Jenson Button increases his lead to 15 points

Lewis Hamilton had to turn off and then reboot his KERS system in order to interrupt possible problems with the system. Other than this small problem, his car ran beautifully all day and he was able to make up for his crash at Monza with a win. Heikki Kovalainen didn’t have a good a day but still managed to finish seventh and bring McLaren’s point total for the race to 12 and decrease their distance to Ferrari by three points.

Toyota had a much better result with Tim Glock grabbing the second position on the podium, even though the win is kind of a let down, after a less then stellar season. Glock was actually behind the front runners for most of the race but stayed close enough to the three front cars to grab a well deserved second when Rosberg made an error exiting the pit. The points Toyota grabbed here are important and they could go along way to determining their future in Formula One.

Renault had a great day as Fernando Alonso grabbed a little redemption and satisfaction with a third place finish that isn’t a win, but must still be gratifying after the season they have had. The Renault team has had a frustrating and long year on the track and they needed to have a result that would let the pressure off a bit.

Vettel was a podium contender the whole day, until he lost his concentration and let his adrenalin get to him and was caught speeding in pit lane. It was certainly an entertaining show to watch as parts were flying off Vettel’s car all day as he tried to do his best to win. He later admitted that he had to baby the brakes during the later part of the race and this slowed him a little at several points during the final laps.

“Image: Zuma Press”

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Jenson Button Moves Closer to His Dream

Nelson Piquet has been dropped by Renault

This year they have changed the pit exit by leveling it to the same height as the track which should make getting onto the track easier and less hazardous. They have also extended the curbs on the apex of Turns 4 and 5, which will give the drivers more room to make it around each turn. In addition, the trackside walls of Turns 3, 5, 9, 10, and 14 have been moved further back from the circuit. Minor safety changes include the installation of high-grip resin to seal the inner pit lane while they added artificial grass behind the curbs of the exits of Turns 10 and 14.

It appears that Renault will be fielding a team and cars for the European Grand Prix after all, after an FIA International Court of Appeal overturned the suspension they received in Hungary. The court decided the penalty imposed was a bit too severe considering the circumstances surrounding the event and instead imposed a reprimand and US$50,000 penalty for Alonso’s tire infraction.

Renault welcomed the decision as a balanced one that teaches them a lesson, yet doesn’t penalize the team unfairly. They admit they were at fault, just not to the level or necessarily in the way interpreted, and now look forward to preparing for Valencia.

The first thing they did to prepare was announce that Nelson Piquet has been dropped for the race in Valencia and instead Renault test driver and GP2 star Roman Grosjean will take his place beside Fernando Alonso. This certainly wasn’t a surprise after Nelson Piquet had publicly announced he had parted ways with the team earlier this month.

Nelson’s departure gives Roman a chance to show what he can really do behind the wheel of the R29 and learn how to drive from a double world champion. If this doesn’t motivate you to be your best then nothing will.

This 23 year old Frenchman signed up with Renault’s driver development program in 2006, after winning the French Formula Renault title. He was the Formula Three Euro Series champion in 2007 and in 2008 he won the GP2 Asia Series. This year, Roman has been competing in GP2 and had currently won two races before being called to make his appearance in “The Show”.

“Image: Zuma Press”

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Renault Gets to Race in Valencia After all

Can Lewis Hamilton do it again for McLaren?

Ferrari’s Formula One F60 will be driven by Kimi Raikkonen from Finland and Felipe Massa of Brazil for the 2009 season, both experienced drivers and proven winners, even if Kimi did have an off racing season last year. Ferrari’s team principal, Stefano Domenicali has stated that Ferrari will be concentrating on trying to make the car more reliable by taking care of the small things in 2009. Reports out of Spain and Bahrain had Ferrari running a little slow due to the weather, but more recent reports indicate that at Jerez and Barcelona Ferrari was showing signs of improving their cars overall performance and speed.
McLaren will field the current world champion Lewis Hamilton from Great Britain and Heikki Kovalainen of Finland for the 2009 F1 season. Current reports out of Jerez and Barcelona indicate McLaren is having problems with the rear-end aerodynamics of the MP4-24; both Lewis and Heikki have reported disappointment in the cars performance, so far. McLaren says it has scientists and technicians working on the problem and they hope to have a few changes that will fix the problem by the time they pull into Melbourne at the end of the month.
BMW Sauber’s drivers for this season are Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, BMW has been really quiet during testing, but the F1.09 has shown every sign of being able to compete head-to-head with the other teams. The Swiss-German combination will be implementing a KERS system in their car this season and team principal Dr. Mario Theissen has indicated the system is ready for race testing. Will BMW Sauber be able to compete effectively for the world championship this season, is the question?
Renault will put Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet in the drivers’ seat of their R29 race car this season. Initial reports indicate the R29 ran slow in the early stages in Spain, but that lap times at Jerez were much improved and clearly progress is being made on the R29. Renault will also implement a KERS system in their race car this F1 season, but any advantages a KERS system may give cars implementing such systems has yet to be shown.

Image Newscom.com

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The Formula One 2009 Season Preview

This kind of reminds me of the City Car idea, with stackable, rentable autos you could drive from one place to another, but something more people could easily gravitate toward.

The State of Israel liked the idea so much that laws have already been put in place to support this kind of advancement, and plan on being oil free in the near future. (Well, oil free as far as passenger cars are concerned.)

Renault-Nissan is developing a car and battery pack to fill the role of the world’s first electric car fit with a battery meant to be changed regularly. A working prototype debuted Sunday in Tel Aviv, and are expected to hit Israeli roads sometime next year.

[Source:Autoblog Green, Project Better Place]

[Image Source: Project Better Place]

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Why Plug in When you can Swap out?

A wave of electric dreams are coming out of the Tokyo Auto Show. How many will continue to maturity is the big question. That, and why? Why now? Did Toyota kick people into eco-mode with the popularity of the Prius? Have oil prices finally lead people away from gasoline? What is the motivation behind this new great race … and when will someone make a model I can use AND afford??

Mitsubishi, and Nissan and Renault announce electric cars to debut by 2010.

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Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault develop their own electric cars