138 was returned to Parc Fermé.

Fiesty Fernando Storms To Spanish Grand Prix Victory

Fernando Alonso has won the Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the lowest starting driver to win at the circuit. Kimi Raikkonen finished second for the third consecutive race while Felipe Massa joined his team-mate on the podium, his first podium finish since last year’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Mercedes were the big surprise on Saturday.  Having focused on long runs during the free-practice sessions, they were essentially ruled out for the top spot on the grid. The sandbagging ended with a stunning lap set by Lewis Hamilton in Q2, bettered again by Nico Rosberg’s Q3 lap to make it three consecutive Silver Arrow pole positions.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez were both dropped for impeding – Massa slowing Webber in T12 while Gutierrez essentially parked on the apex into the T14/15 chicane. So the top five consisted of Rosberg, Hamilton, Vettel, Raikkonen and local-boy Alonso.

Lights out and the Rosberg stormed off the line, followed by Sebastian Vettel who had jumped Lewis Hamilton into T1. Fernando Alonso made a fantastic move around the outside of Hamilton to demote the Briton fourth while Webber dropped down to twelfth and fourteenth placed Jenson Button dropped down to nineteenth.

Rosberg brought back the infamous ‘Trulli Train’ over the next few laps, leading Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Raikkonen and Massa while trying to save his tires. Raikkonen eventually tried to throw the order up, passing Lewis for P4 while Webber made his first stop to try to make up for his poor start.

The yellow flag came out on lap 9 and it was for Romain Grosjean whose Lotus was running with suspension damage. Replays showed that the suspension had seemingly just buckled while racing against Adrian Sutil who too came into the pits with issues. Force India mechanics crawled under the VJM07 and eventually got the German going again, but after a huge delay.

Different pit strategies paid off for Alonso as emerging from the pits, he had jumped Vettel and was challenging Rosberg for second – essentially the lead as Gutierrez was in the provisional lead having not yet pitted. Maldonado was handed a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane as Felipe Massa passed the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel passed Rosberg for P3. Soon Massa demoted Rosberg to fourth and into the clutches of Kimi Raikkonen as the Mercedes’ pace had just evaporated overnight.

Daniel Ricciardo was flying, passing Paul di Resta and then Lewis Hamilton – who had started second and was now eighth. Hamilton may have been disappointed, but not as disappointed as Giedo van der Garde who lost his rear left wheel between T10 and T11. The Dutchman managed to make it back to the Caterham garage but the damage to the undertray was too substantial to continue racing and he became the second retirement of the Grand Prix.

Another round of pit stops saw Fernando Alonso leading team-mate Felipe Massa up front while Kimi Raikkonen attacked – and passed – Sebastian Vettel for the third place on the podium. Lewis Hamilton came on the podium to reluctantly report that he had just been overtaken by the Williams of Pastor Maldonado. He did make it back past the Venezuelan on the following lap, but it was still an embarrassing incident for the front row team.

There was more drama in the pits, this time Nico Hulkenberg was let out of the pits behind Jean-Eric Vergne. The Toro Rosso went to move into his pit slot but found a Sauber blocking his way and the two made contact. Hulkenberg showed no apparent damage, and whatever damage Vergne had picked up could be rectified straight away while in the pits. Nonetheless, it was a silly move which put Sauber under investigation for an unsafe release, eventually culminating in a ten second stop/go penalty for Hulkenberg.

Alonso and Massa pitted and left Raikkonen leading the race. Despite setting a fastest lap while Alonso was in the pits, the Spaniard was soon only 1.5 seconds behind the Finn and made short work of the 2007 World Champion.

Vergne was in the wars again, his rear tire delaminating again, as di Resta’s tire did during FP2 on Friday. It’s the latest in the string of issues for the tire supplier but so far Pirelli have blamed all issues on debris on track. New pair of boots for the Frenchman and he was back out on track but his team were soon back on the radio to tell Vergne he has to box to retire with damage on the STR8 thus making him the third retirement of the race.

Both McLarens were in the top ten with ten laps remaining while Rosberg for Mercedes was fending sixth from Paul di Resta. Lewis Hamilton on the other hand, was far down in twelfth in what will be a race to forget for the 28-year-old. One last surprise for the race as Esteban Gutierrez grabbed the fastest lap of the race when he pitted late in the race for a fresh set of boots.

Last lap of the race and Fernando began his lap of glory at his home race, cruising across the line to take the second win this season. Kimi Raikkonen came home in second for the third consecutive race while Felipe Massa made it onto the podium for the first time since Suzuka last year.

The two Red Bull’s finished fourth and fifth while Rosberg dropped from pole to sixth in sixty-six laps. The McLaren’s were looking somewhat stronger than Saturday, Button eighth and Perez ninth while Ricciardo rounded up the top ten.

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Kimi Raikkonen
3. Felipe Massa
4. Sebastian Vettel
5. Mark Webber
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Paul di Resta
8. Jenson Button
9. Sergio Perez
10. Daniel Ricciardo
11. Esteban Gutierrez
12. Lewis Hamilton
13. Adrian Sutil
14. Pastor Maldonado
15. Nico Hulkenberg
16. Valtteri Bottas
17. Charles Pic
18. Jules Bianchi
19. Max Chilton

• Jean-Eric Vergne
• Romain Grosjean
• Giedo van der Garde

Massa and Gutierrez Penalized

Felipe Massa and Esteban Gutierrez have each been handed a three place grid penalty ahead of this Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Gutierrez slowed down in front of Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen in the chicane in sector 3 during Q2 and cost the Finn some time, although he still easily advanced to the Q3 session.

Felipe Massa got unlucky as a faster Mark Webber came up behind him on the long sweeping right corner before the chicane. The Brazilian’s efforts to move out of the way made things worse and Webber was forced to take the wide line on the corner, on all the discarded Pirelli fragments.

Both Massa and Gutierrez were penalized three places so tomorrow’s grid will look like this -

1. Nico Rosberg
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Sebastian Vettel
4. Kimi Raikkonen
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Romain Grosjean
7. Mark Webber
8. Sergio Perez
9. Felipe Massa
10. Paul di Resta
11. Daniel Ricciardo
12. Jean-Eric Vergne
13. Adrian Sutil
14. Jenson Button
15. Nico Hulkenberg
16. Valtteri Bottas
17. Pastor Maldonado
18. Giedo van der Garde
19. Esteban Gutierrez
20. Jules Bianchi
21. Max Chilton
22. Charles Pic